Arnulfo Castellanos-Moreno says: "I did not understand. Why do you
need exit tests?"
Many colleges and universities in the United States are "accredited" by
some organization that certifies the college meets certain standards.
Some public universities also have to follow guidelines set forth by
their state governments.
There is a fairly strong push in the United States to prove to the
public that the students in colleges and universities get what they
paid for. This means colleges are being forced to perform some type of
assessment program to guarantee that the average student is receiving a
quality education... or at least receiving the type of education the
college advertised it would deliver.
Some people believe one of the best ways to demonstrate this is by the
use of exit exams. If there would be a standard exam that all physics
graduates would take, then if our average physics graduate performs
near the national average on that exam, we might be able to sleep be
tter at night knowing that our physics program is okay.
I believe there are all kinds of problems with this premise, but for
the time being our college administration is forcing us to give exit
exams.
Especially in small colleges where the number of physics graduates is
anywhere from zero to ten per year, the statistics are terrible. A
good class might make it look like our physics program is outstanding,
and a poor class might make it look like we should "pack it in," i.e.
abolish our physics program.
My son (beginning his last year in high school) is getting recruitment
literature from many colleges. Some of these colleges have begun to
advertise their students' performance on specific exit exams such as
the Educational Testing Service Major Field Test. I think this is very
dangerous territory, but it is bound to happen if people keep demanding
quantifiable assessment.
One school was bragging about their science program and said that last
year's graduating biology students averaged above the 90th percentile
on the ETS biology exam. (They didn't mention what happened in other
years, and they didn't mention what happened in chemistry or physics.)
One year we had six outstanding chemistry graduates and their ETS
average would place our chemistry program at the 99th percentile. The
next year there were four mediocre chemistry graduates and their ETS
average would rank our chemistry program at the 40th percentile. Can
we advertise the 99th percentile number and ignore the 40th percentile
number? I certainly wouldn't, but I think some admissions departments
are doing just this. Actually, now that we've got chemistry data from
about 6 years, we believe our chemistry program is pretty average. But
we knew that (gut feeling) before doing any organized assessment.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817
-----Original Message-----
From: Arnulfo Castellanos Moreno [SMTP:acastell@FISICA.USON.MX]
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 1999 12:19 PM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Re: Exit tests