From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Tue Jan 2 07:54:33 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2007 07:54:33 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 564] CAAL releases Executive Summary from its 2-year ESL Study Message-ID: <321416A9-E7FB-4412-B8CB-F781B83825E3@caalusa.org> Colleagues, As a service to the field, CAAL is releasing the Executive Summary from its upcoming report titled PASSING THE TORCH: Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL. It is appended as a PDF file and is also available from the CAAL website (www.caalusa.org, scroll down the left column to the title). The full report will be published and formally released by February. Its authors are Forrest P. Chisman and JoAnn Crandall. two foremost experts in ESL and/or community college adult education work. Happy New Year to all. ? Gail Spangenberg President Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl New York, NY 10020 212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610 www.caalusa.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070102/382a956d/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: eslexecsummary.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 411730 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070102/382a956d/attachment.pdf -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070102/382a956d/attachment-0001.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Jan 3 07:18:44 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 07:18:44 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 565] Discussion on Health List Jan 8-12 Message-ID: <0e7501c72f31$50bec110$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following announcement is from Julie McKinney, Moderator of the Health & Literacy Discussion List. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ************************************* I am pleased to announce a guest speaker discussion next week on the Health & Literacy Discussion List! What: Using pictures in low literacy health education materials. When: January 8-12, 2007 Who: Guest speakers are Len and Ceci Doak and Dr. Peter Houts, health literacy researchers and advocates. Where: Online on the Health & Literacy Discussion List Why: Members on this list have shown much interest in creating health education materials appropriate for patients with low literacy skills, and in the use of pictures to enhance these materials. Len and Ceci Doak and Dr. Peter Houts have just published an article called "The role of pictures in improving health communication: A review of research on attention, comprehension, recall, and adherence." in the journal "Patient Education and Counseling", and the Doaks are authors of "Teaching Patients With Low Literacy Skills", which describes some of the earliest health literacy research, along with practical techniques for communicating clearly with patients. Recommended reading: Teaching Patients With Low Literacy Skills http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy/doak.html "The role of pictures in improving health communication: A review of research on attention, comprehension, recall, and adherence." Peter S. Houts, Cecilia C. Doak, Leonard G. Doak, Matthew J. Loscalzo. Patient Education and Counseling. This is a peer reviewed article assessing the effects of pictures on health communications. The article presents summarized findings from reviews of more than 500 journal articles and other publications on this subject. Unfortunately, it is not available online but can be found in the journal. The results of this article will be shared during the discussion. Please pass on this announcement to any colleagues who may be interested in this discussion. Anyone can subscribe for free at www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/healthliteracy All the best, Julie Julie McKinney Discussion List Moderator World Education/NCSALL jmckinney at worlded.org _______________________________________________ National Institute for Literacy Moderators mailing list: Moderators at nifl.gov http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/moderators Moderator's Resource Page: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs_dlms/contents.html Moderator's List Archive page: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/private/moderators From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Jan 5 10:57:40 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com) Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2007 08:57:40 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 566] AALPD - Join or Renew Membership for 2007! Message-ID: <20070105085740.25f5a32e926a0964fcd463de8558d100.120f39e357.wbe@email.secureserver.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070105/4f7459f6/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Jan 5 11:01:01 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com) Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2007 09:01:01 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 567] Numeracy Review Available from OVAE's Adult Numeracy Intiative Message-ID: <20070105090101.25f5a32e926a0964fcd463de8558d100.ab6dca9f17.wbe@email.secureserver.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070105/48523047/attachment.html From mhefner at cccti.edu Tue Jan 9 16:18:16 2007 From: mhefner at cccti.edu (Melinda Hefner) Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2007 16:18:16 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 568] Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys for Adult Literacy Students Message-ID: <45A3C0480200005D00007DA2@gwise.cccti.edu> I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070109/0972a256/attachment.html From mhefner at cccti.edu Tue Jan 9 16:53:26 2007 From: mhefner at cccti.edu (Melinda Hefner) Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2007 16:53:26 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 569] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys for Adult Literacy Students In-Reply-To: <45A3C0480200005D00007DA2@gwise.cccti.edu> References: <45A3C0480200005D00007DA2@gwise.cccti.edu> Message-ID: <45A3C8860200005D00007DB7@gwise.cccti.edu> oops....sorry for the it's/its!!!!!! :-( >>> "Melinda Hefner" 01/09/07 4:18 PM >>> I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070109/4a868f18/attachment.html From pjcross at okcps.org Tue Jan 9 17:16:06 2007 From: pjcross at okcps.org (Cross, Patricia J.) Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 16:16:06 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 570] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys forAdult Literacy Students References: <45A3C0480200005D00007DA2@gwise.cccti.edu> Message-ID: Sorry Melinda, we only have ESL students here in Oklahoma City. Pat Cross Even Start Adult Education Specialist ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Melinda Hefner Sent: Tue 1/9/2007 3:18 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 568] Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys forAdult Literacy Students I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 4400 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070109/92eafecd/attachment.bin From Karen.Limkemann at fwliteracyalliance.org Wed Jan 10 09:13:53 2007 From: Karen.Limkemann at fwliteracyalliance.org (Limkemann, Karen) Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 09:13:53 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 571] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keysfor Adult Literacy Students Message-ID: We use KeyTrain heavily with ABE, GED, and ESL but do not have access to WorkKeys. The workforce development folks handle that testing in Indiana. We have found KeyTrain to be a great tool for a variety of folks. You might want to contact someone in Michigan. It seems I heard that they are going to use WorkKeys as a high school exit exam. I would hesitate to use it as a pre-post tool as it is not diagnostic in nature. Karen Limkemann The Literacy Alliance Fort Wayne, IN ________________________________ From: Melinda Hefner [mailto:mhefner at cccti.edu] Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 5:31 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 569] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keysfor Adult Literacy Students oops....sorry for the it's/its!!!!!! :-( >>> "Melinda Hefner" 01/09/07 4:18 PM >>> I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070110/3a3784bb/attachment.html From mhefner at cccti.edu Wed Jan 10 10:07:52 2007 From: mhefner at cccti.edu (Melinda Hefner) Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:07:52 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 572] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keysfor Adult Literacy Students In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45A4BAF80200005D00007DEF@gwise.cccti.edu> Karen, thank you so much for this response. You say that WorkKeys is not diagnostic in nature and that you would hesitate to use it as a pre-post test tool. Can you elaborate? I would really, really appreciate it. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 >>> "Limkemann, Karen" 01/10/07 9:13 AM >>> We use KeyTrain heavily with ABE, GED, and ESL but do not have access to WorkKeys. The workforce development folks handle that testing in Indiana. We have found KeyTrain to be a great tool for a variety of folks. You might want to contact someone in Michigan. It seems I heard that they are going to use WorkKeys as a high school exit exam. I would hesitate to use it as a pre-post tool as it is not diagnostic in nature.Karen LimkemannThe Literacy Alliance Fort Wayne, IN From: Melinda Hefner [mailto:mhefner at cccti.edu] Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 5:31 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 569] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keysfor Adult Literacy Students oops....sorry for the it's/its!!!!!! :-( >>> "Melinda Hefner" 01/09/07 4:18 PM >>>I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070110/ab4d5aa6/attachment.html From barguedas at sfccnm.edu Wed Jan 10 10:40:14 2007 From: barguedas at sfccnm.edu (Barbara Arguedas) Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 08:40:14 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 573] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work KeysforAdult Literacy Students Message-ID: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C02F@ex01.sfcc.edu> In New Mexico, the Governor's Office of Workforce Training and Development is diligently pursuing WorkKeys, including training and marketing to businesses. New Mexico has a Career Readiness Certificate that is based on the WorkKeys assessment. ABE programs throughout the state have had access to WorkKeys for several years specifically for use with the TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) students. Our state assessment policy allows the use of WorkKeys for NRS levels 4, 5, and 6. We use it for assessment purposes on a limited basis. Some programs, including ours here in Santa Fe, also use KeyTrain for the remediation. Though we have not used either of these products extensively, overall we have had favorable results. Given that a student can earn the Career Readiness Certificate which will assist him or her in the job search, we think that the use of WorkKeys will increase. Of course, the goal of the student is what drives the study plan. We do recommend the use of WorkKeys for those who have a goal of employment. Good luck. Barbara Arguedas ABE Director, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Limkemann, Karen Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 7:14 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 571] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work KeysforAdult Literacy Students We use KeyTrain heavily with ABE, GED, and ESL but do not have access to WorkKeys. The workforce development folks handle that testing in Indiana. We have found KeyTrain to be a great tool for a variety of folks. You might want to contact someone in Michigan. It seems I heard that they are going to use WorkKeys as a high school exit exam. I would hesitate to use it as a pre-post tool as it is not diagnostic in nature. Karen Limkemann The Literacy Alliance Fort Wayne, IN ________________________________ From: Melinda Hefner [mailto:mhefner at cccti.edu] Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 5:31 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 569] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keysfor Adult Literacy Students oops....sorry for the it's/its!!!!!! :-( >>> "Melinda Hefner" 01/09/07 4:18 PM >>> I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070110/232495b2/attachment.html From Karen.Limkemann at fwliteracyalliance.org Wed Jan 10 11:07:37 2007 From: Karen.Limkemann at fwliteracyalliance.org (Limkemann, Karen) Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:07:37 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 574] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work KeysforAdult Literacy Students Message-ID: Melinda, To the best of my knowledge there is only one form of the WorkKeys assessment. It is designed as a screening tool for employment purposes so that employers will have some assurance of an applicant's skill level in the different areas. Also, at least in Indiana, there is no way to score the test locally. They are all sent in to ACT for scoring. The test does not break down specific skill sets; for instance fractions or percentages. Also, in adult education programs tied to the National Reporting System, Work Keys is not listed among acceptable assessments. The KeyTrain software program does allow for some diagnostics regarding specific skills but we use the TABE in addition to information that can be pulled from KeyTrain when creating a adult learning plan (ALP) with a student. In Indiana the state testing policy for adult ed allows only TABE or CASAS. Some state are creating employability certifications based on Work Keys but again that is for employment purposes rather than an educational credential such as GED or high school graduation test. Karen ________________________________ From: Melinda Hefner [mailto:mhefner at cccti.edu] Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:46 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 572] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work KeysforAdult Literacy Students Karen, thank you so much for this response. You say that WorkKeys is not diagnostic in nature and that you would hesitate to use it as a pre-post test tool. Can you elaborate? I would really, really appreciate it. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 >>> "Limkemann, Karen" 01/10/07 9:13 AM >>> We use KeyTrain heavily with ABE, GED, and ESL but do not have access to WorkKeys. The workforce development folks handle that testing in Indiana. We have found KeyTrain to be a great tool for a variety of folks. You might want to contact someone in Michigan. It seems I heard that they are going to use WorkKeys as a high school exit exam. I would hesitate to use it as a pre-post tool as it is not diagnostic in nature. Karen Limkemann The Literacy Alliance Fort Wayne, IN ________________________________ From: Melinda Hefner [mailto:mhefner at cccti.edu] Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 5:31 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 569] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keysfor Adult Literacy Students oops....sorry for the it's/its!!!!!! :-( >>> "Melinda Hefner" 01/09/07 4:18 PM >>> I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070110/982793af/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Jan 11 12:24:13 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 12:24:13 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 575] Discussion Topics for 2007 Message-ID: <046c01c735a5$50a8e370$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Greetings everyone! I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to let you know what discussions I am fixing up for us over the next 6 months or so, and I'm also very interested to hear what types of discussions you all would like to have on the List. I plan to generate a discussion next week asking you about the kinds of in-class assessments you do with students (i.e.: formative assessment). I have some resources that were developed in my programs when I was director back in the 90s that I will share with you, and that I hope spark your interest to share your own resources, or perhaps generate your own. We spend so much time discussing end-of-cycle tests like the ones required by the NRS (these are considered summative assessments), so I wanted to shift us back to our classrooms and programs to talk about what you do on a daily basis with students. Here are a few resources for you to check out if you are interested - all are focused on the use (or lack of use) of formative assessment: Assessment Crisis: The Absence Of Assessment FOR Learning https://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0206sti.htm The Concept of Formative Assessment http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8 &n=9 Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm A Primer: Diagnostic, Formative, & Summative Assessment http://www.mmrwsjr.com/assessment.htm The Value of Formative Assessment http://www.fairtest.org/examarts/winter99/k-forma3.html The other discussions I have in mind will focus on the following: Using Data for Program Improvement (panel discussion); Teaching the GED (guest speakers); and I hope to also include Using Data for Instructional Improvement as well. What do you think? Now your turn! What topics, issues and interests do you have that you would like to see discussed here? This List is yours so please let me know how you would like to see it used. I'll do my best to organize or generate any/all discussions that are relevant to us here. Feel free to respond to the whole List or just to me if you prefer to do that. I welcome and encourage your ideas and input. Thank you so much and looking forward to a chatty 2007! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070111/5034e2e3/attachment.html From mhefner at cccti.edu Thu Jan 11 13:12:54 2007 From: mhefner at cccti.edu (Melinda Hefner) Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:12:54 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 576] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work KeysforAdult Literacy Students In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45A637D60200005D00007EA6@gwise.cccti.edu> Thanks so much! Melinda >>> "Limkemann, Karen" 01/10/07 11:07 AM >>> Melinda,To the best of my knowledge there is only one form of the WorkKeys assessment. It is designed as a screening tool for employment purposes so that employers will have some assurance of an applicant?s skill level in the different areas. Also, at least in Indiana, there is no way to score the test locally. They are all sent in to ACT for scoring.The test does not break down specific skill sets; for instance fractions or percentages. Also, in adult education programs tied to the National Reporting System, Work Keys is not listed among acceptable assessments. The KeyTrain software program does allow for some diagnostics regarding specific skills but we use the TABE in addition to information that can be pulled from KeyTrain when creating a adult learning plan (ALP) with a student. In Indiana the state testing policy for adult ed allows only TABE or CASAS.Some state are creating employability certifications based on Work Keys but again that is for employment purposes rather than an educational credential such as GED or high school graduation test.Karen From: Melinda Hefner [mailto:mhefner at cccti.edu] Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:46 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 572] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work KeysforAdult Literacy Students Karen, thank you so much for this response. You say that WorkKeys is not diagnostic in nature and that you would hesitate to use it as a pre-post test tool. Can you elaborate? I would really, really appreciate it. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 >>> "Limkemann, Karen" 01/10/07 9:13 AM >>> We use KeyTrain heavily with ABE, GED, and ESL but do not have access to WorkKeys. The workforce development folks handle that testing in Indiana. We have found KeyTrain to be a great tool for a variety of folks. You might want to contact someone in Michigan. It seems I heard that they are going to use WorkKeys as a high school exit exam. I would hesitate to use it as a pre-post tool as it is not diagnostic in nature.Karen LimkemannThe Literacy Alliance Fort Wayne, IN From: Melinda Hefner [mailto:mhefner at cccti.edu] Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 5:31 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 569] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keysfor Adult Literacy Students oops....sorry for the it's/its!!!!!! :-( >>> "Melinda Hefner" 01/09/07 4:18 PM >>>I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070111/cc7dac2c/attachment.html From jalsails at aol.com Thu Jan 11 15:35:34 2007 From: jalsails at aol.com (jalsails at aol.com) Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 15:35:34 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 577] Re: Discussion Topics for 2007 In-Reply-To: <046c01c735a5$50a8e370$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <046c01c735a5$50a8e370$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <8C903D72E15D06F-1340-50CA@MBLK-M38.sysops.aol.com> Happy New Year, Marie, Your guidance certainly gives everyone a variety of topics to discuss. I'll take a closer look at the collections and get back with you. Jeri -----Original Message----- From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:24 AM Subject: [Assessment 575] Discussion Topics for 2007 Greetings everyone! ?I hope this email finds you well. ? I wanted to let you know what discussions I am fixing up for us over the next 6 months or so, and I?m also very interested to hear what types of discussions you all would like to have on the List.? ? I plan to generate a discussion next week asking you about the kinds of in-class assessments you do with students (i.e.:? formative assessment).? I have some resources that were developed in my programs when I was director back in the 90s that I will share with you, and that I hope spark your interest to share your own resources, or perhaps generate your own. ?We spend so much time discussing end-of-cycle tests like the ones required by the NRS (these are considered summative assessments), so I wanted to shift us back to our classrooms and programs to talk about what you do on a daily basis with students. ?Here are a few resources for you to check out if you are interested ? all are focused on the use (or lack of use) of formative assessment: ? Assessment Crisis: The Absence Of Assessment FOR Learning https://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0206sti.htm ? The Concept of Formative Assessment http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8&n=9 ? Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm ? A Primer: Diagnostic, Formative, & Summative Assessment http://www.mmrwsjr.com/assessment.htm ? The Value of Formative Assessment http://www.fairtest.org/examarts/winter99/k-forma3.html ? The other discussions I have in mind will focus on the following:? Using Data for Program Improvement (panel discussion); Teaching the GED (guest speakers); and I hope to also include Using Data for Instructional Improvement as well. ? What do you think? ? Now your turn!? What topics, issues and interests do you have that you would like to see discussed here? ?This List is yours so please let me know how you would like to see it used.? I?ll do my best to organize or generate any/all discussions that are relevant to us here.? Feel free to respond to the whole List or just to me if you prefer to do that.? I welcome and encourage your ideas and input.? ? Thank you so much and looking forward to a chatty 2007! ? marie ? Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ? ? ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more. From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Jan 12 09:17:41 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 09:17:41 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 577] Program Participation in Self Study Message-ID: <053e01c73654$6c04dfc0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following discussion may be of interest to you. Sign on to the discussion at: Focus on Basics Discussion List http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Focusonbasics Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ******************************************************** I am pleased to announce a guest speaker discussion the week after next on the FOB list! We will be joined by four researcher/authors from the recent issue of FOB, who will discuss learner self study in terms of how programs can support it in different ways, and then look at some different models of self study. Please pass this on to anyone you know who may be interested in this discussion. When: January 22-26, 2007 Where: Online on the Focus on Basics Discussion List (Anyone can join for free at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Focusonbasics ) What: Self-Study: Broadening the Concepts of Participation and Program Support Steve Reder, NCSALL researcher and director of the Portland Lab School and Clare Strawn, an analyst on the Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning, will discuss their article of the same name from the latest issue of FOB. In addition, NCSALL researchers Molly Robertson, and Lauren Shoneck will discuss two practical examples of self-study, distance learning and GED via TV, respectively. Who: Stephen Reder is University Professor and Chair of the Department of Applied Linguistics at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. His research interests focus on adult literacy and second language development. He is the Principal Investigator of two NCSALL projects: the Adult ESOL Labsite project and the Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning. Clare Strawn is Assistant Professor at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, and an analyst on the Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning. She is interested in patterns of program participation, the intersection of learning and community development, social capital influences on learning strategies, and technology. Lauri McLellan Schoneck is a professor at Seminole Community College, where she teaches ABE and GED math courses. A graduate of Florida State University, she has her master's in special education and has taught both K-12 students and adults. She is currently serving a second term on the Florida Department of Education Practitioners' Task Force on Adults with Learning Disabilities as a community college representative. Molly K. Robertson is the founding director of the Indiana GED ON TV program. She left high school at 16, earned a GED in 1982, and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's in telecommunications. She lives in Muncie, Indiana, with two large, rowdy, black poodles. Recommended Reading (from Focus on Basics, issue 8C): Self-Study: Broadening the Concepts of Participation and Program Support http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1152 Distance Leanring as a Backup http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1153 The GED Via TV http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1154 *************************************************** Julie McKinney Discussion List Moderator World Education/NCSALL jmckinney at worlded.org From jtaustin1 at core.com Sat Jan 13 17:21:29 2007 From: jtaustin1 at core.com (james austin) Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 17:21:29 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 578] WorkKeys for ABLE Learners In-Reply-To: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C02F@ex01.sfcc.edu> References: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C02F@ex01.sfcc.edu> Message-ID: <000301c73761$2dcaa880$2efdfea9@JimDownOne> Folks, I work in Ohio with ABLE programs as part of the state leadership network, and would like to tell folks a little bit about our statewide level of interest similar to that which Barbara mentioned for New Mexico. Our state was encouraged several years ago to think about a credential and workplace education. A committee on which I served developed a process for interviewing potential vendors of assessments (FOUR: Work Readiness Credential of EFF-US Chamber, Skills Max bundle within Ohio, the ERI from Canada, and Work Keys). We have completed a field test with 5 programs and 200 some adult learners, and are planning going to scale with the WorkKeys credential (which was also just endorsed by the Governors Workforce Policy Board). I will find out from the powers-that-be in the state if I can share more with you about our field test. I liked the fact that ACT went the through the tortuous process of obtaining NRS approval for the measure. This makes it more useful, even if perhaps not as diagnostic. On the diagnosticity issue of Work Keys brought up by the posting by Melinda, I do see the system as more of a summative measure than a formative one. One of the teachers in the field test, however, indicated that she thought that giving a TABE first and Work Keys second seemed to be most logical approach. This begs the issue of pre-post testing with the "same" test and so might not always be appropriate with WIA Title II funding guidance. It would require an equating process between the two testing systems before use in a pre-post (gain) situation. Lastly, I believe that there are many forms of the WorkKeys rather than just one. The delivery can be computer-based, and the scoring can be done by you (remotely) if you have a testing center approved or licensed by ACT. The cost is fairly comparable, although scoring costs must be considered in certain cases, and the WorkKeys system is popular with employers in Ohio (our Adult Workforce Education component has used it almost since it came out in the 1990s). _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Arguedas Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:40 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 573] Re: Opinions and thoughts about usingWork KeysforAdult Literacy Students In New Mexico, the Governor's Office of Workforce Training and Development is diligently pursuing WorkKeys, including training and marketing to businesses. New Mexico has a Career Readiness Certificate that is based on the WorkKeys assessment. ABE programs throughout the state have had access to WorkKeys for several years specifically for use with the TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) students. Our state assessment policy allows the use of WorkKeys for NRS levels 4, 5, and 6. We use it for assessment purposes on a limited basis. Some programs, including ours here in Santa Fe, also use KeyTrain for the remediation. Though we have not used either of these products extensively, overall we have had favorable results. Given that a student can earn the Career Readiness Certificate which will assist him or her in the job search, we think that the use of WorkKeys will increase. Of course, the goal of the student is what drives the study plan. We do recommend the use of WorkKeys for those who have a goal of employment. Good luck. Barbara Arguedas ABE Director, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Limkemann, Karen Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 7:14 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 571] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work KeysforAdult Literacy Students We use KeyTrain heavily with ABE, GED, and ESL but do not have access to WorkKeys. The workforce development folks handle that testing in Indiana. We have found KeyTrain to be a great tool for a variety of folks. You might want to contact someone in Michigan. It seems I heard that they are going to use WorkKeys as a high school exit exam. I would hesitate to use it as a pre-post tool as it is not diagnostic in nature. Karen Limkemann The Literacy Alliance Fort Wayne, IN _____ From: Melinda Hefner [mailto:mhefner at cccti.edu] Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 5:31 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 569] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keysfor Adult Literacy Students oops....sorry for the it's/its!!!!!! :-( >>> "Melinda Hefner" 01/09/07 4:18 PM >>> I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070113/593d1867/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jan 16 13:47:15 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:47:15 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 579] Re: WorkKeys for ABLE Learners In-Reply-To: <000301c73761$2dcaa880$2efdfea9@JimDownOne> Message-ID: <070f01c7399e$be5adbb0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi James and everyone, Thanks so much for this information, it is very helpful. James, you've raised a few very interesting issues in your discussion. I'm not very familiar with the WorkKeys materials, but what I do know of them indicates that they attempt to provide a snapshot of people's cognitive skills/abilities as well as their personal qualities. What do you (and others) think about the assessment of personal qualities? This is an area that is very difficult to capture/quantify/etc. Do folks find this type of assessment helpful? How do you use this information? Is it shared with the adult student/worker? On the note that someone is using the TABE as the pre-test and then WorkKeys as the post-test - you are entirely correct James when you question the validity of this mix and match - it is not valid. This would not fly with the NRS. These tests are not equated and cannot be assumed to provide an accurate measure of gain against each other. I think I understand that the person doing this is interested in getting more of a picture of the skills that the worker already has, and then comparing how far they can go in terms of working with the WorkKeys materials - and I suppose this could work - you could be using the information gleaned from both tests in formative ways. But that's where that ends: you can't use any scores from either test to say anything at all about the person because you are using 2 different measures - they cannot be compared to each other. And you're right James: you would have to go thru an extensive, complex equating process in order to use one for a pre-test and the other for a post-test - and still you would not get truly accurate information out of this endeavor. Perhaps the better combination would be to stick to the one assessment for purposes of summative assessment (i.e.: reporting to funders) to be sure of accuracy, but then use your own or commercially available assessments, tests, quizzes, etc that can inform your teaching and help you with further diagnostics of your adult students (formative assessment). This feels like a schizophrenic situation I know: it feels like the summative and formative trains shall never meet - and there are ways in which they never will. But there are also ways in which these two pieces can indeed inform one another and I have no doubt that many of you already are doing this. Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of james austin Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 5:21 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Cc: austin.38 at osu.edu Subject: [Assessment 578] WorkKeys for ABLE Learners Folks, I work in Ohio with ABLE programs as part of the state leadership network, and would like to tell folks a little bit about our statewide level of interest similar to that which Barbara mentioned for New Mexico. Our state was encouraged several years ago to think about a credential and workplace education. A committee on which I served developed a process for interviewing potential vendors of assessments (FOUR: Work Readiness Credential of EFF-US Chamber, Skills Max bundle within Ohio, the ERI from Canada, and Work Keys). We have completed a field test with 5 programs and 200 some adult learners, and are planning going to scale with the WorkKeys credential (which was also just endorsed by the Governors Workforce Policy Board). I will find out from the powers-that-be in the state if I can share more with you about our field test. I liked the fact that ACT went the through the tortuous process of obtaining NRS approval for the measure. This makes it more useful, even if perhaps not as diagnostic. On the diagnosticity issue of Work Keys brought up by the posting by Melinda, I do see the system as more of a summative measure than a formative one. One of the teachers in the field test, however, indicated that she thought that giving a TABE first and Work Keys second seemed to be most logical approach. This begs the issue of pre-post testing with the "same" test and so might not always be appropriate with WIA Title II funding guidance. It would require an equating process between the two testing systems before use in a pre-post (gain) situation. Lastly, I believe that there are many forms of the WorkKeys rather than just one. The delivery can be computer-based, and the scoring can be done by you (remotely) if you have a testing center approved or licensed by ACT. The cost is fairly comparable, although scoring costs must be considered in certain cases, and the WorkKeys system is popular with employers in Ohio (our Adult Workforce Education component has used it almost since it came out in the 1990s). _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Arguedas Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:40 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 573] Re: Opinions and thoughts about usingWork KeysforAdult Literacy Students In New Mexico, the Governor's Office of Workforce Training and Development is diligently pursuing WorkKeys, including training and marketing to businesses. New Mexico has a Career Readiness Certificate that is based on the WorkKeys assessment. ABE programs throughout the state have had access to WorkKeys for several years specifically for use with the TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) students. Our state assessment policy allows the use of WorkKeys for NRS levels 4, 5, and 6. We use it for assessment purposes on a limited basis. Some programs, including ours here in Santa Fe, also use KeyTrain for the remediation. Though we have not used either of these products extensively, overall we have had favorable results. Given that a student can earn the Career Readiness Certificate which will assist him or her in the job search, we think that the use of WorkKeys will increase. Of course, the goal of the student is what drives the study plan. We do recommend the use of WorkKeys for those who have a goal of employment. Good luck. Barbara Arguedas ABE Director, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Limkemann, Karen Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 7:14 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 571] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work KeysforAdult Literacy Students We use KeyTrain heavily with ABE, GED, and ESL but do not have access to WorkKeys. The workforce development folks handle that testing in Indiana. We have found KeyTrain to be a great tool for a variety of folks. You might want to contact someone in Michigan. It seems I heard that they are going to use WorkKeys as a high school exit exam. I would hesitate to use it as a pre-post tool as it is not diagnostic in nature. Karen Limkemann The Literacy Alliance Fort Wayne, IN _____ From: Melinda Hefner [mailto:mhefner at cccti.edu] Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 5:31 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 569] Re: Opinions and thoughts about using Work Keysfor Adult Literacy Students oops....sorry for the it's/its!!!!!! :-( >>> "Melinda Hefner" 01/09/07 4:18 PM >>> I apologize in advance if this duplicates a recent question/discussion, but I hope you will let me know your opinions and thoughts about using Work Keys as an assessment tool for ABE, GED, and Adult High School students. Pros? Cons? Recommend it's use? Recommend it's conditional use? Don't recommend it? Thanks in advance for your help. Melinda Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070116/c96eef70/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jan 16 14:00:44 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 14:00:44 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 580] Books, Films and TV Videos that Inspire Teachers Message-ID: <074501c739a0$a0422af0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following post is from David Rosen. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ----- Books, Films and TV Videos that Inspire Teachers Colleagues, Recently on the Professional Development and the Poverty, Race and Women electronic lists there has been a discussion that was prompted by this question: "I was asked today for a recommendation of a movie or book (such as 'Stand and Deliver') that would inspire teachers to have high expectations for their young adult students, to give 100% each day to their teaching. What would you recommend?" The list of recommended books, films and TV videos now numbers more than 30, and is accompanied by an archive of the discussions from both lists. If you would like to see this -- and add your own thoughts and recommendations -- it's on the Adult Literacy Education Wiki, in the Professional development area: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ Books_and_Films_which_Inspire_Teachers or, for a short form of the URL, http://tinyurl.com/yj2w6s I hope you will share the list with your teaching colleagues. I think the recommendations -- and some of the comments from the discussion -- might make a great article for a state adult education newsletter. David J. Rosen djrosen at newsomeassociates.com From DHohmann at hays489.k12.ks.us Tue Jan 16 14:22:19 2007 From: DHohmann at hays489.k12.ks.us (Hohmann Donna) Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:22:19 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 581] Re: Books, Films and TV Videos that Inspire Teachers Message-ID: <290F26CA9AF6094AAD7DEC91ECA7F44403EDA56D@exchange.Internal.Hays489.k12.ks.us> Lean On Me is an old movie that actually came out when I was in high school I believe, but it was one that inspired me as a student and now as an educator. It was wonderful to witness an entire community come together to make a difference that brought great strides and success into the lives of the student population. I thought it exemplified what we all aspire to be and what it takes to be a successful learning community. Donna Hohmann Middle School Counselor -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 1:01 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 580] Books, Films and TV Videos that Inspire Teachers Colleagues: The following post is from David Rosen. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ----- Books, Films and TV Videos that Inspire Teachers Colleagues, Recently on the Professional Development and the Poverty, Race and Women electronic lists there has been a discussion that was prompted by this question: "I was asked today for a recommendation of a movie or book (such as 'Stand and Deliver') that would inspire teachers to have high expectations for their young adult students, to give 100% each day to their teaching. What would you recommend?" The list of recommended books, films and TV videos now numbers more than 30, and is accompanied by an archive of the discussions from both lists. If you would like to see this -- and add your own thoughts and recommendations -- it's on the Adult Literacy Education Wiki, in the Professional development area: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ Books_and_Films_which_Inspire_Teachers or, for a short form of the URL, http://tinyurl.com/yj2w6s I hope you will share the list with your teaching colleagues. I think the recommendations -- and some of the comments from the discussion -- might make a great article for a state adult education newsletter. David J. Rosen djrosen at newsomeassociates.com ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jan 16 14:48:17 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 14:48:17 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 582] Homegrown assessments Message-ID: <075c01c739a7$44eb2010$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, I mentioned last week that I wanted to raise a discussion about the types of testing and assessing that you do on a daily/weekly basis with adult students. This is referred to as formative assessment because it directly informs the teaching and learning process as it happens. It's different from summative assessment which tries to deliver a synopsis of learning over a more lengthy period of time - a semester, or in the case of ABE, a fiscal or calendar year. We just briefly discussed these two types of assessments in the last post on WorkKeys. I finished my thoughts by noting that I am sure that many practitioners on this list do develop their own "daily use" assessments or seek out formative assessments that already exist. I would like for us to share thoughts and resources on formative assessment here. Here are some questions to get you thinking: Do you use both formative and summative assessments in your classroom? If you use both, do they inform one another? How? Do you develop your own assessments for use with students? In which subject areas? How do you use them? Are students involved in daily/weekly assessment? Do students do any self-assessment? What does that look like? Do you have recommendations for effective formative assessments? Where do you look for these resources? Did you read any of the suggested resources on formative assessment that I sent out last week? Were they helpful? What did you think? Would you be willing to share assessments that you have developed with subscribers on this List? (We can develop a bank of resources.) Thanks and looking forward to hearing about what you do on a daily basis to inform your teaching! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070116/bff5a80e/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jan 16 15:36:34 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:36:34 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 583] Incorrect URL on resource Message-ID: <077901c739ae$03dc7220$0202a8c0@LITNOW> HI everyone, I wanted to alert you that one of the resources on formative assessment that I sent out to the List last week has a broken URL - here is the corrected one: The Value of Formative Assessment Fair Test http://www.fairtest.org/facts/formulative_assessment.html Thanks very much to the subscriber who brought this to my attention - I very much appreciate that. Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070116/b668ea35/attachment.html From jataylor at utk.edu Wed Jan 17 00:40:00 2007 From: jataylor at utk.edu (Taylor, Jackie) Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:40:00 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 584] Join or Renew Membership with AALPD for 2007 Message-ID: Hello Everyone! This January, the Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers (AALPD) invites you to join or renew membership with AALPD. So far, nearly 100 colleagues from 26 states, the District of Columbia, and two countries have joined or renewed membership for 2007. Membership is free, and it only takes a moment to complete the short form. To join or renew membership, please visit: http://www.aalpd.org/membership_form_withvoting.cfm Though you can join or renew membership at any time, we ask that you renew your membership with AALPD each January. This helps us to maintain accurate records of our membership, advocate effectively for professional development, and provide members the best possible services. We hope to establish strong representation from each state, and we're posting regular updates to the Professional Development List regarding the numbers who have joined or renewed thus far (state, district, or country). Upon joining or renewing, you also have the opportunity to vote on the 2007 Slate of Officers, and to become more involved with the organization if you choose. For more information, please see the AALPD Membership Drive announcement below. Thanks so much! Best wishes, Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator, jataylor at utk.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AALPD: Join or Renew Membership in January 2007 http://www.aalpd.org/membership_form_withvoting.cfm AALPD is... AALPD is a national organization for professional developers with leadership committed to advancing the field of adult literacy professional development (http://www.aalpd.org/ ). AALPD is an affiliate of COABE (Commission on Adult Basic Education) and is a member of the National Coalition for Literacy. As a volunteer organization, AALPD: * hosts an annual PreConference at COABE and meets at other professional development events; * co-sponsors the Adult Literacy Professional Development discussion list in partnership with the National Institute for Literacy and hosts formal discussion activities targeted to address list subscriber needs; * provides a Professional Development Registry of materials to which anyone can find and contribute facilitator materials; * provides opportunities for members to become involved in key priority areas identified by its membership; and * advocates for funding for professional development. Why should you join or renew membership? As we grow and expand, it helps us to have updated information about our members in order to advocate effectively for professional development and provide members with the best possible services. So, we are asking everyone to renew their memberships by registering as an AALPD member each year. Vote While You Join or Renew Membership While you are joining or renewing membership, you have the opportunity to vote on the 2007 slate of AALPD officers (Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary-Treasurer). What Does the Future Hold? The field needs to offer a better, brighter future for teacher professional development in adult literacy. To achieve this end, AALPD is engaged in concerted, collaborative efforts to advance the field of adult literacy professional development in several key areas. One goal is the adoption of the AALPD PD Policy Recommendations at national, state, and local levels that support the participation of practitioners in professional development to help them be effective teachers, tutors, counselors, and administrators. We advocate for more funding for professional development, so that these recommendations can be more fully implemented in programs and states. But we can do more. Many believe the future holds promise for programs and states that specifically improve the working conditions necessary to deliver quality educational services and to support teachers in their professional growth and learning. As an organization for professional developers, AALPD could increase efforts in areas that advance the quality of our profession in new ways. We should all expect AALPD to take leadership in new and exciting areas for 2007, and provide opportunities for greater membership involvement. AALPD Membership Benefits: * Membership is free! * You can vote for AALPD officers and on special issues that arise (Only AALPD members will be eligible to vote). * We will send you the latest information about upcoming trainings, events and resources. * You can have input into the design of the COABE pre-conference session next year (2008 in St. Louis). * You can choose to participate in advancing key priorities identified by our members. * You can help to strengthen AALPD's voice in advocacy by demonstrating a strong membership of concerned practitioners committed to professional development. Thank you for joining or renewing your membership with AALPD. I look forward to an active year ahead. For the AALPD Executive Board, Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator, jataylor at utk.edu Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers http://www.aalpd.org/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070117/cf063114/attachment.html From kabeall at comcast.net Wed Jan 17 16:21:33 2007 From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:21:33 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 585] New from NCSALL Message-ID: <010d01c73a7d$7aa8e300$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6> Hi all, This new publication does have assessment tools in it, though from the perspective of getting around in healthcare facilities, not the typical basic literacy context of which we most frequently think about. I hope that you find it useful. The Health Literacy Environment of Hospitals and Health Centers: Partners for Action: Making Your Healthcare Facility Literacy-Friendly by Rima E. Rudd and Jennie E. Anderson The guide and the review tools found within it offer an approach for analyzing literacy-related barriers to healthcare access and navigation. The findings of such a review could spark discussions and help shape strategies to eliminate literacy barriers and enhance health literacy. For more information and to download the guide, go to: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1163 **************** Kaye Beall World Education 4401 S. Madison St. Muncie, IN 47302 Tel: 765-717-3942 Fax: 617-482-0617 kaye_beall at worlded.org http://www.worlded.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070117/0ca74336/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Jan 18 18:20:25 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:20:25 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 586] FW: [Workplace 563] Re: Work-readiness as it relates to academic skills(atthe levels of CASAS and TABE or WorkKeys), technical skills and that third area - what kind of workerwillsomeone be? What are the person's soft skills. Message-ID: <09b801c73b57$3c690ea0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following two posts relate to the discussion on WorkKeys. Our discussion on the Assessment List was posted on the Workplace Literacy List with a request for any feedback. If there are more posts regarding WorkKeys, I will forward these as well. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:workplace-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Reeves Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 2:38 PM To: The Workplace Literacy Discussion List Subject: [Workplace 563] Re: Work-readiness as it relates to academic skills(atthe levels of CASAS and TABE or WorkKeys),technical skills and that third area - what kind of workerwillsomeone be? What are the person's soft skills. Alan, I like the broad picture - some questions 1. Could you give some examples of some specific common soft skills that go to make up the broad domain/competency area of the soft skills set? ? 2. What do you mean when you say that the assessment is ok - which tests do you think do a good job of validly assessing soft skills? Thanks for your posting _____ From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:workplace-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Alan Lesure Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 1:24 PM To: workplace at nifl.gov Subject: [Workplace 558] Work-readiness as it relates to academic skills (atthe levels of CASAS and TABE or WorkKeys),technical skills and that third area - what kind of worker willsomeone be? What are the person's soft skills. In the following, I'd like to add a perspective to recent discussions re WorkKeys for ABLELearners and, perhaps, broaden the scope of this discussion. Our organization's focus is soft skills and our basic premise is that: 1. Every job involves 3 sets of competencies: * Academic skills * Technical/occupational skills * Workplace behaviors or soft skills People need adequate or job-defined levels of each of these skill sets. There is relatively little objective measurement of people's workplace behaviors in most ABE courses and, therefore, there is relatively little focus on developing these skills. This is unfortunate because the very best way to develop soft skills is through their integration into academic (ABE/GED, etc.) and career courses. Soft skill assessment is easy - current technology has done it fairly, validly and predictively millions of times. Developing soft skills, changing people's behavior falls under the category of heavy lifting and this is the focus of much of our work with workforce professionals. 2. Different jobs require different levels of soft, academic and technical skills. 3. It is helpful to know learners' competency levels (for academic, technical and soft skills) at the start of a program so that, by post-assessment, one can determine the extent to which soft skills have been enhanced. Our approach to certificates, credentials and transcripts is summarized as follows: * An effective certificate provides good and credible information as to what people know and can do. Hiring organizations can often compensate if an individual does not have a particular skill set - but they must know what these competencies are. Employers may hire individuals because they value the skills that have been demonstrated, even if the applicant failed to demonstrate competence in all areas. * Failing to credential an individual who may have failed to demonstrate competence in one or a few selected areas covered by a broad certificate is wasteful and may create an unnecessary employment barrier for an otherwise employable individual. * Different jobs require different skills and skill levels. Indeed, the same job title in one organization may require relatively low levels of certain skills, while a higher level of performance may be required by the same job in a different firm. * A one-size certificate does not fit all because it does not respond to local, regional or national realities. Certificates work best when they exist in an environment that provides changing and current information about local employers' needs. Skills required this year by an organization might not match those needed next year. Certificates, like employers' requirements, must be responsive to changing conditions. Finally, certificates are most effective - and most portable - when they encourage and record individuals' skills growth over time. Our approach to assessment places heavy emphasis on employers - in three ways: 1. Benchmarking: This process engages the employer in identifying soft, academic and/or technical skills specific to jobs available within their industry or company. Resulting information enables workforce providers to tailor training programs to the unique needs of the industry/employer/job. 2. Selection: People with clear evidence of the alignment of their skills with those sought by the employer can move more quickly - and less expensively - through the application processes. 3. Post-employment: It is the rare individual who has all of the skills needed for a particular job. Probationary periods provide an opportunity for supervisors to work with new hires to develop specific skill sets. Both the employer and the employee benefit from reduced turnover and improved supervisor performance. Systematically including soft skills benefits all workforce stakeholders in the following ways: For youth and other job seekers * A realistic job preview: Video- or DVD- or Internet-based assessment creates more realistic job expectations for employees, thus increasing the likelihood of job satisfaction * Training and development needs are specific and objective * An understanding of their current skills sets in comparison with those required of jobs in the community: future workers receive data on their skills gap that must be closed to qualify for specific jobs * A clear competitive advantage as they enter the job market armed with clear and documented evidence of their specific soft skills * Finally, with unique insight into their own skill development needs, they can provide employers and supervisors with clear and specific information for planning on-the-job training and development. For workforce professionals * Pre-and post-assessment data measures the effectiveness of work readiness training and development. * Continuous program improvement can be based on performance data that demonstrates the extent to which internal and external programs are enabling individuals to move from pre-assessed soft skill levels to post-assessment. Effective programs develop people whose skills approximate employers' benchmarked specifications. * The ability to deliver customized applicant referrals and retention support strengthens and enhances relationships with employers and positions workforce development organizations to be perceived as a valuable business development resource. And, for those that hire * Benchmarking incumbent workers' soft skills enables the establishment of clearer "specs;" employers and those providing applicants know the soft skills required - skills that result in better job matching and reduced turnover. * Benchmarking is also a reality check: are incumbents as effective as they need to be. * Less time devoted to selection * Increased productivity by selecting candidates who have the greatest likelihood of success on-the-job * Accuracy in identifying the developmental needs of incumbent workers. Developmental resources are more efficiently used when video assessments pinpoint the specific strengths and training needs of individuals, groups, departments, regions or entire organizations * Post-employment information and support for supervisors of entry level workers that enables them to effectively coach and develop new workers - during probation and long-term. Supervisors become more effective. * Reduced turnover * Connection to a complementary HR resource within the community that is aligned with employers' needs Using the above as an organizing framework for workforce and economic development in a community is, I believe, a somewhat new and harmonizing approach that complements other efforts to document what individuals know and can do. I appreciate the opportunity to share this information with this Discussion List and would be pleased to respond to questions these ideas may prompt. Alan Lesure Learning Resources alesure at learning-resources.com Alan B. Lesure, President Learning Resources, Inc. 1117 E. Putnam Avenue, # 260 Riverside, CT 06878 Phone: 203-637-5047 Fax: 203-637-2786 E-Mail: alesure at learning-resources.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070118/ac14504c/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT02440.txt Url: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070118/ac14504c/attachment.txt From mhefner at cccti.edu Thu Jan 18 15:44:47 2007 From: mhefner at cccti.edu (Melinda Hefner) Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 15:44:47 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 587] Re: WorkKeys for ABLE Learners In-Reply-To: <070f01c7399e$be5adbb0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <000301c73761$2dcaa880$2efdfea9@JimDownOne> <070f01c7399e$be5adbb0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <45AF95EF0200005D00008171@gwise.cccti.edu> Thanks to all for the information/discussion aboaut using WorkKeys for ABE students!! Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070118/3cd6faea/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Jan 19 10:37:30 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 10:37:30 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 588] Formative assessment examples Message-ID: <0a1601c73bdf$bb87e660$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, Wow, no takers on the formative assessment question. There's a wealth of ideas and info to share here so I'm throwing out my prompt to you. Here are some examples of the types of daily/weekly, ongoing, formative assessment that I would do with adult students to get a sense of where they were in their learning process, and what they needed to work on. I am trained in both teaching ESOL and Basic Literacy, so I'm drawing from both those venues. I'm sure many of these examples are quite familiar to you. For reading: -I liked to have students read out loud sometimes so I could hear how they pronounced words, get a sense of their understanding of punctuation, get an idea of their fluency; I also liked to ask comprehension questions after an out-loud reading so I could see if the person needed to use all their concentration to decipher/articulate the text, or it they were able to comprehend the text at the same time. For writing: -I always liked to use dialog journals in the classic way of not overtly correcting errors, but rather writing back with the same language but in corrected fashion. You can see over a period of time when the person's writing starts to change and the person begins to notice correct forms and use them. This progression is fairly slow and so you can really get a sense of the learning journey for that person. For speaking: -I always began class with the same routine which was often a set of casual questions thrown out to whomever would like to respond (i.e.: how was your weekend? What did you do? etc). I can see who speaks right up, and who does not; you can see over time how that dynamic starts to change because the students have the expectation after a while that this will happen and they start mentally preparing for it. They will often ask each other as well once this has been established. I sort of feel that in an ESOL class, especially one focused on speaking/listening, formative assessment happens anytime anyone opens their mouth (or doesn't) - but wouldn't that be really hard to document?! For pronunciation: -There are so many formative things you can do with pronunciation; I ask students to bring in their own pocket mirror so that they can look at their mouths while they are practicing sounds. I ask them to look in their mirror and see if what they see looks like what I am doing; they also monitor their progress during class. For self-assessment: -Student self-assessment is really powerful - people can really take control of their own learning if they are guided to do self-assessment; once they learn how, they don't need much guidance anymore; this is especially important in today's world of Distance Learning, and for those students who stop out of programs but wish to carry on their study by themselves. Here's an idea if you are asking people to provide definitions of words/terms or to discuss the meaning of a particular concept: ask them to first write what they think is the correct response, even if they are not sure; then provide them with where to find the correct answers so they can go there and add the correct response to their own and the question at hand. This makes the activity much more of a critical thinking process and it is organized to provide a self-assessment. So that's a few examples for you - I hope that it prompts you to add your own ideas, or ask questions. Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070119/7d17651c/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jan 23 11:03:16 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:03:16 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 589] Your classroom today Message-ID: <0ba901c73f07$fec3bc30$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi out there! Ok, how about this: How do you know what to do in your classroom today? Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. For those folks working in the GED realm: how do you know where to start with your adult students? Just from the practice test or pre-test or do you do other things as well? Once the student is placed in an appropriate level, how do you know what to do today with her? How do you know what she needs? Thanks!! for any of your thoughts!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070123/0cf16525/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jan 23 11:24:18 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:24:18 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 590] WE LEARN Conference Schedule Available Message-ID: <0bc301c73f0a$ef034420$0202a8c0@LITNOW> 4th Annual WE LEARN (Net)Working Conference an Women and Literacy Threads of Experience: Creative Spaces for Women's Learning March 9-10, 2007 Boston MA at Northeastern University Registration & Travel details: http://www.litwomen.org/conference.html We have now posted the Program Schedule Grid and Workshop Descriptions. We have also added the application for funding support. Early bird conference registration deadline (with 15% discount): Feb. 2, 2007 Deadline to make reservations at the Midtown Hotel to receive conference price: February 5, 2007 Pre-registration deadline: Feb. 23, 2007 We still have some spaces available in the Pre-Conference Seminar -- The Impact of Violence on Learning: Building Connections to Deepen Understanding March 8, 2007, in conjunction with the WE LEARN Annual Conference, in Boston MA at Northeastern University For application go to: http://www.litwomen.org/conferences/2007/seminar_app.doc For flyer, go to: http://www.litwomen.org/conferences/2007/flyer_color.pdf For more information, please contact: Mev Miller WE LEARN Women Expanding: Literacy Education Action Resource Network www.litwomen.org/welearn.html Mev Miller, Ed.D., Director 182 Riverside Ave. Cranston, RI 02910 401-383-4374 welearn at litwomen.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070123/1e21dcfa/attachment.html From sreid at workbase.org.nz Tue Jan 23 12:19:51 2007 From: sreid at workbase.org.nz (Susan Reid) Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 06:19:51 +1300 Subject: [Assessment 591] Re: Your classroom today Message-ID: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA542@secure.workbase.org.nz> Hi Marie Happy New Year to you and thank you for persevering with us. I have been reading your posts and want to respond to the earlier one about forms of formative assessment. I find that often my 'formative assessment' is unplanned I was doing some professional development with our teachers last week and I gave them a scenario which was based on something I did some time ago when I gave a group of workplace employees I was working with a task to do workplace observations for an hour a day and keep a diary about them following a certain format. All the employees were in roles where part of their job tasks was to fill in a shift log ( the format I required) and so I had no qualms about asking them to do this task which was part of a training programme for a Quality assurance role. They were meant to fill in their diaries and hand them into me each week so I could look at them and then discuss them wiht eack of the group. . Well at the end of week one three people hadn't handed in their diaries and one of them approached me to say he had terrible handwriting and spelling and couldn't do the task. It transpired that he had a workmate fill in the shift log for him every shift. When I followed up the other two it turned out they had similar issues but not necessarily such a creative response. As formative assessment is assessment for teaching then the task I had asked the group to do turned out to be formative assessment as I then had to change my approach quite significantly for these three employees. At the beginning I had planned that the diaries themselves would be the formative assessment activity by contributing to a portfolio of writing. For me there was also some stuff about making assumptions about learners' ability to do the task but htis experience made me more aware that formative assessment opportunites arise all the time ( planned and unplanned) and need to be recorded. I suppose that the biggest lesson I have learned from colleagues is the labelling of these activities as formative assessment and then recording it and discussing it with the learners. Often we do it but we don't name it as such. kind regards Susan Reid Manager Learning and Development Workbase the New Zealand Centee for Workforce Literacy www.workbase.org.nz ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Wed 24/01/2007 5:03 a.m. To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 589] Your classroom today Hi out there! Ok, how about this: How do you know what to do in your classroom today? Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. For those folks working in the GED realm: how do you know where to start with your adult students? Just from the practice test or pre-test or do you do other things as well? Once the student is placed in an appropriate level, how do you know what to do today with her? How do you know what she needs? Thanks!! for any of your thoughts!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 8279 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070124/bbbcf20c/attachment.bin From MField at midsouthcc.edu Tue Jan 23 13:51:04 2007 From: MField at midsouthcc.edu (Field, Mary) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:51:04 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 592] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: <0ba901c73f07$fec3bc30$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <0ba901c73f07$fec3bc30$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: We have a set syllabi of assignments and "course objectives" which all instructors are to follow. Instructors have some leeway on how they teach the class but similar tests and points have to be given in all sections-the idea being you get the same content in any section you might take (sort of a quality control thing). We are a community college so some things are "lock step". However, the issue becomes what if your class needs more background or catch up work (different needs). I do the old "monitor and adjust" with activities because we all know that what works with one group does all work with the next. We have used some pre and post tests in some areas (developmental writing and reading) but more and more each instructor is picking one of the course objectives and "assessing" it for a semester and then reporting results to the Dean of Instruction at the end of the semester. In a somewhat related area, I would like to hear from anyone who teaches the same course online and face to face and how you handle assignments, etc. There is a philosophy being promoted with us that the online and face to face classes should be identical with types of assignments, activities, etc. Thanks! ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:03 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 589] Your classroom today Hi out there! Ok, how about this: How do you know what to do in your classroom today? Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. For those folks working in the GED realm: how do you know where to start with your adult students? Just from the practice test or pre-test or do you do other things as well? Once the student is placed in an appropriate level, how do you know what to do today with her? How do you know what she needs? Thanks!! for any of your thoughts!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ _______________________________________________________________________ Scanned for viruses by MessageLabs SkyScan! _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ This MSCC e-mail has been scanned for viruses by MessageLabs SkyScan! _______________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070123/fc1e392d/attachment.html From tarv at chemeketa.edu Tue Jan 23 14:44:26 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:44:26 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 593] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: References: <0ba901c73f07$fec3bc30$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: What you have described is the art of ABE teaching. How do you start your multi-level classroom off to a great start, while meeting the goals and needs of each learner? Materials need to fit their skills and be useful and current as well as align with your program goals and course outlines....yipee...and how do you train new staff to do this "magic"? Making each class room identical doesn't fit what I've seen for 37 years, as each group of students has variable needs and strengths. We are peer learners too; how would we each feel if all classes never were specific to our joys and needs? We all need success and challenge, affirmation, caring and push. va ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Field, Mary Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:51 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 592] Re: Your classroom today We have a set syllabi of assignments and "course objectives" which all instructors are to follow. Instructors have some leeway on how they teach the class but similar tests and points have to be given in all sections-the idea being you get the same content in any section you might take (sort of a quality control thing). We are a community college so some things are "lock step". However, the issue becomes what if your class needs more background or catch up work (different needs). I do the old "monitor and adjust" with activities because we all know that what works with one group does all work with the next. We have used some pre and post tests in some areas (developmental writing and reading) but more and more each instructor is picking one of the course objectives and "assessing" it for a semester and then reporting results to the Dean of Instruction at the end of the semester. In a somewhat related area, I would like to hear from anyone who teaches the same course online and face to face and how you handle assignments, etc. There is a philosophy being promoted with us that the online and face to face classes should be identical with types of assignments, activities, etc. Thanks! ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:03 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 589] Your classroom today Hi out there! Ok, how about this: How do you know what to do in your classroom today? Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. For those folks working in the GED realm: how do you know where to start with your adult students? Just from the practice test or pre-test or do you do other things as well? Once the student is placed in an appropriate level, how do you know what to do today with her? How do you know what she needs? Thanks!! for any of your thoughts!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ _______________________________________________________________________ Scanned for viruses by MessageLabs SkyScan! _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ This MSCC e-mail has been scanned for viruses by MessageLabs SkyScan! _______________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070123/b6b43dc0/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jan 23 15:32:02 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 15:32:02 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 594] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <0c7a01c73f2d$8a844170$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Virginia, Thanks for this - can you answer some of your own questions for us?! How DO you start off your multi-level classroom? How do you gauge where everyone is? How do you figure out which materials will fit their skills? I would love to hear other subscribers answer the questions that Virginia poses here. Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia Tardaewether Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 2:44 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 593] Re: Your classroom today What you have described is the art of ABE teaching. How do you start your multi-level classroom off to a great start, while meeting the goals and needs of each learner? Materials need to fit their skills and be useful and current as well as align with your program goals and course outlines..yipee.and how do you train new staff to do this "magic"? Making each class room identical doesn't fit what I've seen for 37 years, as each group of students has variable needs and strengths. We are peer learners too; how would we each feel if all classes never were specific to our joys and needs? We all need success and challenge, affirmation, caring and push. va _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Field, Mary Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:51 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 592] Re: Your classroom today We have a set syllabi of assignments and "course objectives" which all instructors are to follow. Instructors have some leeway on how they teach the class but similar tests and points have to be given in all sections-the idea being you get the same content in any section you might take (sort of a quality control thing). We are a community college so some things are "lock step". However, the issue becomes what if your class needs more background or catch up work (different needs). I do the old "monitor and adjust" with activities because we all know that what works with one group does all work with the next. We have used some pre and post tests in some areas (developmental writing and reading) but more and more each instructor is picking one of the course objectives and "assessing" it for a semester and then reporting results to the Dean of Instruction at the end of the semester. In a somewhat related area, I would like to hear from anyone who teaches the same course online and face to face and how you handle assignments, etc. There is a philosophy being promoted with us that the online and face to face classes should be identical with types of assignments, activities, etc. Thanks! _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:03 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 589] Your classroom today Hi out there! Ok, how about this: How do you know what to do in your classroom today? Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. For those folks working in the GED realm: how do you know where to start with your adult students? Just from the practice test or pre-test or do you do other things as well? Once the student is placed in an appropriate level, how do you know what to do today with her? How do you know what she needs? Thanks!! for any of your thoughts!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ _______________________________________________________________________ Scanned for viruses by MessageLabs SkyScan! _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ This MSCC e-mail has been scanned for viruses by MessageLabs SkyScan! _______________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070123/7027d168/attachment.html From Jeanette.Schandelmeier at lposd.org Tue Jan 23 15:52:29 2007 From: Jeanette.Schandelmeier at lposd.org (Jeanette Schandelmeier) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:52:29 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 595] Re: Your classroom today References: <0ba901c73f07$fec3bc30$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: I'm a special educator, currently at the elementary level, but I've taught at all levels including juvenile detention. My informal on-going assessments are standards/curriculum-based; I suppose what you'd call formative. I then write my IEP goals based on our state standards. When I co-plan and co-teach with general ed., we group the students based on the same types of assessments. We obtain even more information during the direct instruction time, where we're asking each student to respond to the instruction. While they are working independently we make contact with each student to see how they're responding to the instruction. At the end of the lesson we, the teachers, discuss whether more instruction is needed (for the class as a whole or for individuals) or whether we can move on to the next skill in the curriculum. All of this is dependent upon a "good" (i.e. research-based, sequential, etc.) curriculum. Jeanette ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 8:03 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 589] Your classroom today Hi out there! Ok, how about this: How do you know what to do in your classroom today? Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. For those folks working in the GED realm: how do you know where to start with your adult students? Just from the practice test or pre-test or do you do other things as well? Once the student is placed in an appropriate level, how do you know what to do today with her? How do you know what she needs? Thanks!! for any of your thoughts!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070123/83c67440/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Tue Jan 23 16:11:43 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:11:43 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 596] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: References: <0ba901c73f07$fec3bc30$0202a8c0@LITNOW> , Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070123/9818cc53/attachment.html From tarv at chemeketa.edu Tue Jan 23 16:26:11 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 13:26:11 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 597] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: <0c7a01c73f2d$8a844170$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <0c7a01c73f2d$8a844170$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: How DO you start off your multi-level classroom? How do you gauge where everyone is? How do you figure out which materials will fit their skills? We also give both online and face-to-face students assignments in Skills Tutor and Aztec. We use the CASAS score to locate what level to place them in for this software program. Face-to-face students also get placed in group lessons for writing or math. We have credit and non-credit students who attend the group lessons. We have two levels of math and writing. There are only two of us so it is difficult to do more than that. The large numbers of teens enrolled have benefited from the groups a lot as they are so social. The instructor and instructional assistant work to create a whole class lessons for these sessions; these lessons try to meet the needs of the group in the class. Each semester we will have different needs and will tailor the lessons accordingly. Oregon and Chemeketa have Standards, and we aim to meet these with both the individualized and whole group lessons. We adjust our curriculum as we do follow up CASAS and Official Practice testing. When we find a student advancing, we feel we are being successful with meeting his/her needs. We also encourage them move ahead when they find the work we have assigned to them to be easy. When we find a student is not advancing, we adjust the curriculum to see how we can better meet his/her needs. We try to get students to work with each other. We offer opportunities for feedback in the form of spelling quizzes, writing essays and editing each other's work, doing small group work, etc. to make sure the students are getting what is being taught during the class period. We also spot check work done out of workbooks and review scores on the software lessons. Our program really does a lot with informal, formative and standardized assessment, and I think that helps the students stay on task and accomplish their goals. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 12:32 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 594] Re: Your classroom today Hi Virginia, Thanks for this - can you answer some of your own questions for us?! I would love to hear other subscribers answer the questions that Virginia poses here. Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia Tardaewether Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 2:44 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 593] Re: Your classroom today What you have described is the art of ABE teaching. How do you start your multi-level classroom off to a great start, while meeting the goals and needs of each learner? Materials need to fit their skills and be useful and current as well as align with your program goals and course outlines....yipee...and how do you train new staff to do this "magic"? Making each class room identical doesn't fit what I've seen for 37 years, as each group of students has variable needs and strengths. We are peer learners too; how would we each feel if all classes never were specific to our joys and needs? We all need success and challenge, affirmation, caring and push. va ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Field, Mary Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:51 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 592] Re: Your classroom today We have a set syllabi of assignments and "course objectives" which all instructors are to follow. Instructors have some leeway on how they teach the class but similar tests and points have to be given in all sections-the idea being you get the same content in any section you might take (sort of a quality control thing). We are a community college so some things are "lock step". However, the issue becomes what if your class needs more background or catch up work (different needs). I do the old "monitor and adjust" with activities because we all know that what works with one group does all work with the next. We have used some pre and post tests in some areas (developmental writing and reading) but more and more each instructor is picking one of the course objectives and "assessing" it for a semester and then reporting results to the Dean of Instruction at the end of the semester. In a somewhat related area, I would like to hear from anyone who teaches the same course online and face to face and how you handle assignments, etc. There is a philosophy being promoted with us that the online and face to face classes should be identical with types of assignments, activities, etc. Thanks! ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:03 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 589] Your classroom today Hi out there! Ok, how about this: How do you know what to do in your classroom today? Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. For those folks working in the GED realm: how do you know where to start with your adult students? Just from the practice test or pre-test or do you do other things as well? Once the student is placed in an appropriate level, how do you know what to do today with her? How do you know what she needs? Thanks!! for any of your thoughts!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ _______________________________________________________________________ Scanned for viruses by MessageLabs SkyScan! _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ This MSCC e-mail has been scanned for viruses by MessageLabs SkyScan! _______________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070123/5ee55f4e/attachment.html From bryan at cal.org Tue Jan 23 17:02:33 2007 From: bryan at cal.org (Bryan Woerner) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:02:33 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 599] Re: Your classroom today Message-ID: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F0229755F@MAIL.cal.local> How do you know what to do in your classroom today? I teach for the Adult ESOL Program at Montgomery College in Maryland. I use several things to help put together curriculum for my class including state content standards, program goals, CASAS test information, my own observations, and student requests. Mostly I use the CASAS information as a guide as it shows their strengths and weaknesses and because our program uses the competencies as benchmarks to meet the state's content standards. Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? I generally tend to follow a lesson plan, but as I gain more experience, I'm learning to be flexible when things are working right and if something comes up - such as a teachable moment or impromptu discussion. I try to keep to the plan, but sometimes you have to have a little variety in your routine to keep the students interested. If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. If I have time and paper, I like to create my own materials, otherwise I try and use the textbooks, supplemental materials, and realia on hand to make my lesson plans. I try to follow the Communicative Approach which basically says that language is a tool and as a teacher, it is my duty to help learners use language to solve their problems in the everyday world. Along with that idea I follow some "blueprints" for lesson design that help learners learn how to learn, while providing enough scaffolding along the way. You can view these blueprints at American University TESOL's website http://www.american.edu/tesol/Lessonplans.htm. The Communicative Approach also means trying to use authentic language (or near-authentic) as opposed to the often contrived textbook language. Examples: using real job ads from the newspaper, recording your own dialogues (I suggest getting the Olympus VN-2100PC ~$50 to $60), having students create their own dialogues, having students fill out real applications, etc. It takes a lot of time at first to find and create some of these things, but you build up quite a library after awhile and you can often use them with multiple levels. And while I'm not a big fan of textbook dialogues and exercises, they often make great controlled exercises or the dialogues can be used in other ways the textbook authors intended. Bryan Woerner Adult ESL Assessment Operations bryan at cal.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 11:03 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 589] Your classroom today Hi out there! Ok, how about this: How do you know what to do in your classroom today? Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. For those folks working in the GED realm: how do you know where to start with your adult students? Just from the practice test or pre-test or do you do other things as well? Once the student is placed in an appropriate level, how do you know what to do today with her? How do you know what she needs? Thanks!! for any of your thoughts!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070123/20053cf2/attachment.html From KHinson at almanid.com Tue Jan 23 19:18:30 2007 From: KHinson at almanid.com (Katrina Hinson) Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 01:18:30 +0100 Subject: [Assessment 598] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: <0ba901c73f07$fec3bc30$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <0ba901c73f07$fec3bc30$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <45B65F84.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> I have a multi level, multi entry GED Lab. When my students come in, I look at their TABE scores and talk to them about where they actually stopped learning - what they've been doing workwise and try to gather information to give me a better picture of what someone may really know. I use Pre-tests in the Steck-Vaughn and Contemporary GED and Pre-GED books. I also use the Achieving TABE success books that have some excellent Pre-Tests that I like better than the GED Pre Test when it comes to reading because it give me a better picture of the "skill" area that a student may be having difficulty with in terms of Reading - such as Main Ideas, Inferences etc. I adapt a lot of my assessment measures up and down for any given new student. I don't want to frustrate them off the top and if I see them struggling with something, I'll approach them and tell them to "let's try something else - let's back up a bit and see if this is a bit better place for you to start." My class is a mixture of independent and self paced learning with some group instruction thrown in. We do a writing journal as a class every day and we do a math journal every day as a way of coming together as a class. I also have my students work on MySkillsTutor, A+, Work Keys and McGrawHill's Top 50 Skills CD. The practice tests for the latter give a really good "study" plan for students and they can print off their information for their score and see their own progress. They've enjoyed doing those exercises. I do a overall lesson plan - an outline for the day so to speak just in case I'm not there and someone needs to fill in for me. The lesson plan is always a big picture and the students fit into that big picture or better yet, the big picture fits around my students because I modify any given day based on the needs and wants and desires of my students. Also, I do teach online classes. They are all TABE tested just as we do for any other student. GED students work on MySkillsTutor and A+Anywhere and do the assessments involved in each program. AHS students are a bit different. I've been working on creating blackboard classes for AHS but we also currently use A+Anywhere for an online component of our AHS program. Each class has a syllabus and objectives that need to be met. The online assignments are not necessarily the same as they would be if the student were taking the same class in person. The whole idea is to provide an alternative means of instruction for students we might otherwise lose or who might otherwise have to quit or stop out for whatever reason he or she is facing. The online classes are designed for students that truly show an aptitude to learn on their own and at their own pace. They're given contact information for me as an instructor and the hours I'll be available online to help them both during school hours and outside school hours. They have to check in with me once a week and I monitor their progress via reports and assignments and if I see a problem I will contact a student and bring them in for face to face counseling. So far it's working well. I keep track of what each student is working on day to day, week to week. I do my own version of an IEP for each student so that if for some reason I'm not there, they know what to do and where to go and keep moving ahead. I update their plans as they complete lessons, gain confidence, pass GED practice tests or GED tests or simply progress levels up on the TABE. It's more work in the beginning but it works better organizationally for me in the long run and the students like being able to see what they're doing, where they are and where they're going. Regards, Katrina Hinson >>> "Marie Cora" 1/23/2007 11:03 am >>> Hi out there! Ok, how about this: How do you know what to do in your classroom today? Do you strictly follow some plan, or do you take cues from the reality of the present situation? If you follow a plan (strictly or not), how do you develop your lesson plan? Describe how you do this. For those folks working in the GED realm: how do you know where to start with your adult students? Just from the practice test or pre-test or do you do other things as well? Once the student is placed in an appropriate level, how do you know what to do today with her? How do you know what she needs? Thanks!! for any of your thoughts!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Jan 24 14:26:40 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:26:40 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 600] Your classroom today Message-ID: <0d4801c73fed$9396ef90$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, Thanks for these great ideas and suggestions. Keep them coming! (Let me know if you find the use of bold below helpful or annoying - I was trying to highlight certain sections so that you could skip over things if you want to.) I'm struck by just how much everyone seems to do in terms of diagnostics and placement. I guess it could be argued that appropriate diagnostic placement is crucial in terms of making or breaking an adult student's experience. Some replies to folks who've posted: Susan - I really like the idea of using scenarios in professional development. I think that providing a real situation for people to respond to is really helpful in the learning process. Do you use this regularly with people? Where do you get your scenarios from? Real experiences or things you've heard about? Others - do you use scenarios with either staff or students? What's that like? Jeannette - you brought up IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). These are so useful in terms of providing the guidance needed. I know that they are used widely (always?) in special education - but do folks not working in special ed use them as well? I know Katrina mentioned that she does. I also love the idea of the teacher group discussions for determining student progress! There's nothing more powerful than talking things through with colleagues. Tina - you talked about pre-tests that you develop at your program. Do you do this on your own or with others in the program? Do you have pre-tests for various levels or content areas? Others - do you develop your own pre-tests and what does this look like? Katrina - you also mentioned IEPs, but also you talked about the fact that students have access to these and can use them as guides, is that correct? This is a really great form of student self-assessment. Others - do you have your students engage in self-assessment? What does that look like? Bryan - thanks for this great resource (Lesson Plan Blueprints, TESOL) - it looks very intriguing. Often you need to be a TESOL member to access their resources, but it appears that this one anyone can go to. There are a ton of useful resources at this site including white papers on rationale, bibliographies, real lessons, among other things. Anyone else use this and care to comment? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070124/17ae79c0/attachment.html From bryan at cal.org Wed Jan 24 14:34:05 2007 From: bryan at cal.org (Bryan Woerner) Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:34:05 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 601] Re: Your classroom today Message-ID: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F022978E6@MAIL.cal.local> Hi everyone, The information I posted about is actually through the American University TESOL program, which is where I got my masters degree. The information is copyrighted, but it is free to use by anyone and you don't have to be a student to download it. Bryan ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 2:27 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 600] Your classroom today Hi everyone, Thanks for these great ideas and suggestions. Keep them coming! (Let me know if you find the use of bold below helpful or annoying - I was trying to highlight certain sections so that you could skip over things if you want to.) I'm struck by just how much everyone seems to do in terms of diagnostics and placement. I guess it could be argued that appropriate diagnostic placement is crucial in terms of making or breaking an adult student's experience. Some replies to folks who've posted: Susan - I really like the idea of using scenarios in professional development. I think that providing a real situation for people to respond to is really helpful in the learning process. Do you use this regularly with people? Where do you get your scenarios from? Real experiences or things you've heard about? Others - do you use scenarios with either staff or students? What's that like? Jeannette - you brought up IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). These are so useful in terms of providing the guidance needed. I know that they are used widely (always?) in special education - but do folks not working in special ed use them as well? I know Katrina mentioned that she does. I also love the idea of the teacher group discussions for determining student progress! There's nothing more powerful than talking things through with colleagues. Tina - you talked about pre-tests that you develop at your program. Do you do this on your own or with others in the program? Do you have pre-tests for various levels or content areas? Others - do you develop your own pre-tests and what does this look like? Katrina - you also mentioned IEPs, but also you talked about the fact that students have access to these and can use them as guides, is that correct? This is a really great form of student self-assessment. Others - do you have your students engage in self-assessment? What does that look like? Bryan - thanks for this great resource (Lesson Plan Blueprints, TESOL) - it looks very intriguing. Often you need to be a TESOL member to access their resources, but it appears that this one anyone can go to. There are a ton of useful resources at this site including white papers on rationale, bibliographies, real lessons, among other things. Anyone else use this and care to comment? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070124/cc7e90a8/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Wed Jan 24 20:51:31 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 18:51:31 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 602] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F022978E6@MAIL.cal.local> References: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F022978E6@MAIL.cal.local> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070124/198e6fa6/attachment.html From pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us Thu Jan 25 09:52:03 2007 From: pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us (JO PAMMENT) Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:52:03 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 603] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F022978E6@MAIL.cal.local> References: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F022978E6@MAIL.cal.local> Message-ID: <45B87DC30200009E00008380@10.1.0.15> Thanks, for the referral, Bryan. I checked it out, and it looks interesting. Jo Pamment Jo Pamment Director Adult Ed. ESL Haslett Public Schools 1118 S. Harrison East Lansing, Michigan 48823 TEL: 517 337-8353 FAX: 517 337-3195 E-Mail: pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us >>> "Bryan Woerner" 1/24/2007 2:34:05 PM >>> Hi everyone, The information I posted about is actually through the American University TESOL program, which is where I got my masters degree. The information is copyrighted, but it is free to use by anyone and you don't have to be a student to download it. Bryan ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 2:27 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 600] Your classroom today Hi everyone, Thanks for these great ideas and suggestions. Keep them coming! (Let me know if you find the use of bold below helpful or annoying - I was trying to highlight certain sections so that you could skip over things if you want to.) I'm struck by just how much everyone seems to do in terms of diagnostics and placement. I guess it could be argued that appropriate diagnostic placement is crucial in terms of making or breaking an adult student's experience. Some replies to folks who've posted: Susan - I really like the idea of using scenarios in professional development. I think that providing a real situation for people to respond to is really helpful in the learning process. Do you use this regularly with people? Where do you get your scenarios from? Real experiences or things you've heard about? Others - do you use scenarios with either staff or students? What's that like? Jeannette - you brought up IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). These are so useful in terms of providing the guidance needed. I know that they are used widely (always?) in special education - but do folks not working in special ed use them as well? I know Katrina mentioned that she does. I also love the idea of the teacher group discussions for determining student progress! There's nothing more powerful than talking things through with colleagues. Tina - you talked about pre-tests that you develop at your program. Do you do this on your own or with others in the program? Do you have pre-tests for various levels or content areas? Others - do you develop your own pre-tests and what does this look like? Katrina - you also mentioned IEPs, but also you talked about the fact that students have access to these and can use them as guides, is that correct? This is a really great form of student self-assessment. Others - do you have your students engage in self-assessment? What does that look like? Bryan - thanks for this great resource (Lesson Plan Blueprints, TESOL) - it looks very intriguing. Often you need to be a TESOL member to access their resources, but it appears that this one anyone can go to. There are a ton of useful resources at this site including white papers on rationale, bibliographies, real lessons, among other things. Anyone else use this and care to comment? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From KHinson at almanid.com Thu Jan 25 14:02:49 2007 From: KHinson at almanid.com (Katrina Hinson) Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:02:49 +0100 Subject: [Assessment 604] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: <0d4801c73fed$9396ef90$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <0d4801c73fed$9396ef90$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <45B8B885.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> Yes, students have access to them. It's an individualized education plan fitted to that student. It helps keep the student on target and focused as to what step he or she is in the program - where they are in terms of reaching individual goals. Regards, Katrina Hinson >>> "Marie Cora" 1/24/2007 2:26 pm >>> Hi everyone, Thanks for these great ideas and suggestions. Keep them coming! (Let me know if you find the use of bold below helpful or annoying - I was trying to highlight certain sections so that you could skip over things if you want to.) I'm struck by just how much everyone seems to do in terms of diagnostics and placement. I guess it could be argued that appropriate diagnostic placement is crucial in terms of making or breaking an adult student's experience. Some replies to folks who've posted: Susan - I really like the idea of using scenarios in professional development. I think that providing a real situation for people to respond to is really helpful in the learning process. Do you use this regularly with people? Where do you get your scenarios from? Real experiences or things you've heard about? Others - do you use scenarios with either staff or students? What's that like? Jeannette - you brought up IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). These are so useful in terms of providing the guidance needed. I know that they are used widely (always?) in special education - but do folks not working in special ed use them as well? I know Katrina mentioned that she does. I also love the idea of the teacher group discussions for determining student progress! There's nothing more powerful than talking things through with colleagues. Tina - you talked about pre-tests that you develop at your program. Do you do this on your own or with others in the program? Do you have pre-tests for various levels or content areas? Others - do you develop your own pre-tests and what does this look like? Katrina - you also mentioned IEPs, but also you talked about the fact that students have access to these and can use them as guides, is that correct? This is a really great form of student self-assessment. Others - do you have your students engage in self-assessment? What does that look like? Bryan - thanks for this great resource (Lesson Plan Blueprints, TESOL) - it looks very intriguing. Often you need to be a TESOL member to access their resources, but it appears that this one anyone can go to. There are a ton of useful resources at this site including white papers on rationale, bibliographies, real lessons, among other things. Anyone else use this and care to comment? