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THE
UILFORDIAN
Greensboro, N.C.
Volume 92, Issue 18
www.guilfordian.com
February 24
Guilford conducts testing for reaccredidation
Students and faculty react to standardized tests
Josh Cohen g Jonathan Phillips
Staff Writers
Guilford College's decision to
use standardized testing as a tool
of assessment during the
Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools (SACS) reaccredida
tion period is drawing fire from
some students and teachers. The
disagreement adds to the debate
between those for and against
standardized testing.
The school administered the
Compass e-Write test to English
102 students and the Collegiate
Assessment of Academic
Proficiency (CAAP) to students in
400 level IDS classes.
The Compass e-Write collected
writing samples using an open-
ended essay prompt and assigned
one overall score on a scale from 2
to 8.
The CAAP is a fill-in-the-bub-
ble-style test.
The system is designed to pro
vide feedback on student profi
ciency in areas such as content,
focus, organization, style and
mechanical conventions.
First-year Faith Josephs argued
against the standardized testing
after taking it in her English 102
course.
"I figured that the college
would have come up with a better
way to self-evaluate," Josephs
said. "Why do they need a com
puter-scored test to do it for
them?"
Guilford currently has no
internal testing method set to
meet the SACS' recommenda
tions.
"It would have taken years to
develop something that could be
nationally normed," said
Adrienne Israel, Vice President
and Academic Dean.
Thomas Coaxum, Director of
Institutional Research and
Assessment, said that Compass e-
Write was selected because it was
a popular choice amongst schools
and it had a fast return on testing
results.
"e-Write gave the instant analy
sis we needed," Coaxum said.
"The more schools you can
compare yourself with, then the
better you can see how you are
doing."
Coaxum stated that the exam
was not designed to be punitive or
invasive, but that it was about get
ting better.
"This is to see how we can
improve the way we teach," Israel
said. "It asks the college, 'how
have the students improved
because of them?"'
Coaxum said that one form of
evaluation is not a cure, and that
other areas of the college are being
assessed, including administra
tive and student support systems.
"You can over-do them," Israel
said. "They aren't the end of the
story."
Some of the tools used to assess
the college included alumni
surveys, exit interviews, portfo
lios, external review reports and
First-year Brian Bittner shows his distaste for standardized testing. Continued on page 3
CCE cyclist arrested
Megan Fell
Staff Writer
In the 10 issue of the Guilfordian,
Public Safety prau^^ an account cf the follouo-
ing confrontation. This article seehjo balance
that information with an account by the stu
dents who were involved.
Only two days after one student was
inivoiv^ in the "Gmensboro Seven" arrests,
Greensboro Police Department officers
handcuffed two more Guilford students
outside of the Qeenleaf.
The officers detained one traditional stu
dent for only a short period, but escorted a
CCE student in handcuffs from the
Greenle^ to New Garden hall.
The initial incident occurred when a
middle-aged woman driving a van encoun
tered the CCE student riding a bicycle.
During 5 p.m. traffic on West Friendly
Avenue they were forced into close proxim
ity.
In a telephone interview, the CCE stu
dent claimed that the woman was trying to
hit him. "You're too ft**ing close!" he yelled
at her closed window.
She rolled down her window to hear
what he was saying and stated that
the student spit inside her car and
Photo by Amelia Godfrey
yelled obscenities.
During the ensuing ride the two aligned,
with the van in front and the bike following
close behind. As they approached a stop
sign, the two vehicles collided, damaging
the van’s bumper.
After a verbal confrontation in the
Hechts parking lot, the CCE student felt
"terrified for my life" and left with the issue
of damage to the van unresolved.
The CCE student said he considered call
ing the police. However, he was afraid that
he might be arrested because he missed a
follow-up court date from a previous arrest.
Two weeks later on Feb. 2, the woman
and her husband were driving when she
spotted the CCE student and followed him
to Guilford College to resolve the issue of
the damage to their van.
When the couple lost track of him on the
way to the Greenleaf, they called the police
to find him.
The woman, followed by two GPD
officers, entered the building and identified
the CCE student as the biker. She recog
nized him by his tattoos and holes in his
pants.
When the student refused to show an ID,
the woman and the GPD accompanied
Continued on page 3
Kent Chabotar speaks
Nasimeh Easton
Staff Writer
Newton's First Law of Motion states that
a body in motion stays in motion. As
President Kent Chabotar says, Guilford is a
body in motion, and this movement for
ward has been evident in many changes
made on campus lately. In light of these
changes, Chabotar answi^ed a few ques
tions concerning issues brought up in pre
vious articles in the Guilfordian.
In a previous intemew, you said that
Guilford students are "different from their
social counterparts." How do you mean
that, exactly?
Well, actually I saidjjwo things. One is
that while wii're growing we're getting
more kinds of students. We're getting what
I call the J. Crew students who have the but
ton-down polos; we're getting more evan
gelical Christian students; we’re getting
more students who are socially active - so
all the kinds of students are embraced. But
we're still predominantly what I would call
the classic Guilford student, which is some
body who has a social conscience, someone
who wants to make a difference and is very
concerned with things like war, environ
ment, social justice and poverty.
So you think the traditional Guilford
Photo by Jeremy Bante
student is very socially conscious?
. But that sounds too earthy-crunchy. It's
just that they're connected with the outside
world more so than other schools are to
their fraternity, or going out to the bar. And
that’s great! It’s nice to be known for some
thing.
Do you think that as Guilford's student
body expands, advertising for the school
will change, and it will be less about
appealing to that niche?
Well, you have to look and see how
Guilford advertised itself before. There was
always a wide variety of students. I don’t
think you're going to see year-to-year
changes that are really going to be signifi
cant, except seeing more people not like
you, whoever you are. If you're white,
you'll see more non-whites. If you're
Catholic, you'll see more non-Catholics. If
you're (^aker, you'll see more non-
Quakers. It's going to be more diverse -
that's the way the world's going!
There's been talk of Guilford main
streaming lately, what with the standard
ized tests being given and such. Do you
think that's true?
The standardized tests are part of reac
credidation. CXir accrediting body likes to
Continued on page 2