Placement Test Grading Protocol - Shoreline Community College



ESL Placement Test Grading Protocols

(revised April 2002)

Placement should be based on the following procedures/protocols:

Reading Placement scores: (International Test Only)

59% and below: ESL 088

50 – 60% ESLAB 050

60 – 70% ESL 098

70 – 80% ESL 099

80 – 90% ESL 100

90 and above: potentially exempt from ESL; refer to writing and listening test scores.

Listening Placement Test Scores: (International Test Only)

12/30 and below: ESL 088

13/30-19/30: ESL 095 (and ESLAB 050, 098, 099, or 100, as required)

20/30 and above: exempt from ESL 095

Students who receive borderline scores of 10 or 11, who are also strong in reading and writing can be considered for placement in ESLAB 050 and ESL 095.

Grammar:

0 – 30% level 1

31 – 40% level 2

41 – 55% level 3

56 – 70% level 4

71 – 85% level 5

86% + Advanced placement test

Writing Tests

• Writing Tests will be evaluated according to the criteria laid out on the test forms. Students electing the Lower Level Placement Test can only be placed in lower level ESL classes. (Levels 1-5) Students electing the Higher Level Placement Test may be placed in upper (Academic) ESL or lower level (ABE) ESL, depending on their writing skills. Students must demonstrate the ability to organize an essay with paragraphs to be placed in the higher levels. (Besides, of course, demonstrating sufficient syntactical and lexical competence).

• Starting Fall Quarter of 2001, new international students will take ESLAB 050 if they need it. (Previously this was only open to resident students). For both international students and resident students, the following guidelines will be used to determine placement in ESLAB 050:

Students who write fairly well, but choose the lower placement questions should go into Level 5. To distinguish Level 4 and Level 5 placement, they should be able to produce a coherent, unified, correctly formatted paragraph. Some grammar errors may be present, but the paragraph should be comprehensible. Vocabulary should not be too simple. (There should me more than just BE verbs or other ultra high frequency verbs like DO and MAKE). There should be evidence of familiarity with verb tenses; however, if the test question calls for only a limited range of tenses, please carefully consider other criteria). There should be both compound and complex sentences. Furthermore, there should be a "sense" that students need more time to gain familiarity with the language before tackling the Academic ESL classes. Students notably weak in any of these areas should be placed in ESLAB 40/45 instead.

• When there is a discrepancy between reading and writing scores, placement will be based on the lower of the two, as is the current practice in the English Department. For example, if a student's reading score indicates 099, but the writing indicates 098, the student should be placed in 098. Conversely, if a student's writing score indicates 099, but the reading indicates 098, the student should be placed in 098.

• Immigrant/Refugee students who have taken the Immigrant/Refugee test and their scores indicate placement at higher than ESLAB 050, will be asked to return and take the Higher Level Placement Test. When placing students with the Resident student test, look at the score indicated on the Scantron, then refer to both grammar and writing scores. As with the International test, place according to the lower of the reading and writing scores. If a combination of writing and grammar scores indicate, say Level 4 placement, but the reading placement calls for Level 3, then put the student in Level 3. If the reading score placement shows, for example, level 5, but a combination of reading grammar indicate level 4, then put the student in level 4.

• Use the appropriate cover sheets when scoring; clear, specific comments on these sheets make advising easier.

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