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From sreid at workbase.org.nz Fri Jan 26 19:00:21 2007 From: sreid at workbase.org.nz (Susan Reid) Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 13:00:21 +1300 Subject: [Assessment 605] Re: Your classroom today Message-ID: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> Hi Marie We use scenarios all the time in professional development - they help make concepts real and participants can relate what they have been working on to a real live situation. Usually I use my own or other colleagues' personal experiences Scenarios are very flexible too - a former colleague of mine taught me to how to start them off in quite a simple way and then either make them layered by adding more information or by getting the participants to add more information - that way you find out what they are doing and are able to ask rich questions about why they chose to add that information Prior to that I had spent a lot of time writing quite complex and rich scenarios and sometimes they didn't relate to the participants' experiences so this way they build the scenario too and have a strong sense of ownership I find scenarios really useful in making explicit the wide range of opportunities that exist for formative assessment - we put a lot of emphasis on observation and recording as formative assessment rather than 'testing' per se Observation requires some knowledge on behalf of the teacher and a commitment to enquiry - when they see something that they are not sure about then they ask someone or work out what was happening When I was first involved in PD I came across participants who had to comment about every aspect of the course giving little examples. Initially I found this extremely irritating until it finally dawned on me that this was their comprehension strategy and while others might internalise what they are learning some people haven't developed that as a strategy yet. In New Zealand we call IEPs Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) and every learner in a literacy programme is meant to have one - regarded as good practice. Certainly our practice is that they are developed with the learner - they have a copy of them and that the goals in the ILPs are regularly reviewed. In the UK part of their Skills for Strategy was ther mandatory use of ILPs - there have been a number of issues around ILPs with low level ESOL learners see http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=19 regards Susan Reid ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Thu 25/01/2007 8:26 a.m. To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 600] Your classroom today Hi everyone, Thanks for these great ideas and suggestions. Keep them coming! (Let me know if you find the use of bold below helpful or annoying - I was trying to highlight certain sections so that you could skip over things if you want to.) I'm struck by just how much everyone seems to do in terms of diagnostics and placement. I guess it could be argued that appropriate diagnostic placement is crucial in terms of making or breaking an adult student's experience. Some replies to folks who've posted: Susan - I really like the idea of using scenarios in professional development. I think that providing a real situation for people to respond to is really helpful in the learning process. Do you use this regularly with people? Where do you get your scenarios from? Real experiences or things you've heard about? Others - do you use scenarios with either staff or students? What's that like? Jeannette - you brought up IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). These are so useful in terms of providing the guidance needed. I know that they are used widely (always?) in special education - but do folks not working in special ed use them as well? I know Katrina mentioned that she does. I also love the idea of the teacher group discussions for determining student progress! There's nothing more powerful than talking things through with colleagues. Tina - you talked about pre-tests that you develop at your program. Do you do this on your own or with others in the program? Do you have pre-tests for various levels or content areas? Others - do you develop your own pre-tests and what does this look like? Katrina - you also mentioned IEPs, but also you talked about the fact that students have access to these and can use them as guides, is that correct? This is a really great form of student self-assessment. Others - do you have your students engage in self-assessment? What does that look like? Bryan - thanks for this great resource (Lesson Plan Blueprints, TESOL) - it looks very intriguing. Often you need to be a TESOL member to access their resources, but it appears that this one anyone can go to. There are a ton of useful resources at this site including white papers on rationale, bibliographies, real lessons, among other things. Anyone else use this and care to comment? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 10555 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070127/3d28918a/attachment.bin From djrosen at comcast.net Sat Jan 27 08:49:24 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen) Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 08:49:24 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 606] Systematic formative ways to record what students learn and share this information In-Reply-To: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> References: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> Message-ID: Susan Reid, and others who use formative assessment, I am interested in learning more about teachers' systems for keeping track of what students are learning and sharing this information with them. What paper-and-pencil strategies do you use? What computer- managed or computer-aided strategies? Do you record information during the class, after the class, keep it all in your head? Does anyone share formative assessment information with students by regular one-on-one conferencing, by e-mailing them, in other ways? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Sat Jan 27 13:26:19 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 11:26:19 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 607] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> References: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070127/3d7d8a7b/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Sat Jan 27 16:11:54 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 16:11:54 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 608] National Reading Conference Message-ID: <01ad01c74257$c5ee3860$0202a8c0@LITNOW> The following post is from Erik Jacobson. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ------------------------- Research Award Opportunity National Reading Conference - J. Michael Parker Award The National Reading Conference awards the J. Michael Parker Award to encourage research in adult literacy. The award is given to graduate students and untenured professors who present research on adult learning or education at the annual conference. Recipients of the award will receive $300 towards their conference expenses and will be recognized during a general session of the conference. The award was established in 2001 in honor of J. Michael Parker, winner of National Reading Conference's Student Research Award. The call for papers is available online now at www.nrconline.org. When submitting your proposal please indicate that you will be applying for the J. Michael Parker Award (noted at the bottom of the personal information page). Applicants will be required to submit the full paper (25 pages or less) electronically by October 1st, 2007. Committee members will rate the submissions on the following criteria: 1. The research is capable of making a significant contribution to theory and/or practice of adult learning and instruction. 2. The methodology is appropriate to the research question and of sufficient rigor. 3. Implications of the research are of a scope needed to impact the field. I encourage you to apply to the conference and for the award. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below. Thank you. Erik Jacobson, Chair NRC J. Michael Parker Award jacobsone at mail.montclair.edu From sreid at workbase.org.nz Sun Jan 28 03:43:50 2007 From: sreid at workbase.org.nz (Susan Reid) Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:43:50 +1300 Subject: [Assessment 609] Re: Systematic formative ways to record what studentslearn and share this information Message-ID: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA56D@secure.workbase.org.nz> Hi David we have a new custom designed database that teachers use to input all sorts of data each teacher has a laptop - while they are out on site in workplaces they use it to access teaching material etc - they have cards from one of our local Telco providers so they can access the internet and their emails. When they are in the office ( usually only one day a week) they use a wireless network. The database includes the learner's Individual Learning Plan ( and goals) and the records for each session - what was planned, what was delivered, comments from the learners and the teacher. It also includes data about programme goals, curriculum, key milestones, learner details as well as diagnostic assessment data and formative and summative assessment data as it is collected Each 8 weeks the learner's ILP is flagged and the teacher reviews it with the learner. If they want to review it earlier they just change the dates in the data base Each learner has a paper copy of the ILP in any event Most of the teachers input data during the session - usually at the end but if they have a spare minute while they are working with a learner they will input it then - otherwise they do it at the end of the day or on the odd occasion on the day they are in the office ( almost all of our teachers work 1:1 because workplaces can only release learners one at a time so it doesn't adversely impact on production ) Almost all of the information we share with learners is done face to face but on some occasions teachers will email learners at work or home. The quality of data varies from teacher to teacher but it is steadily improving as the teachers themselves are coached through the system. Hope this is the information you wanted Kind regards Susan Reid Susan Reid, and others who use formative assessment, I am interested in learning more about teachers' systems for keeping track of what students are learning and sharing this information with them. What paper-and-pencil strategies do you use? What computer- managed or computer-aided strategies? Do you record information during the class, after the class, keep it all in your head? Does anyone share formative assessment information with students by regular one-on-one conferencing, by e-mailing them, in other ways? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 5371 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070128/7e33efb3/attachment.bin From mjjerdems at yahoo.com Mon Jan 29 09:40:56 2007 From: mjjerdems at yahoo.com (Mary Jane Jerde) Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 06:40:56 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Assessment 610] Re: Homegrown assessments In-Reply-To: <075c01c739a7$44eb2010$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <20070129144056.56839.qmail@web54001.mail.yahoo.com> Sorry about the low response. You had great ideas in your follow-up e-mail. Time just presses in January. Mary Jane Jerde Marie Cora wrote: Clean Clean DocumentEmail MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Hi everyone, I mentioned last week that I wanted to raise a discussion about the types of testing and assessing that you do on a daily/weekly basis with adult students. This is referred to as formative assessment because it directly informs the teaching and learning process as it happens. It?s different from summative assessment which tries to deliver a synopsis of learning over a more lengthy period of time ? a semester, or in the case of ABE, a fiscal or calendar year. We just briefly discussed these two types of assessments in the last post on WorkKeys. I finished my thoughts by noting that I am sure that many practitioners on this list do develop their own ?daily use? assessments or seek out formative assessments that already exist. I would like for us to share thoughts and resources on formative assessment here. Here are some questions to get you thinking: Do you use both formative and summative assessments in your classroom? If you use both, do they inform one another? How? Do you develop your own assessments for use with students? In which subject areas? How do you use them? Are students involved in daily/weekly assessment? Do students do any self-assessment? What does that look like? Do you have recommendations for effective formative assessments? Where do you look for these resources? Did you read any of the suggested resources on formative assessment that I sent out last week? Were they helpful? What did you think? Would you be willing to share assessments that you have developed with subscribers on this List? (We can develop a bank of resources.) Thanks and looking forward to hearing about what you do on a daily basis to inform your teaching! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment --------------------------------- Have a burning question? Go to Yahoo! Answers and get answers from real people who know. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070129/427db3d1/attachment.html From tarv at chemeketa.edu Mon Jan 29 11:45:36 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 08:45:36 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 611] Re: Your classroom today In-Reply-To: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> References: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> Message-ID: Besides the items listed below, we've added a Tuition Waiver Approval process which entails: pre and post tests, meeting with an advisor, completion of the college placement test, a goal setting process and attendance. Va ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Susan Reid Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 4:00 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: RE: [Assessment 600] Your classroom today Hi Marie We use scenarios all the time in professional development - they help make concepts real and participants can relate what they have been working on to a real live situation. Usually I use my own or other colleagues' personal experiences Scenarios are very flexible too - a former colleague of mine taught me to how to start them off in quite a simple way and then either make them layered by adding more information or by getting the participants to add more information - that way you find out what they are doing and are able to ask rich questions about why they chose to add that information Prior to that I had spent a lot of time writing quite complex and rich scenarios and sometimes they didn't relate to the participants' experiences so this way they build the scenario too and have a strong sense of ownership I find scenarios really useful in making explicit the wide range of opportunities that exist for formative assessment - we put a lot of emphasis on observation and recording as formative assessment rather than 'testing' per se Observation requires some knowledge on behalf of the teacher and a commitment to enquiry - when they see something that they are not sure about then they ask someone or work out what was happening When I was first involved in PD I came across participants who had to comment about every aspect of the course giving little examples. Initially I found this extremely irritating until it finally dawned on me that this was their comprehension strategy and while others might internalise what they are learning some people haven't developed that as a strategy yet. In New Zealand we call IEPs Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) and every learner in a literacy programme is meant to have one - regarded as good practice. Certainly our practice is that they are developed with the learner - they have a copy of them and that the goals in the ILPs are regularly reviewed. In the UK part of their Skills for Strategy was ther mandatory use of ILPs - there have been a number of issues around ILPs with low level ESOL learners see http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=19 regards Susan Reid ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Thu 25/01/2007 8:26 a.m. To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 600] Your classroom today Hi everyone, Thanks for these great ideas and suggestions. Keep them coming! (Let me know if you find the use of bold below helpful or annoying - I was trying to highlight certain sections so that you could skip over things if you want to.) I'm struck by just how much everyone seems to do in terms of diagnostics and placement. I guess it could be argued that appropriate diagnostic placement is crucial in terms of making or breaking an adult student's experience. Some replies to folks who've posted: Susan - I really like the idea of using scenarios in professional development. I think that providing a real situation for people to respond to is really helpful in the learning process. Do you use this regularly with people? Where do you get your scenarios from? Real experiences or things you've heard about? Others - do you use scenarios with either staff or students? What's that like? Jeannette - you brought up IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). These are so useful in terms of providing the guidance needed. I know that they are used widely (always?) in special education - but do folks not working in special ed use them as well? I know Katrina mentioned that she does. I also love the idea of the teacher group discussions for determining student progress! There's nothing more powerful than talking things through with colleagues. Tina - you talked about pre-tests that you develop at your program. Do you do this on your own or with others in the program? Do you have pre-tests for various levels or content areas? Others - do you develop your own pre-tests and what does this look like? Katrina - you also mentioned IEPs, but also you talked about the fact that students have access to these and can use them as guides, is that correct? This is a really great form of student self-assessment. Others - do you have your students engage in self-assessment? What does that look like? Bryan - thanks for this great resource (Lesson Plan Blueprints, TESOL) - it looks very intriguing. Often you need to be a TESOL member to access their resources, but it appears that this one anyone can go to. There are a ton of useful resources at this site including white papers on rationale, bibliographies, real lessons, among other things. Anyone else use this and care to comment? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070129/e02871ed/attachment.html From tarv at chemeketa.edu Mon Jan 29 12:09:26 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:09:26 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 612] Re: Systematic formative ways to record what students learn and share this information In-Reply-To: References: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> Message-ID: Susan We have a computer site where students can access assignments and use the email. All students get an email account when they register so that simplifies the matter. As the instructor, I have access to their email account from the registration records. The most useful tool we've developed is a daily tracking sheet where we track: OPT scores, CASAS pre and post scores, Agency data, and GED tests completed. For our GED OPTIONS students, we have a weekly attendance sheet, progress, and track information needed by the school district for completion of their end of year report: age, ethnic info, completion dates, enrollment dates, and gender. We complete this progress report in Excel so the hours cumulate and so that we can send it electronically to the school district. -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Rosen Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 5:49 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 606] Systematic formative ways to record what studentslearn and share this information Susan Reid, and others who use formative assessment, I am interested in learning more about teachers' systems for keeping track of what students are learning and sharing this information with them. What paper-and-pencil strategies do you use? What computer- managed or computer-aided strategies? Do you record information during the class, after the class, keep it all in your head? Does anyone share formative assessment information with students by regular one-on-one conferencing, by e-mailing them, in other ways? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From djrosen at comcast.net Mon Jan 29 12:52:25 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David Rosen) Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:52:25 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 612] Re: Systematic formative ways to record what students learn and share this information In-Reply-To: References: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> Message-ID: <9095EA2F-B982-4BA4-96B1-1DEC56EE941E@comcast.net> Susan and Virginia, You appear to have sophisticated systems for recording and keeping track of student progress. I wonder if you could tell us more about how teachers share the information with students, and how students get involved with using the data to make decisions about their learning. I would like to hear from others who think they have good systems (not necessarily computerized) for tracking and sharing information for student decision making about their learning. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Jan 29, 2007, at 12:09 PM, Virginia Tardaewether wrote: > Susan > We have a computer site where students can access assignments and use > the email. All students get an email account when they register so > that > simplifies the matter. As the instructor, I have access to their > email > account from the registration records. > > The most useful tool we've developed is a daily tracking sheet > where we > track: OPT scores, CASAS pre and post scores, Agency data, and GED > tests > completed. > > For our GED OPTIONS students, we have a weekly attendance sheet, > progress, and track information needed by the school district for > completion of their end of year report: age, ethnic info, completion > dates, enrollment dates, and gender. We complete this progress report > in Excel so the hours cumulate and so that we can send it > electronically > to the school district. > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of David Rosen > Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 5:49 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 606] Systematic formative ways to record what > studentslearn and share this information > > Susan Reid, and others who use formative assessment, > > I am interested in learning more about teachers' systems for keeping > track of what students are learning and sharing this information with > them. What paper-and-pencil strategies do you use? What computer- > managed or computer-aided strategies? Do you record information > during the class, after the class, keep it all in your head? Does > anyone share formative assessment information with students by > regular one-on-one conferencing, by e-mailing them, in other ways? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From tarv at chemeketa.edu Mon Jan 29 13:22:34 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:22:34 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 613] Re: Systematic formative ways to record what students learn and share this information In-Reply-To: <9095EA2F-B982-4BA4-96B1-1DEC56EE941E@comcast.net> References: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3EA569@secure.workbase.org.nz> <9095EA2F-B982-4BA4-96B1-1DEC56EE941E@comcast.net> Message-ID: Well generally, students know their ethnic origins, gender and age so we don't talk about that much :) Pre and post test scores are talked about in small and large groups so that all students understand the system of progress. Each student is given their own personal scores and an individual learning plan that is developed with staff and the student. This plan changes through time, but it helps tracks goal accomplishments and testing scores. Students also work on resumes, complete job searches, complete FAFSA forms and attend job interviews while enrolled. Va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Rosen Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:52 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 612] Re: Systematic formative ways to record whatstudents learn and share this information Susan and Virginia, You appear to have sophisticated systems for recording and keeping track of student progress. I wonder if you could tell us more about how teachers share the information with students, and how students get involved with using the data to make decisions about their learning. I would like to hear from others who think they have good systems (not necessarily computerized) for tracking and sharing information for student decision making about their learning. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Jan 29, 2007, at 12:09 PM, Virginia Tardaewether wrote: > Susan > We have a computer site where students can access assignments and use > the email. All students get an email account when they register so > that > simplifies the matter. As the instructor, I have access to their > email > account from the registration records. > > The most useful tool we've developed is a daily tracking sheet > where we > track: OPT scores, CASAS pre and post scores, Agency data, and GED > tests > completed. > > For our GED OPTIONS students, we have a weekly attendance sheet, > progress, and track information needed by the school district for > completion of their end of year report: age, ethnic info, completion > dates, enrollment dates, and gender. We complete this progress report > in Excel so the hours cumulate and so that we can send it > electronically > to the school district. > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of David Rosen > Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 5:49 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 606] Systematic formative ways to record what > studentslearn and share this information > > Susan Reid, and others who use formative assessment, > > I am interested in learning more about teachers' systems for keeping > track of what students are learning and sharing this information with > them. What paper-and-pencil strategies do you use? What computer- > managed or computer-aided strategies? Do you record information > during the class, after the class, keep it all in your head? Does > anyone share formative assessment information with students by > regular one-on-one conferencing, by e-mailing them, in other ways? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From sreid at workbase.org.nz Mon Jan 29 15:34:11 2007 From: sreid at workbase.org.nz (Susan Reid) Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:34:11 +1300 Subject: [Assessment 614] Re: Systematic formative ways to record whatstudents learn and share this information Message-ID: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3FFF41@secure.workbase.org.nz> Hi Virginia and David As I said we work mostly 1:1 so it is a very different set up What we do discuss with the learner is here are the texts you have to read/write etc at work or have mentioned in your goals Now these texts have these features which means that you need to know this sort of information and be approaching texts in this sort of way and your assessment showed that you have got these sorts of skills and so you can do this and/or we need to work on this - we also work on transfer to the learner's other contexts - home, community or other goals etc - some might identify that they want to do a qualification and so this is another context in terms of what prereqs are and what they have and what they need to develop This is a very bald statement of what is a complex process as you all know We have just started to use the draft Foundation Learning Progressions which were released in NZ last year and they owe a lot to the EFF Standards and approaches http://www.tec.govt.nz/downloads/a2z_publications/foundation_learning_pr ogressions.pdf Unfortunately the language used in them is not that accessible for all learners ( learners aren't the audience) so we need to 'translate' a lot which is a shame as I think learners knowing where they are at and being able to work that out themselves is critical to the concept of independent lifelong learning At this stage in NZ we do not have any prescribed tool that we have to use as pre and post tests Hope this is gives some idea of the partnership we try and promote - imperfectly most of the time but the intent is strong and clear Regards Susan Susan Reid Manager, Learning and Development Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 2 Vermont Street, Ponsonby - PO Box 56571, Dominion Road, Auckland 1030 Phone: 09 361 3800 - Fax: 09 376 3700 Website: www.workbase.org.nz - Email: sreid at workbase.org.nz See New Zealand Literacy Portal www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz Caution - This email and its contents contain privileged information that is intended solely for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this email is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please notify admin at workbase.org.nz immediately. Any views expressed in this email are of the sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development. -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Virginia Tardaewether Sent: Tuesday, 30 January 2007 7:23 a.m. To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 613] Re: Systematic formative ways to record whatstudents learn and share this information Well generally, students know their ethnic origins, gender and age so we don't talk about that much :) Pre and post test scores are talked about in small and large groups so that all students understand the system of progress. Each student is given their own personal scores and an individual learning plan that is developed with staff and the student. This plan changes through time, but it helps tracks goal accomplishments and testing scores. Students also work on resumes, complete job searches, complete FAFSA forms and attend job interviews while enrolled. Va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Rosen Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:52 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 612] Re: Systematic formative ways to record whatstudents learn and share this information Susan and Virginia, You appear to have sophisticated systems for recording and keeping track of student progress. I wonder if you could tell us more about how teachers share the information with students, and how students get involved with using the data to make decisions about their learning. I would like to hear from others who think they have good systems (not necessarily computerized) for tracking and sharing information for student decision making about their learning. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Jan 29, 2007, at 12:09 PM, Virginia Tardaewether wrote: > Susan > We have a computer site where students can access assignments and use > the email. All students get an email account when they register so > that simplifies the matter. As the instructor, I have access to their > email account from the registration records. > > The most useful tool we've developed is a daily tracking sheet where > we > track: OPT scores, CASAS pre and post scores, Agency data, and GED > tests completed. > > For our GED OPTIONS students, we have a weekly attendance sheet, > progress, and track information needed by the school district for > completion of their end of year report: age, ethnic info, completion > dates, enrollment dates, and gender. We complete this progress report > in Excel so the hours cumulate and so that we can send it > electronically to the school district. > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of David Rosen > Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 5:49 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 606] Systematic formative ways to record what > studentslearn and share this information > > Susan Reid, and others who use formative assessment, > > I am interested in learning more about teachers' systems for keeping > track of what students are learning and sharing this information with > them. What paper-and-pencil strategies do you use? What computer- > managed or computer-aided strategies? Do you record information during > the class, after the class, keep it all in your head? Does anyone > share formative assessment information with students by regular > one-on-one conferencing, by e-mailing them, in other ways? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From ktashjian at yahoo.com Mon Jan 29 20:44:24 2007 From: ktashjian at yahoo.com (karisa tashjian) Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:44:24 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Assessment 615] Re: Systematic formative ways to record what students learn and share this information In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20070130014424.14264.qmail@web52715.mail.yahoo.com> I'm very interested in seeing the format of individual learning plans. Would anyone be willing to share? Thank you, Karisa Tashjian Literacy Program Coordinator Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative Virginia Tardaewether wrote: Well generally, students know their ethnic origins, gender and age so we don't talk about that much :) Pre and post test scores are talked about in small and large groups so that all students understand the system of progress. Each student is given their own personal scores and an individual learning plan that is developed with staff and the student. This plan changes through time, but it helps tracks goal accomplishments and testing scores. Students also work on resumes, complete job searches, complete FAFSA forms and attend job interviews while enrolled. Va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Rosen Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:52 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 612] Re: Systematic formative ways to record whatstudents learn and share this information Susan and Virginia, You appear to have sophisticated systems for recording and keeping track of student progress. I wonder if you could tell us more about how teachers share the information with students, and how students get involved with using the data to make decisions about their learning. I would like to hear from others who think they have good systems (not necessarily computerized) for tracking and sharing information for student decision making about their learning. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Jan 29, 2007, at 12:09 PM, Virginia Tardaewether wrote: > Susan > We have a computer site where students can access assignments and use > the email. All students get an email account when they register so > that > simplifies the matter. As the instructor, I have access to their > email > account from the registration records. > > The most useful tool we've developed is a daily tracking sheet > where we > track: OPT scores, CASAS pre and post scores, Agency data, and GED > tests > completed. > > For our GED OPTIONS students, we have a weekly attendance sheet, > progress, and track information needed by the school district for > completion of their end of year report: age, ethnic info, completion > dates, enrollment dates, and gender. We complete this progress report > in Excel so the hours cumulate and so that we can send it > electronically > to the school district. > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of David Rosen > Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 5:49 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 606] Systematic formative ways to record what > studentslearn and share this information > > Susan Reid, and others who use formative assessment, > > I am interested in learning more about teachers' systems for keeping > track of what students are learning and sharing this information with > them. What paper-and-pencil strategies do you use? What computer- > managed or computer-aided strategies? Do you record information > during the class, after the class, keep it all in your head? Does > anyone share formative assessment information with students by > regular one-on-one conferencing, by e-mailing them, in other ways? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment --------------------------------- Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know. Ask your question on Yahoo! Answers. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070129/14666559/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jan 30 14:18:05 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:18:05 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 616] Seeking IEPs Message-ID: <019201c744a3$5e921b20$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Karisa and all, I was looking around for some examples/samples of IEPs but I came up pretty empty-handed. I found a number of fairly interesting resources out there that provide background rationale, use, and so forth, but no samples that I could locate. I started with Gallaudet because I was familiar with those IEPs - we used a version of them in the Deaf Literacy Program in RI - but all I could find were references to IDEA and its application - which was really interesting and explanatory so I thought perhaps this might be of interest to others. The next resource is from the No Child Left Behind Act - thought folks might also find this interesting. The next resources are from public schools - 2 of them are focused on secondary level. I thought these looked a bit interesting - the last one seemed pretty good but unfortunately it's a power point so that's a tough one. I added it in just in case. So do people make their own IEPs or do you get them from somewhere? If you get them someplace, where is that? Gallaudet University How the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Applies to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students See Section IV: Individualized Education Programs http://clerccenter2.gallaudet.edu/KidsWorldDeafNet/e-docs/IDEA/index.htm l A Guide to the Individualized Education Program NCLB - Ed.Gov http://www.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html Designing Individualized Education Program (IEP) Transition Plans. ERIC Digest. http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-4/iep.html Columbia Career Center Columbia Public Schools http://www.career-center.org/secondary/studentservices/iep.htm Standards driven individualized education program Virginia Department of Education Power point www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/sped/ iep/presentation-sept-05.ppt Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070130/ccdef308/attachment.html From jody_angelone3 at owens.edu Tue Jan 30 15:21:38 2007 From: jody_angelone3 at owens.edu (Jody Angelone) Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:21:38 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 617] Re: Seeking IEPs Message-ID: In Ohio ABLE, the programs use ILPs (Individual Learning Plans) for their adult students as opposed to IEPs. The state ABLE office requires that each student has a portfolio and one required component of the portfolio is an ILP. The ILP contains basic student and class information, entry date/orientation, NRS primary and secondary goal, student long-term and short-term goal, steps and activities to meet goals, comments section, learning styles inventory results, LD screening results (if applicable). The portfolio additionally contains student work to document beginning, and progress toward mastery of standards and benchmarks. Student portfolios must be reviewed and updated at least every 90 calendar days. The portfolio system is used to help students and teachers gauge learning and target instruction. There is a booklet that highlights several different types ILPs and the portfolio system that is used by ABLE programs in Ohio. You can connect to it through the following link: http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=966&ContentID=16072&Content=16183 Jody L. Angelone NW ABLE Resource Center >>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com 1/30/2007 2:18 PM >>> Hi Karisa and all, I was looking around for some examples/samples of IEPs but I came up pretty empty-handed. I found a number of fairly interesting resources out there that provide background rationale, use, and so forth, but no samples that I could locate. I started with Gallaudet because I was familiar with those IEPs - we used a version of them in the Deaf Literacy Program in RI - but all I could find were references to IDEA and its application - which was really interesting and explanatory so I thought perhaps this might be of interest to others. The next resource is from the No Child Left Behind Act - thought folks might also find this interesting. The next resources are from public schools - 2 of them are focused on secondary level. I thought these looked a bit interesting - the last one seemed pretty good but unfortunately it's a power point so that's a tough one. I added it in just in case. So do people make their own IEPs or do you get them from somewhere? If you get them someplace, where is that? Gallaudet University How the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Applies to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students See Section IV: Individualized Education Programs http://clerccenter2.gallaudet.edu/KidsWorldDeafNet/e-docs/IDEA/index.htm l A Guide to the Individualized Education Program NCLB - Ed.Gov http://www.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html Designing Individualized Education Program (IEP) Transition Plans. ERIC Digest. http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-4/iep.html Columbia Career Center Columbia Public Schools http://www.career-center.org/secondary/studentservices/iep.htm Standards driven individualized education program Virginia Department of Education Power point www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/sped/ iep/presentation-sept-05.ppt Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From sreid at workbase.org.nz Tue Jan 30 16:57:01 2007 From: sreid at workbase.org.nz (Susan Reid) Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 10:57:01 +1300 Subject: [Assessment 618] Re: Systematic formative ways to record whatstudents learn and share this information Message-ID: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3FFF85@secure.workbase.org.nz> Always helps if you attach the document Hi Karisha here is one example taken from a resource we wrote for the New Zealand vocational teachers who wanted to integrate literacy skill development into their trade course I have copied the ILP into a Word document and enclose the url for the full PDF I realise we called it a literacy goal achievement plan to distinguish it from the ILP that vocational teachers would use anyway In NZ teachers are called tutors - volunteer tuors are called volunteers - I realise this is different from the US http://www.workbase.org.nz/Document.aspx?Doc=Settingliteracygoals&record ingprogress.pdf regards Susan Reid Manager, Learning and Development Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 2 Vermont Street, Ponsonby - PO Box 56571, Dominion Road, Auckland 1030 Phone: 09 361 3800 - Fax: 09 376 3700 Website: www.workbase.org.nz - Email: sreid at workbase.org.nz See New Zealand Literacy Portal www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz Caution - This email and its contents contain privileged information that is intended solely for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this email is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please notify admin at workbase.org.nz immediately. Any views expressed in this email are of the sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of karisa tashjian Sent: Tuesday, 30 January 2007 2:44 p.m. To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 615] Re: Systematic formative ways to record whatstudents learn and share this information I'm very interested in seeing the format of individual learning plans. Would anyone be willing to share? Thank you, Karisa Tashjian Literacy Program Coordinator Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative Virginia Tardaewether wrote: Well generally, students know their ethnic origins, gender and age so we don't talk about that much :) Pre and post test scores are talked about in small and large groups so that all students understand the system of progress. Each student is given their own personal scores and an individual learning plan that is developed with staff and the student. This plan changes through time, but it helps tracks goal accomplishments and testing scores. Students also work on resumes, complete job searches, complete FAFSA forms and attend job interviews while enrolled. Va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Rosen Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:52 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 612] Re: Systematic formative ways to record whatstudents learn and share this information Susan and Virginia, You appear to have sophisticated systems for recording and keeping track of student progress. I wonder if you could tell us more about how teachers share the information with students, and how students get involved with using the data to make decisions about their learning. I would like to hear from others who think they have good systems (not necessarily computerized) for tracking and sharing information for student decision making about their learning. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Jan 29, 2007, at 12:09 PM, Virginia Tardaewether wrote: > Susan > We have a computer site where students can access assignments and use > the email. All students get an email account when they register so > that > simplifies the matter. As the instructor, I have access to their > email > account from the registration records. > > The most useful tool we've developed is a daily tracking sheet > where we > track: OPT scores, CASAS pre and post scores, Agency data, and GED > tests > completed. > > For our GED OPTIONS students, we have a weekly attendance sheet, > progress, and track information needed by the school district for > completion of their end of year report: age, ethnic info, completion > dates, enrollment dates, and gender. We complete this progress report > in Excel so the hours cumulate and so that we can send it > electronically > to the school district. > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of David Rosen > Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 5:49 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 606] Systematic formative ways to record what > studentslearn and share this information > > Susan Reid, and others who use formative assessment, > > I am interested in learning more about teachers' systems for keeping > track of what students are learning and sharing this information with > them. What paper-and-pencil strategies do you use? What computer- > managed or computer-aided strategies? Do you record information > during the class, after the class, keep it all in your head? Does > anyone share formative assessment information with students by > regular one-on-one conferencing, by e-mailing them, in other ways? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ________________________________ Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know. Ask your question on Yahoo! Answers . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070131/b521efdc/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Literacy Goal achievement plan.doc Type: application/msword Size: 61952 bytes Desc: Literacy Goal achievement plan.doc Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070131/b521efdc/attachment.doc From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Tue Jan 30 21:04:45 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 19:04:45 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 619] Re: Systematic formative ways to record what students learn and share this information In-Reply-To: <20070130014424.14264.qmail@web52715.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20070130014424.14264.qmail@web52715.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070130/6154ebcc/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Individualized Student Plan-GED 06.doc Type: application/msword Size: 37376 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070130/6154ebcc/attachment.doc From TTownsend at dtihq.com Wed Jan 31 09:06:09 2007 From: TTownsend at dtihq.com (Townsend, Tara) Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 09:06:09 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 620] National STAR Training Network - (cross-posted) Message-ID: The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education is pleased to announce the launch of the National STAR Training Network Web site. The Web site contains information on the Student Achievement in Reading (STAR) initiative, created to assist states and local programs in making systemic and instructional changes required to improve the reading achievement of intermediate-level adult learners (G.L.E. 4.0-8.9). STAR provides teachers and administrators with Web-based tools that translate reading research into practice and high quality training and technical assistance to build capacity for reading reform. The National STAR Training Network is offering two training and technical assistance packages to states and local programs. The new Web site describes these services and provides an array of tools to help you learn about and plan to implement evidence-based reading instruction. We invite you to visit the Web site at http://www.startoolkit.org to learn more about how you can improve adult learners' reading achievement. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070131/c723b377/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Jan 31 10:20:21 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 10:20:21 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 621] More AIEPs Message-ID: <000001c7454b$531223f0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The above attachments are some examples of IEPs from Rochelle Kenyon, Moderator Extraordinaire of the Learning Disabilities Discussion List (join her list at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Learningdisabilities). One of the documents is more lengthy - about 19 pages or so - and is an excerpt from a larger document that Rochelle developed a couple of years ago. IEPs for Corrections Education are at the end of this document (it's the one entitled "IEP"). Marie Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070131/9c38d5fd/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: AdultIndividualEdPlan.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 123898 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070131/9c38d5fd/attachment.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: IEP.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 369902 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070131/9c38d5fd/attachment-0003.pdf From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Jan 31 12:58:11 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:58:11 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 622] Another resource Message-ID: <003601c74561$6007d9e0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, Thanks to all who are sharing their ideas, resources, and IEPs - this is wonderful stuff! I'm attaching a set of guidelines that were developed by myself and staff at the Swearer Center for Public Service adult ed programs during the latter end of the 1990s. We used these for placement and for on-going or formative assessment. The guidelines are referred to as Rubrics - which I think is interesting because there are no levels to any of the guidelines. We would keep records of this information on Student Profile sheets which were basically simple forms containing a student's relevant personal and educational info, and where teachers could write out in brief narrative about the student's work, using the "rubric" as a guide (I can't find a Student Profile sheet sample, but I'm still looking.). See what you think! Marie Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070131/5a0ed276/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Placement.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 68486 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070131/5a0ed276/attachment.pdf From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Feb 1 13:58:36 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 13:58:36 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 623] Pre/Post in NZ? Message-ID: <014201c74632$fb28c250$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Susan and everyone, Susan - you said in one of your posts a few days ago: "At this stage in NZ we do not have any prescribed tool that we have to use as pre and post tests." Can you tell us what programs use to report with there? And who do you report to? Do programs get government funding? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070201/acea379e/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Feb 1 14:08:53 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 14:08:53 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 624] Reporting with Formative Assessment Message-ID: <015901c74634$6aeb7cd0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi, Does anyone use methods of formative assessment for reporting (to funders or others)? So for example, instead of reporting scores on TABE, CASAS, BEST, etc. you report with portfolios or some other type of evaluation? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070201/1d885a0f/attachment.html From alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz Thu Feb 1 16:49:18 2007 From: alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz (Alison Sutton) Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2007 10:49:18 +1300 Subject: [Assessment 625] assessment in Nz Message-ID: <006401c7464a$d39833c0$0a00a8c0@CriticalInsight> Hi Marie, Alison Sutton here, I am an adult literacy researcher from NZ who lurks on this discussion list a lot. NZ is in an interesting position because we do not have any nationally mandated testing for adult literacy and foundation learning - but it is coming! Yes programmes do get government funding. At present providers have choice about the assessment and reporting methods they use. One reason is that we have few dedicated literacy programmes as such; most offer literacy skills development as part of achieving other qualifications. Pre-employment labour market programmes have to meet outcomes related to people moving on to further education and training or employment and achievement of credits in our competency based national qualifications framework. They can do all that without necessarily demonstrating any literacy gain. Programmes run by polytechnics (your community colleges) each work to an internally developed and moderated assessment systems and often do not have to show any literacy gain over and above course credit achievement. Those programmes that do get specific funding for literacy thru a dedicated fund do have to demonstrate literacy gain - in a variety of ways but mostly based around progress against individual learning plans or specially designed before and after assessments - not nationally standardised.. The government does want more systematic evidence that the increased funding into adult literacy is resulting in gain - but they at this stage are not pushing 'testing' as such. I am working with the University of Auckland on a government contract scoping how to develop a computer based interactive assessment system for adult literacy. The model we are looking at gives teachers and learners lots of information about progress and is much more formative in scope that the testing and reporting regimes most of your funders use. Alison Sutton, Critical Insight 52a Bolton St Blockhouse Bay Auckland NZ alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz Phone +64 9 627 4415 Mob 021 279 6804 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070202/0d51d6cc/attachment.html From sreid at workbase.org.nz Thu Feb 1 17:12:16 2007 From: sreid at workbase.org.nz (Susan Reid) Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2007 11:12:16 +1300 Subject: [Assessment 626] Re: assessment in Nz Message-ID: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3FFFD2@secure.workbase.org.nz> Hi Marie and others Alison has succinctly described the situation in New Zealand and added additional information from projects she is involved in in terms of detail if a programme is funded for literacy gains then they are expected to measure them but the approaches to measurement are very diverse. A couple of programmes use the ETS PDQ online assessment, others develop their own assessments either as a result of training or by copying something someone else is using. Some download online materials regardless of the context ( and then wonder why their learners don't understand questions that refer to other countries' landmarks e.g. Big Ben). Some who have been trained as primary school teachers use a range of assessments norm referenced for children (despite the efforts of adult literacy organisations to get rid of these sorts of reading age assessments). There are also a couple of tests ( one is called Probe) that have been developed in New Zealand but I think they may have had their base in the US Sometimes the same test is used pre mid and post course without real understanding about issues around people getting more familiar with the tests etc There is a real range of tools and practices used ranging from very good to some that are inappropriate for adult learners regards Susan Susan Reid Manager, Learning and Development Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 2 Vermont Street, Ponsonby - PO Box 56571, Dominion Road, Auckland 1030 Phone: 09 361 3800 - Fax: 09 376 3700 Website: www.workbase.org.nz - Email: sreid at workbase.org.nz See New Zealand Literacy Portal www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz Caution - This email and its contents contain privileged information that is intended solely for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this email is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please notify admin at workbase.org.nz immediately. Any views expressed in this email are of the sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Alison Sutton Sent: Friday, 2 February 2007 10:49 a.m. To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 625] assessment in Nz Hi Marie, Alison Sutton here, I am an adult literacy researcher from NZ who lurks on this discussion list a lot. NZ is in an interesting position because we do not have any nationally mandated testing for adult literacy and foundation learning - but it is coming! Yes programmes do get government funding. At present providers have choice about the assessment and reporting methods they use. One reason is that we have few dedicated literacy programmes as such; most offer literacy skills development as part of achieving other qualifications. Pre-employment labour market programmes have to meet outcomes related to people moving on to further education and training or employment and achievement of credits in our competency based national qualifications framework. They can do all that without necessarily demonstrating any literacy gain. Programmes run by polytechnics (your community colleges) each work to an internally developed and moderated assessment systems and often do not have to show any literacy gain over and above course credit achievement. Those programmes that do get specific funding for literacy thru a dedicated fund do have to demonstrate literacy gain - in a variety of ways but mostly based around progress against individual learning plans or specially designed before and after assessments - not nationally standardised.. The government does want more systematic evidence that the increased funding into adult literacy is resulting in gain - but they at this stage are not pushing 'testing' as such. I am working with the University of Auckland on a government contract scoping how to develop a computer based interactive assessment system for adult literacy. The model we are looking at gives teachers and learners lots of information about progress and is much more formative in scope that the testing and reporting regimes most of your funders use. Alison Sutton, Critical Insight 52a Bolton St Blockhouse Bay Auckland NZ alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz Phone +64 9 627 4415 Mob 021 279 6804 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070202/c24bd71a/attachment.html From bcmrose at telus.net Thu Feb 1 20:50:55 2007 From: bcmrose at telus.net (Marg Rose) Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 17:50:55 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 627] Stages portfolio system to assess and recognize progress in literacy skills In-Reply-To: <015901c74634$6aeb7cd0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Several provinces in Canada recognize adult learning in a functionally-based portfolio system. Manitoba uses the Stages of Learning and Literacy for levels 1, 2, or 3 (closely correlated to IALS levels) to evaluate learner progress. You can peruse the tasks in reading, writing, numeracy, and technology at each level, and the facilitator's guide at: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/ael/all/publications/stages/stages.html Adult learners can also obtain dual credits at the Stage 3 level towards a Mature High School diploma, linked also to community college entrance qualifications. Ontario uses an articulated system and demonstrations of progress as well. Go to www.nald.ca for a list of contacts in each province to investigate. Some full-text documents are on-line there, including the Manitoba basic primer "Creative Student assessment". To talk more about the idea of dual credits, you may wish to talk to Sylvia Provenski, a graduate student investigating this area: SylviaP at westman.wave.ca. She also directs an adult learning centre in the province. Marg Rose, Victoria, BC Former Executive DIrector of the provincial literacy coalition Graduate student in M. Ad. Ed. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070201/ad4ec89f/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Feb 5 10:21:38 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 10:21:38 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 628] Re: assessment in Nz In-Reply-To: <006401c7464a$d39833c0$0a00a8c0@CriticalInsight> Message-ID: <02e101c74939$557d7f80$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Alison, Thanks so much for this reply, it's really interesting. I'm a bit confused though, how folks can still achieve certain competencies while not necessarily making gains in literacy. Maybe you could describe that a little more? And how exciting! It sounds like NZ is going for the formative assessment approach to reporting! Building accountability systems is such hard work and takes loads of time, patience, money and a diverse array of people to be involved. You will have to keep us informed of your progress - it sounds like a model system. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Alison Sutton Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 4:49 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 625] assessment in Nz Hi Marie, Alison Sutton here, I am an adult literacy researcher from NZ who lurks on this discussion list a lot. NZ is in an interesting position because we do not have any nationally mandated testing for adult literacy and foundation learning - but it is coming! Yes programmes do get government funding. At present providers have choice about the assessment and reporting methods they use. One reason is that we have few dedicated literacy programmes as such; most offer literacy skills development as part of achieving other qualifications. Pre-employment labour market programmes have to meet outcomes related to people moving on to further education and training or employment and achievement of credits in our competency based national qualifications framework. They can do all that without necessarily demonstrating any literacy gain. Programmes run by polytechnics (your community colleges) each work to an internally developed and moderated assessment systems and often do not have to show any literacy gain over and above course credit achievement. Those programmes that do get specific funding for literacy thru a dedicated fund do have to demonstrate literacy gain - in a variety of ways but mostly based around progress against individual learning plans or specially designed before and after assessments - not nationally standardised.. The government does want more systematic evidence that the increased funding into adult literacy is resulting in gain - but they at this stage are not pushing 'testing' as such. I am working with the University of Auckland on a government contract scoping how to develop a computer based interactive assessment system for adult literacy. The model we are looking at gives teachers and learners lots of information about progress and is much more formative in scope that the testing and reporting regimes most of your funders use. Alison Sutton, Critical Insight 52a Bolton St Blockhouse Bay Auckland NZ alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz Phone +64 9 627 4415 Mob 021 279 6804 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070205/6c679677/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Feb 5 10:27:24 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 10:27:24 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 629] Re: assessment in Nz In-Reply-To: <14794889A1E3AF419042F64CC5425A1E3FFFD2@secure.workbase.org.nz> Message-ID: <02e601c7493a$2392c2e0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> HI Susan, thanks for this. You have hit a crucial aspect of building an assessment/accountability system and that is professional development! Without that, even the best systems and materials can falter. I feel like we practitioners in the U.S. are getting much better at a lot of the points Susan makes in her post below. We still have work to do in order to run a tight ship, but I think we're better as an entire group with this stuff than even just 4 or 5 years ago. Would people agree with that or no? What types of opportunities (or mandates for that matter) are in place in NZ for necessary ProD for things like assessment? Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Susan Reid Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 5:12 PM To: alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz; The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 626] Re: assessment in Nz Hi Marie and others Alison has succinctly described the situation in New Zealand and added additional information from projects she is involved in in terms of detail if a programme is funded for literacy gains then they are expected to measure them but the approaches to measurement are very diverse. A couple of programmes use the ETS PDQ online assessment, others develop their own assessments either as a result of training or by copying something someone else is using. Some download online materials regardless of the context ( and then wonder why their learners don't understand questions that refer to other countries' landmarks e.g. Big Ben). Some who have been trained as primary school teachers use a range of assessments norm referenced for children (despite the efforts of adult literacy organisations to get rid of these sorts of reading age assessments). There are also a couple of tests ( one is called Probe) that have been developed in New Zealand but I think they may have had their base in the US Sometimes the same test is used pre mid and post course without real understanding about issues around people getting more familiar with the tests etc There is a real range of tools and practices used ranging from very good to some that are inappropriate for adult learners regards Susan Susan Reid Manager, Learning and Development Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 2 Vermont Street, Ponsonby - PO Box 56571, Dominion Road, Auckland 1030 Phone: 09 361 3800 - Fax: 09 376 3700 Website: www.workbase.org.nz - Email: sreid at workbase.org.nz See New Zealand Literacy Portal www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz Caution - This email and its contents contain privileged information that is intended solely for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction of this email is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please notify admin at workbase.org.nz immediately. Any views expressed in this email are of the sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development. _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Alison Sutton Sent: Friday, 2 February 2007 10:49 a.m. To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 625] assessment in Nz Hi Marie, Alison Sutton here, I am an adult literacy researcher from NZ who lurks on this discussion list a lot. NZ is in an interesting position because we do not have any nationally mandated testing for adult literacy and foundation learning - but it is coming! Yes programmes do get government funding. At present providers have choice about the assessment and reporting methods they use. One reason is that we have few dedicated literacy programmes as such; most offer literacy skills development as part of achieving other qualifications. Pre-employment labour market programmes have to meet outcomes related to people moving on to further education and training or employment and achievement of credits in our competency based national qualifications framework. They can do all that without necessarily demonstrating any literacy gain. Programmes run by polytechnics (your community colleges) each work to an internally developed and moderated assessment systems and often do not have to show any literacy gain over and above course credit achievement. Those programmes that do get specific funding for literacy thru a dedicated fund do have to demonstrate literacy gain - in a variety of ways but mostly based around progress against individual learning plans or specially designed before and after assessments - not nationally standardised.. The government does want more systematic evidence that the increased funding into adult literacy is resulting in gain - but they at this stage are not pushing 'testing' as such. I am working with the University of Auckland on a government contract scoping how to develop a computer based interactive assessment system for adult literacy. The model we are looking at gives teachers and learners lots of information about progress and is much more formative in scope that the testing and reporting regimes most of your funders use. Alison Sutton, Critical Insight 52a Bolton St Blockhouse Bay Auckland NZ alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz Phone +64 9 627 4415 Mob 021 279 6804 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070205/760465ab/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Feb 5 10:34:59 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 10:34:59 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 630] Re: Stages portfolio system to assess and recognizeprogress in literacy skills In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <02eb01c7493b$329b5fd0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Marg, thanks so much for this information. There are a number of interesting and useful resources at the sites you provided. Here's the URL for the IALS (International Adult Literacy Survey): http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/ials.htm Marie Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marg Rose Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 8:51 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 627] Stages portfolio system to assess and recognizeprogress in literacy skills Several provinces in Canada recognize adult learning in a functionally-based portfolio system. Manitoba uses the Stages of Learning and Literacy for levels 1, 2, or 3 (closely correlated to IALS levels) to evaluate learner progress. You can peruse the tasks in reading, writing, numeracy, and technology at each level, and the facilitator's guide at: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/ael/all/publications/stages/stages.html Adult learners can also obtain dual credits at the Stage 3 level towards a Mature High School diploma, linked also to community college entrance qualifications. Ontario uses an articulated system and demonstrations of progress as well. Go to www.nald.ca for a list of contacts in each province to investigate. Some full-text documents are on-line there, including the Manitoba basic primer "Creative Student assessment". To talk more about the idea of dual credits, you may wish to talk to Sylvia Provenski, a graduate student investigating this area: SylviaP at westman.wave.ca. She also directs an adult learning centre in the province. Marg Rose, Victoria, BC Former Executive DIrector of the provincial literacy coalition Graduate student in M. Ad. Ed. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070205/0068b1b0/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Feb 5 14:34:17 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 14:34:17 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 631] Another IEP Message-ID: <035101c7495c$a0855520$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Here is a copy of our IEEPP in its draft form. Susan K. O'Connor Brooklyn Public Library Literacy Program Manager Susan K. O'Connor Literacy Program Manager (718) 832-3560 x 5 (718) 832-9032 fax (917) 848-2176 Cell A library must reflect what is best in a community and reach out to all people. If citizens are to safeguard civil liberties, elect wise officials, make sense of the news and negotiate public policy with other citizens in an ever more diverse society-libraries must be strong. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070205/e43fe694/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Literacy & ABE IEEPP FY06 FINAL DRAFT[1].doc Type: application/msword Size: 126464 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070205/e43fe694/attachment.doc From grotlueschen at uni-bremen.de Mon Feb 5 16:34:15 2007 From: grotlueschen at uni-bremen.de (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Grotl=FCschen?=) Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 22:34:15 +0100 Subject: [Assessment 632] Assessment in GER Message-ID: <20070205213350.8E5AC55A40@mailgate1.zfn.uni-bremen.de> Hello everybody, sorry for not writing fluently in English. I am a German researcher and lurking here since the beginning of the year. I learn a lot from your round-the-world-discussion and I really appreciate your work and exchange of tools. I do not know the ?netiquette? here and if I ask too much questions or make anyone feel uncomfortable, please take it as a ?beginners? mistake?, thank you! Well, in your latest mails I thought ?this really describes what we face here? ? lots of classes, but no clear ways of assessment. As we speak German, we cannot use the ETS PDQ ? does anything alike exist in other languages? Are there other nations on this list who face the same problem? Do you use standardised tests to check literacy gains? Anyway, we face very much the same problem in GER as well, like Alison said for NZ. You can attend a literacy class, learn nothing (if you feel bored) and in case you get a job later, this would count as ?success? of the literacy training. The most important figure for literacy legitimation is employment. But nobody checks whether your employment has anything to do with literacy. You can be a dishwasher ? it would count as success. Of course everyday practice is different and adults do learn a lot in the classes and they like the atmosphere (mostly offered by ?Volkshochschule? ? kind of public institution for adult education). But if authorities question the efficiency of these classes and talk about shortening the funding, there is little in our hands to prove that these classes are successful. Adult learners here fear the testing situation, that?s why we have little experience with adult assessment (neither summative nor formative). How do you meet the fears of the learners against tests? Don?t they have any? What if you use ETS PDQ, don?t people refuse to participate? Do you hand the results to the participants or do you (as teachers, institution, researchers) keep them for reporting? Tons of questions, sorry for that - Yours, Anke Grotl?schen Prof. Dr. Anke Grotl?schen Juniorprofessur f?r Lebenslanges Lernen grotlueschen at uni-bremen.de Universit?t Bremen Fachbereich Erziehungs- und Bildungswissenschaften Bibliothekstra?e, GW2 Raum A 2100 28359 Bremen www.ifeb.uni-bremen.de Tel. 0421-218-3083 oder 0421-8383 519 Mobil: 0176-2384 7995 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070205/48be9993/attachment.html From alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz Mon Feb 5 17:58:21 2007 From: alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz (Alison Sutton) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 11:58:21 +1300 Subject: [Assessment 633] Re: assessment in Nz In-Reply-To: <02e101c74939$557d7f80$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <004d01c74979$22740dd0$0a00a8c0@CriticalInsight> Marie, the content areas many people study for in NZ are vocational - hairdressing, auto-electrical, paint manufacturing, rather than general education. To successfully achieve their credits in their area of study they may well improve their literacy. A literacy specialist may work with their vocational tutor to assist in them getting their vocational credits. But If the structure of their course does not contain any explicit outcome statements related to literacy (and lots don't) there is no need to 'measure' their literacy gain. If there are no explicit requirements for literacy skills in the training system, training providers can compensate by reducing the amount that has to be read in training, simplifying training materials etc, working orally as much as possible - and place less emphasis on deliberate acts of literacy teaching to address the skills gap. Yes, I think that if our Ministry of Education take on board the idea of a computer based interactive assessment engine, that provides both tutors and learners with lots of information about the skills a learner has and ideas on where to go next we will have done something really exciting. But the decision is some months off. Will keep in touch about it. Alison Sutton, Critical Insight 52a Bolton St Blockhouse Bay Auckland NZ alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz Phone +64 9 627 4415 Mob 021 279 6804 _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, 6 February 2007 4:22 a.m. To: alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz; 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 628] Re: assessment in Nz Hi Alison, Thanks so much for this reply, it's really interesting. I'm a bit confused though, how folks can still achieve certain competencies while not necessarily making gains in literacy. Maybe you could describe that a little more? And how exciting! It sounds like NZ is going for the formative assessment approach to reporting! Building accountability systems is such hard work and takes loads of time, patience, money and a diverse array of people to be involved. You will have to keep us informed of your progress - it sounds like a model system. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Alison Sutton Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 4:49 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 625] assessment in Nz Hi Marie, Alison Sutton here, I am an adult literacy researcher from NZ who lurks on this discussion list a lot. NZ is in an interesting position because we do not have any nationally mandated testing for adult literacy and foundation learning - but it is coming! Yes programmes do get government funding. At present providers have choice about the assessment and reporting methods they use. One reason is that we have few dedicated literacy programmes as such; most offer literacy skills development as part of achieving other qualifications. Pre-employment labour market programmes have to meet outcomes related to people moving on to further education and training or employment and achievement of credits in our competency based national qualifications framework. They can do all that without necessarily demonstrating any literacy gain. Programmes run by polytechnics (your community colleges) each work to an internally developed and moderated assessment systems and often do not have to show any literacy gain over and above course credit achievement. Those programmes that do get specific funding for literacy thru a dedicated fund do have to demonstrate literacy gain - in a variety of ways but mostly based around progress against individual learning plans or specially designed before and after assessments - not nationally standardised.. The government does want more systematic evidence that the increased funding into adult literacy is resulting in gain - but they at this stage are not pushing 'testing' as such. I am working with the University of Auckland on a government contract scoping how to develop a computer based interactive assessment system for adult literacy. The model we are looking at gives teachers and learners lots of information about progress and is much more formative in scope that the testing and reporting regimes most of your funders use. Alison Sutton, Critical Insight 52a Bolton St Blockhouse Bay Auckland NZ alison.sutton at criticalinsight.co.nz Phone +64 9 627 4415 Mob 021 279 6804 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070206/ff86e01e/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Feb 6 11:50:28 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 11:50:28 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 634] Re: Assessment in GER In-Reply-To: <20070205213350.8E5AC55A40@mailgate1.zfn.uni-bremen.de> Message-ID: <03c601c74a0e$e8a51900$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Anke, Thank you so much for your post! If you go to the LINCS Assessment Special Collection you?ll find a few resources there that could be of interest to you. Go to: http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ And click on the green Students icon. At that page are resources focused on the student as test-taker. There?s one that comes to mind: How to Do Your Best on Standardized Tests: Some Suggestions for Adult Learners that provides some information on minimizing test anxiety. Does anyone have suggestions around test anxiety for Anke? Also, you wrote: ?As we speak German, we cannot use the ETS PDQ ? does anything alike exist in other languages? Are there other nations on this list who face the same problem? Do you use standardised tests to check literacy gains?? Can any subscribers speak to Anke?s questions here? I?m wondering if perhaps you might find some information on this at the UNESCO website (http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/efa_2000_assess/index.shtml), but I don?t know for sure. I know that I have recently heard about or read about a foreign language literacy assessment, but I had no luck searching around for this. Does anyone on the List know about these assessments? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Grotl?schen Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 4:34 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 632] Assessment in GER Hello everybody, sorry for not writing fluently in English. I am a German researcher and lurking here since the beginning of the year. I learn a lot from your round-the-world-discussion and I really appreciate your work and exchange of tools. I do not know the ?netiquette? here and if I ask too much questions or make anyone feel uncomfortable, please take it as a ?beginners? mistake?, thank you! Well, in your latest mails I thought ?this really describes what we face here? ? lots of classes, but no clear ways of assessment. As we speak German, we cannot use the ETS PDQ ? does anything alike exist in other languages? Are there other nations on this list who face the same problem? Do you use standardised tests to check literacy gains? Anyway, we face very much the same problem in GER as well, like Alison said for NZ. You can attend a literacy class, learn nothing (if you feel bored) and in case you get a job later, this would count as ?success? of the literacy training. The most important figure for literacy legitimation is employment. But nobody checks whether your employment has anything to do with literacy. You can be a dishwasher ? it would count as success. Of course everyday practice is different and adults do learn a lot in the classes and they like the atmosphere (mostly offered by ?Volkshochschule? ? kind of public institution for adult education). But if authorities question the efficiency of these classes and talk about shortening the funding, there is little in our hands to prove that these classes are successful. Adult learners here fear the testing situation, that?s why we have little experience with adult assessment (neither summative nor formative). How do you meet the fears of the learners against tests? Don?t they have any? What if you use ETS PDQ, don?t people refuse to participate? Do you hand the results to the participants or do you (as teachers, institution, researchers) keep them for reporting? Tons of questions, sorry for that - Yours, Anke Grotl?schen Prof. Dr. Anke Grotl?schen Juniorprofessur f?r Lebenslanges Lernen grotlueschen at uni-bremen.de Universit?t Bremen Fachbereich Erziehungs- und Bildungswissenschaften Bibliothekstra?e, GW2 Raum A 2100 28359 Bremen www.ifeb.uni-bremen.de Tel. 0421-218-3083 oder 0421-8383 519 Mobil: 0176-2384 7995 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070206/ebaa32ba/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Feb 6 12:52:44 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 12:52:44 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 635] Native Language Literacy Screening Device Message-ID: <03e901c74a17$9ba69f80$0202a8c0@LITNOW> HI again, I found the resource I mentioned earlier that assesses literacy in languages other than English. It's from the Hudson River Center for Program Development in Glenmont, NY - I tried to go to their website, but the server was down (http://www.hudrivctr.org ). But I found the resource on ERIC at: http://tinyurl.com/3amy4x Anyone familiar with this tool? Let us know what you think. Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070206/7dbe2150/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Feb 6 12:57:12 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 12:57:12 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 636] Telephone assessment of literacy? Message-ID: <03f201c74a18$3b4c5fc0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, Does anyone know of a literacy assessment that can be administered via phone? Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070206/667cce31/attachment.html From lwilkins at mills.edu Tue Feb 6 13:45:28 2007 From: lwilkins at mills.edu (Lynne Wilkins) Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 10:45:28 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 637] L1 screening tools for learning disabilities In-Reply-To: <03e901c74a17$9ba69f80$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <03e901c74a17$9ba69f80$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <45C8CCC8.9010303@mills.edu> Dear colleagues, If anyone has information or resources that help to identify learning disabilities in first languages, specifically Cantonese and Spanish (at this time), please let me know. Much thanks, Lynne Wilkins -- Lynne Wilkins, Associate Director for Programs English Center for International Women at Mills College P.O. Box 9968, Oakland, CA 94613 (510)430-2285 lwilkins at mills.edu From ALCDGG at langate.gsu.edu Tue Feb 6 15:08:18 2007 From: ALCDGG at langate.gsu.edu (Daphne Greenberg) Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 15:08:18 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 638] Re: Telephone assessment of literacy? In-Reply-To: <03f201c74a18$3b4c5fc0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <03f201c74a18$3b4c5fc0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <45C899E202000031000158F2@mailsrv4.gsu.edu> What aspect of literacy are you trying to measure? >>> "Marie Cora" 2/6/2007 12:57 PM >>> Hi everyone, Does anyone know of a literacy assessment that can be administered via phone? Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Feb 6 15:17:14 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 15:17:14 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 639] Guest on PovertyRaceWomen List Message-ID: <044601c74a2b$cb621380$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following announcement is from Daphne Greenberg, Moderator of the PovertyRaceWomen and Literacy Discussion List. ********** Please invite your friends and colleagues to join us during this "discussion." If they want to temporarily join us, they can subscribe and then later unsubscribe at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen ----- It is my great honor and pleasure to announce that from Monday Feb. 12th through Friday Feb. 16th, Dominique Chlup will be facilitating a discussion on the PovertyRaceWomen and Literacy list on: Bars, Boundaries, and Barriers Researching Women's Spaces Dominique Chlup is an assistant professor of adult education and the director of the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) at Texas A&M University.She got her "calling" to be an adult educator after volunteering for a year at the Valhalla Women's Jail in New York. She taught in the "Right to Write" program. While her career has taken her into several other adult classrooms, she finds she returns again and again to her work with women student-inmates. She wrote a dissertation on the history of the educational programs and practices at the Framingham Reformatory for Women in Massachusetts, and she continues to research contemporary prison programs. As a part of her research with women inmates, she has encountered both literal and figurative bars. As such, she is always interested in dialoging with others about their own experiences researching and working in women's spaces. To learn more about her work, you can read http://www.ncsall.net/?id=828 and http://www.ncsall.net/?id=826 Daphne From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Feb 6 15:21:54 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 15:21:54 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 640] Re: Telephone assessment of literacy? In-Reply-To: <45C899E202000031000158F2@mailsrv4.gsu.edu> Message-ID: <044701c74a2c$71c39cd0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Daphne and everyone, The request is for a tool that can be used as a reading assessment, but that can be administered via the telephone for purposes of a larger study. Marie -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 3:08 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 638] Re: Telephone assessment of literacy? What aspect of literacy are you trying to measure? >>> "Marie Cora" 2/6/2007 12:57 PM >>> Hi everyone, Does anyone know of a literacy assessment that can be administered via phone? Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From andrew.pleasant at gmail.com Tue Feb 6 19:25:54 2007 From: andrew.pleasant at gmail.com (Andrew Pleasant) Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 19:25:54 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 641] Re: Telephone assessment of literacy? In-Reply-To: <044701c74a2c$71c39cd0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <45C899E202000031000158F2@mailsrv4.gsu.edu> <044701c74a2c$71c39cd0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <42b6c33e0702061625i2799b516j433e3670a3cb0707@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Thomas Schticht wrote a very nice analysis published as a NCES working paper titled "Using Telephone and Mail Surveys as a Supplement or Alternative to Door-to-Door Surveys in the Assessment of Adult Literacy" I dont' have the URL right at hand, but a Google search with the title should find it for you. Andrew Pleasant On 2/6/07, Marie Cora wrote: > Hi Daphne and everyone, > > The request is for a tool that can be used as a reading assessment, but > that can be administered via the telephone for purposes of a larger > study. > > Marie > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg > Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 3:08 PM > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 638] Re: Telephone assessment of literacy? > > What aspect of literacy are you trying to measure? > > >>> "Marie Cora" 2/6/2007 12:57 PM > >>> > Hi everyone, > > Does anyone know of a literacy assessment that can be administered via > phone? > > Thanks, > Marie > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Feb 7 06:52:58 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 06:52:58 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 642] Re: Telephone assessment of literacy? In-Reply-To: <42b6c33e0702061625i2799b516j433e3670a3cb0707@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <04a701c74aae$83a5baf0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Andrew - right you are! Here are the resources from Tom you mentioned. Enjoy! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ***** Re: Assessing adult literacy by telephone. The following paper from NCES can be downloaded at the NCES web site. It reviews literature on the use of telephones to assess literacy and other cognitive skills. (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=200006) See also the following two papers: Sticht, T., Hofstetter, R., and Hofstetter, C. (1996). Assessing adult literacy by telephone. Journal of Literacy Research, 28, 525-559. Hofstetter, R., Sticht, T., and Hofstetter, C. (1999). Knowledge, literacy and power. Communication Research, 26, 58-80. Tom Sticht Title: Using Telephone and Mail Surveys as a Supplement or Alternative to Door-to-Door Surveys in the Assessment of Adult Literacy Description: This paper discusses the use of telephone surveys as a substitute for, or addition to, the use of door-to-door surveys in assessing adult literacy ability. Part 1 addresses issues of validity in adult literacy assessment. Part 2 is a review of related research that has used telephone and mail surveys to assess the cognitive abilities of adults. Part 3 discusses the theoretical model of literacy that the National Assessments of Adult Literacy (NAAL) and International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) have used and how that model can be modified to incorporate a developmental and componential model of literacy that also includes the oral language aspects of literacy given in the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998. Finally, Part 4 addresses several issues about the use of telephone and mail surveys, including concerns about using these survey methods in such a way as to make continuity in trend data from previous surveys of adult literacy possible. Online Availability: Download, view and print the report as a pdf file. (301KB) -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrew Pleasant Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 7:26 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 641] Re: Telephone assessment of literacy? Hi, Thomas Schticht wrote a very nice analysis published as a NCES working paper titled "Using Telephone and Mail Surveys as a Supplement or Alternative to Door-to-Door Surveys in the Assessment of Adult Literacy" I dont' have the URL right at hand, but a Google search with the title should find it for you. Andrew Pleasant On 2/6/07, Marie Cora wrote: > Hi Daphne and everyone, > > The request is for a tool that can be used as a reading assessment, but > that can be administered via the telephone for purposes of a larger > study. > > Marie > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg > Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 3:08 PM > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 638] Re: Telephone assessment of literacy? > > What aspect of literacy are you trying to measure? > > >>> "Marie Cora" 2/6/2007 12:57 PM > >>> > Hi everyone, > > Does anyone know of a literacy assessment that can be administered via > phone? > > Thanks, > Marie > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Feb 7 07:25:41 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 07:25:41 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 643] Formative assessment at the ALE Wiki Message-ID: <04ad01c74ab3$15b93850$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, I have organized a lot of the information from the discussion we had on formative assessment and have posted this for your use at the ALE Wiki Assessment section. Go to: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Assessment_Information and click on section 7 Formative Assessment. There are 3 areas: I extracted a lot of the ideas for the classroom that people contributed, and organized them under topical headings; another area has the referenced tools and materials that people said they use in class; the final area is a list of on-line resources for formative assessment. Anyone who contributed to that discussion has been acknowledged. If I missed your name, or you would like your name removed, please contact me. You can add any information you would like to the Wiki - it is very simple. In fact I hope that you do add information, ideas, resources, etc. to the Wiki - that is what it is for. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! Thanks! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070207/89ec2c2f/attachment.html From mpatters at ku.edu Tue Feb 6 12:46:38 2007 From: mpatters at ku.edu (Margaret Patterson) Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:46:38 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 644] Save the dates for COABE 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Greetings to all adult education colleagues from your COABE 2008 planning committee! As you plan for professional development in the coming months, we invite you to save the dates for our upcoming conference, co-sponsored with Missouri Association for Adult Continuing and Community Education - Show Me Success: Empowerment through Diversity - in St Louis, Missouri, April 28 to May 1, 2008. You and your co-workers won't want to miss this rare opportunity to attend a national adult education conference held in your local region. We invite you to join the planning of the conference - volunteers are most welcome! Please contact Lorene James, Conference Co-Chair, at ljames at kcmsd.net, or 816-418-8205, or MaryAnn Kramer, Conference Co-Chair, at MaryAnn.Kramer at slps.org, or 314-367-5000. Check our conference website, www.coabeconference.org, for more information. We look forward to meeting you in St. Louis in 2008! Margaret Patterson, Ph.D. Assistant Project Coordinator/Research Associate Improving Adult Literacy Instruction University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning Division of Adult Studies Joseph R. Pearson Hall 1122 West Campus Dr., Room 708A Lawrence, KS 66045-3101 Phone 785.864.7089 Fax 785.864.5728 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Postcard 1-7-07.pdf Type: application/octet-stream Size: 3434079 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070206/8cbba0b7/attachment.obj From john.benseman at criticalinsight.co.nz Wed Feb 7 14:12:05 2007 From: john.benseman at criticalinsight.co.nz (John Benseman) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 08:12:05 +1300 Subject: [Assessment 645] Re: Save the dates for COABE 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <003801c74aeb$db6afba0$0a00a8c0@critical1> Margaret - Your URL doesn't work John John Benseman PhD Director of Research & Evaluation, Upskilling NZ (based at Department of Labour) DDI 04 915 4633 - Cell: 021 0489 143 * john.benseman at criticalinsight.co.nz ( 0064 9 627 4415 7 0064 9 627 4418 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Margaret Patterson Sent: Wednesday, 7 February 2007 6:47 a.m. To: Margaret Patterson Subject: [Assessment 644] Save the dates for COABE 2008 Greetings to all adult education colleagues from your COABE 2008 planning committee! As you plan for professional development in the coming months, we invite you to save the dates for our upcoming conference, co-sponsored with Missouri Association for Adult Continuing and Community Education - Show Me Success: Empowerment through Diversity - in St Louis, Missouri, April 28 to May 1, 2008. You and your co-workers won't want to miss this rare opportunity to attend a national adult education conference held in your local region. We invite you to join the planning of the conference - volunteers are most welcome! Please contact Lorene James, Conference Co-Chair, at ljames at kcmsd.net, or 816-418-8205, or MaryAnn Kramer, Conference Co-Chair, at MaryAnn.Kramer at slps.org, or 314-367-5000. Check our conference website, www.coabeconference.org, for more information. We look forward to meeting you in St. Louis in 2008! Margaret Patterson, Ph.D. Assistant Project Coordinator/Research Associate Improving Adult Literacy Instruction University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning Division of Adult Studies Joseph R. Pearson Hall 1122 West Campus Dr., Room 708A Lawrence, KS 66045-3101 Phone 785.864.7089 Fax 785.864.5728 From pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us Wed Feb 7 15:08:16 2007 From: pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us (JO PAMMENT) Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:08:16 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 646] Re: Formative assessment at the ALE Wiki In-Reply-To: <04ad01c74ab3$15b93850$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <04ad01c74ab3$15b93850$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <45C9EB600200009E0000920F@10.1.0.15> Thank you for doing all of this. Jo Pamment Jo Pamment Director Adult Ed. ESL Haslett Public Schools 1118 S. Harrison East Lansing, Michigan 48823 TEL: 517 337-8353 FAX: 517 337-3195 E-Mail: pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us >>> "Marie Cora" 2/7/2007 7:25:41 AM >>> Hi everyone, I have organized a lot of the information from the discussion we had on formative assessment and have posted this for your use at the ALE Wiki Assessment section. Go to: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Assessment_Information and click on section 7 Formative Assessment. There are 3 areas: I extracted a lot of the ideas for the classroom that people contributed, and organized them under topical headings; another area has the referenced tools and materials that people said they use in class; the final area is a list of on-line resources for formative assessment. Anyone who contributed to that discussion has been acknowledged. If I missed your name, or you would like your name removed, please contact me. You can add any information you would like to the Wiki - it is very simple. In fact I hope that you do add information, ideas, resources, etc. to the Wiki - that is what it is for. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! Thanks! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From mpatters at ku.edu Wed Feb 7 16:08:12 2007 From: mpatters at ku.edu (Margaret Patterson) Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:08:12 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 647] Re: Save the dates for COABE 2008 In-Reply-To: <003801c74aeb$db6afba0$0a00a8c0@critical1> Message-ID: Hello, John (and other colleagues), Thanks for looking for it! The COABE 2008 webmaster assures me the website at www.coabeconference.org will be up and running the first week of March. Please check back again then. Thank you, Margaret On 2/7/07 1:12 PM, "John Benseman" wrote: > Margaret - Your URL doesn't work > > John > > John Benseman PhD > > Director of Research & Evaluation, Upskilling NZ > (based at Department of Labour) > DDI 04 915 4633 - Cell: 021 0489 143 > > * john.benseman at criticalinsight.co.nz > ( 0064 9 627 4415 > 7 0064 9 627 4418 > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of Margaret Patterson > Sent: Wednesday, 7 February 2007 6:47 a.m. > To: Margaret Patterson > Subject: [Assessment 644] Save the dates for COABE 2008 > > > Greetings to all adult education colleagues from your COABE 2008 planning > committee! As you plan for professional development in the coming months, we > invite you to save the dates for our upcoming conference, co-sponsored with > Missouri Association for Adult Continuing and Community Education - Show Me > Success: Empowerment through Diversity - in St Louis, Missouri, April 28 to > May 1, 2008. You and your co-workers won't want to miss this rare > opportunity to attend a national adult education conference held in your > local region. We invite you to join the planning of the conference - > volunteers are most welcome! Please contact Lorene James, Conference > Co-Chair, at ljames at kcmsd.net, or 816-418-8205, or MaryAnn Kramer, > Conference Co-Chair, at MaryAnn.Kramer at slps.org, or 314-367-5000. Check our > conference website, www.coabeconference.org, > for more information. We look forward to > meeting you in St. Louis in 2008! > > > Margaret Patterson, Ph.D. > Assistant Project Coordinator/Research Associate > Improving Adult Literacy Instruction > University of Kansas > Center for Research on Learning > Division of Adult Studies > Joseph R. Pearson Hall > 1122 West Campus Dr., Room 708A > Lawrence, KS 66045-3101 > Phone 785.864.7089 > Fax 785.864.5728 > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Feb 7 16:58:23 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 16:58:23 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 648] STAR Struck for Reading Instruction Message-ID: <057501c74b03$16beda20$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following post is from Tom Sticht. What are people's thoughts on the STAR Project and/or on Tom's comments as well? Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ****** February 6, 2007 STAR Struck: The Federal STAR (STudent Achievement in Reading) Project: Why Now? Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Recently the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) announced the STAR web site and professional development activity. The web site provides the following information about STAR: Quote:"What is STAR? STAR is a comprehensive toolkit and training package to help Adult Basic Education (ABE) instructors use evidence-based reading instruction in the classroom. For more information, see About STAR. What is the National STAR Training Network? The National STAR Training Network (NSTN) encompasses national and state experts in reading instruction, state and federal policymakers, and practitioners. All are working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education to use evidence-based reading instruction and the STAR model to improve adult reading. For more information see Contact the Network. Why STAR? STAR delivers the tools and techniques teachers need to help adult learners read and achieve."End Quote In and of itself, the idea of tools and techniques to help adult learners read and achieve is not very notable because there are already numerous tools and techniques , commercial programs, etc. that aim to do the same thing. But repeatedly the STAR web site says it aims at assisting adult educators to use "evidence-based" reading instruction. It describes "evidence-based" and says: Quote:"Evidence-based reading instruction (EBRI) integrates findings from the best available reading research with practitioner wisdom to inform instructional decisions. .With EBRI, teachers use diagnostic assessment procedures to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of each learner and target reading instruction accordingly. .Teachers that use EBRI help learners improve their skills in each of the four components of reading - alphabetics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension - by explaining new concepts, modeling strategies, and providing feedback when learners practice."End Quote However, the STAR web site provides no evidence that following its evidence-based approach will improve adult reading instruction over what is already being done by adult literacy educators. I have searched for scientific research indicating that a focus on alphabetics (code emphasis in Jeanne Chall's terms) with adults with low literacy produced better learning outcomes than some other, perhaps whole language (meaning emphasis in Jeanne Chall's terms) approach. But I have found no such research. No such research is cited on the STAR web site, and the report on principles of adult reading instruction that is mentioned does not include any such research, either. The evidence that the STAR web site mentions also includes "professional wisdom," however no citation of professional wisdom is given. I have looked at historical approaches to teaching adults to read to find professional wisdom in using either code or meaning emphases. Cora Wilson Stewart in 1911 and beyond did not like the alphabetics approach and clearly stated that adults should be taught using the "word' approach. Reports of her work indicate that more than 180,000 adults learned to read following her "whole language" approach. But in World War I, J. Duncan Spaeth took a strong phonics approach to teaching reading to soldiers. Then in World War II, Paul Witty took a strong "word", "whole language" approach, and indeed teachers in Special Training Units got demerits if they emphasized phonics too much. It is reported that over a quarter million soldiers learned to read using this meaning emphasis approach. Septima Poinsette Clark favored a whole language approach in teaching some 10,000 teachers to teach 700,000 adults to read and write to vote in the early civil rights movement. Frank Laubach strongly favored a code emphasis while Ruth Colvin, founder of Literacy Volunteers of America favored a whole language approach (interestingly, Laubach and Colvin have merged into one organization, ProLiteracy Worldwide). This type of variable historical data on professional wisdom, and the lack of any solid research that I have found on the relative effectiveness with adults of the code or meaning emphases leaves me without any good data to help make decisions about the use of these two approaches. I know that Jeanne Chall favored the code approach in her clinical work but her reported gains did not seem to be much better, if at all better, than what other adult literacy programs reported. As I read the STAR web page, it appears that the STAR approach has been developed in large part by former students of Jeanne at Harvard. It seems to me that the evidence base for the effectiveness of the STAR approach to adult literacy education is lacking, in both professional wisdom and scientific research. This suggests that the national dissemination effort funded by the federal government is premature. I think that before such an expensive (over $31,400 for 45 adult educators to learn the STAR approach) national dissemination effort is undertaken there should be research conducted to show that the STAR approach is more effective than other approaches to teaching reading with adults. Too often national efforts by the federal government have been undertaken and millions of dollars have been spent to disseminate the efforts, only to see them fade away with little apparent long-lasting improvement to the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States. Will STAR go this way, too? Whatever happened to the Adult Performance Level (APL) project? Whatever happened to the Equipped for the Future (EFF) project? Are we about to be STAR struck? Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valey View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Wed Feb 7 19:48:19 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 17:48:19 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 649] Re: STAR Struck for Reading Instruction In-Reply-To: <057501c74b03$16beda20$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <057501c74b03$16beda20$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070207/ce896968/attachment.html From alantoops at cs.com Thu Feb 8 11:41:44 2007 From: alantoops at cs.com (Alan Toops) Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:41:44 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 650] Re: STAR Struck for Reading Instruction In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Tina, You have hit on the core of the matter. Its all about what the student needs to be successful. Matters not what label we put on it. Both have value, both are useful if we determine the right fit for our students. Alan Toops Executive Director Ohio Literacy Network (614) 505-0717 atoops at ohioliteracynetwork.org http://www.ohioliteracynetwork.org On 2/7/07 7:48 PM, "Tina_Luffman at yc.edu" wrote: > Marie, > > In college I did research into whole language versus phonics for Reading > acquisition in elementary schools. The reason for my interest in this research > was watching my older two children learn how to read well with a more > phonics-based program. When my younger two children entered elementary school, > the district switched to whole language. When I visited their classrooms, the > teacher stood in front of the room with a large book and had the children > "read" along with the text of a book they had memorized. I had a fit. These > kids had no idea what the words said on that book. By the time these kids got > to second grade, the teachers were similarly having a fit wondering why many > of their second graders could barely read. My son, unfortunately,was one of > them, and the only reading he could do was from a one month summer school > program he went to that was phonics-based. His sister did not read as well as > her older siblings, either. > > In my research I did learn that some children do learn better with whole > language, and that whole language does seem to create faster reading > comprehension rates. Other children tend to learn best with phonetic decoding > skills, learning the sounds of the letters, and then building words from that. > Phonics, however, does tend to create slower readers, according to the whole > language information I had read. > > I do not know if this resesarch is valid in adult education; however, I am > personally biased toward phonics-based reading methods, yet I do not rule out > entirely the value of some whole language. I am interested in learning what > STAR has to offer. I do not discount what Tom is saying because he has been > around long enough, as have many of the rest of the NIFL list practitioners, > to have seen many programs come and go. I am new enough to Adult Education to > be willing to give this new program a chance. > > Tina > > > > > Tina Luffman > Coordinator, Developmental Education > Verde Valley Campus > 928-634-6544 > tina_luffman at yc.edu > = > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070208/8093507b/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Feb 8 12:03:43 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 12:03:43 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 651] Seeking article submissions Message-ID: <062201c74ba3$1726a6f0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: Please see the following opportunity to contribute to the 2007 issue of the International Journal of Literacy and Numeracy Studies. I encourage all subscribers on the List to consider this, as the focus of the publication speaks directly to the issues that we discuss here in this forum. The editors are very much interested in seeking practitioners to contribute papers. