X Test Information Guide: College-Level Examination Program® 2015-16 Introductory Sociology © 2015 The College Board. All rights reserved. College Board, College-Level Examination Program, CLEP, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board. CLEP TEST INFORMATION fees. Exams are administered at military installations GUIDE FOR INTRODUCTORY worldwide through computer-based testing programs. Approximately one-third of all CLEP candidates are SOCIOLOGY military service members. History of CLEP 2014-15 National CLEP Candidates by Age* Since 1967, the College-Level Examination Program ® Under 18 (CLEP ) has provided over six million people with 11% the opportunity to reach their educational goals. CLEP participants have received college credit for 30 years and older 18-22 years knowledge and expertise they have gained through 24% prior course work, independent study or work and 43% life experience. 23-29 years Over the years, the CLEP examinations have evolved 22% to keep pace with changing curricula and pedagogy. Typically, the examinations represent material taught * These data are based on 100% of CLEP test-takers who responded to this in introductory college-level courses from all areas survey question during their examinations. of the college curriculum. Students may choose from 33 different subject areas in which to demonstrate 2014-15 National CLEP Candidates by Gender their mastery of college-level material. Today, more than 2,900 colleges and universities recognize and grant credit for CLEP. 41% Philosophy of CLEP Promoting access to higher education is CLEP’s foundation. CLEP offers students an opportunity to 59% demonstrate and receive validation of their college-level skills and knowledge. Students who achieve an appropriate score on a CLEP exam can enrich their college experience with higher-level Computer-Based CLEP Testing courses in their major field of study, expand their horizons by taking a wider array of electives and The computer-based format of CLEP exams allows avoid repetition of material that they already know. for a number of key features. These include: • a variety of question formats that ensure effective CLEP Participants assessment CLEP’s test-taking population includes people of all • real-time score reporting that gives students and ages and walks of life. Traditional 18- to 22-year-old colleges the ability to make immediate credit- students, adults just entering or returning to school, granting decisions (except College Composition, high-school students, home-schoolers and which requires faculty scoring of essays twice a international students who need to quantify their month) knowledge have all been assisted by CLEP in • a uniform recommended credit-granting score of earning their college degrees. Currently, 59 percent 50 for all exams of CLEP’s National (civilian) test-takers are women • “rights-only” scoring, which awards one point per and 46 percent are 23 years of age or older. correct answer For over 30 years, the College Board has worked to • pretest questions that are not scored but provide provide government-funded credit-by-exam current candidate population data and allow for opportunities to the military through CLEP. Military rapid expansion of question pools service members are fully funded for their CLEP exam 2 CLEP TIG - Introductory Sociology • XPP • 82876-005784 • Dr01 3/11/10 ta • Dr02 3/25/10 ta • New Job 89842-005784 Dr01 8/10/11 ta • Revs 8/26/11 ta • New Job 95730-005784 • Dr01 9/11/12 ta • Preflight 9/24/12 ta • New job 105850-005784 • Dr01 9/29/14 ta • Draft02 10/17/14 ta • Preflight 10/27/14 ta • Dr02 11/23/15 ta CLEP Exam Development The Committee Content development for each of the CLEP exams The College Board appoints standing committees of is directed by a test development committee. Each college faculty for each test title in the CLEP battery. committee is composed of faculty from a wide Committee members usually serve a term of up to variety of institutions who are currently teaching four years. Each committee works with content the relevant college undergraduate courses. The specialists at Educational Testing Service to establish committee members establish the test specifications test specifications and develop the tests. Listed based on feedback from a national curriculum below are the current committee members and their survey; recommend credit-granting scores and institutional affiliations. standards; develop and select test questions; review statistical data and prepare descriptive material for Dani Allred Smith, Fisk University use by faculty (Test Information Guides) and students Chair planning to take the tests (CLEP Official Study Guide). Rebecca Bordt DePauw University College faculty also participate in CLEP in other David Eitle Montana State University ways: they convene periodically as part of standard-setting panels to determine the The primary objective of the committee is to produce recommended level of student competency for the tests with good content validity. CLEP tests must be granting of college credit; they are called upon to rigorous and relevant to the discipline and