The Client
North-West College in Pasadena, California, prepares students in short-term courses for exciting careers in the medical and business fields.
The college offers programs for pharmacy technician, medical assistant, medical insurance biller (billing), dental assistant, eyecare specialist (optometric technician), medical receptionist, medical administrative assistant, paralegal, computerized accounting specialist and computer information specialist.
NWC courses are conducted by professional faculty. The college employs qualified administration and knowledgeable support staff. Students are accepted on their ability to benefit without regard for race, color or creed. Faculty and staff are chosen with the same non-discriminatory criteria, providing a charming, ethnically mixed staff who provide a professional career oriented educational experience, with enthusiastic support for all students in a multi-cultural environment.
The college currently has four campuses, 105 faculty and more than 30,000 students.
The Solution
The Wonderlic Basic Skills Test for the Ability to Benefit program (WBST/ATB): This forty-minute timed test measures basic math and verbal skills of Northwest College applicants who do not have high school diplomas or GEDs.If they pass the Wonderlic Basic Skills Test, which has been approved by the U.S. Department of Education to determine student eligibility for Federal funding under the Title IV of HEA (1965) "Ability-to-benefit" program, applicants who do not have proof of high school equivalency can participate in a higher education programs at Northwest college.
As part of an intensive interview process, the WBST helps Northwest College effectively identify the skills of each applicant, regardless of their high school graduation status.
Based on their test scores, administrators can guide applicants to the best program for their abilities and goals, ensuring a high success rate among students.
Scholastic Level Exam (SLE): The SLE has proven to be a better predictor of training success than grade point average, level of education and special skills. This is because the test identifies an individual’s capacity for learning, as well as the ability to apply knowledge.The SLE is a 12-minute test that can be administered in individual or group settings. The complete process, including scoring and interpretation, takes only about 15 minutes.
North-West College and Wonderlic Change Students’ Lives
North-West College is in the business of helping people change their lives. The California-based institution reaches out to students who may not otherwise have gone to college, and prepares them for medical and business careers. And for the past 18 years, Wonderlic has been a vital piece of that process.
Every one of the 30,000 students who attend classes at one of North-West’s four campuses took a Wonderlic test in their application process. The tests are used to evaluate their overall skills and to match them with the proper career track, says Mitchell Fuerst, corporate vice president. “Wonderlic tests are an integral part of what we do here,” he says. “They are the building blocks upon which each student’s education is built.”
Even students without a high school diploma or General Education Development Certificates (GED) can get a college degree at North-West thanks to the Wonderlic Basic Skills Test. The WBST is approved by the U.S. Department of Education to determine student eligibility for the Ability-to-Benefit (ATB) program under Title IV funding for financial aid. The test measures quantitative skills using practical mathematical applications, and verbal ability through by reading comprehension, word knowledge, grammar and sentence construction.
The WBST is given to potential students during the initial application process when it’s determined that they don’t have a diploma or GED. The test takes less than an hour and students are monitored by independent test administrators to ensure no cheating takes place. When they complete the test, their answers are sent to Wonderlic where they are immediately graded and returned.Normally, these students would have to complete a high school diploma or equivalency test before they could be accepted into college courses. By successfully completing the WBST however, they can prove that they have the math and verbal skills required for entrance into one of North-West’s programs, Fuerst says. About 75 percent of applicants score well enough to be accepted.If students do have diplomas or GEDs, they take the 12-minute Wonderlic Scholastic Level Exam (SLE), which evaluates their capacity for learning, as well as their ability to apply knowledge in school and on the job. As with the WBST, advisors use the SLE scores to help students choose career paths that match their skills and interests.
Wonderlic provides North-West with several versions of the SLE so that it can be given to multiple students at the same time without fear of cheating. “It ensures the test isn’t compromised and we can deliver it to more people in less time,” Fuerst says.
The college offers several career tracks, including pharmacy technician, medical assistant, dental assistant, and eyecare specialist. Each program has a defined minimum score set by Wonderlic that students are expected to achieve in order to be accepted into that program. For example, the pharmacy technician track requires a minimum score of 18 on the SLE, whereas a medical assistant requires a 13.
“If applicants don’t achieve the necessary score they can come back and take the test again, up to three times,” Fuerst says. However, administrators use the initial test results to help students set reasonable academic goals. “If someone gets a 13 the first time they take the test, it’s unlikely they will come back six weeks later and get an 18,” he says. “The score guidelines provided by Wonderlic help students make better career choices and help faculty gauge how students will do in the program.”
Once a student is accepted into a program, their scores are made available to faculty for review. “If a student is struggling in a class, the instructor can evaluate their entrance exams to see where they may have weaknesses,” he says.
The guidance advisors are able to provide based on student’s Wonderlic test scores contributes to the college’s extremely successful completion and placement rates, says Fuerst. More than 80 percent of students graduate and 75 percent are placed in jobs when they are finished. “Wonderlic is at the foundation of what we do here,” he says. “We will be customers of theirs forever.”
