Placement for SuccessSynthesizing & Streamlining Students’ Course Placement

AACRAO Technology ConferenceJuly 16, 2013

Presented by:

Matthew McLaughlin Manager, Admissions & Testing, Technical Lead

Michael Szela ERP Systems Technical Manager

Harper College, Palatine, IL

Harper College• Located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago

• Serves 535,000 residents

• 27,419 annual unduplicated headcount

• 39% over age 25

• 50% plan to transfer; 20% pursuing career program; remainder upgrading skills/personal enrichment

• Strategic Plan focused on Student Success & Completion

• Member of Achieving the Dream Network

The Stakes Have Never Been Higher• Only 24% of high school graduates - intending to go to college - meet all

four ACT benchmarks of College readiness.

• Less than 25% of students who enroll in community colleges will earn an associates degree in less than three years.

• Adelman (2006) confirms that students who place into developmental courses are less likely to complete college than those who are not

Sources: *Time is the enemy. Complete College America – 2011**Claiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s future - 2012

Agenda

• The Presenting Need

• Characteristics of the Solution> Student Composite Report> Placement Logic Enhancement

• The Tools and Technique Used

The Presenting NeedIncrease in people needing placement, but systems in which to facilitate the process and outcome of testing were not streamline or efficient.

Placement for Success Initiative

Placement for Success

INPUTS RESULTS

RECEIVING

Students receive results i.e. test scores,

course grades, etc.

PROJECTAdmissions

Redesign

PROJECTSTUDENT

COMPOSITE REPORT

PROJECTWeb Based

Appt.Making

PROJECTMandate Dev.

Course Enrollment

Value FEEDBACK

Performance FEEDBACK

PROJECTMTH/ENG

Course Eligibility

PROCESS

Students demonstrate ENG/RDG/MTH knowledge via

COMPASS, ACT or course completion

The Problem

CollegePlacement

Policy

SAAADMS

SGASTDN

SPACMNT

SOAHOLD

SOATESTSHACRSE

SFAREGS

Not just about COMPASS….

ACT

Previous College Courses

COMPASSHS

COMPASS

HSFinal Exam

Waivers

DualCredit

Courses

Course Eligibility

Upper Level Courses = Easy Prerequisites

…..Not so much for ‘gatekeeper’ courses

ENG 101

Reading

Writing

MTH 101+: Two Domains to Satisfy

HSGeo.

Compass Geo.

ACTMath

Expired ACT Math

MTH 070

Transfer Course

CompassMath

ACTMath

HS MTH 080 Final

MTH080

Transfer Course

G E O M E T R Y O P T I O N S

M A

T H

O P

T I

O N

S

13 Combinations

ENG 101: Two Domains to Satisfy

R E A D I N G O P T I O N S

W R

I T

I N G

O P

T I

O N

S

14 Combinations

ACT Reading

COMPASSReading

CounselorWaiver

RDG 099 ESL 073 Transfer Course

ENG 101EligibilityGenerator

ACTWriting

COMPASSWriting

ENG 100

ESL 074

TransferCourse

ELIGIBLITY GENERATOR BUTTON

Yes, you are eligible to take ENG 101.OUTCOME

Solution #1Putting it all together

Student Composite Report

Student Composite Report

Solution #1 – Student Composite Report

Student Composite Report

Solution #1 – Student Composite Report

Student Composite Report

Solution #1 – Student Composite Report

Student Composite Report

Solution #1 – Student Composite Report

Student Composite Report

Student Composite Report

Student Composite ReportWish List

Would like a Name Search feature or automatic

population of ID from SIS system.

Solution #2Addition of Logic

Math & English Course Eligibility

•Provide students access to their repository of test scores and previous ENG/MTH coursework

•Automatically synthesize all various data elements that influence Math and English/Reading course eligibility

•Provide special emphasis when students do not place at a gatekeeper course

Project Strategies

Logic Enhancement

Requirements

1. Real Time

2. Single Source of Data

Logic Enhancement

Logic Enhancement

Solution #2 – Placement Logic Enhancement

Isolates the domain(s) keeping them from college-level. Uses Logic from SMAAREA.

Graphic only displays when someone is not at the college-level.