the write exam questions and to review exam forms; and appropriate courses. While the consensus of the they help to ensure the continuing relevance of the committee members is that this test has high content CLEP examinations through the curriculum surveys. validity for a typical Introductory Sociology course or curriculum, the validity of the content for a The Curriculum Survey specific course or curriculum is best determined The first step in the construction of a CLEP exam is locally through careful review and comparison of a curriculum survey. Its main purpose is to obtain test content, with instructional content covered in a information needed to develop test-content particular course or curriculum. specifications that reflect the current college curriculum and to recognize anticipated changes in The Committee Meeting the field. The surveys of college faculty are The exam is developed from a pool of questions conducted in each subject every few years depending written by committee members and outside question on the discipline. Specifically, the survey gathers writers. All questions that will be scored on a CLEP information on: exam have been pretested; those that pass a rigorous • the major content and skill areas covered in the statistical analysis for content relevance, difficulty, equivalent course and the proportion of the course fairness and correlation with assessment criteria are devoted to each area added to the pool. These questions are compiled by • specific topics taught and the emphasis given to test development specialists according to the test each topic specifications, and are presented to all the committee members for a final review. Before convening at a • specific skills students are expected to acquire and two- or three-day committee meeting, the members the relative emphasis given to them have a chance to review the test specifications and • recent and anticipated changes in course content, the pool of questions available for possible inclusion skills and topics in the exam. • the primary textbooks and supplementary learning resources used • titles and lengths of college courses that correspond to the CLEP exam 3 CLEP TIG - Introductory Sociology • XPP • 82876-005784 • Dr01 3/11/10 ta • Dr02 3/25/10 ta • New Job 89842-005784 Dr01 8/10/11 ta • Revs 8/26/11 ta • New Job 95730-005784 • Dr01 9/11/12 ta • Preflight 9/24/12 ta • New job 105850-005784 • Dr01 9/29/14 ta • Draft02 10/17/14 ta • Preflight 10/27/14 ta • Dr02 11/23/15 ta At the meeting, the committee determines whether Recommendation of the American the questions are appropriate for the test and, if not, Council on Education (ACE) whether they need to be reworked and pretested again to ensure that they are accurate and The American Council on Education’s College unambiguous. Finally, draft forms of the exam are Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT) reviewed to ensure comparable levels of difficulty and has evaluated CLEP processes and procedures for content specifications on the various test forms. The developing, administering and scoring the exams. committee is also responsible for writing and Effective July 2001, ACE recommended a uniform developing pretest questions. These questions are credit-granting score of 50 across all subjects (with administered to candidates who take the examination additional Level-2 recommendations for the world and provide valuable statistical feedback on student language examinations), representing the performance under operational conditions. performance of students who earn a grade of C in the corresponding course. Every test title has a Once the questions are developed and pretested, minimum score of 20, a maximum score of 80 and a tests are assembled in one of two ways. In some cut score of 50. However, these score values cannot cases, test forms are assembled in their entirety. be compared across exams. The score scale is set so These forms are of comparable difficulty and are that a score of 50 represents the performance therefore interchangeable. More commonly, expected of a typical C student, which may differ questions are assembled into smaller, from one subject to another. The score scale is not content-specific units called testlets, which can then based on actual performance of test-takers. It is be combined in different ways to create multiple test derived from the judgment of a panel of experts forms. This method allows many different forms to (college faculty who teach an equivalent course) be assembled from a pool of questions. who provide information on the level of student performance that would be necessary to receive Test Specifications college credit in the course. Test content specifications are determined primarily Over the years, the CLEP examinations have been through the curriculum survey, the expertise of the adapted to adjust to changes in curricula and committee and test development specialists, the pedagogy. As academic disciplines evolve, college recommendations of appropriate councils and faculty incorporate new methods and theory into conferences, textbook reviews and other appropriate their courses.