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ------------------------------------------------------------ Special Issue Announcement The editors of International Journal of Literacy and Numeracy Studies are pleased to announce that Dr. Alisa Belzer of Rutgers University and Dr. Ralf St. Clair of University of Glasgow will edit a special issue of LNS to be published in 2007. This issue will focus on how national accountability systems are influencing practice at the program and classroom levels. The guest editors are seeking submissions of papers that explore the choices and compromises and the costs and benefits of increased demands for standardized accountability and reporting procedures. They are also interested in papers that document how teachers and learners are developing and maintaining "responsive" practices in this time when increasingly narrow accountability and curricular systems seem to be reducing the options open to educators and learners. They would like especially to urge practitioners to contribute, either as solo authors or in collaboration with university researchers or policy makers. Please submit papers to Dr. Belzer or Dr. St. Clair by June 30, 2007 at the latest. If you would like to contact our guest editors directly, email them at belzera at rci.rutgers.edu and/or rstclair at educ.gla.ac.uk. From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Feb 8 16:30:07 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 16:30:07 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 652] Re: STAR Struck for Reading Instruction Message-ID: <067801c74bc8$4ea09e40$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following post is from Michelle Meeks. The discussion on the STAR program has sparked a lot of interest on other discussion lists as well. On the NLA (National Literacy Advocacy List), the discussion is highly focused on reading instruction and what research the instruction is based on. The ARCS and Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles is also discussed. There is also a discussion thread on the Adult Literacy Professional Development List. ASRP/ARCS is at http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/index.htm Subscribe or view the archives of the NLA at http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla/ Subscribe or view the archives of the Adult Literacy Professional Development List at (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment) Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ****** The STAR program seems very similar to the ARCS information located on the NIFL website. Using the ARCS website in conjunction with Susan McShane's book - Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults is awesome! I would suggest everyone take a look at these 2 resources as well as the STAR. Locating which of the 4 components of reading an adult is struggling with will help you streamline instruction and not spend time playing detective as to what the student needs. Michelle Meeks, Director San Juan College Project Read 203 W. Main Farmington, NM 87401 (505) 326-3503 meeksm at sanjuancollege.edu GOT STRENGTHS? - Adaptability, Communication, Positivity, Relator, and Strategic "Serenity Now!" Frank Costanza _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 5:48 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 649] Re: STAR Struck for Reading Instruction Marie, In college I did research into whole language versus phonics for Reading acquisition in elementary schools. The reason for my interest in this research was watching my older two children learn how to read well with a more phonics-based program. When my younger two children entered elementary school, the district switched to whole language. When I visited their classrooms, the teacher stood in front of the room with a large book and had the children "read" along with the text of a book they had memorized. I had a fit. These kids had no idea what the words said on that book. By the time these kids got to second grade, the teachers were similarly having a fit wondering why many of their second graders could barely read. My son, unfortunately,was one of them, and the only reading he could do was from a one month summer school program he went to that was phonics-based. His sister did not read as well as her older siblings, either. In my research I did learn that some children do learn better with whole language, and that whole language does seem to create faster reading comprehension rates. Other children tend to learn best with phonetic decoding skills, learning the sounds of the letters, and then building words from that. Phonics, however, does tend to create slower readers, according to the whole language information I had read. I do not know if this resesarch is valid in adult education; however, I am personally biased toward phonics-based reading methods, yet I do not rule out entirely the value of some whole language. I am interested in learning what STAR has to offer. I do not discount what Tom is saying because he has been around long enough, as have many of the rest of the NIFL list practitioners, to have seen many programs come and go. I am new enough to Adult Education to be willing to give this new program a chance. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070208/d5fd984f/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Feb 8 16:42:00 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 16:42:00 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 653] FW: [Workplace 583] Re: Workplace Standards Message-ID: <068701c74bc9$f775a320$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, Perhaps this exchange on Work Keys and the Work Readiness Credential is of interest to folks on the list. This discussion is taking place on the Workplace Literacy Discussion List; subscribe or view the archives at http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Workplace/ Marie Cora ****************************** > We seem to have two sets of standards in Workplace Literacy. Some > states are adopting the WorkKeys Career Readiness Certificate. Other > states are adopting the National Work Readiness Credential. Is one > preferable to the other? Why create the National Work Readiness > Credential when WorkKeys is already so well established? I would like > to see some discussion on this issue. > > Thank you, > Jennifer > > Jennifer Coplin > Aztec Learning Software / East Coast Learning > 6071 Bob Daniel Road > Oxford, NC 27565 > Ph 888 615 8301 > Fx 919 603 1878 > jennifer at eastcoastlearning.com > www.aztecsoftware.com > ********************************* I asked Tonya Crum, Director of Workforce Development & Training at Kentucky Educational Television to respond to Jennifer's question, and here is her response: > It's not a good idea to compare the two. They are two different > assessments. > > WorkKeys Career Readiness Certificate assesses in the areas of Applied > Math, Reading for Information and Locating Information. > > The National Work Readiness Credential (NWC) assesses Communication, > Interpersonal, Decision Making, and Lifelong Learning Skills for entry > level jobs. NWC is more attainable for the students we serve in our > adult education programs. > > As to whether WorkKeys is so well established, it is not so in all > areas or states. > > (This is from a Kentucky practitioner's point of view.) Joyce Probus *********************************** There's a recent report available that looks at various work readiness credentials/certificates including Work Keys and NWRC. See the Report online at http://www.jff.org/JFF_KC_Pages.php?WhichLevel=1&lv1_id=4&lv2_id=0&lv3_i d=0KC_M_ID=315 A Survey of Selected Work Readiness Certificates (Jobs for the Future, 2007) The United Way of Rhode Island asked JFF to prepare a scan of work readiness certificates that have emerged throughout the United States in recent years. A Survey of Selected Work Readiness Certificate Models, by JFF's Norma Rey-Alicea and Geri Scott, summarizes five of the nation's many work readiness certificates, which are representative of the diverse range of such initiatives in terms of target population, certification requirements, geography, and other factors. The report highlights issues that stakeholders should consider in determining which approaches would most benefit their state's unique demographics, economy, and political landscape. Mindy Detzler National Youth Employment Coalition ph: 202-659-1064 md at nyec.org From aalba1 at cox.net Fri Feb 9 00:03:13 2007 From: aalba1 at cox.net (AL) Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 00:03:13 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 653] Efficacy of TABE Verses CASAS ???? Message-ID: Dear Educators, I am an adult educator for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections. Presently we use the TABE 7/8, without the TABE Locator. I am wondering on the efficacy of using such an instrument as a method to place students in either special education classes or regular GED classes. The Standard we use at our department is that if a student has overall TABE test report scores of 6.0 or greater he or she is placed in the general adult education classes. If a student's scores are below 6.0 he or she is placed in a special education class. Is the use of the aforementioned test an effective instrument for discerning a student's class placement. Also, I have been told our department the State of RI may be switching to CASAS at the start of the next school year for adult education classes and for student class placement. I was wondering on the efficacy of CASAS for placing students in either ABE (special education classes) or GED as compared to the TABE battery for such an analysis. In addition I was wondering, which instrument CASAS or TABE is best for use as a diagnostic aid? Specifically, which student test report either TABE or CASAS give the teacher better guidance with respect to analyzing the areas of students' strengths and weaknesses? Thanks in advance for your feedback, Albert Alba, Jr. PhD. From tarv at chemeketa.edu Mon Feb 12 11:59:48 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 08:59:48 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 654] Re: Efficacy of TABE Verses CASAS ???? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: The TABE vs CASAS conversation has been going on since, what 1988 or so....personally I find the CASAS much more user friendly but many of my colleagues lean heavily toward TABE because it is more academic in nature. Both can serve as high stakes tests. There are correlation studies that have been done based on TABE and CASAS scores (using the scores to show how well a student will do on a GED). I think that you will find CASAS at least as accurate as the current method you are using for student placement Va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of AL Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 9:03 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Cc: aalba1 at cox.net Subject: [Assessment 653] Efficacy of TABE Verses CASAS ???? Dear Educators, I am an adult educator for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections. Presently we use the TABE 7/8, without the TABE Locator. I am wondering on the efficacy of using such an instrument as a method to place students in either special education classes or regular GED classes. The Standard we use at our department is that if a student has overall TABE test report scores of 6.0 or greater he or she is placed in the general adult education classes. If a student's scores are below 6.0 he or she is placed in a special education class. Is the use of the aforementioned test an effective instrument for discerning a student's class placement. Also, I have been told our department the State of RI may be switching to CASAS at the start of the next school year for adult education classes and for student class placement. I was wondering on the efficacy of CASAS for placing students in either ABE (special education classes) or GED as compared to the TABE battery for such an analysis. In addition I was wondering, which instrument CASAS or TABE is best for use as a diagnostic aid? Specifically, which student test report either TABE or CASAS give the teacher better guidance with respect to analyzing the areas of students' strengths and weaknesses? Thanks in advance for your feedback, Albert Alba, Jr. PhD. ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From kabeall at comcast.net Mon Feb 12 12:52:26 2007 From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:52:26 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 655] New from NCSALL Message-ID: <007701c74ece$92868f30$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6> Health Literacy Study Circle+ Facilitators Training The purpose of this training guide is to help experienced professional developers and others organize and conduct a one-day session to train and orient those who will serve as facilitators of a HALL/NCSALL Health Literacy Study Circle+. A Health and Adult Literacy and Learning (HALL)/National Center for Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) Health Literacy Study Circle+ is a professional development activity for adult basic education (ABE), adult secondary education (ASE), or adult English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) practitioners. This guide includes the information and materials you will need to conduct the training, but not background information on planning and facilitating training. Facilitators of the Health Literacy Study Circle+ Facilitators Training should be experienced trainers. For more information and to download the training guide, go to the NCSALL Web site: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1169 **************** Kaye Beall World Education 4401 S. Madison St. Muncie, IN 47302 Tel: 765-717-3942 Fax: 617-482-0617 kaye_beall at worlded.org http://www.worlded.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070212/2b7a1bff/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Feb 14 07:33:17 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:33:17 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 656] more on formative assessment Message-ID: <038401c75034$4e364750$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know that I've added more information taken from our discussion on formative assessment to the ALE Wiki Assessment section. Go to: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Assessment_Information and click on Formative Assessment. I added some Quotes of Note from the discussion, and I'm in the process of building a section on samples of IEP/ILP/ISPs - cyber links are up there now, but the sections with samples from colleagues are only blank pages so far - I need to make the files PDF and post them in their proper format which will take me just a bit of learning first. If (when!) you go to the Wiki, consider signing in as a user. You need to do that anyway if you are going to add or change text. But even if you just go and use the resources there, sign in so we know who's becoming part of the ALE Wiki community. I always make proper acknowledgements in terms of persons and resources, but if you do not want your name or materials posted, please contact me right away. Thanks, marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070214/9919eb8a/attachment.html From kabeall at comcast.net Wed Feb 14 13:24:17 2007 From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:24:17 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 657] New from NCSALL Message-ID: <008701c75065$5a337830$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6> Adult Literacy Research: Opportunities and Challenges by John Comings and Lisa Soricone This occasional paper has two goals that support the building of a stronger research base for the adult literacy field. The first goal is to interest researchers in pursuing rigorous scientific research in this field. Despite the many challenges to research, this field offers researchers some opportunities to have a positive impact on education, increase the research base, and advance their careers. The second goal is to identify these challenges and approaches to overcoming them so that future research could design more successful studies. Addressing these challenges to research is a critical step toward building a larger and stronger foundation of evidence to support practitioner decisions. To download the paper, go to the NCSALL Web site: www.ncsall.net/?id=26#opps Evaluating and Interpreting Research Syntheses in Adult Learning and Literacy by Harris Cooper This occasional paper introduces the methods of research synthesis and meta-analysis to researchers and consumers of research in the field of adult learning and literacy. The first section defines key terms and offers a brief history of how the methodologies developed. The second section provides a conceptualization of research synthesis that views it no differently from other research endeavors in the social sciences. Then, the tasks of research synthesis are presented within the context of a hypothetical example drawn from the literature on adult learning and literacy. To download the paper, go to the NCSALL Web site: www.ncsall.net/?id=26#syntheses **************** Kaye Beall World Education 4401 S. Madison St. Muncie, IN 47302 Tel: 765-717-3942 Fax: 617-482-0617 kaye_beall at worlded.org http://www.worlded.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070214/9c1f269f/attachment.html From john.r.warrior at cox.net Thu Feb 15 02:28:36 2007 From: john.r.warrior at cox.net (John Warrior) Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 01:28:36 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 658] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 17, Issue 12 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <000101c750d2$e832b520$0301a8c0@john1u8j50rbx5> I have a question for those of you on this list. My school is considering implementing an electronic portfolio to manage and track the progress of our ESL students within our program. I have some personal experience with the system provided by Chalk and Wire, but beyond that I am in the dark about other providers and software options. Our plans are to incorporate student data as well as artifact files, such as text, pdf, video and audio files. We have options to either go client side or server side with the data files. I will appreciate any information and experiences that any of you may have about software and ways to enhance the effectiveness. Thank you, John Warrior Tulsa Community College John.r.warrior at cox.net -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of assessment-request at nifl.gov Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 11:00 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 17, Issue 12 Send Assessment mailing list submissions to assessment at nifl.gov To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to assessment-request at nifl.gov You can reach the person managing the list at assessment-owner at nifl.gov When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." Today's Topics: 1. [Assessment 655] New from NCSALL (Kaye Beall) 2. [Assessment 656] more on formative assessment (Marie Cora) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:52:26 -0500 From: "Kaye Beall" Subject: [Assessment 655] New from NCSALL To: Message-ID: <007701c74ece$92868f30$0202a8c0 at your4105e587b6> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Health Literacy Study Circle+ Facilitators Training The purpose of this training guide is to help experienced professional developers and others organize and conduct a one-day session to train and orient those who will serve as facilitators of a HALL/NCSALL Health Literacy Study Circle+. A Health and Adult Literacy and Learning (HALL)/National Center for Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) Health Literacy Study Circle+ is a professional development activity for adult basic education (ABE), adult secondary education (ASE), or adult English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) practitioners. This guide includes the information and materials you will need to conduct the training, but not background information on planning and facilitating training. Facilitators of the Health Literacy Study Circle+ Facilitators Training should be experienced trainers. For more information and to download the training guide, go to the NCSALL Web site: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1169 **************** Kaye Beall World Education 4401 S. Madison St. Muncie, IN 47302 Tel: 765-717-3942 Fax: 617-482-0617 kaye_beall at worlded.org http://www.worlded.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070212/2b7a1bff/attac hment-0001.html ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:33:17 -0500 From: "Marie Cora" Subject: [Assessment 656] more on formative assessment To: Message-ID: <038401c75034$4e364750$0202a8c0 at LITNOW> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know that I've added more information taken from our discussion on formative assessment to the ALE Wiki Assessment section. Go to: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Assessment_Information and click on Formative Assessment. I added some Quotes of Note from the discussion, and I'm in the process of building a section on samples of IEP/ILP/ISPs - cyber links are up there now, but the sections with samples from colleagues are only blank pages so far - I need to make the files PDF and post them in their proper format which will take me just a bit of learning first. If (when!) you go to the Wiki, consider signing in as a user. You need to do that anyway if you are going to add or change text. But even if you just go and use the resources there, sign in so we know who's becoming part of the ALE Wiki community. I always make proper acknowledgements in terms of persons and resources, but if you do not want your name or materials posted, please contact me right away. Thanks, marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070214/9919eb8a/attac hment-0001.html ------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment End of Assessment Digest, Vol 17, Issue 12 ****************************************** From aalba1 at cox.net Sat Feb 17 09:53:07 2007 From: aalba1 at cox.net (AL) Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 09:53:07 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 659] Models Of Teaching Message-ID: Dear Educators, I have used Some aspects of Standards Based Instruction in the correctional classroom and I am seeking additional strategies. If you could describe methods that you have found successful to incorporate Standards Based Instruction that is aligned with the Social Constructivist Approach it would be helpful. The Social Constructivist Approach involves students engaged in active problem solving by participating in debates, cooperative work, real life problems, open ended dialogue, and higher level questioning. If you have any type of curricula, instructional practices, or resources that you use to foster students' creating thinking and the goals of the Social Constructivist Approach it would be appreciated if you could share such methods. Sincerely, AL ALba, PhD From akohring at utk.edu Mon Feb 19 10:37:12 2007 From: akohring at utk.edu (Kohring, Aaron M) Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 10:37:12 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 660] Re: Models Of Teaching In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <9E03E4AF0E0DC54AA38E089CFF95FBD24F10E1@UTKFSVS2.utk.tennessee.edu> Al, The EFF Teaching/Learning Toolkit has a number of standards-based tools and resources that you may find useful: http://eff.cls.utk.edu/toolkit/default.htm Aaron Aaron Kohring Research Associate UT Center for Literacy Studies 600 Henley St, Ste 312 Knoxville, TN 37996-4135 Ph: 865-974-4258 Main: 865-974-4109 Fax: 865-974-3857 akohring at utk.edu -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of AL Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 9:53 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 659] Models Of Teaching Dear Educators, I have used Some aspects of Standards Based Instruction in the correctional classroom and I am seeking additional strategies. If you could describe methods that you have found successful to incorporate Standards Based Instruction that is aligned with the Social Constructivist Approach it would be helpful. The Social Constructivist Approach involves students engaged in active problem solving by participating in debates, cooperative work, real life problems, open ended dialogue, and higher level questioning. If you have any type of curricula, instructional practices, or resources that you use to foster students' creating thinking and the goals of the Social Constructivist Approach it would be appreciated if you could share such methods. Sincerely, AL ALba, PhD ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From jtaustin1 at core.com Mon Feb 19 19:03:47 2007 From: jtaustin1 at core.com (james austin) Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:03:47 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 661] STAR Struck for Reading Instruction In-Reply-To: <057501c74b03$16beda20$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <057501c74b03$16beda20$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <001d01c75482$99dc45e0$2efdfea9@JimDownOne> Marie and Tom, Thanks for the post. I work in Ohio which is implementing this STAR program at multiple sites. Thus far I have not seen much on evaluation so I don't have a good sense for how the program's impact will be documented. It would seem to make sense to start with teachers and move on to students. For example, we have provided pilot site programs with a measure of adult reading interest that was created from a well-validated instrument developed by M. Cecil Smith at NIU. But the evaluation of effectiveness might (must?) presume that the intervention has some evidence basis in the first place, either a logic model or a theory-based approach. The folks at ETS seem to be working diligently in the theory area, and John Sabatini is one of their researchers that I have met and understood. One additional point: Does Tom's critique extend more broadly than the area of alphabetics, which appears to be a small component of STAR. I would be interested in the assessment toolkit called Bader. What about the reliability and validity of these instruments? -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 4:58 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 648] STAR Struck for Reading Instruction Colleagues, The following post is from Tom Sticht. What are people's thoughts on the STAR Project and/or on Tom's comments as well? Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ****** February 6, 2007 STAR Struck: The Federal STAR (STudent Achievement in Reading) Project: Why Now? Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Recently the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) announced the STAR web site and professional development activity. The web site provides the following information about STAR: Quote:"What is STAR? STAR is a comprehensive toolkit and training package to help Adult Basic Education (ABE) instructors use evidence-based reading instruction in the classroom. For more information, see About STAR. What is the National STAR Training Network? The National STAR Training Network (NSTN) encompasses national and state experts in reading instruction, state and federal policymakers, and practitioners. All are working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education to use evidence-based reading instruction and the STAR model to improve adult reading. For more information see Contact the Network. Why STAR? STAR delivers the tools and techniques teachers need to help adult learners read and achieve."End Quote In and of itself, the idea of tools and techniques to help adult learners read and achieve is not very notable because there are already numerous tools and techniques , commercial programs, etc. that aim to do the same thing. But repeatedly the STAR web site says it aims at assisting adult educators to use "evidence-based" reading instruction. It describes "evidence-based" and says: Quote:"Evidence-based reading instruction (EBRI) integrates findings from the best available reading research with practitioner wisdom to inform instructional decisions. .With EBRI, teachers use diagnostic assessment procedures to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of each learner and target reading instruction accordingly. .Teachers that use EBRI help learners improve their skills in each of the four components of reading - alphabetics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension - by explaining new concepts, modeling strategies, and providing feedback when learners practice."End Quote However, the STAR web site provides no evidence that following its evidence-based approach will improve adult reading instruction over what is already being done by adult literacy educators. I have searched for scientific research indicating that a focus on alphabetics (code emphasis in Jeanne Chall's terms) with adults with low literacy produced better learning outcomes than some other, perhaps whole language (meaning emphasis in Jeanne Chall's terms) approach. But I have found no such research. No such research is cited on the STAR web site, and the report on principles of adult reading instruction that is mentioned does not include any such research, either. The evidence that the STAR web site mentions also includes "professional wisdom," however no citation of professional wisdom is given. I have looked at historical approaches to teaching adults to read to find professional wisdom in using either code or meaning emphases. Cora Wilson Stewart in 1911 and beyond did not like the alphabetics approach and clearly stated that adults should be taught using the "word' approach. Reports of her work indicate that more than 180,000 adults learned to read following her "whole language" approach. But in World War I, J. Duncan Spaeth took a strong phonics approach to teaching reading to soldiers. Then in World War II, Paul Witty took a strong "word", "whole language" approach, and indeed teachers in Special Training Units got demerits if they emphasized phonics too much. It is reported that over a quarter million soldiers learned to read using this meaning emphasis approach. Septima Poinsette Clark favored a whole language approach in teaching some 10,000 teachers to teach 700,000 adults to read and write to vote in the early civil rights movement. Frank Laubach strongly favored a code emphasis while Ruth Colvin, founder of Literacy Volunteers of America favored a whole language approach (interestingly, Laubach and Colvin have merged into one organization, ProLiteracy Worldwide). This type of variable historical data on professional wisdom, and the lack of any solid research that I have found on the relative effectiveness with adults of the code or meaning emphases leaves me without any good data to help make decisions about the use of these two approaches. I know that Jeanne Chall favored the code approach in her clinical work but her reported gains did not seem to be much better, if at all better, than what other adult literacy programs reported. As I read the STAR web page, it appears that the STAR approach has been developed in large part by former students of Jeanne at Harvard. It seems to me that the evidence base for the effectiveness of the STAR approach to adult literacy education is lacking, in both professional wisdom and scientific research. This suggests that the national dissemination effort funded by the federal government is premature. I think that before such an expensive (over $31,400 for 45 adult educators to learn the STAR approach) national dissemination effort is undertaken there should be research conducted to show that the STAR approach is more effective than other approaches to teaching reading with adults. Too often national efforts by the federal government have been undertaken and millions of dollars have been spent to disseminate the efforts, only to see them fade away with little apparent long-lasting improvement to the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States. Will STAR go this way, too? Whatever happened to the Adult Performance Level (APL) project? Whatever happened to the Equipped for the Future (EFF) project? Are we about to be STAR struck? Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valey View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Feb 20 10:03:17 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:03:17 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 662] Guest Moderator on Family Literacy Discussion List Message-ID: <01b001c75500$4148f5d0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following post is from Gail Price, Moderator of the Family Literacy Discussion List. If you are interested in this discussion and are not a member of the list, you can subscribe to the list at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Familyliteracy ******* Don Seaman, Ph.D., will join the Family Literacy Discussion List as guest moderator next Tuesday and Wednesday, February 27 and 28. His topic will be evaluation-expected outcomes and intended audiences. Dr. Seaman is a Professor Emeritus and former Research Scientist, College of Education, Texas A&M University. He and his wife, Anna, provide technical assistance and evaluation services to a number of Even Start family literacy programs in Texas. His own professional research focuses on (1) the impact, both short-range and long-range, of family literacy programs upon the lives of families who participate in them, and (2) the return on investment from Even Start family literacy in Texas. He has collaborated with Texas LEARNS in two recent research studies that documented the positive impact of the Even Start family literacy program on participating parents and children in Texas. Other of Dr. Seaman's accomplishments include * Served as a consultant/evaluator for projects involving family literacy, adult education, workforce literacy programs, and for the Barbara Bush-Texas initiative. * Consulted with adult and family literacy projects in Australia, Canada, The Peoples' Republic of China, Ecuador, England, Germany, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Scotland, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe. * Founded the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) at Texas A&M. TCALL is a self-supporting center for adult and family literacy that houses various externally-funded projects. * Elected the first sole president of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education in 1984. * Completed a five-month professional internship at the National Center for Family Literacy during which he evaluated, through on-site research, the Kenan Model for Family Literacy in 1991. That model is utilized in many family literacy programs throughout the U.S. * Taught, with his wife, what is believed to have been one of the first graduate courses in family literacy in the U.S. in spring 1992. * Inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame in 1998. If you are not a subscriber to the Family Literacy Discussion List and would like to join to be part of the Don Seaman discussion, please click on the following link and follow the directions for subscribing. http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Familyliteracy Gail J. Price Multimedia Specialist National Center for Family Literacy 325 W. Main Street, Suite 300 Louisville, KY 40202 gprice at famlit.org 502 584-1133, ext. 112 From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Feb 20 15:23:10 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:23:10 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 663] STAR Struck Message-ID: <022301c7552c$f0ffdad0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following is from Tom Sticht, in response to James Austin's post from earlier today. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ****** Colleagues: I am not surprised to find those who have worked on the STAR project offering testimonials as to how it has benefited them and others they have worked with. I recall a product called Hooked on Phonics that had numerous testimonials on radio and TV about how it worked for them and others they knew. But it was eventually driven into bankruptcy by the federal government's FCC because it did not have solid research to support the many testimonials. This bias in favor of a program frequently happens when people participate in some educational endeavor and it is one of the reasons that solid research is needed to ferret out what the actual value of the endeavor is. I am a bit more puzzled why there is not more concern about the fact that the STAR program was not tested in solid research before going national. For one thing, NCSALL, the organization that had the primary role in bringing forth the products being disseminated by the STAR program has been at the forefront of those calling for evidence-based adult literacy education. So to find that the government that funds the NCSALL thinks it is OK to depend upon K-12 based research rather than adult-based research in support of the STAR program is troubling. Also, contrary to what many may think, there is not universal agreement on how children learn to read. Reports from the National Reading Panel and elsewhere that have made claims about the so-called "components" of reading have been challenged by many reading professionals (see Jim Trelease's web site: www.trelease-on-reading.com/whatsnu_nrp_ssr.html for instance). So it is not clear that there is solid knowledge about how children learn to read to be applied to adult literacy education. All this movement to spread STAR across the nation, at a charge of over $31,000 for 45 teachers, when there is no evidence-base behind it is also disconcerting because the so-called 'components" of reading are not there. Contrary to what is claimed, comprehension, for instance, is not a component of reading, it is a product of language processing, prior knowledge, and thinking. All that can be and is done by oral language with no reading. Further, vocabulary is also a component of language, not reading. And fluency is not a component of reading but rather a quality of a reading performance. There is no "fluency" to be taught. Fluency must develop through extensive practice. It can even be argued that fluency does not aid comprehension, but rather that comprehension aids fluency. So if the federal government is going to insist that all of us in the field provide evidence-based instruction, shouldn't the same federal government provide the necessary research to support the efficacy of the STAR program as a more effective approach to teaching reading with (not TO) adults before it goes national? As things stand now, the STAR program is not so much a part of the federal government's evidence-based education initiatives as it is its faith-based initiatives. Tom Sticht From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Feb 20 16:35:57 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:35:57 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 664] Discussion on FOB list: Transitions Message-ID: <022e01c75537$1c2ad5c0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: the following discussion will take place on the Focus on Basics Discussion List. To subscribe go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Focusonbasics. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ************************************ February 26 - March 2 Transition from GED to Postsecondary Education This will focus on the results of a study by NCSALL researcher John Tyler of Brown University and colleague Magnus Lofstrom of the University of Texas at Dallas. The study found a low rate of enrollment in postsecondary education among GED holders as compared with high school graduates, and is described in Tyler's article in FOB 8C, "Is the GED an Effective Route to Postsecondary Education?". Barbara Garner, editor of Focus on Basics, will introduce the findings, and then Cynthia Zafft, Director of the National College Transitions Network, and Sandy Goodman, Director, New England College Transition Project at World Education, Inc. will discuss promising strategies that are being done to address this issue. Recommended Reading: Is the GED an Effective Route to Postsecondary Education? A Conversation with John Tyler by Barbara Garner http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1155 Recognizing that high school is not enough, growing numbers of adult basic education programs (ABE) are emphasizing the transition to postsecondary education. What impact does earning a certificate of General Educational Development (GED) have on the post secondary enrollment of high school dropouts? Brown University professor and NCSALL researcher John Tyler and a colleague, Magnus Lofstrom of the University of Texas at Dallas, examined this question using data from Texas. Focus on Basics asked John Tyler to summarize the results and discuss the questions they raise. Focus on Basics, Transitions Issue (6D) http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=154 This contains several articles about different aspects of transitions. Guest Speakers: Barb Garner was the editor of all 31 issues of "Focus on Basics", and co-author with Sara Fass of "Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices about the GED and Your Future." Having studied statistics with researcher John Tyler, she enjoys working with him to make sure his research findings reach the adult basic education community. Cynthia Zafft, MA, is the director of the National College Transition Network (NCTN), a network to support ABE staff, programs, and state programs in establishing and strengthening ABE-to-college transition services through technical assistance, professional development, collegial sharing, advocacy and increased visibility for this critical sector of the adult basic education system. Prior to coming to World Education, Cynthia coordinated several federally-funded postsecondary education transition projects for the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. The ICI is part of a national network of university-affiliated centers that offers training, conducts research, and provides assistance to organizations to promote inclusion of people with disabilities in school, work, and community activities. Sandy Goodman has been the Director of the New England College Transition Project at the New England Literacy Resource Center/World Education since November 2006. Prior to joining the College Transitions team, she directed a career ladders project under the Skillworks initiative called Partnership for Automotive Career Education (PACE) and facilitated collaboration between community based organizations, post-secondary and secondary education institutions, and private sector employers. Before PACE, she directed a community based ABE program in Boston that served approximately 400 people each year, and was also active in a number of city and statewide planning and advocacy efforts. She has a BA in Women's Studies/Social Thought and Political Economy from UMass, Amherst and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government. When: Feb.26-March 2. Julie McKinney Discussion List Moderator World Education/NCSALL jmckinney at worlded.org From DHohmann at hays489.k12.ks.us Thu Feb 22 12:49:52 2007 From: DHohmann at hays489.k12.ks.us (Hohmann Donna) Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:49:52 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 665] Re: Discussion on FOB list: Transitions Message-ID: <290F26CA9AF6094AAD7DEC91ECA7F44404595939@exchange.Internal.Hays489.k12.ks.us> I definitely would see how there would be less students with a GED in postsecondary education than there are high school graduates. One of the greatest high school dropout factors according to research is whether or not a student sees a connection between what they are learning in school and life after school (such as a school to career goal). Therefore, effective career counseling and academic counseling where students can learn the requirements of entering a postsecondary education, options of financial aid, various careers at different levels of training and education, etc. is necessary to promote students staying in school and entering postsecondary environments. Another obvious factor is that often students who have left high school did not feel comfortable in the school environment and/or did not feel successful. Many of those students take a brief GED prep class, take the test, and pass, and never attain any type of counseling services about future options for education. If students did not feel comfortable in high school it is very imaginable that they might fear returning to a school environment. However, there are many strong vocational postsecondary programs that do not utilize the traditional school type setting and/or teaching approaches that many students who left high school might find very rewarding and beneficial. There needs to be a way to encourage and promote these students to consider this type of training as a vital option. Many technical programs result in salaries that are often stronger than some bachelor degree programs. Technical skills often bring increased job security. Donna Hohmann, School Counselor, NCC -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 3:36 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 664] Discussion on FOB list: Transitions Colleagues: the following discussion will take place on the Focus on Basics Discussion List. To subscribe go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Focusonbasics. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ************************************ February 26 - March 2 Transition from GED to Postsecondary Education This will focus on the results of a study by NCSALL researcher John Tyler of Brown University and colleague Magnus Lofstrom of the University of Texas at Dallas. The study found a low rate of enrollment in postsecondary education among GED holders as compared with high school graduates, and is described in Tyler's article in FOB 8C, "Is the GED an Effective Route to Postsecondary Education?". Barbara Garner, editor of Focus on Basics, will introduce the findings, and then Cynthia Zafft, Director of the National College Transitions Network, and Sandy Goodman, Director, New England College Transition Project at World Education, Inc. will discuss promising strategies that are being done to address this issue. Recommended Reading: Is the GED an Effective Route to Postsecondary Education? A Conversation with John Tyler by Barbara Garner http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1155 Recognizing that high school is not enough, growing numbers of adult basic education programs (ABE) are emphasizing the transition to postsecondary education. What impact does earning a certificate of General Educational Development (GED) have on the post secondary enrollment of high school dropouts? Brown University professor and NCSALL researcher John Tyler and a colleague, Magnus Lofstrom of the University of Texas at Dallas, examined this question using data from Texas. Focus on Basics asked John Tyler to summarize the results and discuss the questions they raise. Focus on Basics, Transitions Issue (6D) http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=154 This contains several articles about different aspects of transitions. Guest Speakers: Barb Garner was the editor of all 31 issues of "Focus on Basics", and co-author with Sara Fass of "Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices about the GED and Your Future." Having studied statistics with researcher John Tyler, she enjoys working with him to make sure his research findings reach the adult basic education community. Cynthia Zafft, MA, is the director of the National College Transition Network (NCTN), a network to support ABE staff, programs, and state programs in establishing and strengthening ABE-to-college transition services through technical assistance, professional development, collegial sharing, advocacy and increased visibility for this critical sector of the adult basic education system. Prior to coming to World Education, Cynthia coordinated several federally-funded postsecondary education transition projects for the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. The ICI is part of a national network of university-affiliated centers that offers training, conducts research, and provides assistance to organizations to promote inclusion of people with disabilities in school, work, and community activities. Sandy Goodman has been the Director of the New England College Transition Project at the New England Literacy Resource Center/World Education since November 2006. Prior to joining the College Transitions team, she directed a career ladders project under the Skillworks initiative called Partnership for Automotive Career Education (PACE) and facilitated collaboration between community based organizations, post-secondary and secondary education institutions, and private sector employers. Before PACE, she directed a community based ABE program in Boston that served approximately 400 people each year, and was also active in a number of city and statewide planning and advocacy efforts. She has a BA in Women's Studies/Social Thought and Political Economy from UMass, Amherst and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government. When: Feb.26-March 2. Julie McKinney Discussion List Moderator World Education/NCSALL jmckinney at worlded.org ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From DHohmann at hays489.k12.ks.us Thu Feb 22 12:54:03 2007 From: DHohmann at hays489.k12.ks.us (Hohmann Donna) Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:54:03 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 666] Re: STAR Struck Message-ID: <290F26CA9AF6094AAD7DEC91ECA7F4440459593B@exchange.Internal.Hays489.k12.ks.us> As a parent whose child has been evaluated multiple times using the STAR reading program and participating in AR, I question the validity of the STAR program, because her scores seems to bounce around significantly from one test session to the next. It's a nice screening instrument, but I surely would not make major judgments using only it. Donna Hohmann -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 2:23 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 663] STAR Struck Colleagues, The following is from Tom Sticht, in response to James Austin's post from earlier today. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ****** Colleagues: I am not surprised to find those who have worked on the STAR project offering testimonials as to how it has benefited them and others they have worked with. I recall a product called Hooked on Phonics that had numerous testimonials on radio and TV about how it worked for them and others they knew. But it was eventually driven into bankruptcy by the federal government's FCC because it did not have solid research to support the many testimonials. This bias in favor of a program frequently happens when people participate in some educational endeavor and it is one of the reasons that solid research is needed to ferret out what the actual value of the endeavor is. I am a bit more puzzled why there is not more concern about the fact that the STAR program was not tested in solid research before going national. For one thing, NCSALL, the organization that had the primary role in bringing forth the products being disseminated by the STAR program has been at the forefront of those calling for evidence-based adult literacy education. So to find that the government that funds the NCSALL thinks it is OK to depend upon K-12 based research rather than adult-based research in support of the STAR program is troubling. Also, contrary to what many may think, there is not universal agreement on how children learn to read. Reports from the National Reading Panel and elsewhere that have made claims about the so-called "components" of reading have been challenged by many reading professionals (see Jim Trelease's web site: www.trelease-on-reading.com/whatsnu_nrp_ssr.html for instance). So it is not clear that there is solid knowledge about how children learn to read to be applied to adult literacy education. All this movement to spread STAR across the nation, at a charge of over $31,000 for 45 teachers, when there is no evidence-base behind it is also disconcerting because the so-called 'components" of reading are not there. Contrary to what is claimed, comprehension, for instance, is not a component of reading, it is a product of language processing, prior knowledge, and thinking. All that can be and is done by oral language with no reading. Further, vocabulary is also a component of language, not reading. And fluency is not a component of reading but rather a quality of a reading performance. There is no "fluency" to be taught. Fluency must develop through extensive practice. It can even be argued that fluency does not aid comprehension, but rather that comprehension aids fluency. So if the federal government is going to insist that all of us in the field provide evidence-based instruction, shouldn't the same federal government provide the necessary research to support the efficacy of the STAR program as a more effective approach to teaching reading with (not TO) adults before it goes national? As things stand now, the STAR program is not so much a part of the federal government's evidence-based education initiatives as it is its faith-based initiatives. Tom Sticht ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From aalba1 at cox.net Sun Feb 25 08:40:10 2007 From: aalba1 at cox.net (AL) Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 08:40:10 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 667] Maintaining Our Instructional Role Message-ID: Dear Educators and Correctional Professionals, I am involved in a correctional educators' class examining models of teaching, classroom instruction, and instructional practices. Using computers and other types of instructional devices in a multi-level classroom can effect an instructor's role. As a member of educated professionals we are wondering if you could provide a response to the following question: How do we maintain our instructional role in a multi-level classroom using computers/instructional materials/instructional practices ? Thanks In Advance For Your Feedback, Sincerely, Albert Alba, Jr, PhD. From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Sun Feb 25 11:43:30 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:43:30 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 668] Online Prof Dev course Message-ID: <009501c758fc$15584de0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following opportunity from Tom Sticht for an on-line course of self study in ABE may be of interest to many of you on the List. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** February 23, 2007 Adult Education and Literacy in the United States: A Syllabus and Resources for an Online Course of Self-Study Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Each year many people start work in adult education and literacy development without much background in the field. Others who have worked in the field for a while may wish to deepen their knowledge of the field. To give people a chance to learn more about the field and its history, policies, practices and issues that it deals with I have developed this syllabus for self-study. It provides guidance to 12 reports of mine which are available for free downloading online. Reading one report a week will provide a one semester, 12 week course of self-study. Except for number 1.1, these resources are located online at www.nald.ca at the Library pages for the site. To find any of these resources search the NALD Library pages using Sticht for my last name, or google my name and the title of the report. Syllabus and Resources Part 1: History of and Perspective on the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States 1.1. The Rise of the Adult Education and Literacy System in the United States: 1600-2000. [ A 400 year history of activities leading to the Adult Education Act of 1966 and the emergence of the present day AELS with organizations and individuals involved in this rise. Online at www.ncsall.net/?id=576]. 1.2. Beyond 2000: Future Directions for Adult Education. [Looks at social, demographic, science, economic and technology trends with implications for the AELS; examines government and legislative trends with implications for the future of the AELS.] 1.3. The Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the United States: Moving From the Margins to the Mainstream of Education. [Includes the growing value of the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the new millennium; value of AELS for improving adults' and children's health, learning and schooling; need for mainstreaming the AELS in U.S. education; strengthening the AELS.] Part 2. Testing, Assessment, and Accountability in the AELS. 2.1. Adult Literacy in the United States: A Compendium of Quantitative Data With Interpretive Comments. [Presents a developmental theory of literacy and history of and items from standardized tests in the U.S. including military tests from World War I to 1990s and all mass literacy tests for adults from 1930s to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993, which is similar to the NAAL of 2003. Presents data on relationships of parents education to the literacy of their children; relationships of adult literacy to occupations; and samples of pre- and post-test gains for over 30 programs, including longitudinal growth curves for some programs.] 2.2. Accountability in Adult Literacy Education: Focus on Workplace Literacy Resources for Program Design, Assessment, Testing, & Evaluation. [Provides knowledge resources for designing, delivering and evaluating workplace literacy programs; discusses testing and accountability in adult literacy programs in the Workforce Education Act of 1998 still in effect as of 2007; determining how many adults are lacking in workforce literacy: the national and international adult literacy surveys.] Part 3. Curriculum Theory With Case Studies Illustrating Applications to Adult Education and Literacy Programs. 3.1. Functional Context Education: Making learning relevant (1997 edition). [Eight chapters including The Power of Adult Literacy Education; Some Challenges of Diversity for Adult Literacy Education. Views On Contemporary Cognitive Science; Introduction to Functional Context Education; Functional Context Education and Literacy Instruction; and four case studies in applying Functional Context Education to the design of programs that integrate (or embed, contextualize) basic skills and vocational or parenting education. (workplace literacy, family literacy).] 3.2. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant in the 21st Century (2005 edition). [Functional Context Education (FCE) materials available online in several nations; the Adult Literacy and Life skills (ALL) survey, National Adult Assessment of Literacy (NAAL) survey; FCE in historical perspective, (1860-Present) including Paulo Freire and Learner Centered, Participatory Literacy Education. Methodologies used in adult literacy research for determining what is relevant to youth and adult learners; five case studies illustrating the application of FCE in parenting, vocational training, and health literacy.] Part 4. Listening and Reading Theory and Practice With Adult Learners 4.1. Auding and Reading: A Developmental Model. [This is the first book applying modern cognitive science to oracy (listening to and speaking language) and its transfer to literacy development with children and adults. It presents an early version of Gough's "simple model of reading" stating that Reading=Decoding+Comprehension (measured by listening). It provides an extensive review of research on language development, relationships of listening to reading, and the evaluation of four hypotheses derived from the simple model presented in the book. 4.2. Teaching Reading With Adults. [This paper discusses literacy as the mastery of graphics technology. It shows how the basic elements of the graphic medium - its relative permanence, its ability to be arrayed in space, and its use of the properties of light - work together to permit literates to generate (write) and access (read) massive collections of knowledge; to analyze and synthesize discrete information into coherent bodies of knowledge, and to perform complex procedures with accuracy and efficiency. 4.3. Seven Pioneering Adult Literacy Educators in the History of Teaching Reading With Adults in the United States. [Throughout the 20th century both Synthetic and Analytic methods of teaching reading were favored by different adult literacy educators. Favoring the Synthetic or "code" methods are Harriet A. Jacobs, J. Duncan Spaeth and Frank Laubach. Favoring the Analytic or "meaning making " methods are Cora Wilson Stewart, Paul Witty, Francis P. Robinson, and Septima Poinsette Clark. This paper discusses teaching innovations introduced by each of these pioneers in adult literacy education.] 5. Policy Papers 5.1. Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy: Investing in the Education of Adults to Improve the Educability of Children. [This paper argues for education policy that recognizes that literacy is transferred across generations from parents to their children. Therefore, we need to have a much larger investment in the education of youth and adults who are parents or who will be parents. Adult literacy education affects multiple life cycles. An extensive review is presented of research on early childhood education, relationships of parent's education to children's literacy, parenting and preschool effectiveness, and other issues.] 5.2 Reforming Adult Literacy Education: Transforming Local Programs Into National Systems In Canada, the United Kingdom & the United States. [Activities are underway in these three nations for transforming adult literacy education from a variety of disparate programs into organized systems of education for adults. Activities include:1. Scale of Need: determining how many adults are in need of adult basic skills education. 2. Access to Provision: determining how many adults are aware of, have access to and enroll in adult literacy education provision. 3. Nature of Provision: determining the nature of the delivery system of adult literacy provision. 4. Quality of Provision: determining the need for improved quality. 5. Accountability of Provision: improving methods for determining student learning and other outcomes.] From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Feb 26 08:55:33 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:55:33 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 669] IEPs at the ALE Wiki Message-ID: <00fe01c759ad$c9505d90$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: I just wanted to let you know that the samples of IEPs/ILPs/ISPs that folks shared during our classroom assessment discussion are now formatted in PDF and available for your use at the ALE Wiki. Go to the Formative Assessment section of the Assessment area at: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Formative_Assessment and click on "IEPs and ILPs" - the PDF files are at the bottom of that page. If anyone has more to add, I would love to help you out!! Contact me if you have further resources to share. As always: if you do use any of the materials at the ALE Wiki - please drop me a note and let me know what you used and how you used it. Thanks!!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070226/243c20ea/attachment.html From tarv at chemeketa.edu Mon Feb 26 15:39:41 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:39:41 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 670] Re: Maintaining Our Instructional Role In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: How do we maintain our instructional role in a multi-level classroom using computers/instructional materials/instructional practices ? I haven't noticed that computer assisted instruction changes my role; instead it gives me more time for one on one and less need for long lectures. It also gives students who are homebound some options for interaction. Some students love working on computers and some can't stand it. CAI does help with computer skills a bit too and increases computer comfort. va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of AL Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 5:40 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 667] Maintaining Our Instructional Role Dear Educators and Correctional Professionals, I am involved in a correctional educators' class examining models of teaching, classroom instruction, and instructional practices. Using computers and other types of instructional devices in a multi-level classroom can effect an instructor's role. As a member of educated professionals we are wondering if you could provide a response to the following question: How do we maintain our instructional role in a multi-level classroom using computers/instructional materials/instructional practices ? Thanks In Advance For Your Feedback, Sincerely, Albert Alba, Jr, PhD. ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Mon Feb 26 11:00:39 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:00:39 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 671] PASSING THE TORCH: CAAL's ESL Report Released Message-ID: <373E4887-9F3B-4058-A31E-0A090F3D33B4@caalusa.org> New York, NY (February 26, 2007) -- The Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy today released PASSING THE TORCH: Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL. This 153 page report is the result of two years of intensive work by a research team from the five colleges studied in the project and by the project's study and research directors: Dr. Forrest P. Chisman of CAAL and Dr. JoAnn Crandall of the University of Maryland (Baltimore County). Drs. Chisman and Crandall bring vast prior ESL experience to the study. The highly textured report contains extensive descriptions of exemplary ESL programs and practices in use at five institutions -- all nominated by a national cadre of their peers -- Bunker Hill Community College (Charlestown, MA), City College of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA), College of Lake County (Grayslake, IL), Seminole Community College (Sanford, FL), and Yakima Valley Community College (Yakima, WA). Primary funding for the project came from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Supplemental support was given by the Ford Foundation, The McGraw-Hill Companies, the Dollar General Corporation, and Harold W. McGraw, Jr. The study examines a rich variety of innovative and successful programs and strategies in use in the institutions, with a focus on non-credit ESL services. It concentrates on generating learning gains, retaining students, and bringing about transititons to future education. The report is for written for both designers of community college ESL service and policymakers and private funders. Among the effective strategies looked at are high intensity instruction, learning outside the classroom, and the use of "learner-centered thematic" curricular. Special attention is given to curricular integration, co-enrollment, vocational ESL (VESL) programs, and the Spanish GED. Issues of faculty training, development, and quality are examined, and recommendations are given for 'engineering innovation' in ESL colleges and programs. A main section of the report deals with costs and funding issues, and calls for substantially greater and more targeted funding for adult ESL. A standalone Executive Summary of the report is available at the CAAL website (www.caalusa.org). The full report is attached (including the Executive Summary as an appendix item) It is also available at the CAAL website. It will be easily accessible to persons with a high speed Internet connection. It is also available at cost ($20 plus postage, prepaid) by regular mail directly from CAAL (bheitner at caalusa.org). Multiple copies (10 or more) will be eligible for a discount. VERY LONG DOCUMENT (2.2 MB) PERSONS WITH A LOW-SPEED CONNECTION MAY WISH TO FOREGO THE DOWNLOAD AND ORDER A HARD COPY FROM CAAL AS PER ABOVE INSTRUCTIONS. ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070226/626e0d7b/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: eslpassingtorch226.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 2258568 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070226/626e0d7b/attachment.pdf -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070226/626e0d7b/attachment-0001.html From hulc5651 at utica.edu Mon Feb 26 14:46:02 2007 From: hulc5651 at utica.edu (Caryn Hulchanski) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:46:02 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 672] Handwritng Message-ID: I am a student at Utica College in New York and three of my classmates and I are beginning a research project on the handwriting legibility of immigrants/refugees prior to entering the education program at the local refugee center. We are in the process of writing our literature review and are looking for any and all information on handwriting assessments for adults. Thank you so much, Caryn Hulchanski hulc5651 at utica.edu From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Mon Feb 26 17:21:17 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 15:21:17 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 673] Re: Maintaining Our Instructional Role In-Reply-To: References: , Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070226/df9a7dce/attachment.html From bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net Tue Feb 27 00:12:23 2007 From: bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net (Bonnie Odiorne) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:12:23 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Assessment 674] Re: Online Prof Dev course Message-ID: <20070227051223.43212.qmail@web83313.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> Is there a cost, grading, or CEUs associated with this course. It souds wonderful, even though I'm currently not in an adult education program per se, but a lot of our college students are under prepared; there's a huge skills gap that faculty initiatives are beginning to address; if anyone has any research related not just to "multi-level" but more like "differentiated"--in terms of metacognitive skills levels in "being a good student," being intrinsically motivated, as well as more measurable "conventional" skills. We're trying to add to a college success seminar for freshmen a lot of self-assessment in "soft skills" and align them with college success and career success. ----- Original Message -- To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 11:43:30 AM Subject: [Assessment 668] Online Prof Dev course Colleagues, The following opportunity from Tom Sticht for an on-line course of self study in ABE may be of interest to many of you on the List. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** February 23, 2007 Adult Education and Literacy in the United States: A Syllabus and Resources for an Online Course of Self-Study Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Each year many people start work in adult education and literacy development without much background in the field. Others who have worked in the field for a while may wish to deepen their knowledge of the field. To give people a chance to learn more about the field and its history, policies, practices and issues that it deals with I have developed this syllabus for self-study. It provides guidance to 12 reports of mine which are available for free downloading online. Reading one report a week will provide a one semester, 12 week course of self-study. Except for number 1.1, these resources are located online at www.nald.ca at the Library pages for the site. To find any of these resources search the NALD Library pages using Sticht for my last name, or google my name and the title of the report. Syllabus and Resources Part 1: History of and Perspective on the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States 1.1. The Rise of the Adult Education and Literacy System in the United States: 1600-2000. [ A 400 year history of activities leading to the Adult Education Act of 1966 and the emergence of the present day AELS with organizations and individuals involved in this rise. Online at www.ncsall.net/?id=576]. 1.2. Beyond 2000: Future Directions for Adult Education. [Looks at social, demographic, science, economic and technology trends with implications for the AELS; examines government and legislative trends with implications for the future of the AELS.] 1.3. The Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the United States: Moving From the Margins to the Mainstream of Education. [Includes the growing value of the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the new millennium; value of AELS for improving adults' and children's health, learning and schooling; need for mainstreaming the AELS in U.S. education; strengthening the AELS.] Part 2. Testing, Assessment, and Accountability in the AELS. 2.1. Adult Literacy in the United States: A Compendium of Quantitative Data With Interpretive Comments. [Presents a developmental theory of literacy and history of and items from standardized tests in the U.S. including military tests from World War I to 1990s and all mass literacy tests for adults from 1930s to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993, which is similar to the NAAL of 2003. Presents data on relationships of parents education to the literacy of their children; relationships of adult literacy to occupations; and samples of pre- and post-test gains for over 30 programs, including longitudinal growth curves for some programs.] 2.2. Accountability in Adult Literacy Education: Focus on Workplace Literacy Resources for Program Design, Assessment, Testing, & Evaluation. [Provides knowledge resources for designing, delivering and evaluating workplace literacy programs; discusses testing and accountability in adult literacy programs in the Workforce Education Act of 1998 still in effect as of 2007; determining how many adults are lacking in workforce literacy: the national and international adult literacy surveys.] Part 3. Curriculum Theory With Case Studies Illustrating Applications to Adult Education and Literacy Programs. 3.1. Functional Context Education: Making learning relevant (1997 edition). [Eight chapters including The Power of Adult Literacy Education; Some Challenges of Diversity for Adult Literacy Education. Views On Contemporary Cognitive Science; Introduction to Functional Context Education; Functional Context Education and Literacy Instruction; and four case studies in applying Functional Context Education to the design of programs that integrate (or embed, contextualize) basic skills and vocational or parenting education. (workplace literacy, family literacy).] 3.2. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant in the 21st Century (2005 edition). [Functional Context Education (FCE) materials available online in several nations; the Adult Literacy and Life skills (ALL) survey, National Adult Assessment of Literacy (NAAL) survey; FCE in historical perspective, (1860-Present) including Paulo Freire and Learner Centered, Participatory Literacy Education. Methodologies used in adult literacy research for determining what is relevant to youth and adult learners; five case studies illustrating the application of FCE in parenting, vocational training, and health literacy.] Part 4. Listening and Reading Theory and Practice With Adult Learners 4.1. Auding and Reading: A Developmental Model. [This is the first book applying modern cognitive science to oracy (listening to and speaking language) and its transfer to literacy development with children and adults. It presents an early version of Gough's "simple model of reading" stating that Reading=Decoding+Comprehension (measured by listening). It provides an extensive review of research on language development, relationships of listening to reading, and the evaluation of four hypotheses derived from the simple model presented in the book. 4.2. Teaching Reading With Adults. [This paper discusses literacy as the mastery of graphics technology. It shows how the basic elements of the graphic medium - its relative permanence, its ability to be arrayed in space, and its use of the properties of light - work together to permit literates to generate (write) and access (read) massive collections of knowledge; to analyze and synthesize discrete information into coherent bodies of knowledge, and to perform complex procedures with accuracy and efficiency. 4.3. Seven Pioneering Adult Literacy Educators in the History of Teaching Reading With Adults in the United States. [Throughout the 20th century both Synthetic and Analytic methods of teaching reading were favored by different adult literacy educators. Favoring the Synthetic or "code" methods are Harriet A. Jacobs, J. Duncan Spaeth and Frank Laubach. Favoring the Analytic or "meaning making " methods are Cora Wilson Stewart, Paul Witty, Francis P. Robinson, and Septima Poinsette Clark. This paper discusses teaching innovations introduced by each of these pioneers in adult literacy education.] 5. Policy Papers 5.1. Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy: Investing in the Education of Adults to Improve the Educability of Children. [This paper argues for education policy that recognizes that literacy is transferred across generations from parents to their children. Therefore, we need to have a much larger investment in the education of youth and adults who are parents or who will be parents. Adult literacy education affects multiple life cycles. An extensive review is presented of research on early childhood education, relationships of parent's education to children's literacy, parenting and preschool effectiveness, and other issues.] 5.2 Reforming Adult Literacy Education: Transforming Local Programs Into National Systems In Canada, the United Kingdom & the United States. [Activities are underway in these three nations for transforming adult literacy education from a variety of disparate programs into organized systems of education for adults. Activities include:1. Scale of Need: determining how many adults are in need of adult basic skills education. 2. Access to Provision: determining how many adults are aware of, have access to and enroll in adult literacy education provision. 3. Nature of Provision: determining the nature of the delivery system of adult literacy provision. 4. Quality of Provision: determining the need for improved quality. 5. Accountability of Provision: improving methods for determining student learning and other outcomes.] ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070226/2f27a6cc/attachment.html From NAASLN at aol.com Mon Feb 26 23:03:47 2007 From: NAASLN at aol.com (NAASLN at aol.com) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:03:47 EST Subject: [Assessment 675] NAASLN at COABE! Students with Special Needs Sessions Message-ID: The National Association for Adults with Special Learning Needs is pleased to be partnering with COABE at the national conference in Philadelphia. This year NAASLN will offer two half day pre-conference sessions and, through out the conference, a full strand of workshops directed at expanding participants' information concerning the adults they serve with special learning needs. The pre-conferences will focus on both the theoretical and practical. Dr. Melissa Arnott will present ?Transitioning Students with Special Learning Needs into Post Secondary Programs, Vocational Training, and Employment? and Robyn A. Rennick will focus on teaching techniques for developing more effective study techniques. The NAASLN strand throughout the conference will consist of 9 workshop sessions addressing teaching techniques (writing skills, memory tools), special areas (serving offenders, dyslexia, ESOL, mental health issues) and increasing productivity for adults with special learning needs (building persistence, mentoring, accommodations). ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070226/42be3790/attachment.html From christig at learninglabinc.org Tue Feb 27 12:52:14 2007 From: christig at learninglabinc.org (Christi Graff) Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 10:52:14 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 676] Re: Maintaining Our Instructional Role In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dr. Alba, At our community-based literacy center, we see our teachers having a facilitator role rather than a traditional instructional role. We prefer our teachers to be "the guide at the side" rather than "the sage on stage". Our classes are staffed by a paid teacher and 2 or 3 trained volunteer tutors. We allow our computer programs to "lead" the instruction because it enables our teachers and tutors to provide remediation and enhancement to each student. We also keep our classes small - 12-14 students - and do some small group work so each student usually works with a teacher or tutor nearly every class. Christi Graff Education Director Learning Lab, Inc. Boise, Idaho -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of AL Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 6:40 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 667] Maintaining Our Instructional Role Dear Educators and Correctional Professionals, I am involved in a correctional educators' class examining models of teaching, classroom instruction, and instructional practices. Using computers and other types of instructional devices in a multi-level classroom can effect an instructor's role. As a member of educated professionals we are wondering if you could provide a response to the following question: How do we maintain our instructional role in a multi-level classroom using computers/instructional materials/instructional practices ? Thanks In Advance For Your Feedback, Sincerely, Albert Alba, Jr, PhD. ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Feb 28 14:33:30 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:33:30 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 677] Re: Online Prof Dev course cost, CEUs, etc. Message-ID: <02e301c75b6f$54503ab0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, I asked Tom to respond to Bonnie's question about cost and grades, etc. for the course: Regarding the self-study course, there is no cost, no grades, and no CEUs from me, though any institution or organization that wants to give some credits can feel free to do so. Tom Sticht > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Bonnie Odiorne > Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 12:12 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 674] Re: Online Prof Dev course > > Is there a cost, grading, or CEUs associated with this course. It souds > wonderful, even though I'm currently not in an adult education program > per se, but a lot of our college students are under prepared; there's a > huge skills gap that faculty initiatives are beginning to address; if > anyone has any research related not just to "multi-level" but more like > "differentiated"--in terms of metacognitive skills levels in "being a > good student," being intrinsically motivated, as well as more measurable > "conventional" skills. We're trying to add to a college success seminar > for freshmen a lot of self-assessment in "soft skills" and align them > with college success and career success. > ----- Original Message -- > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 11:43:30 AM > Subject: [Assessment 668] Online Prof Dev course > Colleagues, > > The following opportunity from Tom Sticht for an on-line course of self > study in ABE may be of interest to many of you on the List. > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > ********** > > February 23, 2007 > > Adult Education and Literacy in the United States: > A Syllabus and Resources for an Online Course of Self-Study > > Tom Sticht > International Consultant in Adult Education > > Each year many people start work in adult education and literacy > development > without much background in the field. Others who have worked in the > field > for a while may wish to deepen their knowledge of the field. To give > people > a chance to learn more about the field and its history, policies, > practices > and issues that it deals with I have developed this syllabus for > self-study. It provides guidance to 12 reports of mine which are > available > for free downloading online. Reading one report a week will provide a > one > semester, 12 week course of self-study. Except for number 1.1, these > resources are located online at www.nald.ca at > the Library pages for the > site. To find any of these resources search the NALD Library pages using > Sticht for my last name, or google my name and the title of the report. > > Syllabus and Resources > > Part 1: History of and Perspective on the Adult Education and Literacy > System (AELS) of the United States > > 1.1. The Rise of the Adult Education and Literacy System in the United > States: 1600-2000. [ A 400 year history of activities leading to the > Adult > Education Act of 1966 and the emergence of the present day AELS with > organizations and individuals involved in this rise. Online at > www.ncsall.net/?id=576]. > > 1.2. Beyond 2000: Future Directions for Adult Education. [Looks at > social, > demographic, science, economic and technology trends with implications > for > the AELS; examines government and legislative trends with implications > for > the future of the AELS.] > > 1.3. The Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the United > States: > Moving From the Margins to the Mainstream of Education. [Includes the > growing value of the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the > new millennium; value of AELS for improving adults' and children's > health, > learning and schooling; need for mainstreaming the AELS in U.S. > education; > strengthening the AELS.] > > Part 2. Testing, Assessment, and Accountability in the AELS. > > 2.1. Adult Literacy in the United States: A Compendium of Quantitative > Data > With Interpretive Comments. [Presents a developmental theory of > literacy > and history of and items from standardized tests in the U.S. including > military tests from World War I to 1990s and all mass literacy tests for > adults from 1930s to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993, > which is similar to the NAAL of 2003. Presents data on relationships of > parents education to the literacy of their children; relationships of > adult literacy to occupations; and samples of pre- and post-test gains > for > over 30 programs, including longitudinal growth curves for some > programs.] > > 2.2. Accountability in Adult Literacy Education: Focus on Workplace > Literacy > Resources for Program Design, Assessment, Testing, & Evaluation. > [Provides > knowledge resources for designing, delivering and evaluating workplace > literacy programs; discusses testing and accountability in adult > literacy > programs in the Workforce Education Act of 1998 still in effect as of > 2007; > determining how many adults are lacking in workforce literacy: the > national > and international adult literacy surveys.] > > Part 3. Curriculum Theory With Case Studies Illustrating Applications to > Adult Education and Literacy Programs. > > 3.1. Functional Context Education: Making learning relevant (1997 > edition). > [Eight chapters including The Power of Adult Literacy Education; Some > Challenges of Diversity for Adult Literacy Education. Views On > Contemporary > Cognitive Science; Introduction to Functional Context Education; > Functional > Context Education and Literacy Instruction; and four case studies in > applying Functional Context Education to the design of programs that > integrate (or embed, contextualize) basic skills and vocational or > parenting education. (workplace literacy, family literacy).] > > 3.2. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant in the 21st > Century (2005 edition). [Functional Context Education (FCE) materials > available online in several nations; the Adult Literacy and Life skills > (ALL) survey, National Adult Assessment of Literacy (NAAL) survey; FCE > in > historical perspective, (1860-Present) including Paulo Freire and > Learner > Centered, Participatory Literacy Education. Methodologies used in adult > literacy research for determining what is relevant to youth and adult > learners; five case studies illustrating the application of FCE in > parenting, vocational training, and health literacy.] > > Part 4. Listening and Reading Theory and Practice With Adult Learners > > 4.1. Auding and Reading: A Developmental Model. [This is the first book > applying modern cognitive science to oracy (listening to and speaking > language) and its transfer to literacy development with children and > adults. It presents an early version of Gough's "simple model of > reading" > stating that Reading=Decoding+Comprehension (measured by listening). It > provides an extensive review of research on language development, > relationships of listening to reading, and the evaluation of four > hypotheses > derived from the simple model presented in the book. > > 4.2. Teaching Reading With Adults. [This paper discusses literacy as the > mastery of graphics technology. It shows how the basic elements of the > graphic medium - its relative permanence, its ability to be arrayed in > space, and its use of the properties of light - work together to permit > literates to generate (write) and access (read) massive collections of > knowledge; to analyze and synthesize discrete information into coherent > bodies of knowledge, and to perform complex procedures with accuracy and > efficiency. > > 4.3. Seven Pioneering Adult Literacy Educators in the History of > Teaching > Reading With Adults in the United States. [Throughout the 20th century > both Synthetic and Analytic methods of teaching reading were favored by > different adult literacy educators. Favoring the Synthetic or "code" > methods are Harriet A. Jacobs, J. Duncan Spaeth and Frank Laubach. > Favoring the Analytic or "meaning making " methods are Cora Wilson > Stewart, Paul Witty, Francis P. Robinson, and Septima Poinsette Clark. > This > paper discusses teaching innovations introduced by each of these > pioneers in > adult literacy education.] > > 5. Policy Papers > > 5.1. Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy: Investing in the > Education of Adults to Improve the Educability of Children. [This paper > argues for education policy that recognizes that literacy is transferred > across generations from parents to their children. Therefore, we need to > have a much larger investment in the education of youth and adults who > are > parents or who will be parents. Adult literacy education affects > multiple > life cycles. An extensive review is presented of research on early > childhood education, relationships of parent's education to children's > literacy, parenting and preschool effectiveness, and other issues.] > > 5.2 Reforming Adult Literacy Education: Transforming Local Programs Into > National Systems In Canada, the United Kingdom & the United States. > [Activities are underway in these three nations for transforming adult > literacy education from a variety of disparate programs into organized > systems of education for adults. Activities include:1. Scale of Need: > determining how many adults are in need of adult basic skills education. > 2. > Access to Provision: determining how many adults are aware of, have > access > to and enroll in adult literacy education provision. 3. Nature of > Provision: determining the nature of the delivery system of adult > literacy > provision. 4. Quality of Provision: determining the need for improved > quality. 5. Accountability of Provision: improving methods for > determining > student learning and other outcomes.] > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Mar 1 13:40:43 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 13:40:43 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 678] Update on speaking schedule Message-ID: <03cb01c75c31$1f134d20$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following announcement is from Tom Sticht. ********** Update on speaking engagements for 2007. Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education For those who have contacted me to find out if, when, and where I might be speaking in their area the following shows where I am presently scheduled to be in 2007. 1. [completed] January 21-28, 2007: Dublin, Ireland, four presentations for the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA). Contact: Bnichinneide at nala.ie 2. March 4, 2007: Orlando, Florida. National Family Literacy Conference concurrent session. Contact: Shannon Baete (sbaete at famlit.org) 3. March 8, 2007: Springfield, Illinois. IACEA annual conference keynote and two breakout sessions. Contact: Laura Bercovitz (lbercovitz at thecenterweb.org) 4. March 26, 2007: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. COABE conference network luncheon and a breakout session. Contact: www.coabe.org information on the 2007 conference. 5. June 11 2007: Fayetteville, Arkansas - Keynote for the South Central Literacy Action Conference. Contact: Kerri Miles (kerri-woklearn at sbcglobal.net) 6. August 1-3, 2007: North Carolina Community College Basic Skills Conference. Contact: Karen Brown (kbrown at nccommunitycolleges.edu) 7. December 11-13, 2007: Phoenix, Arizona, Arizona Adult Education State Conference. Contact: James Roe (james.roe at az.ed.gov) I always enjoy meeting folks from various discussion lists at these presentations and have a chance to put faces with names. I look forward to seeing many of you at one or more of these sessions. Thanks for your interest. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Mar 2 13:00:40 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2007 13:00:40 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 679] New study: "Adult Education in America" Message-ID: <048801c75cf4$b0edab50$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following information comes from Jackie Taylor, Moderator of the Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List (subscribe at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment) Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ****** Below is information on a new study from the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), the Educational Testing Services (ETS), and the National Center for Education Statistics. >From OVAE's "Thursday Notes:" Adult Education in America, a new study funded by OVAE, was released by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) February 27, providing a comprehensive picture of federally supported adult education activities in the U.S. Data from more than 6,000 adult learners in 1,200 programs nationwide revealed that a large share of learners demonstrated skills in the lowest level on proficiency scales. This is the first nationally representative study of learners and programs using comparable measures to assess participants' literacy and numeracy skills. The survey is the first allowing researchers to compare adult education students' skills to those of the general adult population. The study also marks the first time a large-scale measure of literacy skills was conducted in both Spanish and English. An interactive data tool also is available. Get the study and tool at http://www.ets.org Abstract and Full Report of the Adult Education Program Survey (AEPS): http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.c988ba0e5dd572bada20bc47c392 1509/?vgnextoid=f52a51bf36dd0110VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel=6 773e3b5f64f4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD Or try: http://tinyurl.com/3y8ps7 Literacy Tool from ETS: http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.c988ba0e5dd572bada20bc47c392 1509/?vgnextoid=249eaf5e44df4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel=6 773e3b5f64f4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD Or try: http://tinyurl.com/yt2lg3 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070302/c8a6430f/attachment.html From mdaniels at proliteracy.org Mon Mar 5 11:49:50 2007 From: mdaniels at proliteracy.org (mdaniels) Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 11:49:50 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 680] Accountability training: applications due March 16 Message-ID: <221E918332E818488687199E5CBD74CE05E5D747@keats.proliteracy.org> Dear Colleague, ProLiteracy is pleased to announce that the first of three trainings being produced through the Dollar General/ProLiteracy Performance Accountability Initiative will be presented in six cities this spring: -- Santa Ana, CA April 16-17 -- St. Paul, MN April 23-24 -- Knoxville, TN April 30-May 1 -- Houston, TX May 3-4 -- Hartford, CT May 7-8 -- Portland, OR May 10-11 The nine-hour training on Data Collection and Management will help programs identify their accountability system gaps while it shares promising practices related to: -- assessment -- data collection -- data storage and retrieval -- building a culture of accountability and improvement within the program Much of the content of the training is drawn from exemplary literacy and adult education programs across the country. Programs that participate in the training will be asked to implement one or more of the promising practices over the nine months following the training. Participating programs will share their challenges, experiences, and successful strategies as part of the print pieces that ProLiteracy will distribute nationally at the end of the project. Stipends of $750 and $1500 are available to support two levels of program participation in the project. If you are interested in attending Data Collection and Management, please request the application and guidelines via e-mail to info at proliteracy.org. To be considered for participation, your program must submit its completed application via e-mail (snail mail or faxes CANNOT be accepted) by March 16, 2007. Up to 120 programs will be selected and invited to send two people from each program to the training. For more information about Data Collection and Management or about the initiative in general, please contact me at mdaniels at proliteracy.org. If you know of other programs that may be interested in this training opportunity, please share this message with them. Thank you, Melanie Daniels, Project Manager ProLiteracy America mdaniels at proliteracy.org From kabeall at comcast.net Thu Mar 8 14:39:03 2007 From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 14:39:03 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 681] New from NCSALL Message-ID: <00e301c761b9$6ee16de0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6> The Relationship of the Component Skills of Reading to IALS Performance: Tipping Points and Five Classes of Adult Literacy Learners By John Strucker, Kentaro Yamamoto, and Irwin Kirsch As its title indicates, this study's aim was to understand the relationship of the component skills of reading, such as word recognition, vocabulary, and spelling, to large-scale measures of literacy, such as the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) (Kirsch, Jungleblut, Jenkins, & Kolstad, 1993) and the closely related International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) (Tuijnman, 2001). To download the report, go to the NCSALL Web site: http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=29#29 **************** Kaye Beall World Education 4401 S. Madison St. Muncie, IN 47302 Tel: 765-717-3942 Fax: 617-482-0617 kaye_beall at worlded.org http://www.worlded.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070308/d4f5ec21/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Mar 12 13:45:38 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:45:38 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 682] Education, Skills, Lost Wages Message-ID: <015c01c764ce$4035d9a0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following post is from Tom Sticht. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** March 10, 2007 Higher Education Credentials, Higher Skills, and Lost Purchasing Power: A Dilemma for Workforce Development Policy and Practice Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Not long ago the thinking in the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States was that adults with literacy skills below the high school level and who lacked a high school diploma could enter into ABE (adult basic education), learn enough to work up to ASE (adult secondary education), and then study hard to get a high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) certificate. That was the end of the education provision in the AELS. In effect, this sequence of ABE to ASE to "graduation" was meant to replicate the K-12 system of the public schools for children. In ABE the adults got primary school and middle school education (completion of the 8th grade) then in ASE they got secondary (high) school education (9th to 12th grades) and then they graduated from high school or its "equivalent" in the case of the GED. In the last few years this view of the AELS has changed. In many programs it is no longer considered sufficient for the AELS to provide a K-12 "equivalency" education and provide a high school diploma or GED certificate. Instead, many are calling for the AELS to provide a college preparatory education so that AELS students can get their HS diploma or GED and then qualify for and transition into college, and acquire a two- or four-year college degree. The reason generally stated for wanting to shift the goal of the AELS from the terminal GED to the "transitional" GED is because some labor market analysts think it is necessary for adults to have post-secondary education and a higher education degree of some kind to earn enough to be self-sufficient in today's economy. For adults to meet college entry requirements means that they must perform well above the minimal passing scores for the GED, which have typically been set ".so that about one-third of the norming sample would not meet the passing threshold" (Tyler, 2005, p. 47). In this case, the "norming sample" refers to high school students who took the GED as part of its development. The Education/Literacy Skill Trade-Off The idea that one needs a higher education degree to be successful in today's labor market economy is complicated by the findings by Kirsch, Braun, Yamamoto, & Sum (2007) of the Educational Testing Service. They present data showing that the mean weekly earnings of U. S. full-time employed adults ages 16 and older vary by both education level and Prose literacy level as measured by the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1992. Interestingly, some adults with two year college degrees were earning $386 weekly while some other adults with only 9-12 years of education, and no high school diploma, earned $414 weekly. So in this case adults with less education earned more than those with two year degrees. Why? The two year degree holders were in NALS literacy level 1, the lowest level of literacy, while those with less than a high school education were in NALS literacy level 3, the mid-level of literacy for adults in the NALS. Here, then, having a higher level of literacy was more important than having completed high school and gone on to post-secondary education and getting a two year college degree. Skill and not education credentials appear to be the factor producing higher income here. On the other hand, some adults at NALS literacy level 4, the next to the highest level of literacy, earned $493 weekly, while some at NALS level 1 earned $586 weekly. Why? The level 4 literates had only a high school diploma while the level 1 literates had somehow acquired four year or higher education degrees. So a higher education degree for those near the bottom of the literacy scale can offset the benefits of having literacy skills near the top of the scale for those without a higher education degree. Degrees and not skills seem to be in play here. Real Income and Education Credentials Barton (2000) reported that more people have completed high school and acquired some college over the last quarter century yet real hourly wages (i.e., adjusted for inflation) for both men and women with less than high school, high school, and some college have declined. For men, even college graduate's real hourly wages declined 4 percent, while for women they increased. Only for those with advanced degrees have real hourly wages increased for both men and women (p. 34). Kirsch, Braun, Yamamoto, & Sum (2007) present data showing that in constant 2005 dollars ("real income") the mean lifetime earnings of 18 to 64 year old males in the United States has declined from 1979 to 2004, except for those with a Master's Degree or higher. For those men without a high school diploma or GED, the drop in lifetime earnings was -39 percent, for those with a high school diploma but no college, the decline was -29 percent, for those with 1-3 years of college, including an Associate's Degree the decline was -13 percent and for those with a Bachelor's degree the decline was -1.2 percent. For those with a Master's degree, the increase from 1979 to 2004 was +15 percent (Table A12 p. 31). These data suggest that if more and more men attain higher levels of education, then in wages adjusted for annual inflation from 1979, there is likely to be an additional drop in the lifetime wages for men with education up through a Bachelor's degree. Following this trend, if more and more men attain a Master's degree, then we should observe a decline in the inflation adjusted wages for those men with Master's degrees in the coming years. Presumably, as Barton's (2000) report suggests, as more and more women acquire higher education degrees this will eventually have some deleterious effect on women's real income at higher education levels, too. These kinds of trade-offs among skills and credentials and their effects on income call for caution in our approach to workforce development policies and practices. We need to make certain that our educational efforts lead to both better skills and higher education credentials for maximum returns on investments in education. But we also need to be concerned that by enlarging the pool of both a better educated and more highly literate workforce, there are real increases in the economic purchasing power for those who make a considerable investment of time and effort in achieving both higher credentials and higher skills. Otherwise we run the risk of seeing more and more highly educated and skilled citizens without the capacity for self-sufficiency nor the sustainability of the means of providing not just for themselves but also for their families. We are presently in the United Nation's Decade of Sustainable Development and the United Nation's Decade of Literacy. References Barton, P. (2000, January). What Jobs Require: Literacy, Education, and Training, 1940-2006. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service Kirsch, I., Braun, H., Yamamoto, K., & Sum, A. (2007, January). America's Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation's Future. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. Tyler, J. (2005). The General Educational Development (GED) Credential: History, Current Research, and Directions for Policy and Practice. In: Comings, J., Garner, B., & Smith, C. (Eds.). Review of Adult Learning and Literacy: Volume 5. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92109-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Mar 13 10:37:16 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:37:16 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 683] Call for articles: Taking Action to Stay in Class Message-ID: <020401c7657d$196d2850$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following announcement is from Silja Kallenbach, of the New England Literacy Resource Center. This issue of the Change Agent could be of interest to some of you on the List. The issue of persistence is directly affected by assessment. Some of the motivators that help students stay in class include: good diagnostic and on-going assessments that can provide formative information for both the teacher and student; processes and activities for helping students identify their goals for coming to class; classroom structures that allow students to watch their progress toward their goals; classroom tools, such as rubrics, that allow students to take command of their own learning. Perhaps some of you might be interested in writing or being a committee member for this issue. Also, I would be interested in hearing what types of assessment-related activities you do in your programs and classrooms that speak to the issue of student persistence. Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator **************** Hello, The theme of the fall 2007 issue of The Change Agent is Taking Action to Stay in Class. Unlike the many wonderful writings on learner persistence that are already available from NCSALL and elsewhere, this issue of The Change Agent is about the external challenges (working too hard, health issues, lack of transportation or child care) that make it hard to keep coming to class and the ways that students are taking leadership to address those difficulties. I hope this angle resonates with some you and your students and that you will consider responding. Perhaps you are interested in serving on the editorial board for this issue? If so, let me know. I've attached a description of what that involves. The first meeting will be scheduled for late March/early April. Please circulate this call for articles for the next issue of The Change Agent to other adult educators and students. It is attached in two formats. Thank you! Silja ********************************************* Silja Kallenbach, Director New England Literacy Resource Center World Education 44 Farnsworth Street Boston, MA 02210 tel. 617-482-9485 fax. 617-482-0617 skallenbach at worlded.org www.nelrc.org Get free resources about ABE/ESOL-to-college transitions at www.collegetransition.org Teach critical thinking with The Change Agent, a social justice publication for the adult education community, available at www.nelrc.org/changeagent -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: call for articles - persistence.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 111904 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070313/39f9b81d/attachment.