Logic Enhancement

Uses highest term on course search for:- Determining Courses to List- Determining What Prerequisite to Use

Uses logic pulled from SCADETL for categorization

Logic comes from assessing SMAAREA’s attached to course on SCAPREQ.

Logic Enhancement

Logic Enhancement

Logic Enhancement

Developmental Course Requirement Reinforcement on SSB Registration

Performance Feedback

Logic Enhancement

vs.

Solution #2 – Shed Light On….

Observations & Encounters• Courses ‘on the books’, but not offered

• Inconsistent prerequisite rule writing: Can you get into lower level courses or not?

• Upper level English courses that had no prerequisites

• Different courses with the same course title

• Optional Pathways vs. Prescriptive Pathways

Logic Enhancement Summary•Available to staff and students

• Logically groups raw Test Score History

• Identifies Math and English/Reading courses someone is eligible to take – not what they should take

• Identifies what domain(s) is keeping someone from college level

•A pictorial diagram of how to move through the developmental sequence is displayed only for those not at the college-level.

The Magic

Tools & Techniques Used

It’s Not Magic…• Any sufficiently advanced

technology is indistinguishable from magic. -- Arthur C. Clarke

But It Also Isn’t…•Ellucian Banner XE (Extensible Architecture)•Banner Horizon•Banner 9.x•Groovy or Grails

What is it?•Banner 8.6 (was 8.5.3) on Oracle Database 11g• Java EE 6 (formerly known as J2EE)•Oracle Weblogic Application Server 11g•Web Browser Based UI▫Tested with IE, Firefox, and Chrome

•Read-only▫No changes to the Banner Database▫Not “locked in” to a Banner Version

Java EE Overview• Java EE provides facilities for a three-tier architecture•Users interact with applications via a web browser

(presentation layer)•Application specific “Business Logic” on the server

provides the API, the “behavior” of the application (application layer)

•Applications on the server access data from databases (database layer)

Java EE Overview• Java EE provides facilities for a three-tier architecture

Web Browser

Presentation Layer

Application Layer (Business

Logic)

Database LayerDatabase

The Presentation Layer•Uses Java Server Faces (JSF) technology to define the

web pages of the application• JSF combines XHTML syntax and access to

application data•Several Ajax-based component frameworks exist and

provide advanced web page controls

The Application Layer•This is all the logic for solution #2•Business logic needed to mimic the behavior of CAPP

prerequisite checking• Load the rules from SMAACAA and evaluate each

rule with the student’s history

The Database Layer•Uses the Java Persistence API (JPA) 2.0• JPA is an Object – Relational data model•Uses simple Java Objects (POJOs) to represent rows

in database tables• Instead of complicated SQL queries, relationships can

be represented with collections within an object•Details are handled by the application server

Questions

Thank You!

Matthew McLaughlinmmclaugh@harpercollege.edu

Michael Szelamszela@harpercollege.edu

.

© 2013 Ellucian. All rights reserved.

Observations & Encounters• Courses ‘on the books’, but not offered

• Inconsistent prerequisite rule writing: Can you get into lower level courses or not?

• Upper level English courses that had no prerequisites

• Different courses with the same course title

• Optional Pathways vs. Prescriptive Pathways

SolutionAdd logic to only display courses currently available on the course search.

Observations & Encounters• Courses ‘on the books’, but not offered

• Inconsistent prerequisite rule writing: Can you get into lower level courses or not?

• Upper level English courses that had no prerequisites

• Different courses with the same course title

• Optional Pathways vs. Prescriptive Pathways

ObservationInconsistent Prerequisite Coding RE: Philosophy about getting into Lower Courses

Student A: MTH 080 Placement Student B: MTH 060 Placement

Observations & Encounters• Courses ‘on the books’, but not offered

• Inconsistent prerequisite rule writing: Can you get into lower level courses or not?

• Upper level English courses that had no prerequisites

• Different courses with the same course title

• Optional Pathways vs. Prescriptive Pathways

ObservationDifferent Course; Same Title

Observations & Encounters• Courses ‘on the books’, but not offered

• Inconsistent prerequisite rule writing: Can you get into lower level courses or not?

• Upper level English courses that had no prerequisites

• Different courses with the same course title

• Optional Pathways vs. Prescriptive Pathways

ObservationCOMPASS Score Reports are Incomplete