Why “P” means Passing With 80% Competency

Some Background

Students who come through Basic Skills courses on their way to further education at MATC or any technical college in Wisconsin, need to be prepared for the higher academic levels they will encounter on their way to degree completion.  Students who plan to get a two-year degree must be academically prepared to enter and succeed in their programs.

To better assure this, the State has initiated a new plan (referred to as the Prepared Learner Initiative or PLI).  PLI courses are for students who are under-prepared to enter their college programs.  These PLI courses are what the State refers to as a  “thin layer” of course work that is inserted between Basic Skills and college courses. “Under-prepared” is determined at MATC by AccuPlacer scores.  Scores for two year programs are listed on the back of this sheet. The PLI courses qualify for Financial Aid.  They do not, however, qualify for credits toward any degree.

Before the Prepared Learner Initiative was put into place, students could get into college programs by  1) scoring appropriately on the AccuPlacer  or  2) completing level 3 Basic Skills course work and getting a letter of recommendation from the level 3 instructor(s).

Now, level 3 Basic Skills students can enter their college program only by scoring appropriately on the AccuPlacer.  Level 3 instructors may recommend students into PLI courses only.

Rationale

Since all two year programs require students take at least six credits of college English and all programs require some mathematics either as prerequisites or as college courses, the Math and English Departments have established standards for what “passing” means in the thin layer or PLI courses. 

In English, for example, students cannot go on to English college credit coursework unless they receive a minimum grade of “C” in GenENG 103.  For some students who score below requirements on the AccuPlacer for reading, a grade of “C” in GenREAD 105 is also the requirement for passing the course.  If students do not reach this minimum grade in their PLI courses, they cannot proceed to take the gen-ed courses that they need for college completion.

Therefore, to prepare Basic Skills students for the rigor they will encounter in this thin layer, that rigor meaning a grade of “C” in order to go on in a 2-year program, it is reasonable to require  80% success for each competency in each course in Basic Skills. Without strict adherence to standards at the Basic Skills level, students will be academically disadvantaged when they walk into the college classroom.  If students fail to accomplish a grade of “C” in a PLI course, their college careers are essentially over--unless  1)they re-take the PLI course that they did not pass or  2)re-take the AccuPlacer and pass with appropriate scores.