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: Bd.MemberCommitment.doc Type: application/msword Size: 20480 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070313/39f9b81d/attachment.doc From mdaniels at proliteracy.org Wed Mar 14 13:43:50 2007 From: mdaniels at proliteracy.org (mdaniels) Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 12:43:50 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 684] Accountability training opportunity - March 16 application deadli ne Message-ID: <221E918332E818488687199E5CBD74CE05E5D7B7@keats.proliteracy.org> Dear Colleague, If you are planning to submit an application to participate in Data Collection and Management, the first of three trainings being produced through the Dollar General / ProLiteracy Performance Accountability Initiative, please remember that the application deadline is this Friday, March 16. The training will be presented in six cities this spring: -- Santa Ana, CA - April 16-17 -- St. Paul, MN - April 23-24 -- Knoxville, TN - April 30-May 1 -- Houston, TX - May 3-4 -- Hartford, CT - May 7-8 -- Portland, OR - May 10-11 The nine-hour training on Data Collection and Management will help programs identify their accountability system gaps while it shares promising practices related to: -- assessment -- data collection -- data storage and retrieval -- building a culture of accountability and improvement within the program Much of the content of the training is drawn from exemplary literacy and adult education programs across the country. Programs that participate in the training will be asked to implement one or more of the promising practices over the nine months following the training. Participating programs will share their challenges, experiences, and successful strategies as part of the print pieces that ProLiteracy will distribute nationally at the end of the project. Stipends of $750 and $1500 are available to support two levels of program participation in the project; there is no fee for the training. If you are interested in attending Data Collection and Management, please request the application guidelines and form via e-mail to mdaniels at proliteracy.org. To be considered for participation, your program must submit its completed application via e-mail (snail mail or faxes CANNOT be accepted) by March 16, 2007, to the e-mail address given above. Up to 120 programs will be selected and invited to send two people from each program to the training. For more information about Data Collection and Management or about the initiative in general, please contact me at the e-mail address given above. If you know of other programs that may be interested in this training opportunity, please share this message with them. Thank you, Melanie Daniels, Project Manager Dollar General/ProLiteracy Performance Accountability Initiative ProLiteracy Worldwide mdaniels at proliteracy.org http://www.proliteracy.org From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Mar 15 10:06:17 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:06:17 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 685] FW: [FocusOnBasics 809] FOB Article-of-the-Week: Project-Based Learning and the GED Message-ID: <03b801c7670b$1a4b9290$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following discussion is just getting started on the FOB Discussion List. To subscribe, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/focusonbasics Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Hi Everyone, This week's FOB Article-of-the-Week speaks to several questions we have touched on lately: project-based learning, how to maintain an instructional role in individualized-style classes, how to help students actually learn the material (and the soft skills) instead of just trying to pass the test, and creating a thirst for knowledge. It is from issue 2B, which is all about the GED. Project-Based Learning and the GED by Anson M. Green http://www.ncsall.net/?id=408 This is an account of one teacher's journey using amibitious and effective student-based projects within his GED class. He was able to blend the GED skills work with these exciting projects, which inspired the students to gain confidence, motivation and workforce skills along with the test skills, and at the same time connect with their community in a meaningful way. There are resources listed at the end. I apologize for the typos in the online version. (Hint: often the "fi" in a word is missing, e.g. "nd"=find, and "ve"= five. Sorry!) Click on the "Student Stories" link at the very bottom of the article for examples of the student presentations that were part of this project! Please read this and tell the list what you think. Has anyone else out there used the Project FORWARD life skills curriculum, or something similar? What experiences have others had with project-based learning in GED programs? All the best, Julie Julie McKinney Discussion List Moderator World Education/NCSALL jmckinney at worlded.org From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Mar 15 10:52:34 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:52:34 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 686] Cross-post: innovation in shaping accountability Message-ID: <03de01c76711$911d9b10$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Good day colleagues, I hope this email finds you well. I am cross-posting the following 2 emails from the Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List. The catalyst for this discussion was not assessment, but rather creativity and innovation in our work. This topic prompted the writer to share a rich and detailed description of how the teachers in her program became centrally involved in shaping accountability - via classroom, or formative, assessment. This story is a great example of how a program took the top-down model, stood it on its head, and made it a bottom-up model. They appear to already be reaping the many benefits of this endeavor. I'm posting it here because I think it's a very inspirational story that is not just a story - they are doing it. I also would like to hear what questions you might have about any of what Bonnita writes. I'll wager that there are other programs out there that have done similar things, or at least pieces of something similar - perhaps not on such a grand scale. Ask yourself, "could my program do something like this? Or a part of what is described here?" Why or why not? Let us hear from you. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bonnita Solberg Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 10:56 PM To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 914] Re: The role of self-study in PD Greetings All: I have read with interest the discussion on this broad subject of teacher creativity and innovation. I find it is a not insurmountable balance to encourage creativity/innovation while meeting the demands of funding/accountability. My belief is that an informed administration can create a safe and structured space for innovation and creativity to take root and blossom. Here is my experience. Ten years ago, just as research was being published on PD, we began to hear rumblings about staff meetings and workshops. Unaware of the research, separately and then collectively, teachers acknowledged that while they enjoyed conferences and spending time with colleagues from other districts, and although they brought home exciting ideas about methods and processes, they seldom followed through on them. Staff meetings were even more problematical--we were being talked at and encouraged by example and any means at administration's disposal to complete our paperwork, attend important meetings, be involved in more PD where we sat and listened but did not implement what we heard. It soon surfaced that what we wanted was to learn from our colleagues by example and mentoring, to share ideas and try them out in the classroom, then come together and share some more. Administration was reluctant to use staff meetings for anything other than hammering home our responsibility with paperwork and deadlines, but they read the research and were persuaded. This year for the first time in the 31 years I have worked in Oakland, the PD retreat weekend two weeks ago was truly run by and for teachers. There were no outside presenters, no motivational speakers, no long lists of important program goals. The theme was selected by teachers at last year's retreat--ongoing assessment in the classroom. The presentations were Poster Boards of our best assessments, made by our teachers. The next three staff meetings will be devoted to piloting and amending the assessments we chose at each level, sharing our experiences, fine tuning them and moving toward an assessment system program wide. What could have been resistance to implementation of an imposed program-wide assessment system was turned round in this safe and structured space created by a committee of teachers with administrative guidance in which teachers were leaders. Creativity and innovation blossomed. Teachers gave their experience the highest marks in the 5 year history of OACE retreats. During pre-retreat staff meetings, at which we broke into small groups, staff commented that at last teachers were being heard. And dare I say it, teachers want to attend staff meetings; attendance is at a record high. They are willing to take risks presenting to their colleagues, validated by the knowledge that their work is appreciated, that it will not be left to melt away but will flourish in the hands of caring colleagues. Administration is more than pleased. Teachers are learning what constitutes good assessment without being preached to and without the cost of consultants. They are being softly persuaded by fellow teachers to incorporate assessment into their daily practice, assessments that can be tracked and recorded, that will meet state requirements for accountability standards that are surely coming. We are innovators in the data and funding game, having involved teachers in the design of an assessment system and by having fostering the leadership skills of teachers. An experience of one kind of creativity and innovation as an adult ed teacher. Bonnita Solberg, Teacher on Special Assignment Oakland Adult and Career Education ****** Good Sunny Sunday Afternoon Jackie and All! I am happy to respond to your request andIwould like to chronicle our experiences with this innovative PD not only for this list but for my edification as well. The planning for this project on assessment in the classroom began a year ago at an ESL teachers' retreat where teachers were asked what they wanted to focus on in PD. 28 responses (a majority) out of approximately 65 were for assessment that would inform decisions to promote or retain, inform the teacher if they were meeting level standards and what, if any, adjustments to instruction were needed, and inform students of their progress. In focus groups, students had been asked by outside consultants in their L1 what was working for them in Oakland Adult and Career Education (OACE) and what could be improved. One repeated request was to see, not just know, what their progress is and what was required to move to the next level. Using this OACE data as a foundation, 3 committees were formed: Best Practices and Power Standards run solely by teachers, and Professional Development headed by an administrator with another administrator as consultant. Best Practices (BP) committee investigated the best practices of other districts to determine if there were assessments, curriculum, syllabai, level standards, that OACE could draw on. My first request from this discussion list was to ask for this information from out of state programs. Except for a brief response from Texas, no one responded; perhaps there were too many questions and it was too involved to do so. We found that the programs we contacted in state had no useful information to share; in fact, most asked if we would share with them what we compiled because they also are interested in on going assessment in the classroom. I want to stop here to explain that we assess using CASAS and EL Civics evaluations; however, we are investigating on-going classroom assessments that evaluate if the student is meeting his/her goals and if the teacher is teaching to the standards. These are assessments to be used in the classroom on a daily or weekely basis and are not required for funding at this time. The Best Practices committee had been formed to gather this information so we would not have to reinvent the wheel of assessment and to guide the PD committee in its quest to involve teachers in deciding which assessments to use at each level. Without any outside information to guide us, we proceeded to "invent our own assessment wheel." The Power Standards (PS) committee was charged with setting level standards: Literacy, Beginning Low, Beginning High, Intermediate Low and High combined, and multi level classes. PS set up an exercise whereby teachers at each level met during the first PD day of the year to specify what standards teachers would address at each level, and what students could expect to be covered at the level as well specifying for the student what would be expected of them to move to the next level. The power standards decided upon by the teachers at each level were made into posters and distributed to each class to reference, daily hopefully, to guide both instruction and students. These standards are under constant scrutiny by teachers and will be revised as needed, probably by the end of this school year. The PS are informed by and meet state standards but are different from the state's. Each OACE level has four standards: reading, writing, speaking and listening; i.e., standards do not address content but language skills. I should also explain that in Oakland we have both contracted teachers (about 50 in ESL) and hourly, part time teachers, about 100 in ESL. Contracted teachers are required to complete 18 hours of PD yearly for which they are paid on the salary schedule according the numbers of years of service and education they have. Hourly part timers are paid a set rate of $22.45 an hour for participation. When contract teachers exceed the 18 hours, they are also paid at this rate. We do not expect our teachers to volunteer free for these committees or for participation in PD. The PD committee began its work in November, meeting twice monthly for 3 hour sessions. It took approximately 6 weeks for us to "gel" as a committee and set up a working process: One participant takes notes on a laptop that are projected onto the wall, working notes are approved and changed during the meeting. This duty is shared by 3 members. I took on the task of facilitator. Teachers are released from their classes and a substitute provided for participation on the committee, or if not teaching during those hours, teachers are paid at $22.45 per hour. Teachers are encouraged to attend as they find time, so although there is a core of consistent participants, there are also teachers who drop in as schedules allow. This can be challenging as we must back track and cover what we have accomplished for the drop ins, but it is an important way to educate teachers about the process. We mounted the retreat I described in the email below and will not reiterate that here. During this time (Jan and Feb) we met weekly to finalize the schedule for the weekend. After the retreat, we realized that although teachers want to focus on assessment, many do not know what constitutes an assessment. The poster board sessions described below were actually best practice classroom activities with no way of recording progress/results to show both students or another teacher to whom the student may be promoted. We focused on how to educate teachers on what constitutes a good assessment without "an instructor" conducting a class in which teachers listen passively and without giving them articles to dissect and bring back to the full group as is suggested by our state CALPRO in service training. We found a more satisfactory way than the traditional academic instruction: Tomorrow at our faculty meeeting we will break into 7 groups by level (literacy has 3 groups because they constitute the largest number). Each group will have a facilitator who is a PD committee member. Each participant will be given a list of questions ("what do I think?") to ask themselves as they pilot assessments during the following month. In this manner, we are educating teachers what constitutes a good assessment. I put out my request for information to this list group last weekend before our committee meeting. I spent hours on the internet with a lot of guidance from this list participants and compiled two folders for the committee members: 1.) What constitutes a good assessment and 2.) samples of assessment forms. I gave the full committee the folder on samples, but not the folder on what constitutes a good assessment. I want to stop here to say that we had presented the state standards for what constitutes a good assessment at the retreat weekend; it was very academic and required using information gap type of interaction amongst the participants. While it guided the selection of what assessments would be piloted, it did not accomplish the goal of having teachers select an assessment form that could be used as a record for teacher and student. The ESL faculty meeting tomorrow will be solely dedicated to this task, as will the next two faculty meetings, with a maximum of 10 minutes used for admionistration announcements. The committee is reluctant to hand out copies of samples of assessment forms at the faculty meeting because there are many teachers who are not willing to "interrupt" classroom instruction by using a form to record their assessments. We as committee members were continually advising teachers during their poster making sessions before the retereat (which they also got paid for) that indeed they do assess, they simply haven't formalized their assessments into a system and onto paper. That hurdle is almost history, but not quite. Now teachers are faced with the task of how they can assess daily/weekly without adding more paperwork to burden their already full schedules. But the committee is not "doing" this for the teachers nor is administration forcing it upon them; rather, the teachers are developing assessment tools they can use easily. The other folder, what constitutes a good assessment, was used by the PD subcommittee that set up the "think it over" sheet for teachers to use as they pilot their chosen assessments. I did not hand out that folder to the full committee because it seemed to overburden them with "academics and research"; they were not that interested when I presented it. I believe the folder on samples of assessment tools will be used tomorrow at the staff meeting by the facilitators if they need to refer to them to show teachers the myriad of types of tools. The groups are all at different levels in their quest to develop assessment tools. Some have gone to the heart of the problem and are setting up rubrics. Others are still struggling with basics: Do we have to do this? Is it being imposed by administration? How will I have time to do this and CASAS and EL Civics Evaluations on top of it? Will the state accept our assessment tools when it comes time to be accountable to the state, as we have been told is coming down the road? I must add that I was the only committee member who researched on the web or brought this information to the committe, except for our PD adminsitrator who brought a book on authentic assessment tools (can't recall the title). We did not use any research but relied on data obtained from our faculty members and their professional wisdom to both start the process and move it along. Sorry Jackie! This is longer than I expected but I don't know how to answer your question in a shorter essay. I will ask for permission to post the "think it over" sheet we designed and will also list the resources I found sometime next week. Thanks for the words of encouragement and for the support I have received from all of you, if not directly, then indirectly as I read all your lists. Bonnita Solberg, Teacher on Special Assignment Oakland Adult and Career Education -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070315/12a37f05/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Mar 15 11:16:15 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:16:15 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 687] Fluid and Crystallized Literacy Message-ID: <041001c76714$e09c3950$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following post is from Tom Sticht. ******** March 13, 2007 Fluid and Crystallized Literacy: Implications for Adult Literacy Assessment and Instruction Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Psychometric research on intelligence over the last half century has resulted in a trend to draw a distinction between the knowledge aspect and the processing skills aspects of intelligence. Beginning in the 1940s and continuing up to the 1990s, the British psychologist, Raymond B. Cattell and various collaborators, and later many independent investigators, made the distinction between "fluid intelligence" and "crystallized intelligence." Cattell (1983) states, "Fluid intelligence is involved in tests that have very little cultural content, whereas crystallized intelligence loads abilities that have obviously been acquired, such as verbal and numerical ability, mechanical aptitude, social skills, and so on. The age curve of these two abilities is quite different. They both increase up to the age of about 15 or 16, and slightly thereafter, to the early 20s perhaps. But thereafter fluid intelligence steadily declines whereas crystallized intelligence stays high" (p. 23). Cognitive psychologists have re-framed the "fluid" and "crystallized" aspects of cognition into a model of a human cognitive system made-up of a long term memory which constitutes a knowledge base ("crystallized intelligence") for the person, a working memory which engages various processes ("fluid intelligence") that are going on at a given time using information picked-up from both the long term memory's knowledge base and a sensory system that picks-up information from the external world that the person is in. Today, over thirty years of research has validated the usefulness of this simple three-part model (long term memory, working memory, sensory system) as a heuristic tool for thinking about human cognition (Healy & McNamara, 1996). The model is important because it helps to develop a theory of literacy as information processing skills (reading as decoding printed to spoken language) and comprehension (using the knowledge base to create meaning) that can inform the development of new knowledge-based assessment tools and new approaches to adult education. The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the new Adult Literacy and Lifeskills (ALL) survey, the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993 and the new 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) all used "real world" tasks to assess literacy ability cross the life span from 16 to 65 and beyond. Such test items are complex information processing tasks that engage unknown mixtures of knowledge and processes. For this reason it is not clear what they assess or what their instructional implications are (Venezky, 1992, p.4). Sticht, Hofstetter, & Hofstetter (1996) used the simple model of the human cognitive system given above to analyze performance on the NALS. It was concluded that the NALS places large demands on working memory processes ("fluid intelligence"). The decline in fluid intelligence is what may account for some of the large declines in performance by older adults on the NALS and similar tests. To test this hypothesis, an assessment of knowledge ("crystallized intelligence") was developed and used to assess adult's cultural knowledge of vocabulary, authors, magazines and famous people. The knowledge test was administered by telephone and each item was separate and required only a "yes" or "no" answer, keeping the load on working memory ("fluid intelligence") very low. Both the telephone-based knowledge test scores and NALS door-to-door survey test scores were transformed to standard scores with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. The results showed clearly that younger adults did better on the NALS with its heavy emphasis on working memory processes ("fluid literacy") and older adults did better than younger adults on the knowledge base ("crystallized literacy") assessment that was given by telephone. Consistent with the foregoing theorizing and empirical demonstration, Tamassia, Lennon, Yamamoto, & Kirsch (2007) report data from a survey of the literacy skills of adults in the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States. Once again they found that performance on the literacy tasks declined with increased age, that is, the higher the age of the adults, the lower their test scores became. They state that, ".the negative relationship between age and performance is consistent with findings from previous studies of adults (i.e., IALS, ALL, and NAAL; NCES 2005; OECD and Statistics Canada 2000, 2005)." They go on to say, "Explanations of these previous findings have included (a) the effects of aging on the cognitive performance of older adults, (b) younger adults having received more recent and extended schooling, and (c) the finding that fluid intelligence may decrease with age causing older adults to have more difficulties in dealing with complex tasks (Douchemane and Fontaine 2003; OECD and Statistics Canada 2000, 2005)"(p. 107). Strucker, Yamamoto, & Kirsch (2005) assessed short term, working memory for a sample of adults who also completed Prose and Document literacy tasks from the IALS. They found a positive relationship between performance on the working memory task and the literacy tasks, showing that adults with better short term memories performed better on the IALS. Again, this is consistent with the idea that the literacy tasks involve a complex set of skills and knowledge, including the capacity to manage information well in working memory or "fluid literacy." Given the differences between younger and older adults on "fluid literacy" and "crystallized literacy" there is reason to question the validity of using "real world" tasks like those on the Prose, Document and Quantitative scales of the IALS, ALL, NALS, and NAAL to represent the literacy abilities of adults across the life span. In general, when assessing the literacy of adults, it seems wise to keep in mind the differences between short term, working memory or "fluid" aspects of literacy, such as fluency in reading with its emphasis upon efficiency of processing, and the "crystallized" or long term memory, knowledge aspects of reading. It is also important to keep in mind these differences between fluid and crystallized literacy in teaching and learning. While it is possible to teach knowledge, such as vocabulary, facts, principles, concepts, and rules (e.g., Marzano, 2004), it is not possible to directly teach fluid processing. Fluidity of information processing, such as fluency in reading, cannot be directly taught. Rather, it must be developed through extensive, guided, practice. Though I know of no research on this theoretical framework regarding the differences between fluid and crystallized literacy and instructional practices in adult literacy programs, it can be hypothesized that all learners are likely to make much faster improvements in crystallized literacy than in fluid literacy, and this should be especially true for older learners, say those over 45 to 50 years of age. References Cattell, R. (1983) Intelligence and National Achievement. Washington, DC: The Cliveden Press. Healy, A. & McNamara, D. (1996) Verbal Learning and Memory: Does the Modal Model Still Work? In J. Spence, J. Darley, & D. Foss (Eds.), Annual Review of Psychology, 47,143-172. Marzano, R. J. (2004, August). Building Background Knowledge For Academic Achievement: Research On What Works In Schools. Washington, DC: Assn. For Supervision & Curriculum. Sticht, T., Hofstetter, & Hofstetter (1996) Assessing Adult Literacy By Telephone. Journal of Literacy Research, 28, 525-559 Strucker, J., Yamamoto, K. & Kirsch, I. (2005, May). The Relationship of the Component Skills of Reading to Performance on the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). Cambridge, MA: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. Tamassia, C., Lennon, M., Yamamoto, K. & Kirsch, I. (2007). Adult Education in America: A First Look at Results From the Adult Education Program and Learner Surveys. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. Venezky, R. (1992, May) Matching Literacy Testing with Social Policy: What Are the Alternatives? Philadelphia, PA: National Center on Adult Literacy. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: 96190 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Mar 20 14:42:49 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:42:49 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 688] COABE sessions announcement Message-ID: <076901c76b1f$90c27610$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: Attached is a list of the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and LINCS sessions that will be offered next week at COABE in Philadelphia. If you are going, please consider attending one of these sessions. We are extremely interested in getting your feedback and ideas on the projects that are developed and run by the National Institute for Literacy, and this would be a great opportunity for this. There is a session on using research in your practice, as well as reports by distinguished researchers on their work in adult reading instruction. One of the sessions will discuss the new Regional Resource Center Collections that are now being developed. Some of you may be familiar with the former version of the Special Collections that were previously sponsored by the Institute. This is your opportunity to help shape and define the content of the Collections - which will be developed and maintained for your use. In terms of the Discussion Lists, you are a captive audience, but by your own choice, so you must be getting something useful out of being on a NIFL List. We really want to know what that is and how we might be able to improve the experience for you. Below is more of a description of the session on Using the Discussion Lists as Professional Development. Ok, it is also meant to entice you. :-) Looking forward to seeing you at COABE next week. marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ********** Going to COABE this year? Interested in learning how you can use your computer for your own and your staff's professional development!? Then please join us for our double session: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Learning: Using the National Institute for Literacy's Discussion Lists as Professional Development Presenters: Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Daphne Greenberg, Poverty, Race, Women & Literacy Discussion List Marie Cora, Assessment Discussion List Tuesday, March 27 Salon 3 1:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Why attend? It's a chance to meet 3 NIFL Moderators (and perhaps more!) It's a chance for us to meet some subscribers It's a chance for us to get your immediate ideas and feedback on the NIFL Discussion Lists , how you use them, and how you would like to use them It's a Double Session! Session I will teach you how to most effectively interface with the technology so you are adept at using it. Hands-on opportunities for customizing subscriptions and interacting with the discussion lists will be provided. Session II focuses on how you can use the Lists as professional development. Tools and strategies will be shared and provided that can help you develop and carry out your own PD plan - for yourself, or for staff. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070320/dcc9964d/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: LINCS flyer.doc Type: application/msword Size: 44032 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070320/dcc9964d/attachment.doc From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Mar 20 14:48:59 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:48:59 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 689] FW: [AAACE-NLA] query on assessment Message-ID: <076f01c76b20$6db74000$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following email is cross-posted from the NLA Discussion List. Below George Demetrion is requesting information on the New Readers Press Voyager series, and if this might work in conjunction with, for example, the DAR. Any thoughts or ideas? Has anyone used the Voyager series? What do you think? What about mixing and matching tools? Does anyone do this without affecting the integrity of the tools or getting into the syndrome of "test overkill"? Thanks! and looking forward to your replies, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Colleagues, Next fall our program will be implementing the New Readers Press Voyager series. This includes a placement assessment that looks like it could also be used as a pre and post test, similar, perhaps to the LVA created Read Test. Currently, in addition to the CASAS pre and post we have used the DAR for a few years. In many respects the Voyager Placement is similar to the DAR, though it has two advantages over it: the reading passages are more authentic to adult experience and comprehension questions are built in even at the lowest levels. >From a purely program perspective I can see several advantages of using the Voyager over the DAR; as the basis to place students in the respective groups, to better tie assessment and instruction; the adult themes of the reading passages, and the emphasis on comprehension at all levels. It is a better indicator of our balanced or integrative approach to literacy whereas the DAR, originated by Jean Chall, is much more geared to word identification and word meaning Ideally, one could use both. Practically speaking it would be overkill whether at intake or at some other time, considering also that our students take the pre and post CASAS on an annual basis. Here's the question, which, perhaps Marie might also place on the assessment list--what would be lost and gained by doing so? My take is that what is lost is a well respected assessment in the DAR that might garner a certain level of public credibility that a curriculum-based placement test, not designed for a pre and post, but which could easily fit within such a use. The gain is a more authentic-based assessment based on the curriculum in use. If we were not using CASAS or some other widely recognized assessment I would be more reluctant to pull the DAR out, which has served us well, notwithstanding its perhaps overemphasis on phonemic analysis and word identification. However, since we do have CASAS, also an assessment at best only partially tied to our curriculum focus I am inclined to make the shift, though I am very much seeking the collective wisdom of the field. I would say, write to me of line, except I think he issue is important and relevant enough for list-based discusion. George Demetrion -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070320/4edeb1b3/attachment.html From tarv at chemeketa.edu Tue Mar 20 14:51:22 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:51:22 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 690] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] query on assessment In-Reply-To: <076f01c76b20$6db74000$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <076f01c76b20$6db74000$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: We use Voyager in our class with transition ESL to ABE students. These students also participate in group work in math and writing and work in skills tutor. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 11:49 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 689] FW: [AAACE-NLA] query on assessment Colleagues, The following email is cross-posted from the NLA Discussion List. Below George Demetrion is requesting information on the New Readers Press Voyager series, and if this might work in conjunction with, for example, the DAR. Any thoughts or ideas? Has anyone used the Voyager series? What do you think? What about mixing and matching tools? Does anyone do this without affecting the integrity of the tools or getting into the syndrome of "test overkill"? Thanks! and looking forward to your replies, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Colleagues, Next fall our program will be implementing the New Readers Press Voyager series. This includes a placement assessment that looks like it could also be used as a pre and post test, similar, perhaps to the LVA created Read Test. Currently, in addition to the CASAS pre and post we have used the DAR for a few years. In many respects the Voyager Placement is similar to the DAR, though it has two advantages over it: the reading passages are more authentic to adult experience and comprehension questions are built in even at the lowest levels. >From a purely program perspective I can see several advantages of using the Voyager over the DAR; as the basis to place students in the respective groups, to better tie assessment and instruction; the adult themes of the reading passages, and the emphasis on comprehension at all levels. It is a better indicator of our balanced or integrative approach to literacy whereas the DAR, originated by Jean Chall, is much more geared to word identification and word meaning Ideally, one could use both. Practically speaking it would be overkill whether at intake or at some other time, considering also that our students take the pre and post CASAS on an annual basis. Here's the question, which, perhaps Marie might also place on the assessment list--what would be lost and gained by doing so? My take is that what is lost is a well respected assessment in the DAR that might garner a certain level of public credibility that a curriculum-based placement test, not designed for a pre and post, but which could easily fit within such a use. The gain is a more authentic-based assessment based on the curriculum in use. If we were not using CASAS or some other widely recognized assessment I would be more reluctant to pull the DAR out, which has served us well, notwithstanding its perhaps overemphasis on phonemic analysis and word identification. However, since we do have CASAS, also an assessment at best only partially tied to our curriculum focus I am inclined to make the shift, though I am very much seeking the collective wisdom of the field. I would say, write to me of line, except I think he issue is important and relevant enough for list-based discusion. George Demetrion -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070320/9c7ddf45/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Mar 20 17:42:46 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:42:46 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 691] Research-based presentations at COABE Message-ID: <07e501c76b38$b352d800$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hello all, Below are a couple more sessions that might be of interest to those of you attending COABE in Philadelphia next week. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** COABE 2007, Philadelphia Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel Pre-Conference Presentation, 9AM - 4PM, Sunday, March 25 Title: Authors Present a Close Look At Their Research-Based Resources for Adult Literacy Instruction: A Project of the NIFL/NCSALL Adult Literacy Research Working Group John Kruidenier, Mary Ziegler, Rosalind Davidson, and Susan McShane Abstract: Authors of three professional development resources will present in-depth looks at their resources for research-based adult reading instruction. This will include demonstrations and activities from an introductory text for teachers, a website, and an assessment of teacher knowledge. A Resource Guide to government-funded resources will also be presented. Second presentation: Tuesday, March 27, 1:45 PM - 3:00 PM, Logans 2 An Update to the NIFL/NCSALL Adult literacy Research Working Group's Review of Adult Reading Instruction Research: Implications for Practice John Kruidenier Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070320/2845f38d/attachment.html From jataylor at utk.edu Wed Mar 21 10:58:00 2007 From: jataylor at utk.edu (Taylor, Jackie) Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 10:58:00 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 692] Register now for ProLiteracy's Northwest Regional Institute! Message-ID: Dear List Colleagues: The following message is posted on behalf of Kathy St. John, Regional Institute Coordinator for ProLiteracy America. I thought you would be interested to know that the deadline to apply to participate in the Dollar General/ProLiteracy Performance Accountability Project has been extended to March 31,2007. Looks like they have some exciting workshops lined up for project participants that should be of interest to a broad audience. Have a great day! Best wishes, Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator, jataylor at utk.edu ========================================================== Register now for ProLiteracy's Northwest Regional Institute! May 10-11, 2007 University Place, Portland, Oregon (http://www.pdx.edu/cegs/uplace.html) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Featuring two 9-hour, intensive, hands-on workshops: The ABCs of Adult Student Engagement: Active Learning, Building Community, and Contextualized Instruction Performance Accountability Initiative: Data Collection and Management The Performance Accountability Initiative is funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Please note: The Performance Accountability Initiative training is part of the Dollar General/ProLiteracy Performance Accountability Project. Programs must be accepted as project participants in order to attend. Contact Melanie Daniels (mdaniels at proliteracy.org) for special application materials. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Please visit ProLiteracy's website at www.proliteracy.org/news/index.asp?aid=229 to register and download the Northwest Regional Institute brochure containing detailed information about the Institute. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The deadline to apply to participate in the Dollar General/ProLiteracy Performance Accountability Project has been extended to March 31,2007. The deadline to register for the ABCs of Adult Student Engagement is May 1, 2007. The deadline to register for the discounted hotel room rate is April 27,2007. Space is limited so be sure to register early! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This professional development opportunity is supported by: Dollar General Literacy Foundation Anchorage Literacy Project Literacy Network of Washington Kathy St. John Regional Institute Coordinator ProLiteracy America -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070321/65ba311b/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Mar 22 14:03:31 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:03:31 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 693] Position Announcement Message-ID: <003d01c76cac$67985640$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Position Announcement Director of the Center for Literacy Studies at The University of Tennessee The Center for Literacy Studies, located within the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, is seeking a Director to begin August or September, 2007. The University of Tennessee - Knoxville, the flagship institution of the UT system, welcomes people of all races, genders, creeds, cultures, and sexual orientations, and values intellectual curiosity, pursuit of knowledge, and academic freedom and integrity. The mission of the Center for Literacy Studies is to support and advance literacy education across the lifespan. The Center conducts research, professional development, program evaluation and other work within family, community, and workplace literacy contexts. The Director oversees the work of the Center, raises funds through grants and contracts, writes grant proposals and develops budgets, approves expenditures of funds, negotiates subcontracts, hires and discharges personnel, acts as principal investigator for grants, and oversees a staff of thirty to assure project work is conducted in accordance with contractual agreements with outside funders. Working collaboratively with the Center's Senior Management Team, the Director develops strategic plans, markets the Center, and integrates work with the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. The Director oversees a budget that is in excess of $3 million annually. Currently, major funders include the National Institute for Literacy, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Tennessee Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation. Qualifications. A Master's degree and a minimum of five years' management experience, plus at least five years experience in the field of education and/or adult literacy is required. Demonstrated success in developing funding and evidence of strong administrative, interpersonal and communication skills are also required. A Doctorate, with a working knowledge of professional development, technology, program evaluation and curriculum development is preferred. Experience working in a University setting is desired. Experience in fiscal management, including grants, contracts and fee for service is desired, along with the ability to work efficiently and effectively within a collaborative setting. How to Apply. Interested applicants should send a letter of interest and resume or curriculum vita, including the names and contact information for three references, to Connie White, Search Committee Chair, at clwhite at utk.edu . Please follow with paper copies to: Dr. Connie White, Associate Director, The University of Tennessee, Center for Literacy Studies, 600 Henley Street, Suite 312, Knoxville, TN 37996 - 4135. The search committee will begin its review of applications on April 16, 2007; however, applications will be accepted until the position is filled. A competitive salary is offered commensurate with experience. More information about the Center for Literacy Studies can be found at http://www.cls.utk.edu/ . The University of Tennessee is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504/ADA/ADEA institution in the provision of its education and employment programs and services. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070322/5f5879d8/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Mar 29 11:29:51 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:29:51 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 694] FW: [FocusOnBasics 853] FOB Article-of-the-Week: Program Standards Message-ID: <011001c77217$18ad66e0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: Perhaps some of you are interested in this discussion that is occurring now on the Focus on Basics Discussion List. Go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Focusonbasics to subscribe or to read the archives. See below! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 6:15 PM To: focusonbasics at nifl.gov Subject: [FocusOnBasics 853] FOB Article-of-the-Week: Program Standards Hi Everyone, A list member recently wrote in and wanted to discuss Standards of Academic Progress. She says: "My college is in the process of revising its SOAP policy and procedures for Adult Education. The current statement is so vague it's useless. We are interested in learning what SOAP policies and procedures Adult Education programs around the country have in place. How do they handle chronic repeaters? What happens to students who are simply not making any progress?" This week's FOB Article, from issue 3C can serve as a beginning to discuss this. A User's Guide to Standards-Based Educational Reform: From Theory to Practice by Regie Stites http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=352 Please share your ideas! All the best, Julie Julie McKinney Discussion List Moderator World Education/NCSALL jmckinney at worlded.org From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Mar 30 15:27:32 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:27:32 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 695] Using Data for Program Improvement: Save the Date! Message-ID: <026301c77301$776bbf20$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to let you know that I have organized a panel guest discussion on the topic of Using Data for Program Improvement for the week of April 16. I will be sending out a formal announcement in a week or so introducing the guest panel, and providing you with some questions to think about and resources to look at to stimulate your interest and spark your questions and discussion. If you think of questions that you would like to ask panel members, feel free to send me these ahead of time and I will forward them to panelists, or feel free to post any questions yourself once the discussion begins. Also, we would love to hear what you might be doing to improve your program's practice by using data (and this refers to various types of data: from tests/assessments, from demographic info, from anecdotal/narrative reports, etc.), so please be encouraged to share your experiences and perspectives during the discussion so that we can make it rich. We all have something to teach to each other, and we all have something to learn from one another. Looking forward to hearing from you all then - so save the date! Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070330/fba6e82d/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Apr 2 13:18:54 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 13:18:54 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 696] What Works for Adult ESL Students? A Special Topics Discussion Message-ID: <03c601c7754a$fdd56980$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hello everyone, The following post is from David Rosen, Moderator of the Special Topics Discussion List. ********** Dear Colleague, I am very pleased to announce a special discussion on "What Works for Adult ESL Students" with the principal authors of the study, Heide Spruck Wrigley and Larry Condelli. The discussion will begin April 9th and continue through April 15th. Below you will find brief biographies of the authors, and (links to) some short and longer pieces about the research. This is one of the major studies of adult ESL/ESOL in our field, and a wonderful opportunity to discuss the study and its findings with the authors. I hope you will take time before the discussion to read the study and to formulate your questions for the authors. You may send your questions beginning now although they will be held until April 9th when the discussion begins. Information on Subscribing If you are not subscribed to the National Institute for Literacy's Special Topics discussion list, where this discussion will be held, you can subscribe at any time, by going to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics Follow the simple instructions, select the "subscribe" button, and you will then be sent an email requesting confirmation of your subscription. You must immediately reply to that email in order to be subscribed. You can unsubscribe when the discussion ends, or stay subscribed and wait for the next discussion. On the Special Topics discussion list you will receive no email messages between discussions. If you are subscribed, please pass this information on to colleagues who you think might be interested in the discussion Biographies of the Guest Researchers Dr. Heide Spruck Wrigley is Senior Researcher for Language, Literacy and Learning with LiteracyWork Associates, a small independent firm conducting research and professional development work in the United States and in Canada. She has been key in every federally funded national research study on adult ESL and acted as the subject matter expert in the What Works for Adult ESL Students study. She has written a number of books and articles related to adult ESL Literacy, including "Bringing Literacy to Life" a handbook for practitioners, "Communicating in the Real World", a textbook on workplace ESL, and most recently the "Language of Opportunity" a report for the Center on Law and Social Policy; and "Capturing What Counts" a chapter in "Adult Biliteracy: Socio-cultural and Programmatic Responses" (Erlbaum 2007). Dr. Wrigley currently is a non-resident fellow with the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. where she focuses on immigrant integration and policy issues related to adult ESL, employment and family literacy. She has served on a number of advisory boards and expert panels, including the National Academy of Sciences, the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, and (currently) the National Institute for Literacy and the National Center for Educational Statistics. In an effort to make research accessible to practitioners, Dr. Wrigley is involved in a number of professional development efforts across the U.S. These include a four year ongoing staff development effort in Socorro, Texas to help teachers integrate family literacy, EL Civics, and technology. She also heads up several professional development Institutes (including a virtual course) for both new teachers and master teachers throughout Texas, focused on teaching English as a Second Language to adults. She has delivered numerous talks and key notes at conferences both within the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Wrigley holds a PhD in Education with a focus on Language, Literacy, and Learning and an MA in Applied Linguistics. Dr. Larry Condelli is a managing director of the Adult Education and Literacy Program in the Education and Human Development Division at the American Institutes for Research. His work includes research on adult ESL students, accountability, and conducting professional development and technical assistance for adult educators. He recently directed the What Works Study for Adult ESL Literacy Students, the first large-scale empirical study of the effectiveness of instructional practices for adult ESL students, and is currently directing a study of the impact of explicit literacy instruction on low-literate adult ESOL learners for the U.S. Department of Education. He is also the project director for the National Reporting System and was instrumental in developing this national accountability system for federally funded adult education and literacy program. Dr. Condelli's other projects include development of a performance-based reading assessment for low-literate adults for the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, funded by the National Center for Educational Statistics. He is a staff development and data consultant for the states of Alabama, California, Georgia and Utah and provides training and technical assistance to adult education staff in several states. Dr. Condelli holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California. Readings to prepare for the Discussion Below are links to readings (1 and 2) and attached documents (3 and 4) that will help you to prepare for the discussion. (Note, some people may not be able to open 3 and 4. If you have difficulty, and would like me to email these to you, let me know. ( djrosen1 at comcast.net ) 1. A short NCSALL Focus on Basics article on What Works for Adult ESL Students http://www.ncsall.net/?id=189 2. Instruction, Language and Literacy: What Works Study for Adult ESL Literacy Students http://lotos.library.uu.nl/publish/articles/000176/bookpart.pdf 3. A long, but not too theoretical paper on the What Works ESL study presented in England (See first attachment below.) 4. A paper on the What Works for Adult ESL Students study presented in Tilburg, Netherlands (See second attachment below.) I look forward to your joining this discussion. David J. Rosen National Institute for Literacy Special Topics List Moderator djrosen1 at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: RealWorldResearch.doc Type: application/msword Size: 220160 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070402/a15041f2/attachment.doc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: WWS for Tilburg submitted 4-3.doc Type: application/msword Size: 1618944 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070402/a15041f2/attachment-0001.doc From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Apr 2 13:23:05 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 13:23:05 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 697] NAAL Data Use Training Message-ID: <03ca01c7754b$93d51200$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, Perhaps some of you are interested in the following training which focuses on using the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data files and tools for research and policy analyses. Please see below. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ************************************* Using the National Assessment of Adult Literacy Data file and Tools For Research, Secondary Analyses and Policy Development (NAAL Data Set Training) Description: The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), will sponsor a 3-day advanced studies seminar on the use of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data files and tools for research and policy analyses. The 2003 NAAL measured the English literacy of America's adults living in households and prisons. Results are reported in terms of scale score averages on three literacy scales: prose, document, and quantitative, as well as literacy levels that are described as Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. Type: Workshop/Training & Technical Assistance Audience: This seminar is open to institutional researchers and planners, education practitioners, policymakers, and association members, as well as faculty and advanced graduate students from colleges and universities nationwide. Location: Academy for Educational Development (AED) 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20009-5721 (202) 884-8583 Dates: August 6-8, 2007 Organization: National Center for Education Statistics More Information: NAAL Data Set Training Seminar Announcement http://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/conferences/PDF/NAAL_Training__Announcement. pdf From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Apr 4 12:35:25 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2007 12:35:25 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 698] New NAAL Publication on Literacy in Everyday Life Message-ID: <05b101c776d7$3fc77170$0202a8c0@LITNOW> The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) just released Literacy in Everyday Life, the most recent publication of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). This report provides extensive information on the literacy of American adults age 16 and older and changes in their performance since 1992. Furthermore, it examines the relationship between literacy and several demographic variables including education, occupation, and income. Findings include the following: * Women have closed the gap with men in Quantitative literacy. They are doing better than men in Document and Prose literacy. * Younger and older adults have lower literacy than adults in other age groups. * Median weekly earnings increased with each level of literacy. * At each higher level of Prose literacy, more adults were employed full time. * Approximately 51 percent of adults with Below Basic Document literacy and 43 percent with Below Basic Quantitative literacy believed their job opportunities were limited a lot by their lack of computer skills. * The percentage of parents who never helped their school-age child with homework declined at each higher Prose literacy level. * Approximately half of US citizens of voting age with Below Basic Prose and Document literacy reported voting in the presidential election of 2000 compared with 84 percent of citizens with Proficient Prose and Document literacy. To download, view and print the publication as a PDF file, please visit: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007480 Jaleh Behroozi Soroui Education Statistics Services Institute American Institutes for Research 1990 K Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20006 Phone: 202/403-6958 email: jsoroui at air.org From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Apr 4 15:32:56 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2007 15:32:56 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 699] Discussion on CASAS on Adult English Language List Message-ID: <05d901c776f0$0c9af920$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, Perhaps some of you are interested in the discussion taking place right now on the Adult English Language Learners Discussion List focused on the CASAS. The discussion stems from subscriber feedback on sessions attended at either of the recent national conferences, TESOL or COABE. Go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage to read the archives: click on Read Current Posted Messages at the top of the page; look for (or use the search button) posts with the subject heading "Surviving the CASAS?" If you have thoughts regarding that discussion and would like to share them here (or there!), that would be great. Thanks, marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070404/d2d51a93/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Apr 5 09:01:09 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 09:01:09 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 700] FCE Works in ABE and ESOL Message-ID: <060a01c77782$7c65ab00$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, the following post is from Tom Sticht. In it, Tom reviews some of the literature supporting Functional Context Education (FCE) principles, including the study on What Works Study For Adult ESL Literacy Students by Larry Condelli and Heide Wrigley, which will be presented as a Guest Discussion on the Special Topics Discussion List next week (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics; see post from Monday, April 2). The principles provide a framework for assessing a student's strengths and needs, and for subsequently developing appropriate curricula, as informed by the student. What are your thoughts on FCE and its principles? Do you find that you follow these principles 'automatically' in your work, or do you need to be conscious of them in order to incorporate them into your teaching and/or program? Do you feel that the FCE principles are appropriate in all contexts of adult literacy? Why or why not? Thanks for your thoughts, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Celebrating 20 Years of Functional Context Education: 1987-2007 April 3, 2007 Functional Context Education Principles Show "What Works" in ABE and ESOL Instruction Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education The year 2007 is the twentieth anniversary of the formulation of Functional Context Education principles (Sticht, Armstrong, Hickey, & Caylor, 1987). These principles were based on extensive research on how the U. S. military could annually enlist tens of thousands of young adults with literacy skills below the 30th percentile, about the 6th grade, with little or no work experience, and in a matter of just a few weeks transform them into automobile mechanics, medical corpsmen, clerical staff, commercial cooks, and other skilled and semi-skilled workers. The review lead to the formulation of six principles that facilitate learning on entry into a course, learning throughout the course, and transfer into the contexts for which the learning is meant to apply. o1. Make sure students understand the purpose of the program and the usefulness of the knowledge and skills to be learned. o2. Consider the knowledge that students bring with them and build new knowledge on the basis of this old knowledge. o3. Develop and sequence new lessons so they build on prior knowledge gained in previous lessons. o4. Integrate instruction in basic skills (reading, math) into programs as the course poses demands for these skills that potential students may not possess. o5. Derive objectives from careful analysis of the realistic knowledge and skill needed in the work, home, or other community contexts in which the learner lives. o6. Use, to the extent possible, learning contexts, tasks, materials, and procedures taken from the future situation in which the learner will be functioning. Since 1987 some "silver standard," quasi-experimental studies have been found that provide evidence for the usefulness of the six FCE principles in civilian programs of Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Research on Integrated Vocational and ESOL Instruction Sticht, McDonald, & Erickson, (1998) compared an Electronics Assembly Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) class which integrated vocational and ESOL together, a Vocational class in Electronics Assembly (no ESOL instruction) and a conventional ESOL class, not vocationally related. In all three courses pre- and post-test data were obtained on a vocational vocabulary test related to electronics training and a general literacy test (the Adult Basic Learning Exam-ABLE). The data showed that the integrated VOCED+VESL program had greater gains on the vocational vocabulary test than either of the comparison groups, as well as a gain rate per 100 hours of instruction some 65 percent higher for general reading (ABLE) than the general ESL program, and over 300 percent greater than the VOCED program. Altogether, the data on the FCE VESL+ VOCED program indicated that it produced greater retention, greater course completion, and higher gains in learning than did the comparison courses of general ESL or a conventional electronics vocational education course. Other data also indicated that placements of students in the VOCED+ESOL program into electronics jobs was high, almost 100 percent, and many were placed by the ninth week of the course. This reflects the importance of FCE principles 5 and 6 in helping students transfer new knowledge and skills from the classroom to the world of work. United Kingdom Research on Embedded Language, Literacy, Numeracy (LLN) in Vocational Courses Casey, et. al (2006) reported research with 1,916 learners in 79 vocational courses with varying amounts of embedded language, literacy or numeracy (LLN) (FCE principle #4). Using a four point scale courses were rated as non-embedded, partly embedded, mostly embedded, and fully embedded. This provides a form of quasi-experimental design with a treatment group (fully embedded) and three comparison groups. The authors reported that, "On the embedded courses retention was 16 per cent higher..The embedded courses also had higher success rates than the non-embedded courses. . For learners on the fully-embedded courses, 93 per cent of those with an identified literacy need achieved a literacy/ESOL qualification, compared to only 50 per cent for those on non-embedded courses. On the fully embedded courses, 43 per cent more learners achieved literacy qualifications. .For learners on the fully-embedded courses, 93 per cent of those with an identified numeracy need achieved a numeracy/maths qualification, compared to 70 per cent for those on non-embedded courses. On the fully embedded courses, 23 per cent more learners achieved numeracy qualifications." (p. 5) The United States' What Works Study For Adult ESL Literacy Students Condelli & Wrigley (2004) discuss research for the U. S. Department of Education to identify effective instructional practices ("what works") for adults needing basic literacy instruction along with ESOL. Among other findings, they reported two major instructional factors related to achievement in literacy and oral language that are consistent with FCE principles. First, in what the authors called"connection to the outside," they found that "students in classes where teachers made connections to the "outside" or real world, had more growth in reading development measured both by general reading and "real world" reading. This is consistent with FCE principles because it makes the purpose of the learning apparent, it supports learning in the functional context of "real world" materials, and it shows how the learning relates to the person's life outside the classroom. A second major finding was that, "students in classes where teachers used students' native language for clarification during instruction (e.g., to explain concepts and provide instructions on class work) had faster growth in reading comprehension and oral communication skills." This is consistent with FCE principles because it helps the teacher explain the purposes of what is being learned and it makes it possible to draw upon the learner's prior knowledge of the native language as a means of learning new knowledge of the English language. In summary, at the present time, the Functional Context Education principles are supported by the largest body of scientific, quasi-experimental research on adult vocational, English language, literacy and numeracy instruction in the field of adult education. They provide a solid foundation for evidence-based instruction in the Adult Education and Literacy System of the United States and other English-speaking industrialized nations. References Casey, H. et. al (2006, November). "You wouldn't expect a maths teacher to teach plastering." online at www.nrdc.org.uk. Condelli, L. & Wrigley, H. (2004) Real World Research: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Research for Adult ESL. Paper presented at the National Research and Development Centre (NRDC) Second International Conference for Adult Literacy and Numeracy, Loughborough, England. Downloaded from the internet April 3, 2007 from http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/200704 01/dea5b0a7/attachment-0002.doc Sticht, T., McDonald, B., & Erickson, P. (1998). Passports to Paradise: The Struggle To Teach and To Learn on the Margins of Adult Education. El Cajon, CA: Applied Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, Inc., (available online at www.searchERIC.org ). Sticht, T., Armstrong, W., Hickey, D., & Caylor, J. (1987). Cast-off youth: policies and training methods from the military experience. NY: Praeger. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Apr 5 09:05:36 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 09:05:36 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 701] New from CAELA - brief on using content standards in adult ESL instruction Message-ID: <061501c77783$1af47d00$0202a8c0@LITNOW> The following post, from Miriam Burt, may be of interest to some of you. Marie Cora *************************** Using content standards in adult ESL instruction was a topic of interest at TESOL and COABE and is certainly a topic of interest and importance to the field. The Center for Adult Emglish Language Acquisition (CAELA) has just published a brief on the subject, "Using Adult ESL Content Standards." This brief, by CAELA staff members Kirsten Schaetzel and Sarah Young, begins with historical information about content standards and then describes the processes that adult ESL teachers and program administrators can follow to successfully incorporate standards into lesson planning, classroom activities, performance assessment, and professional development. The brief is available for downloading in html or in pdf on CAELA's Web site at http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/usingcontstandards.html There are two other briefs on standards on the CAELA Web site: "Using Content Standards" supplements the information from an earlier CAELA brief on "Understanding Adult ESL Content Standards," by Cristine Smith and Sarah Young, which is also available in html and in pdf at http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/contentstandards.html. To complete the set, there is also a CAELA brief on program standards and adult ESL Instruction. "Using the ESL Program Standards to Evaluate and Improve Adult ESL Programs," by Joy Peyton is available on CAELA's Web site at http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/eslprogstandards.html. Miriam Burt *********** Center for Adult English Language Acquisition Center for Applied Linguistics 4646 40th Street NW Washington, DC 20016 (202) 362-0700, ext. 556 (phone) (202) 363-7204 (fax) miriam at cal.org (email) From howard at riral.org Thu Apr 5 10:31:43 2007 From: howard at riral.org (Howard Dooley) Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 10:31:43 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 702] Re: Discussion on CASAS on Adult English Language List In-Reply-To: <05d901c776f0$0c9af920$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <05d901c776f0$0c9af920$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <0BF2D0726318524ABEF6D58E7BB3CCEB0268C5@pdc.Riral.local> Marie - I went to the discussion, as I was intrigued/dismayed by the thread title "Surviving the CASAS". This is a misnomer for the discussion. Attached is one response, from CASAS. On behalf of Jane Eguez, CASAS: We were also intrigued by the title. The presenter extended an invitation to me to attend her poster session - which I did. The presenter works in a large urban school district. In her classroom, she administers the statewide-mandated assessment (CASAS) to meet NRS requirements, plus local district-developed assessments, as well as her own teacher-developed assessments. She feels she is spending too much time testing. During the poster session, the presenter acknowledged publicly that she likes the CASAS assessment, and that the CASAS test itself isn't the problem - since it assesses basic skills in the context of essential life skills she feels her students need. In fact, her poster demonstrated creative ways for students to acquire real language practice (via life skill competencies) outside the classroom. We agree that it is a challenge for local programs to balance the collection of good formative and summative assessment information to help students and improve programs. My program in RI uses the CASAS, and for learners who attend up to 100 hours we pretest and then post test once or twice. Those with significant hours beyond that post test regularly, as improvements are noted by the instructor and learner. We feel that by more fully aligning our learning with the CASAS, we reduce the amount of testing that we have to do. We also find that most learners do not resent or reject assessments that clearly show them what they have learned and what they need to learn next, given their current learning goals and next steps past the program. Of course, if instructors are negative or do not see connections - or worse, there are not connections - then that negativity is soon shared by the learners. That is true for any material and for any assessment - the CASAS, publisher- and teacher-developed ones. The majority of our learners are with us for six months to a year, before they move on or stop out. They have no issue with us working together and motivating them to succeed as much as they can in that short time, or assessing them at least monthly, either by informal or formal assessments, to make sure for them and for us that they are progressing significantly each time they are in our learning environment. That is why they are here, and that is why we are, too. Howard L. Dooley, Jr. RIRAL / Woonsocket, RI ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 3:33 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 699] Discussion on CASAS on Adult English Language List Hi everyone, Perhaps some of you are interested in the discussion taking place right now on the Adult English Language Learners Discussion List focused on the CASAS. The discussion stems from subscriber feedback on sessions attended at either of the recent national conferences, TESOL or COABE. Go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage to read the archives: click on Read Current Posted Messages at the top of the page; look for (or use the search button) posts with the subject heading "Surviving the CASAS?" If you have thoughts regarding that discussion and would like to share them here (or there!), that would be great. Thanks, marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070405/d0457d03/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Apr 6 09:13:07 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 09:13:07 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 703] Using Data for Program Improvement Message-ID: <005c01c7784d$528066b0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, please see the full announcement for the discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. If you have questions or comments for our guests ahead of time, please feel free to send me these and I will forward them to the panel members. You should also feel free to post questions, comments and your own experiences yourself - we are looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Discussion Announcement Dear Colleagues, I'm pleased to announce the following Panel Guest Discussion, which will be held during the week of April 16 - 20. Topic: Using Data for Program Improvement Guests will discuss the work they have done in using data to improve the quality of adult literacy programming. We will hear about the use of data in small and large programs, as well as at the state and national levels. Panelists are interested in your questions and eager to hear about your use of data, as well as share their own experiences, so please ask questions and share your stories. Recommended preparations for this discussion Please use the following guiding questions to help you share how you use data in your program (or classroom), or how you would like to: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Resources of interest: Using Data Effectively by Donna Cornellier: see attached Power Point Presentation. This PowerPoint outlines a basic framework for identifying, using, and monitoring data; excellent guiding questions are provided as well as a case study for practicing the application of the framework. NRS Publications on data http://www.nrsweb.org/pubs/ This site has a wealth of resources including the NRS Implementation Guidelines; NRS Tips offering information on building data systems, and setting goals and standards; and Training Guides that provide practical information and tools that can be used to build and use data systems effectively. Learning to be an NRS Data Detective http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/StateDataDetectives.aspx This training explores how an effective data detective: * Understands the process and psychology of data collection; * Examines data including assessment, goal setting, and follow-up data; * Asks further questions of the data; and * Makes changes in processes and policies to improve data quality and program services. NRS State and Local Report Cards http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/insights/report_cards.aspx Report cards can be a powerful and effective tool for accountability and program improvement if properly used and implemented. There are many types of report cards, but for the purposes of NRS, our focus is on report cards that assess performance. Report cards that allow meaningful evaluation have the following characteristics: * Include outcome and other data, * Provide a basis for evaluation of that data, and * Present contextual data or interpretive information that aid interpretation and promote understanding. Report cards can be used in several different ways to * Evaluate program quality, * Promote program improvement, and * Inform and advocate for the program. Guest Participants: Toni Borge is the director of the Adult Education & Transitions Program at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a master's degree in educational administration. Toni is a member of the TESOL task force that is advising the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Citizenship, on redesigning the citizenship test that is being piloted in 2007. In May, Toni will present a TESOL Virtual Seminar entitled "Assessment and Learning: Balancing Program Performance and Instruction" in which she will discuss effective ways to manage and balance instruction to meet state and national performance standards. Dr. Larry Condelli is a managing director of the Adult Education and Literacy Program in the Education and Human Development Division at the American Institutes for Research. His work includes research on adult ESL students, accountability, and conducting professional development and technical assistance for adult educators. He recently directed the What Works Study for Adult ESL Literacy Students, the first large-scale empirical study of the effectiveness of instructional practices for adult ESL students, and is currently directing a study of the impact of explicit literacy instruction on low-literate adult ESOL learners for the U.S. Department of Education. He is also the project director for the National Reporting System and was instrumental in developing this national accountability system for federally funded adult education and literacy program. Dr. Condelli's other projects include development of a performance-based reading assessment for low-literate adults for the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, funded by the National Center for Educational Statistics. He is a staff development and data consultant for the states of Alabama, California, Georgia and Utah and provides training and technical assistance to adult education staff in several states. Dr. Condelli holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California. Donna Cornellier is the Project Manager for the student level data system in Massachusetts. In this role, her responsibilities include managing the System for Managing Accountability and Results Through Technology (SMARTT) development team; designing NRS training materials, and providing training and technical assistance to the local programs on using NRS data for program improvement. Presentations included how assessment data is tracked in the student level database and what reports are available to help programs implement the NRS policies. Formerly she was the Director of a local ABE program in Massachusetts. She holds a Masters degree in Educational Leadership and Management. Ajit Gopalakrishnan is an Education Consultant with the Connecticut State Department of Education's Bureau of Early Childhood, Career and Adult Education. He manages adult education projects in the areas of statewide assessment, data management, program accountability, and technology. Rosemary I. Matt has recently been appointed to the newly developed position of NRS Liaison for New York State. In this role, her responsibilities include NRS training, data management, and desk monitoring of all New York State programs. Prior to this position, Rosemary has been in education throughout her career, first as a secondary education mathematics teacher for fifteen years and then as the director of the New York State staff development consortium in the mid state. Karen Mundie has been an adult education professional for over thirty years. She is the associate director of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, a large community-based education organization (42 professional staff members, 550 volunteers, and 2000 students). She is also the director of the Southwest Professional Development Center, where she was the lead trainer in the area of using data for decision-making for three years. Karen is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Adult and Continuing Education (PAACE) and was Pennsylvania's Outstanding Adult Educator for 2005. She holds two masters' degrees from the University of Virginia. Joanie Rethlake, native Texan, is the state director for adult education for Texas LEARNS, the state office for adult education in Houston, Texas and has responsibility for administering the state's adult education program and directing the technical assistance and professional development offered to adult education and family literacy programs across Texas. Formerly, she was the director of adult education at Harris County Department of Education and past president of the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE). Sandy Strunk is Program Director for Community Education at Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13. In this role, she provides leadership for several educational programs including Adult Basic Education, the Adult Education Southeast Professional Development Center, Early Reading First, English as a Second Language, Family Literacy, Head Start, Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Education and Workforce Education. Sandy has been an adult education practitioner for over twenty years. She is a past president of the PA Association for Adult Continuing Education, provided leadership to Pennsylvania's adult education program improvement training system for six years (1997 - 2003) and continues to provide leadership for Pennsylvania's family literacy program improvement initiative (SEQUAL). She serves on the advisory board of the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and is particularly interested in educational interventions that focus on the family unit. Sandy has a B.S. in education from Lock Haven University and a M.Ed. in Training and Development from Penn State University. Luanne Teller is the Director of Massasoit Community College's Stoughton ABE (ESOL) and Transitions to College Programs. She was involved in establishing and developing of both programs. Prior to these positions, she was the Coordinator of an Office Skills Job Training Program, which provided employment skills training to empower women to transition off of public assistance into full-time careers. She holds a degree in secondary education (French and Spanish). She has served on a variety of board and committees, as both a volunteer and elected official. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater Plymouth County United Way. She has extensive experience using research data and communicating with a wide range of constituencies to develop effective program plans, and to promote the commitment to continuous improvement. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070406/434b47ce/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Using Data Effectively DCornellier.ppt Type: application/vnd.ms-powerpoint Size: 64000 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070406/434b47ce/attachment.ppt From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Apr 6 09:38:24 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 09:38:24 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 704] Work/career readiness? Discussion next week! Message-ID: <007901c77850$dac997f0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following Guest Discussion will take place next week on the Workplace Literacy Discussion List. To subscribe or read the archives, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Workplace/ Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So you've heard of the Work Readiness Credential. Or is it called the National Work Readiness Credential? Wait! Maybe that was the Career Readiness Credential you were thinking of. Or the Career Readiness Certification? Workforce Skills Certification? If this is all just too confusing, but you really need to know, join in the discussion next week on the Workplace Literacy Discussion List. Several guests have agreed to share their expertise and answer questions, and there's a great new resource out online that identifies and then compares and contrasts the various work readiness certificates that are out there. The resource, the work of Norma Rey-Alicea and Geri Scott, is "A Survey of Selected Work Readiness Certificates" and you can download it from http://www.jff.org/Documents/WorkReadiness.pdf . Norma and Geri, the authors, are two of the guests who have agreed to answer questions in helping us understand the purposes and issues surrounding work readiness certificates. Other guests have first-hand experience with and knowledge about the three most widely recognized work readiness certificates: Louis Soares, Executive Director of the National Work Readiness Council Lansing Davis (Lanse), Senior Policy Analyst with the NJ State Employment and Training Commission, the State WIB. Judith Titzel, Adult Education Specialist, RI Adult Education Professional Development Center Jane Eguez, Director of Program Planning, CASAS Melissa Dayton, Workforce Program Specialist, CASAS Traci Lepicki, Project Coordinator, Ohio's Career Readiness Credential, The Ohio State University Center on Education and Training for Employment Adrienne Glandon, Ohio's Career Readiness Credential, The Ohio State University Center on Education and Training for Employment Look for additional information and resources on the Workplace Discussion List soon to give you additional background information and resources. If you want to join us for this discussion, subscribe to the list at http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Workplace/ . If you want to unsubscribe after the discussion, go back to that same page (but we hope you will want to stay with us!) Donna Brian, Moderator Workplace Literacy Discussion List Center for Literacy at The University of Tennessee djgbrian at utk.edu From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Mon Apr 9 15:37:32 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 15:37:32 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 705] Additions to National Commission on Adult Literacy Message-ID: <2D03C78B-00FE-4796-A8E0-59DA360EE964@caalusa.org> Colleagues, I'm pleased to tell you that the following individuals have recently joined the National Commission on Adult Literacy: Morton Bahr (President Emeritus, Communications Workers of America); The Hon. Gerald Baliles (former Governor of Virginia, presently Director, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia); George Kessinger (President & CEO, Goodwill Industries International, Inc.); and Juan Olivarez (President, Grand Rapids Community College & Member, NIFL Advisory Board). In addition, we have a new honorary commissioner: the Hon. Ruth Minner (Governor of Delaware). With the possible exception of one more corporate CEO, all commissioners are now on board. The next meeting of the Commission takes place April 17th in New York City. Gail S Gail Spangenberg President Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl New York, NY 10020 212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610 www.caalusa.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070409/6a840b41/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Apr 11 14:50:14 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:50:14 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 706] World Literacy and Nonformal Education at the ALE Wiki Message-ID: <01fe01c77c6a$3e59f950$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The Adult Literacy Education Wiki http://wiki.literacytent.org is a useful resource for adult education teachers and other practitioners, and for researchers. The ALE Wiki now has over 800 subscribers (it's free to subscribe) and nearly 900 pages of information, organized in 32 topics. Below is a list of topics, but today I would especially like to call your attention to World Literacy and Nonformal Education, http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/World_Literacy_and_Nonformal_Educ ation and to invite you to add to this page. David J. Rosen Wikiteer and ALE Wiki Organizer djrosen at comcast.net * Accountability * Action Research * Adult Learners' Self-Study * Adult Literacy Professional Development * Assessment Information * Basic Literacy * Classroom Practices that Work * Corrections Education * Curriculum Development * Developing Professional Wisdom and Research * English for Speakers of Other Languages * Evidence Based Adult Education * Family Literacy * GED Research * Health Literacy * Learner Persistence * Learner Perspectives * Learning Disabilities * Numeracy Research and Practice * Participatory and Emancipatory Education * Program Design * Project Based Learning * Public Policy * Reading * Return on Investment * Standards * Technology * Transition_to_College * Workforce, Workplace and Worker Education * Women and Literacy * World Literacy and Nonformal Education * Young Adult Literacy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070411/a1c694cb/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Sun Apr 15 09:56:59 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 09:56:59 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 707] Test Construction Workshop, July 16-18, 2007 at CETE/OSU Message-ID: <01dc01c77f65$f0531670$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Test Construction Workshop, July 16-18, 2007 - CETE/OSU* Constructing valid, reliable assessments (tests) of job specific knowledge and skill is critical to effective and defensible human resource practice. Knowledge and skill assessments are used for many personnel-related functions, including . Individual certification and licensure, . Personnel selection and placement, and . Training needs assessment or diagnosis. A carefully-designed systematic approach to test construction maximizes return on investment and contributes to candidate satisfaction and motivation. Poorly designed assessments often yield erroneous and damaging results, leading to employee or candidate dissatisfaction, ineffective credentialing decisions and possible exposure to litigation. Because practice or job analysis serve as the foundation to any occupationally-specific test development process, our test development workshop builds on information gathered from such analysis procedures. Our workshops are designed to complement multiple methods of occupational or practice analysis, from simple to complex. To learn more about the Test Construction Workshop process and how to register, please read our brochure (pdf). For additional information, please contact Kathy Summerfield at 614-688-4000 or summerfield.1 at osu.edu. The Center on Education and Training for Employment The Ohio State University 1900 Kenny Road Columbus, OH 43210 www.cete.org * If we receive insufficient registrations for the July 16-18, 2007 workshop, it will be rescheduled. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070415/73682273/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Sun Apr 15 10:15:10 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 10:15:10 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 708] Assessing Adult Literacy Message-ID: <01e101c77f68$7ad0d060$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, Below Tom discusses 3 areas of assessing adult literacy: at the national level, at the program level, and at the individual level. Tom notes that all these types of assessments are in use today to determine the effectiveness of our delivery systems and the quality of our programming, but he also notes that the results of these efforts still remain unclear; we need more research in these areas. What are your thoughts on Tom's discussion? Many of us do believe that more research is needed, but without the Adult Literacy research arm (NCSALL), how can we proceed with studies and research that can help inform the future of our work? Toward the end of his discussion, Tom notes that many of us are looking at what is happening in the classroom (formative assessment) to understand how what happens at that level can inform and shape what happens on the broader levels, but making these connections is neither clear nor simple. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think we should start with the classroom and branch out to the broader levels, or is this unrealistic? I will be interested to see if any of our panel guests in next week's discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement touches on any of the points that Tom makes in this post. Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** April 12, 2007 Strategies for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Adult Literacy Programs: An Update From 1990 Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Over a decade and a half ago, in April of 1990, I participated in a National Conference on State Literacy Initiatives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. At the conference, which was co-sponsored by the National Governor's Association, the U. S. Department of Education, Project Literacy U.S. and three organizations in Pennsylvania, I was asked to present a plenary session on the topic of "Strategies for Evaluating Effectiveness of Programs." In my presentation I discussed three areas of assessment of adult literacy. The first was at the national level, such as what we have today in the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). These types of assessments are aimed at giving us an idea of the literacy skills of adults regardless of how or where they may have acquired these skills. A second arena for assessment is in the evaluation of programs. Here, we evaluate programs to see if the programs are meeting standards, to see if they are maintaining their quality, and to see if programs are improving in their effectiveness. My presentation focused on this second area of assessment of literacy. The third arena for assessment that I discussed was the assessment of individuals for instructional decision making. I noted that individuals are assessed to see where they should be placed in an instructional program, to diagnose their specific needs, to determine instructional materials and methods, and to certify that learning has taken place. Today, all of these types of assessment of adult literacy skills are widespread. At the national level since 1990 we have had two national assessments of adult literacy, the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993 and a decade later the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) of 2003. Despite the repeated reporting of 30, 60, or 90 million adults with literacy skills judged inadequate by the U. S. Department of Education and the National Governor's Association in both 1993 and 2003, some 95 percent of adults reported that they did not think they have a literacy problem and federal policies in the management of adult literacy programs appear to have lead to a loss of some one million enrollments in programs since 1993. Additionally, investments in the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) today barely exceed $200 per enrollee, less than 3 percent of the $6500 provided for each child in the federal Head Start program. All this suggest that we need to rethink the nature of our national assessment of adult literacy and what our national and state policies ought to be in the light of what new assessments reveal. Today, in keeping with my second use of assessment, that is, to see if programs are meeting standards, to see if they are maintaining their quality, and to see if programs are improving in their effectiveness, there is a National Reporting System (NRS) that collects data on learning gains and several outcomes such as secondary degrees/certificates awarded, transition into further education/training, employment and so forth. However, there are not yet national standards for quality nor comparable national assessment tools that would make valid comparisons of how well different programs and different states are performing in both maintaining acceptable quality standards and monitoring their programs so that drops in performance can be corrected and steps can be taken to improve performance. Further, the NRS data on learning do not include pre- and post-test scores so that gains in learning can be estimated more accurately. Resources also need to be made available that would permit the numerous programs to return that dropped out of the AELS, taking some million enrollments with them, when the NRS demands for data collection were imposed across the nation. The third arena for assessment that I discussed in 1990 was the assessment of individuals for instructional decision making. Today there is a wide-ranging discourse on various discussion lists on formative assessment for instructional decision making, assessment for learning disabilities, diagnostics in assessing components of reading ability, and other aspects of instructional decision making. Whether or not this discussion and dialogue is actually improving instructional practices in the AELS is not known to me. However, if classroom decision making is supposed to lead to improvements in learning which are then captured in program assessments using pre- and post-test data on standardized tests, as the present NRS calls for, and if the latter is to lead to improved scores by adults on the national assessments, then the recent NAAL data suggest that any improvements in the AELS classrooms over the decade from 1993 to 2003 did not bubble-up to the national level. There were as many adults in the lowest level of literacy in 2003 as there were in 1993. To repeat my conclusion from the 1990 conference, "As pedantic as it may sound, more research is needed to develop strategies for the assessment of programs that can improve adult literacy in the coming decade." Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Sun Apr 15 10:22:30 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 10:22:30 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 709] Upcoming Discussions Announcement: bundled Message-ID: <01e201c77f69$811f6340$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: Below you will find information on four upcoming guest discussions for April. Moderators of the National Institute for Literacy's Discussion Lists are experimenting with this new format for announcing upcoming discussions rather than send individual announcements, in order to cut down on your email and to provide a more organized mechanism for sharing opportunities. Please let me know if you prefer this format over the individual announcements. The full text for each discussion announcement follows below. Note that I have NOT included the attachments for our discussion next week on Using Data for Program Improvement because I will be sending out a reminder soon that contains all necessary info and resources. Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** 1) Topic: Using Data for Program Improvement Where Held: Assessment Discussion List To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment When: April 16 - 20 Preparation: See attached Power Point 2) Topic: ESL and Workplace List Discussion Where Held: Adult English Language Learners List To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage When: April 16-20, 2007 3) Topic: Discussion on Hand-Held Devices in the Classroom Where Held: Technology & Literacy Discussion List When: April 17-19 To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Technology 4) Topic: Planning Health Literacy Awareness Events Where held: Health & Literacy Discussion List When: April 23-27, 2007 To participate, subscribe: www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/healthliteracy 1) Topic: Using Data for Program Improvement Where Held: Assessment Discussion List When: April 16 - 20 To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment Preparation: See attached Power Point Discussion Announcement Dear Colleagues, I'm pleased to announce the following Panel Guest Discussion, which will be held during the week of April 16 - 20. Topic: Using Data for Program Improvement Guests will discuss the work they have done in using data to improve the quality of adult literacy programming. We will hear about the use of data in small and large programs, as well as at the state and national levels. Panelists are interested in your questions and eager to hear about your use of data, as well as share their own experiences, so please ask questions and share your stories. Recommended preparations for this discussion Please use the following guiding questions to help you share how you use data in your program (or classroom), or how you would like to: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Resources of interest: Using Data Effectively by Donna Cornellier: see attached Power Point Presentation. This PowerPoint outlines a basic framework for identifying, using, and monitoring data; excellent guiding questions are provided as well as a case study for practicing the application of the framework. NRS Publications on data http://www.nrsweb.org/pubs/ This site has a wealth of resources including the NRS Implementation Guidelines; NRS Tips offering information on building data systems, and setting goals and standards; and Training Guides that provide practical information and tools that can be used to build and use data systems effectively. Learning to be an NRS Data Detective http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/StateDataDetectives.aspx This training explores how an effective data detective: * Understands the process and psychology of data collection; * Examines data including assessment, goal setting, and follow-up data; * Asks further questions of the data; and * Makes changes in processes and policies to improve data quality and program services. NRS State and Local Report Cards http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/insights/report_cards.aspx Report cards can be a powerful and effective tool for accountability and program improvement if properly used and implemented. There are many types of report cards, but for the purposes of NRS, our focus is on report cards that assess performance. Report cards that allow meaningful evaluation have the following characteristics: * Include outcome and other data, * Provide a basis for evaluation of that data, and * Present contextual data or interpretive information that aid interpretation and promote understanding. Report cards can be used in several different ways to * Evaluate program quality, * Promote program improvement, and * Inform and advocate for the program. Guest Participants: Toni Borge is the director of the Adult Education & Transitions Program at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a master's degree in educational administration. Toni is a member of the TESOL task force that is advising the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Citizenship, on redesigning the citizenship test that is being piloted in 2007. In May, Toni will present a TESOL Virtual Seminar entitled "Assessment and Learning: Balancing Program Performance and Instruction" in which she will discuss effective ways to manage and balance instruction to meet state and national performance standards. Dr. Larry Condelli is a managing director of the Adult Education and Literacy Program in the Education and Human Development Division at the American Institutes for Research. His work includes research on adult ESL students, accountability, and conducting professional development and technical assistance for adult educators. He recently directed the What Works Study for Adult ESL Literacy Students, the first large-scale empirical study of the effectiveness of instructional practices for adult ESL students, and is currently directing a study of the impact of explicit literacy instruction on low-literate adult ESOL learners for the U.S. Department of Education. He is also the project director for the National Reporting System and was instrumental in developing this national accountability system for federally funded adult education and literacy program. Dr. Condelli's other projects include development of a performance-based reading assessment for low-literate adults for the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, funded by the National Center for Educational Statistics. He is a staff development and data consultant for the states of Alabama, California, Georgia and Utah and provides training and technical assistance to adult education staff in several states. Dr. Condelli holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California. Donna Cornellier is the Project Manager for the student level data system in Massachusetts. In this role, her responsibilities include managing the System for Managing Accountability and Results Through Technology (SMARTT) development team; designing NRS training materials, and providing training and technical assistance to the local programs on using NRS data for program improvement. Presentations included how assessment data is tracked in the student level database and what reports are available to help programs implement the NRS policies. Formerly she was the Director of a local ABE program in Massachusetts. She holds a Masters degree in Educational Leadership and Management. Ajit Gopalakrishnan is an Education Consultant with the Connecticut State Department of Education's Bureau of Early Childhood, Career and Adult Education. He manages adult education projects in the areas of statewide assessment, data management, program accountability, and technology. Rosemary I. Matt has recently been appointed to the newly developed position of NRS Liaison for New York State. In this role, her responsibilities include NRS training, data management, and desk monitoring of all New York State programs. Prior to this position, Rosemary has been in education throughout her career, first as a secondary education mathematics teacher for fifteen years and then as the director of the New York State staff development consortium in the mid state. Karen Mundie has been an adult education professional for over thirty years. She is the associate director of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, a large community-based education organization (42 professional staff members, 550 volunteers, and 2000 students). She is also the director of the Southwest Professional Development Center, where she was the lead trainer in the area of using data for decision-making for three years. Karen is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Adult and Continuing Education (PAACE) and was Pennsylvania's Outstanding Adult Educator for 2005. She holds two masters' degrees from the University of Virginia. Joanie Rethlake, native Texan, is the state director for adult education for Texas LEARNS, the state office for adult education in Houston, Texas and has responsibility for administering the state's adult education program and directing the technical assistance and professional development offered to adult education and family literacy programs across Texas. Formerly, she was the director of adult education at Harris County Department of Education and past president of the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE). Sandy Strunk is Program Director for Community Education at Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13. In this role, she provides leadership for several educational programs including Adult Basic Education, the Adult Education Southeast Professional Development Center, Early Reading First, English as a Second Language, Family Literacy, Head Start, Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Education and Workforce Education. Sandy has been an adult education practitioner for over twenty years. She is a past president of the PA Association for Adult Continuing Education, provided leadership to Pennsylvania's adult education program improvement training system for six years (1997 - 2003) and continues to provide leadership for Pennsylvania's family literacy program improvement initiative (SEQUAL). She serves on the advisory board of the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and is particularly interested in educational interventions that focus on the family unit. Sandy has a B.S. in education from Lock Haven University and a M.Ed. in Training and Development from Penn State University. Luanne Teller is the Director of Massasoit Community College's Stoughton ABE (ESOL) and Transitions to College Programs. She was involved in establishing and developing of both programs. Prior to these positions, she was the Coordinator of an Office Skills Job Training Program, which provided employment skills training to empower women to transition off of public assistance into full-time careers. She holds a degree in secondary education (French and Spanish). She has served on a variety of board and committees, as both a volunteer and elected official. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater Plymouth County United Way. She has extensive experience using research data and communicating with a wide range of constituencies to develop effective program plans, and to promote the commitment to continuous improvement. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ 2) Topic: ESL and Workplace List Discussion Where Held: Adult English Language Learners List To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage When: April 16-20, 2007 Discussion Announcement Dear subscribers, I am happy to announce that next week, April 16-20, 2007 Miriam Burt and Sharon McKay, my colleagues at CAELA, will facilitate a discussion on issues related to adult ESL and workplace education. The goal of this focused discussion is to spark a sharing of ideas and information among the group, especially between those many of you on the list who have been involved in immigrant workplace education since the early 1990's (or before) and those who are newer to Immigrant workplace education. For more information and background resources for the discussion, please see below. Lynda Terrill Adult English language discussion list, moderator lterrill at cal.org Background Although the terminology (e.g., VESL. workplace, workforce), venues, and funding sources may change, the need for effective classes and programs targeted to meet the needs of immigrant workers and their employers has remained the same since the early 1980's. As immigrants join the workforce, especially in areas experiencing new and rapid growth in immigrant population such as Georgia, Nebraska, South Carolina, administrators, teachers, and employers are asking for help. At least some of the answers can be found by searching the archives from earlier workplace initiatives. Possible questions to begin the discussion * What are some of the issues related to improving Immigrant workers English language skills? * What are some of the lessons learned from earlier workplace initiatives? * What are effective ways of planning, implementing, and evaluating adult ESL workplace programs? * How can one get workers, employers, and instructors all on the same page-so everyone knows what outcomes to expect from the class? * What curricula, books, and other resources work well in immigrant workplace classes? Background Reading To set the stage for next week's discussion, please consider reading one or more of the following short articles: * Issues in Improving Immigrant Workers' English Language Skills http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/Workplaceissues.html * English That Works: Preparing Adult English Language Learners for Success in the Workforce and Community http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/Englishwks.html * What are factors to consider when planning for, setting up, and evaluating a workplace program for immigrant workers? (from Ask CAELA, December, 2006) http://www.cal.org/caela/ask_caela/ Facilitators Miriam Burt has worked in the field of adult ESL instruction since 1975. She has taught, trained teachers, written curricula, and directed programs both in the United States and abroad. From 1990-1994, she was the director of the Skills Enhancement Training Program (SET) of the Food and Beverage Workers Union Local 32 & Employers Benefits Fund, a U.S.-Department-of- Education-funded workplace-education program that provided instruction in basic skills, GED, ESL, and communication skills to cafeteria worker in Washington DC. She has provided technical assistance to workplace ESL programs in several states including Texas, where she was an advisory board member for Adult Bilingual Center Institute, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor to provide educational services to dislocated workers in El Paso. She has also provided training to trainers and training directors of the International Laborers Organization. She is on the advisory board for the Project on Employers, Immigrant Workers, Intermediaries and Skills Training, The Center for Workforce Success, National Association of Manufacturers. Her publications on the immigrant workplace education include briefs (Issues in Improving Immigrant Workers' English Language Skills, Evaluating Workplace ESL Programs, and Assessing Workplace Performance Problems: A Checklist) and monographs (A Guide for Providers: Engaging Immigrant Seniors in Community Service and Employment Programs and Workplace ESL Instruction: Interviews from the Field.) Sharon McKay has twenty years experience in adult ESL instruction with the Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP) in Arlington, Virginia. In addition to teaching general ESL, TOEFL prep, and family literacy, Sharon worked as an ESL instructor and site coordinator in workplace programs conducted in hotels, property management companies, landscaping, hospital and retirement centers. She wrote and collaborated on multiple curricula and her TESOL Masters' paper is on the topic of curriculum development for Workplace ESL. She contributed this work under a national demonstration grant developed to connect workers with ESL literacy instruction. Sharon is the co-author of the workforce text with video series, English Works! (Addison Wesley). 