Overview of Guided Self Placement

The ASCCC paper on The Basics of Self Placement Download The Basics of Self Placement

provides an overview of the process and the paper An Introduction to Guided Self Placement (GSP) Download An Introduction to Guided Self Placement (GSP) discusses the research basis from various studies. Clicking on the title downloads the papers and clicking on the camera icon provides a preview; both are available in the resources at the end of this module.

This page describes the basics of Guided Self Placement from a holistic approach that empowers students to consider and make informed educational decisions. The tabs discuss important factors to consider and evaluate regarding student self-agency, a high impact strategy that contributes to student engagement, retention and success as reported in numerous articles on the final page of resources.

Navigate through this page by clicking on the tabs below this paragraph including career counseling, selecting majors, clarifying educational goals, selecting English/ESL courses and mathematics courses, identifying the appropriate general education and applying placement rules. These tabs explore potential steps a college could create to provide information to enable students to make an INFORMED education plan to guide their course choices.

Career Counseling and Exploration

Students should be informed about the difference between degrees, certificates, transfer and professional degrees and be provided an opportunity to explore their interests and potential employment options. This process could begin by having the students fill out the student educational interests and background survey Download student educational interests and background survey

and review various websites available for career exploration. Some colleges have organized program choices into clusters or metamajors to allow students a broader look at potential options and more opportunity to explore before landing on a specific program goal. The following webpages allow students to explore career options on their own:

Students should consider many aspects of their lives as they begin this journey including: interests, potential wages, skills, life values, personality, benefits, locations, employment trends, long term plans, personal responsibilities and what they love. A student will then select an INFORMED education goal.

Metamajor or Major Selection

Looking at educational goals from a pathway perspective generally requires that students select a Metamajor and Major to help clarify the Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning and GE Pathways. Please note, not all colleges will create metamajors and not all will call them metamajors, we use this as shorthand for clustering majors together in any format.

Colleges should list the desired mathematics pathways by metamajors and/or programs for students to reference. Some colleges have an exploratory pathways that exposes the undecided to students to intentional coursework that enables them to select a program going forward. Examples of the sample metamajors that align with mathematics or quantitative reasoning courses are in the table below. (These are only examples and may be different for your college).

A student will then select an INFORMED education goal.

Clarification of Educational Goal

The next step in the process is to help students develop an INFORMED goal. Students should select their ultimate educational pathway aligned to their career and interest aspirations. Does the student need or desire an immediate career certificate, a scaffolded certificate to degree pathway, a local or transfer degree? If the intent is to continue their education beyond a certificate or an associate degree at some time in the future, this will influence current course-taking, even if the student’s short-term goal is to complete a certificate or associate degree and get a job.

Selection of English/ESL and Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning Pathways

Colleges should provide sample coursework for transfer level composition courses including examples from integrated reading, writing, English as a Second Language (ESL), or other appropriate coursework. In addition, sample mathematics work for entry level skills beginning with the graduation requirements for quantitative reasoning, career technical courses and sequential mathematics courses, should be provided, recognizing students may enter higher than the entry level courses based upon previous work. These samples do not serve as an evaluative measure, but rather to provide details for the students to select a placement, get brush up work done before class, and consider the time commitment and expectations of courses and programs.

Identification of Appropriate General Education Pathways

General Education pathways are confusing for students and faculty as the requirements differ based upon local and transfer degrees as well as the final destination institution. The California State Universities (CSU) and University of California (UC) requirements do not align well. If students have a potential target institution for transfer this may inform more detail on their general education pathway. They should also begin to consider their future goals for advanced educational degrees and/or employment. This area is very specific to the college's curricular offerings and the student's transcript information. It is beneficial for a student considering transfer to a CSU or private institution to review an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) Links to an external site. and CSU Breadth requirements Links to an external site.. Students hoping to transfer to a UC should follow Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) Links to an external site., UC Pathways Links to an external site. for popular majors and a speak to counselors about guaranteed Transfer Agreements or TAGs Links to an external site..

Review of Student Data and Course Requirements

Many would like to see placement handled by a technological tool or simple formula, but Toth (2019) warns that colleges should not seek a “tool” to place students, because: “Directed Self Placement is not a single procedure, product, or algorithm, but rather a set of principles grounded in student choice that can be implemented in a variety of ways with varying consequences in local contexts. Those implementations often evolve over time as student bodies and curricula change and as new technologies and theoretical insights emerge.”

Students should review previous coursework in high school, at other colleges or through testing

Students should examine their High School GPA
Students should review any AP, CLEP or other diagnostic testing scores e.g. EAP, SAT, ACT, etc
Students should review completed coursework in English, English as a Second Language (ESL) and Mathematics

Colleges should share clear maps of their placement processes including any data related to success rates. The next part of the module addresses the need for colleges to align communication, webpages and placement processes. Course information relevant to student choice and career pathway should be clear as well as a description of the course and any supports provided. In lieu of of creating placement rules based on local student populations, some colleges have chosen to implement the Default Placement Guidelines. While other colleges have developed local placement rules based upon their curriculum, programs and student education goals. Examples of local placement rules in the GSP process are included at the end of this module. Regardless of the placement model colleges choose, research needs to verify that these processes are serving local student populations.

Click here to go to the next page of the module Evaluating the Effectiveness of your GSP and Onboarding