ABSTRACT
In 1997, Marilyn Sternglass studied undergraduates at the City University of New York, many of whom were from disadvantaged groups. In A Time to Know Them, Sternglass explains that placement and exit exams set unreasonable hurdles for student of color, second-language learners, and those from working-class backgrounds. The timed placement tests ask incoming students to know most of the concepts that are part of the curriculum for first-year writing classes. In the late 1980s, in answer to the problems with direct assessment and to reflect changing theory and research in the field of composition, portfolios became an increasingly common assessment tool (Yancey, 1999, p. 485) and have continued to be important in the 21st century.
