IRP: Research Roundtable

About This Event

Research Roundtable is back for another semester! This is a casual, welcoming space where faculty, staff, and administrators come together to read and discuss higher education research. 

This semester’s theme: Placement Testing
We’ll explore scholarship on placement testing practices and their impact on student success. Our December session will be especially exciting—we’ll be discussing a paper written by our very own Dr. Jessie Oehrlein!

When: Fridays at 12 - 1 p.m. on October 10, November 7,  and December 5. Feel free to bring your lunch!

Our first paper: Affordances and Limitations of the ACCUPLACER Automated Writing Placement Tool. 

Hughes and Li (2019) explores both the strengths and challenges of using ACCUPLACER for writing placement. The authors note that the tool offers important benefits—such as efficiency, consistency, and scalability—which make it especially valuable for institutions serving large and diverse student populations. At the same time, they point out that automated systems may not fully capture the depth of student writing, particularly in areas like argumentation or rhetorical awareness. To best support students, the authors suggest that ACCUPLACER can be most effective when paired with complementary approaches, such as human review or portfolio assessments, to provide a more complete picture of students’ abilities. NOTE: this is a short paper to set the tone for the next two meetings - it's a great starting point!

Who should join?
Anyone interested in higher education research or best practices, regardless of background or expertise. Whether you’ve been reading scholarly articles for years or are just beginning, your perspective is valuable. The hope is that participants read the full paper, but the expectation is at least the abstract (and if possible, the introduction and conclusion) are read.

We look forward to seeing you at the table—come curious, come hungry, and bring your unique perspective!

Location TBD