ONLINE PLACEMENT TESTING IN MATHEMATICS AND CHEMISTRY

Online placement examinations in mathematics and chemistry were administered to 626 entering freshmen on about 170 networked Macintosh computers in 21 different residence hall computer clusters and one public microcomputer lab. The testing occurred during orientation days in the fall of 1992 at Stanford University. This application report explains the reasons for doing this testing online, describes the technical basis of the testing system, presents a statistical analysis of student performance, and derives a plan for refining the tests based on data collected. The trial of online testing succeeded from a practical standpoint, and data analysis generated an empirically based plan for redesigning the tests. More generally, it showed how testing theory and practice fit seamlessly together in a networked environment.