Placing Students in Writing Classes - One University’s Experience with a Modified Version of Directed Self Placement

Oct 15, 2026

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The article examines whether a First Year Writing placement system meets the needs of a diverse student body. Drawing on Directed Self Placement (DSP), the program adopts a modified approach and evaluates it quantitatively over several years. The authors collect and analyze data using regressions, searching for correlations between DSP placement outcomes and course grades, test scores, gender, race, and prior grades. Results indicate the modified DSP matrix does not predict writing success better than standardized test scores, so the method is not preferable.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background and competing goals for First Year Writing

Placement as a contentious research issue

Aim and evaluation of a modified DSP approach

CF 25: “Placing Students in Writing Classes” by Anne Balay and Karl Nelson Page 1 of 13 Composition Forum 25, Spring 2012 [http://compositionforum.com/issue/25/](http://compositionforum.com/issue/25/) Placing Students in Writing Classes: One University’s Experience with a Modified Version of Directed Self Placement [[http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=compforum](http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=compforum)] Anne Balay and Karl Nelson Abstract: This article discusses our university’s attempt to analyze whether our system of First Year Writing placement serves the needs of our diverse student body. The theory behind Directed Self Placement (DSP) is appealing, so our program adopted a modified version of it, and after several years, decided to evaluate it quantitatively. The authors, a First Year Writing professor anda psychologist trained in statistical analysis, teamed up to gather and analyze data. We sorted our sample by course grade, standardized test scores, gender, race, and prior course grades, running regressions and searching for correlations between these data and our DSP matrix. Our research shows that DSP in the modified form of our placement matrix does not predict student success as measured by First Year Writing grades as well as simple standardized test scores do. Though placing students using test scores alone has limitations, we conclude that DSP, at least in the simplified form in which we use it, does not correct for these limitations, and therefore is not preferable. Introduction Our campus is a regional branch of a large state university system. It finds itself with two competing goals, with First Year Writing poised at their intersection. The B.A. and B.S degrees that our university confers do not identify our regional branch, and thus are expected to meet the standards of the flagship institution. At the same time, we are under pressure to increase enrollment and to serve the needs of the local students, and thus we are a de facto open enrollment campus. We take pride in making educational opportunities available to a wide range of students, yet for our degree, and therefore our institution, to maintain its accreditation and reputation, we must also demonstrate that the education of our graduates is comparable to that of our other system schools. First Year Writing plays a crucial role in balancing these competing interests. One of its goals is to introduce students to collegiate ways of thinking, so that all students finish the first year ready to be college students. Those students who need extra time or help reaching this goal, then, need to spend more time in First Year Writing. Though none of what we have said so far is new, it raises problems that are still unresolved. How can students from widely diverse backgrounds, with extremely uneven degrees of preparation, all wind up “on the same page” in a semester, or even a year? Though we make placement decisions with the best of intentions, to what extent do they merely duplicate uneven prior educational opportunity? We admit students who come nowhere near “making the cut” at the flagship institution, yet if we don’t transform them in four years into the rough equivalent of those students, then we are taking their money and time under false pretenses. While it’s true that “[f] inancial concerns, image, and reputation are often the driving forces behind decisions that affect what actually takes place in education”(Singer 102), we cannot, in good conscience, ignore the role that race plays in this uneven preparation, and thus in placement and subsequent student success. First [http://compositionforum.com/issue/25/placing-students-modified-dsp.php](http://compositionforum.com/issue/25/placing-students-modified-dsp.php) CF 25: “Placing Students in Writing Classes” by Anne Balay and Karl Nelson Page 2 of 13 Year Writing needs to own its role in the sorting process we’ve been describing. In order to make

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the article?

To evaluate whether the university’s First Year Writing placement system, based on a modified Directed Self Placement (DSP), serves the needs of a diverse student population.

How do the authors evaluate the modified DSP placement?

They gather student data and run quantitative analyses, including regressions, to test correlations between placement matrix results and outcomes measured by First Year Writing grades and other indicators.

What do the research findings suggest about the modified DSP matrix?

In the modified form used, DSP does not predict student success in First Year Writing grades as well as simple standardized test scores.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by jayni