| Mott Community College (MCC) has an open door policy that permits any student graduating from high school, or 19 years old or older, to be admitted. Once admitted, students must take a mathematics placement test before enrolling in classes. In the Fall Semester, 1985, the testing cut-off date did not allow enough time for all students applying for admission to be tested. Therefore, in order to accommodate the students, MCC allowed 239 students to take classes without taking the mathematics placement test. The subjects for this study consisted of 239 First Time In Any College (FTIAC) students at MCC who took the mathematics placement test and 239 FTIAC students who did not take the mathematics placement test during the Fall semester 1985. This study will examine the following: (1) Did the students who took the mathematics placement test take the advised mathematics class? (2) Does the mathematics placement test taken before entrance to MCC accurately place students in mathematics classes? (3) Is there a difference in the final grades among students who took the mathematics placement test and took the recommended courses, who took the mathematics placement test and did not take recommended courses, and who did not take the mathematics placement test? (4) Does the mathematics placement test predict the students' overall academic achievement in mathematics? (5) Does successful placement of students in mathematics classes make a difference in the retention rate of students in mathematic classes?;This study has presented the summary and conclusions of the validity of the mathematics placement at MCC. Students who did not take the mathematics placement test, which was a one-time only occurrence Fall Semester, 1985, and students who did not follow recommended coursework, did as well or, in some cases, better than students who took the mathematics placement test and followed the recommended coursework. These results indicate that the mathematics faculty of the college needs to re-examine the validity and reliability of the mathematics placement test, as well as its scoring. |