3) Topic: Discussion on Hand-Held Devices in the Classroom Where Held: Technology & Literacy Discussion List When: April 17-19 To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Technology Discussion Announcement Dear Technology List Colleagues, This January the Tech list went through a process of identifying discussion topics we would like to explore this year. Many of you had requested a discussion on the use of cell phones, hand-held and portable devices (like Palm Pilots) in education settings. As such, I am very happy to announce that the Technology list will be engaging in a special discussion on the use of hand-held and portable devices in the classroom. Marilyn Williams, an instructor who participated in a practitioner research project on the use of hand-helds to support student learning will join the tech list to share her three years of experience in integrating this technology in to her classroom. Marilyn, will join the Tech list from April 17th through April 19th. More information will come in the days leading up to the discussion but for now, please save the dates. Following is a brief introduction that Marilyn asked me to share with you all: Bio: Hi there! My name is Marilyn Williams and I am a middle school teacher in Eugene, Oregon. I've been involved with a number of research projects through the University of Oregon and have enjoyed finding new ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. Although I'm definitely not a 'technie' I've been using handheld computers for the last few years and have found them to be a fantastic way to boost student involvement and learning. Discussion: As educators, we are always striving to better meet the needs of all our students. In my inclusion language arts/social studies classes, I have found that using handhelds helped to do just that. I was so excited to see how this technology motivated my students as well as allowed them be more successful in their reading and writing. I'm looking forward to discussing this technology application with you. Regards, Mariann Mariann Fedele Associate Director, NYC Regional Adult Education Network Literacy Assistance Center Moderator, NIFL Technology and Literacy Discussion List 32 Broadway 10th Floor New York, New York 10004 212-803-3325 mariannf at lacnyc.org www.lacnyc.org 4) Topic: Planning Health Literacy Awareness Events Where held: Health & Literacy Discussion List When: April 23-27, 2007 To participate, subscribe: www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/healthliteracy Guest: Helen Osborne, founder of Health Literacy Month and author of the "Health Literacy Month Handbook: The Event Planning Guide for Health Literacy Advocates" Discussion Announcement October is Health Literacy Month, a time when health literacy advocates around the world promote the importance of making health information understandable. This annual event actually started with a posting Helen Osborne made to the Health & Literacy Discussion List in 1999. Now is the time to start making your plans for Health Literacy Month 2007. Helen will join us for an informative discussion about how you can help raise local awareness about health literacy this October. Helen has recently completed the "Health Literacy Month Handbook: The Event Planning Guide for Health Literacy Advocates" and will share some of her expertise in this type of event planning including creating a vision, building a team, running events, and measuring success. We hope that this discussion will be a forum for health literacy advocates everywhere to exchange ideas, share resources, and learn from one another. About the guest Speaker: Recognized as an expert in health literacy, Helen Osborne M.Ed., OTR/L helps health professionals communicate in ways patients and their families can understand. She is president of her own business, Health Literacy Consulting, based in Natick, Massachusetts. Helen is also the founder of Health Literacy Month - a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about the importance of understandable health information. Helen speaks, consults, and writes about health literacy. She is in her eighth year as a columnist for the Boston Globe's On Call magazine, writing about patient education and healthcare communication. In addition to the new Health Literacy Month Handbook, Helen is also the author of several other books including the award-winning Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message published by Jones & Bartlett. To learn more about Helen's work, please visit the Health Literacy Consulting website at www.healthliteracy.com. Recommended Reading: Health Literacy Month Website http://www.healthliteracy.com/hl_month.asp This website includes a searchable database of Health Literacy Month events as well as a form to submit how your organization is participating. The website has resources including a free downloadable Health Literacy Month logo. In Other Words.It's Time to Get Involved in Health Literacy Month http://www.healthliteracy.com/article.asp?PageID=3752 Published as a column in "On Call Magazine", this article by Helen Osborne outlines some basics of getting involved in Health Literacy Month. In Other Words.Why Health Literacy Matters http://www.healthliteracy.com/article.asp?PageID=3791 This article includes accounts from patients, providers and policy makers of why we all need to address health literacy. In Other Words.Measuring the Effectiveness of Health Literacy Interventions http://www.healthliteracy.com/article.asp?PageID=3753 This article focuses on why it is important to measure the effectiveness of your health communication efforts. We hope you can join us for this discussion! Please forward this announcement to all your colleagues and friends interested in learning more about awareness-raising events. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070415/2aeef70f/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Apr 16 07:28:59 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:28:59 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Message-ID: <025601c7801a$6dd5ed70$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Discussion Announcement Dear Colleagues, I'm pleased to announce the following Panel Guest Discussion, which will be held during the week of April 16 - 20. Topic: Using Data for Program Improvement Guests will discuss the work they have done in using data to improve the quality of adult literacy programming. We will hear about the use of data in small and large programs, as well as at the state and national levels. Panelists are interested in your questions and eager to hear about your use of data, as well as share their own experiences, so please ask questions and share your stories. Recommended preparations for this discussion Please use the following guiding questions to help you share how you use data in your program (or classroom), or how you would like to: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Resources of interest: Using Data Effectively by Donna Cornellier: see attached Power Point Presentation. This PowerPoint outlines a basic framework for identifying, using, and monitoring data; excellent guiding questions are provided as well as a case study for practicing the application of the framework. Developing & Disseminating Report Cards, Report Card Rubric, Rolling Out the Report Card. See attached Power Point Presentations from University of the State of New York, State Education Department and the Literacy Assistance Center (LAC). These presentations outline the development of a Report Card for measuring the performance of literacy programming within the state of NY. A detailed look at scoring the elements of program performance is provided; presenters also review their process for informing/ working with stakeholders on the use of report cards, and report on the first year results of the initiative. NRS Publications on data http://www.nrsweb.org/pubs/ This site has a wealth of resources including the NRS Implementation Guidelines; NRS Tips offering information on building data systems, and setting goals and standards; and Training Guides that provide practical information and tools that can be used to build and use data systems effectively. Learning to be an NRS Data Detective http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/StateDataDetectives.aspx This training explores how an effective data detective: * Understands the process and psychology of data collection; * Examines data including assessment, goal setting, and follow-up data; * Asks further questions of the data; and * Makes changes in processes and policies to improve data quality and program services. NRS State and Local Report Cards http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/insights/report_cards.aspx Report cards can be a powerful and effective tool for accountability and program improvement if properly used and implemented. There are many types of report cards, but for the purposes of NRS, our focus is on report cards that assess performance. Report cards that allow meaningful evaluation have the following characteristics: * Include outcome and other data, * Provide a basis for evaluation of that data, and * Present contextual data or interpretive information that aid interpretation and promote understanding. Report cards can be used in several different ways to * Evaluate program quality, * Promote program improvement, and * Inform and advocate for the program. Guest Participants: Toni Borge is the director of the Adult Education & Transitions Program at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a master's degree in educational administration. Toni is a member of the TESOL task force that is advising the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Citizenship, on redesigning the citizenship test that is being piloted in 2007. In May, Toni will present a TESOL Virtual Seminar entitled "Assessment and Learning: Balancing Program Performance and Instruction" in which she will discuss effective ways to manage and balance instruction to meet state and national performance standards. Dr. Larry Condelli is a managing director of the Adult Education and Literacy Program in the Education and Human Development Division at the American Institutes for Research. His work includes research on adult ESL students, accountability, and conducting professional development and technical assistance for adult educators. He recently directed the What Works Study for Adult ESL Literacy Students, the first large-scale empirical study of the effectiveness of instructional practices for adult ESL students, and is currently directing a study of the impact of explicit literacy instruction on low-literate adult ESOL learners for the U.S. Department of Education. He is also the project director for the National Reporting System and was instrumental in developing this national accountability system for federally funded adult education and literacy program. Dr. Condelli's other projects include development of a performance-based reading assessment for low-literate adults for the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, funded by the National Center for Educational Statistics. He is a staff development and data consultant for the states of Alabama, California, Georgia and Utah and provides training and technical assistance to adult education staff in several states. Dr. Condelli holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California. Donna Cornellier is the Project Manager for the student level data system in Massachusetts. In this role, her responsibilities include managing the System for Managing Accountability and Results Through Technology (SMARTT) development team; designing NRS training materials, and providing training and technical assistance to the local programs on using NRS data for program improvement. Presentations included how assessment data is tracked in the student level database and what reports are available to help programs implement the NRS policies. Formerly she was the Director of a local ABE program in Massachusetts. She holds a Masters degree in Educational Leadership and Management. Ajit Gopalakrishnan is an Education Consultant with the Connecticut State Department of Education's Bureau of Early Childhood, Career and Adult Education. He manages adult education projects in the areas of statewide assessment, data management, program accountability, and technology. Rosemary I. Matt has recently been appointed to the newly developed position of NRS Liaison for New York State, under the direction of the Literacy Assistance Center in New York City. In this role, her responsibilities include NRS training, data management, and desk monitoring of all New York State programs. Prior to this position, Rosemary has been in education throughout her career, first as a secondary education mathematics teacher for fifteen years and then as the director of the New York State staff development consortium in the mid state. Karen Mundie has been an adult education professional for over thirty years. She is the associate director of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, a large community-based education organization (42 professional staff members, 550 volunteers, and 2000 students). She is also the director of the Southwest Professional Development Center, where she was the lead trainer in the area of using data for decision-making for three years. Karen is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Adult and Continuing Education (PAACE) and was Pennsylvania's Outstanding Adult Educator for 2005. She holds two masters' degrees from the University of Virginia. Joanie Rethlake, native Texan, is the state director for adult education for Texas LEARNS, the state office for adult education in Houston, Texas and has responsibility for administering the state's adult education program and directing the technical assistance and professional development offered to adult education and family literacy programs across Texas. Formerly, she was the director of adult education at Harris County Department of Education and past president of the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE). Sandy Strunk is Program Director for Community Education at Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13. In this role, she provides leadership for several educational programs including Adult Basic Education, the Adult Education Southeast Professional Development Center, Early Reading First, English as a Second Language, Family Literacy, Head Start, Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Education and Workforce Education. Sandy has been an adult education practitioner for over twenty years. She is a past president of the PA Association for Adult Continuing Education, provided leadership to Pennsylvania's adult education program improvement training system for six years (1997 - 2003) and continues to provide leadership for Pennsylvania's family literacy program improvement initiative (SEQUAL). She serves on the advisory board of the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and is particularly interested in educational interventions that focus on the family unit. Sandy has a B.S. in education from Lock Haven University and a M.Ed. in Training and Development from Penn State University. Luanne Teller is the Director of Massasoit Community College's Stoughton ABE (ESOL) and Transitions to College Programs. She was involved in establishing and developing of both programs. Prior to these positions, she was the Coordinator of an Office Skills Job Training Program, which provided employment skills training to empower women to transition off of public assistance into full-time careers. She holds a degree in secondary education (French and Spanish). She has served on a variety of board and committees, as both a volunteer and elected official. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater Plymouth County United Way. She has extensive experience using research data and communicating with a wide range of constituencies to develop effective program plans, and to promote the commitment to continuous improvement. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/dc0b49b9/attachment.html From Ajit.Gopalakrishnan at ct.gov Mon Apr 16 10:32:10 2007 From: Ajit.Gopalakrishnan at ct.gov (Gopalakrishnan, Ajit) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:32:10 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 711] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! In-Reply-To: <025601c7801a$6dd5ed70$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <281DD0D97E3EC94FB83030B1379CE426027D1C66@DOIT-EX302.exec.ds.state.ct.us> Good morning Marie. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my ideas with the members of this list. You asked, "I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services." I will begin my comments from my perspective as state agency staff member. In my opinion, if we (at the state office) want local programs to utilize data for program improvement, we have to continuously model those behaviors at the state level. We have used data to: * inform the development of our policies and recommendations; * highlight program practices that need attention; * target providers for on-site monitoring; * identify high-performing providers to learn from, about strategies that work; * provide technical assistance and feedback; and * enhance our professional development model. Ajit Ajit Gopalakrishnan Connecticut Department of Education 25 Industrial Park Road Middletown, CT 06457 Phone: (860) 807-2125 Fax: (860) 807-2062 Email: ajit.gopalakrishnan at ct.gov ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Discussion Announcement Dear Colleagues, I'm pleased to announce the following Panel Guest Discussion, which will be held during the week of April 16 - 20. Topic: Using Data for Program Improvement Guests will discuss the work they have done in using data to improve the quality of adult literacy programming. We will hear about the use of data in small and large programs, as well as at the state and national levels. Panelists are interested in your questions and eager to hear about your use of data, as well as share their own experiences, so please ask questions and share your stories. Recommended preparations for this discussion Please use the following guiding questions to help you share how you use data in your program (or classroom), or how you would like to: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Resources of interest: Using Data Effectively by Donna Cornellier: see attached Power Point Presentation. This PowerPoint outlines a basic framework for identifying, using, and monitoring data; excellent guiding questions are provided as well as a case study for practicing the application of the framework. Developing & Disseminating Report Cards, Report Card Rubric, Rolling Out the Report Card. See attached Power Point Presentations from University of the State of New York, State Education Department and the Literacy Assistance Center (LAC). These presentations outline the development of a Report Card for measuring the performance of literacy programming within the state of NY. A detailed look at scoring the elements of program performance is provided; presenters also review their process for informing/ working with stakeholders on the use of report cards, and report on the first year results of the initiative. NRS Publications on data http://www.nrsweb.org/pubs/ This site has a wealth of resources including the NRS Implementation Guidelines; NRS Tips offering information on building data systems, and setting goals and standards; and Training Guides that provide practical information and tools that can be used to build and use data systems effectively. Learning to be an NRS Data Detective http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/StateDataDetectives.aspx This training explores how an effective data detective: * Understands the process and psychology of data collection; * Examines data including assessment, goal setting, and follow-up data; * Asks further questions of the data; and * Makes changes in processes and policies to improve data quality and program services. NRS State and Local Report Cards http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/insights/report_cards.aspx Report cards can be a powerful and effective tool for accountability and program improvement if properly used and implemented. There are many types of report cards, but for the purposes of NRS, our focus is on report cards that assess performance. Report cards that allow meaningful evaluation have the following characteristics: * Include outcome and other data, * Provide a basis for evaluation of that data, and * Present contextual data or interpretive information that aid interpretation and promote understanding. Report cards can be used in several different ways to * Evaluate program quality, * Promote program improvement, and * Inform and advocate for the program. Guest Participants: Toni Borge is the director of the Adult Education & Transitions Program at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a master's degree in educational administration. Toni is a member of the TESOL task force that is advising the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Citizenship, on redesigning the citizenship test that is being piloted in 2007. In May, Toni will present a TESOL Virtual Seminar entitled "Assessment and Learning: Balancing Program Performance and Instruction" in which she will discuss effective ways to manage and balance instruction to meet state and national performance standards. Dr. Larry Condelli is a managing director of the Adult Education and Literacy Program in the Education and Human Development Division at the American Institutes for Research. His work includes research on adult ESL students, accountability, and conducting professional development and technical assistance for adult educators. He recently directed the What Works Study for Adult ESL Literacy Students, the first large-scale empirical study of the effectiveness of instructional practices for adult ESL students, and is currently directing a study of the impact of explicit literacy instruction on low-literate adult ESOL learners for the U.S. Department of Education. He is also the project director for the National Reporting System and was instrumental in developing this national accountability system for federally funded adult education and literacy program. Dr. Condelli's other projects include development of a performance-based reading assessment for low-literate adults for the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, funded by the National Center for Educational Statistics. He is a staff development and data consultant for the states of Alabama, California, Georgia and Utah and provides training and technical assistance to adult education staff in several states. Dr. Condelli holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California. Donna Cornellier is the Project Manager for the student level data system in Massachusetts. In this role, her responsibilities include managing the System for Managing Accountability and Results Through Technology (SMARTT) development team; designing NRS training materials, and providing training and technical assistance to the local programs on using NRS data for program improvement. Presentations included how assessment data is tracked in the student level database and what reports are available to help programs implement the NRS policies. Formerly she was the Director of a local ABE program in Massachusetts. She holds a Masters degree in Educational Leadership and Management. Ajit Gopalakrishnan is an Education Consultant with the Connecticut State Department of Education's Bureau of Early Childhood, Career and Adult Education. He manages adult education projects in the areas of statewide assessment, data management, program accountability, and technology. Rosemary I. Matt has recently been appointed to the newly developed position of NRS Liaison for New York State, under the direction of the Literacy Assistance Center in New York City. In this role, her responsibilities include NRS training, data management, and desk monitoring of all New York State programs. Prior to this position, Rosemary has been in education throughout her career, first as a secondary education mathematics teacher for fifteen years and then as the director of the New York State staff development consortium in the mid state. Karen Mundie has been an adult education professional for over thirty years. She is the associate director of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, a large community-based education organization (42 professional staff members, 550 volunteers, and 2000 students). She is also the director of the Southwest Professional Development Center, where she was the lead trainer in the area of using data for decision-making for three years. Karen is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Adult and Continuing Education (PAACE) and was Pennsylvania's Outstanding Adult Educator for 2005. She holds two masters' degrees from the University of Virginia. Joanie Rethlake, native Texan, is the state director for adult education for Texas LEARNS, the state office for adult education in Houston, Texas and has responsibility for administering the state's adult education program and directing the technical assistance and professional development offered to adult education and family literacy programs across Texas. Formerly, she was the director of adult education at Harris County Department of Education and past president of the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE). Sandy Strunk is Program Director for Community Education at Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13. In this role, she provides leadership for several educational programs including Adult Basic Education, the Adult Education Southeast Professional Development Center, Early Reading First, English as a Second Language, Family Literacy, Head Start, Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Education and Workforce Education. Sandy has been an adult education practitioner for over twenty years. She is a past president of the PA Association for Adult Continuing Education, provided leadership to Pennsylvania's adult education program improvement training system for six years (1997 - 2003) and continues to provide leadership for Pennsylvania's family literacy program improvement initiative (SEQUAL). She serves on the advisory board of the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and is particularly interested in educational interventions that focus on the family unit. Sandy has a B.S. in education from Lock Haven University and a M.Ed. in Training and Development from Penn State University. Luanne Teller is the Director of Massasoit Community College's Stoughton ABE (ESOL) and Transitions to College Programs. She was involved in establishing and developing of both programs. Prior to these positions, she was the Coordinator of an Office Skills Job Training Program, which provided employment skills training to empower women to transition off of public assistance into full-time careers. She holds a degree in secondary education (French and Spanish). She has served on a variety of board and committees, as both a volunteer and elected official. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater Plymouth County United Way. She has extensive experience using research data and communicating with a wide range of constituencies to develop effective program plans, and to promote the commitment to continuous improvement. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/160cb583/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Apr 16 11:12:12 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:12:12 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 712] Resources for Data Discussion Message-ID: <02a501c78039$9d2b72b0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, Ok, I have the Power Points available for you all now: For the Power Point from Donna Cornellier, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html and scroll down to the bottom of that page. You'll see the resources listed there. For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingR eportCards.ppt If anyone has difficulties opening/viewing these resources, please email to let me know. Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/0a680952/attachment.html From LCondelli at air.org Mon Apr 16 11:44:03 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:44:03 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! In-Reply-To: <025601c7801a$6dd5ed70$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Hi Everyone, It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/45c3d490/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Apr 16 13:29:08 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:29:08 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know... Message-ID: <030201c7804c$bdc8ed00$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi folks, A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give them the necessary info for joining our discussion. Please post your questions and share your experiences now! View the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date with the current conversation. See suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html (Scroll to the bottom!!) See more resources at: For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingR eportCards.ppt Here are your prompts: add your voice!: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/b27c1889/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Mon Apr 16 14:40:36 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:40:36 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 715] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi there, I like to use state database information to show me which teachers are needing assistance and which teachers are modeling good practices. The database is certainly not a final word, as we all have had groups of students that performed well or poorly regardless of instruction. The data is a good place to show red flags, however. Student assessments and staff self-assessments are also great for predicting professional development needs. Data can also help us see what people groups we are reaching with advertising, and which people groups are not. Then we can create new means of recruitment for our program. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu "Condelli, Larry" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 04/16/2007 09:15 AM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To "The Assessment Discussion List" cc Subject [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Hi Everyone, It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below ? please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I?m having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I?ll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already (?Using Data Effectively DCornellier?). Thank you for your patience with this. Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot?s Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine ? they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. I?ll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/561a71c5/attachment.html From sandy_strunk at IU13.org Mon Apr 16 15:13:51 2007 From: sandy_strunk at IU13.org (Sandy Strunk) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:13:51 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 716] Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F14D0@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> Good afternoon, everyone, and many thanks to Marie for putting this panel together. Using data for decision-making has been a passion of mine for some time. I think by nature, I'm just one of those people who always has questions about things - and I love testing my assumptions about how the world works. It started some years ago when Pennsylvania first began its work with Project EQUAL (Educational Quality for Adult Literacy). Judy Alamprese was our professional developer and she challenged each of our sites to pose a question related to program improvement, collect some data related to the question, analyze that data, and then develop a program improvement plan based on our data analysis. I took to the process like a fish to water. I still remember the first teacher I walked through this process with. She was a beginning ESL teacher - one of our best. She wanted to know if she was teaching the sorts of things her students were most interested in learning. This sounds fairly basic, but when none of your students speak English, it's a challenge to know if what you're teaching is what they most want to learn. To collect our data, we partnered with the Advanced ESL class and had them translate some basic questions into nine languages. At that time, our beginning curriculum was based on work skills and basic communication for the workplace. What we learned was that this particular cohort of students wanted to learn about shopping and healthcare - work skills were at the bottom of their list! More importantly, we learned that our assumptions about what students want and need to learn are not always accurate. We were teaching job prep when they wanted to know how to order a quarter pounder with fries (we've since started a health literacy unit, as well ;-). That was the start of a program improvement process that we have used in our local program ever since. We have a program improvement team - which most years, is representative of all facets of our adult education program. I say most years because this year, for the first time, the program improvement team is limited to site managers and supervisors who have been working together to develop an ongoing progress monitoring system. Our progress monitoring system provides our learners with individual written feedback on a quarterly basis related to their actual attendance compared to the number of class hours available, achievement on standardized assessments they have completed, and goal attainment related to what they told us they wanted to achieve when they enrolled. This is the first year that we have shared written progress data with our learners in this manner. If using data for decision-making is a powerful tool for changing what we do, we wondered what impact the data might have on our learners. Our assumption is that it will have a positive impact on student retention, but implementation isn't stable enough yet to do a comparison study. I'd love to know if anyone else is doing this sort of written student feedback and what they've learned as a result. Other ways we use data? Well, we always have one or two action research or inquiry projects running. Last year, two of our staff did a great action research project on the question, "Why do some of our students complete our orientation process but never reach enrollment status?" When this question came up in our program improvement meetings, we all had opinions (our team is never at a loss for opinions). Some speculated that "childcare and transportation" are the issues. Some of us were quick to suggest that "childcare and transportation" are the universal retention scapegoats for our field. Others felt that quality teaching was the issue. Still others suggested that the problem rests with the motivation of our learners. Without data for decision-making, we would have no mechanism for moving this discussion beyond the opinion stage. We also collect customer satisfaction data twice a year. One day in the Fall and one day in the Spring we survey everyone who is in class with a simple instrument that rates the student's satisfaction with the classroom environment, the teacher, instructional materials, and goals. In fact, we just finished our Spring cycle and last week I got the report comparing our Spring 2007 student satisfaction numbers to our Spring 2006 numbers. Here's an interesting snippet - 69% of our family literacy students (N=42) strongly agree that they can use what they learn in class at home or at work. 58% of our ESL students (N=263) strongly agree. 27% of our ABE/GED students (N=150) strongly agree. Another interesting tidbit - 76% of our family literacy students strongly agree that the teacher starts class on time. 86% of our ESL students strongly agree. 59% of our ABE/GED students strongly agree. Well, as usual, one question always leads to another. I'm not exactly sure how to make sense of these numbers, but my next step will be to look at the disaggregated data by classroom. The good news is that all of these percentages are up from last year. Either we're doing better or we have an especially agreeable cohort of learners. I think the point I want to make is - for us, data for decision-making is tied to our constant curiosity about the work we do. Yes, we routinely look at our performance against state standards - but that's a routine part of our work. The more interesting investigations tend to stem from something we notice and wonder about. Like - do ABE/GED teachers in our program really start class later than ESL teachers or does it just seem that way because so many of them start the day with individual work rather than group lessons? Sandy Strunk Program Director for Community Education Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 1020 New Holland Avenue Lancaster, PA 17601 (717) 606-1873 ________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/235431cd/attachment.html From LCondelli at air.org Mon Apr 16 15:15:51 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:15:51 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 717] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi Tina, Using the data to identify which teachers need help and what is good practice is very intriguing idea. Can you tell us more about that -- what indicators you use, for example? ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 2:41 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 715] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! Hi there, I like to use state database information to show me which teachers are needing assistance and which teachers are modeling good practices. The database is certainly not a final word, as we all have had groups of students that performed well or poorly regardless of instruction. The data is a good place to show red flags, however. Student assessments and staff self-assessments are also great for predicting professional development needs. Data can also help us see what people groups we are reaching with advertising, and which people groups are not. Then we can create new means of recruitment for our program. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu "Condelli, Larry" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 04/16/2007 09:15 AM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To "The Assessment Discussion List" cc Subject [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Hi Everyone, It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/d9b1b3bd/attachment.html From barguedas at sfccnm.edu Mon Apr 16 15:25:04 2007 From: barguedas at sfccnm.edu (Barbara Arguedas) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:25:04 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 718] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C3CF@ex01.sfcc.edu> Hello Tina, I wonder if you could say more about what exact data you use to see what your teachers need. Is it attendance or level gain, or something else? We use attendance data to track total hours students are attending and to determine if they are eligible to post-test (minimum of 40 hours in NM). If students attend at least 75% of the potential hours, then the student is eligible to get a certificate at the end of the session (usually a 12-week session that meets 5 hours each week). We also see what the overall retention rate is by teacher as well as the post-test rate and the level gain rate. I agree that these could indicate a need for training. We are interested in other ways that programs use data to help with retention. Thank you. Barbara Arguedas Santa Fe Community College Santa Fe, NM -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 12:41 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 715] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! Hi there, I like to use state database information to show me which teachers are needing assistance and which teachers are modeling good practices. The database is certainly not a final word, as we all have had groups of students that performed well or poorly regardless of instruction. The data is a good place to show red flags, however. Student assessments and staff self-assessments are also great for predicting professional development needs. Data can also help us see what people groups we are reaching with advertising, and which people groups are not. Then we can create new means of recruitment for our program. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu "Condelli, Larry" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 04/16/2007 09:15 AM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To "The Assessment Discussion List" cc Subject [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Hi Everyone, It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/2069e7ab/attachment.html From sandy_strunk at IU13.org Mon Apr 16 15:29:42 2007 From: sandy_strunk at IU13.org (Sandy Strunk) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:29:42 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 719] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F14E9@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> Tina and Larry, I do this, too, but I'm also very interested in positive deviance. How is it that some teachers, who work in very challenging settings, are able to produce such significant results? For example, there's a teacher in our program, let's call her Miranda, who consistently has high enrollment, wonderful retention and excellent student achievement. I can assign her to ABE/GED, ESL, family literacy, day, evening - it just doesn't seem to matter. It's a much harder data collection question, because she thinks she's doing what everyone else is doing and, ostensibly, she is. What jumps out at me when I visit her class is the sense of community she's able to build that seems to be based on her belief that her students will accomplish great things. Sandy Strunk Program Director for Community Education Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 1020 New Holland Avenue Lancaster, PA 17601 (717) 606-1873 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 2:41 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 715] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! Hi there, I like to use state database information to show me which teachers are needing assistance and which teachers are modeling good practices. The database is certainly not a final word, as we all have had groups of students that performed well or poorly regardless of instruction. The data is a good place to show red flags, however. Student assessments and staff self-assessments are also great for predicting professional development needs. Data can also help us see what people groups we are reaching with advertising, and which people groups are not. Then we can create new means of recruitment for our program. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu "Condelli, Larry" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 04/16/2007 09:15 AM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To "The Assessment Discussion List" cc Subject [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Hi Everyone, It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/e22ab28c/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Mon Apr 16 15:56:58 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:56:58 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 720] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/666263e8/attachment.html From mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us Mon Apr 16 17:03:22 2007 From: mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us (Mary Beheler) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:03:22 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 721] Re: What about us little guys using volunteers for one-on-one tutoring? In-Reply-To: <030201c7804c$bdc8ed00$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: MessageWe tutor adults. No children. Almost all our students are at Begining Literacy to High Intermediate ABE level. Almost no high or even low adult secondary. At the secondary level we only get the students that can't (or won't) tolerate study in a regular ABE classroom. ESL instruction is done by a different organization, with paid teachers. We net 20 to 25 students with more than 12 hours of study each year. We are so small that sometimes an entire FFL will have only one student in it. When that happens the only question is, "How many advanced a level: 0 or 100%?" We deal with students on a highly individualized basis. One may need to learn to read again after having a stroke or a fever. Another may have taught himself to sight read at a very high level, but neglected to teach himself any spelling or writing skills. A high school graduate may not have learned even his ABCs, for whatever reason. One or two students a year might have an employment or higher education goal. (Then WV can't verify it, if the student works or studies out of state.) I can safely say that no two students have been alike in the nearly ten years that I have been here. I genuinely *like* statistics and know they can be very useful, and don't mind gathering data to be put in a bigger pool if what comes back is helpful. However, if a level has only 3 students, is the data even "statistically significant" if just 2 of them are available for both pre and post assessment? 2 of 4? Some things are better seen by microscopes and others by telescopes. Right now neither NRS nor CASAS seems especially useful at a local level. Maybe all I need is to find out how to focus them. Maybe they should be just trashed. They may cost more to use than they return in terms of time and money and *stress*, on us and especially on our students. I'm from West Virginia, not Missouri, but, "Show me!" (Please.) Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:29 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know... Hi folks, A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give them the necessary info for joining our discussion. Please post your questions and share your experiences now! View the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date with the current conversation. See suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html (Scroll to the bottom!!) See more resources at: For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingRep ortCards.ppt Here are your prompts: add your voice!: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/7ab7eb45/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Mon Apr 16 17:40:20 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:40:20 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 722] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F14E9@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> References: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F14E9@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/8baae119/attachment.html From sandy_strunk at IU13.org Mon Apr 16 17:58:08 2007 From: sandy_strunk at IU13.org (Sandy Strunk) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:58:08 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 723] Re: What about us little guys using volunteers forone-on-one tutoring? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F1579@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> Mary, I think you raise some valid concerns. When you're working with a small pool of students like this, aggregate statistics can be rather meaningless. I would think the most helpful data for you would be individual diagnostic reading assessment and progress monitoring data. Are you familiar with the Adult Reading Component study and the work related to using reading profiles? You might want to check out http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/. I'm wondering if the component reading assessments wouldn't go a long way toward "focusing" the reading instruction you offer based on each learner's profile. That doesn't get you off the hook for NRS reporting, but it does provide a mechanism for meeting the highly individual needs of your learners. Just a thought. Sandy Strunk Program Director for Community Education Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 1020 New Holland Avenue Lancaster, PA 17601 (717) 606-1873 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mary Beheler Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 5:03 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 721] Re: What about us little guys using volunteers forone-on-one tutoring? We tutor adults. No children. Almost all our students are at Begining Literacy to High Intermediate ABE level. Almost no high or even low adult secondary. At the secondary level we only get the students that can't (or won't) tolerate study in a regular ABE classroom. ESL instruction is done by a different organization, with paid teachers. We net 20 to 25 students with more than 12 hours of study each year. We are so small that sometimes an entire FFL will have only one student in it. When that happens the only question is, "How many advanced a level: 0 or 100%?" We deal with students on a highly individualized basis. One may need to learn to read again after having a stroke or a fever. Another may have taught himself to sight read at a very high level, but neglected to teach himself any spelling or writing skills. A high school graduate may not have learned even his ABCs, for whatever reason. One or two students a year might have an employment or higher education goal. (Then WV can't verify it, if the student works or studies out of state.) I can safely say that no two students have been alike in the nearly ten years that I have been here. I genuinely *like* statistics and know they can be very useful, and don't mind gathering data to be put in a bigger pool if what comes back is helpful. However, if a level has only 3 students, is the data even "statistically significant" if just 2 of them are available for both pre and post assessment? 2 of 4? Some things are better seen by microscopes and others by telescopes. Right now neither NRS nor CASAS seems especially useful at a local level. Maybe all I need is to find out how to focus them. Maybe they should be just trashed. They may cost more to use than they return in terms of time and money and *stress*, on us and especially on our students. I'm from West Virginia, not Missouri, but, "Show me!" (Please.) Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:29 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know... Hi folks, A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give them the necessary info for joining our discussion. Please post your questions and share your experiences now! View the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date with the current conversation. See suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html (Scroll to the bottom!!) See more resources at: For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingR eportCards.ppt Here are your prompts: add your voice!: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070416/a2935f49/attachment.html From rosemarym at lacnyc.org Tue Apr 17 07:38:45 2007 From: rosemarym at lacnyc.org (Rosemary Matt) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:38:45 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 724] Re: What about us little guys using volunteersforone-on-one tutoring? References: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F1579@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92CE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Good Morning Everyone! I am sorry to be so late joining the group. I am one of the panelists, Rosemary Matt. Just recently, I accepted the position of NRS Liaison for New York State so monitoring data and providing technical assistance to programs in need is now my entire focus. We also have a large contingent of programs that provide service through a volunteer network in a one to one tutoring arrangement. Your concerns Mary regarding the inability for programs such as these to meet performance benchmarks is shared by New York programs as well. Our state department has thoroughly considered the population these folks serve and consider that to be a mitigating circumstance when assessing their performance. The value of these organizations serving some of our lowest skilled readers is well known and appreciated. In a state the size of New York it is possible to absorb the lack of educational gain increments from these agencies as they are balanced by other programs serving students for whom gain is eminent. At the same time however we have worked closely with these programs and their statewide leadership team to provide technical assistance in the area of assessment. As they learn more about the strategies and nuances that evolve around the NRS accountability system, they are better able to show whatever gain is possible from their students. As some of you are aware, New York also utilizes the program level Report Card. We attended the training two years ago that was provided by Larry and his staff at AIR. I would strongly recommend this training to any state considering this accountability tool for programs. We have made incredible advances in terms of identifying high performing programs and targeting those in need of technical assistance through our Report Card Rubric. Marie has posted three power points that I offer in training built around this rubric. To further support our volunteer programs, our state department has chosen to rank these programs among themselves providing a homogeneous category specific to their needs. They are not measured against the cohort of traditional adult education programs. Another strategy we have recently embarked upon is through our statewide data system, we have introduced Collaboration Metrics. Many students working first with these volunteer programs while they are at minimal skill levels will eventually move into traditional programming and continue to succeed through the educational levels. To ensure the volunteer programs remain tied to the student's success, they are informed of the students progress through the data system and can subsequently report on that gain as well. These few methods of support have been well received by our volunteer affiliates. Hope they may give you and your state some thoughts for the future. Rosemary Rosemary I. Matt NRS Liaison for NYS Literacy Assistance Center 12 Meadowbrook Drive New Hartford, NY 13413 315.798.1026 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Sandy Strunk Sent: Mon 4/16/2007 5:58 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 723] Re: What about us little guys using volunteersforone-on-one tutoring? Mary, I think you raise some valid concerns. When you're working with a small pool of students like this, aggregate statistics can be rather meaningless. I would think the most helpful data for you would be individual diagnostic reading assessment and progress monitoring data. Are you familiar with the Adult Reading Component study and the work related to using reading profiles? You might want to check out http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/. I'm wondering if the component reading assessments wouldn't go a long way toward "focusing" the reading instruction you offer based on each learner's profile. That doesn't get you off the hook for NRS reporting, but it does provide a mechanism for meeting the highly individual needs of your learners. Just a thought. Sandy Strunk Program Director for Community Education Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 1020 New Holland Avenue Lancaster, PA 17601 (717) 606-1873 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mary Beheler Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 5:03 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 721] Re: What about us little guys using volunteers forone-on-one tutoring? We tutor adults. No children. Almost all our students are at Begining Literacy to High Intermediate ABE level. Almost no high or even low adult secondary. At the secondary level we only get the students that can't (or won't) tolerate study in a regular ABE classroom. ESL instruction is done by a different organization, with paid teachers. We net 20 to 25 students with more than 12 hours of study each year. We are so small that sometimes an entire FFL will have only one student in it. When that happens the only question is, "How many advanced a level: 0 or 100%?" We deal with students on a highly individualized basis. One may need to learn to read again after having a stroke or a fever. Another may have taught himself to sight read at a very high level, but neglected to teach himself any spelling or writing skills. A high school graduate may not have learned even his ABCs, for whatever reason. One or two students a year might have an employment or higher education goal. (Then WV can't verify it, if the student works or studies out of state.) I can safely say that no two students have been alike in the nearly ten years that I have been here. I genuinely *like* statistics and know they can be very useful, and don't mind gathering data to be put in a bigger pool if what comes back is helpful. However, if a level has only 3 students, is the data even "statistically significant" if just 2 of them are available for both pre and post assessment? 2 of 4? Some things are better seen by microscopes and others by telescopes. Right now neither NRS nor CASAS seems especially useful at a local level. Maybe all I need is to find out how to focus them. Maybe they should be just trashed. They may cost more to use than they return in terms of time and money and *stress*, on us and especially on our students. I'm from West Virginia, not Missouri, but, "Show me!" (Please.) Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:29 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know... Hi folks, A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give them the necessary info for joining our discussion. Please post your questions and share your experiences now! View the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date with the current conversation. See suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html (Scroll to the bottom!!) See more resources at: For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingReportCards.ppt Here are your prompts: add your voice!: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/50e897e6/attachment.html From tborge at bhcc.mass.edu Tue Apr 17 08:45:29 2007 From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu (Borge, Toni) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:45:29 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 725] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! In-Reply-To: <025601c7801a$6dd5ed70$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59E74B69@mercury.bhcc.dom> Good morning from Rain soaked Boston. One area that we use data to improve literacy services in our program is looking at attendance data. In Massachusetts, we have a DOE web based system that allows us to view class attendance data, as well as other pertinent data that gives us tools to improve literacy services. I review the data and look at each individual class to see how attendance is. If attendance is low one month I then review what happened. For example: Was there inclement weather? Or have any natural disasters occurred in homelands of students? Was the teacher absent for a period of time? If yes, I know that is an outside factor. But if I see that attendance is low for more than a month, I investigate. Ask the program advisor to review calls to students when absent to find out the reasons given for dropping out and share the student feedback with the teacher and ask for her/his opinion. If the overriding case involves students feeling lost over what is being taught, the teacher opens discussion about the lessons and works with the students on the topics. Students feel empowered in their learning and attendance improves. Toni Toni F. Borge Adult Education & Transitions Program Director Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea Campus 175 Hawthorne Street Chelsea, MA 02150 Phone: 617-228-2108 * Fax:617-228-2106 E-mail: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Discussion Announcement Dear Colleagues, I'm pleased to announce the following Panel Guest Discussion, which will be held during the week of April 16 - 20. Topic: Using Data for Program Improvement Guests will discuss the work they have done in using data to improve the quality of adult literacy programming. We will hear about the use of data in small and large programs, as well as at the state and national levels. Panelists are interested in your questions and eager to hear about your use of data, as well as share their own experiences, so please ask questions and share your stories. Recommended preparations for this discussion Please use the following guiding questions to help you share how you use data in your program (or classroom), or how you would like to: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Resources of interest: Using Data Effectively by Donna Cornellier: see attached Power Point Presentation. This PowerPoint outlines a basic framework for identifying, using, and monitoring data; excellent guiding questions are provided as well as a case study for practicing the application of the framework. Developing & Disseminating Report Cards, Report Card Rubric, Rolling Out the Report Card. See attached Power Point Presentations from University of the State of New York, State Education Department and the Literacy Assistance Center (LAC). These presentations outline the development of a Report Card for measuring the performance of literacy programming within the state of NY. A detailed look at scoring the elements of program performance is provided; presenters also review their process for informing/ working with stakeholders on the use of report cards, and report on the first year results of the initiative. NRS Publications on data http://www.nrsweb.org/pubs/ This site has a wealth of resources including the NRS Implementation Guidelines; NRS Tips offering information on building data systems, and setting goals and standards; and Training Guides that provide practical information and tools that can be used to build and use data systems effectively. Learning to be an NRS Data Detective http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/StateDataDetectives.aspx This training explores how an effective data detective: * Understands the process and psychology of data collection; * Examines data including assessment, goal setting, and follow-up data; * Asks further questions of the data; and * Makes changes in processes and policies to improve data quality and program services. NRS State and Local Report Cards http://www.nrsweb.org/reports/insights/report_cards.aspx Report cards can be a powerful and effective tool for accountability and program improvement if properly used and implemented. There are many types of report cards, but for the purposes of NRS, our focus is on report cards that assess performance. Report cards that allow meaningful evaluation have the following characteristics: * Include outcome and other data, * Provide a basis for evaluation of that data, and * Present contextual data or interpretive information that aid interpretation and promote understanding. Report cards can be used in several different ways to * Evaluate program quality, * Promote program improvement, and * Inform and advocate for the program. Guest Participants: Toni Borge is the director of the Adult Education & Transitions Program at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a master's degree in educational administration. Toni is a member of the TESOL task force that is advising the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Citizenship, on redesigning the citizenship test that is being piloted in 2007. In May, Toni will present a TESOL Virtual Seminar entitled "Assessment and Learning: Balancing Program Performance and Instruction" in which she will discuss effective ways to manage and balance instruction to meet state and national performance standards. Dr. Larry Condelli is a managing director of the Adult Education and Literacy Program in the Education and Human Development Division at the American Institutes for Research. His work includes research on adult ESL students, accountability, and conducting professional development and technical assistance for adult educators. He recently directed the What Works Study for Adult ESL Literacy Students, the first large-scale empirical study of the effectiveness of instructional practices for adult ESL students, and is currently directing a study of the impact of explicit literacy instruction on low-literate adult ESOL learners for the U.S. Department of Education. He is also the project director for the National Reporting System and was instrumental in developing this national accountability system for federally funded adult education and literacy program. Dr. Condelli's other projects include development of a performance-based reading assessment for low-literate adults for the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, funded by the National Center for Educational Statistics. He is a staff development and data consultant for the states of Alabama, California, Georgia and Utah and provides training and technical assistance to adult education staff in several states. Dr. Condelli holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California. Donna Cornellier is the Project Manager for the student level data system in Massachusetts. In this role, her responsibilities include managing the System for Managing Accountability and Results Through Technology (SMARTT) development team; designing NRS training materials, and providing training and technical assistance to the local programs on using NRS data for program improvement. Presentations included how assessment data is tracked in the student level database and what reports are available to help programs implement the NRS policies. Formerly she was the Director of a local ABE program in Massachusetts. She holds a Masters degree in Educational Leadership and Management. Ajit Gopalakrishnan is an Education Consultant with the Connecticut State Department of Education's Bureau of Early Childhood, Career and Adult Education. He manages adult education projects in the areas of statewide assessment, data management, program accountability, and technology. Rosemary I. Matt has recently been appointed to the newly developed position of NRS Liaison for New York State, under the direction of the Literacy Assistance Center in New York City. In this role, her responsibilities include NRS training, data management, and desk monitoring of all New York State programs. Prior to this position, Rosemary has been in education throughout her career, first as a secondary education mathematics teacher for fifteen years and then as the director of the New York State staff development consortium in the mid state. Karen Mundie has been an adult education professional for over thirty years. She is the associate director of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, a large community-based education organization (42 professional staff members, 550 volunteers, and 2000 students). She is also the director of the Southwest Professional Development Center, where she was the lead trainer in the area of using data for decision-making for three years. Karen is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Adult and Continuing Education (PAACE) and was Pennsylvania's Outstanding Adult Educator for 2005. She holds two masters' degrees from the University of Virginia. Joanie Rethlake, native Texan, is the state director for adult education for Texas LEARNS, the state office for adult education in Houston, Texas and has responsibility for administering the state's adult education program and directing the technical assistance and professional development offered to adult education and family literacy programs across Texas. Formerly, she was the director of adult education at Harris County Department of Education and past president of the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE). Sandy Strunk is Program Director for Community Education at Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13. In this role, she provides leadership for several educational programs including Adult Basic Education, the Adult Education Southeast Professional Development Center, Early Reading First, English as a Second Language, Family Literacy, Head Start, Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Education and Workforce Education. Sandy has been an adult education practitioner for over twenty years. She is a past president of the PA Association for Adult Continuing Education, provided leadership to Pennsylvania's adult education program improvement training system for six years (1997 - 2003) and continues to provide leadership for Pennsylvania's family literacy program improvement initiative (SEQUAL). She serves on the advisory board of the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and is particularly interested in educational interventions that focus on the family unit. Sandy has a B.S. in education from Lock Haven University and a M.Ed. in Training and Development from Penn State University. Luanne Teller is the Director of Massasoit Community College's Stoughton ABE (ESOL) and Transitions to College Programs. She was involved in establishing and developing of both programs. Prior to these positions, she was the Coordinator of an Office Skills Job Training Program, which provided employment skills training to empower women to transition off of public assistance into full-time careers. She holds a degree in secondary education (French and Spanish). She has served on a variety of board and committees, as both a volunteer and elected official. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater Plymouth County United Way. She has extensive experience using research data and communicating with a wide range of constituencies to develop effective program plans, and to promote the commitment to continuous improvement. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/57e60c93/attachment.html From tborge at bhcc.mass.edu Tue Apr 17 08:57:30 2007 From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu (Borge, Toni) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:57:30 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 726] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59E74B76@mercury.bhcc.dom> Hi Sandy, I agree with Tina that by creating a sense of community students feel comfortable and open to risk taking in their learning. I have a transitions to college program that is based on a cohort model. The students take the same classes and build bonds with each other that carry over when they enroll into their college programs. The retention in that program is high, 86%. Kudos to your teachers. Toni Toni F. Borge Adult Education & Transitions Program Director Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea Campus 175 Hawthorne Street Chelsea, MA 02150 Phone: 617-228-2108 * Fax:617-228-2106 E-mail: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 5:40 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 722] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! Hi Sandy, I think you answered your own question. Teachers who create a sense of community are always already more successful at retention. Sometimes it is difficult to put a finger on exactly what that factor is that creates the environment, but a caring instructor is predisposed to generate great results regardless of time of day, demographics of the classroom, or whatever variables are offered. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: "The Assessment Discussion List" From: "Sandy Strunk" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/16/2007 12:29PM Subject: [Assessment 719] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! Tina and Larry, I do this, too, but I'm also very interested in positive deviance. How is it that some teachers, who work in very challenging settings, are able to produce such significant results? For example, there's a teacher in our program, let's call her Miranda, who consistently has high enrollment, wonderful retention and excellent student achievement. I can assign her to ABE/GED, ESL, family literacy, day, evening - it just doesn't seem to matter. It's a much harder data collection question, because she thinks she's doing what everyone else is doing and, ostensibly, she is. What jumps out at me when I visit her class is the sense of community she's able to build that seems to be based on her belief that her students will accomplish great things. Sandy Strunk Program Director for Community Education Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 1020 New Holland Avenue Lancaster , PA 17601 (717) 606-1873 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 2:41 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 715] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! Hi there, I like to use state database information to show me which teachers are needing assistance and which teachers are modeling good practices. The database is certainly not a final word, as we all have had groups of students that performed well or poorly regardless of instruction. The data is a good place to show red flags, however. Student assessments and staff self-assessments are also great for predicting professional development needs. Data can also help us see what people groups we are reaching with advertising, and which people groups are not. Then we can create new means of recruitment for our program. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu "Condelli, Larry" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 04/16/2007 09:15 AM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To "The Assessment Discussion List" cc Subject [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Hi Everyone, It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States . Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/61c9e58c/attachment.html From bhofmeyer at niesc.k12.in.us Tue Apr 17 09:50:50 2007 From: bhofmeyer at niesc.k12.in.us (bhofmeyer) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:50:50 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 727] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C3CF@ex01.sfcc.edu> References: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C3CF@ex01.sfcc.edu> Message-ID: <20070417133311.M22386@niesc.k12.in.us> Barbara, In addition to the other great ideas discussed yesterday, I'd like to offer an additional way to analyze NRS data on the local level. If you divide the contact hours by the number of enrolled students in each educational functioning level (EFL) on Table 4, you will get a rough idea of how long students in?each EFL are staying in class. If you find that students in one of the levels - say beginning literacy - are leaving before they have enough hours to post-test or make a level gain, you may wish to examine further the instructional strategies, curriculum, and professional development needs of staff?serving those learners.?If the average contact hours are high, but level gains in that EFL are low, once again, a review of assesssment, instruction and curriculum may reveal specific professional development needs for your program. Barbara Hofmeyer Coaching Consultant for Indiana DOE, Division of Adult Education On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:25:04 -0600, Barbara Arguedas wrote > Hello Tina, > I wonder if you could say more about what exact data you use to see what your teachers need.? Is it attendance or level gain, or something else?? > ? > We use attendance data to track total hours students are attending and to determine if they are eligible to post-test (minimum of 40 hours in NM).? If students attend at least 75% of the potential hours, then the student is eligible to get a certificate at the end of the session (usually a 12-week session that meets 5 hours each week).? We also see what the overall retention rate is by teacher as well as the post-test rate and the level gain rate.? I agree that these could indicate a need for training. > ? > We are interested in other ways that programs use data to help with retention.? Thank you. > ? > Barbara Arguedas > Santa Fe Community College > Santa Fe, NM > ? > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 12:41 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 715] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! > ? > > Hi there, > > ? I like to use state database information to show me which teachers are needing assistance and which teachers are modeling good practices. The database is certainly not a final word, as we all have had groups of students that performed well or poorly regardless of instruction. ?The data is a good place to show red flags, however. Student assessments and staff self-assessments are also great for predicting professional development needs. Data can also help us see what people groups we are reaching with advertising, and which people groups are not. Then we can create new means of recruitment for our program. > > Tina > > > Tina Luffman > Coordinator, Developmental Education > Verde Valley Campus > 928-634-6544 > tina_luffman at yc.edu > > > "Condelli, Larry" > Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > 04/16/2007 09:15 AM > Please respond to > The Assessment Discussion List > > To > "The Assessment Discussion List" > cc > ? > Subject > [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins ? ? ? ? today! > ? > ? > ? > > > > Hi Everyone, > ? > It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. > ? > There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. ?Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. > ? > All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). > ? > I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! > > Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. ? > ? > Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. ?I have pasted the announcement below ? please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. ?Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I?m having a tough time getting them through the server. ?For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I?ll let you know. ?If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already (?Using Data Effectively DCornellier?). ?Thank you for your patience with this. > ? > Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot?s Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. ?Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine ? they will catch up with us tomorrow. ?For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. > ? > I?ll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. ?Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. ?What type of data would you like to track and why? > ? > Thanks! > ? > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > ? ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -- Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/35c69e85/attachment.html From LCondelli at air.org Tue Apr 17 12:07:10 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 12:07:10 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 728] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: <20070417133311.M22386@niesc.k12.in.us> Message-ID: Barbara, That is a great idea and if you can break it down even further -- by site or class, for example -- you can get even better insights. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of bhofmeyer Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 9:51 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 727] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! Barbara, In addition to the other great ideas discussed yesterday, I'd like to offer an additional way to analyze NRS data on the local level. If you divide the contact hours by the number of enrolled students in each educational functioning level (EFL) on Table 4, you will get a rough idea of how long students in each EFL are staying in class. If you find that students in one of the levels - say beginning literacy - are leaving before they have enough hours to post-test or make a level gain, you may wish to examine further the instructional strategies, curriculum, and professional development needs of staff serving those learners. If the average contact hours are high, but level gains in that EFL are low, once again, a review of assesssment, instruction and curriculum may reveal specific professional development needs for your program. Barbara Hofmeyer Coaching Consultant for Indiana DOE, Division of Adult Education On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:25:04 -0600, Barbara Arguedas wrote > Hello Tina, > I wonder if you could say more about what exact data you use to see what your teachers need. Is it attendance or level gain, or something else? > > We use attendance data to track total hours students are attending and to determine if they are eligible to post-test (minimum of 40 hours in NM). If students attend at least 75% of the potential hours, then the student is eligible to get a certificate at the end of the session (usually a 12-week session that meets 5 hours each week). We also see what the overall retention rate is by teacher as well as the post-test rate and the level gain rate. I agree that these could indicate a need for training. > > We are interested in other ways that programs use data to help with retention. Thank you. > > Barbara Arguedas > Santa Fe Community College > Santa Fe, NM > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 12:41 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 715] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! > > > Hi there, > > I like to use state database information to show me which teachers are needing assistance and which teachers are modeling good practices. The database is certainly not a final word, as we all have had groups of students that performed well or poorly regardless of instruction. The data is a good place to show red flags, however. Student assessments and staff self-assessments are also great for predicting professional development needs. Data can also help us see what people groups we are reaching with advertising, and which people groups are not. Then we can create new means of recruitment for our program. > > Tina > > > Tina Luffman > Coordinator, Developmental Education > Verde Valley Campus > 928-634-6544 > tina_luffman at yc.edu > > > "Condelli, Larry" > Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > 04/16/2007 09:15 AM > Please respond to > The Assessment Discussion List > > To > "The Assessment Discussion List" > cc > > Subject > [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! > > > > > > > Hi Everyone, > > It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. > > There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. > > All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). > > I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! > > Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. > > Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. > > Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. > > I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? > > Thanks! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -- Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org ) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/9b4ee8d9/attachment.html From kmundie at gplc.org Tue Apr 17 13:01:39 2007 From: kmundie at gplc.org (Karen Mundie) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:01:39 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 729] data for program improvement Message-ID: Sorry, I'm entering the discussion a bit late. My email has been asnarl for the last couple of days. I am, like Sandy Struck, a product of Pennsylvania's program improvement process, Project Equal, and I was for a number of years a trainer in using data for decision making. The heart of this training was to help programs to describe, in detail, an area for improvement within their program, to ask a question based on that particular area of concern, to look at program data that related to the problem area, to come to some conclusions based on the data, and then to take actions that would result in program improvement. This sounds very simple, but in fact, it was a hard road for all of us, and there were difficulties at every step. In the beginning people (most of us) tended to ask questions that were too broad (or too narrow) or too vague, and we tended to look at aggregated data only --and even when there was data enough to draw conclusions from, our action plans often seemed to have little relation to those conclusions. In short, learning to use data for program improvement was a surprisingly slow process, and involved the creation of a habit of mind that was not at all "second nature" to most of our program directors and their staffs. I think that our tendency now is to think that using data for making program decisions is just common sense--but I think it's a more complex issue. And one that has implications for professional development at all levels. I would say that over time some of the programs I worked with developed the habit of using data for decision making, and that others reverted back to decision making by intuition--as Sandy said there's rarely a dearth of opinions in our programs. Karen Mundie Associate Director Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412 661-7323 (ext 101) kmundie at gplc.org GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/c6b6202b/attachment.html From bhofmeyer at niesc.k12.in.us Tue Apr 17 13:30:06 2007 From: bhofmeyer at niesc.k12.in.us (bhofmeyer) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:30:06 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 730] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: References: <20070417133311.M22386@niesc.k12.in.us> Message-ID: <20070417165020.M55115@niesc.k12.in.us> Larry and all, That's true. Table 4 and Table 4b contain a great deal of information, which if analyzed by program, site and class, can help begin to identify strengths and areas needing additional support. For example, these two tables can help program administrators/teachers identify some of the following reasons behind low percentages of level gains: 1. Students aren't staying long enough to post-test. If the total contact hours divided by the total number of students is less than the number of hours required for post-testing, we know we have a retention problem. Now we can look at: the intake process and transition into class; whether instruction is meeting student needs/expectations; whether curriculum and materials meet the varied levels and learning styles/modalities of students; outside barriers that keep students from attending; etc. 2. Students are staying long enough to post-test, but are not being post-tested.?(Compare the number of students on Table 4 to the number on Table 4b.) If?this is the case, we can look into whether this is a staff problem - i.e. they have no?sytem to know when a learner has enough hours to post-test; they need assessment training/support; etc. - or a student problem. In some programs we have found that when students learn they will be taking a post-test, they stop coming for a period of time. In this case, we need to help students understand that we are assessing our effectiveness, not their intelligence. 3. Students are being post-tested, but not making level gains. (Compare the number of students on Table 4b -i.e. those?who have been post-tested -?to the number who?show a gain on that table.) If this is the case, we can begin to look at instructional strategies and curriculum/materials. There is one other possibility that I can think of. Students may be post-tested and making gains, but in some cases there is a glitch in the paper flow and for some reason information is not being submitted for data entry or data entry is flawed. If you have a system for submitting class data back to each teacher for review, they can help you identify if this is the case and where the glitch may be taking place. In short, I love the NRS reports because they tell you so much about your program if you take time to analyze them. I hope I haven't taken up your time telling all of you things you already knew. I'm looking forward to hearing some great new ideas this week. Barbara Hofmeyer Coaching Consultant for Indiana DOE, Division of Adult Education On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 12:07:10 -0400, Condelli, Larry wrote > Barbara, > ? > That is a great idea and if you can break it down even further -- by site or class, for example -- you can get even better insights. > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of bhofmeyer > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 9:51 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 727] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! > > > Barbara, > In addition to the other great ideas discussed yesterday, I'd like to offer an additional way to analyze NRS data on the local level. If you divide the contact hours by the number of enrolled students in each educational functioning level (EFL) on Table 4, you will get a rough idea of how long students in?each EFL are staying in class. If you find that students in one of the levels - say beginning literacy - are leaving before they have enough hours to post-test or make a level gain, you may wish to examine further the instructional strategies, curriculum, and professional development needs of staff?serving those learners.?If the average contact hours are high, but level gains in that EFL are low, once again, a review of assesssment, instruction and curriculum may reveal specific professional development needs for your program. > Barbara Hofmeyer > Coaching Consultant for > Indiana DOE, Division of Adult Education > > On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:25:04 -0600, Barbara Arguedas wrote > > Hello Tina, > > I wonder if you could say more about what exact data you use to see what your teachers need.? Is it attendance or level gain, or something else?? > > ? > > We use attendance data to track total hours students are attending and to determine if they are eligible to post-test (minimum of 40 hours in NM).? If students attend at least 75% of the potential hours, then the student is eligible to get a certificate at the end of the session (usually a 12-week session that meets 5 hours each week).? We also see what the overall retention rate is by teacher as well as the post-test rate and the level gain rate.? I agree that these could indicate a need for training. > > ? > > We are interested in other ways that programs use data to help with retention.? Thank you. > > ? > > Barbara Arguedas > > Santa Fe Community College > > Santa Fe, NM > > ? > > -----Original Message----- > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu > > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 12:41 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 715] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! > > ? > > > > Hi there, > > > > ? I like to use state database information to show me which teachers are needing assistance and which teachers are modeling good practices. The database is certainly not a final word, as we all have had groups of students that performed well or poorly regardless of instruction. ?The data is a good place to show red flags, however. Student assessments and staff self-assessments are also great for predicting professional development needs. Data can also help us see what people groups we are reaching with advertising, and which people groups are not. Then we can create new means of recruitment for our program. > > > > Tina > > > > > > Tina Luffman > > Coordinator, Developmental Education > > Verde Valley Campus > > 928-634-6544 > > tina_luffman at yc.edu > > > > > > "Condelli, Larry" > > Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > 04/16/2007 09:15 AM > > Please respond to > > The Assessment Discussion List > > > > To > > "The Assessment Discussion List" > > cc > > ? > > Subject > > [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins ? ? ? ? today! > > ? > > ? > > ? > > > > > > > > Hi Everyone, > > ? > > It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. > > ? > > There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. ?Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. > > ? > > All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). > > ? > > I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora > > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM > > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > > Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! > > > > Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. ? > > ? > > Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. ?I have pasted the announcement below ? please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. ?Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I?m having a tough time getting them through the server. ?For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I?ll let you know. ?If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already (?Using Data Effectively DCornellier?). ?Thank you for your patience with this. > > ? > > Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot?s Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. ?Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine ? they will catch up with us tomorrow. ?For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. > > ? > > I?ll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. ?Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. ?What type of data would you like to track and why? > > ? > > Thanks! > > ? > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > ? ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > -- > Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org) -- Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/35f8013e/attachment.html From LCondelli at air.org Tue Apr 17 15:22:56 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:22:56 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 731] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! In-Reply-To: <20070417165020.M55115@niesc.k12.in.us> Message-ID: Barbara, I like your thinking! What we advise is to monitor periodically (monthly or quarterly) program pre-posttest rates and retention factors. In this way you can see if a program has had a problem in time to intervene to explore the problem and correct it. In our Data Detective training we illustrated how to use data as the starting point for exploring what might be happening in your programs. As you note in your example below, low educational gains may be due to low retention, program staff not administering the posttest or students just not making gains. Data can help you pinpoint which of these three problems may exist. Once you know this, you can dig deeper to look for the underlying issues on which you can direct program improvement (such as changes in class schedules, better support and training for assessment or changes in instruction that may be needed). ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of bhofmeyer Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 1:30 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 730] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! Larry and all, That's true. Table 4 and Table 4b contain a great deal of information, which if analyzed by program, site and class, can help begin to identify strengths and areas needing additional support. For example, these two tables can help program administrators/teachers identify some of the following reasons behind low percentages of level gains: 1. Students aren't staying long enough to post-test. If the total contact hours divided by the total number of students is less than the number of hours required for post-testing, we know we have a retention problem. Now we can look at: the intake process and transition into class; whether instruction is meeting student needs/expectations; whether curriculum and materials meet the varied levels and learning styles/modalities of students; outside barriers that keep students from attending; etc. 2. Students are staying long enough to post-test, but are not being post-tested. (Compare the number of students on Table 4 to the number on Table 4b.) If this is the case, we can look into whether this is a staff problem - i.e. they have no sytem to know when a learner has enough hours to post-test; they need assessment training/support; etc. - or a student problem. In some programs we have found that when students learn they will be taking a post-test, they stop coming for a period of time. In this case, we need to help students understand that we are assessing our effectiveness, not their intelligence. 3. Students are being post-tested, but not making level gains. (Compare the number of students on Table 4b -i.e. those who have been post-tested - to the number who show a gain on that table.) If this is the case, we can begin to look at instructional strategies and curriculum/materials. There is one other possibility that I can think of. Students may be post-tested and making gains, but in some cases there is a glitch in the paper flow and for some reason information is not being submitted for data entry or data entry is flawed. If you have a system for submitting class data back to each teacher for review, they can help you identify if this is the case and where the glitch may be taking place. In short, I love the NRS reports because they tell you so much about your program if you take time to analyze them. I hope I haven't taken up your time telling all of you things you already knew. I'm looking forward to hearing some great new ideas this week. Barbara Hofmeyer Coaching Consultant for Indiana DOE, Division of Adult Education On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 12:07:10 -0400, Condelli, Larry wrote > Barbara, > > That is a great idea and if you can break it down even further -- by site or class, for example -- you can get even better insights. > > ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of bhofmeyer > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 9:51 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 727] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! > > > Barbara, > In addition to the other great ideas discussed yesterday, I'd like to offer an additional way to analyze NRS data on the local level. If you divide the contact hours by the number of enrolled students in each educational functioning level (EFL) on Table 4, you will get a rough idea of how long students in each EFL are staying in class. If you find that students in one of the levels - say beginning literacy - are leaving before they have enough hours to post-test or make a level gain, you may wish to examine further the instructional strategies, curriculum, and professional development needs of staff serving those learners. If the average contact hours are high, but level gains in that EFL are low, once again, a review of assesssment, instruction and curriculum may reveal specific professional development needs for your program. > Barbara Hofmeyer > Coaching Consultant for > Indiana DOE, Division of Adult Education > > On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:25:04 -0600, Barbara Arguedas wrote > > Hello Tina, > > I wonder if you could say more about what exact data you use to see what your teachers need. Is it attendance or level gain, or something else? > > > > We use attendance data to track total hours students are attending and to determine if they are eligible to post-test (minimum of 40 hours in NM). If students attend at least 75% of the potential hours, then the student is eligible to get a certificate at the end of the session (usually a 12-week session that meets 5 hours each week). We also see what the overall retention rate is by teacher as well as the post-test rate and the level gain rate. I agree that these could indicate a need for training. > > > > We are interested in other ways that programs use data to help with retention. Thank you. > > > > Barbara Arguedas > > Santa Fe Community College > > Santa Fe, NM > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu > > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 12:41 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 715] Re: Using Data for Program Improvementbegins today! > > > > > > Hi there, > > > > I like to use state database information to show me which teachers are needing assistance and which teachers are modeling good practices. The database is certainly not a final word, as we all have had groups of students that performed well or poorly regardless of instruction. The data is a good place to show red flags, however. Student assessments and staff self-assessments are also great for predicting professional development needs. Data can also help us see what people groups we are reaching with advertising, and which people groups are not. Then we can create new means of recruitment for our program. > > > > Tina > > > > > > Tina Luffman > > Coordinator, Developmental Education > > Verde Valley Campus > > 928-634-6544 > > tina_luffman at yc.edu > > > > > > "Condelli, Larry" > > Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > 04/16/2007 09:15 AM > > Please respond to > > The Assessment Discussion List > > > > To > > "The Assessment Discussion List" > > cc > > > > Subject > > [Assessment 713] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Hi Everyone, > > > > It is a pleasure to be a guest on the list this week and my thanks to Marie for asking me and organizing this. > > > > There is a strong federal initiative to promote use of data for program improvement at the state and level. Through the National Reporting system project which I direct, we have conducted several training and technical assistance activities over the past 4 years on this topic, including two general training seminars on using data and more specific ones on promoting adult education programs, monitoring, developing state and local report cards. All of the training materials and other information on the topic, including sample work from states, is available on the NRSWeb website, which Marie has referenced. > > > > All of the other guests have done a great deal of interesting work and many of them attended our training (and Sandy Strunk served as a trainer for us a few years back). > > > > I will be interested to get your questions and learn of your experiences, as well as the responses from the other guests. > > ________________________________ > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora > > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 7:29 AM > > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > > Subject: [Assessment 710] Using Data for Program Improvement begins today! > > > > Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all. > > > > Today begins our discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement. I have pasted the announcement below - please note that there have been some edits to Guest bios. Also, I am trying to send 4 attachments (they are power points) but I'm having a tough time getting them through the server. For now, you have the announcement below and as soon as I arrange access to the Power Points, I'll let you know. If you received the original announcement that I sent, you have one of the attachments already ("Using Data Effectively DCornellier"). Thank you for your patience with this. > > > > Also, I would like to acknowledge that today is Patriot's Day and is celebrated in many corners of the United States. Some of our guests, as well as subscribers, may not be present on-line with us today and this is fine - they will catch up with us tomorrow. For anyone ready to begin, please feel free to post your messages. > > > > I'll start us off by asking our guests to briefly describe how they use data in their work to improve literacy services. Subscribers, please post your questions and share your own experiences using data. What type of data would you like to track and why? > > > > Thanks! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > -- > Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org ) -- Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org ) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/76245cd7/attachment.html From EllaBogard at cs.com Tue Apr 17 16:46:31 2007 From: EllaBogard at cs.com (EllaBogard at cs.com) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:46:31 EDT Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Message-ID: Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/f3f4ae0b/attachment.html From mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us Tue Apr 17 16:58:23 2007 From: mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us (Mary Beheler) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:58:23 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 733] Re: What about us little guys using volunteers for one-on-one tutoring? In-Reply-To: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92CE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: MessageYes, WV would "consider our mitigating circumstances" if we had missed a few of our goals. But we would also get a warning about, "Money is tight, and if you don't make your goals...." We have made our goals, but sometimes completing the nagging and pleading it takes to get the one last student in to post test (and succeed) has been frighteningly close to the fiscal year deadline. We had a group of 5. Three post-tested: 2 "improved a level" and 1 did not (even though he had actually gained more CASAS points than the others). Therefore, our NRS score at that level was only 40%. We needed something above 50%. We had to get another student assessed! One missing student had moved hundreds of miles away. The other had a new job providing him many over-time hours. He finally came in on the last possible day to post test and fell across the FFL line with a 1 or 2 point gain. Our improvement rate for that level suddenly jumped from 40 to 60%! That's silly (IMHO). To complicate things a bit, other funders, such as United Way, look at these statistics as well. Explaining levels and how some students can improve quite a bit and not be a "success" is hard to do without sounding like we are just whining. Fortunately, they have allowed us to use any 5 point CASAS gain as a measure of success instead of using the NRS brackets. And if one student comes up 20 points, we get 4 United Way credits! (On the NRS report it counts only one gain in his entry level, though he may have crossed more FFL lines. Doesn't using using the different level brackets, instead of total points gained by each individual, distort the results, even in larger groups? Why are they used? Since the statistics for small groups can be changed so drastically by even one individual, why not pool the results from groups like ours? (Call the pool "The Long Tail" if you must: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Tail) The pool might give researchers an idea of whether classrooms or one-on-one tutoring is most effective at the lowest literacy levels. So, if you have any influence, please try to persuade NRS to describe the goals for small groups in terms that make more sense for our situation. Right now we are like little kids clomping around in Mom's high heels. It is hard to work that way, and very far from useful. All of which is not to say that individual assessments are not quite helpful for for spotting individual problems and successes. They do help. Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Rosemary Matt Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 7:39 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 724] Re: What about us little guys usingvolunteersforone-on-one tutoring? Good Morning Everyone! I am sorry to be so late joining the group. I am one of the panelists, Rosemary Matt. Just recently, I accepted the position of NRS Liaison for New York State so monitoring data and providing technical assistance to programs in need is now my entire focus. We also have a large contingent of programs that provide service through a volunteer network in a one to one tutoring arrangement. Your concerns Mary regarding the inability for programs such as these to meet performance benchmarks is shared by New York programs as well. Our state department has thoroughly considered the population these folks serve and consider that to be a mitigating circumstance when assessing their performance. The value of these organizations serving some of our lowest skilled readers is well known and appreciated. In a state the size of New York it is possible to absorb the lack of educational gain increments from these agencies as they are balanced by other programs serving students for whom gain is eminent. At the same time however we have worked closely with these programs and their statewide leadership team to provide technical assistance in the area of assessment. As they learn more about the strategies and nuances that evolve around the NRS accountability system, they are better able to show whatever gain is possible from their students. As some of you are aware, New York also utilizes the program level Report Card. We attended the training two years ago that was provided by Larry and his staff at AIR. I would strongly recommend this training to any state considering this accountability tool for programs. We have made incredible advances in terms of identifying high performing programs and targeting those in need of technical assistance through our Report Card Rubric. Marie has posted three power points that I offer in training built around this rubric. To further support our volunteer programs, our state department has chosen to rank these programs among themselves providing a homogeneous category specific to their needs. They are not measured against the cohort of traditional adult education programs. Another strategy we have recently embarked upon is through our statewide data system, we have introduced Collaboration Metrics. Many students working first with these volunteer programs while they are at minimal skill levels will eventually move into traditional programming and continue to succeed through the educational levels. To ensure the volunteer programs remain tied to the student's success, they are informed of the students progress through the data system and can subsequently report on that gain as well. These few methods of support have been well received by our volunteer affiliates. Hope they may give you and your state some thoughts for the future. Rosemary Rosemary I. Matt NRS Liaison for NYS Literacy Assistance Center 12 Meadowbrook Drive New Hartford, NY 13413 315.798.1026 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Sandy Strunk Sent: Mon 4/16/2007 5:58 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 723] Re: What about us little guys using volunteersforone-on-one tutoring? Mary, I think you raise some valid concerns. When you?re working with a small pool of students like this, aggregate statistics can be rather meaningless. I would think the most helpful data for you would be individual diagnostic reading assessment and progress monitoring data. Are you familiar with the Adult Reading Component study and the work related to using reading profiles? You might want to check out http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/. I?m wondering if the component reading assessments wouldn?t go a long way toward ?focusing? the reading instruction you offer based on each learner?s profile. That doesn?t get you off the hook for NRS reporting, but it does provide a mechanism for meeting the highly individual needs of your learners. Just a thought. Sandy Strunk Program Director for Community Education Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 1020 New Holland Avenue Lancaster, PA 17601 (717) 606-1873 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mary Beheler Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 5:03 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 721] Re: What about us little guys using volunteers forone-on-one tutoring? We tutor adults. No children. Almost all our students are at Begining Literacy to High Intermediate ABE level. Almost no high or even low adult secondary. At the secondary level we only get the students that can't (or won't) tolerate study in a regular ABE classroom. ESL instruction is done by a different organization, with paid teachers. We net 20 to 25 students with more than 12 hours of study each year. We are so small that sometimes an entire FFL will have only one student in it. When that happens the only question is, "How many advanced a level: 0 or 100%?" We deal with students on a highly individualized basis. One may need to learn to read again after having a stroke or a fever. Another may have taught himself to sight read at a very high level, but neglected to teach himself any spelling or writing skills. A high school graduate may not have learned even his ABCs, for whatever reason. One or two students a year might have an employment or higher education goal. (Then WV can't verify it, if the student works or studies out of state.) I can safely say that no two students have been alike in the nearly ten years that I have been here. I genuinely *like* statistics and know they can be very useful, and don't mind gathering data to be put in a bigger pool if what comes back is helpful. However, if a level has only 3 students, is the data even "statistically significant" if just 2 of them are available for both pre and post assessment? 