Friday, June 25, 2010

A new way of approaching Accuplacer

If you're a high school senior, then you're likely aware of, or will soon be aware of, the Accuplacer test. The College Board administers the tests, usually given to seniors or incoming college freshman. The Accuplacer, in math, reading, or English, helps academic advisers and counselors place college freshmen in the appropriate courses.

Many students find out, after taking the Accuplacer exams, that they need (non-credit) remedial courses in college. It's to everyone's advantage if those students can instead take the classes in high school that help them to catch up, rather than in college. So more and more schools are now giving the Accuplacers in (high school) junior year, so that any remedial work can happen in 12th grade.

We've just entered the Accuplacer universe with a new set of six units of math instruction we're developing. The units will be administered in junior or senior year, and students can then do any necessary remedial work before they hit college.

Here's the cool part: these six units aren't a book. They aren't a PowerPoint. They're digital instruction that will be delivered via iTunes U, the Apple-developed curriculum program, downloadable right onto an iPhone or iPad. We're piloting them here in the state of Maine, and iTunes U will make them available free of charge to Maine teachers.

Using the digital technology, students will be be able to work through math problems and, depending on their answer, get directed on-screen to resources that help them tackle and resolve any particular issues.

We're developing this program in partnership with the Maine International Center for Digital Learning, through a grant funded by the Davis Family Foundation. As part of our development work, we recently conducted a focus group with Maine educators currently administering the Accuplacer (that photo was taken at our focus group session). Plans are to have a working pilot by this winter, make refinements to it in the spring, and have it available as instructional material for the 2011-2012 school year.

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