College Catalog 2015-16

EAST CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE

MISSISSIPPI VIRTUAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE The Mississippi Virtual Community College is a cooperative of Mississippi’s 15 community college districts and the Mississippi State Board for Community and Junior Colleges. Its mission is to provide educational opportunities to constituencies who live within the various community and junior college districts inMississippi and to others beyond those boundaries. Through MSVCC, students may take courses from community & junior colleges anywhere in Mississippi while getting support services from a local college. To take a course from a remote (provider) college, a student enrolls at a local (host) community or junior college. The host college supports the student with a full slate of student services including advisement and counseling, financial aid, and learning resources. The host college receives the student’s tuition and fees. The host college awards credit for the course. The remote (provider) college provides the course instruction. Assignments, tests, and grades are administered by one of its instructors. For this instructional service, the provider college receives the state’s reimbursement for the enrollment. This cooperative makes it possible for MSVCC colleges to leverage their distance learning resources— including faculty, courses, support services, and technology—to benefit students throughout Mississippi and beyond. For a list of courses offered through MSVCC, please see the web site at http://msvcc.squarespace.com. PLACEMENT STANDARDS When a student is admitted to ECCC, his or her ACT sub-scores are evaluated to determine if certain academic skills need improvement. Any student who has not taken the ACT will be required to take the COMPASS for placement in English and algebra courses. COMPASS is an untimed, computerized test that helps ECCC staff evaluate a student’s skills and place him or her in appropriate courses. The following charts specify the correct course(s) that the student should take: English Placement ACT SCORE COMPASS SCORE COURSE PLACEMENT 0-16 0-73 ENG 0124 – Intermediate English and Reading 17 + 74 and above ENG 1113 – English Composition I Writing Skills component of COMPASS Algebra Placement ACT SCORE COMPASS SCORE COMPASS SCORE COURSE PLACEMENT (Pre-Algebra) (Algebra) 0-13 0-20 0-15 MAT 0123 – Beginning Algebra 14-18 21-100 16-35 MAT 1233 – Intermediate Algebra 19+ n/a 36-100 MAT 1313 – College Algebra Pre-Algebra/Algebra component of COMPASS Testing Policies and Procedures Students who have not taken the ACT Any student who has not taken the ACT may take the COMPASS placement test two times. The second attempt must be at least one week after the first testing date. The student should complete appropriate tutorial work (credit or non-credit) prior to taking the second test. This workmay be in the formof any study preparation suitable for improving knowledge in the subject area. Retesting must take place before the first day of class. A student will forfeit the second testing attempt if the retesting is not completed before the start of classes for the semester. Students taking the COMPASS for initial placement and admission shall be given first priority to test. Students who have taken the ACT Any student who has taken the ACT, but wishes to improve his or her placement level(s) may attempt the COMPASS placement test one time. COMPASS is divided into four individual tests. A student may choose to skip any of the four tests but will not be allowed another opportunity to complete a test that was skipped.

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