Policies

Multiple measures for placement establishes a hierarchy of measures that Stanly Community College will use to determine a student’s readiness for college-level courses.  This policy applies to an individual who has an official transcript from a high school that is legally authorized to operate in North Carolina or a high school curriculum that aligns with the same academic rigors outlined in the multiple measures for placement procedures.  The unweighted cumulative high school GPA is a valid measure for up to 5 years past the student’s graduation date.   For students who apply for admission before they graduate from high school, SCC will consider a student’s unweighted cumulative GPA at the end of the 1st semester of 12th grade or ACT/SAT test scores to determine placement.  

**The following measures will be used to determine students’ readiness for gateway college-level courses:

1. A recent high school graduate who meets the specified GPA benchmark will be exempt from diagnostic testing and will be considered “college-ready” for gateway math and English courses.

A student is considered “college-ready” for any gateway English or math course and any course that has DMA or DRE pre-requisites when that student has earned an unweighted high school GPA ≥ 2.6 and has completed 4 high school math courses, including Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II (or the Standard Course of Student equivalents) and one math class from the following:

• Advanced Functions and Modeling
• Analytical Geometry
• AP Statistics
• Calculus
• Discrete Mathematics
• Essentials for College Math (SREB – Math Ready)
• Integrated Mathematics IV
• IB Mathematics
• Mindset
• Pre-Calculus
• Probability and Statistics
• Trigonometry

2. If a recent high school graduate does not meet the GPA benchmark, the college will use specified ACT or SAT subject area test scores to determine placement.ACT and SAT scores are valid for 5 years. Official score transcripts must be received from the issuing institution, i.e., College Board, ACT, ETS.Scores indicating college-level readiness are:

• English 22 or ACT English; 18 or SAT Verbal/Writing: 500; or SAT Critical Reading: 500
• Math: ACT Math (22) or SAT Math (500)

3. If a recent high school graduate does not meet the GPA benchmark or have college-ready indicating ACT or SAT scores, SCC will administer the diagnostic test to determine placement.

4. If an applicant is not a recent high school graduate, and their previous test scores are no longer valid, and has not otherwise met pre-requisites for a course, SCC will administer the diagnostic test to determine placement.

**Multiple Measures (MM) for Placement was used for advising students registering for semesters prior to Spring of 2019.  The college began using the Reinforced Instruction for Student Excellence (RISE) model for course placement beginning with the Spring of 2019 semester.  Current students taking classes prior to the start of Spring of 2019, but continued at the college during the Spring of 2019 semester, were afforded the opportunity to continue with MM placement or be placed using RISE.  Students who started with the college in Spring of 2019 will be placed using RISE measures.  Please see the Placement Testing Rule for more information.

Revision: 10-19-2015 (procedures)