Call for Information: Informed Self-Placement

The Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) works at the national and state levels and with institutions to implement math pathways aligned with the DCMP model. We embrace work across higher education sectors to provide faculty, state, administrators, and policy representatives with the resources, tools, and services necessary to implement high-quality mathematics pathways. Through coordinated effort across multiple levels of the system, we can drive systemic, sustainable change for our nation’s students.

One of the crucial aspects of the DCMP’s mission is to stay updated on emerging trends and best practices related to higher education mathematics. One such trend is the evolution of placement processes.

Growing evidence shows that high-stakes standardized exam placement policies inaccurately place students into unnecessary remedial courses. Consequently, many institutions around the country are redesigning their placement processes and are implementing alternatives to high-stakes standardized tests, including multiple-measures placement and informed self-placement (ISP).

While informed self-placement (also known as directed self-placement) has become a common tool for English course placement, institutions are still working to develop effective ISP models for mathematics. These new placement models, however, have little consistency in how the term ISP is used.

In order to promote consistency and enable more accurate evaluation of the efficacy of ISP, the Dana Center proposes the following definition:

Informed self-placement is a placement process that empowers students to identify and register for the gateway mathematics course that best fits their academic goals. Information to support students’ decisions includes institutional program requirements and articulation information for programs that require transfer to a four-year institution.

The ISP process uses multiple measures (e.g., high school GPA, most recent math course, non-cognitive characteristics assessment) to identify and recommend any additional supports, such as co-requisite courses, pre-requisite courses, or Supplemental Instruction, that may increase students’ success in their chosen courses. Students are given complete information, including a description of the support choices, evidence regarding the relative effectiveness of each option, and direct and indirect costs related to each choice. Indirect costs include costs due to additional program completion time.

The ISP process can be completed in person with a trained advisor or online using a virtual tool. An online tool may use certain criteria to trigger a follow-up, in-person advising meeting (e.g., students who are unclear of their majors may need additional support, while students with a clear plan may not). Students are then given a non-binding course (and support) recommendation. Students are empowered to select a gateway math course in which to enroll and to select the level of support that best suits their needs.

Note that, according to this definition, any placement process that results in students having only one course enrollment option (with or without support) is not considered informed self-placement.

If your institution is offering or designing a placement process that meets most of these criteria, and you would like to share the details and lessons learned, please contact Joan Zoellner, joan.zoellner@austin.utexas.edu, who is preparing a report on informed self-placement in math.