By Lookout Staff

September 30, 2013 – Santa Monica College has won a prestigious award for innovative assessment practices that “improve student success and create institutional change,” college officials announced last week.

The annual “Promising Outcomes Work and Exemplary Research (POWER) Award for Excellence in Assessment: Leading Change” will be presented to SMC’s Assessment Center’s Prep2Test program, which helps students prepare for placement exams in math and English.

The college will receive the award from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and the Research & Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) at the Strengthening Student Success Conference October 9 and 10 in San Francisco.

Since it was launched in 2011, the Prep2Test program has helped increase the percentage of students placing into college-level math and English courses by approximately 9 percent, according to SMC officials.

“Prep2Test is a scalable program that can be adapted fairly easily and economically at other colleges,” said Teresita Rodriguez, vice president of Enrollment Development for SMC.

The Prep2Test program includes two online videos that help students prepare for the placement tests officials said.

A 6.5-minute video “explains the importance of the placement exam and the consequences of not preparing, and introduces students to exam formats and strategies for a successful testing experience,” college officials said.

An accompanying 45-minute video “gives students a clear orientation to placement tests.”

The Prep2Test program was developed through a partnership between SMC and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

The Santa Monica College team included Esau Tovar, faculty leader and counselor at the Assessment Center; Joshua Casillas, a student services specialist; Kiersten Elliott, Dean of Enrollment Services; Roberto Gonzalez, Dean of Student Success Initiatives, and Jim Serikawa, a media services specialist

The RP Group stresses the importance of assessment in the performance of both students and institutions.

“Outcomes assessment directs our instructional, student service, and administrative unit work by clearly describing and documenting the student knowledge, skills, abilities, and beliefs as a result of student learning activities and service interactions,” the organization states on its website.

For information visit the SMC Assessment Center’s website www.smc.edu/assessment or call 310.434.4012.