Date of Award
8-2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department/Program
English
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Jessica Restaino
Committee Member
Emily Isaacs
Committee Member
Jonathan Greenberg
Abstract
The developmental English departmental mastery exam that all students who were placed into remedial English must pass before they can move to College English is problematic because of questionable reliability and validity. Additionally, it has unintended consequences for the courses that comprise the developmental English program at Fairway Community College. These consequences include though are not limited to: decreasing pass rates from developmental English to College English, curriculum that is negatively impacted by this assessment, and a complete disconnect between practice and theory in the classroom. After working through current assessment theories combined with best practices in basic writing, I recommend that Fairway adopt an epistemic rhetorical stance and clearly articulate it in order to create a more productive assessment measure to determine readiness for College English which, in turn, will positively impact curriculum.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Keane, Kelly Alanna, "Fairway Community College’s English Basic Skills Departmental Exam : Mastery Test Madness" (2010). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 897.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/897