Summary Report of Admissions and Graduation Requirements of Selected Units and Programs at Western Washington University

Executive Summary: During Winter Quarter of 1990, all college department chairs and the deans of Huxley and Fairhaven Colleges were sent a questionnaire intended to delineate admission and graduation requirements. The questionnaire was followed by a telephone or in-person interview. For the purposes of readability, all respondents are referred to as departments. The survey results showed that nineteen departments have self-generated admission requirements, whose categories are as follows: 1) overall university GPA; 2) completion of foundation courses; 3) GPA within foundation courses; 4) credit completion; 5) audition, portfolio, or resume review. Sixteen of the above nineteen departments have multiple requirements. There are three departments that both collect baseline information and use it as a comparative tool. Twenty-seven departments have capstone experiences, whose categories are as follows: 1) overview courses; 2) senior theses, project, performance, or portfolio; 3) internships or student teaching. One department\u27s students take a state accrediting test. Six departments use two capstone experiences. Ten departments utilize standing committees to evaluate, to varying degrees, the quality or content of their programs. Fourteen departments have graduation requirements evaluated by more than one faculty member, or by outside professionals. Departments were asked about the number of courses with substantial production of written English , defined as having at least two of the following criteria: 1) mid-term and\or final essay exam; 2) one lengthy (10+ pages) term paper or report; 3) multiple short (1-10 page) papers or reports; 4) opportunities for students to revise papers written under either item 2 or 3. The number of such courses varied widely, from 1 to 27. Evaluation of these courses was based usually on the first three criteria; generally, the opportunity to revise was reserved for courses specifically designated as writing intensive. Two departments required a senior thesis; one required a summary report of all clinical experiences. Three were two departments that required unqualified passage of the Junior Writing Exam. All others required only that the student take the Junior Writing Exam

An Addendum to the Math Placement Tests: Relationships to Mathematics Course Performance, Mathematics Course Selection, and Other Predictors of Academic Achievement

The effectiveness of the Math Placement Test, Basic, is analyzed

The Math Placement Tests: Relationships to Mathematics Course Performance, Mathematics Course Selection, and Other Predictors of Academic Achievement

The effectiveness of the Math Placement Tests (Intermediate and Advanced) is anayzed

Traffic-Light Labels and Choice Architecture: Promoting Healthy Food Choices

Background: Preventing obesity requires maintenance of healthy eating behaviors over time. Food labels and strategies that increase visibility and convenience of healthy foods (choice architecture) promote healthier choices, but long-term effectiveness is unknown. Purpose: Assess effectiveness of traffic-light labeling and choice architecture cafeteria intervention over 24 months. Design: Longitudinal pre–post cohort follow-up study between December 2009 and February 2012. Data were analyzed in 2012. Setting/participants: Large hospital cafeteria with a mean of 6511 transactions daily. Cafeteria sales were analyzed for (1) all cafeteria customers and (2) a longitudinal cohort of 2285 hospital employees who used the cafeteria regularly. Intervention: After a 3-month baseline period, cafeteria items were labeled green (healthy); yellow (less healthy); or red (unhealthy) and rearranged to make healthy items more accessible. Main outcome measures: Proportion of cafeteria sales that were green or red during each 3-month period from baseline to 24 months. Changes in 12- and 24-month sales were compared to baseline for all transactions and transactions by the employee cohort. Results: The proportion of sales of red items decreased from 24% at baseline to 20% at 24 months (p\u3c0.001), and green sales increased from 41% to 46% (p\u3c0.001). Red beverages decreased from 26% of beverage sales at baseline to 17% at 24 months (p\u3c0.001); green beverages increased from 52% to 60% (p\u3c0.001). Similar patterns were observed for the cohort of employees, with the largest change for red beverages (23%–14%, p\u3c0.001). Conclusions: A traffic-light and choice architecture cafeteria intervention resulted in sustained healthier choices over 2 years, suggesting that food environment interventions can promote long-term changes in population eating behaviors