This is not my final article on this topic ... but it is probably one of the most important ... College PLACEMENT tests. Not ENTRANCE tests .... PLACEMENT. A Placement test is given to a student entering the college they have enrolled with in order to place them in the correct level of Math and/or English classes. The Math classes available at the College level are:
- Beginning Algebra (approximately equal to high school Algebra I) No College Credit ... but must pay tuition ... considered remedial.
- Intermediate Algebra (approximately equal to high school Algebra II) No College Credit ... but must pay tuition ... considered remedial.
- College Algebra (approximately equal to high school Pre-Calculus) Does earn college credit and is required by almost every Major for graduation.
- There are many more Math classes above College Algebra, but it is the minimum required for most degrees.
The ACCUPLACER is one of the most common tests given for this purpose, but various colleges and universities use various tests. However, nearly every college placement test has this one thing in common .... NO CALCULATORS ALLOWED on the Math Portion of the test.
This might not seem like such a big deal to you, but believe me, it is. Keep in mind that not only have students been allowed to use calculators for their entire high school Math education, they have been encouraged to use them. Teachers even encourage them to buy one of their own and they cost $100+. "You will need it for college" we tell them. They know how to use it and they take it with them to their college placement test, where it is taken away from them. Panic sets in. Regardless of whether they actually NEED the calculator, having it near them is a comfort. Suddenly they feel defenseless against the oncoming onslaught of mathematics ...
Okay ... maybe I am over-dramatizing things, but I'll bet I am not far off the mark. Suddenly a student who finished high school Algebra II with a high B is placed in Beginning Algebra at the College Level. Or a student who finished Pre-Calculus with an A is being placed in Intermediate Algebra. And colleges and universities are ranting about how today's high schools are not doing enough to prepare students for college. They then reference the number of students taking "remedial" math.
Top that off with the fact that many of these remedial college math courses are not allowing calculator use at all and I am wondering what is going on? These remedial math courses have become huge money makers for the colleges and universities. The professors assigned to teach them feel the courses are "beneath" them and often teach over the students' heads. Many of the courses are going to online programs which are extremely cumbersome to use. Students are failing these remedial courses left and right, thus having to take them again and pay more tuition, which brings in more money for the college or university. And students still haven't even gotten to the one Math course they actually do get college credit for, College Algebra. And College Algebra is a minimum Math requirement for almost any degree offered these days.
Texas Instruments!! Where are you??? You have done a fantastic job of getting your calculators into the hands of high school teachers and students. You have integrated your calculators so deeply into the Texas TAKS test and the Texas Math textbooks and in teacher training that teachers feel compelled to use them in order to keep their students up to date with emerging Math technology. Then the student moves on to college and it is like going back to the 1970's. No calculators allowed. It's like the great leaps and bounds which calculator technology has made don't even exist! Even the online Math courses have professor monitored tests where no calculators are allowed.
Hello Colleges ... it is 2008 ... that would be the 21st Century .... No Calculators is a bit backward, don't you think?
So I ask again .... Texas Instruments! Where are you??
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