Presented By Dr. Nicole A. Buzzetto-More

1. Maryland state department of education professional development workshop for business educators JULY, 2012, Baltimore, md THE CLEP IS HERE ARE YOU READY: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS Presented By Dr. Nicole A. Buzzetto-More Associate Professor and Program Chair University of Maryland Eastern Shore Director MSDE Program Affiliate for Business, Management, and Finance Fellow, Informing Science Institute

2. CURRENT INITIATIVE To increase the rigor of CTE programs of study so as to better prepare students for careers and college as well as to help provide students with industry certification and transcripted college credits. Business CLEP Exams

3. CREDIT-BASED TRANSITION PROGRAMS. • Allowing high school students to take college courses or earn college credit through national exams while in high school. • Traditionally geared to high-achieving students, in recent years, the value in to middle performing or even lower-performing students has been recognized (Baily and Karp, 2003).

4. BENEFITS OF COLLEGE BASED TRANSITIONING PROGRAMS Baily and Karp (2003): • Prepare students for the academic rigors of college • Improve motivation through high expectations • Lower the cost of postsecondary education for students • Make college feel more attainable to students • Increase student retention

5. CLEP POLICY REVIEW • We have examined the CLEP acceptance policy at MD Community Colleges as well as University System of MD Schools. • We did not examine private institutions; however, this is an area worthy of investigation. • We looked at the 4 Main Business CLEP exams and investigated: • whether the exam was accepted, • the required score in order to earn credit, • number of credits that could be earned, and • the course equivalent

6. CLEP AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES

9. ARE THERE STRATEGIES THAT WILL HELP YOU PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE CLEP?

10. STRATEGIES • At the beginning of the year discuss with students the Major Concepts on the CLEP Exam your students will be taking • Lets consider the CLEP Management Exam • The following information can be found in the State curriculum and is also available from the CLEP company.

12. THE CLEP EXAM IS A MULTI-CHOICE TEST. • It primarily looks at a test-takers ability to define concepts with a minimal amount of application. • As such, you want to build your students vocabulary. • Solutions • Create a glossary of terms. • Have weekly vocabulary words (treat them the way SAT terms are treated) • Introduce a CLEP question of the day

13. There are lots of ways to create your glossary of terms • Use your knowledge, the CLEP Review Book, The Glossary in your text book, Knowledge of the test etcetera. • There are some great flashcard websites that already have free downloadable CLEP exam flashcards/glossary terms available • http://www.flashcardmachine.com/ • http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards • A sample list of glossary terms (see handout) has been prepared that offers 250 concepts/terms that a student should know in order to pass the CLEP Principles of Management exam.

14. SAMPLE GLOSSARY PAGE WITH DEFINITIONS

15. At 10 or so Intervals Throughout the Term Assign 25 of the Glossary Terms to Be Defined By the Students, Correct and Grade this work. • Review the concepts again after you hand the work back to the students • Use examples and/or visuals as applicable. • Think about Cognitive Flexibility • Learning activities must provide multiple representations of content.

16. DON’T MAKE THE TEST A STRANGER • Do not wait until the last unit to be in the test prep process. • Think about how the SAT is handled and treat it the same with constant concept reviewand weekly vocabulary words. • Introduce a CLEP question of the day each time you meet. • Group the daily questions into CLEP questions of the week. • Give mini-practice tests throughout the term to eliminate test anxiety • Make sure you go over them once they are completed question by question. • At the end of the first and second quarters give a mini practice CLEP exam that you prepare to coincide with concepts covered thus far • At the end of the 3rd term give a full practice CLEP • Make it fun and important! Stay positive- this test is passable.

17. When you reach the end of the term it is time to deliver a CLEP Review Unit • Example unit broken down into 6 lessons

18. 6 LESSON CLEP REVIEW UNIT • Lesson 1 Procedures- • About the CLEP Exam, • Review of Major Concepts on the CLEP Exam, • Test Taking Tips, • Distribute Glossary Worksheet-let students begin in class and assign as homework, • Decrease the number of concepts to a manageable number, • Require Students to Complete by Hand (kinesthetic), • Format it differently than any previous worksheets (abstraction of concepts as is done on test), • Present Resources to Help Them Complete Glossary including their own previously completed vocabulary/glossary sheets

19. Lesson 2 Procedures- • Students Take Practice CLEP Exam • Question Review of Practice CLEP • List is made of concepts that were problematic for the group • Discussion of problematic concepts and/or misunderstood questions

20. Lesson 3 Procedures- • Jeopardy Game • Have students compete in a Jeopardy tournament. • Develop a bracket system. • Offer prizes such as free lunch, extra credit points, candy, etcetera • There are a number of great free tools for creating an electronic jeopardy game. Simple ones can be made in PowerPoint; however, there are services that offer a much more interactive experience. • Jeopardy Labs is a free service you can use to create your own online Jeopardy game. Jeopardy Labs provides a blank template on which to build your game. When completed your game is given its one unique url. Post that url on your blog, wiki, or website and anyone can then play your game

21. Lesson 4 Procedures- • Students Submit Completed Glossary • Distribute glossary answer key • Have students grade each other’s work • Students Take 2nd Practice CLEP Exam • Question Review of Practice CLEP

22. Lesson 5 Procedures- • Classroom Quiz Bowl: • Small Teams of students compete in a traditional quiz bowl trivia tournament using a combination of question types • If class is large, when not participating assign students different roles asking questions, judging/checking responses, score keeping, etcetera. Have students rotate these roles and keep everyone participating. • Make sure to include problematic topics • This is a fun way to interact with concepts that will hopefully increase understanding and help create meaningful connections

23. Lesson 6 Procedures- • Students Take 3nd Practice CLEP Exam • Question Review of Practice CLEP • List is made of concepts that were problematic for the group • Current list compared against previous list (students can see how much better the class is doing) • Discussion of problematic concepts (what are the remaining misconceptions?)

24. SUGGESTION, SET UP ONSITE CLEP TESTING CENTER. • Allows exam to be taken in a less intimidating and more familiar setting. • Cuts down the cost of the exam because you will not have to pay the mark up commonly charged by test centers

25. THE CURRICULA • All content is purposeful. • Either it is covered on the CLEP or MOS, aligns with the entry level higher-ed course in that area, or satisfies another larger initiative. • http://www.BusinessEducationMSDE.com • Business Administrative Services • Accounting • Business Administration and Management • Marketing • Please note, MBEA website does not have State Approved curricula on their site.

26. BMF PROGRAMS - WHERE WE STARTED • No curriculum consistency • High enrollment - low completion • No formal student performance standards • No validated assessment instruments • Most programs did not align with 4-yr expectations • Difficult to develop articulation agreements with 4-yr institutions • Early attempt at VSC (term not being used now) was not rigorous and/or did not align with either assessment or higher ed expectations