After Implementation: Assessing Student Self-Placement in College Writing Programs

Abstract

While a growingbody of research provides instruction on how to implement studentself-placement (SSP) for college writing courses, there is a gap in theliterature about how to evaluate SSP after implementation. This article offersstrategies and recommendations for assessing SSP processes, based on theauthors’ experiences of developing a new SSP mechanism and evaluating itseffectiveness over several years. This article presents statistical data fromour analysis of our institution’s SSP, which informs a heuristic set ofquestions that others can use to evaluate the effectiveness of their own SSPafter implementation. This analysis demonstrates the value of evaluating SSPprocesses for writing programs, as well as outlining issues that may emerge andshould be considered when analyzing SSP.