All daytime classes will be cancelled on Thursday, November 12. Students will participate in a wide variety of assessment activities including proficiency testing. Faculty, students and administrators have worked with the Board of Regents to select the proficiency exam and to set the minimum required scores. The Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP), produced by ACT, was selected as the proficiency exam. The CAAP consists of four multiple-choice exams in science reasoning, math, reading and writing skills. Students must meet the minimum score requirements in all four areas. Students who fail one or more of the exams will be not be allowed to re-enroll in any regental institution without a remediation plan in place. Cecelia Wittmayer, Acting Academic Vice-President and Provost at DSU said "It is critical that students make a good-faith effort on the CAAP exams for several reasons: 1)In many majors, student performance becomes part of their application into the major’s professional courses/program. 2) It is an indicator faculty advisors can use to help guide the student’s academic and career goals. 3) It is directly tied to financial support from the Board of Regents."

Additional information about the exams and sample questions are available on the DSU Assessment Web site http://www.departments.dsu.edu/assessment

The Assessment Office has notified all students who will sit for the exam this fall. DSU faculty will hold information sessions for these students in Sneakers at the Trojan Center at the following times:

Monday, November 2nd at 4:00 pm
Tuesday, November 3rd at 10:00 am
Thursday, November 5th at 12:00 noon

DSU Students’ Performance on the CAAP Tests

For the past five years, DSU’s average CAAP scores have compared favorably with the average scores of students from other four-year public universities around the country. The CAAP scores of DSU students are also compared to their ACT scores to determine how much value the university has added to their education. The percentage gains in achievement of DSU students are compared to gains by students with similar ACT scores attending other universities. DSU students showed a higher percentage gain in writing, math and science and an equal percentage gain in reading when compared to the reference group.

DSU students can use the proficiency information as one means of showing future employers how they compare to students from around the country!

DSU Seniors Can Show Their Stuff!

DSU graduates also have an opportunity to compare themselves to students from around the nation. All candidates for graduation complete assessment activities specific to their major. For example, business graduates take the standardized test in business produced by Educational Testing Services. Information from these tests can be used to validate students’ expertise. In addition, future employers can see how DSU grads compare to other grads. Rick Christoph, Dean of the College of Business and Information Systems said, "We are assessing DSU students’ knowledge compared to the rest of the nation. Recruiters will respect this type of data and use it to better understand DSU graduates and their skills compared to their peers."