APP Placement - Alternative Placement is not listed in Banner, what should I do?

Counselor Informed Potential APP Students

Counseling and advising is reporting conversations with students who claim to be eligible for APPE or APPM. In the instances where there is no APP code in Banner to confirm the students’ eligibility for APP, the counselor or advising cadre member has been sending a request to Elizabeth Benton, indicating the students’ potential APP eligibility, for confirmation. The process that has been engaged is as follows:

1. Counselor sends email with student name and M# to Elizabeth Benton, indicating student may be eligible for APPE or APPM;

2. Elizabeth Benton compiles list of names and M# from counselors;

3. Elizabeth Benton sends list to Josh Messite each Thursday morning;

4. Josh confirms APP status with MCPS, adding APP score when applicable;

5. Josh replies to Elizabeth Benton with status of the list after confirmation from MCPS

Students on Campus with Transcripts

In the event that a student brings an unofficial transcript to campus for an advising session, the transcript may be used for advising purpose. Students eligible for APPE must have earned a final grade of “B” or higher in AP Language and Composition, Honors English 12 or Modern World History. APPM students must have earned a final grade of “B” or higher in Algebra 2.

1. Counselor or cadre member should advise the student of his/her eligibility for APPE or APPM, based on the transcript;

2. Counselor should place an override into Banner, allowing the student to register for the appropriate course;

3. Counselor adds comment in Banner “Student APP (E or M, as appropriate) eligible via transcript”, indicating that the student presented a copy of the transcript to the counselor for advising purpose;

4. Counselor sends an email with the student’s name and M# to Elizabeth Benton, indicating the course and grade on transcript that qualifies the student for APPE or APPM (crucial for tracking/evaluating the students’ success)

5. Elizabeth Benton will compile list and send to Josh each Thursday morning, indicating which APP code should be added to each student’s record;

6. Josh will add the appropriate APP code to the student’s record.

Lifting WDCE Bridge Hold for APP Process

1. Counselor meets with a student who has a WDCE Bridge Hold on his/her record. Student cannot register for either APPE course (ENGL 101A) or the APPM course (either MATH 110 or MATH 117).

2. Counselor sends request to lift the hold along with the student’s name and M#, APP E or APPM indicator to Deborah Crutchfield in WDCE with a copy to Rodney.

3. Deborah removes the hold and replies to all that the hold has been removed, so the student can register.

4. Rodney send the student’s name and M# to Christine Hunt to add to her list so that the student’s progress can be tracked.

5. Counselor notifies the student that the hold has been lifted and s/he can now register for the appropriate APPE or APPM.

APPM Update Regarding MATH050 Without Support

Math is now allowing students with an alternative math placement score (APPM80) that need MATH150, or MATH098 and/or MATH165 and higher to register for MATH050 without support. They initially told us these students would need to retest. The students can choose to test to see if they can place into MATH150, MATH165, etc. and we will honor the highest placement method (whether it is Accuplacer, APPM, SAT, etc.).

As a reminder, students with APPM80 can register for MATH050, MATH117, or MATH120 even if they do not meet the English and Reading assessment levels.

You can read the email thread below for a bit more information but Ben Nicholson’s original email is here

“When I met with counseling last week I had a questions that I was unsure of and I just managed to get answered (and fixed some errors in the prereq coding in the process)

If a student has an APPM code of 080 then they can register for MATH050, MATH117 or MATH120 without support.  Even if they are not English eligible (that wasn’t the immediate question, the question was about MATH050, but the English answer is for a question I get a lot)

To reiterate how a student gets an APPM code…

It is an automated process between us and MCPS.  Students get the code if they have an A or a B in their LAST semester of Algebra 2 (so Algebra 2B or 2 yr Algebra 2D).  It takes a few weeks after a student has applied and we swap info with MCPS for the code to be entered, it is fully automated, no one hand enters the code.  If you have a student who says they are (and can document with a transcript) then send them to the campus math department.  I am willing to work with students who went to private high schools individually since they don’t automatically get covered since this is an agreement with MCPS solely.”

Alternate Placement Program (APP) Spring 2018 Update

Montgomery College Community
John Hamman, Dean of Math and Statistics 􀀇 􀀁
Rodney Redmond, Dean of English and Readin􀀈􀀂
Alternate Placement Program (APP) Update
January 25, 2018

To promote student success and retention, students need to be placed in courses for which they
demonstrate the appropriate academic readiness. This memorandum provides an update on the
Alternate Placement Program (APP), which began in FY2017, and will continue in spring 2018.

Traditional Placement Procedures 

Montgomery College uses many methods to place students into appropriate courses. Most students are placed into reading, English, and math courses based on Accuplacer, SAT, ACT or other high
stakes tests. These placements are important not just for English and math, but for all college-level
courses since many college-level courses list assessment levels for reading, English, and math, as
appropriate for the courses. For such courses, students must place at the designated assessment
level(s) or higher in order to enroll.

Alternate Placement Program (APP) 

APP provides an alternate pathway to place college-capable students in college credit-bearing
courses. This practice aligns with peer-reviewed research that suggests that students' completed
coursework and GPAs are better indicators of college-readiness than high-stakes tests. This program was piloted in FY 2017 as an opt-in program; however, APP has scaled up and students must now opt out of this placement process.

With APP, MC will place incoming Montgomery County Public Schools students in college courses
based on a final semester grade of "B" or higher in one or more of the courses listed below. Students who qualify for placement in college credit courses as part of the APP are deemed as "college and
career ready" for Maryland State Department of Education reporting purposes.

o AP Language and Composition
o Honors English 12
o Modern World History (including honors level or higher)

MCPS informs students of the criteria for placement into APPE/APPM during their junior and senior
year in MCPS. The College receives transcript data from MCPS, after final grades have been
submitted for MCPS graduating seniors. That year's MCPS graduates are encouraged to register early for the classes they want to take once registration opens at MC. In Spring 2018, MC is working with MCPS to make sure that when applying to the College, students' APP scores will be in Banner within one week of their applications being processed.

Students with an APPE 80 score should register for ENGL 101 A. Students with an APPM 80 score may register for either MATH 11 O or MATH 117. These placement scores are valid for one year. Students who wish to participate in the APP and do not enroll in the appropriate college-level English or Math
course by the one-year deadline will be placed using a different placement test, such as Accuplacer.

APP enrollment data suggest that a sizeable number of students are using these criteria for placement into college-level coursework at MC. In fall 2017, over 1000 students used the APP criteria for
placement into over 3100 courses. Analysis of students' grade performance suggests that APP
students succeed in completing course work at comparable rates to students placed through other
methods. MC continues to analyze the data to improve the placement process.