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.