Assessment, Evaluation, and Testing

• MDC administers the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) - Life and Work 80 Reading Series and the 980 Listening forms for ESOL, and Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE).
• Prior to administration of the CASAS, the Oral Screening is administered to all incoming students to determine whether CASAS Form 981 or 983 will be used as the pre-test.  The oral screening process and questions is available via the CASAS website (CASAS Intake Screening Process).  Students who answer ALL oral screening questions correctly are tested on Form 983. For each of the six questions on the Oral Screening, a student can earn zero to two points. For accurate placement at the conclusion of the Oral Screening, please refer to the chart below:
  

  Oral Screening Guide – ESOL Program

  Oral Screening Results	Action to be taken
  0-5 points scored	Refer to a literacy program
  6-11 points scored	Pretest on Form 981
  12 points scored	Pretest on Form 983

• Students sign a departmental form which indicates that they have read and understood the procedures outlined below and receive a referral to take the CASAS entrance exam.
• In order for students to be eligible to register for an ESOL class, they must correctly answer a minimum of five (5) questions in Reading and five (5) questions in Listening.
• Students who do not answer five (5) questions correctly in a section will be required to repeat that section.
• Students must earn valid scores (170 or above on Form 981 or 186 or above on Form 983) to be placed.
• Students without valid scores need to retest no sooner than the next day and prior to enrollment or by the 100% refund date for the adult education term. These students may retest once on initial placement without being assessed a retesting fee.
• Initial placement and advancement is based on the lower of the two (reading and listening) valid scores. The Adult Education CASAS Post-Testing Chart is used for ESOL promotion assessment purposes, refer to Placement Criteria Appendix G.
• CASAS pre and post-test scores are valid for a period of one year.
  • Continuing students who stop out for a period of more than four (4) months must retake the CASAS pretest.  A retesting fee will be assessed.
  • New students who did not previously register with test scores of more than four months must retake the CASAS pretest.  A retesting fee will be assessed.
• Eligible students who do not meet the minimum placement criteria in the ESOL Course Placement Guide will be referred to other programs offered by the College [Refugee/Entrant Vocational Education Services Training (REVEST)], non-credit Intensive English, etc., or to programs offered by Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

The ESOL Course Placement Guide is used for placement in the ESOL Courses.

Notes:

• Level 1 students must be literate in their native language.
• EDU 061, EDU 062 and EDU 058 are used for Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE) and outreach classes.
• *Refer students who score 218 on the Listening pre-test to form 985 for a retest without a fee.      
• Placement will be based on the LOWER of the two scores.  

When a test administration results in a score that is lower than the allowable range for the Test level and form, the score is reported with a “1” followed by the lowest score value for the CASAS Level and Form. To assist with determining the correct out of range scores to report, refer to the CASAS OOR table in Placement Criteria Appendix G.  As of Summer 2023, there is no longer a difference between paper and online OOR scores.  Students with an out-of-range low or no score must be retested one time with a lower CASAS Level no sooner than the next day and prior to enrollment or by the 100% refund date for the adult education term without being assessed a retesting fee.  If the retest results in another OOR score, place student into the lowest valid level of the lower CASAS level test.

When a test administration results in a score that is higher than the allowable range for the Test Level and Form the score is reported with a “9” followed by the highest score value for the CASAS Level and Form. To assist with determining the correct out of range scores to report, refer to the CASAS OOR table in Placement Criteria Appendix G. As of Summer 2023, there is no longer a difference between paper and online OOR scores.  Students with an out-of-range high or no score must be retested one time with a higher CASAS Level no sooner than the next day and prior to enrollment or by the 100% refund date for the adult education term without being assessed a retesting fee.  If the retest results in another OOR score, place student into the highest valid level of the higher CASAS NRS level test.  For example, if a student tests with a form 981L easy difficulty form and gets an OOR High score, the student should retest at the medium difficulty level form.  To see the appropriate forms, OOR scores, and NRS levels, please refer to the NRS links in Appendix H (TABE Out-of-Range Low and High Score Reported and Re-testing Guide).

• Students transitioning from ESOL EDU 058 to other programs are tested following the procedures of their new selected program.
• EDU 064 is not offered at MDC since Spring 2020.