Press Release
June 3, 2009
Cowley students exceeding the national average on CAAP test
With Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) scores being
an important part of Cowley College’s Performance Agreement with
the Kansas Board of Regents, Cowley students are scoring above the
national average on all three tests.
Although graduating groups in summer and fall could change the data,
Cowley is currently ahead of schedule in the reading, writing, and mathematics
tests, based on targets and directional improvement.
Cowley implemented the policy in 2005 that all students seeking an AA,
AS, or AGS degree take the CAAP test offered by ACT during their final
semester prior to graduation. The CAAP test is a nationally recognized
measurement of outcomes in core subject areas.
With concern that the targets were becoming increasingly hard to meet,
Cowley students’ scores on the CAAP test have risen from this time
last year. Actually, Cowley’s scores have gone up each year since
they began the CAAP assessment.
The most drastic improvement so far has come in the area of writing as
Cowley was nearly 10 percent above the target on the Performance Agreement.
Cowley has also been strongly above average in the percentage of students
exceeding the national average in mathematics, and above average in reading.
“This is an indication of both student learning and faculty success in
their teaching in the classroom,” Cowley vice president of academic affairs
Slade Griffiths said.
The test is not only taken by community college students, it is taken
by students at all colleges, including four-year universities.
According to Charles McKown, vice president of research and technology,
the CAAP test would catch schools if they were making classes easier
for students to pass just so they could graduate the students.
“This validates our curriculum to some extent and proves we did not water
it down just to get them through it,” McKown said. “It is pretty
impressive in my opinion.”
Here is the Spring 2009 CAAP data:
- READING
156 of 251 Cowley students tested exceeded the national average. This is 62.1%. Target on performance agreement is 60.0%.
- WRITING
163 of 251 Cowley students tested exceeded the national average. This is 64.9%. Target on performance agreement is 55.0% - MATHEMATICS
190 of 251 Cowley students tested exceeded the national average. This is 75.7%. Target on performance agreement is 72.5%.