2 of 4? Some things are better seen by microscopes and others by telescopes. Right now neither NRS nor CASAS seems especially useful at a local level. Maybe all I need is to find out how to focus them. Maybe they should be just trashed. They may cost more to use than they return in terms of time and money and *stress*, on us and especially on our students. I'm from West Virginia, not Missouri, but, "Show me!" (Please.) Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:29 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know... Hi folks, A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give them the necessary info for joining our discussion. Please post your questions and share your experiences now! View the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date with the current conversation. See suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html (Scroll to the bottom!!) See more resources at: For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingR eportCards.ppt Here are your prompts: add your voice!: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/f9620dfb/attachment.html From LCondelli at air.org Tue Apr 17 17:17:13 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:17:13 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 734] Re: What about us little guys using volunteers forone-on-one tutoring? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi Mary, Using the CASAS 5 point gains and United Way credits are good ways to help your program get the recognition and credit for helping learners. We encourage states and local programs to use such strategies to demonstrate gain for small programs such as yours and others that serve students at the lower literacy levels. This is not a distortion at all but a more accurate way to look at your program gains in this case. The NRS is a national system and for that reason, there has to be be some generalizations and standardization so that cross-program and cross-state aggregation is meaningful. But there is flexibility at the state and local level to use other measures to show gains and progress and to meet the accountability requirements we all have to face. We hope states and local programs take advantage of this flexibility at the local level, where there is no need for national aggregation. Your state or local program in your area could pool your results for your own use. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mary Beheler Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:58 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 733] Re: What about us little guys using volunteers forone-on-one tutoring? Yes, WV would "consider our mitigating circumstances" if we had missed a few of our goals. But we would also get a warning about, "Money is tight, and if you don't make your goals...." We have made our goals, but sometimes completing the nagging and pleading it takes to get the one last student in to post test (and succeed) has been frighteningly close to the fiscal year deadline. We had a group of 5. Three post-tested: 2 "improved a level" and 1 did not (even though he had actually gained more CASAS points than the others). Therefore, our NRS score at that level was only 40%. We needed something above 50%. We had to get another student assessed! One missing student had moved hundreds of miles away. The other had a new job providing him many over-time hours. He finally came in on the last possible day to post test and fell across the FFL line with a 1 or 2 point gain. Our improvement rate for that level suddenly jumped from 40 to 60%! That's silly (IMHO). To complicate things a bit, other funders, such as United Way, look at these statistics as well. Explaining levels and how some students can improve quite a bit and not be a "success" is hard to do without sounding like we are just whining. Fortunately, they have allowed us to use any 5 point CASAS gain as a measure of success instead of using the NRS brackets. And if one student comes up 20 points, we get 4 United Way credits! (On the NRS report it counts only one gain in his entry level, though he may have crossed more FFL lines. Doesn't using using the different level brackets, instead of total points gained by each individual, distort the results, even in larger groups? Why are they used? Since the statistics for small groups can be changed so drastically by even one individual, why not pool the results from groups like ours? (Call the pool "The Long Tail" if you must: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Tail) The pool might give researchers an idea of whether classrooms or one-on-one tutoring is most effective at the lowest literacy levels. So, if you have any influence, please try to persuade NRS to describe the goals for small groups in terms that make more sense for our situation. Right now we are like little kids clomping around in Mom's high heels. It is hard to work that way, and very far from useful. All of which is not to say that individual assessments are not quite helpful for for spotting individual problems and successes. They do help. Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Rosemary Matt Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 7:39 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 724] Re: What about us little guys usingvolunteersforone-on-one tutoring? Good Morning Everyone! I am sorry to be so late joining the group. I am one of the panelists, Rosemary Matt. Just recently, I accepted the position of NRS Liaison for New York State so monitoring data and providing technical assistance to programs in need is now my entire focus. We also have a large contingent of programs that provide service through a volunteer network in a one to one tutoring arrangement. Your concerns Mary regarding the inability for programs such as these to meet performance benchmarks is shared by New York programs as well. Our state department has thoroughly considered the population these folks serve and consider that to be a mitigating circumstance when assessing their performance. The value of these organizations serving some of our lowest skilled readers is well known and appreciated. In a state the size of New York it is possible to absorb the lack of educational gain increments from these agencies as they are balanced by other programs serving students for whom gain is eminent. At the same time however we have worked closely with these programs and their statewide leadership team to provide technical assistance in the area of assessment. As they learn more about the strategies and nuances that evolve around the NRS accountability system, they are better able to show whatever gain is possible from their students. As some of you are aware, New York also utilizes the program level Report Card. We attended the training two years ago that was provided by Larry and his staff at AIR. I would strongly recommend this training to any state considering this accountability tool for programs. We have made incredible advances in terms of identifying high performing programs and targeting those in need of technical assistance through our Report Card Rubric. Marie has posted three power points that I offer in training built around this rubric. To further support our volunteer programs, our state department has chosen to rank these programs among themselves providing a homogeneous category specific to their needs. They are not measured against the cohort of traditional adult education programs. Another strategy we have recently embarked upon is through our statewide data system, we have introduced Collaboration Metrics. Many students working first with these volunteer programs while they are at minimal skill levels will eventually move into traditional programming and continue to succeed through the educational levels. To ensure the volunteer programs remain tied to the student's success, they are informed of the students progress through the data system and can subsequently report on that gain as well. These few methods of support have been well received by our volunteer affiliates. Hope they may give you and your state some thoughts for the future. Rosemary Rosemary I. Matt NRS Liaison for NYS Literacy Assistance Center 12 Meadowbrook Drive New Hartford, NY 13413 315.798.1026 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Sandy Strunk Sent: Mon 4/16/2007 5:58 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 723] Re: What about us little guys using volunteersforone-on-one tutoring? Mary, I think you raise some valid concerns. When you're working with a small pool of students like this, aggregate statistics can be rather meaningless. I would think the most helpful data for you would be individual diagnostic reading assessment and progress monitoring data. Are you familiar with the Adult Reading Component study and the work related to using reading profiles? You might want to check out http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/. I'm wondering if the component reading assessments wouldn't go a long way toward "focusing" the reading instruction you offer based on each learner's profile. That doesn't get you off the hook for NRS reporting, but it does provide a mechanism for meeting the highly individual needs of your learners. Just a thought. Sandy Strunk Program Director for Community Education Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 1020 New Holland Avenue Lancaster, PA 17601 (717) 606-1873 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mary Beheler Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 5:03 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 721] Re: What about us little guys using volunteers forone-on-one tutoring? We tutor adults. No children. Almost all our students are at Begining Literacy to High Intermediate ABE level. Almost no high or even low adult secondary. At the secondary level we only get the students that can't (or won't) tolerate study in a regular ABE classroom. ESL instruction is done by a different organization, with paid teachers. We net 20 to 25 students with more than 12 hours of study each year. We are so small that sometimes an entire FFL will have only one student in it. When that happens the only question is, "How many advanced a level: 0 or 100%?" We deal with students on a highly individualized basis. One may need to learn to read again after having a stroke or a fever. Another may have taught himself to sight read at a very high level, but neglected to teach himself any spelling or writing skills. A high school graduate may not have learned even his ABCs, for whatever reason. One or two students a year might have an employment or higher education goal. (Then WV can't verify it, if the student works or studies out of state.) I can safely say that no two students have been alike in the nearly ten years that I have been here. I genuinely *like* statistics and know they can be very useful, and don't mind gathering data to be put in a bigger pool if what comes back is helpful. However, if a level has only 3 students, is the data even "statistically significant" if just 2 of them are available for both pre and post assessment? 2 of 4? Some things are better seen by microscopes and others by telescopes. Right now neither NRS nor CASAS seems especially useful at a local level. Maybe all I need is to find out how to focus them. Maybe they should be just trashed. They may cost more to use than they return in terms of time and money and *stress*, on us and especially on our students. I'm from West Virginia, not Missouri, but, "Show me!" (Please.) Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:29 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know... Hi folks, A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give them the necessary info for joining our discussion. Please post your questions and share your experiences now! View the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date with the current conversation. See suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html (Scroll to the bottom!!) See more resources at: For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingR eportCards.ppt Here are your prompts: add your voice!: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/8b34c3ef/attachment.html From LCondelli at air.org Tue Apr 17 17:30:33 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:30:33 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/4ec82f3f/attachment.html From sandy_strunk at IU13.org Tue Apr 17 17:38:00 2007 From: sandy_strunk at IU13.org (Sandy Strunk) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:38:00 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 736] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F19A2@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> Larry, Could you tell us more about the ESL research on percentage of possible time attended? This is a new idea to me. Does it reflect greater intensity as opposed to lesser intensity for a longer duration - or do you think something else is going on? If your research is correct, there are certainly implications for how we structure instructional segments. Sandy Strunk ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/e2864011/attachment.html From mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us Tue Apr 17 17:58:28 2007 From: mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us (Mary Beheler) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:58:28 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 737] Data quality and usefulness In-Reply-To: <030201c7804c$bdc8ed00$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: MessageDoes GIGO apply to the data all of us, big and small, are gathering? The information gleaned from the CASAS Life Skills (or any other) assessment tool can be useful for spotting problems and successes, but because of the *multiple layers of skills involved in answering any one question* the specific question(s) missed must be looked at very carefully. But, getting the student feedback that makes looking carefully possible gets into problems of assessment confidentiality. Example: A excellent student may understand *everything* else about a certain CASAS map question, but if he or she has heard the expression "X marks the spot," and assumes X means the goal, not the beginning, this question will be nonsense. I don't think the check-off sheet of demonstrated skills specifies, "Knows that on *this* map X means, "Start here." If the student's tutor or I can't discuss a missed question with the student, how will I discover that? How do we know that the question a student answers or misses actually assesses the skill the assessment manual tells us it does? I was scoring an answer sheet and was dismayed at how poorly a student was doing, when I noticed I was using the math answers, not reading. I switched to the correct set, and the student made even a worse score! Both scores were in the "valid" range, too! How much confidence should I place in that assessment? Having the questions in a booklet and marking the answers to multiple choice questions on a separate sheet may be a skill even somewhat advanced adult students do not have. Because our student workbooks don't use multiple choice questions, we have actually created lists of number-letter pairs to see if a student can mark the letter in the appropriate column of each numbered row on a separate answer sheet. That's all. (Did that after a strong level 2 student marked the answer sheet by page number, not question number, with answers to 2 and 3 questions marked in the same row.) Has anyone made an effort to see if the lower level literacy students want to learn what the CASAS or other accepted NRS assessments wants us to teach? Lots of our students are on SSI. They don't see the point in learning about employment applications. That often means any question about employment forms isn't important enough to take seriously, even if the ones about other forms are. Colleges have sense enough to make all freshman year classes pretty generic, and leave the "major" study to later years. Is it useful for assessment of beginning literacy to get so specific so soon? Whatever happened to "Learn to read; then read to learn"? We used to use the quick and unintimidating SORT-R for student assessment. Even on that simple test almost all men missed word "dainty," no matter what their reading level. Does anyone know if any specific question(s) on the assessments used for gathering NRS data is answered incorrectly by most students at any one level? Or if a significant number of students in the Laubach series misses different questions than students in Challenger or Voyager, or another series? Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:29 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know... Hi folks, A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give them the necessary info for joining our discussion. Please post your questions and share your experiences now! View the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date with the current conversation. See suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html (Scroll to the bottom!!) See more resources at: For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingRep ortCards.ppt Here are your prompts: add your voice!: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/6749c937/attachment.html From SMonti at ccbcmd.edu Tue Apr 17 18:58:52 2007 From: SMonti at ccbcmd.edu (Monti, Suzi) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:58:52 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 738] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I would like to add a few comments on retention and ESOL students. We have recently heard a lot about "stopping out" and I think that can pertain to ESOL learners for many of the same reasons as ASE/GED learners - with the addition of issues such as stages of acculturation and/or home country responsibilities which may cause ESOL learners to withdraw for weeks or months and then possibly return. I would also like to raise the issue of the mobility of the ESOL population. We see migration reports on immigrants and settlement trends and I often wonder how much of a difference in retention these trends makes when comparing ASE/GED retention rates with ESOL. I think of the "stopover" trend we see sometimes in ESOL here in Baltimore, MD where non-native speakers will enter and only temporarily reside her before moving to an intended more perm ant location. This obviously has great impact on retention. When comparing ESOL programs statewide or nationwide, the "stopover" trend may negatively impact the retention rates of certain programs. Another thing we see is "shift" or movement around the beltway (as we call it). We have major ESOL class sites at locations along the Baltimore beltway that roughly encircles the city and we see contraction and expansion at these sites based the movement of the ESOL population. We will see that a site may suddenly have low retention across ALL six or seven ESOL classes offered - even the classes with veteran/experienced teachers with a great track record of retention. In some cases, the same teacher is also teaching at another site and his/her class there is doing well at that site. Both of these things show that attrition is not likely a result of instructional issues. When we see this contraction of a site with mid-semester attrition, we can sometimes predict that at another site we will experience a boom in registration the next semester. It depends on if it is more "stopover" (with learners leaving the area entirely) or just "shift" (learners relocating within the area). If it is the latter, learners who leave one site mid-semester will turn up to register the next semester at another site. Suzi Monti ESOL Curriculum Developer and Instructional Specialist The Community College of Baltimore County Center for Adult and Family Literacy 7200 Sollers Point Road E102 Baltimore, MD 21222 (410) 285-9476 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/0cd8a8bc/attachment.html From dlwann at comcast.net Tue Apr 17 21:56:09 2007 From: dlwann at comcast.net (Dan Wann) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:56:09 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 739] Re: Data quality and usefulness In-Reply-To: References: <030201c7804c$bdc8ed00$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <009301c7815c$bc061cc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> Mary, Where did the valid score place the excellent student who was doing poorly? Since we work from the scale score and not the number correct I do not know how to interpret the doing so poorly. When working with teachers and students, we try to place an emphasis on the where the student falls on the scale or NRS level. In training with teachers, we always stress that students are not a single level but students have range of strengths and needs and we discuss about how to present this information to the student. I agree that a missed question does not tell us why the student was not able to correctly answer the question; however, by taking "multiple measures" of student performance over time with a variety of formats tells me if the student has the concept and if the student can transfer what is known to different contexts. In the example cited below, in most exercises that use maps the X is also marked with the words such as "you are here." It would seem that the student using "X marks the spot" and not "X you are here" would indicate a reading/literacy problem. As a teacher I would watch that student read directions and try to perform tasks. Does the student ask others to help explain the task? Does the student ask me, the teacher, for help? Observing the student's behavior and patterns of work is part of the assessment process, and from your other posts I think that is what you seem to do in your program with such a variety of learners at vastly different levels. The last point you make about application forms when the student does not intend to seek employment presents a challenge that we always face. If not application for work, all ESL students are faced without filling out forms and as a teacher I want to have students learn to "transfer" knowledge so I think I might use your quote "learn to read and then read to learn." That is I would use the application form for work as a transition to other forms and so filling out forms is the concept that I am teaching as well as helping students understand that there are many forms that they will have to fill out in English and forms have certain questions and vocabulary in common. That way there is a relationship between the assessment and what is taught. The context of the question is not as important as the ability to read and fill forms. I explain to students that the employment form for them is not important but I would try and brainstorm with them when they might need to help someone with an employment form. Since you mention using CASAS life skills test you might want to look at the new tests CASAS has developed such as the Life and Work. If your state has other approved assessments for ESL then you might look at those assessments to see if you think it is a better match for your curriculum. I have found that CASAS Literacy tests and level A reading tests are very sensitive instruments in tracking lower level student learning gains. Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant Indiana Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mary Beheler Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:58 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 737] Data quality and usefulness Does GIGO apply to the data all of us, big and small, are gathering? The information gleaned from the CASAS Life Skills (or any other) assessment tool can be useful for spotting problems and successes, but because of the *multiple layers of skills involved in answering any one question* the specific question(s) missed must be looked at very carefully. But, getting the student feedback that makes looking carefully possible gets into problems of assessment confidentiality. Example: A excellent student may understand *everything* else about a certain CASAS map question, but if he or she has heard the expression "X marks the spot," and assumes X means the goal, not the beginning, this question will be nonsense. I don't think the check-off sheet of demonstrated skills specifies, "Knows that on *this* map X means, "Start here." If the student's tutor or I can't discuss a missed question with the student, how will I discover that? How do we know that the question a student answers or misses actually assesses the skill the assessment manual tells us it does? I was scoring an answer sheet and was dismayed at how poorly a student was doing, when I noticed I wasusing the math answers, not reading. I switched to the correct set, and the student made even a worse score! Both scores were in the "valid" range, too! How much confidence should I place in that assessment? Having the questions in a booklet and marking the answers to multiple choice questions on a separate sheet may be a skill even somewhat advanced adult students do not have.Because our student workbooks don't use multiple choice questions, we have actually created lists of number-letter pairs to see if a student can mark the letter in the appropriate column of each numbered row on a separate answer sheet. That's all. (Did that after a strong level 2 student marked the answer sheet by page number, not question number, with answers to 2 and 3 questions marked in the same row.) Has anyone made an effort to see if the lower level literacy students want to learn what the CASAS or other accepted NRS assessments wants us to teach? Lots of our students are on SSI. They don't see the point in learning about employment applications. That often means any question about employment forms isn't important enough to take seriously, even if the ones about other forms are. Colleges have sense enough to make all freshman year classes pretty generic, and leave the "major" study to later years. Is it useful for assessment of beginning literacy to get so specific so soon? Whatever happened to "Learn to read; then read to learn"? We used to use the quick and unintimidating SORT-R for student assessment. Even on that simple test almost all men missed word "dainty," no matter what their reading level. Does anyone know if any specific question(s) on the assessments used for gathering NRS data is answered incorrectly by most students at any one level? Or if a significant number of students in the Laubach series misses different questions than students in Challenger or Voyager, or another series? Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:29 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know... Hi folks, A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give them the necessary info for joining our discussion. Please post your questions and share your experiences now! View the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date with the current conversation. See suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html (Scroll to the bottom!!) See more resources at: For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingRepor tCards.ppt Here are your prompts: add your voice!: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070417/344f3b37/attachment.html From Ajit.Gopalakrishnan at ct.gov Wed Apr 18 09:20:30 2007 From: Ajit.Gopalakrishnan at ct.gov (Gopalakrishnan, Ajit) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:20:30 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 740] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F19A2@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> Message-ID: <281DD0D97E3EC94FB83030B1379CE426027D1C83@DOIT-EX302.exec.ds.state.ct.us> In light of Larry's comments, I would like to share a program quality standard that we have been using in Connecticut. We call it the "utilization rate" or "% of available instruction used". It is the percent of available class hours utilized by each student in the class. We aggregate this measure at the class level and the program level. We have experienced some challenges with this measure though. We are able to account for late starters by pro-rating the remaining available hours based on that late start date, but it gets unwieldy to also account for students who exit early. This measure works well for classes offered on a set schedule but can be problematic for learning labs where the lab might be open for say 25 hours a week but a student is not expected to be there for the entire 25 hours; this could result in a low utilization rate though the students might be attending say 10 hours/week. At the other extreme, some classes/programs may show high utilization rates but may be offering classes that run for only 40 hours in a semester. I find that combining this utilization rate with an absolute average of hours attended gives a better picture of the participation and persistence of learners within a program. I too would like to hear Larry's thoughts on Sandy's question. In my personal experience after looking at tons of data over the past 2-3 years from a variety of programs, I would expect that "intensity" (more instructional hours in a week) more than "duration" (more calendar days between class start and end dates) might result in greater learner attendance. For example, it is probably more likely that 20 ESL students will attend 100 hours each on average during a fiscal year if they are offered a class that runs 12 hours a week for 12 weeks than if they are offered a class that runs 4 hours a week for 36 weeks. Another element that we are beginning to track more closely is retention across fiscal years. We know that many students don't achieve their goals within one fiscal year. Therefore, we are using our data system to track and report on students who are new in the fiscal as well as those who might be returning to that program from a prior fiscal year. What about recruitment? Do any programs/states look at the students served over the past six/seven years and compare that to say Census 2000? Ajit Ajit Gopalakrishnan Education Consultant Connecticut Department of Education 25 Industrial Park Road Middletown, CT 06457 860-807-2125 Fax: 860-807-2062 ajit.gopalakrishnan at ct.gov ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Sandy Strunk Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:38 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 736] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Larry, Could you tell us more about the ESL research on percentage of possible time attended? This is a new idea to me. Does it reflect greater intensity as opposed to lesser intensity for a longer duration - or do you think something else is going on? If your research is correct, there are certainly implications for how we structure instructional segments. Sandy Strunk ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/833e7608/attachment.html From kmundie at gplc.org Wed Apr 18 10:40:58 2007 From: kmundie at gplc.org (Karen Mundie) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:40:58 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 741] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <43DFB331-14B0-4D47-962D-E6D7A6C4BE16@gplc.org> Suzi, given that much mobility in your students, I'm curious about your curriculum. Do you have a reasonably set curriculum that is consistent across sites? If that were the case, the movement would have fewer implication for student learning gains. And do you "move" the student records and hours in class forward from one site to another internally? The beauty of our on-line data bases in Pennsylvania is that students can't be duplicated in the system. Even if a student moves to a different program rather than a different site, his record is in edata and the new program and old one share the student equally. Both programs can put in hours, but only one can put in assessment information. The program in which the student is currently active is usually the "primary" program. There are, frankly, some students who, because they are so motivated to learn English, are active in more than one program at the same time. It doesn't matter which agency does the testing--we usually use the best results for the official record. If our data base manager sees that we have better results than the primary agency, it benefits both of us to use that data. We might have the caught the student on a better day or our test might have have more appropriate for that particular student. Karen Mundie Associate Director Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412 661-7323 (ext 101) kmundie at gplc.org GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. On Apr 17, 2007, at 6:58 PM, Monti, Suzi wrote: > I would like to add a few comments on retention and ESOL students. > > We have recently heard a lot about "stopping out" and I think that > can pertain to ESOL learners for many of the same reasons as ASE/ > GED learners - with the addition of issues such as stages of > acculturation and/or home country responsibilities which may cause > ESOL learners to withdraw for weeks or months and then possibly > return. > > I would also like to raise the issue of the mobility of the ESOL > population. We see migration reports on immigrants and settlement > trends and I often wonder how much of a difference in retention > these trends makes when comparing ASE/GED retention rates with ESOL. > > I think of the "stopover" trend we see sometimes in ESOL here in > Baltimore, MD where non-native speakers will enter and only > temporarily reside her before moving to an intended more perm ant > location. This obviously has great impact on retention. When > comparing ESOL programs statewide or nationwide, the "stopover" > trend may negatively impact the retention rates of certain programs. > > Another thing we see is "shift" or movement around the beltway (as > we call it). We have major ESOL class sites at locations along the > Baltimore beltway that roughly encircles the city and we see > contraction and expansion at these sites based the movement of the > ESOL population. We will see that a site may suddenly have low > retention across ALL six or seven ESOL classes offered - even the > classes with veteran/experienced teachers with a great track record > of retention. In some cases, the same teacher is also teaching at > another site and his/her class there is doing well at that site. > Both of these things show that attrition is not likely a result of > instructional issues. > > When we see this contraction of a site with mid-semester attrition, > we can sometimes predict that at another site we will experience a > boom in registration the next semester. It depends on if it is more > "stopover" (with learners leaving the area entirely) or just > "shift" (learners relocating within the area). If it is the latter, > learners who leave one site mid-semester will turn up to register > the next semester at another site. > > Suzi Monti > ESOL Curriculum Developer and Instructional Specialist > The Community College of Baltimore County > Center for Adult and Family Literacy > 7200 Sollers Point Road E102 > Baltimore, MD 21222 > > (410) 285-9476 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry > Sent: Tuesday April 17, 2007 5:31 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > Hi Ella, > > Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of > what is going on. > > I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency > of attendance. > > Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and > most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and > persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at > learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, > attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the > percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by > dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner > attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). > Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended > a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of > total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects > student motivation to attend. > > Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot > about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and > can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and > programs for them. > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > Dear Collegues: > > Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our > program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of > our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our > program, average hours attended data to check the depth of > engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door > versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention > in the crucial orientation period of classes. > > We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it > very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare > statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in > comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on > attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and > accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. > > Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it > possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who > has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We > can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or > by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and > staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. > > I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over > time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a > better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time > attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can > use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs > overall effectiveness. > > Respectfully submitted by, > Ella Bogard > > Ella Bogard, Executive Director > Franklinton Learning Center > 1003 West Town Street > Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 > > Phone: (614) 221-9151 > Fax: (614) 221-9131 > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/77c4ff23/attachment.html From mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us Wed Apr 18 10:50:29 2007 From: mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us (Mary Beheler) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:50:29 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 742] Re: Data quality and usefulness In-Reply-To: <009301c7815c$bc061cc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> Message-ID: MessageWe have no ESL students. They are all basic literacy students, primarily at FFL levels 1-4. We use the Life Skills assessment because the one for Employment Skills is just too irrelevant to our many disabled and retired students. I have not seen the new series, but the term "work" makes me suspect it might bring up some of the same issues. And right now the both the time and money budgets are too tight to experiment. The map question, which does *not* include a note that X means "you are here," has baffled many students, not just the excellent ones. Hate to "teach to the test" but now I try to remind our tutors to mark a "You are here" X on at least one of the maps they use in practice. It is just one of those things you either know or you don't. ("Everything is intuitive, once you know how," is one of my favorite quotes about learning a yet another computer application.) I wanted to see which questions our students missed most, and over the years the map question with the unmarked X has been prominent, though other map questions were not. (The one with the left pointing north arrow is the second most missed map question.) The person who did worse after I began comparing his answers to the correct master is an very artistic student who once just filled in the bubbles on the answer sheet in a pretty pattern. (Had to have a serious talk with him about that.) Scaled scores are derived from the raw score. If one is low, so is the other. I used the term "doing so poorly" because I knew he had previously answered more than half the questions correctly on a parallel assessment. This time I was seeing very few correct answers, even at the very beginning of the assessment, where the questions tend to be easier for most students. Sometimes he is fully engaged in what he is doing and we get a good assessment. When he is in a "lets get this over with" mood, anything can happen. The day he did better with the wrong answer sheet was a day he was doing random guesses. Even so, marked enough of them correctly for his scaled score to be in the valid range. However, the ones he hit correctly were scattered all over the place. As a human being could see the randomness. I just junked what he'd done that day and gave him a different assessment a couple of months later, when his attitude was more suitable. Glad the random marking didn't happen when we were up against the end of the fiscal year deadline! Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Dan Wann Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 9:56 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 739] Re: Data quality and usefulness Mary, Where did the valid score place the excellent student who was doing poorly? Since we work from the scale score and not the number correct I do not know how to interpret the doing so poorly. When working with teachers and students, we try to place an emphasis on the where the student falls on the scale or NRS level. In training with teachers, we always stress that students are not a single level but students have range of strengths and needs and we discuss about how to present this information to the student. I agree that a missed question does not tell us why the student was not able to correctly answer the question; however, by taking "multiple measures" of student performance over time with a variety of formats tells me if the student has the concept and if the student can transfer what is known to different contexts. In the example cited below, in most exercises that use maps the X is also marked with the words such as "you are here." It would seem that the student using "X marks the spot" and not "X you are here" would indicate a reading/literacy problem. As a teacher I would watch that student read directions and try to perform tasks. Does the student ask others to help explain the task? Does the student ask me, the teacher, for help? Observing the student's behavior and patterns of work is part of the assessment process, and from your other posts I think that is what you seem to do in your program with such a variety of learners at vastly different levels. The last point you make about application forms when the student does not intend to seek employment presents a challenge that we always face. If not application for work, all ESL students are faced without filling out forms and as a teacher I want to have students learn to "transfer" knowledge so I think I might use your quote "learn to read and then read to learn." That is I would use the application form for work as a transition to other forms and so filling out forms is the concept that I am teaching as well as helping students understand that there are many forms that they will have to fill out in English and forms have certain questions and vocabulary in common. That way there is a relationship between the assessment and what is taught. The context of the question is not as important as the ability to read and fill forms. I explain to students that the employment form for them is not important but I would try and brainstorm with them when they might need to help someone with an employment form. Since you mention using CASAS life skills test you might want to look at the new tests CASAS has developed such as the Life and Work. If your state has other approved assessments for ESL then you might look at those assessments to see if you think it is a better match for your curriculum. I have found that CASAS Literacy tests and level A reading tests are very sensitive instruments in tracking lower level student learning gains. Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant Indiana Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mary Beheler Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:58 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 737] Data quality and usefulness Does GIGO apply to the data all of us, big and small, are gathering? The information gleaned from the CASAS Life Skills (or any other) assessment tool can be useful for spotting problems and successes, but because of the *multiple layers of skills involved in answering any one question* the specific question(s) missed must be looked at very carefully. But, getting the student feedback that makes looking carefully possible gets into problems of assessment confidentiality. Example: A excellent student may understand *everything* else about a certain CASAS map question, but if he or she has heard the expression "X marks the spot," and assumes X means the goal, not the beginning, this question will be nonsense. I don't think the check-off sheet of demonstrated skills specifies, "Knows that on *this* map X means, "Start here." If the student's tutor or I can't discuss a missed question with the student, how will I discover that? How do we know that the question a student answers or misses actually assesses the skill the assessment manual tells us it does? I was scoring an answer sheet and was dismayed at how poorly a student was doing, when I noticed I wasusing the math answers, not reading. I switched to the correct set, and the student made even a worse score! Both scores were in the "valid" range, too! How much confidence should I place in that assessment? Having the questions in a booklet and marking the answers to multiple choice questions on a separate sheet may be a skill even somewhat advanced adult students do not have.Because our student workbooks don't use multiple choice questions, we have actually created lists of number-letter pairs to see if a student can mark the letter in the appropriate column of each numbered row on a separate answer sheet. That's all. (Did that after a strong level 2 student marked the answer sheet by page number, not question number, with answers to 2 and 3 questions marked in the same row.) Has anyone made an effort to see if the lower level literacy students want to learn what the CASAS or other accepted NRS assessments wants us to teach? Lots of our students are on SSI. They don't see the point in learning about employment applications. That often means any question about employment forms isn't important enough to take seriously, even if the ones about other forms are. Colleges have sense enough to make all freshman year classes pretty generic, and leave the "major" study to later years. Is it useful for assessment of beginning literacy to get so specific so soon? Whatever happened to "Learn to read; then read to learn"? We used to use the quick and unintimidating SORT-R for student assessment. Even on that simple test almost all men missed word "dainty," no matter what their reading level. Does anyone know if any specific question(s) on the assessments used for gathering NRS data is answered incorrectly by most students at any one level? Or if a significant number of students in the Laubach series misses different questions than students in Challenger or Voyager, or another series? Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:29 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know... Hi folks, A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give them the necessary info for joining our discussion. Please post your questions and share your experiences now! View the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date with the current conversation. See suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html (Scroll to the bottom!!) See more resources at: For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingR eportCards.ppt Here are your prompts: add your voice!: * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the results? * What information (data) would you like to track and why? * What data would you like to learn how to use? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/c4596ccb/attachment.html From jtaustin1 at core.com Wed Apr 18 11:49:03 2007 From: jtaustin1 at core.com (JTA) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:49:03 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 743] Data quality and usefulness of NRS Message-ID: <20070418155627.7C068BFC91@mail1.mx.core.com>

Folks,

I hope that this is not a duplicative posting, but one implicit assumption being made here is that NRS is itself valid.? Many of the postings assume that it is, and work from there to elaborate usage for various accountability and program improvement purposes.

I work in Ohio and have noted the requirements promulgated by DAEL that other systems must align to NRS (most recently last fall with the Federal register outline of the periodic review process) and in various letters from the AIR psychometrician to states or vendors.?

When a national system is above all of the state systems, I would think that we should strive to keep it on the quality control line as well as all of the underlings.

In my reading of the history of NRS, I have not seen the sorts of construct validity studies that seem to be requested / required for state tests and vendor tests.? Consider the width of the levels and the statements that comprise them.?

There was a thread of work coming out of the CRESST organization a few years ago (Eva Baker's name comes to mind) called Standards for Educational Accountability (SEA) which might be useful if folks wanted to think about validation of? NRS.

Another useful framework is the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) that Achieve, Inc. and other organizations are using to improve the seamlessness of transitions in P-16 systems.? In Ohio, for example, we have ABLELink for adult basic education, EMIS for K-12, and other systems for One-Stops and post-secondary.? Many of these systems end up in front of the "tower of babel" when they try to communicate, as noted in some of our "Data Match" to unemployment wage records.

JTA CoreComm Webmail. http://home.core.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/b1a36d8d/attachment.html From SMonti at ccbcmd.edu Wed Apr 18 12:29:26 2007 From: SMonti at ccbcmd.edu (Monti, Suzi) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:29:26 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 744] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement References: <43DFB331-14B0-4D47-962D-E6D7A6C4BE16@gplc.org> Message-ID: Karen, In response to your question about our curriculum, we do use the same materials (core books) across classes at the same level and while we have/encourage great flexibility to teach in response to student needs there is commonality provided by a framework of target skills or strategies to cover per level/per semester. This does facilitate the learning process if a student transfers within a semester or even if the student shows up the next semester. As far as tracking, within our program and within a fiscal year we do pick up the students where they turn up assuming the identifiers are consistent. We also plan "sister sites" to encourage multiple enrollment to increase intensity/contact hours for students who desire it. We have the same issues with multiple test results in those cases but the information system we use seems to successfully handle that. You mentioned students accessing more than one program and being able to track that. I am not sure if our statewide system in Maryland is able to do that (perhaps someone on the list can respond to that?). The issue of tracking can even become problematic within our program. Because of the lack of usual identifiers such as SS#s we have issues due to the use of multiple names or varied arrangement of names/surnames, reversals on dates of birth, etc. as can be common with ESOL students. We assign a number to each student but it is challenging to determine if we are dealing with the same or a different student sometimes. It can be detective work to try to sort it out. It would be interesting to know how often this impacts tracking. Suzi ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Karen Mundie Sent: Wed 4/18/2007 10:40 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 741] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Suzi, given that much mobility in your students, I'm curious about your curriculum. Do you have a reasonably set curriculum that is consistent across sites? If that were the case, the movement would have fewer implication for student learning gains. And do you "move" the student records and hours in class forward from one site to another internally? The beauty of our on-line data bases in Pennsylvania is that students can't be duplicated in the system. Even if a student moves to a different program rather than a different site, his record is in edata and the new program and old one share the student equally. Both programs can put in hours, but only one can put in assessment information. The program in which the student is currently active is usually the "primary" program. There are, frankly, some students who, because they are so motivated to learn English, are active in more than one program at the same time. It doesn't matter which agency does the testing--we usually use the best results for the official record. If our data base manager sees that we have better results than the primary agency, it benefits both of us to use that data. We might have the caught the student on a better day or our test might have have more appropriate for that particular student. Karen Mundie Associate Director Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412 661-7323 (ext 101) kmundie at gplc.org GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. On Apr 17, 2007, at 6:58 PM, Monti, Suzi wrote: I would like to add a few comments on retention and ESOL students. We have recently heard a lot about "stopping out" and I think that can pertain to ESOL learners for many of the same reasons as ASE/GED learners - with the addition of issues such as stages of acculturation and/or home country responsibilities which may cause ESOL learners to withdraw for weeks or months and then possibly return. I would also like to raise the issue of the mobility of the ESOL population. We see migration reports on immigrants and settlement trends and I often wonder how much of a difference in retention these trends makes when comparing ASE/GED retention rates with ESOL. I think of the "stopover" trend we see sometimes in ESOL here in Baltimore, MD where non-native speakers will enter and only temporarily reside her before moving to an intended more perm ant location. This obviously has great impact on retention. When comparing ESOL programs statewide or nationwide, the "stopover" trend may negatively impact the retention rates of certain programs. Another thing we see is "shift" or movement around the beltway (as we call it). We have major ESOL class sites at locations along the Baltimore beltway that roughly encircles the city and we see contraction and expansion at these sites based the movement of the ESOL population. We will see that a site may suddenly have low retention across ALL six or seven ESOL classes offered - even the classes with veteran/experienced teachers with a great track record of retention. In some cases, the same teacher is also teaching at another site and his/her class there is doing well at that site. Both of these things show that attrition is not likely a result of instructional issues. When we see this contraction of a site with mid-semester attrition, we can sometimes predict that at another site we will experience a boom in registration the next semester. It depends on if it is more "stopover" (with learners leaving the area entirely) or just "shift" (learners relocating within the area). If it is the latter, learners who leave one site mid-semester will turn up to register the next semester at another site. Suzi Monti ESOL Curriculum Developer and Instructional Specialist The Community College of Baltimore County Center for Adult and Family Literacy 7200 Sollers Point Road E102 Baltimore, MD 21222 (410) 285-9476 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 15216 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/55f89d4e/attachment.bin From mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us Wed Apr 18 13:41:42 2007 From: mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us (Mary Beheler) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:41:42 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 745] Re: Data quality and usefulness of NRS In-Reply-To: <20070418155627.7C068BFC91@mail1.mx.core.com> Message-ID: Maybe aggregate figures for large groups can give some indication are doing better or worse than they used to. Maybe. But NRS gives surely gives meaningless results for small groups like ours. (Total 20-25 students with 12 or more hours per year) One individual can vary the group results far too drastically. My first posting on the 16th asked a question about the statistical validity of the figures for a five member level containing only 3 or 4 post-tested individuals. If these figures has real meaning for our group, would someone please explain? (I'm not a statistician, but I have had some college math classes, including calculus.) The standard for a level with only one member could be 2% or 98%, it still amounts to pass/fail. At level 4 (high intermediate ABE) the student could improve more than 10 CASAS points and the whole level, and therefore our group, would not be an NRS success! Yes, I know, the state will take our smallness into consideration when looking at our figures, but the rules are not written that way. It seems like it would be useful for small groups to have their results bundled for comparison to the big guys. Maybe invent a standard for a whole organization, if it is big enough. If level-by-level analysis of small groups is as nonsensical as I think it is, why burden us with it? Let us just report. And you are right, JTA, the whole NRS system might be useless in the long run. Maybe even harmful. Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of JTA Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 11:49 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 743] Data quality and usefulness of NRS Folks, I hope that this is not a duplicative posting, but one implicit assumption being made here is that NRS is itself valid. Many of the postings assume that it is, and work from there to elaborate usage for various accountability and program improvement purposes. I work in Ohio and have noted the requirements promulgated by DAEL that other systems must align to NRS (most recently last fall with the Federal register outline of the periodic review process) and in various letters from the AIR psychometrician to states or vendors. When a national system is above all of the state systems, I would think that we should strive to keep it on the quality control line as well as all of the underlings. In my reading of the history of NRS, I have not seen the sorts of construct validity studies that seem to be requested / required for state tests and vendor tests. Consider the width of the levels and the statements that comprise them. There was a thread of work coming out of the CRESST organization a few years ago (Eva Baker's name comes to mind) called Standards for Educational Accountability (SEA) which might be useful if folks wanted to think about validation of NRS. Another useful framework is the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) that Achieve, Inc. and other organizations are using to improve the seamlessness of transitions in P-16 systems. In Ohio, for example, we have ABLELink for adult basic education, EMIS for K-12, and other systems for One-Stops and post-secondary. Many of these systems end up in front of the "tower of babel" when they try to communicate, as noted in some of our "Data Match" to unemployment wage records. JTA CoreComm Webmail. http://home.core.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/8639794f/attachment.html From lteller at massasoit.mass.edu Wed Apr 18 13:56:06 2007 From: lteller at massasoit.mass.edu (Luanne Teller) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:56:06 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Message-ID: Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts, our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress....that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/2ea4af6c/attachment.html From dcornellier at doe.mass.edu Wed Apr 18 14:45:13 2007 From: dcornellier at doe.mass.edu (Cornellier, Donna) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:45:13 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 747] Staff Development for Using Data for Program Improvement Message-ID: <8ADDCB4F87E49F47B163BCD04B6D6EA101459689@exchange1.doe.mass.edu> Hi, In Massachusetts we have developed and implemented a plan for ongoing staff development on using data to promote continuous improvement. Our state-wide professional development system, (SABES) has developed a program planning process that incorporates NRS and other data to promote continuous improvement. They utilized the following approaches to providing support for program planning: (1) a comprehensive 12-hour course, offered in all five regions of the state, on planning for program improvement, including a module on types and sources of data, data quality, and data analysis. The course culminates with presentations by participants on their program planning activities. (2) On-site coaching to selected programs in need of a tailored approach (3) A separate data module from the planning course presented twice as a separate workshop (4) Program and staff development sharing groups to provide forums for directors and practitioners to share experiences. Follow-up for all participants who attended this training is provided. Programs are now required to submit program improvement plans that are tied to their performance in attendance, average attended hours, pre- and post- testing, learning gains and eventually, the achievement of student goals. SABES provides ongoing support to programs in developing their continuous improvement plans. We have found that offering more intensive courses for several staff members at local programs has been very helpful for our local programs. Donna Cornellier SMARTT ABE Project Manager Adult and Community Learning Services Massachusetts Department of Education 350 Main Street Malden, MA 02148 781 338-3814 From LCondelli at air.org Wed Apr 18 15:32:55 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:32:55 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 748] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F19A2@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> Message-ID: Sandy, A few years ago I did a study on adult ESL literacy students that focused primarily on instruction. But we also looked at retention. We found that the proportion of time an ESL literacy student attended (measure by hours attended over total hours class was scheduled) had a positive effect on oral English skills and reading comprehension, all else being equal (using a complex statistical model). The possible reasons for this effect are intriguing and need more research. Because this measure showed an effect regardless of how many hours the student actually attended (or how many hours per week a student attended), my interpretation is that this measure is a measure of motivation (although I have no data or other information to check this). In other words, the student who continues to attend over time, despite all of the other competing demands on time, is one that is more motivated. This motivation helps learning. I think if true, it does have implications for structuring instructional segments. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Sandy Strunk Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:38 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 736] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Larry, Could you tell us more about the ESL research on percentage of possible time attended? This is a new idea to me. Does it reflect greater intensity as opposed to lesser intensity for a longer duration - or do you think something else is going on? If your research is correct, there are certainly implications for how we structure instructional segments. Sandy Strunk ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/3e9f417d/attachment.html From flowenbach at cweal.org Wed Apr 18 17:15:06 2007 From: flowenbach at cweal.org (Fred Lowenbach) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:15:06 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 749] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <11100F3DEA99F24CB3E87E45900040DF779BD8@cwf-exchange.Commonweal-Foundation.org> Hopefully everyone participating in this discussion regarding adult literacy is aware that almost everything you are saying applies to the results for students in school as well. Coming from a public school background you could always see the effect that high mobility rates had on overall student results. Schools with those highest rates almost always struggled to meet standard on state measures connected to NCLB. This was the case with overall populations as well as various subgroups that were tested. The same applies to student retention, or for that matter attendance. As a rule, student who attended regularly achieved much higher grades than students whose attendance was far less consistent. This then followed suit with results on standardized testing and ultimately on graduation rates. The entire education community, whether it is involved with adult literacy, or the traditional K-12 curriculum is faced with the same thing. The key to increasing literacy and to closing achievement gaps starts with getting and retaining students. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:33 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 748] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Sandy, A few years ago I did a study on adult ESL literacy students that focused primarily on instruction. But we also looked at retention. We found that the proportion of time an ESL literacy student attended (measure by hours attended over total hours class was scheduled) had a positive effect on oral English skills and reading comprehension, all else being equal (using a complex statistical model). The possible reasons for this effect are intriguing and need more research. Because this measure showed an effect regardless of how many hours the student actually attended (or how many hours per week a student attended), my interpretation is that this measure is a measure of motivation (although I have no data or other information to check this). In other words, the student who continues to attend over time, despite all of the other competing demands on time, is one that is more motivated. This motivation helps learning. I think if true, it does have implications for structuring instructional segments. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Sandy Strunk Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:38 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 736] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Larry, Could you tell us more about the ESL research on percentage of possible time attended? This is a new idea to me. Does it reflect greater intensity as opposed to lesser intensity for a longer duration - or do you think something else is going on? If your research is correct, there are certainly implications for how we structure instructional segments. Sandy Strunk ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/4347f5c7/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Wed Apr 18 18:01:14 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:01:14 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 750] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/76e1f429/attachment.html From sandy_strunk at IU13.org Wed Apr 18 19:01:38 2007 From: sandy_strunk at IU13.org (Sandy Strunk) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 19:01:38 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 751] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: <11100F3DEA99F24CB3E87E45900040DF779BD8@cwf-exchange.Commonweal-Foundation.org> Message-ID: <66C8B9B747B73C4EA36866C84FF6FAA15F1E35@IUHQSEXC002.hq.iu13.local> Fred, I certainly agree that K-12 education has retention issues related to mobility; however, the difference as I see it is twofold. First of all, most schools run on a 180 cycle and children are expected to attend every day that they're healthy and reside in the district. Secondly, while an individual teacher may structure his/her instructional segments, most students don't have the ability to choose whether or not to attend a given session. I suspect that the attendance issue in K-12 - at least up until 9th or 10th grade - is related to the family's mobility rather than to student motivation. Most adult education programs in Pennsylvania, have an average attendance of 60 to 100 hours per year. Mobility is certainly a factor, but in my experience most adults "stop out" for many reasons other than mobility. As a program director, I have tried various combinations of intensity and duration. One of the ways we've worked on retention is to have each teacher create a scattergram of his/her retention patterns. One axis of the graph is the number of hours available, the other axis is the duration of the class. What we found is that different patterns emerge on the scattergram with different teachers. We then work with teachers individually to develop improvement strategies based on their individual patterns. For example, a teacher with students who cluster in the low intensity/low duration quadrant would use very different retention strategies than a teacher who has students clustering in the low intensity/high duration quadrant or a teacher whose scattergram is evenly distributed across the four quadrants. Ultimately, the teacher's goal is to see his/her students clustering in the high intensity, high duration quadrant. Our experience suggests that working with teachers on their scattergrams and retention strategies has a positive impact on student retention. If Larry's research can be replicated, it speaks to a couple of very important issues for our field. Open entry/open exit is one of them. The second is the length of the instructional segment, regardless of intensity. Our program has operated under the assumption that low intensity classes need to be longer in duration. For example, our night classes tend to run in 14 week segments whereas our daytime, high intensity classes tend to run about 7 weeks. This research certainly challenges this assumption. Sandy ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Fred Lowenbach Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:15 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 749] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hopefully everyone participating in this discussion regarding adult literacy is aware that almost everything you are saying applies to the results for students in school as well. Coming from a public school background you could always see the effect that high mobility rates had on overall student results. Schools with those highest rates almost always struggled to meet standard on state measures connected to NCLB. This was the case with overall populations as well as various subgroups that were tested. The same applies to student retention, or for that matter attendance. As a rule, student who attended regularly achieved much higher grades than students whose attendance was far less consistent. This then followed suit with results on standardized testing and ultimately on graduation rates. The entire education community, whether it is involved with adult literacy, or the traditional K-12 curriculum is faced with the same thing. The key to increasing literacy and to closing achievement gaps starts with getting and retaining students. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:33 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 748] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Sandy, A few years ago I did a study on adult ESL literacy students that focused primarily on instruction. But we also looked at retention. We found that the proportion of time an ESL literacy student attended (measure by hours attended over total hours class was scheduled) had a positive effect on oral English skills and reading comprehension, all else being equal (using a complex statistical model). The possible reasons for this effect are intriguing and need more research. Because this measure showed an effect regardless of how many hours the student actually attended (or how many hours per week a student attended), my interpretation is that this measure is a measure of motivation (although I have no data or other information to check this). In other words, the student who continues to attend over time, despite all of the other competing demands on time, is one that is more motivated. This motivation helps learning. I think if true, it does have implications for structuring instructional segments. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Sandy Strunk Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:38 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 736] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Larry, Could you tell us more about the ESL research on percentage of possible time attended? This is a new idea to me. Does it reflect greater intensity as opposed to lesser intensity for a longer duration - or do you think something else is going on? If your research is correct, there are certainly implications for how we structure instructional segments. Sandy Strunk ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070418/48b075ab/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Thu Apr 19 02:05:23 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:05:23 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <462706A3.1050605@comcast.net> Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: > Hi Luanne, > > I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be > consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often > the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with > the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the > highest posttesting and retention rate. > > Tina > > > > > Tina Luffman > Coordinator, Developmental Education > Verde Valley Campus > 928-634-6544 > tina_luffman at yc.edu > > -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- > > To: > From: "Luanne Teller" > Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM > Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data > > Hi all: > > > > I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is > the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process > of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data > even as we speak! > > > > The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what > most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with > regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, > etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an > incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as > a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the > numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we > find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, > classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. > > > > Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year > analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students > did not persist. We found that the retention for students who > enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar > year from September to June) was significantly lower than the > retention for students who began in September. Even more > compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began > after March 1 was 0%. > > > > We met with staff and students, and did some research around > student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided > to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our > grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so > we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we > "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows > us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that > occurs. > > > > In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students > to the higher level who are ready to progress....that typically > leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin > students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new > orientation programs including a requirement that new students > observe a class before enrolling. > > > > While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will > have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally > that the transition seems to be easier for some of these > students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year > to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. > > > > As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to > be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We > suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to > advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their > attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are > beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more > flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to > support students in addressing these employment issues? How can > we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for > these beginner level students that affect their participation? As > we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for > developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our > greatest source of valuable data. > > > > Luanne Teller > > > > Luanne Teller > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >------------------------------- >National Institute for Literacy >Assessment mailing list >Assessment at nifl.gov >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/cdc2d898/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Apr 19 08:45:54 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 08:45:54 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 753] Using Student Goals as Data Message-ID: <01da01c78280$abfa7090$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, Wow, what a super discussion! So rich and full of great ideas, interesting comments, excellent questions, and thoughtful challenges. I usually contribute more myself but I'm just reading and soaking it in at this point. I am cutting and pasting the discussion into a user-friendly document, which I will make available once our Guest Panel concludes tomorrow. We are really covering a lot of ground here! Just curious (because it is a focus on mine within the realm of accountability): a number of folks have discussed issues of retention and the types of strategies that they employ in their programming, but I don't think that anyone has mentioned if they use student-stated goals to track retention, trends in learning or program offerings, etc. Perhaps the use of student goals is more easily applicable at the classroom/teaching level (not sure!), but I just wanted to know if anyone out there makes programmatic decisions based in part on the reasons why students come to your programs. I am not referring to learning gains (reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc), but rather to students' ultimate purposes for attending, like getting a better job, helping kids with homework, buying a home, becoming a citizen, etc. Thoughts on this? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/99a87b35/attachment.html From lteller at massasoit.mass.edu Thu Apr 19 09:24:33 2007 From: lteller at massasoit.mass.edu (Luanne Teller) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:24:33 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 754] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: <11100F3DEA99F24CB3E87E45900040DF779BD8@cwf-exchange.Commonweal-Foundation.org> Message-ID: Good morning: How interesting to hear from a range of institutions---I get so focused on my programs that it is interesting to hear from other types of organizations and structures. For my students, motivation isn't an issue at all. We have a lengthy wait list - depending on the level, students could wait as little as 6 months or as long as 2 years to get into our program. Consequently, they are pretty thrilled to finally be there, and eager to participate. For my population, (adult ESOL learners---a large majority in the 25-44 age range) the issue is juggling demands on their time. The majority work at least one job (many work 2 or more) and have children in school. Our classes are in the evening, since over 90% of the population we serve work during the day. Many rush directly from work to class, and might be late due to mandatory overtime, or a family need that requires attention prior to attending class. Given the lack of access to adequate preventative health care that many of our students face, there are ongoing health problems for many. Add this to the occasional trip back to their native country for a death in the family, or some other type of family emergency, and frankly I'm amazed that they are able to maintain such a strong commitment to their studies. Some of our research and data analysis have uncovered these issues-- still it remains quite a challenge to respond to these problems. We initially adjusted our program plan and schedule to allow for longer breaks during the holidays, when many students wish to return to their native countries. We also incorporate school vacations in our planning. When an individual student starts to have a problem, we meet with him or her to see how we can help. It doesn't always work, but sometimes we are able to communicate with employers, and that's been helpful for many students. Sometimes, we offer students a "leave of absence" to deal with pressing personal matters, and invite them to return when things are more settled. All of these strategies have evolved over years of looking at attendance/retention data, and discussions with focus groups. These strategies have had a positive impact, and students appreciate our responsiveness to their needs. The first year that we implemented our "managed enrollment" (vs. open entry/open exit) model, our retention increased from 74% to 90%. Our attendance has increased from 68% to now over 82%. We all know how critical it is to keep students long enough for them to reach their goals... Which brings me to my final point. We all serve so many masters---NRS, our funders (in my case DOE); our parent organizations (for me a community college) and we are constantly looking at data to justify our existence and demonstrate our effectiveness. Let's be realistic, if we want to retain our funding, we have to show results-which is as it should be. For us; however, when we look at our data, it is always with an eye to how we can better serve our students and respond to their needs. The difference is subtle, but powerful. It's a lot easier to get staff and students on board with planning and change when they can see a direct result for our students than to respond to a bunch of charts and mandates from "higher ups". Luanne Teller ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Fred Lowenbach Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:15 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 749] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hopefully everyone participating in this discussion regarding adult literacy is aware that almost everything you are saying applies to the results for students in school as well. Coming from a public school background you could always see the effect that high mobility rates had on overall student results. Schools with those highest rates almost always struggled to meet standard on state measures connected to NCLB. This was the case with overall populations as well as various subgroups that were tested. The same applies to student retention, or for that matter attendance. As a rule, student who attended regularly achieved much higher grades than students whose attendance was far less consistent. This then followed suit with results on standardized testing and ultimately on graduation rates. The entire education community, whether it is involved with adult literacy, or the traditional K-12 curriculum is faced with the same thing. The key to increasing literacy and to closing achievement gaps starts with getting and retaining students. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:33 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 748] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Sandy, A few years ago I did a study on adult ESL literacy students that focused primarily on instruction. But we also looked at retention. We found that the proportion of time an ESL literacy student attended (measure by hours attended over total hours class was scheduled) had a positive effect on oral English skills and reading comprehension, all else being equal (using a complex statistical model). The possible reasons for this effect are intriguing and need more research. Because this measure showed an effect regardless of how many hours the student actually attended (or how many hours per week a student attended), my interpretation is that this measure is a measure of motivation (although I have no data or other information to check this). In other words, the student who continues to attend over time, despite all of the other competing demands on time, is one that is more motivated. This motivation helps learning. I think if true, it does have implications for structuring instructional segments. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Sandy Strunk Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:38 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 736] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Larry, Could you tell us more about the ESL research on percentage of possible time attended? This is a new idea to me. Does it reflect greater intensity as opposed to lesser intensity for a longer duration - or do you think something else is going on? If your research is correct, there are certainly implications for how we structure instructional segments. Sandy Strunk ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/092c0279/attachment.html From bryan at cal.org Thu Apr 19 09:29:32 2007 From: bryan at cal.org (Bryan Woerner) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:29:32 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 755] Re: Using Student Goals as Data In-Reply-To: <01da01c78280$abfa7090$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <7E0B624DDF68104F92C38648A4D93D8F02751E1B@MAIL.cal.local> Hello all! I've been trying to keep up with this discussion as best I can. As a teacher, I use the test data given to me by my program along with my own needs assessments (what the students know and what they want to know) to plan my lessons. Typically my students want to get a better job, help kids with school work, and be able to live in the US. The test data shows their strengths and weakness. By combining the this information, I can design lessons that target the language used in these everyday situations: reading an apartment ad, answering and asking questions in an interview, making a doctor's appointment over the phone, etc. Bryan Woerner ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:46 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 753] Using Student Goals as Data Hi everyone, Wow, what a super discussion! So rich and full of great ideas, interesting comments, excellent questions, and thoughtful challenges. I usually contribute more myself but I'm just reading and soaking it in at this point. I am cutting and pasting the discussion into a user-friendly document, which I will make available once our Guest Panel concludes tomorrow. We are really covering a lot of ground here! Just curious (because it is a focus on mine within the realm of accountability): a number of folks have discussed issues of retention and the types of strategies that they employ in their programming, but I don't think that anyone has mentioned if they use student-stated goals to track retention, trends in learning or program offerings, etc. Perhaps the use of student goals is more easily applicable at the classroom/teaching level (not sure!), but I just wanted to know if anyone out there makes programmatic decisions based in part on the reasons why students come to your programs. I am not referring to learning gains (reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc), but rather to students' ultimate purposes for attending, like getting a better job, helping kids with homework, buying a home, becoming a citizen, etc. Thoughts on this? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/771251df/attachment.html From dlwann at comcast.net Thu Apr 19 09:47:06 2007 From: dlwann at comcast.net (Dan Wann) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:47:06 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 756] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <462706A3.1050605@comcast.net> References: <462706A3.1050605@comcast.net> Message-ID: <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students do not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a high enough number of students more than one year to make a significant difference? Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant IN Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: Hi Luanne, I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Luanne Teller" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress..that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment _____ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/2cbe9c84/attachment.html From lteller at massasoit.mass.edu Thu Apr 19 09:50:31 2007 From: lteller at massasoit.mass.edu (Luanne Teller) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:50:31 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 757] Re: Using Student Goals as Data In-Reply-To: <01da01c78280$abfa7090$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Hi Marie: Great point--- As I just stated in my last email, our primary focus is how the information we derive from our data can benefit our students. We recently completed a two year study on learner goals, and completely revised our goal setting process. In the beginning of the year, students select at least 3 goals that they want to work on. (We use pictures for beginner ESOL students and more advanced students who can help translate.) The process is somewhat driven by the DOE mandates, but we pride ourselves in having an entire page of "other" goals that students can identify. While the DOE requirements provide the basic structure for our goal setting process, we are not limited by it. Each month, students answer three questions in their blue books around the goals they have selected: 1. What they did in the past month towards meeting their goals 2. What they plan to do in the upcoming month to meet their goals 3. What we can do to assist them. Instructors collect the goals books each month and review them. We work as a team to assist students where we can. When a student meets a goal, the instructor notifies the office staff (there is a paper trail) so we can enter it into the system (or not depending on the goal and student authorization to release the information). This allows us to quantify our learner's progress towards their goals in a data base that yields useful information. In the beginning of the year, when instructors collect the goals books for the first time, they review the information around what goals students have set. This allows them to integrate goals into the curriculum and instruction, and provides administrative staff with information to help planning for the year. For example, many students this year have selected health-related goals, so we have the Director of Interpreter Services from our local hospital coming to speak with students around patient rights and access to health care resources in the community. We also have conversation classes that allow us to focus on clusters of goals. For example, we might do a series on Citizenship if we have several students with that goal. In many ways, helping our students articulate and achieve their goals relates directly to the retention and attendance issue. The best way to retain students is when they see a direct result from their participation that is relevant to their daily lives. At the end of the year, we collate all the information around student goal achievement. We have an annual year-end student achievement ceremony, and on each table we place a tent card. On the outside it says simply "Did you know that..." and on the inside, we include information about student goal achievements. For example, it might say that 6 students became American citizens, or 5 students bought new homes, or 12 students got raises. This helps communicate the impact of our program to our community partners and funders in a real and meaningful way. This is a great example of how we are able to serve our funders (by quantifying data to meet the state accountability standard around student goal setting) in a way that truly focuses on meeting our students' needs. Luanne ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:46 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 753] Using Student Goals as Data Hi everyone, Wow, what a super discussion! So rich and full of great ideas, interesting comments, excellent questions, and thoughtful challenges. I usually contribute more myself but I'm just reading and soaking it in at this point. I am cutting and pasting the discussion into a user-friendly document, which I will make available once our Guest Panel concludes tomorrow. We are really covering a lot of ground here! Just curious (because it is a focus on mine within the realm of accountability): a number of folks have discussed issues of retention and the types of strategies that they employ in their programming, but I don't think that anyone has mentioned if they use student-stated goals to track retention, trends in learning or program offerings, etc. Perhaps the use of student goals is more easily applicable at the classroom/teaching level (not sure!), but I just wanted to know if anyone out there makes programmatic decisions based in part on the reasons why students come to your programs. I am not referring to learning gains (reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc), but rather to students' ultimate purposes for attending, like getting a better job, helping kids with homework, buying a home, becoming a citizen, etc. Thoughts on this? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/2cb91650/attachment.html From reders at pdx.edu Thu Apr 19 10:17:37 2007 From: reders at pdx.edu (Steve Reder) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:17:37 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 758] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> References: <462706A3.1050605@comcast.net> <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> Message-ID: <000001c7828d$7b4e09e0$5074fc83@PSU.DS.PDX.EDU> The Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning has been following a target population of ABE learners over a long period of time. It's finding exactly the pattern that others have been describing - many adults participate in programs over a series of "episodes" which often span multiple years (NRS accounting periods). When we've presented these data, we've suggested that NRS will not capture all of the impact that programs have on learning in part because of its short-term focus for measuring both participation and outcomes. I wonder if states could get waivers on a pilot basis to experiment with longer reporting periods as David Rosen suggested. -Steve Reder _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Dan Wann Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 6:47 AM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 756] Re: Using Data I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students do not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a high enough number of students more than one year to make a significant difference? Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant IN Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: Hi Luanne, I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Luanne Teller" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress..that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment _____ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/2938d83d/attachment.html From kolson2 at columbus.rr.com Thu Apr 19 10:20:22 2007 From: kolson2 at columbus.rr.com (K Olson) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 10:20:22 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 759] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> References: <462706A3.1050605@comcast.net> <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> Message-ID: <007001c7828d$de124f50$1b405f18@bessie> Last year sometime, I remember hearing Ajit talk about how CT was tracking students over a period of years. They had some very interesting information about the percent of students who did and did not come back the second year. I hope he will share it here. Kathy Olson Training Specialist _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Dan Wann Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:47 AM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 756] Re: Using Data I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students do not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a high enough number of students more than one year to make a significant difference? Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant IN Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: Hi Luanne, I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Luanne Teller" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress..that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment _____ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/403a86fa/attachment.html From mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us Thu Apr 19 11:16:36 2007 From: mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us (Mary Beheler) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:16:36 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 760] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> Message-ID: Our oldest few: Intake 1997 Grade level equivalent 2, now 11 Intake 1998 GLE K, now 7 Intake 1998 GLE 2, now 7 Intake 1998 GLE 3, now 11 Intake 2000 GLE K, now 4 And all of them have been "stop-out" students, with very uneven progress, at times even going down on the CASAS scale. They tend not to improve as quickly as NRS likes, but they do improve. There is another set of students that need to continue coming just to keep whatever skills they have. They can be really hard on NRS statistics! Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Dan Wann Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:47 AM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 756] Re: Using Data I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students do not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a high enough number of students more than one year to make a significant difference? Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant IN Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: Hi Luanne, I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Luanne Teller" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress..that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- -------------------------------National Institute for LiteracyAssessment mailing listAssessment at nifl.govTo unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/7d69c814/attachment.html From kmundie at gplc.org Thu Apr 19 11:51:01 2007 From: kmundie at gplc.org (Karen Mundie) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:51:01 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 761] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> References: <462706A3.1050605@comcast.net> <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> Message-ID: <76CF5385-FB46-4FFF-8454-CE7808AC3131@gplc.org> Dan, I know that's the perception, but I also know that we roll over about half of our students from one year to the next. . . and some of those students had rolled over the previous year as well. We've actually had to put a three year limit on some students (especially ESL). I'm having our data person look this up as well as we can. Unfortunately, our data tends to be divided, as David indicated, in discrete yearly "lumps." We can get the information, but it's time- consuming because the data bases are designed for accountability over a contract year. We certainly do have a lot of students who come in with short term goals and leave when these are accomplished. We also have a lot of stop out students, who have to put goals on the back burner while they work out other issues. I think, however, we do keep a significant number of students over time. I think for my own little research project, I'm going to investigate gains over multiple years. Karen Mundie Associate Director Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412 661-7323 (ext 101) kmundie at gplc.org GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. On Apr 19, 2007, at 9:47 AM, Dan Wann wrote: > I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and > ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track > over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of > the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have > little impact because students do not stay long to make a > difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the > same students more than one year and that we work with a high > enough number of students more than one year to make a significant > difference? > > > > > > Dan Wann > > Professional Development Consultant > > IN Adult Education Professional Development Project > > > > dlwann at comcast.net > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data > > > > Larry, and others, > > Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns > like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, > may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, > except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have > very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I > wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, > perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, > say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of > course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but > accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a > longer period of time. > > It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure > learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher > education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills > training. Would you agree? > > Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that > track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the > data for program improvement. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: > > Hi Luanne, > > > > I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be > consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. > Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to > stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem > to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. > > > > Tina > > > > > > Tina Luffman > Coordinator, Developmental Education > Verde Valley Campus > 928-634-6544 > tina_luffman at yc.edu > > > > -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- > > To: > From: "Luanne Teller" > Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM > Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data > > > > Hi all: > > > > I wanted to chime in about our program?s use of data since this is > the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process > of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data > even as we speak! > > > > The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what > most people consider the ?hard data? -- the raw numbers with regard > to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We > believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete > picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for > discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we > begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential > in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our > student advisory board, and focus groups. > > > > Here?s an example we?re currently working on---we did a two year > analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students > did not persist. We found that the retention for students who > enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar > year from September to June) was significantly lower than the > retention for students who began in September. Even more > compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began > after March 1 was 0%. > > > > We met with staff and students, and did some research around > student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to > pilot a ?managed enrollment? approach. In Massachusetts , our > grantor (MA DOE) allows us to ?over-enroll? our classes by 20%, so > we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we > ?drop? the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us > to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. > > > > In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students > to the higher level who are ready to progress?.that typically > leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin > students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new > orientation programs including a requirement that new students > observe a class before enrolling. > > > > While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will > have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that > the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We > are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the > effectiveness of this plan. > > > > As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to > be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We > suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to > advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their > attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning > to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, > lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support > students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower > students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner > level students that affect their participation? As we enter these > discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing > strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source > of valuable data. > > > > Luanne Teller > > > > Luanne Teller > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/be41b082/attachment.html From bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net Thu Apr 19 12:23:40 2007 From: bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net (Bonnie Odiorne) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:23:40 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 762] Re: Using Student Goals as Data Message-ID: <852151.15917.qm@web83313.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> When a student comes to an adult ed program, it's usually "to learn English," or "to learn to read." It can take a lot of probing to elicit more specific reasons from students: Where/when do you need to speak English, or to speak it better, with whom? What do you do now? Is that working? So goal-setting can and should be an important part of an intake interview, and, as was mentioned, an ongoing component of a classroom situation to track progress and benchmarks, especially since students can plateau and take a long time to "progress." I like the question about whether specific goals are related to better retention, or the sense of community in the classsroom, extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation, "tangible" progress etc. There would be lots of ways, perhaps, to obtain data on these elements. Thanks for the discussion. I think it ranges far wider than just ESOL students to the differentiated classroom in general, as well as questions of attrition/retention, which, as has been pointed out, can be systemic, and not program-related at all, but to the multiple barriers adults face. Bonnie Odiorne, Director, Writing Center, Post University ----- Original Message ---- From: Marie Cora To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:45:54 AM Subject: [Assessment 753] Using Student Goals as Data Hi everyone, Wow, what a super discussion! So rich and full of great ideas, interesting comments, excellent questions, and thoughtful challenges. I usually contribute more myself but I?m just reading and soaking it in at this point. I am cutting and pasting the discussion into a user-friendly document, which I will make available once our Guest Panel concludes tomorrow. We are really covering a lot of ground here! Just curious (because it is a focus on mine within the realm of accountability): a number of folks have discussed issues of retention and the types of strategies that they employ in their programming, but I don?t think that anyone has mentioned if they use student-stated goals to track retention, trends in learning or program offerings, etc. Perhaps the use of student goals is more easily applicable at the classroom/teaching level (not sure!), but I just wanted to know if anyone out there makes programmatic decisions based in part on the reasons why students come to your programs. I am not referring to learning gains (reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc), but rather to students? ultimate purposes for attending, like getting a better job, helping kids with homework, buying a home, becoming a citizen, etc. Thoughts on this? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/54daf239/attachment.html From pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us Thu Apr 19 12:24:50 2007 From: pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us (JO PAMMENT) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:24:50 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 763] Re: Using Student Goals as Data In-Reply-To: <01da01c78280$abfa7090$0202a8c0@LITNOW> References: <01da01c78280$abfa7090$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <46275F920200009E0000E66D@10.1.0.15> Hi, I've been following along. Thank you all for the great comments. We do ask for student goals on entry into the program but the goal is broad in order to meet the reporting needs to the State. However the teachers are asked to do a more specific student survey in the classroom at the beginning of the semester and a follow-up one at the end of the semester to learn the more specific goals of the students and whether they think their needs are met. Questions on the survey are simple and may be: Where do you want to use your English? Name three places where you use English Name three places where you need to use English. Where are you afraid to speak English? The teacher's can adjust the questions to meet their perceived classroom needs. There is also a Student Self-Evaluation where students rate their improvement on speaking, understanding, writing, reading, grammar, pronunciation and any other teaching focus areas . They can say: improved a lot, improved a little, did not improve, got worse and explain their comments. They are also asked to rate questions on a scale of 1 to 5, such as: I come to class regularly. I come to class on time. I do my homework. Homework helps me learn English. I understand my teacher. I understand my classmates when they speak to me. I speak English in class. I speak English outside of class. I practice what I learn in class every day. The final questions is: My goal is to speak English 15, 30, 45, 60, 60+ minutes a day. This self-evaluation helps the students to become more aware of their active role in learning English. Unfortunately this is all for the awareness of the teacher and the student which helps improve classroom teaching and learning, but can 't be reported as an assessment tool. Jo Pamment Jo Pamment Director Adult Ed. ESL Haslett Public Schools 1118 S. Harrison East Lansing, Michigan 48823 TEL: 517 337-8353 FAX: 517 337-3195 E-Mail: pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us >>> "Marie Cora" 4/19/2007 8:45 AM >>> Hi everyone, Wow, what a super discussion! So rich and full of great ideas, interesting comments, excellent questions, and thoughtful challenges. I usually contribute more myself but I'm just reading and soaking it in at this point. I am cutting and pasting the discussion into a user-friendly document, which I will make available once our Guest Panel concludes tomorrow. We are really covering a lot of ground here! Just curious (because it is a focus on mine within the realm of accountability): a number of folks have discussed issues of retention and the types of strategies that they employ in their programming, but I don't think that anyone has mentioned if they use student-stated goals to track retention, trends in learning or program offerings, etc. Perhaps the use of student goals is more easily applicable at the classroom/teaching level (not sure!), but I just wanted to know if anyone out there makes programmatic decisions based in part on the reasons why students come to your programs. I am not referring to learning gains (reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc), but rather to students' ultimate purposes for attending, like getting a better job, helping kids with homework, buying a home, becoming a citizen, etc. Thoughts on this? