Placement Assessment

Policy: STSV204
Contact: cpleasants@spscc.edu
Steward: Director of K12 Partnerships & Recruitment
Last Revised: 10 Jun 2026
Effective: 22 May 2023
Purpose: Placement assessment is how the college determines the appropriate level of English and math placement for a student. Placement is made through evaluation of a variety of measures with preference given to the SBCTC Reciprocity statewide policy, any previous coursework completion or qualifying exam scores. When needed, or if desired by the student, placement can also be made via other diagnostics starting with the Guided Self Placement for English and/or math. Actively enrolled Dual Credit students cannot use Guided Self Placement for math placement.
Applies to: Students enrolling in math and English courses, taking courses with a math or Englishprerequisite, or pursuing a certificate or degree. CASAS testing for ABE or ESOL placement isadministered by the SPSCC Assessment Center.

Policy

The college provides multiple assessment options to determine the academic placement of students into pre-college and college-level courses. A student who qualifies for entry into college-level math, English, or reading, either through course completion or local skills assessment, will be considered to have met the entry college-level standard at every community and technical college. Students requesting reciprocity must initiate the process within one year of their initial placement assessment. Other placement options may have longer periods of applicability or no expiration.

Procedures

Admissions: Placement Options

 

There are four areas of placement review provided by the Assessment Center at SPSCC:

  1. Placement Reciprocity: If a student has completed a placement test at another Washington State community or technical college within the last calendar year, they can request placement at SPSCC based on reciprocity. This will place the student at the equivalent level of the originating college.
  2. Document Review: Prospective and current students can submit recent high school transcripts, college transcripts, Academic Credit for Prior Learning documents or recent assessment test scores for placement review in math and English. The Assessment Center can use official or unofficial documents for placement. More detailed information about the types of documents and time limits can be found on the Placement Options webpage.
  3. Guided Self Placement: If a prospective student does not have recent transcripts or test scores for evaluation, they can take the Guided Self Placement (GSP). GSP is not proctored and is completed online once a student has applied and activated their student accounts. GSP provides a placement recommendation that a student can accept or request placement at a different level depending on the GSP they complete. Actively enrolled high school students do not have the option to use Math GSP or SEM Math GSP for placement.
  4. Placement Testing: If a student does not have any eligible placement documents, is a dual credit high school student or looking to take standalone college math courses without precollege instruction support they are welcome to take the appropriate level Math W AMAP exam. Placement testing is not needed for English as all students are eligible to take English Guided Self Placement.

 

Milestone Entry

 

Placement for math and English is recorded in ctcLink using Milestones. In order to have documents reviewed for Milestones, students must submit their documentation to the Placement Request form on the SPSCC Placement webpage. Placement requests, GSP results and placement tests are processed within five (5) business days. Students are notified of placement via Navigate 360. Milestones are viewable to the student and all Student Services staff in ctcLink.

 

Assessment and Placement Procedures for Transition Studies

 

ABE
New students and students returning after an absence of two or more quarters must complete a National Reporting System (NRS) placement assessment (CASAS) in reading and/or math. The placement must be completed before enrolling in classes. Returning students need to complete a CASAS post-test to re-enroll in ABE Language Arts or math classes for the upcoming quarter or have a valid CASAS test score less than 6 months old. The course instructor may recommend a different level in the first few weeks of the quarter as follows:

  • If a student places in ABE on the college GSP: administer CASAS assessments to determine placement in ABE.
  • If a student wants to enroll in an ABE course: The student must demonstrate eligibility for ABE levels by taking CASAS assessments and scoring within those levels.


ESOL
New English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students and students returning after being out of the program for two or more quarters must complete a National Reporting System (NRS) placement assessment (CASAS) in reading. Students must also complete an oral screening and writing assessment. The placement must be completed before enrolling in classes.
Returning students need to complete a CASAS post-test to re-enroll in ESOL classes for the upcoming quarter or have a valid CASAS test score less than 6 months old. The course instructor may recommend a different level in the first few weeks of the quarter.


HSC
High School+ (HS+) and GED Preparation students do not need to take the CASAS test. Students may be asked to complete the ABE Guided Self-Placement to determine if they need ABE classes before enrolling in the High School+ or GED Preparation classes. Students should place in ABE level 4 or higher in order to enroll in High School+ or GED Preparation classes. If students place in ABE level 3 or below, they may enroll in math and must complete a a National
Reporting System (NRS) placement test (CASAS) in math test.


I-BEST
Integrated Basic Education & Skills & Training (I-BEST) students are placed into I-BEST classes based on their SPSCC Guided Self-Placement (GSP) placement. I-BEST qualification is based on ABE or pre-college placement. Students who have taken ABE or ESOL classes are coded as ABE I-BEST. Students who place into pre-college math or English are coded as DEVED I-BEST.

 

References:
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