I've received a few inquiries of late that have been a great inspiration to share more about the process of placing new students from our E-I sessions ("Educational Interviews" – our placement testing process). This is a 3.5-hour session in which the following are done:

paperwork (Intake Form, WABERS)
CASAS Reading pre-test (which starts with a "locator" that then assigns ss the level-appropriate pre-test)
a Writing Sample
a welcome & orientation
a 1v1 check-out with an instructor to check paperwork, modality/site/time desired, and to determine an apprx listening & speaking levels

E-Is take place immediately following the end of every quarter and are held a.m. and p.m. at NH & on MC, as well as a p.m. session at GT. We placement-test/orient apprx 200-225 students, depending. After all five E-I sessions conclude, I look at each individual student packet with all the above information, scores, etc., and determine each student's placement. This has been an iterative process for TS over the past 20+ years so has evolved & changed over time – most notably during the pandemic! – and it continues to, especially thanks to the input of so many on the E-I team who bring amazing ideas and suggestions! Needless to say, this is an "it takes a village" kind of effort. 🙂

And while placement process usually works quite well, it isn't fool-proof so there are inevitably ss who need to be re-placed at the beginning of a quarter – either through requesting it themselves and/or via the instructor seeing that this would be best. Somewhat amazingly, re-placing new ss doesn't (hasn't had to) happen very often, so the first-week email from the office in which this process is briefly mentioned has been enough. But given the recent questions and the increase in classes that are at-capacity at the beginning of the quarter, I'd like to help everyone understand the process in greater detail!

During the first week, it's important that both the instructors and their newly placed ss get to know each, get acclimated and oriented to the class, level, etc.
Then, at the start of Week 2, instructors can:

Let the office staff know that they have a ss who needs to be re-placed, either up or down a level.
The office staff let me know of this request.
I take a second look at the student's placement packet info, scores, etc.
More often than not, I agree that the re-placement happen (i.e. "OK" it).
The office checks to see if there is space in that class.
If there is, an add/drop form is submitted; if there isn't space, the ss is put on a wait-list*.
The current instructor gives the student info on the new class (instructor name, time, place, etc.).
The new instructor is informed that they will be receiving a new student.
The ss can begin attending their new class immediately.

*If being put on a WL is a less appealing option to a ss than staying in a class that feels slightly too low or high, the ss has the option to stay in their current class.

The above process is the same for ss who want change modality and/or time; e.g. change from a p.m. online class to an a.m. in-person class. Please do not tell a student that they can change classes without going through the above process – regardless of the reason for the request. This alleviates disappointment, complications such as the receiving instructor being over-burdened (e.g. over their cap or having to turn a ss away), unnecessary work for the office staff, etc.

It's also helpful to note here that – as we all know! – there can be a wide range of levels and language-skill-strengths within one class. Years ago, we had sub-levels, such as 2A-2B-2C, so could place students in a more meta sort of way, but without those, our single-level classes include a broader spectrum. It's also common for ss who are new to the U.S. and/or to language-learning classes, to feel quite overwhelmed during the first few weeks. This can sometimes lead ss to think their class is "too hard" when, in fact, they are simply acclimating to so many new things at once: the learning environment, the language overall + the language-learning process, life in a new place, loss of so much in their home country, etc.