Update provided by Michel Léger
on 6/6/14
Just some reminders about the PACE (Program
for Advancement to College English) procedures.
We all know that students who are
RD-exempt and score between 80 and 89 on the ENGLISH portion of the Accuplacer
should be referred for the PACE WRITING exam: they write a 1-2 paragraph essay
which is evaluated by English, and they THEN receive an email directly from
English telling them they either HAVE or HAVE NOT earned the right to register
for one of the PACE seats in one of the PACE-aligned classes. The English
Department will provide them with both PRE and DPT overrides for all three
sections of PACE seats, and the student then makes a choice among THESE. THIS
NOW ALSO APPLIES TO RD-exempt, EN001-placed students
So here’s where it gets tricky
(because some students who want to register for EN101A but who are NOT part of
this cohort will be blocked with a “Department Permission needed” error if they
try to register for an ACE seat):
PACE-designated EN101A classes are
comprised of TWO blocks of seats:
TEN
seats are available to ANY EN101A student. THOSE ten seats have a DIFFERENT CRN
and a CAP of TEN for THAT CRN
(so REGULAR EN101A students who “NEED” THAT time slot might be able to get it,
just NOT in an PACE seat)
EIGHT
seats are for PACE students ONLY, and have their OWN CRN and a cap of EIGHT for
that CRN
Here’s
the line up of the 3 ACE classes on THIS campus (this was for F13)
EN101A #
24629 MWF 11:10-12:35, Stephanie Sabourin [NON-ACE seats CRN#24639]
EN101A
#24619 MW (F?) 11:10-12:35, Matthew Decker [NON-ACE seats CRN#22832]
EN101A
#24859 T R 2:40-4:45 Joseph Couch [NON-ACE seats CRN#24858]
If a student is coming with
confusion about why they cannot register for a section of EN101A, THIS may be
the issue: they are trying to register for an PACE seat. You can check their
Registration Audit screen (SFASTCA) to confirm this. If they need the time that
an PACE class is meeting, there may still be seats open in the block of TEN
non-ACE seats. You can check the Course Schedule screen, ZSICRSE, to track open
seats
Linked
From Here
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Web
Friday 6/6/14
RD095 to RD120
(Information
provided by Michel Leger on 7/16/13)
Occasionally the following scenario comes up, and because it’s ONLY
occasionally, we have to review it. A student places into RD095, and completes
the course with an A. The student ALSO qualifies for EN101 or EN101A, either
through placement or through completion of EN001 or EN002 with an A or a B. There is a mechanism for him to bypass
RD099 and take RD120 WITH EN101A.
Here's the way it's always worked (on the Takoma Park/Silver
Spring campus, anyway):
IF a student gets an A in RD095, AND that student gets an invitation from his
RD095 Prof to take the "advancement exam" (which is the final for
RD099), AND the student gets an 80% or higher on THAT exam, THEN the student is
given the option of taking RD120 ALONG WITH EN101A (even if s/he placed into
EN101); OR, of course, the student has the right to take RD099 anyway BEFORE
taking EN101 or 101A (depending on THAT placement).
So the student ends up still taking a second RD course in any case.
Students who are allowed to go from RD095 to RD120 should NOT be given
overrides into EN101, but WILL require overrides into BOTH RD120 and EN101A
(since 101, with or without the A, requires RD120 as the assessment level and
the override for RD120 will not change the assessment levels in SOATEST.
The advancement to RD120 and the override for the student (who according to
SOATEST should be taking RD099) to take RD120 is CONTINGENT on the student
CO-registering for EN101A—in other words, as far as I know students are NOT
given the option of taking RD120 WITH EN101 or taking it BEFORE they take
EN101. The option to take RD120 rather than RD099 is a package deal: RD120 WITH
EN101A (NOT EN101).
Accelerated Courses in
English:
In a regular semester, the English Department typically runs
an accelerated sequence of “developmental” courses (including EN101A as a
“developmental” course). The purpose of this, like the RD095-RD120 acceleration
and like the PACE writing exam to advance from EN001/002 to EN101A) is to keep
students moving so that they don’t become discouraged and drop out.
So here’s how it works.
In the FIRST half of the semester, the Department runs RD099
and EN002 concurrently. Students must pass RD099 with a C and EN002 with a B in
order to qualify for EN101A.
In the SECOND half of the semester, the Department runs
EN101A, and frequently runs EN002 for those students who have NOT completed it
in the first half of the semester with a B or better.
ALL of these courses are enrollment restricted. Students
must be screened EITHER by Lynn Roessner-Ankney or by Michel Leger for
admission. We track registration to ensure we’re not overpopulating the
classes. See notes below for the screening method.
Students who are deemed “good candidates” for the classes,
based on the interview, are provided with DPT overrides for the RD099 and/or
the EN002, and for the EN101A; they must also receive PRE overrides for the
EN101A. The overrides are tied to SPECIFIC CRNs. These are provided before the
semester begins in a flier from the Department (they can also be located by
looking up the semester and courses, and looking for the start-end dates that
represent half the semester.
PLEASE DO NOT EVER provide CRN-specific DPT overrides for
the second-half, accelerated EN101A course, for students who are NOT
registering for an accelerated RD099 and/orEN002 for the first half. The number
of seats is limited, and every attempt is made to ENSURE that all those
students who succeed in the first half have seats to go into in the second
half. Students will be dropped from EN101A if they either do NOT succeed or
were not enrolled in one of the first-half accelerated courses.
SCREENING: (I have not been authorized to authorize anyone
else to do this, so it’s probably best if you just refer these students to me;
or at the least, let me know you’ve done the screeing and provided the
overrides so I can keep track of numbers—ML)
Students must have ONLY EITHER OR BOTH of RD099 and EN002
between them and the EN101/A assessment level.
Students must acknowledge and understand that the acceleration
of the course, and the success formula, will require that they be in RD099 for
SIX hours a week, EN002 and En101A for TEN hours a week, and will have to find
TWELVE hours a week to study for RD099 and TWENTY hours a week to study for
EN002 and EN101A. Students must adjust their schedules based on this, and not
expect to succeed if they add more than an easy class to this schedule,
preferably nothing more than a ONE credit class like DS or MATH098.
Students should ALSO NOT be working more than a few hours a
week, and should NOT have major responsibility for a family, if they wish to
succeed with this challenging sequence.
IF students meet all these standards, they are good candidates
for the accelerated sequence.