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From Ajit.Gopalakrishnan at ct.gov Thu Apr 19 12:46:14 2007 From: Ajit.Gopalakrishnan at ct.gov (Gopalakrishnan, Ajit) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:46:14 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 764] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> Message-ID: <281DD0D97E3EC94FB83030B1379CE426027D1C87@DOIT-EX302.exec.ds.state.ct.us> Hi Dann, David, Kathy, and others, I think that many states do have longitudinal data systems where a single student identifier is used across providers and across fiscal years. In those cases, states should be able to look at persistence and success rates across multiple years. We have been studying this issue for some months and find that the number (percent) of learners who return to adult education in a future fiscal year is fewer than we had expected. We are also beginning to notice that this return rate of non-graduates varies significantly (between 35% and 65%) among the three secondary completion options available in CT: the GED Preparation, the Adult High School Credit Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program. Typically, the GED preparation reflects the lowest return rates. We are now beginning to look at the success rates of those students who persist for more than one fiscal year. With regard to David's initial question about tracking learning gains across fiscal years, in the adult education system, many learners begin in January/February or even later in a fiscal year but are held to same expectation of having to demonstrating a learning gain by June 30. These learners have significantly less time within which to achieve that learning gain as compared to those who started in the fall. As an example, 42% of students who started ESL in Connecticut by October 2005 completed an NRS level by June 30, 2006 as compared to 33% among those who started after October. By contrast, the U.S. Department of Labor's implementation of NRS as part of its Common Measures policy for out-of-school youth allows the persistent learner, 12 months from the start date before being considered in calculations relative to learning gains, even if that 12-month period spans two fiscal years. Ajit Ajit Gopalakrishnan Connecticut Department of Education 25 Industrial Park Road Middletown, CT 06457 Phone: (860) 807-2125 Fax: (860) 807-2062 Email: ajit.gopalakrishnan at ct.gov ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Dan Wann Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:47 AM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 756] Re: Using Data I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students do not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a high enough number of students more than one year to make a significant difference? Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant IN Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: Hi Luanne, I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Luanne Teller" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress....that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ________________________________ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/0e515ca9/attachment.html From pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us Thu Apr 19 12:57:07 2007 From: pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us (JO PAMMENT) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:57:07 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 765] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> References: <462706A3.1050605@comcast.net> <002501c78289$382f8fc0$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> Message-ID: <462767230200009E0000E685@10.1.0.15> We have been fortunate with continuity of our students. Our adult ESL program covers all NRS levels, and we have had many students who began in the literacy or low beginner level and progressed through the years through the low advanced level. We are allowed to keep them if they show one EFL gain in 450 hours. Although we try to get followup information, we don't always learn why every student leaves, but frequently we receive the information on students who leave our program and go on to higher education programs. Often these students work, but are able to schedule classes around their job times or vice versa. Jo Pamment Jo Pamment Director Adult Ed. ESL Haslett Public Schools 1118 S. Harrison East Lansing, Michigan 48823 TEL: 517 337-8353 FAX: 517 337-3195 E-Mail: pammenjk at haslett.k12.mi.us >>> "Dan Wann" 4/19/2007 9:47:06 AM >>> I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students do not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a high enough number of students more than one year to make a significant difference? Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant IN Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: Hi Luanne, I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Luanne Teller" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress..that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment _____ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From barguedas at sfccnm.edu Thu Apr 19 13:02:59 2007 From: barguedas at sfccnm.edu (Barbara Arguedas) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:02:59 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 766] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C3FA@ex01.sfcc.edu> We too see this happening. Just now we posted the official GED test scores (passing!) for a student who started in June 2003 (65 hours) and stopped out in July 2003. She came back March 2004 and was in and out through March 2005. This March and April (2007!) she took and passed all of the official GED tests. So this is a success story! BUT, we get no credit as far as NRS is concerned because the student is not enrolled this program year. YES, we support efforts to report results over multi-year periods. Thanks. Barbara Arguedas Santa Fe Community College Adult Basic Education -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mary Beheler Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:17 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 760] Re: Using Data Our oldest few: Intake 1997 Grade level equivalent 2, now 11 Intake 1998 GLE K, now 7 Intake 1998 GLE 2, now 7 Intake 1998 GLE 3, now 11 Intake 2000 GLE K, now 4 And all of them have been "stop-out" students, with very uneven progress, at times even going down on the CASAS scale. They tend not to improve as quickly as NRS likes, but they do improve. There is another set of students that need to continue coming just to keep whatever skills they have. They can be really hard on NRS statistics! Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Dan Wann Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:47 AM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 756] Re: Using Data I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students do not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a high enough number of students more than one year to make a significant difference? Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant IN Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: Hi Luanne, I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Luanne Teller" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress....that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ________________________________ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/94d4de1a/attachment.html From Kate.Diggins at slc.k12.ut.us Thu Apr 19 13:31:31 2007 From: Kate.Diggins at slc.k12.ut.us (Kate Diggins) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:31:31 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 767] Teaching gains over more than one year Message-ID: <46275313020000520000C096@slc.k12.ut.us> I'd like to respond to David Rosen's question regarding programs which track student gains beyond the bounds of the fiscal year. At my program, students stay for an average of 15 months, and they are permitted to stay for five years if they wish (and many of them do), so we track them from start to finish. We are a small program, serving about 250 students a year, so we take a fairly low-tech approach. After pretesting with BEST "Plus" and BEST Literacy, we plot their scores on line graphs (two separate graphs - one for each of the two tests) and continue to plot their scores for each subsequent test. As time goes by, the lines representing a student's progress slope gradually upward across the pages. This is a graphic that the students can easily understand, and it enables us to see which skill areas require emphasis for individual students. Having a complete picture of a student's testing history also allows us to show students that an occasional disappointing test score may be an aberration from a generally upward trend. Kate Diggins Director of Adult Education Guadalupe Schools (801) 531-6100 (x-1107) From LCondelli at air.org Thu Apr 19 14:15:51 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:15:51 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 768] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <76CF5385-FB46-4FFF-8454-CE7808AC3131@gplc.org> Message-ID: Dan, Karen, Steve and David, You all have raised the issue of changing the NRS reporting period from one year to multiple years. While this is off the topic of using data, I will give a quick response. First, the mandate is to have an annual reporting system so some information is required each year top report to Congress. Beyond this, this topic has come up and been considered multiple times and there is some flexibility with ED to make some changes to the reporting period, if there is a compelling reason that can be demonstrated. Our analyses of several states' data (not NRS reported data but individual student data from over several years), however, including some very large states, is that there are proportionally very few students who continue year to year (on the order of 5 percent or less in some states) and it does not appear at this time that it would make a difference in performance data at the national level, as Dan Wann suggested. NRS is a national system so with some local programs (such as Karen's) or other states, there may be large numbers of students who continue year to year and in those instances it might be advisable to look at and report multi-year data. To bring us back to our topic of using data, this would be a good analysis a state or local program to pursue-- to look at returning and continuing students and see how they differ in outcomes and other factors from students who stay a short time. We also can rely on research, such as Steve Reder's study to look at long-term relationships, which if compelling, could result in a change to the reporting period in the future. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Karen Mundie Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 11:51 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 761] Re: Using Data Dan, I know that's the perception, but I also know that we roll over about half of our students from one year to the next. . . and some of those students had rolled over the previous year as well. We've actually had to put a three year limit on some students (especially ESL). I'm having our data person look this up as well as we can. Unfortunately, our data tends to be divided, as David indicated, in discrete yearly "lumps." We can get the information, but it's time-consuming because the data bases are designed for accountability over a contract year. We certainly do have a lot of students who come in with short term goals and leave when these are accomplished. We also have a lot of stop out students, who have to put goals on the back burner while they work out other issues. I think, however, we do keep a significant number of students over time. I think for my own little research project, I'm going to investigate gains over multiple years. Karen Mundie Associate Director Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412 661-7323 (ext 101) kmundie at gplc.org GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. On Apr 19, 2007, at 9:47 AM, Dan Wann wrote: I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students do not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a high enough number of students more than one year to make a significant difference? Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant IN Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: Hi Luanne, I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Luanne Teller" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress....that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ________________________________ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/a64f637a/attachment.html From LCondelli at air.org Thu Apr 19 14:26:00 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:26:00 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 769] Re: Teaching gains over more than one year In-Reply-To: <46275313020000520000C096@slc.k12.ut.us> Message-ID: Kate, This is a good example of the type of analyses I suggested in my previous post on this topic. Thanks, Kate! -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Kate Diggins Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 1:32 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 767] Teaching gains over more than one year I'd like to respond to David Rosen's question regarding programs which track student gains beyond the bounds of the fiscal year. At my program, students stay for an average of 15 months, and they are permitted to stay for five years if they wish (and many of them do), so we track them from start to finish. We are a small program, serving about 250 students a year, so we take a fairly low-tech approach. After pretesting with BEST "Plus" and BEST Literacy, we plot their scores on line graphs (two separate graphs - one for each of the two tests) and continue to plot their scores for each subsequent test. As time goes by, the lines representing a student's progress slope gradually upward across the pages. This is a graphic that the students can easily understand, and it enables us to see which skill areas require emphasis for individual students. Having a complete picture of a student's testing history also allows us to show students that an occasional disappointing test sco re may be an aberration from a generally upward trend. Kate Diggins Director of Adult Education Guadalupe Schools (801) 531-6100 (x-1107) ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From dcornellier at doe.mass.edu Thu Apr 19 15:06:46 2007 From: dcornellier at doe.mass.edu (Cornellier, Donna) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:06:46 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 770] Re: Using Student Goals as Data Message-ID: <8ADDCB4F87E49F47B163BCD04B6D6EA1014597A5@exchange1.doe.mass.edu> Hi, In Massachusetts we just developed a goals cube in Cognos, our third party reporting tool. This cube allows teachers/directors to look at class level data as well as site level data so teachers can review the goals set by their students and incorporate the goals into the curriculum. Teachers have requested this information to help them better meet the needs of their students. Donna Cornellier -----Original Message----- From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:46 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 753] Using Student Goals as Data This is a multi-part message in MIME format. So rich and full of great ideas, interesting comments, excellent questions, and thoughtful challenges. I usually contribute more myself but I'm just reading and soaking it in at this point. I am cutting and pasting the discussion into a user-friendly document, which I will make available once our Guest Panel concludes tomorrow. We are really covering a lot of ground here! Just curious (because it is a focus on mine within the realm of accountability): a number of folks have discussed issues of retention and the types of strategies that they employ in their programming, but I don't think that anyone has mentioned if they use student-stated goals to track retention, trends in learning or program offerings, etc. Perhaps the use of student goals is more easily applicable at the classroom/teaching level (not sure!), but I just wanted to know if anyone out there makes programmatic decisions based in part on the reasons why students come to your programs. I am not referring to learning gains (reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc), but rather to students' ultimate purposes for attending, like getting a better job, helping kids with homework, buying a home, becoming a citizen, etc. Thoughts on this? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From reders at pdx.edu Thu Apr 19 16:53:35 2007 From: reders at pdx.edu (Steve Reder) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:53:35 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 771] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: References: <76CF5385-FB46-4FFF-8454-CE7808AC3131@gplc.org> Message-ID: <001201c782c4$ccb01080$5074fc83@PSU.DS.PDX.EDU> Thanks for those points, Larry. Besides giving us a broader view of more complex patterns of participation, multi-year data frames will probably do a better job at revealing program impacts on longer term outcomes such as postsecondary education and employment It's good to hear that there may be flexibility within ED for experimentation such as this. -Steve Reder _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 11:16 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 768] Re: Using Data Dan, Karen, Steve and David, You all have raised the issue of changing the NRS reporting period from one year to multiple years. While this is off the topic of using data, I will give a quick response. First, the mandate is to have an annual reporting system so some information is required each year top report to Congress. Beyond this, this topic has come up and been considered multiple times and there is some flexibility with ED to make some changes to the reporting period, if there is a compelling reason that can be demonstrated. Our analyses of several states' data (not NRS reported data but individual student data from over several years), however, including some very large states, is that there are proportionally very few students who continue year to year (on the order of 5 percent or less in some states) and it does not appear at this time that it would make a difference in performance data at the national level, as Dan Wann suggested. NRS is a national system so with some local programs (such as Karen's) or other states, there may be large numbers of students who continue year to year and in those instances it might be advisable to look at and report multi-year data. To bring us back to our topic of using data, this would be a good analysis a state or local program to pursue-- to look at returning and continuing students and see how they differ in outcomes and other factors from students who stay a short time. We also can rely on research, such as Steve Reder's study to look at long-term relationships, which if compelling, could result in a change to the reporting period in the future. _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Karen Mundie Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 11:51 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 761] Re: Using Data Dan, I know that's the perception, but I also know that we roll over about half of our students from one year to the next. . . and some of those students had rolled over the previous year as well. We've actually had to put a three year limit on some students (especially ESL). I'm having our data person look this up as well as we can. Unfortunately, our data tends to be divided, as David indicated, in discrete yearly "lumps." We can get the information, but it's time-consuming because the data bases are designed for accountability over a contract year. We certainly do have a lot of students who come in with short term goals and leave when these are accomplished. We also have a lot of stop out students, who have to put goals on the back burner while they work out other issues. I think, however, we do keep a significant number of students over time. I think for my own little research project, I'm going to investigate gains over multiple years. Karen Mundie Associate Director Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412 661-7323 (ext 101) kmundie at gplc.org GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. On Apr 19, 2007, at 9:47 AM, Dan Wann wrote: I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a longer period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic skills network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students do not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a high enough number of students more than one year to make a significant difference? Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant IN Adult Education Professional Development Project dlwann at comcast.net _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data Larry, and others, Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like this that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the best unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like preparing for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the NRS might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability -- for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning gains or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track and report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program improvement. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: Hi Luanne, I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the program until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest posttesting and retention rate. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Luanne Teller" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data Hi all: I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the focus of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional sources of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis of learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was significantly lower than the retention for students who began in September. Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began after March 1 was 0%. We met with staff and students, and did some research around student retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a "managed enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us to "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into funded slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical attrition that occurs. In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the higher level who are ready to progress..that typically leaves several openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the transition seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at the data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is an issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a way to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner level students that affect their participation? As we enter these discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, but the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. Luanne Teller Luanne Teller ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment _____ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/34f996af/attachment.html From barguedas at sfccnm.edu Thu Apr 19 17:11:12 2007 From: barguedas at sfccnm.edu (Barbara Arguedas) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:11:12 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 772] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <000001c7828d$7b4e09e0$5074fc83@PSU.DS.PDX.EDU> Message-ID: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C3FE@ex01.sfcc.edu> We are getting some good ideas from this discussion. We wonder if there is a way to learn from high performing states. Who are they? What do they do in terms of using data? Have some states discovered the data that makes a difference in their final NRS reports? What are the factors that truly impact the final data? Maybe we don't have to reinvent. Thanks. Barbara Arguedas Santa Fe Community College ABE -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/b10668e4/attachment.html From rosemarym at lacnyc.org Thu Apr 19 17:24:20 2007 From: rosemarym at lacnyc.org (Rosemary Matt) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 17:24:20 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 773] Re: Using Student Goals as Data References: <8ADDCB4F87E49F47B163BCD04B6D6EA1014597A5@exchange1.doe.mass.edu> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92EB@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Sorry I haven't jumped back into the discussion sooner. My data responsibilities brought me away from my office many more hours than I had expected this week. A few posts ago, Luanne spoke to her concerns with retention particularly as students entered at the later portion of the fiscal year. Luanne, you mention a student retention rate of 0% for those entering after March 1st, I am curious, what is your benchmark beyond which you expect students to remain in programming. Is there an hour allocation or are you basing your calculations on a completion of the session only? Also, I wondered if Massachusetts employed any distance learning for students leaving a program for employment. Larry, I am sure you have heard New York voice our concern previously regarding our data indicating what appears to be a disincentive for programs encourage students to enter employment as that often results in the student leaving the literacy program prematurely and not showing educational gain. Have other state's data shown this trend? Rosemary I. Matt NRS Liaison for NYS Literacy Assistance Center 12 Meadowbrook Drive New Hartford, NY 13413 315.798.1026 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Cornellier, Donna Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 3:06 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 770] Re: Using Student Goals as Data Hi, In Massachusetts we just developed a goals cube in Cognos, our third party reporting tool. This cube allows teachers/directors to look at class level data as well as site level data so teachers can review the goals set by their students and incorporate the goals into the curriculum. Teachers have requested this information to help them better meet the needs of their students. Donna Cornellier -----Original Message----- From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:46 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 753] Using Student Goals as Data This is a multi-part message in MIME format. So rich and full of great ideas, interesting comments, excellent questions, and thoughtful challenges. I usually contribute more myself but I'm just reading and soaking it in at this point. I am cutting and pasting the discussion into a user-friendly document, which I will make available once our Guest Panel concludes tomorrow. We are really covering a lot of ground here! Just curious (because it is a focus on mine within the realm of accountability): a number of folks have discussed issues of retention and the types of strategies that they employ in their programming, but I don't think that anyone has mentioned if they use student-stated goals to track retention, trends in learning or program offerings, etc. Perhaps the use of student goals is more easily applicable at the classroom/teaching level (not sure!), but I just wanted to know if anyone out there makes programmatic decisions based in part on the reasons why students come to your programs. I am not referring to learning gains (reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc), but rather to students' ultimate purposes for attending, like getting a better job, helping kids with homework, buying a home, becoming a citizen, etc. Thoughts on this? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/36468754/attachment.html From KHinson at almanid.com Thu Apr 19 19:14:07 2007 From: KHinson at almanid.com (Katrina Hinson) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 01:14:07 +0200 Subject: [Assessment 774] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Message-ID: <4627BF87.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> I don't know if anyone has raised this question but one of the things I know myself and the testing coordinator at my school are concerned with is the fact that we don't get to count gains made if a person goes from the M level TABE to the D level TABE. We use versions 9 and 10. I had a student who scored around 9.0 or so on the M level Reading which we question in and of itself in terms of validity. He's at the point where we're supposed to retest him. He'd tested on the D level in math the first time and he's been regularly attending and regulary working on his goals. He went from the 9.0 on the M level test which is moderately hard in reading to a 7.7 on the D level test which is difficult. Because he DROPPED in terms of grade level, it's not counted as a level completion...even though he actually went from M to D...which one would think would also qualify as a level. Has anyone else had this happen and if so, what are your suggestions. Regards, Katrina Hinson From andreawilder at comcast.net Thu Apr 19 19:54:17 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:54:17 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 775] Re: Teaching gains over more than one year In-Reply-To: <46275313020000520000C096@slc.k12.ut.us> References: <46275313020000520000C096@slc.k12.ut.us> Message-ID: <6b69675cbf38348974939f05e17bf252@comcast.net> Kate-- How do you account for the long retention rate? Other programs report this as a difficulty. Thanks. Andrea On Apr 19, 2007, at 1:31 PM, Kate Diggins wrote: > I'd like to respond to David Rosen's question regarding programs which > track student gains beyond the bounds of the fiscal year. At my > program, students stay for an average of 15 months, and they are > permitted to stay for five years if they wish (and many of them do), > so we track them from start to finish. We are a small program, > serving about 250 students a year, so we take a fairly low-tech > approach. After pretesting with BEST "Plus" and BEST Literacy, we > plot their scores on line graphs (two separate graphs - one for each > of the two tests) and continue to plot their scores for each > subsequent test. As time goes by, the lines representing a student's > progress slope gradually upward across the pages. This is a graphic > that the students can easily understand, and it enables us to see > which skill areas require emphasis for individual students. Having a > complete picture of a student's testing history also allows us to show > students that an occasional disappointing test sco > re may be an aberration from a generally upward trend. > > Kate Diggins > Director of Adult Education > Guadalupe Schools > (801) 531-6100 (x-1107) > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > From lteller at massasoit.mass.edu Thu Apr 19 21:16:12 2007 From: lteller at massasoit.mass.edu (Luanne Teller) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:16:12 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 775] Re: Using Student Goals as Data References: <8ADDCB4F87E49F47B163BCD04B6D6EA1014597A5@exchange1.doe.mass.edu> <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92EB@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: Good questions.... For us, it's sometimes a questions of poor attendance, and then we have to get to the heart of the problem. More often however, when it came to late-year enrollment, students simply stopped attending at all. It was extremely difficult to get feedback of any kind from these students, so we had to piece together bits of information we could gather from students, teachers, and other students in the program who were friendly with the departing students. Our classes end in June, and begin again in September. I reviewed all the data for the year for students who left and never returned; I didn't specifically set March 1 as a cut point---it revealed itself to be significant upon review of the dates when students enrolled and then left. When compiling the data into charts, it became apparent that any enrollment after the first half of the year was compromised; but all enrollments after March 1 were not succesfully retained. We are just beginning to work with one of my programs on distance learning as a supplement to classroom instruction...so new that I have no idea where it's going! Hope this clarifies...Luanne ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Rosemary Matt Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 5:24 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 773] Re: Using Student Goals as Data Sorry I haven't jumped back into the discussion sooner. My data responsibilities brought me away from my office many more hours than I had expected this week. A few posts ago, Luanne spoke to her concerns with retention particularly as students entered at the later portion of the fiscal year. Luanne, you mention a student retention rate of 0% for those entering after March 1st, I am curious, what is your benchmark beyond which you expect students to remain in programming. Is there an hour allocation or are you basing your calculations on a completion of the session only? Also, I wondered if Massachusetts employed any distance learning for students leaving a program for employment. Larry, I am sure you have heard New York voice our concern previously regarding our data indicating what appears to be a disincentive for programs encourage students to enter employment as that often results in the student leaving the literacy program prematurely and not showing educational gain. Have other state's data shown this trend? Rosemary I. Matt NRS Liaison for NYS Literacy Assistance Center 12 Meadowbrook Drive New Hartford, NY 13413 315.798.1026 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Cornellier, Donna Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 3:06 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 770] Re: Using Student Goals as Data Hi, In Massachusetts we just developed a goals cube in Cognos, our third party reporting tool. This cube allows teachers/directors to look at class level data as well as site level data so teachers can review the goals set by their students and incorporate the goals into the curriculum. Teachers have requested this information to help them better meet the needs of their students. Donna Cornellier -----Original Message----- From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:46 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 753] Using Student Goals as Data This is a multi-part message in MIME format. So rich and full of great ideas, interesting comments, excellent questions, and thoughtful challenges. I usually contribute more myself but I'm just reading and soaking it in at this point. I am cutting and pasting the discussion into a user-friendly document, which I will make available once our Guest Panel concludes tomorrow. We are really covering a lot of ground here! Just curious (because it is a focus on mine within the realm of accountability): a number of folks have discussed issues of retention and the types of strategies that they employ in their programming, but I don't think that anyone has mentioned if they use student-stated goals to track retention, trends in learning or program offerings, etc. Perhaps the use of student goals is more easily applicable at the classroom/teaching level (not sure!), but I just wanted to know if anyone out there makes programmatic decisions based in part on the reasons why students come to your programs. I am not referring to learning gains (reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc), but rather to students' ultimate purposes for attending, like getting a better job, helping kids with homework, buying a home, becoming a citizen, etc. Thoughts on this? Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070419/2281ce55/attachment.html From crandall at umbc.edu Fri Apr 20 03:54:17 2007 From: crandall at umbc.edu (JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 03:54:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Assessment 776] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <001201c782c4$ccb01080$5074fc83@PSU.DS.PDX.EDU> References: <76CF5385-FB46-4FFF-8454-CE7808AC3131@gplc.org> <001201c782c4$ccb01080$5074fc83@PSU.DS.PDX.EDU> Message-ID: <32510.210.229.158.10.1177055657.squirrel@webmail.umbc.edu> Larry and Steve, I agree. There are important gains that are missed when one only looks at data within a year. Longitudinal data would give us a much better view of participant progress, both for those programs in which a significant number of adults continue more than one term, as well as those in which participants stop out and return. Jodi Crandall > Thanks for those points, Larry. Besides giving us a broader view of more > complex patterns of participation, multi-year data frames will probably do > a > better job at revealing program impacts on longer term outcomes such as > postsecondary education and employment It's good to hear that there may > be > flexibility within ED for experimentation such as this. > > -Steve Reder > > > > _____ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of Condelli, Larry > Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 11:16 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 768] Re: Using Data > > > > Dan, Karen, Steve and David, > > > > You all have raised the issue of changing the NRS reporting period from > one > year to multiple years. While this is off the topic of using data, I will > give a quick response. > > > > First, the mandate is to have an annual reporting system so some > information > is required each year top report to Congress. Beyond this, this topic has > come up and been considered multiple times and there is some flexibility > with ED to make some changes to the reporting period, if there is a > compelling reason that can be demonstrated. Our analyses of several > states' > data (not NRS reported data but individual student data from over several > years), however, including some very large states, is that there are > proportionally very few students who continue year to year (on the order > of > 5 percent or less in some states) and it does not appear at this time that > it would make a difference in performance data at the national level, as > Dan > Wann suggested. > > > > NRS is a national system so with some local programs (such as Karen's) or > other states, there may be large numbers of students who continue year to > year and in those instances it might be advisable to look at and report > multi-year data. To bring us back to our topic of using data, this would > be > a good analysis a state or local program to pursue-- to look at returning > and continuing students and see how they differ in outcomes and other > factors from students who stay a short time. We also can rely on > research, > such as Steve Reder's study to look at long-term relationships, which if > compelling, could result in a change to the reporting period in the > future. > > > > > _____ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of Karen Mundie > Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 11:51 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 761] Re: Using Data > > Dan, I know that's the perception, but I also know that we roll over about > half of our students from one year to the next. . . and some of those > students had rolled over the previous year as well. We've actually had to > put a three year limit on some students (especially ESL). > > > > I'm having our data person look this up as well as we can. Unfortunately, > our data tends to be divided, as David indicated, in discrete yearly > "lumps." We can get the information, but it's time-consuming because the > data bases are designed for accountability over a contract year. > > > > We certainly do have a lot of students who come in with short term goals > and > leave when these are accomplished. We also have a lot of stop out > students, > who have to put goals on the back burner while they work out other issues. > I > think, however, we do keep a significant number of students over time. I > think for my own little research project, I'm going to investigate gains > over multiple years. > > > > > > > > Karen Mundie > > Associate Director > > Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council > > 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor > > Pittsburgh, PA 15206 > > 412 661-7323 (ext 101) > > kmundie at gplc.org > > > > GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 > > > > > > This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is > not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended > recipient, > please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. > > > > > > > > On Apr 19, 2007, at 9:47 AM, Dan Wann wrote: > > > > > > I wonder if there is enough data to even show that adult basic and ESL > students stay with a program in large enough numbers to track over a > longer > period? The conventional wisdom of those outside of the adult basic > skills > network is that basic skills programs have little impact because students > do > not stay long to make a difference. Do we have any evidence that shows we > work with the same students more than one year and that we work with a > high > enough number of students more than one year to make a significant > difference? > > Dan Wann > > Professional Development Consultant > > IN Adult Education Professional Development Project > > dlwann at comcast.net > > _____ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:05 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 752] Re: Using Data > > Larry, and others, > > Tina, and many other program administrators have observed patterns like > this > that suggest that a one-year time frame, a funding year, may not be the > best > unit of time in which to measure learner gains, except for those who are > doing basic skills brush-up or who have very short-term goals like > preparing > for a drivers license test. I wonder if there is a possibility that the > NRS > might be adjusted, perhaps in a pilot at first, so that a longer period of > learning, say three years, might be used to demonstrate learner gains. Of > course, there would need to be intermediate measures, but accountability > -- > for programs and states -- might be based on a longer period of time. > > It seems to me that the one-year time frame within to measure learning > gains > or goals accomplished comes not from K-12 or higher education, but rather > Congressional expectations for job skills training. Would you agree? > > Also I wonder if you or others have some examples of programs that track > and > report learner outcomes over several years, and use the data for program > improvement. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: > > Hi Luanne, > > I find it interesting that what you are finding in data seems to be > consistent with what we see in our GED classes here in Arizona. Often the > last group who enter in March are the least likely to stay with the > program > until posttesting, and the August group seem to have the highest > posttesting > and retention rate. > > Tina > > > > > > Tina Luffman > Coordinator, Developmental Education > Verde Valley Campus > 928-634-6544 > tina_luffman at yc.edu > > -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- > > To: > From: "Luanne Teller" > > Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > Date: 04/18/2007 10:56AM > Subject: [Assessment 746] Using Data > > > > > > Hi all: > > > > I wanted to chime in about our program's use of data since this is the > focus > of our discussion. Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing our > proposal for next year, so I am knee-deep in data even as we speak! > > > > The use of data takes many forms in our program. We look at what most > people consider the "hard data" -- the raw numbers with regard to > attendance, learner gains, retention, goal attainment, etc. We believe; > however, that the numbers alone provide an incomplete picture of what is > happening, so we use the numbers as a basis for discussion, not decision > making. After analyzing the numbers, we begin to look at additional > sources > of data that we find essential in informing our planning---meetings with > staff, classes, our student advisory board, and focus groups. > > > > Here's an example we're currently working on---we did a two year analysis > of > learner retention, and began to document why students did not persist. We > found that the retention for students who enrolled after January 1 (our > programs runs on a school calendar year from September to June) was > significantly lower than the retention for students who began in > September. > Even more compelling, we learned that the retention for students who began > after March 1 was 0%. > > > > We met with staff and students, and did some research around student > retention issues. After a year-long process, we decided to pilot a > "managed > enrollment" approach. In Massachusetts , our grantor (MA DOE) allows us > to > "over-enroll" our classes by 20%, so we enroll 20% more students in the > fall. When students leave, we "drop" the overenrolled students into > funded > slots. This allows us to keep the seats filled even with the typical > attrition that occurs. > > > > In January, when we do our mid-point assessments; we move students to the > higher level who are ready to progress..that typically leaves several > openings in the beginner levels and we begin students in February as a > cohort. This year, we implemented new orientation programs including a > requirement that new students observe a class before enrolling. > > > > While it is still too early to tell if these new procedures will have a > positive impact, we are hopeful and we know anecdotally that the > transition > seems to be easier for some of these students. We are eager to look at > the > data at the end of the year to analyze the effectiveness of this plan. > > > > As we begin to look at our data, we are finding that there seem to be a > unique set of issues for our beginner ESOL students. We suspect that the > lack of effective English communication skills to advocate for themselves > with employers is influencing their attendance and persistence. This is > an > issue that we are beginning to tackle in terms of policy. Do we need to > have a more flexible, lenient policy for beginner students? Is there a > way > to support students in addressing these employment issues? How can we > empower students more quickly? Are there other issues for these beginner > level students that affect their participation? As we enter these > discussions, the numbers will provide a basis for developing strategies, > but > the students themselves with be our greatest source of valuable data. > > > > Luanne Teller > > > > Luanne Teller > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > _____ > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > -- JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Professor, Education Department Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture Coordinator, Peace Corps Master's International Program in ESOL/Bilingual Education University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 ph: 410-455-2313/2376 fax: 410-455-8947/1880 email: crandall at umbc.edu www.umbc.edu/llc/ www.umbc.edu/esol/ www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html From crandall at umbc.edu Fri Apr 20 04:28:51 2007 From: crandall at umbc.edu (JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:28:51 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Assessment 777] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <51824.210.229.158.10.1177057731.squirrel@webmail.umbc.edu> Luanne, This is consistent with some research I've done with Forrest Chisman and several people at adult ESOL programs in community colleges. Managed enrollment not only increases attendance and learning gains, it also increases retention and enrollment in the next ESOL level. Jodi Crandall > Good morning: > > How interesting to hear from a range of institutions---I get so focused > on my programs that it is interesting to hear from other types of > organizations and structures. > > > > For my students, motivation isn't an issue at all. We have a lengthy > wait list - depending on the level, students could wait as little as 6 > months or as long as 2 years to get into our program. Consequently, > they are pretty thrilled to finally be there, and eager to participate. > > > > For my population, (adult ESOL learners---a large majority in the 25-44 > age range) the issue is juggling demands on their time. The majority > work at least one job (many work 2 or more) and have children in school. > Our classes are in the evening, since over 90% of the population we > serve work during the day. Many rush directly from work to class, and > might be late due to mandatory overtime, or a family need that requires > attention prior to attending class. Given the lack of access to > adequate preventative health care that many of our students face, there > are ongoing health problems for many. Add this to the occasional trip > back to their native country for a death in the family, or some other > type of family emergency, and frankly I'm amazed that they are able to > maintain such a strong commitment to their studies. > > > > Some of our research and data analysis have uncovered these issues-- > still it remains quite a challenge to respond to these problems. We > initially adjusted our program plan and schedule to allow for longer > breaks during the holidays, when many students wish to return to their > native countries. We also incorporate school vacations in our planning. > When an individual student starts to have a problem, we meet with him or > her to see how we can help. It doesn't always work, but sometimes we > are able to communicate with employers, and that's been helpful for many > students. Sometimes, we offer students a "leave of absence" to deal > with pressing personal matters, and invite them to return when things > are more settled. All of these strategies have evolved over years of > looking at attendance/retention data, and discussions with focus groups. > These strategies have had a positive impact, and students appreciate our > responsiveness to their needs. > > > > The first year that we implemented our "managed enrollment" (vs. open > entry/open exit) model, our retention increased from 74% to 90%. Our > attendance has increased from 68% to now over 82%. We all know how > critical it is to keep students long enough for them to reach their > goals... > > > > Which brings me to my final point. We all serve so many masters---NRS, > our funders (in my case DOE); our parent organizations (for me a > community college) and we are constantly looking at data to justify our > existence and demonstrate our effectiveness. Let's be realistic, if we > want to retain our funding, we have to show results-which is as it > should be. > > > > For us; however, when we look at our data, it is always with an eye to > how we can better serve our students and respond to their needs. The > difference is subtle, but powerful. It's a lot easier to get staff and > students on board with planning and change when they can see a direct > result for our students than to respond to a bunch of charts and > mandates from "higher ups". > > > > Luanne Teller > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Fred Lowenbach > Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:15 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 749] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > > > Hopefully everyone participating in this discussion regarding adult > literacy is aware that almost everything you are saying applies to the > results for students in school as well. Coming from a public school > background you could always see the effect that high mobility rates had > on overall student results. Schools with those highest rates almost > always struggled to meet standard on state measures connected to NCLB. > This was the case with overall populations as well as various subgroups > that were tested. The same applies to student retention, or for that > matter attendance. As a rule, student who attended regularly achieved > much higher grades than students whose attendance was far less > consistent. This then followed suit with results on standardized > testing and ultimately on graduation rates. > > > > The entire education community, whether it is involved with adult > literacy, or the traditional K-12 curriculum is faced with the same > thing. The key to increasing literacy and to closing achievement gaps > starts with getting and retaining students. > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry > Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:33 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 748] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > > > Sandy, > > > > A few years ago I did a study on adult ESL literacy students that > focused primarily on instruction. But we also looked at retention. We > found that the proportion of time an ESL literacy student attended > (measure by hours attended over total hours class was scheduled) had a > positive effect on oral English skills and reading comprehension, all > else being equal (using a complex statistical model). > > > > The possible reasons for this effect are intriguing and need more > research. Because this measure showed an effect regardless of how many > hours the student actually attended (or how many hours per week a > student attended), my interpretation is that this measure is a measure > of motivation (although I have no data or other information to check > this). In other words, the student who continues to attend over time, > despite all of the other competing demands on time, is one that is more > motivated. This motivation helps learning. > > > > I think if true, it does have implications for structuring instructional > segments. > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Sandy Strunk > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:38 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 736] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > Larry, > > Could you tell us more about the ESL research on percentage of possible > time attended? This is a new idea to me. Does it reflect greater > intensity as opposed to lesser intensity for a longer duration - or do > you think something else is going on? If your research is correct, there > are certainly implications for how we structure instructional segments. > > > > Sandy Strunk > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:31 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > > > Hi Ella, > > > > Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what > is going on. > > > > I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of > attendance. > > > > Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most > data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence > patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop > out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and > coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that > learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by > total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class > scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students > showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time > learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because > this measure reflects student motivation to attend. > > > > Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about > why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform > you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for > them. > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > Dear Collegues: > > Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program > to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. > We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours > attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers > of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to > help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. > > We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very > easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics > from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to > previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, > educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been > able to improve all of these efforts. > > Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible > to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, > progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that > information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows > us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign > responsibility for improvement where needed. > > I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not > just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of > the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would > also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink > data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. > > Respectfully submitted by, > Ella Bogard > > Ella Bogard, Executive Director > Franklinton Learning Center > 1003 West Town Street > Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 > > Phone: (614) 221-9151 > Fax: (614) 221-9131 > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > -- JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Professor, Education Department Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture Coordinator, Peace Corps Master's International Program in ESOL/Bilingual Education University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 ph: 410-455-2313/2376 fax: 410-455-8947/1880 email: crandall at umbc.edu www.umbc.edu/llc/ www.umbc.edu/esol/ www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html From rosemarym at lacnyc.org Fri Apr 20 07:04:07 2007 From: rosemarym at lacnyc.org (Rosemary Matt) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 07:04:07 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 778] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement References: <4627BF87.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92ED@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Katrina, I am not sure what state you are from but here in New York, we have just this past year implemented a new state policy for administration of the TABE and a series of validity tables as well. (I have attached both for you to take a look at) Larry may remember that it was our state data that prompted us to change the way our programs were using the TABE. In some cases, based on the score ranges, teachers were actually prohibiting their students from showing enough gain to place them in the next EFL under NRS guidelines by choosing an invalid level of the TABE. Scores on either the high or low end of each range of scores on the TABE are unreliable because of the large standard error of measurement associated with the extreme ends of any bell curve. This means that as you suspected, the high and low scores on each of the tests are less likely to be a true indication of the student's ability. Retesting with a higher or lower level of the test is recommended for these cases. It was evident to us, based on our state data, that test administrators either did not understand that concept or had differing opinion as to when a test was outside the acceptable range and consequentially when to retest. We employed the methodology developed by the University of Massachusetts for the Massachusetts Department of Education to establish acceptable ranges for the Reading, Mathematics Computation and Applied Mathematics sections of the TABE 7 & 8 and TABE 9 & 10. The policy, along with the scoring tables, were then integrated into our data management system such that invalid scores may not even be entered into the data system. If students score outside the valid ranges, they must be retested on an appropriate version of the TABE. Strategy is still advised when using these scoring tables. For example, based on our validity tables, if a student scores a 7.2 GE reading level on an M TABE, they are within the valid range however if a level M is administered for the post test to this same student, the very highest that student may achieve and still fall within the valid range is a 7.7 GE. This score will not be enough to show education gain. This student must be given a level D test to open up the possibility of achieving a score high enough to evidence gain. As long as the administration of the TABE levels is contiguous, the scores are valid and may be used under NRS guidelines. (So moving from an M to a D is acceptable) As you can imagine Katrina, a comprehensive staff development was built to accommodate all this information and we rolled it out to all programs through a train the trainer model. I am pleased to say that our state's performance in the area of educational gain has increased significantly as a result of this work. I hope this is useful to you and your testing coordinator. Rosemary Rosemary I. Matt NRS Liaison for NYS Literacy Assistance Center 12 Meadowbrook Drive New Hartford, NY 13413 315.798.1026 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Katrina Hinson Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 7:14 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 774] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement I don't know if anyone has raised this question but one of the things I know myself and the testing coordinator at my school are concerned with is the fact that we don't get to count gains made if a person goes from the M level TABE to the D level TABE. We use versions 9 and 10. I had a student who scored around 9.0 or so on the M level Reading which we question in and of itself in terms of validity. He's at the point where we're supposed to retest him. He'd tested on the D level in math the first time and he's been regularly attending and regulary working on his goals. He went from the 9.0 on the M level test which is moderately hard in reading to a 7.7 on the D level test which is difficult. Because he DROPPED in terms of grade level, it's not counted as a level completion...even though he actually went from M to D...which one would think would also qualify as a level. Has anyone else had this happen and if so, what are your suggestions. Regards, Katrina Hinson ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/3167782e/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: TABE_Policy_NYS.doc Type: application/msword Size: 47616 bytes Desc: TABE_Policy_NYS.doc Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/3167782e/attachment.doc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: TABE_Final_Tables.doc Type: application/msword Size: 175104 bytes Desc: TABE_Final_Tables.doc Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/3167782e/attachment-0001.doc From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Apr 20 08:21:56 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:21:56 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 779] Using Data Discussion - Final Day! Message-ID: <03a801c78346$7d8e5de0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. I hope this email finds you well. Just a reminder that today is our final day of discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement with our Guest Panel members. The discussion continues to be interesting and intense, so I hope our final day will also be as stimulating. As noted previously, I will prepare the discussion in user-friendly format once it has closed, and let you know where you can access it. Post your thoughts, questions, ideas, and share your experiences today! Don't miss out! Thanks!! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/6fcba2b7/attachment.html From Mario.Zuniga at fldoe.org Fri Apr 20 08:33:31 2007 From: Mario.Zuniga at fldoe.org (Zuniga, Mario) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:33:31 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 780] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: <4627BF87.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> References: <4627BF87.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> Message-ID: <96E135649F1AD048AA6FF8CBC598C23E088F6C0A@MAIL1.FLDOE.INT> Katrina, This is the very reason it's better to use scale scores rather than grade levels to place and promote students. The scale score accounts for varying difficulty levels of the TABE and is the only metric that can accurately measure a student's growth over time. Grade levels are a gross measure that lose their meaning as you move from level of the TABE to the next. So, for example, if a student earns a 5.5 on the M level and a different student earns a 5.5 on the D level, they ostensibly are at the same grade level, but the reality is that the student who took the D level got a 5.5 on a test that had more difficult content. As a result, you cannot realistically equate the two. Hope this helps! Mario Zuniga Adult Education Consultant NRS, Assessment, and Accountability Division of Workforce Education Florida Department of Education mario.zuniga at fldoe.org (850) 245-9059 Please take a few minutes to provide feedback on the quality of service you received from our staff. The Department of Education values your feedback as a customer. Commissioner of Education Jeanine Blomberg is committed to continuously assessing and improving the level and quality of services provided to you.Simply use the link below. Thank you in advance for completing the survey. http://data.fldoe.org/cs/default.cfm?staff=Mario.Zuniga at fldoe.org|08:33:31%20Fri%2020%20Apr%202007 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Katrina Hinson Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 7:14 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 774] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement I don't know if anyone has raised this question but one of the things I know myself and the testing coordinator at my school are concerned with is the fact that we don't get to count gains made if a person goes from the M level TABE to the D level TABE. We use versions 9 and 10. I had a student who scored around 9.0 or so on the M level Reading which we question in and of itself in terms of validity. He's at the point where we're supposed to retest him. He'd tested on the D level in math the first time and he's been regularly attending and regulary working on his goals. He went from the 9.0 on the M level test which is moderately hard in reading to a 7.7 on the D level test which is difficult. Because he DROPPED in terms of grade level, it's not counted as a level completion...even though he actually went from M to D...which one would think would also qualify as a level. Has anyone else had this happen and if so, what are your suggestions. Regards, Katrina Hinson ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From lteller at massasoit.mass.edu Fri Apr 20 08:59:18 2007 From: lteller at massasoit.mass.edu (Luanne Teller) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:59:18 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 781] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: <51824.210.229.158.10.1177057731.squirrel@webmail.umbc.edu> Message-ID: Hi Jodi: Hmmm! I honestly never thought to look at how students are retained and progress during the following year/s...great thought! I am going to have to go back and look at this data to see if I can find any trends...thanks for the idea! Luanne -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 4:29 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Cc: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 777] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Luanne, This is consistent with some research I've done with Forrest Chisman and several people at adult ESOL programs in community colleges. Managed enrollment not only increases attendance and learning gains, it also increases retention and enrollment in the next ESOL level. Jodi Crandall > Good morning: > > How interesting to hear from a range of institutions---I get so focused > on my programs that it is interesting to hear from other types of > organizations and structures. > > > > For my students, motivation isn't an issue at all. We have a lengthy > wait list - depending on the level, students could wait as little as 6 > months or as long as 2 years to get into our program. Consequently, > they are pretty thrilled to finally be there, and eager to participate. > > > > For my population, (adult ESOL learners---a large majority in the 25-44 > age range) the issue is juggling demands on their time. The majority > work at least one job (many work 2 or more) and have children in school. > Our classes are in the evening, since over 90% of the population we > serve work during the day. Many rush directly from work to class, and > might be late due to mandatory overtime, or a family need that requires > attention prior to attending class. Given the lack of access to > adequate preventative health care that many of our students face, there > are ongoing health problems for many. Add this to the occasional trip > back to their native country for a death in the family, or some other > type of family emergency, and frankly I'm amazed that they are able to > maintain such a strong commitment to their studies. > > > > Some of our research and data analysis have uncovered these issues-- > still it remains quite a challenge to respond to these problems. We > initially adjusted our program plan and schedule to allow for longer > breaks during the holidays, when many students wish to return to their > native countries. We also incorporate school vacations in our planning. > When an individual student starts to have a problem, we meet with him or > her to see how we can help. It doesn't always work, but sometimes we > are able to communicate with employers, and that's been helpful for many > students. Sometimes, we offer students a "leave of absence" to deal > with pressing personal matters, and invite them to return when things > are more settled. All of these strategies have evolved over years of > looking at attendance/retention data, and discussions with focus groups. > These strategies have had a positive impact, and students appreciate our > responsiveness to their needs. > > > > The first year that we implemented our "managed enrollment" (vs. open > entry/open exit) model, our retention increased from 74% to 90%. Our > attendance has increased from 68% to now over 82%. We all know how > critical it is to keep students long enough for them to reach their > goals... > > > > Which brings me to my final point. We all serve so many masters---NRS, > our funders (in my case DOE); our parent organizations (for me a > community college) and we are constantly looking at data to justify our > existence and demonstrate our effectiveness. Let's be realistic, if we > want to retain our funding, we have to show results-which is as it > should be. > > > > For us; however, when we look at our data, it is always with an eye to > how we can better serve our students and respond to their needs. The > difference is subtle, but powerful. It's a lot easier to get staff and > students on board with planning and change when they can see a direct > result for our students than to respond to a bunch of charts and > mandates from "higher ups". > > > > Luanne Teller > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Fred Lowenbach > Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:15 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 749] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > > > Hopefully everyone participating in this discussion regarding adult > literacy is aware that almost everything you are saying applies to the > results for students in school as well. Coming from a public school > background you could always see the effect that high mobility rates had > on overall student results. Schools with those highest rates almost > always struggled to meet standard on state measures connected to NCLB. > This was the case with overall populations as well as various subgroups > that were tested. The same applies to student retention, or for that > matter attendance. As a rule, student who attended regularly achieved > much higher grades than students whose attendance was far less > consistent. This then followed suit with results on standardized > testing and ultimately on graduation rates. > > > > The entire education community, whether it is involved with adult > literacy, or the traditional K-12 curriculum is faced with the same > thing. The key to increasing literacy and to closing achievement gaps > starts with getting and retaining students. > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry > Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:33 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 748] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > > > Sandy, > > > > A few years ago I did a study on adult ESL literacy students that > focused primarily on instruction. But we also looked at retention. We > found that the proportion of time an ESL literacy student attended > (measure by hours attended over total hours class was scheduled) had a > positive effect on oral English skills and reading comprehension, all > else being equal (using a complex statistical model). > > > > The possible reasons for this effect are intriguing and need more > research. Because this measure showed an effect regardless of how many > hours the student actually attended (or how many hours per week a > student attended), my interpretation is that this measure is a measure > of motivation (although I have no data or other information to check > this). In other words, the student who continues to attend over time, > despite all of the other competing demands on time, is one that is more > motivated. This motivation helps learning. > > > > I think if true, it does have implications for structuring instructional > segments. > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Sandy Strunk > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:38 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 736] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > Larry, > > Could you tell us more about the ESL research on percentage of possible > time attended? This is a new idea to me. Does it reflect greater > intensity as opposed to lesser intensity for a longer duration - or do > you think something else is going on? If your research is correct, there > are certainly implications for how we structure instructional segments. > > > > Sandy Strunk > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:31 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > > > Hi Ella, > > > > Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what > is going on. > > > > I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of > attendance. > > > > Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most > data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence > patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop > out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and > coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that > learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by > total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class > scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students > showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time > learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because > this measure reflects student motivation to attend. > > > > Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about > why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform > you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for > them. > > > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com > Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > Dear Collegues: > > Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program > to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. > We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours > attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers > of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to > help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. > > We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very > easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics > from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to > previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, > educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been > able to improve all of these efforts. > > Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible > to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, > progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that > information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows > us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign > responsibility for improvement where needed. > > I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not > just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of > the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would > also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink > data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. > > Respectfully submitted by, > Ella Bogard > > Ella Bogard, Executive Director > Franklinton Learning Center > 1003 West Town Street > Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 > > Phone: (614) 221-9151 > Fax: (614) 221-9131 > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > -- JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Professor, Education Department Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture Coordinator, Peace Corps Master's International Program in ESOL/Bilingual Education University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 ph: 410-455-2313/2376 fax: 410-455-8947/1880 email: crandall at umbc.edu www.umbc.edu/llc/ www.umbc.edu/esol/ www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From JaneS at doe.mass.edu Fri Apr 20 11:21:16 2007 From: JaneS at doe.mass.edu (Schwerdtfeger, Jane) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:21:16 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 782] FW: Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Message-ID: <8ADDCB4F87E49F47B163BCD04B6D6EA162D7E5@exchange1.doe.mass.edu> Hi, Katrina, we found the same problem with the TABE, and we received help from the Center for Educational Assessment at University of Massachusetts, Amherst (from Prof. Steve Sireci and Dr. April Zenisky Laguilles), who formulated a chart for testers to use. It has really helped the problem! You can find it in our FY07 assessment manual for using the TABE, on pp. 10-11 at http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/assessment/news/TABEpolicy.doc Jane Schwerdtfeger Curriculum and Assessment Developer, Adult and Community Services Massachusetts Department of Education PS: the discussion has been terrific this week! Thanks to all who participated! -----Original Message----- From: Katrina Hinson [mailto:KHinson at almanid.com] Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 7:14 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 774] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement I don't know if anyone has raised this question but one of the things I know myself and the testing coordinator at my school are concerned with is the fact that we don't get to count gains made if a person goes from the M level TABE to the D level TABE. We use versions 9 and 10. I had a student who scored around 9.0 or so on the M level Reading which we question in and of itself in terms of validity. He's at the point where we're supposed to retest him. He'd tested on the D level in math the first time and he's been regularly attending and regulary working on his goals. He went from the 9.0 on the M level test which is moderately hard in reading to a 7.7 on the D level test which is difficult. Because he DROPPED in terms of grade level, it's not counted as a level completion...even though he actually went from M to D...which one would think would also qualify as a level. Has anyone else had this happen and if so, what are your suggestions. Regards, Katrina Hinson ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From dcornellier at doe.mass.edu Fri Apr 20 11:59:11 2007 From: dcornellier at doe.mass.edu (Cornellier, Donna) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:59:11 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 783] Using Performance Standards Data in Desk Reviews Message-ID: <8ADDCB4F87E49F47B163BCD04B6D6EA101459838@exchange1.doe.mass.edu> Hi, In Massachusetts we migrated our desk review system over to a web based reporting system (Cognos) in the last few years. The system allows programs ongoing access to view their progress throughout the year. At the end of the fiscal year programs can view their scores. The six performance standards have been informed by statistical analysis of multiple years of data, a goals pilot, and input from the field of ABE practitioners in multiple task groups and workshops at statewide conferences. Each of the standards is set at or near the Massachusetts state average for performance in the following areas: attendance, average attended hours, pre and post testing percentage, learner gains, setting and meeting student goals, and NRS Table 4 educational functioning level completion. The performance standards, as one part of a larger system of accountability, encourage continuous improvement, effective program administration, and positive student outcomes. Our intention was to create a simple and understandable system that local programs would buy into and use. The state also wanted the system to be seen as helping with program improvement not as punitive. We assign points to a relatively small number of measures because those are the measures we want to emphasize and because of the difficulty of quantifying some of the other measures. The fact that local programs have regular access to the Cognos system has helped with buy in. This access allows locals to see the same data the state sees, increasing transparency, and allowing programs to follow their progress throughout the year. This has helped locals to see the benefits of the desk review system. Donna Cornellier SMARTT ABE Project Manager Adult and Community Learning Services Massachusetts Department of Education 350 Main Street Malden, MA 02148 781 338-3814 From kmundie at gplc.org Fri Apr 20 12:23:24 2007 From: kmundie at gplc.org (Karen Mundie) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:23:24 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 784] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92ED@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> References: <4627BF87.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92ED@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: <18DB73F5-0C73-449C-BF2A-8F3B9F79CCD2@gplc.org> I'm fascinated by this discussion because most of us who do a lot of standardized testing have, indeed, learned by experience that the whole testing thing is not quite as straightforward as one might think, that there is strategy involved if a program is to put its "best foot forward" in a completely legitimate way--not to mention a good deal of staff training to achieve any kind of consistency. Karen Mundie Associate Director Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412 661-7323 (ext 101) kmundie at gplc.org GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. On Apr 20, 2007, at 7:04 AM, Rosemary Matt wrote: > Katrina, > I am not sure what state you are from but here in New York, we have > just this past year implemented a new state policy for > administration of the TABE and a series of validity tables as > well. (I have attached both for you to take a look at) Larry may > remember that it was our state data that prompted us to change the > way our programs were using the TABE. In some cases, based on the > score ranges, teachers were actually prohibiting their students > from showing enough gain to place them in the next EFL under NRS > guidelines by choosing an invalid level of the TABE. Scores on > either the high or low end of each range of scores on the TABE are > unreliable because of the large standard error of measurement > associated with the extreme ends of any bell curve. This means > that as you suspected, the high and low scores on each of the tests > are less likely to be a true indication of the student?s ability. > Retesting with a higher or lower level of the test is recommended > for these cases. It was evident to us, based on our state data, > that test administrators either did not understand that concept or > had differing opinion as to when a test was outside the acceptable > range and consequentially when to retest. > > We employed the methodology developed by the University of > Massachusetts for the Massachusetts Department of Education to > establish acceptable ranges for the Reading, Mathematics > Computation and Applied Mathematics sections of the TABE 7 & 8 and > TABE 9 & 10. The policy, along with the scoring tables, were then > integrated into our data management system such that invalid scores > may not even be entered into the data system. If students score > outside the valid ranges, they must be retested on an appropriate > version of the TABE. > > Strategy is still advised when using these scoring tables. For > example, based on our validity tables, if a student scores a 7.2 GE > reading level on an M TABE, they are within the valid range however > if a level M is administered for the post test to this same > student, the very highest that student may achieve and still fall > within the valid range is a 7.7 GE. This score will not be enough > to show education gain. This student must be given a level D test > to open up the possibility of achieving a score high enough to > evidence gain. As long as the administration of the TABE levels is > contiguous, the scores are valid and may be used under NRS > guidelines. (So moving from an M to a D is acceptable) > > As you can imagine Katrina, a comprehensive staff development was > built to accommodate all this information and we rolled it out to > all programs through a train the trainer model. I am pleased to > say that our state?s performance in the area of educational gain > has increased significantly as a result of this work. I hope this > is useful to you and your testing coordinator. > Rosemary > > > Rosemary I. Matt > NRS Liaison for NYS > Literacy Assistance Center > 12 Meadowbrook Drive > New Hartford, NY 13413 > 315.798.1026 > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Katrina Hinson > Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 7:14 PM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 774] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > I don't know if anyone has raised this question but one of the > things I > know myself and the testing coordinator at my school are concerned > with > is the fact that we don't get to count gains made if a person goes > from > the M level TABE to the D level TABE. We use versions 9 and 10. I > had a > student who scored around 9.0 or so on the M level Reading which we > question in and of itself in terms of validity. He's at the point > where > we're supposed to retest him. He'd tested on the D level in math the > first time and he's been regularly attending and regulary working > on his > goals. He went from the 9.0 on the M level test which is moderately > hard > in reading to a 7.7 on the D level test which is difficult. Because he > DROPPED in terms of grade level, it's not counted as a level > completion...even though he actually went from M to D...which one > would > think would also qualify as a level. > > Has anyone else had this happen and if so, what are your suggestions. > > Regards, > Katrina Hinson > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/3eeee940/attachment.html From rosemarym at lacnyc.org Fri Apr 20 12:55:03 2007 From: rosemarym at lacnyc.org (Rosemary Matt) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:55:03 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 785] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement References: <4627BF87.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com><6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92ED@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> <18DB73F5-0C73-449C-BF2A-8F3B9F79CCD2@gplc.org> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92EE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Karen, The challenge of rolling out the staff development for these assessment pieces is truly daunting. In New York, every staff member who is to administer the TABE must attend the state training. Through our data management system, we track all attendance and certifications for state mandated training. We have a similar strand running for the BEST Plus as well. Although it is a challenge to get everyone trained, for those programs who pushed their staff through the first round, they are already seeing the difference in their performance data for educational gain. You are absolutely correct in feeling there is not only strategy involved but a better understanding of the nuances of the NRS system can assist a program in demonstrating through their data reporting, a more accurate picture of the service they provide and the impact it has on their students. Rosemary Rosemary I. Matt NRS Liaison for NYS Literacy Assistance Center 12 Meadowbrook Drive New Hartford, NY 13413 315.798.1026 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Karen Mundie Sent: Fri 4/20/2007 12:23 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 784] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement I'm fascinated by this discussion because most of us who do a lot of standardized testing have, indeed, learned by experience that the whole testing thing is not quite as straightforward as one might think, that there is strategy involved if a program is to put its "best foot forward" in a completely legitimate way--not to mention a good deal of staff training to achieve any kind of consistency. Karen Mundie Associate Director Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412 661-7323 (ext 101) kmundie at gplc.org GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. On Apr 20, 2007, at 7:04 AM, Rosemary Matt wrote: Katrina, I am not sure what state you are from but here in New York, we have just this past year implemented a new state policy for administration of the TABE and a series of validity tables as well. (I have attached both for you to take a look at) Larry may remember that it was our state data that prompted us to change the way our programs were using the TABE. In some cases, based on the score ranges, teachers were actually prohibiting their students from showing enough gain to place them in the next EFL under NRS guidelines by choosing an invalid level of the TABE. Scores on either the high or low end of each range of scores on the TABE are unreliable because of the large standard error of measurement associated with the extreme ends of any bell curve. This means that as you suspected, the high and low scores on each of the tests are less likely to be a true indication of the student's ability. Retesting with a higher or lower level of the test is recommended for these cases. It was evident to us, based on our state data, that test administrators either did not understand that concept or had differing opinion as to when a test was outside the acceptable range and consequentially when to retest. We employed the methodology developed by the University of Massachusetts for the Massachusetts Department of Education to establish acceptable ranges for the Reading, Mathematics Computation and Applied Mathematics sections of the TABE 7 & 8 and TABE 9 & 10. The policy, along with the scoring tables, were then integrated into our data management system such that invalid scores may not even be entered into the data system. If students score outside the valid ranges, they must be retested on an appropriate version of the TABE. Strategy is still advised when using these scoring tables. For example, based on our validity tables, if a student scores a 7.2 GE reading level on an M TABE, they are within the valid range however if a level M is administered for the post test to this same student, the very highest that student may achieve and still fall within the valid range is a 7.7 GE. This score will not be enough to show education gain. This student must be given a level D test to open up the possibility of achieving a score high enough to evidence gain. As long as the administration of the TABE levels is contiguous, the scores are valid and may be used under NRS guidelines. (So moving from an M to a D is acceptable) As you can imagine Katrina, a comprehensive staff development was built to accommodate all this information and we rolled it out to all programs through a train the trainer model. I am pleased to say that our state's performance in the area of educational gain has increased significantly as a result of this work. I hope this is useful to you and your testing coordinator. Rosemary Rosemary I. Matt NRS Liaison for NYS Literacy Assistance Center 12 Meadowbrook Drive New Hartford, NY 13413 315.798.1026 ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Katrina Hinson Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 7:14 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 774] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement I don't know if anyone has raised this question but one of the things I know myself and the testing coordinator at my school are concerned with is the fact that we don't get to count gains made if a person goes from the M level TABE to the D level TABE. We use versions 9 and 10. I had a student who scored around 9.0 or so on the M level Reading which we question in and of itself in terms of validity. He's at the point where we're supposed to retest him. He'd tested on the D level in math the first time and he's been regularly attending and regulary working on his goals. He went from the 9.0 on the M level test which is moderately hard in reading to a 7.7 on the D level test which is difficult. Because he DROPPED in terms of grade level, it's not counted as a level completion...even though he actually went from M to D...which one would think would also qualify as a level. Has anyone else had this happen and if so, what are your suggestions. Regards, Katrina Hinson ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/b3214537/attachment.html From forrest at crosslink.net Fri Apr 20 13:47:13 2007 From: forrest at crosslink.net (forrest) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:47:13 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 786] Re: Using Data Message-ID: <000701c78373$ef1bc240$92e7f804@hppav> Dan, you have raised some critically important questions. NRS data indicates that only about 36% of ESL students "complete a level" each year. This is cause for concern, because the same data show that the vast majority of ESL students are at the lowest levels of proficiency and have low levels of education in their native countries. However, the NRS data is not definitive for a number of reasons -- such as low rates of re-test in many programs, the use of tests that do not measure the full range of English language skills, and the fact that data is reported only for a single year (students may persist in programs long enough to achieve much larger learning gains). As a first step toward finding out more about the learning gains and persistence of ESL students, Jodi Crandall and I worked with the faculty and staff at 5 highly regarded community college programs to use student record data as a means of determining both learning gains and persistence rates. At several of the colleges we were able to track the learning gains and persistence of students for as long as seven years. At most of the colleges, the measures of learning gains used was completion of one or more additional levels AS THE COLLEGE DEFINED THE LEVELS. Both the definition of levels and the standards of completion took account of test scores (of the sort reported to the NRS), but they also took account of other measures of student achievement (including proficiency in all core ESL skills). Needless to say, our findings were fairly complex and cannot be adequately set forth here. In summary, however, we found that at most 30% of students persist for 2-3 college terms and complete more than 2-3 levels over a seven year period. More than 40-50% of students do not complete a level or complete only a single level at any time over a seven year period. Although we could not be sure, it appears that low level students were more likely to persist than higher level students. About 10-15% of adult education ESL students enrolled in credit ESL at these colleges, and the number who eventually enrolled in academic credit courses was in the single digits. We also found that all the colleges we examined employ strategies that significantly improve the rate of learning gains and retention. Among these were high intensity/managed enrollment classes (more than 3-6 hours per week), strategies to encourage learning outside the classroom, appropriate uses of echnology for instruction, co-enrollment of adult education ESL students in vocational programs taught in English, curricular designs that insure instruction is relevant to the interests of students (such as Frerian approaches), enriched guidance/counseling/support services, setting high expectations, and VESL programs. Unfortunately, only small numbers of students have access to most of these strategies at most colleges, because they are far more expensive on a per student basis than is standard ESL instruction. Conversely, it appears that large numbers of students would like to make the committment to enhanced programs, if they were available. The results of our research were published by the Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy (under the auspices of which the research was conducted) in February as the report " Passing the Torch:Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL." This is available at the CAAL website: www.caalusa.org. CAAL will be publishing more of the data we gathered later this spring. Among the "take away" messages we gathered from our work were: 1) The use of longitudinal (multi-year) data and holistic assessments of learning gains are essential for understanding and improving the effectiveness of ESL programs. In many programs it is feasible to gather and use longitudinal data in this way, but few programs do so due to a variety of perceived constraints and/or a lack of support for data analysis by their host institutions. 2) Research can be very helpful in program improvement, but it requires a substantial committment on the part of programs to gather relevant data and tease out its lessons on an on-going basis. Programs should receive far more support for this. 3) It is posible to greatly improve ESL program outcomes using a variety of strategies, but these require a larger investment in instruction per student -- an investment that we believe is well worth the cost. 4) Numbers do not speak for themselves. For example, low rates of learning gains must be read in the context of the goals that both students and programs set for ESL instruction. It may be that some portion of students legitimately wish to use ESL programs as an initial platform to learn SOME English, and that their learning gains after separating from programs are substantial. Too little is known about this. Conversely, we found that the more students learn, the more ambitious their learning goals become. Because numbers do not speak for themselves, it is all the more important for individual programs and state agencies to invest in the use of research for program improvement and to ACTUALLY USE IT for therse purposes. Too often over-burdened ESL faculty and staff consider research an after-thought. They need the time, encouragement, resources, and training to development "continuous program improvement" models to their work. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/63727410/attachment.html From kmundie at gplc.org Fri Apr 20 14:27:51 2007 From: kmundie at gplc.org (Karen Mundie) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:27:51 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 787] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92EE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> References: <4627BF87.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com><6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92ED@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> <18DB73F5-0C73-449C-BF2A-8F3B9F79CCD2@gplc.org> <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB82B92EE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: <1D4CE3BE-EA27-4E88-AEC7-6EB963DAAF85@gplc.org> In Pennsylvania we also have a mandated Assessment training. At least one person from every program must have attended the training. However, the truth is, many people are still giving assessments who have not attended training. At my own agency, everyone who gives the TABE or BEST or BEST Plus has attended training. Basically, I think we do very well with the TABE. We are lucky in having an education specialist who is an assessment trainer and who oversees our testing procedures in general. I think that the Best Plus is a problem for many programs because expertise in giving the test requires a good deal of practice. We have limited the number of staff who give the BEST Plus to about nine staff members and try to have the pre and post tests given by the same person, but I'm still concerned that there is still too much room for scoring anomalies and differences in judgment. I hear from a number of programs that this is problem. Karen Mundie Associate Director Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412 661-7323 (ext 101) kmundie at gplc.org GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and delete the contents. On Apr 20, 2007, at 12:55 PM, Rosemary Matt wrote: > Karen, > The challenge of rolling out the staff development for these > assessment pieces is truly daunting. In New York, every staff > member who is to administer the TABE must attend the state > training. Through our data management system, we track all > attendance and certifications for state mandated training. We have > a similar strand running for the BEST Plus as well. Although it is > a challenge to get everyone trained, for those programs who pushed > their staff through the first round, they are already seeing the > difference in their performance data for educational gain. You are > absolutely correct in feeling there is not only strategy involved > but a better understanding of the nuances of the NRS system can > assist a program in demonstrating through their data reporting, a > more accurate picture of the service they provide and the impact it > has on their students. > Rosemary > > Rosemary I. Matt > NRS Liaison for NYS > Literacy Assistance Center > 12 Meadowbrook Drive > New Hartford, NY 13413 > 315.798.1026 > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Karen Mundie > Sent: Fri 4/20/2007 12:23 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 784] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement > > I'm fascinated by this discussion because most of us who do a lot > of standardized testing have, indeed, learned by experience that > the whole testing thing is not quite as straightforward as one > might think, that there is strategy involved if a program is to put > its "best foot forward" in a completely legitimate way--not to > mention a good deal of staff training to achieve any kind of > consistency. > > Karen Mundie > Associate Director > Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council > 100 Sheridan Square, 4th Floor > Pittsburgh, PA 15206 > 412 661-7323 (ext 101) > kmundie at gplc.org > > GPLC - Celebrating 25 years of literacy, 1982-2007 > > > This e-mail is intended solely for the use of the named addressees > and is not meant for general distribution. If you are not the > intended recipient, please report the error to the originator and > delete the contents. > > > On Apr 20, 2007, at 7:04 AM, Rosemary Matt wrote: > >> Katrina, >> I am not sure what state you are from but here in New York, we >> have just this past year implemented a new state policy for >> administration of the TABE and a series of validity tables as >> well. (I have attached both for you to take a look at) Larry may >> remember that it was our state data that prompted us to change the >> way our programs were using the TABE. In some cases, based on the >> score ranges, teachers were actually prohibiting their students >> from showing enough gain to place them in the next EFL under NRS >> guidelines by choosing an invalid level of the TABE. Scores on >> either the high or low end of each range of scores on the TABE are >> unreliable because of the large standard error of measurement >> associated with the extreme ends of any bell curve. This means >> that as you suspected, the high and low scores on each of the >> tests are less likely to be a true indication of the student?s >> ability. Retesting with a higher or lower level of the test is >> recommended for these cases. It was evident to us, based on our >> state data, that test administrators either did not understand >> that concept or had differing opinion as to when a test was >> outside the acceptable range and consequentially when to retest. >> >> We employed the methodology developed by the University of >> Massachusetts for the Massachusetts Department of Education to >> establish acceptable ranges for the Reading, Mathematics >> Computation and Applied Mathematics sections of the TABE 7 & 8 and >> TABE 9 & 10. The policy, along with the scoring tables, were then >> integrated into our data management system such that invalid >> scores may not even be entered into the data system. If students >> score outside the valid ranges, they must be retested on an >> appropriate version of the TABE. >> >> Strategy is still advised when using these scoring tables. For >> example, based on our validity tables, if a student scores a 7.2 >> GE reading level on an M TABE, they are within the valid range >> however if a level M is administered for the post test to this >> same student, the very highest that student may achieve and still >> fall within the valid range is a 7.7 GE. This score will not be >> enough to show education gain. This student must be given a level >> D test to open up the possibility of achieving a score high enough >> to evidence gain. As long as the administration of the TABE >> levels is contiguous, the scores are valid and may be used under >> NRS guidelines. (So moving from an M to a D is acceptable) >> >> As you can imagine Katrina, a comprehensive staff development was >> built to accommodate all this information and we rolled it out to >> all programs through a train the trainer model. I am pleased to >> say that our state?s performance in the area of educational gain >> has increased significantly as a result of this work. I hope this >> is useful to you and your testing coordinator. >> Rosemary >> >> >> Rosemary I. Matt >> NRS Liaison for NYS >> Literacy Assistance Center >> 12 Meadowbrook Drive >> New Hartford, NY 13413 >> 315.798.1026 >> >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Katrina Hinson >> Sent: Thu 4/19/2007 7:14 PM >> To: assessment at nifl.gov >> Subject: [Assessment 774] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement >> >> I don't know if anyone has raised this question but one of the >> things I >> know myself and the testing coordinator at my school are concerned >> with >> is the fact that we don't get to count gains made if a person goes >> from >> the M level TABE to the D level TABE. We use versions 9 and 10. I >> had a >> student who scored around 9.0 or so on the M level Reading which we >> question in and of itself in terms of validity. He's at the point >> where >> we're supposed to retest him. He'd tested on the D level in math the >> first time and he's been regularly attending and regulary working >> on his >> goals. He went from the 9.0 on the M level test which is >> moderately hard >> in reading to a 7.7 on the D level test which is difficult. >> Because he >> DROPPED in terms of grade level, it's not counted as a level >> completion...even though he actually went from M to D...which one >> would >> think would also qualify as a level. >> >> Has anyone else had this happen and if so, what are your suggestions. >> >> Regards, >> Katrina Hinson >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/673826b4/attachment.html From Kate.Diggins at slc.k12.ut.us Fri Apr 20 14:31:38 2007 From: Kate.Diggins at slc.k12.ut.us (Kate Diggins) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:31:38 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 788] Re: Teaching gains over more than one year Message-ID: <4628B2AA020000520000C101@slc.k12.ut.us> Well, I think I would attribute it to quite a bit of individual attention. Our students are placed in samll groups and work with volunteer mentor-tutors. The groups are maintained and supported by the professional staff; so this means that there's a web of supportive relationships to help students with problems that may lead to"stop-out". If a student is absent twice without calling in, we call to find out what's happening. We try, too, to assist in overcoming the most typical barriers to education, so we have childcare and a small shuttle bus that can do door-to-door service to 15 people, if they live within a couple miles of the school. To be honest, I've never been sure that our retention was good, because I've never had data to compare it with. Does anyone know what a typical retention rate is for a non-intensive adult ESL program? Kate Diggins Director of Adult Education Guadalupe Schools (801) 531-6100 (x-1107) >>> Andrea Wilder 04/19/07 5:54 PM >>> Kate-- How do you account for the long retention rate? Other programs report this as a difficulty. Thanks. Andrea On Apr 19, 2007, at 1:31 PM, Kate Diggins wrote: > I'd like to respond to David Rosen's question regarding programs which > track student gains beyond the bounds of the fiscal year. At my > program, students stay for an average of 15 months, and they are > permitted to stay for five years if they wish (and many of them do), > so we track them from start to finish. We are a small program, > serving about 250 students a year, so we take a fairly low-tech > approach. After pretesting with BEST "Plus" and BEST Literacy, we > plot their scores on line graphs (two separate graphs - one for each > of the two tests) and continue to plot their scores for each > subsequent test. As time goes by, the lines representing a student's > progress slope gradually upward across the pages. This is a graphic > that the students can easily understand, and it enables us to see > which skill areas require emphasis for individual students. Having a > complete picture of a student's testing history also allows us to show > students that an occasional disappointing test sco > re may be an aberration from a generally upward trend. > > Kate Diggins > Director of Adult Education > Guadalupe Schools > (801) 531-6100 (x-1107) > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From tborge at bhcc.mass.edu Fri Apr 20 14:38:59 2007 From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu (Borge, Toni) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:38:59 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 789] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59EE2B4F@mercury.bhcc.dom> Hi, Shifts in ESOL population can also be attributed to change in employment opportunities and contraction in the availability of affordable housing. Massachusetts is suffering like many places in the country with a dearth of affordable housing. Rents have increased exponentially and the city where my program is located has increased enforcement on the number of people who can legally live in an apartment building. People then shift to another low rent area. Then they try to return to school. I only see this issue increasing as little is being done outside of community organizations to address this issue. Toni Toni F. Borge Adult Education & Transitions Program Director Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea Campus 175 Hawthorne Street Chelsea, MA 02150 Phone: 617-228-2108 * Fax:617-228-2106 E-mail: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Monti, Suzi Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 6:59 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 738] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement I would like to add a few comments on retention and ESOL students. We have recently heard a lot about "stopping out" and I think that can pertain to ESOL learners for many of the same reasons as ASE/GED learners - with the addition of issues such as stages of acculturation and/or home country responsibilities which may cause ESOL learners to withdraw for weeks or months and then possibly return. I would also like to raise the issue of the mobility of the ESOL population. We see migration reports on immigrants and settlement trends and I often wonder how much of a difference in retention these trends makes when comparing ASE/GED retention rates with ESOL. I think of the "stopover" trend we see sometimes in ESOL here in Baltimore, MD where non-native speakers will enter and only temporarily reside her before moving to an intended more perm ant location. This obviously has great impact on retention. When comparing ESOL programs statewide or nationwide, the "stopover" trend may negatively impact the retention rates of certain programs. Another thing we see is "shift" or movement around the beltway (as we call it). We have major ESOL class sites at locations along the Baltimore beltway that roughly encircles the city and we see contraction and expansion at these sites based the movement of the ESOL population. We will see that a site may suddenly have low retention across ALL six or seven ESOL classes offered - even the classes with veteran/experienced teachers with a great track record of retention. In some cases, the same teacher is also teaching at another site and his/her class there is doing well at that site. Both of these things show that attrition is not likely a result of instructional issues. When we see this contraction of a site with mid-semester attrition, we can sometimes predict that at another site we will experience a boom in registration the next semester. It depends on if it is more "stopover" (with learners leaving the area entirely) or just "shift" (learners relocating within the area). If it is the latter, learners who leave one site mid-semester will turn up to register the next semester at another site. Suzi Monti ESOL Curriculum Developer and Instructional Specialist The Community College of Baltimore County Center for Adult and Family Literacy 7200 Sollers Point Road E102 Baltimore, MD 21222 (410) 285-9476 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/0378c36b/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Apr 20 14:41:57 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:41:57 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 790] Post from Forrest Chisman In-Reply-To: <000701c78373$ef1bc240$92e7f804@hppav> Message-ID: <04e401c7837b$93d319d0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi folks, Just a quick note to say that the email below that was just posted is from Forrest Chisman, of CAAL - it is not signed below. Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of forrest Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 1:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 786] Re: Using Data Dan, you have raised some critically important questions. NRS data indicates that only about 36% of ESL students "complete a level" each year. This is cause for concern, because the same data show that the vast majority of ESL students are at the lowest levels of proficiency and have low levels of education in their native countries. However, the NRS data is not definitive for a number of reasons -- such as low rates of re-test in many programs, the use of tests that do not measure the full range of English language skills, and the fact that data is reported only for a single year (students may persist in programs long enough to achieve much larger learning gains). As a first step toward finding out more about the learning gains and persistence of ESL students, Jodi Crandall and I worked with the faculty and staff at 5 highly regarded community college programs to use student record data as a means of determining both learning gains and persistence rates. At several of the colleges we were able to track the learning gains and persistence of students for as long as seven years. At most of the colleges, the measures of learning gains used was completion of one or more additional levels AS THE COLLEGE DEFINED THE LEVELS. Both the definition of levels and the standards of completion took account of test scores (of the sort reported to the NRS), but they also took account of other measures of student achievement (including proficiency in all core ESL skills). Needless to say, our findings were fairly complex and cannot be adequately set forth here. In summary, however, we found that at most 30% of students persist for 2-3 college terms and complete more than 2-3 levels over a seven year period. More than 40-50% of students do not complete a level or complete only a single level at any time over a seven year period. Although we could not be sure, it appears that low level students were more likely to persist than higher level students. About 10-15% of adult education ESL students enrolled in credit ESL at these colleges, and the number who eventually enrolled in academic credit courses was in the single digits. We also found that all the colleges we examined employ strategies that significantly improve the rate of learning gains and retention. Among these were high intensity/managed enrollment classes (more than 3-6 hours per week), strategies to encourage learning outside the classroom, appropriate uses of echnology for instruction, co-enrollment of adult education ESL students in vocational programs taught in English, curricular designs that insure instruction is relevant to the interests of students (such as Frerian approaches), enriched guidance/counseling/support services, setting high expectations, and VESL programs. Unfortunately, only small numbers of students have access to most of these strategies at most colleges, because they are far more expensive on a per student basis than is standard ESL instruction. Conversely, it appears that large numbers of students would like to make the committment to enhanced programs, if they were available. The results of our research were published by the Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy (under the auspices of which the research was conducted) in February as the report " Passing the Torch:Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL." This is available at the CAAL website: www.caalusa.org. CAAL will be publishing more of the data we gathered later this spring. Among the "take away" messages we gathered from our work were: 1) The use of longitudinal (multi-year) data and holistic assessments of learning gains are essential for understanding and improving the effectiveness of ESL programs. In many programs it is feasible to gather and use longitudinal data in this way, but few programs do so due to a variety of perceived constraints and/or a lack of support for data analysis by their host institutions. 2) Research can be very helpful in program improvement, but it requires a substantial committment on the part of programs to gather relevant data and tease out its lessons on an on-going basis. Programs should receive far more support for this. 3) It is posible to greatly improve ESL program outcomes using a variety of strategies, but these require a larger investment in instruction per student -- an investment that we believe is well worth the cost. 4) Numbers do not speak for themselves. For example, low rates of learning gains must be read in the context of the goals that both students and programs set for ESL instruction. It may be that some portion of students legitimately wish to use ESL programs as an initial platform to learn SOME English, and that their learning gains after separating from programs are substantial. Too little is known about this. Conversely, we found that the more students learn, the more ambitious their learning goals become. Because numbers do not speak for themselves, it is all the more important for individual programs and state agencies to invest in the use of research for program improvement and to ACTUALLY USE IT for therse purposes. Too often over-burdened ESL faculty and staff consider research an after-thought. They need the time, encouragement, resources, and training to development "continuous program improvement" models to their work. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/61bf5517/attachment.html From tborge at bhcc.mass.edu Fri Apr 20 14:55:04 2007 From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu (Borge, Toni) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:55:04 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 791] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement In-Reply-To: <11100F3DEA99F24CB3E87E45900040DF779BD8@cwf-exchange.Commonweal-Foundation.org> Message-ID: <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59EE2B60@mercury.bhcc.dom> Yes, when parents move so do their children. The public school system here has a very low graduation rate and a big factor is the number of students who haven't dropped out but have moved out. And not surprising, their performance on meeting standards is not high no matter how hard the teachers in the system work to address the needs of the students. Toni Toni F. Borge Adult Education & Transitions Program Director Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea Campus 175 Hawthorne Street Chelsea, MA 02150 Phone: 617-228-2108 * Fax:617-228-2106 E-mail: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Fred Lowenbach Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:15 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 749] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hopefully everyone participating in this discussion regarding adult literacy is aware that almost everything you are saying applies to the results for students in school as well. Coming from a public school background you could always see the effect that high mobility rates had on overall student results. Schools with those highest rates almost always struggled to meet standard on state measures connected to NCLB. This was the case with overall populations as well as various subgroups that were tested. The same applies to student retention, or for that matter attendance. As a rule, student who attended regularly achieved much higher grades than students whose attendance was far less consistent. This then followed suit with results on standardized testing and ultimately on graduation rates. The entire education community, whether it is involved with adult literacy, or the traditional K-12 curriculum is faced with the same thing. The key to increasing literacy and to closing achievement gaps starts with getting and retaining students. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 3:33 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 748] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Sandy, A few years ago I did a study on adult ESL literacy students that focused primarily on instruction. But we also looked at retention. We found that the proportion of time an ESL literacy student attended (measure by hours attended over total hours class was scheduled) had a positive effect on oral English skills and reading comprehension, all else being equal (using a complex statistical model). The possible reasons for this effect are intriguing and need more research. Because this measure showed an effect regardless of how many hours the student actually attended (or how many hours per week a student attended), my interpretation is that this measure is a measure of motivation (although I have no data or other information to check this). In other words, the student who continues to attend over time, despite all of the other competing demands on time, is one that is more motivated. This motivation helps learning. I think if true, it does have implications for structuring instructional segments. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Sandy Strunk Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:38 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 736] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Larry, Could you tell us more about the ESL research on percentage of possible time attended? This is a new idea to me. Does it reflect greater intensity as opposed to lesser intensity for a longer duration - or do you think something else is going on? If your research is correct, there are certainly implications for how we structure instructional segments. Sandy Strunk ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 5:31 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Hi Ella, Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding of what is going on. I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking consistency of attendance. Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and persistence patterns. One thing you might consider looking at learners who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time possible that learners attend. You compute this by dividing the attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%). Some research I did on ESL students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible time learned more, independent of total hours. I think this is so because this measure reflects student motivation to attend. Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs for them. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement Dear Collegues: Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program, average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial orientation period of classes. We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments, we have been able to improve all of these efforts. Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site, which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and assign responsibility for improvement where needed. I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall effectiveness. Respectfully submitted by, Ella Bogard Ella Bogard, Executive Director Franklinton Learning Center 1003 West Town Street Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438 Phone: (614) 221-9151 Fax: (614) 221-9131 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/3fdb3b36/attachment.html From alcdgg at langate.gsu.edu Tue Apr 17 09:31:51 2007 From: alcdgg at langate.gsu.edu (Daphne Greenberg) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:31:51 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 792] New Adult Literacy Journal: Cross Post Message-ID: <46249407020000310001E764@mailsrv4.gsu.edu> List colleagues, If you are a subscriber to multiple NIFL lists, please excuse the cross posting of this message. On behalf of Don Harting, the editor of the Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal, I would like to announce the following: New Literacy Journal Launched The first issue of the Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal, copublished by the Commission on Adult Basic Education (COABE) and ProLiteracy America, was launched in March. The journal?s predecessor, Adult Basic Education, was started by COABE in 1977. The new journal will continue to carry research articles that are peer reviewed using a double blind protocol that conceals reviewers? identities from authors, and vice versa. The journal will also include the following shorter features written especially for practitioners: ? Practitioner Perspective offers first-person narratives by people who?ve solved problems that instructors or program directors often encounter. The emphasis is on learnings that can be used by other practitioners. ? Web Scan, edited by David Rosen, offers a roundup of the most useful instructional and management resources found on the Internet. ? Research Digest, edited by Cristine Smith, offers a quick recap of published and ongoing research projects around the country, with contact information so interested readers can find out more. ? Resource Reviews, edited by Daphne Greenberg, help practitioners and researchers stay abreast of the latest offerings from educational publishers. ? Occasional essays, called Viewpoint, that analyze trends and forces at work in the field. The March issue carries an essay on health literacy by Rima Rudd. The July issue will carry an essay on the national research agenda by John Comings. The journal is published three times per year. To subscribe, or to view author guidelines, visit www.coabe.org. For more information, send an e-mail to journaleditor at literacyprogram.org. Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University From kabeall at comcast.net Fri Apr 20 12:33:42 2007 From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:33:42 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 793] Effective Transitions in Adult Education Message-ID: <004c01c78369$ab57c810$ab8a11ac@your4105e587b6> Join us for two days of workshops on Effective Transitions in Adult Education, November 8-9, 2007 in Providence, RI. Our keynote speaker, Dr. JoAnn Crandall, will kick off the event with a discussion of transition for English language learners. For more details, SEE http://www.collegetransition.org/novconference.html Cynthia Zafft, Director National College Transition Network at World Education nctn at worlded.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070420/ad0e72e9/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Apr 23 07:50:04 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:50:04 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 794] Discussion Thanks!! Message-ID: <000001c7859d$890f9d10$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Dear Colleagues, I would like to thank our Guest Panelists from last week's discussion: Larry Condelli Joanie Rethlake Rosemary Matt Ajit Gopalakrishnan Donna Cornellier Toni Borge Luanne Teller Karen Mundie Sandy Strunk and subscribers for making the conversation rich and for sharing insightful experiences. Over the next few days I will be working on preparing the discussion in user-friendly format and I will send email out when it is ready for your use. Thanks to all again for such a great discussion last week. Marie Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070423/82eb3269/attachment.html From pjcross at okcps.org Wed Apr 25 13:19:19 2007 From: pjcross at okcps.org (Cross, Patricia J.) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:19:19 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 795] Re: Discussion Thanks!! References: <000001c7859d$890f9d10$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Thanks, Marie. pjcross at okcps.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Mon 4/23/2007 6:50 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 794] Discussion Thanks!! Dear Colleagues, I would like to thank our Guest Panelists from last week's discussion: Larry Condelli Joanie Rethlake Rosemary Matt Ajit Gopalakrishnan Donna Cornellier Toni Borge Luanne Teller Karen Mundie Sandy Strunk and subscribers for making the conversation rich and for sharing insightful experiences. Over the next few days I will be working on preparing the discussion in user-friendly format and I will send email out when it is ready for your use. Thanks to all again for such a great discussion last week. Marie Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 6554 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070425/be89a27f/attachment.bin From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Apr 25 13:53:03 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:53:03 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 796] FW: Free Workshop on Adult Literacy Message-ID: <01e001c78762$933d2070$0202a8c0@LITNOW> FREE ONE DAY WORKSHOP ON ADULT LITERACY EDUCATION IN INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS Are you overwhelmed by the vast amount of information about adult literacy education available in thousands of reports in dozens of online internet web sites, portals and wikis, shelves of new books from many publishers, numerous government projects, and a plethora of fat, heavy duty research reports? As an administrator, teacher, tutor, or researcher in adult literacy do you find that you do not have the time to wade through this sea of information to find what is relevant to your teaching and other program needs? GRAB A GLOBAL GRASP OF ADULT BASIC SKILLS EDUCATION TRENDS If you find yourself drowning in this ocean of information, this one day, six hour workshop is for you! In it you will learn about critically important developments in adult literacy education going on in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Great Britain, New Zealand, and the United States. Using humor, extensive illustrations, and simplified statistical information, this workshop discusses projects and research in five areas of activity that can be identified in these industrialized nations, including activities to 1.Determine how many adults need and want basic skills education, i.e., determining the scale of need for adult literacy education. 2. Determine the extent of and activities to increase the participation of adults in language, literacy, and numeracy (LLN) education. 3. Understand the system of provision, i.e., finding out what is going on in a diversity of programs. 4. Improve the quality of provision, i.e., helping programs get better at what they do. 5. Improve the accountability of provision, including how to show the returns to investments in adult basic skills education. This workshop presentation is FREE, sponsors pay only travel costs. The workshop will be available from July 1, 2007. To arrange for the workshop to be presented in your area contact Tom Sticht, tsticht at aznet.net. About Tom Sticht: Tom Sticht is recognized internationally for his work on the education and training of under-educated youth and adults. He holds a Ph.D in psychology from the University of Arizona and has taught at numerous universities, including the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the University of British Columbia, and the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School. He has published over 170 books and articles on the education of under-educated youth and adults. Dr. Sticht has served on the Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS); the National Commission on Working Women; and he chaired the California Workforce Literacy Task Force. Earlier he was Associate Director of the U. S. National Institute of Education, President, Applied Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences, Inc. and Project Coordinator for the San Diego Consortium for Workforce Education & Lifelong Learning. Articles on Dr. Sticht's work have appeared in newspapers and magazines in several countries including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the London Times, the New Zealand Herald, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. In 1994, Dr. Sticht was the first adult literacy specialist elected to the Reading Hall of Fame in the United States and in 2003 he was awarded UNESCO's Mahatma Gandhi medal. From barguedas at sfccnm.edu Wed Apr 25 16:18:26 2007 From: barguedas at sfccnm.edu (Barbara Arguedas) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:18:26 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 797] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <000701c78373$ef1bc240$92e7f804@hppav> Message-ID: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C44A@ex01.sfcc.edu> I have tried to access the publication "Passing the Torch" but keep getting a network error. Does anyone know how to report the error? I have tried going to the caalusa.org website but no contact information is listed. Thanks. -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of forrest Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 11:47 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 786] Re: Using Data Dan, you have raised some critically important questions. NRS data indicates that only about 36% of ESL students "complete a level" each year. This is cause for concern, because the same data show that the vast majority of ESL students are at the lowest levels of proficiency and have low levels of education in their native countries. However, the NRS data is not definitive for a number of reasons -- such as low rates of re-test in many programs, the use of tests that do not measure the full range of English language skills, and the fact that data is reported only for a single year (students may persist in programs long enough to achieve much larger learning gains). As a first step toward finding out more about the learning gains and persistence of ESL students, Jodi Crandall and I worked with the faculty and staff at 5 highly regarded community college programs to use student record data as a means of determining both learning gains and persistence rates. At several of the colleges we were able to track the learning gains and persistence of students for as long as seven years. At most of the colleges, the measures of learning gains used was completion of one or more additional levels AS THE COLLEGE DEFINED THE LEVELS. Both the definition of levels and the standards of completion took account of test scores (of the sort reported to the NRS), but they also took account of other measures of student achievement (including proficiency in all core ESL skills). Needless to say, our findings were fairly complex and cannot be adequately set forth here. In summary, however, we found that at most 30% of students persist for 2-3 college terms and complete more than 2-3 levels over a seven year period. More than 40-50% of students do not complete a level or complete only a single level at any time over a seven year period. Although we could not be sure, it appears that low level students were more likely to persist than higher level students. About 10-15% of adult education ESL students enrolled in credit ESL at these colleges, and the number who eventually enrolled in academic credit courses was in the single digits. We also found that all the colleges we examined employ strategies that significantly improve the rate of learning gains and retention. Among these were high intensity/managed enrollment classes (more than 3-6 hours per week), strategies to encourage learning outside the classroom, appropriate uses of echnology for instruction, co-enrollment of adult education ESL students in vocational programs taught in English, curricular designs that insure instruction is relevant to the interests of students (such as Frerian approaches), enriched guidance/counseling/support services, setting high expectations, and VESL programs. Unfortunately, only small numbers of students have access to most of these strategies at most colleges, because they are far more expensive on a per student basis than is standard ESL instruction. Conversely, it appears that large numbers of students would like to make the committment to enhanced programs, if they were available. The results of our research were published by the Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy (under the auspices of which the research was conducted) in February as the report " Passing the Torch:Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL." This is available at the CAAL website: www.caalusa.org. CAAL will be publishing more of the data we gathered later this spring. Among the "take away" messages we gathered from our work were: 1) The use of longitudinal (multi-year) data and holistic assessments of learning gains are essential for understanding and improving the effectiveness of ESL programs. In many programs it is feasible to gather and use longitudinal data in this way, but few programs do so due to a variety of perceived constraints and/or a lack of support for data analysis by their host institutions. 2) Research can be very helpful in program improvement, but it requires a substantial committment on the part of programs to gather relevant data and tease out its lessons on an on-going basis. Programs should receive far more support for this. 3) It is posible to greatly improve ESL program outcomes using a variety of strategies, but these require a larger investment in instruction per student -- an investment that we believe is well worth the cost. 4) Numbers do not speak for themselves. For example, low rates of learning gains must be read in the context of the goals that both students and programs set for ESL instruction. It may be that some portion of students legitimately wish to use ESL programs as an initial platform to learn SOME English, and that their learning gains after separating from programs are substantial. Too little is known about this. Conversely, we found that the more students learn, the more ambitious their learning goals become. Because numbers do not speak for themselves, it is all the more important for individual programs and state agencies to invest in the use of research for program improvement and to ACTUALLY USE IT for therse purposes. Too often over-burdened ESL faculty and staff consider research an after-thought. They need the time, encouragement, resources, and training to development "continuous program improvement" models to their work. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070425/47d45b26/attachment.html From lwilkins at mills.edu Wed Apr 25 21:48:49 2007 From: lwilkins at mills.edu (Lynne Wilkins) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:48:49 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 798] esl oral assessment Message-ID: <46300501.9020407@mills.edu> Dear Group, Can anyone recommend a standardized ESL focused oral assessment that includes speaking in addition to listening? Thanks in advance, Lynne Wilkins -- Lynne Bierer Wilkins The English Center (ECIW) Director, Corporate Training for Industry Associate Director for Programs (510) 430-2285; lwilkins at mills.edu www.eciw.org From crandall at umbc.edu Thu Apr 26 00:06:30 2007 From: crandall at umbc.edu (JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall) Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:06:30 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Assessment 799] Re: Using Data In-Reply-To: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C44A@ex01.sfcc.edu> References: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C44A@ex01.sfcc.edu> Message-ID: <1596.218.144.201.126.1177560390.squirrel@webmail.umbc.edu> Dear Barbara, I just tried the site and had no difficulty. Here is the website for the Executive Summary: http://www.caalusa.org/eslexecsummary.pdf The website for the full publication is: http://www.caalusa.org/eslpassingtorch226.pdf Try these again. If you still have difficulty, you may want to contact Gail Spangenberg, the Executive Director of the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy at gspangenberg at caalusa.org Hope this helps. Jodi Crandall (one of the authors of the report) > I have tried to access the publication "Passing the Torch" but keep > getting a network error. Does anyone know how to report the error? I > have tried going to the caalusa.org website but no contact information > is listed. Thanks. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of forrest > Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 11:47 AM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 786] Re: Using Data > > > > Dan, you have raised some critically important questions. NRS data > indicates that only about 36% of ESL students "complete a level" each > year. This is cause for concern, because the same data show that the > vast majority of ESL students are at the lowest levels of proficiency > and have low levels of education in their native countries. However, the > NRS data is not definitive for a number of reasons -- such as low rates > of re-test in many programs, the use of tests that do not measure the > full range of English language skills, and the fact that data is > reported only for a single year (students may persist in programs long > enough to achieve much larger learning gains). > > > > As a first step toward finding out more about the learning gains and > persistence of ESL students, Jodi Crandall and I worked with the faculty > and staff at 5 highly regarded community college programs to use student > record data as a means of determining both learning gains and > persistence rates. At several of the colleges we were able to track the > learning gains and persistence of students for as long as seven years. > At most of the colleges, the measures of learning gains used was > completion of one or more additional levels AS THE COLLEGE DEFINED THE > LEVELS. Both the definition of levels and the standards of completion > took account of test scores (of the sort reported to the NRS), but they > also took account of other measures of student achievement (including > proficiency in all core ESL skills). > > > > Needless to say, our findings were fairly complex and cannot be > adequately set forth here. In summary, however, we found that at most > 30% of students persist for 2-3 college terms and complete more than 2-3 > levels over a seven year period. More than 40-50% of students do not > complete a level or complete only a single level at any time over a > seven year period. Although we could not be sure, it appears that low > level students were more likely to persist than higher level students. > About 10-15% of adult education ESL students enrolled in credit ESL at > these colleges, and the number who eventually enrolled in academic > credit courses was in the single digits. > > > > We also found that all the colleges we examined employ strategies that > significantly improve the rate of learning gains and retention. Among > these were high intensity/managed enrollment classes (more than 3-6 > hours per week), strategies to encourage learning outside the classroom, > appropriate uses of echnology for instruction, co-enrollment of adult > education ESL students in vocational programs taught in English, > curricular designs that insure instruction is relevant to the interests > of students (such as Frerian approaches), enriched > guidance/counseling/support services, setting high expectations, and > VESL programs. Unfortunately, only small numbers of students have access > to most of these strategies at most colleges, because they are far more > expensive on a per student basis than is standard ESL instruction. > Conversely, it appears that large numbers of students would like to make > the committment to enhanced programs, if they were available. > > > > The results of our research were published by the Council for the > Advancement of Adult Literacy (under the auspices of which the research > was conducted) in February as the report " Passing the Torch:Strategies > for Innovation in Community College ESL." This is available at the CAAL > website: www.caalusa.org. CAAL will be publishing more of the data we > gathered later this spring. > > > > Among the "take away" messages we gathered from our work were: 1) The > use of longitudinal (multi-year) data and holistic assessments of > learning gains are essential for understanding and improving the > effectiveness of ESL programs. In many programs it is feasible to gather > and use longitudinal data in this way, but few programs do so due to a > variety of perceived constraints and/or a lack of support for data > analysis by their host institutions. 2) Research can be very helpful in > program improvement, but it requires a substantial committment on the > part of programs to gather relevant data and tease out its lessons on an > on-going basis. Programs should receive far more support for this. 3) It > is posible to greatly improve ESL program outcomes using a variety of > strategies, but these require a larger investment in instruction per > student -- an investment that we believe is well worth the cost. 4) > Numbers do not speak for themselves. For example, low rates of learning > gains must be read in the context of the goals that both students and > programs set for ESL instruction. It may be that some portion of > students legitimately wish to use ESL programs as an initial platform to > learn SOME English, and that their learning gains after separating from > programs are substantial. Too little is known about this. Conversely, we > found that the more students learn, the more ambitious their learning > goals become. Because numbers do not speak for themselves, it is all the > more important for individual programs and state agencies to invest in > the use of research for program improvement and to ACTUALLY USE IT for > therse purposes. Too often over-burdened ESL faculty and staff consider > research an after-thought. They need the time, encouragement, resources, > and training to development "continuous program improvement" models to > their work. > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > -- JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Professor, Education Department Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture Coordinator, Peace Corps Master's International Program in ESOL/Bilingual Education University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 ph: 410-455-2313/2376 fax: 410-455-8947/1880 email: crandall at umbc.edu www.umbc.edu/llc/ www.umbc.edu/esol/ www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html From sdscanlon at adelphia.net Thu Apr 26 06:51:59 2007 From: sdscanlon at adelphia.net (Sandy Scanlon) Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:51:59 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 800] Re: Using Data References: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C44A@ex01.sfcc.edu> Message-ID: <001401c787f0$ea147ae0$6401a8c0@userrhw2qmgdrx> I accessed the report by keying the report title into Google. Sandy ----- Original Message ----- From: Barbara Arguedas To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 4:18 PM Subject: [Assessment 797] Re: Using Data I have tried to access the publication "Passing the Torch" but keep getting a network error. Does anyone know how to report the error? I have tried going to the caalusa.org website but no contact information is listed. Thanks. -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of forrest Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 11:47 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 786] Re: Using Data Dan, you have raised some critically important questions. NRS data indicates that only about 36% of ESL students "complete a level" each year. This is cause for concern, because the same data show that the vast majority of ESL students are at the lowest levels of proficiency and have low levels of education in their native countries. However, the NRS data is not definitive for a number of reasons -- such as low rates of re-test in many programs, the use of tests that do not measure the full range of English language skills, and the fact that data is reported only for a single year (students may persist in programs long enough to achieve much larger learning gains). As a first step toward finding out more about the learning gains and persistence of ESL students, Jodi Crandall and I worked with the faculty and staff at 5 highly regarded community college programs to use student record data as a means of determining both learning gains and persistence rates. At several of the colleges we were able to track the learning gains and persistence of students for as long as seven years. At most of the colleges, the measures of learning gains used was completion of one or more additional levels AS THE COLLEGE DEFINED THE LEVELS. Both the definition of levels and the standards of completion took account of test scores (of the sort reported to the NRS), but they also took account of other measures of student achievement (including proficiency in all core ESL skills). Needless to say, our findings were fairly complex and cannot be adequately set forth here. In summary, however, we found that at most 30% of students persist for 2-3 college terms and complete more than 2-3 levels over a seven year period. More than 40-50% of students do not complete a level or complete only a single level at any time over a seven year period. Although we could not be sure, it appears that low level students were more likely to persist than higher level students. About 10-15% of adult education ESL students enrolled in credit ESL at these colleges, and the number who eventually enrolled in academic credit courses was in the single digits. We also found that all the colleges we examined employ strategies that significantly improve the rate of learning gains and retention. Among these were high intensity/managed enrollment classes (more than 3-6 hours per week), strategies to encourage learning outside the classroom, appropriate uses of echnology for instruction, co-enrollment of adult education ESL students in vocational programs taught in English, curricular designs that insure instruction is relevant to the interests of students (such as Frerian approaches), enriched guidance/counseling/support services, setting high expectations, and VESL programs. Unfortunately, only small numbers of students have access to most of these strategies at most colleges, because they are far more expensive on a per student basis than is standard ESL instruction. Conversely, it appears that large numbers of students would like to make the committment to enhanced programs, if they were available. The results of our research were published by the Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy (under the auspices of which the research was conducted) in February as the report " Passing the Torch:Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL." This is available at the CAAL website: www.caalusa.org. CAAL will be publishing more of the data we gathered later this spring. Among the "take away" messages we gathered from our work were: 1) The use of longitudinal (multi-year) data and holistic assessments of learning gains are essential for understanding and improving the effectiveness of ESL programs. In many programs it is feasible to gather and use longitudinal data in this way, but few programs do so due to a variety of perceived constraints and/or a lack of support for data analysis by their host institutions. 2) Research can be very helpful in program improvement, but it requires a substantial committment on the part of programs to gather relevant data and tease out its lessons on an on-going basis. Programs should receive far more support for this. 3) It is posible to greatly improve ESL program outcomes using a variety of strategies, but these require a larger investment in instruction per student -- an investment that we believe is well worth the cost. 4) Numbers do not speak for themselves. For example, low rates of learning gains must be read in the context of the goals that both students and programs set for ESL instruction. It may be that some portion of students legitimately wish to use ESL programs as an initial platform to learn SOME English, and that their learning gains after separating from programs are substantial. Too little is known about this. Conversely, we found that the more students learn, the more ambitious their learning goals become. Because numbers do not speak for themselves, it is all the more important for individual programs and state agencies to invest in the use of research for program improvement and to ACTUALLY USE IT for therse purposes. Too often over-burdened ESL faculty and staff consider research an after-thought. They need the time, encouragement, resources, and training to development "continuous program improvement" models to their work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070426/c9ba5923/attachment.html From caalusa at earthlink.net Thu Apr 26 07:11:11 2007 From: caalusa at earthlink.net (gspangenberg@caalusa.org) Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 07:11:11 -0400 (GMT-04:00) Subject: [Assessment 801] Accessing Passing the Torch CAAL website Message-ID: <19508759.1177585871772.JavaMail.root@elwamui-polski.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Barbara and others -- Every test we've done, and communications from a wide range of people, indicate that the document can be accessed without trouble from our website -- for both Mac and PC. But 2-3 people have reported that they had difficulty on the first try (it is a very large document) and that only on the second attempt did it "take" (because a portion of the document had already moved to their computers. I am in the process of having the site rechecked to see if some problem has crept in that we're not aware of or if a certain computer capacity is needed to receive the download. But in the meantime, a bound copy of the publication can be ordered at a nominal cost by e-mailing bheitner at caalusa.org for ordering and payment instructions. Sorry for any inconvenience. Gail Spangenberg Manager, National Commission on Adult Literacy President, Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Floor New York, NY 10020 212-512-2363 http:www.caalusa.org -----Original Message----- >From: "JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall" >Sent: Apr 26, 2007 12:06 AM >To: The Assessment Discussion List >Subject: [Assessment 799] Re: Using Data > >Dear Barbara, > >I just tried the site and had no difficulty. > >Here is the website for the Executive Summary: >http://www.caalusa.org/eslexecsummary.pdf > >The website for the full publication is: >http://www.caalusa.org/eslpassingtorch226.pdf > >Try these again. If you still have difficulty, you may want to contact >Gail Spangenberg, the Executive Director of the Council for Advancement of >Adult Literacy at >gspangenberg at caalusa.org > >Hope this helps. > >Jodi Crandall (one of the authors of the report) > > >> I have tried to access the publication "Passing the Torch" but keep >> getting a network error. Does anyone know how to report the error? I >> have tried going to the caalusa.org website but no contact information >> is listed. Thanks. >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] >> On Behalf Of forrest >> Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 11:47 AM >> To: assessment at nifl.gov >> Subject: [Assessment 786] Re: Using Data >> >> >> >> Dan, you have raised some critically important questions. NRS data >> indicates that only about 36% of ESL students "complete a level" each >> year. This is cause for concern, because the same data show that the >> vast majority of ESL students are at the lowest levels of proficiency >> and have low levels of education in their native countries. However, the >> NRS data is not definitive for a number of reasons -- such as low rates >> of re-test in many programs, the use of tests that do not measure the >> full range of English language skills, and the fact that data is >> reported only for a single year (students may persist in programs long >> enough to achieve much larger learning gains). >> >> >> >> As a first step toward finding out more about the learning gains and >> persistence of ESL students, Jodi Crandall and I worked with the faculty >> and staff at 5 highly regarded community college programs to use student >> record data as a means of determining both learning gains and >> persistence rates. At several of the colleges we were able to track the >> learning gains and persistence of students for as long as seven years. >> At most of the colleges, the measures of learning gains used was >> completion of one or more additional levels AS THE COLLEGE DEFINED THE >> LEVELS. Both the definition of levels and the standards of completion >> took account of test scores (of the sort reported to the NRS), but they >> also took account of other measures of student achievement (including >> proficiency in all core ESL skills). >> >> >> >> Needless to say, our findings were fairly complex and cannot be >> adequately set forth here. In summary, however, we found that at most >> 30% of students persist for 2-3 college terms and complete more than 2-3 >> levels over a seven year period. More than 40-50% of students do not >> complete a level or complete only a single level at any time over a >> seven year period. Although we could not be sure, it appears that low >> level students were more likely to persist than higher level students. >> About 10-15% of adult education ESL students enrolled in credit ESL at >> these colleges, and the number who eventually enrolled in academic >> credit courses was in the single digits. >> >> >> >> We also found that all the colleges we examined employ strategies that >> significantly improve the rate of learning gains and retention. Among >> these were high intensity/managed enrollment classes (more than 3-6 >> hours per week), strategies to encourage learning outside the classroom, >> appropriate uses of echnology for instruction, co-enrollment of adult >> education ESL students in vocational programs taught in English, >> curricular designs that insure instruction is relevant to the interests >> of students (such as Frerian approaches), enriched >> guidance/counseling/support services, setting high expectations, and >> VESL programs. Unfortunately, only small numbers of students have access >> to most of these strategies at most colleges, because they are far more >> expensive on a per student basis than is standard ESL instruction. >> Conversely, it appears that large numbers of students would like to make >> the committment to enhanced programs, if they were available. >> >> >> >> The results of our research were published by the Council for the >> Advancement of Adult Literacy (under the auspices of which the research >> was conducted) in February as the report " Passing the Torch:Strategies >> for Innovation in Community College ESL." This is available at the CAAL >> website: www.caalusa.org. CAAL will be publishing more of the data we >> gathered later this spring. >> >> >> >> Among the "take away" messages we gathered from our work were: 1) The >> use of longitudinal (multi-year) data and holistic assessments of >> learning gains are essential for understanding and improving the >> effectiveness of ESL programs. In many programs it is feasible to gather >> and use longitudinal data in this way, but few programs do so due to a >> variety of perceived constraints and/or a lack of support for data >> analysis by their host institutions. 2) Research can be very helpful in >> program improvement, but it requires a substantial committment on the >> part of programs to gather relevant data and tease out its lessons on an >> on-going basis. Programs should receive far more support for this. 3) It >> is posible to greatly improve ESL program outcomes using a variety of >> strategies, but these require a larger investment in instruction per >> student -- an investment that we believe is well worth the cost. 4) >> Numbers do not speak for themselves. For example, low rates of learning >> gains must be read in the context of the goals that both students and >> programs set for ESL instruction. It may be that some portion of >> students legitimately wish to use ESL programs as an initial platform to >> learn SOME English, and that their learning gains after separating from >> programs are substantial. Too little is known about this. Conversely, we >> found that the more students learn, the more ambitious their learning >> goals become. Because numbers do not speak for themselves, it is all the >> more important for individual programs and state agencies to invest in >> the use of research for program improvement and to ACTUALLY USE IT for >> therse purposes. Too often over-burdened ESL faculty and staff consider >> research an after-thought. They need the time, encouragement, resources, >> and training to development "continuous program improvement" models to >> their work. >> >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> > > >-- >JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall >Professor, Education Department >Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture >Coordinator, Peace Corps Master's International Program in ESOL/Bilingual >Education >University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) >1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 >ph: 410-455-2313/2376 fax: 410-455-8947/1880 >email: crandall at umbc.edu >www.umbc.edu/llc/ >www.umbc.edu/esol/ >www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html > > > >------------------------------- >National Institute for Literacy >Assessment mailing list >Assessment at nifl.gov >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Apr 27 11:49:21 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:49:21 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 802] Data Discussion Archived Message-ID: <02f101c788e3$a01198d0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Dear Colleagues, I've prepared last week's discussion in user-friendly format and it is now available for your use at the Adult Literacy Education Wiki (ALEWiki). Go to the Assessment Section at: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Assessment_Information and scroll down to Discussions - it's the first one listed there. There were about 30 pages of text from that conversation, so in order to make it as organized as possible, I cut the discussion up by thread and archived each thread - I tried as best I could to leave the posts in the order in which they came, with some exceptions. The Data Discussion will also be archived within the next couple of weeks at: Archived Events (NIFL home) http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_guests.html As soon as it is posted there I will send out that info. Thanks and I hope you find the format helpful and that you use it!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070427/1ee4c032/attachment.html From jscogins at shout.net Sat Apr 28 20:49:33 2007 From: jscogins at shout.net (Janet Scogins) Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 19:49:33 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 803] Re: Data Discussion Archived References: <02f101c788e3$a01198d0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <014101c789f8$46609d20$63c1d142@JANET> MessageThanks so much for organizing this for us. It is very helpful. ----- Original Message ----- From: Marie Cora To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 10:49 AM Subject: [Assessment 802] Data Discussion Archived Dear Colleagues, I've prepared last week's discussion in user-friendly format and it is now available for your use at the Adult Literacy Education Wiki (ALEWiki). Go to the Assessment Section at: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Assessment_Information and scroll down to Discussions - it's the first one listed there. There were about 30 pages of text from that conversation, so in order to make it as organized as possible, I cut the discussion up by thread and archived each thread - I tried as best I could to leave the posts in the order in which they came, with some exceptions. The Data Discussion will also be archived within the next couple of weeks at: Archived Events (NIFL home) http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_guests.html As soon as it is posted there I will send out that info. Thanks and I hope you find the format helpful and that you use it!! marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.niflgov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to jscogins at shout.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070428/682c03d4/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue May 1 13:12:47 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 13:12:47 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 804] Data Discussion at Institute's archives Message-ID: <00ed01c78c13$f15efd30$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, The discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement is now posted at the National Institute for Literacy's Discussion List Events Archive. Go to: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_guests.html and go to the Assessment section discussions. Using Data is the first one listed there. Now you have a couple of different locations for accessing this transcript, and which one you use will probably depend more on what else is posted at these locations (the transcript is also posted at the ALE Wiki, (http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Assessment_Information, see Discussions). Have you checked out the archives at the NIFL Discussions page (http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/discussions.html)? It's very easy to find discussions under the different topics, and to search for specific information, by date, topic, or author. Using the archives also alleviates the amount of email coming into your box every day: you can follow discussions when you choose to by reading the archives when you want. A couple of tips: In the right-hand toolbar: Click on Archives for transcripts of discussions from the past 5 or more years on 15 topics, including those of Discussions Lists that are no longer running. Click on List Events and find info on any upcoming guest or organized discussion. Click on the link to Archived Events at the top of List Events page for guest discussions that have been formatted for easy use. Enjoy! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070501/2494bbcd/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue May 8 12:33:56 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 8 May 2007 12:33:56 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 805] Data use, anyone? Message-ID: <01ab01c7918e$ada454c0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Hi all, It's been a couple of weeks since our panel discussion on Using Data for Program Improvement, and I was just wondering if anyone has done anything with data (or thought about doing something!) in either your classroom or program? Or perhaps you now have some plan to use data in some way in the future? Please share with us if you do! Thanks! Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070508/45c9913f/attachment.html From MMaralit at NIFL.gov Thu May 10 11:55:05 2007 From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo) Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 11:55:05 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 806] Latest NAAL Report -- Literacy Behind Bars Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B15382A2E@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov> Forwarded by request: Literacy Behind Bars The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has just released Literacy Behind Bars: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey. This report presents findings on the literacy skills of incarcerated adults and analyzes the changes in these skills since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). Major findings include the following: * The average Prose, Document, and Quantitative literacy scores of the prison population were higher in 2003 than in 1992. * Prison inmates had lower average prose, document, and quantitative literacy than adults living in households. On average, inmates also had lower levels of educational attainment than adults living in households. * In general, either prison inmates had lower average Prose, Document, and Quantitative literacy than adults living in households with the same level of educational attainment or there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. The exception was that among adults without any high school education, prison inmates had higher average literacy on all three scales than adults living in households. * In 2003, 37 percent of the prison population did not have a high school diploma or a GED, compared with 49 percent in 1992. * Incarcerated White adults had lower average prose literacy than White adults living in households. Incarcerated Black and Hispanic adults had higher average prose literacy than Black and Hispanic adults living in households. * Between 1992 and 2003, average prose and quantitative literacy levels increased for prison inmates who were Black, male, or in the 25- to 39-year-old age group. For more information, please check NAAL web site at: nces.ed.gov/NAAL. Jaleh Behroozi Soroui Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI) American Institutes for Research 1990 K Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20006 Phone: 202/403-6958 email: jsoroui at air.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070510/e1596670/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri May 11 10:06:53 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 10:06:53 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 807] Online and Blended Models of PD Message-ID: <046901c793d5$a1594dd0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following discussion is taking place on the Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List - my apologies for not alerting you earlier about the first part of this discussion. Please read below for a description of each part. To subscribe to this discussion and to view the archives so you can catch up on posts from this week, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment Also, Jackie, Taylor, the Moderator of that List, has built a section on the Wiki where resources, additional information, and the discussion threads are being posted. Go to: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Devel opment - information on this discussion can be found in the upper right hand corner: see "Going the Distance". Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ============================================================= Discussion Topic: Going the Distance: Online and Blended Models of Sustained Professional Development Where held: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List Part I: Discussion Primer - May 7-13, 2007 Part II: Discussion with Guests - May 14 - 21, 2007 To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment Guest Participants (Biographies): http://tinyurl.com/yrtktz Moderator: Jackie Taylor, jataylor at utk.edu Preparation for Discussion: http://tinyurl.com/242bpg This is a two-part discussion. _Part I_ is a "discussion primer" and begins before the guest discussion. _Part II_ is the online discussion with Guest Participants, including _both_ asynchronous discussion and "real-time" opportunities. ============================================================= General Overview Join the Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List to explore development, design, and facilitation considerations and implications with online and blended models of professional development. Subscribers will have the opportunity to view a Pod cast of the face-to-face panel discussion at the AALPD PreConference at COABE, interact with panelists and additional guests online, and plan next steps. Part I: Discussion Primer - What's Available in Online Professional Development?" When: May 7-13, 2007 Join the list to share your state or organization's initiatives in providing online professional development, or to learn what is available to you in online professional development, any costs involved, whether credits (CEUs) are available, and more. Part II: Guest Discussion - "Going the Distance: Online and Blended Models of Sustained Professional Development" When: May 14 - 21, 2007 Join the list to participate in a guest discussion of online and blended professional development and professional development-at-a-distance. ================================================================ Topics include (but are not limited to): Teachers and Administrators: ** Sharing qualities that attract practitioners to online and blended professional development and offering recommendations for designers/developers; ** Browsing online courses/tools from various providers and interacting with online course facilitators; ** Discussing considerations in selecting online professional development and supporting participation; Designers and Developers: ** Sharing strategies and considerations for online and blended professional development and professional development-at-a-distance; ** Examining ways to blend technology tools and other design implications to enhance professional development; ** Exploring strategies for evaluating the effectiveness of online and blended models; Online Facilitators (DE Teachers, Professional Developers, List Moderators): ** Considering what skills and qualities make a good online presenter/trainer; ** Sharing practical techniques, including facilitating interactivity and improving teacher retention; All: ** Discussing quality considerations specific to the online environment; and ** Developing action agendas as individuals, teams, or as a field to advance online and blended professional development opportunities. This discussion will build and expand upon issues explored in the recent AALPD PreConference at COABE, "Exploring the Potential for Online Professional Development." http://www.aalpd.org/training/2007coabepreconference_agenda.html ================================================================ GUESTS Marie Cora ~ Adult Education Consultant Barbara (Bee) Dieu ~ Educator and life long learner. Member Tesol EVO and Braz-Tesol EduTech SIG Coordinator Kristine Marane G?ngora ~ Instructional Designer, ProLiteracy Worldwide Dr. Dafne Gonz?lez ~ Full Professor, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela; TESOL EVO Crystal Hack ~ GED-i Coordinator, Center for the Application of Information Technologies (CAIT), Western Illinois University Dr. Elizabeth Hanson-Smith ~ Professor Emeritus at CSU, Sacramento; TESOL EVO Debra L. Hargrove, Ed.D. ~ Coordinator Florida TechNet Noreen S. Lopez ~ Adult Education Consultant Susan Ohlsen ~ Project Manager, ProLiteracy America, Verizon Literacy Network Dr. Leslie Petty ~ Associate Director, Project IDEAL, University of Michigan Tim Ponder ~ Ohio Literacy Resource Center (OLRC) Sharon Reynolds ~ Coordinator, Central/Southeast ABLE Resource Center, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio Lynda Terrill ~ Technical Assistance and Web Coordinator, Center for Adult English Language Acquisition, Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC Marian Thacher ~ Director, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN) ================================================================ From kabeall at comcast.net Wed May 16 15:48:02 2007 From: kabeall at comcast.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 15:48:02 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 808] New from NCSALL Message-ID: <00d901c797f3$259e7fe0$0202a8c0@your4105e587b6> Assessment discussion list members will be particularly interested in the chapter on adult education program quality. Review of Adult Learning and Literacy, Volume 7, edited by John Comings, Barbara Garner, and Cristine Smith. This newest volume in the annual series from NCSALL presents chapters on the persistence of adult education students, adult education program quality, assistive technology, individualized group instruction, health literacy, research on professional development and teacher change, adult literacy and numeracy development in Australia, adult basic education in South Africa, and annotated bibliography on workplace education. For chapter summaries, visit the NCSALL Web site at http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=1175. Includes chapters on: * the persistence of adult education students * adult education program quality * assistive technology * individualized group instruction * health literacy * research on professional development and teacher change * adult literacy and numeracy development in Australia * adult basic education in South Africa * annotated bibliography on workplace education To order the paper edition of the Review of Adult Learning and Literacy, Volume 7, for $25.00, a 30% discount, visit NCSALL's Web site at www.ncsall.net/?id=1002. To order the cloth edition at $135.00 or the paper edition at $35.00 Taylor & Francis Web site at www.taylorandfrancis.co.uk/. **************** Kaye Beall World Education 4401 S. Madison St. Muncie, IN 47302 Tel: 765-717-3942 Fax: 617-482-0617 kaye_beall at worlded.org http://www.worlded.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070516/100c8637/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu May 17 15:03:18 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 15:03:18 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 809] Upcoming discussions next week Message-ID: <04b701c798b6$08426fb0$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: Below please find descriptions of 2 discussions of interest being held next week. The first is focused on implementing ESL content standards and it will be held on the Adult English Language Learners Discussion List ( http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage). The second discussion will be held on the Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy Discussion List (http:// www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen) and will focus on the results of the NAAL and Gender, Race, and Socioeconomic Status (SES). Please read below for further details and a listing of resources for each discussion. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator **************************************** To subscribe to the Adult English Language Learners discussion list, go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Englishlanguage and click on Subscribe Please join us for an upcoming discussion on implementing adult ESL content standards from May 21-25. The discussion will be facilitated by Kirsten Schaetzel and Sarah Young of the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA). Kirsten and Sarah will be joined by adult ESL practitioners using standards in the field, including Dr. Lesley Tomaszewski of the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) and Karen Gianninoto of the Maryland State Department of Education. Before beginning the discussion, we would like to provide some background information about standards-based instruction based on two recent CAELA briefs: "Understanding Adult ESL Content Standards" (September 2006, http://www.cal.org/CAELA/esl_resources/briefs/contentstandards.html ) and "Using Adult ESL Content Standards" (March 2007, http://www.cal.org/CAELA/esl_resources/briefs/usingcontstandards.html ). Content standards are broadly defined as what learners should know and be able to do in a certain subject or practical domain. They describe the knowledge and skills that students will have upon successful completion of an instructional program. Although standards are the foundation for designing curricula, instruction, and assessment, they do not stipulate the types of lesson plans, activities, or teaching methodologies that should be used. Content standards, curriculum frameworks, and resource guides that states have developed can provide guidance to local programs and practitioners in developing effective curriculum and instruction. Standards-based education has been a part of K-12 instruction and assessment for quite some time now, but it is a relatively new addition to the adult basic education and adult ESL fields. There are many adult ESL standards-based initiatives currently in development or in use, such as the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse (http://www.adultedcontentstandards.ed.gov ) where sets of adult ESL content standards from ten states, CASAS, and Equipped for the Future (EFF) are available for download. The Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki Web site on Standards (http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Standards ) provides a list of existing and in-development adult education standards, curriculum frameworks, and resource guides from over 20 states, as well as links to standards from four other English-speaking countries. The Standards-In-Action project, funded by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, is working with six pilot states to develop professional development and resources for implementing standards in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. As we prepare to begin our discussion on what adult ESL content standards are and how they are used to improve instruction and learning, please consider the following questions. We look forward to hearing your responses and examining additional questions focused on implementing standards in adult ESL. How are English language acquisition and skills development approached in content standards, and how does this differ from previous methods of ESL instruction? Many people on this list have children in standards-based K-12 programs or who have taught in a K-12 setting. How do adult standards compare to K-12 standards? What can we learn or apply from K-12 standards-based education, in terms of research on instructional methods, activities, and materials, assessment, and professional development? What professional development and supplementary materials are needed to facilitate adult ESL standards implementation? How can we know if adult ESL standards-based instruction and assessment are beneficial for students, teachers, and programs? We will be posting some preliminary thoughts about these questions next week, and look forward to hearing from practitioners and administrators in the field who have experience with adult ESL content standards or who are interested in learning more. Sincerely, Sarah Young & Kirsten Schaetzel Center for Adult English Language Acquisition www.cal.org/caela Title of Discussion: Gender, Race, SES and Adult Literacy: What does the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) tell us? When: May 21-May 29, 2007 Where: Poverty, Race, Women, and Literacy List. To subscribe (and later unsubscribe if you wish) go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen Guest Discussant: Elizabeth Greenberg Guest Bio: Elizabeth Greenberg, is a principal research analyst at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), and is AIR's Project Director for the 2008 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) Special Studies contract. She was also AIR's Deputy Project Director for the 2003 NAAL Design, Analysis, and Reporting contract. In her role as Deputy Project Director for the 2003 NAAL, she led the development of the NAAL background questionnaire and assessment items. She is a lead author or co-author of several reports based on the 2003 NAAL, including A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st Century, The Health Literacy of America's Adults, Literacy in Everyday Life, Literacy Behind Bars, and the 2003 NAAL Public-Use Data File User's Guide. Elizabeth is also an author or co-author of several reports and articles based upon the 1992 adult literacy data, including English Literacy and Language Minorities in the United States. Resources for Discussion: Literacy in Everyday Life http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007480 A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st Century http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006470 The Health Literacy of America's Adults http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006483 Literacy Behind Bars http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007473 Key Points from NAAL 2003 related to Literacy, Gender, Race, and SES: Gender * Between 1992 and 2003, women's average document and quantitative literacy scores increased. During the same time period, men's average document literacy score decreased and there was no statistically significant change in average quantitative literacy for men. * Between 1992 and 2003, women's average prose literacy score stayed the same, while men's average prose literacy score decreased. * In 2003, women had higher average prose and document literacy than men, and men had higher average quantitative literacy than women. In 1992, there was no statistically significant difference between men and women in their average prose literacy, but men had higher average document and quantitative literacy than women. Race * Between 1992 and 2003, average prose, document, and quantitative literacy increased for Black adults. * Between 1992 and 2003, average prose and document literacy decreased for Hispanic adults. Average quantitative literacy did not change for Hispanic adults. The percentage of the adult population (age 16 and older) that identified themselves as Hispanic increased from 8 percent in 1992 to 12 percent in 2003. * Between 1992 and 2003, average prose literacy increased for Asian/Pacific Islander adults and there was no statistically significant change in average document and quantitative literacy for this group. * Between 1992 and 2003, there was no statistically significant change in average prose and document literacy for white adults, but there was an increase in quantitative literacy. SES * Among adults with Below Basic prose literacy, 26 percent lived in households with average incomes of less than $10,000 and only 7 percent lived i n households with average incomes of $60,000 or greater. Among adults with Proficient prose literacy, 2 percent lived in households with average incomes of less than $10,000 and 65 percent lived in households with average incomes of $60,000 or greater. * Higher percentages of adults with higher literacy levels than adults with lower literacy levels were employed full-time, and lower percentages were out of the labor force. Sixty-four percent of adults with Proficient prose literacy were employed full-time, compared with 29 percent of adults with Below Basic prose literacy. Eighteen percent of adults with Proficient prose literacy were not in the labor force, compared with 57 percent of adults with Below Basic prose literacy. * The occupational groups with the highest average prose, document, and quantitative literacy scores were Professional and related and Management, Business, and Financial. The occupational groups with the lowest average prose document and quantitative literacy scores were Service; Farming, Fishing, and Forestry; Transportation and Material Moving; Production; and Construction and Extraction. Daphne Greenberg Assistant Professor Educational Psych. & Special Ed. Georgia State University P.O. Box 3979 Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3979 phone: 404-651-0127 fax:404-651-4901 dgreenberg at gsu.edu Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070517/b9037cf5/attachment.html From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Mon May 21 12:22:02 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 12:22:02 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 810] Natl Commission on Adult Literacy Resource Document Released Message-ID: <649EA3CB-97FA-41FE-A3CC-B51545C5DB72@caalusa.org> NEWS RELEASE - May 21, 2007, NYC -- On behalf of the National Commission on Adult Literacy, MOUNTING PRESSURES FACING THE U.S. WORKFORCE AND THE INCREASING NEED FOR ADULT EDUCATION AND LITERACY was released today by the Commission's chairman, its study director, and CAAL. The 67 resource document was one of several presentations made at the April 17, 2007 meeting of the National Commission. It was developed by Dennis Jones (President) and Patrick Kelly (Senior Associate & Director, National Information Center) of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS). This publication consists largely of 50 color graphics reflecting NCHEMS analysis and 2005 data from such multiple sources as OECD, the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Justice, the U.S. Department of Education, GED Testing Service, and NCHEMS itself. NCHEMS concludes that this data set -- including information on international comparisons, U.S. demographic trends, U.S. education achievement levels, workforce education levels, and other variables -- calls for a dramatically expanded and more effective adult education and literacy enterprise in America. A short introduction and executive summary by the authors accompanies their compelling presentation. Although this document should not necessarily be taken to reflect conclusions of the Commission at this stage (its work is still in progress), the Commission is pleased to release it as a public service. Other materials developed for the Commission's April 17th meeting will be provided in the near future. MOUNTING PRESSURES... is available in color PDF format at the CAAL website, www.caalusa.org. Bound color copies may also be purchased directly from CAAL ($25 each plus postage, bheitner at caalusa.org for ordering instructions). [Note: This is a large document best "read" in color. Persons able to print only in black and white or having a slow speed connection may do better to order it from CAAL.] ? Gail Spangenberg President Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl New York, NY 10020 212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610 www.caalusa.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070521/d176c74b/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: nchemspresentation.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1680403 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070521/d176c74b/attachment.pdf -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070521/d176c74b/attachment-0001.html From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Thu May 24 13:34:44 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 13:34:44 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 811] DARE TO DREAM - from National Commission on Adult Literacy Message-ID: NEWS RELEASE -- May 24, 2007, New York, NY -- On behalf of the National Commission on Adult Literacy, the Commission's chairman, study director, and CAAL are today releasing DARE TO DREAM: A Collection of Papers from a Resource Group of 102 Adult Education and Literacy Professionals. This document was one of several presentations prepared for the April 17, 2007 meeting of the Commission. While it does not necessarily reflect conclusions of the Commission at this stage in its ongoing work, the Commission is pleased to make this material available as a public service. The papers that make up this collection were developed in response to questions posed in several thematic areas (indicated in the publication). They reflect the ideas, insights, cautions, and recommendations of 102 education and literacy leaders whose participation was facilitated by a team of 10 group leaders. The group was challenged to "think outside the box," to imagine systemic changes that would be required to expand adult education and literacy service beyond the 3 million or so presently served in publicly funded programs to many times that number, and to do so to a high standard of quality. DARE TO DREAM is available in PDF format at the CAAL website, www.caalusa.org (scroll down from the top of the middle column at the homepage). It may also be purchased directly from CAAL ($25 each plus postage, bheitner at caalusa for ordering instructions). DARE TO DREAM is the second in a series of recent Commission resources being made publicly available. "Mounting Pressures Facing the U.S. Workforce and the Increasing Need for Adult Education and Literacy" was prepared for the Commission by Dennis Jones and Patrick Kelly of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems was released on May 21, 2007 and can also be downloaded from the CAAL website. In the near future, two other presentations developed for the April 17th meeting will be made available: a DVD presentation by Mark Tucker, president of the National Center for Education and the Economy, and a presentation from labor economist Andrew Sum. Principle funders of the National Commission on Adult Literacy are The Dollar General Corporation (in the lead role at $1 million), The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (through both grant and in-kiind support), and Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Gail Spangenberg President Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl New York, NY 10020 212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610 www.caalusa.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070524/c4e59c9a/attachment.html From mhefner at cccti.edu Thu May 24 14:54:25 2007 From: mhefner at cccti.edu (Melinda Hefner) Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 14:54:25 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 812] ESL Assessment References: <025601c7801a$6dd5ed70$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <20070524T145425Z_1F1A00170000@cccti.edu> I'm sure this topic has been discussed many, many times before, but I wanted to ask some questions nevertheless since there may be new members or new information. I want to get a better feel for what is being done nationally rather than in my own region. 1. What is the best assessment tool for ESL adult learners? 2. What is the most widely used assessment tool for them? 3. How much movement from one level to another do your programs see among these learners? While I will appreciate detailed responses, I really just need some general responses. Thanks in advance!! Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070524/0e9e0f4c/attachment.html From dlwann at comcast.net Thu May 24 18:04:37 2007 From: dlwann at comcast.net (Dan Wann) Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 18:04:37 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 813] Re: ESL Assessment In-Reply-To: <20070524T145425Z_1F1A00170000@cccti.edu> References: <025601c7801a$6dd5ed70$0202a8c0@LITNOW> <20070524T145425Z_1F1A00170000@cccti.edu> Message-ID: <00d501c79e4f$85438c30$0a00a8c0@D28ZY081> My responses to your questions are below. Dan Wann _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Melinda Hefner Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 2:54 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 812] ESL Assessment I'm sure this topic has been discussed many, many times before, but I wanted to ask some questions nevertheless since there may be new members or new information. I want to get a better feel for what is being done nationally rather than in my own region. 1. What is the best assessment tool for ESL adult learners? Many factors to consider both Best and CASAS have been developed for use with Adult English Language Learners many of whom have limited educational backgrounds. Both of these tools have strengths and weaknesses based on a program's needs and philosophy. The most important assessment tool is a policy that stresses multiple measures of student progress over time with one of these two tools as the standardized arrow in your quiver. 2. What is the most widely used assessment tool for them? I do not know but both are used extensively in the United States and I know that CASAS is also used outside of the US. 3. How much movement from one level to another do your programs see among these learners? Indiana is a TABE and CASAS state with CASAS required for all ESL students. Indiana level gains in ESL average 50% for the 6 NRS levels. While I will appreciate detailed responses, I really just need some general responses. Thanks in advance!! Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070524/d3af1ab3/attachment.html From forrest at crosslink.net Fri May 25 12:44:26 2007 From: forrest at crosslink.net (fchisman) Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 12:44:26 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 814] Re: ESL Assessment In-Reply-To: <20070524T145425Z_1F1A00170000@cccti.edu> Message-ID: There appears to be no single ESL assessment that is suitable for all purposes -- although many states mandate a single assessment for reporting (and sometimes promotion) purposes. Among the mandated tests are the BEST, CASAS, CELSA, and REEP. Regrettably, there is no single assessment that measures all four core ESL skills. Most programs appear to use a combination of standardized tests (sometimes different tests for different purposes) with locally constructed assessments and teacher judgments. This situation is far from ideal, but no one seems to be focused on improving it. For a discussion of ESL assessments, see "Passing the Torch: Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL" pages 43-47. This is available online at www.caalusa.org. Forrest Chisman -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Melinda Hefner Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 2:54 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 812] ESL Assessment I'm sure this topic has been discussed many, many times before, but I wanted to ask some questions nevertheless since there may be new members or new information. I want to get a better feel for what is being done nationally rather than in my own region. 1. What is the best assessment tool for ESL adult learners? 2. What is the most widely used assessment tool for them? 3. How much movement from one level to another do your programs see among these learners? While I will appreciate detailed responses, I really just need some general responses. Thanks in advance!! Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070525/bdbc53f4/attachment.html From bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net Fri May 25 12:50:51 2007 From: bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net (Bonnie Odiorne) Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 09:50:51 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 815] Re: ESL Assessment Message-ID: <207722.75910.qm@web83308.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> When I was in not for profit adult/community education: 1. What is the best assessment tool for ESL adult learners? I used both CASAS language and reading for ESL Learners. I will say though that I found that while CASAS measures competencies, it is difficult to separate out language skills levels related to the task analysis. 2. What is the most widely used assessment tool for them? CT is a CASAS state. 3. How much movement from one level to another do your programs see among these learners? We did see multiple level jumps, though my most recent job was a WIA-funded high-intensit/duration program. As many of you know, level jumps don't 'count" in the NRS. in the literacy volunteers program level gain was smaller and sometimes nil, but that was for a minimum 2/hrs/wk volunteer tutoring. Highly motivated and educated students in their own language did better. Now I use Accuplacer for all university testing, and we have far fewer ESL students than we did. Even when we did, the testing was a more informal oral interview/writing sample assessment. I've found that while ESL students I work with have fewer problems communicating orally,so are not easily spotted, they have a terrifically hard time with writing, and reading academic-level texts. but then again, that's true for the general under-prepared "developmental" population. Bonnie Odiorne, Ph.D. Writing Center Director and Adjunct Professor, Post University, Waterbury, CT ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070525/00a7125e/attachment.html From Ajit.Gopalakrishnan at ct.gov Fri May 25 16:24:00 2007 From: Ajit.Gopalakrishnan at ct.gov (Gopalakrishnan, Ajit) Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 16:24:00 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 815] Re: ESL Assessment In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <281DD0D97E3EC94FB83030B1379CE42605B4318C@DOIT-EX302.exec.ds.state.ct.us> CT has implemented the range of reading and listening assessments in the CASAS system with ESL learners for 15+ years. More recently, CT has been implementing the CASAS Functional Writing Assessment and in a more limited way, the CASAS Workplace Speaking Assessment, in ESL programs. We are beginning to reap the benefits of having assessments in the four core skill areas of reading, listening, writing, and speaking within the same curriculum, assessment, and instructional system. It has helped us to highlight that ESL learners who are at higher levels in terms of their listening (or may be even their speaking) abilities can benefit from instruction that is designed to improve their reading and writing skills, especially if those learners are preparing to transition to a secondary completion program or to college. The new reading tests in the Life and Work series have been a welcome enhancement. States and practitioners of the CASAS National Consortium are working toward and eagerly awaiting the new listening assessments in the Life and Work series. In terms of level completion among learners who are pre-and-post tested, there are several factors that seem to influence progress of learners from one level to another including the skill area being assessed, the learner's entering ability level, the continuous hours attended between pre-and-post, the quality of instruction, and the relation of the instruction to the assessment. Nationally, among those who are pre-post tested, over 60% of learners complete an educational level. Thank you. Ajit Ajit Gopalakrishnan Connecticut Department of Education 25 Industrial Park Road Middletown, CT 06457 Phone: (860) 807-2125 Fax: (860) 807-2062 Email: ajit.gopalakrishnan at ct.gov ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of fchisman Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 12:44 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 814] Re: ESL Assessment There appears to be no single ESL assessment that is suitable for all purposes -- although many states mandate a single assessment for reporting (and sometimes promotion) purposes. Among the mandated tests are the BEST, CASAS, CELSA, and REEP. Regrettably, there is no single assessment that measures all four core ESL skills. Most programs appear to use a combination of standardized tests (sometimes different tests for different purposes) with locally constructed assessments and teacher judgments. This situation is far from ideal, but no one seems to be focused on improving it. For a discussion of ESL assessments, see "Passing the Torch: Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL" pages 43-47. This is available online at www.caalusa.org. Forrest Chisman -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Melinda Hefner Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 2:54 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 812] ESL Assessment I'm sure this topic has been discussed many, many times before, but I wanted to ask some questions nevertheless since there may be new members or new information. I want to get a better feel for what is being done nationally rather than in my own region. 1. What is the best assessment tool for ESL adult learners? 2. What is the most widely used assessment tool for them? 3. How much movement from one level to another do your programs see among these learners? While I will appreciate detailed responses, I really just need some general responses. Thanks in advance!! Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070525/80e72259/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Mon May 28 11:57:52 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Mon, 28 May 2007 11:57:52 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 816] CLASP Recommendation on allowing "Ability to Benefit" tests for NRS Message-ID: NIFL Assessment Colleagues, The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) published in April a short set of recommendations , "Updating WIA Title II to Help More Adult Education Students Gain Post-secondary Credentials and Move up to Better Jobs". http://clasp.org/publications/wia_titleii_rec.pdf Among these is the recommendation that the NRS should allow "ability to benefit" tests to be used to demonstrate adult learner outcomes. "5) Reduce the barriers to post-secondary transition by aligning assessments. Currently students in workforce bridge or post-secondary transition activities must take two sets of tests both upon entering and exiting a program: the basic skills test used by the college to determine readiness for college coursework, remediation needs, and ?ability to benefit? for federal student aid purposes and the basic skills test used by the adult education provider (tests approved by the U.S. Department of Education for adult education performance accountability purposes). In both cases, the lists of tests are intended for use with adults who lack a high school diploma or GED, but most of the ability to benefit tests are not on the list of approved assessments for Title II accountability use. These two sets of different assessments impose a burden of multiple testing on students and providers and make it more difficult for adult education providers and colleges to work together to prepare adult education students for college without the need for further remediation. We suggest that Congress ask the Secretary to convene a group of testing experts and adult education practitioners to work to align these two lists of approved assessments to the greatest extent possible, and to allow at least some of the ability to benefit assessments, or ?crosswalks? between them and adult education tests, to be used for accountability purposes under the adult education National Reporting System for students in workforce bridge programs or post-secondary transition activities. " Would it be a good idea for the NRS to add to its list of approved assessments for Title II Accountability "ability to benefit tests" used by colleges to place students in regular or developmental courses (e.g. Compass, Accuplacer, and others)? Why or why not? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net From gleasonm at ccliteracy.org Tue May 29 10:34:46 2007 From: gleasonm at ccliteracy.org (Mary V Gleason) Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 07:34:46 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 817] Re: ESL Assessment In-Reply-To: <207722.75910.qm@web83308.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> References: <207722.75910.qm@web83308.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1348.168.53.172.145.1180449286.squirrel@webmail.ccliteracy.org> Hi- ours is a small non-profit organization, and we do have a large ESL population. I like the BEST-Plus oral assessment. A great many of our learners who are educated in other countries can read and write English quite well, and it is the oral portion with which they struggle. Mary V. Gleason Executive Director, CC Literacy Council 4044 Greenwood Dr., CC, TX 78416 (361) 857-5896 Fax: 854-5898 > > > > 1. What is the best assessment tool for ESL adult learners? I used both > CASAS language and reading for ESL Learners. I will say though that I > found that while CASAS measures competencies, it is difficult to separate > out language skills levels related to the task analysis. > > 2. What is the most widely used assessment tool for them? CT is a CASAS > state. > > 3. How much movement from one level to another do your programs see among > these learners? We did see multiple level jumps, though my most recent job > was a WIA-funded high-intensit/duration program. As many of you know, > level jumps don't 'count" in the NRS. in the literacy volunteers program > level gain was smaller and sometimes nil, but that was for a minimum > 2/hrs/wk volunteer tutoring. Highly motivated and educated students in > their own language did better. > > Now I use Accuplacer for all university testing, and we have far fewer ESL > students than we did. Even when we did, the testing was a more informal > oral interview/writing sample assessment. I've found that while ESL > students I work with have fewer problems communicating orally,so are not > easily spotted, they have a terrifically hard time with writing, and > reading academic-level texts. but then again, that's true for the general > under-prepared "developmental" population. > > Bonnie Odiorne, Ph.D. > Writing Center Director and Adjunct Professor, Post University, Waterbury, > CT > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to > bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to gleasonm at ccliteracy.org > From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Jun 1 09:18:34 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 09:18:34 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 818] Oakland's PD Model for Classroom Assessment Message-ID: <02f001c7a44f$5be144d0$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Dear Colleagues: I hope this email finds you well. I'm passing along this post from the Professional Development Discussion List. Over the past several months, Bonnita Solberg from Oakland Adult and Career Education has described the evolvement of professional development training in the Oakland programs. The process engaged teachers and staff to take the lead in identifying and improving an area of need in their work. The committee settled on classroom assessment as their focus. For a full reading of Bonnita's reflections on the OACE Professional Development program, please to go: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/000919.html http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/001134.html Below is an update from the OACE, including a comprehensive list of assessments Bonnita gathered as part of a practitioner and learner-centered staff development model. Thanks to Bonnita for sharing the program update and their list of assessment resources. Do folks have questions or comments on Bonnita's set of resources? Do you find this resource useful? Do you develop similar sets of resources in your program? If so, who's involved in that? Do you engage teachers and other staff in similar ways to tackle tough issues like assessment? Do teachers become mentors and/or trainers to others in the program on issues of assessment? Do you have time set aside for teachers to share their in-class assessment strategies? Please share your questions and own experiences. Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ==================================================== Oakland Adult and Career Education (OACE) Professional Development Training A committee of several ESL OACE classroom teachers and teachers on special assignment, together with two administrators first came together in November 2006. The committee has met weekly to discuss how to move forward professional development training with a focus on daily assessment in the classroom. We chose to employ a PD design that supports teachers presenting exercises used in their daily practice, exercises that could be transformed into assessments for many purposes: a reflection tool for teachers to adjust their daily practice, informing students of their progress, informing teachers to whom students would be promoted, and providing data for administration and funding sources. Our format for PD training emerged from a solid and soaring belief that teachers could rise to the challenge of developing assessments, that teachers could train as well as learn from fellow teachers without employing experts in the field to conduct workshops. In this scenario, each participant is a presenter/learner developing their individual PD learning portfolio and PD plan, although neither have been formally defined as such. Some choose not to participate on the one end of the spectrum; others spend hours over and above what they are compensated for to form a product of quality and pride, and most fall somewhere in the middle. But the committee and presenters/learners were floundering. Without examples of the myriad of acceptable and useful assessments, teachers had no guidelines to take daily practice to the next level ---- generating an assessment in one of the four skill areas: listening, speaking, reading or writing, at each of the six ESL levels. I went to the web and retrieved references for this purpose. The retrieved documents were compiled into three separate folders: About Assessments, Sample Assessments and Background on Assessments. A. About Assessments Folder provided a basis for discussions by committee members and by teachers at large as we educated ourselves on the many facets of assessment. * Creating Authentic Materials and Activities for the Adult Literacy Classroom by Eric Jacobson, et al. Retrieved on 3/17/07 from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) at www.ncsall.net In upper right find google box; type in "Authentic Materials"; click on> NCSALL site search; click on> NCSALL: "The Impact of Use of Authentic Materials and Activities" to access Volume 6, Issue C, September 2003; at bottom of page click on> blue green word "online" to access the full report. * "Portfolio Assessments, Student Self Report, Other Forms of Learner-Contextualized Assessment: Teacher Observations, Conferences" pp. 92-96 * "Points to Remember" pp. 103 - 104 * Assessment documents/Coalition for Essential Schools (EFF) 1998 Fall Forum workshop given by Excelsior High School. Presented by Cathy Crist, Diane Guill, Patricia Harmesk, Chris Lake. Retrieved 3/6/07 from http://www.essentialschools.org/cs/resources/view/ces_res/124 Short, easy to read, and to the point papers titled: * Defining Assessments * Purposes of Assessment * What are the Strengths of My Current Assessment System? * Tips for Managing an Assessment System * "Using Rubrics" by Bill Kast published in "Teacher to Teacher". Retrieved 3/6/07 from Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) at www.eric.ed.gov Enter ERIC # ED458392. Easy to read introduction to rubrics and how to develop one. * "Describing the Task" and "Selecting Tasks for Performance Assessments" Adapted from Herman, Aschbacher and Winters (1992). Retrieved 3/20/07 from Instructional Intranet Chicago Public School at http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Assessments Click on> Ideas and Rubric; click on> Performance Assessment Tasks; click on> Describing the Task or Selecting Tasks for Performance Assessment * California Standards for the Teaching Profession: Assessing Learning www.ctc.ca.gov/reports/cstpreport.pdf B. Sample Assessments Folder: Compiled to use in small break out level groups as examples of assessment tools. * Learning Logs/Equipped for the Future Retrieved on 3/6/07 from http://eff.cls.utk.edu/toolkit/tools_learning_logs.htm * Improving Performance, Reporting Results: Scoring Rubric Template--EFF Performance Level 1 Retrieved on 03/07/07 from http://eff.cls.ulk.edu/PDF/RWU_Assessment.pdf Click on> Improving Performance, Reporting Results to find these references: Scoring Rubric Template--EFF Performance Level 1; The Accountability Assessment Prototype for Read With Understanding; p. 35 Model Assessment Task: Reading Utility Bills pp. 49 - 55 Model Assessment Tasks: Delivering Interoffice Mail pp.37 - 40 * Understanding Scoring Rubrics: A Guide for Teachers by Boston, Carol, editor. Retrieved on 3/6/07 from Equipped for the Future Teaching & Learning Toolkit http://eff.cls.utk.edu/toolkit Or retrieve from Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). In upper right, find ERIC google search box and enter> ED471518; click on> search. Go to page 78 of the original text, (labeled page 85 in "best copy available") * In House Forms of student learning logs: Verb Chart Assessment; ESL Diary; Do I Know These Words? * Did I Use English" from "A New Start" by Linda Mrowick and Peter Furnborough; Heinemann Educational Books. Form to be filled out by students chronicling their use of English outside the classroom. * Generic Assessment Rubrics for Oral Communication. Listening and Speaking, and Writing from "English, No Problem" by Minicz, Elizabeth and Marcia L. Taylor; New Readers Press C. Background on Assessment: Compilation of articles that provide in depth discussion of assessment, assessment tools, assessment tracking on a more academic level than the committee undertook; used by some members to broaden their knowledge of assessments. * Assessment and Second Language Study: What and Why? by Charles R. Hancock, The Ohio State University, July 1994. Retrieved on 3/19/2007 from Outreach and Technical Assistance Network for Adult Educators (OTAN). www.otan.dni.us Click on> Research & Reference; click on> Library Collections; click on> Online Documents; click on> English (Second Language); click on >Alternative Assessment * It Belongs to Me: A Guide to Portfolio Assessment in Adult Education Programs by Hanna Arlene Fingeret, 1993.Retrieved on 3/19/2007from Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN). www.otan.dni.us Click on> Research & Reference; click on> Library Collections; click on> Online Documents; click on> Assessment folder. On second page click on> "It Belongs to Me . . . ." There are four parts to this report: * PT01 Acknowledgements and Introduction * PT02 Assessment Purposes and Models * PT03 Implementing Portfolio Assessment * PT04: Summary and Conclusion * Knowledge in Action: The Promise of Project-Based Learning Retrieved on 3/20/07 from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) at www.ncsall.net Click on> Publications in the top bar; click on> Focus on Basics in left column; read down the list to Volume 2, Dec 1998; click on Project-Based Learning; click on> "Knowledge in Action". * "The Purpose of Assessment is to Drive Instruction" and the "Learner Questionaire" Retrieved from National Institute for Literacy INIFL) at nifl.gov/readingprofiles/PF_MC_Using_Assessments.htm. * Assessment documents/Coalition for Essential Schools Retrieved on 03/07/07 from http://www.essentialschools.org/cs/resources/view/ces_res/124 Find these titles: "Purposes of Assessment; Protocol for Looking at Student Work" "Definition of Performance Assessment" "Defining Assessment" "Exhibitions: Facing Outward, Pointing Inward" "Anatomy of an Exhibition" "Consultancy for Portfolio Presentation" "Managing Alternative Assessment" * Introduction to Performance Assessment Scoring Rubric/Instructional Intranet Chicago Public Schools. Retrieved on 03/07/07 from http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Assessments Go down list, click on> Rubric How-To's - MidLinks Teacher Resource Room; click on> #3 Alternative Assessment Resources; click on> words in blue "Ideas and Rubrics" and select from a menu of topics: Introduction Definition of Performance Assessment Performance Assessment = Task + Rubric Why scoring rubrics are important Elements of a scoring rubric Analytical vs. holistic rubrics Combining scores from analytical rubric scales General vs. specific rubrics Share your rubric with students and parents Where to find rubrics Evaluating rubrics Take a test drive! Why we need reliable and valid assessments Using your rubric Reference * "Using Portfolio Assessment in EL Civics Classes in California"/ California Adult Education Research Digest Research Digest No. 1/Performance Assessment June 2003 Retrieved on 03/08/07 from OTAN; click on>Research; click on>California Adult Research * "Developing Classroom Performance Assessments and Scoring Rubrics -Part II." Retrieved on 3/16/07 from ERIC www.eric.ed.gov Enter ERIC #ED481715 2003-06-00. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070601/6a27b384/attachment.html From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Mon Jun 4 10:23:42 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 10:23:42 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 819] TORCHLIGHTS IN ESL - New CAAL Paper Message-ID: MONDAY, JUNE 4, 2007, NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy today releases TORCHLIGHTS IN ESL: Five Community College Profiles. The publication is a supplement to PASSING THE TORCH: Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL -- the result of a two-year CAAL study by Forrest P. Chisman and JoAnn Crandall, published in March 2007. Both projects were made possible by support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Harold W. McGraw, Jr., The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., the Ford Foundation, and the Dollar General Corporation. TORCHLIGHTS, 123 pages, gives detailed profiles of the ESL programs of each of the five colleges at the heart of CAAL's study. It was authored by Elizabeth Zachry & Emily Dibble (Bunker Hill Community College, MA), Sharon Seymour (City College of San Francisco, CA), Suzanne Leibman (College of Lake County, IL), Sandy Ares & Beth Larson (Seminole Community College, FL), and Pamela Ferguson (Yakima Community College, WA). The profiles, especially if read in conjunction with CAAL's main research report, should be helpful to those who design and operate community college ESL programs as well as to policy makers and funding agencies. For example, they each contain a discussion of the financing and levels of funding needed to provide high quality adult ESL services. The five programs profiled in TORCHLIGHTS offer extraordinarily high quality ESL instruction. They are considered exemplary according to standards and criteria developed in the CAAL research project and as judged by dozens of professionals across the country who nominated the programs for inclusion in the study. CAAL promised in releasing PASSING THE TORCH that it would publish detailed profiles of the programs. The release of TORCHLIGHTS makes good on that promise. The main research report focuses on noncredit ESL services. It concentrates on generating learning gains, retaining students, and bringing about transitions to future education. Among the effective strategies examined are high intensity instruction, learning outside the classroom, and the use of "learner-centered" curricular. Special attention is given to curricular integration, coenrollment, vocational ESL (VESL), and the Spanish GED. Issues of faculty training, development, and quality are examined, and recommendations are given for "engineering innovation" in ESL colleges and programs. Funding and assessment issues are also treated. To access the free PDF version of TORCHLIGHTS, click on the link provided above. Bound copies may be purchased directly from CAAL ($25 plus postage and delivery, contact bheitner at caalusa.org for ordering instructions). Many other publications from CAAL, and from the National Commission on Adult Literacy, are available in PDF form at the CAAL web site (www.caalusa.org). All may be used freely with attribution. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070604/fc586b7f/attachment.html From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Mon Jun 4 12:38:45 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 12:38:45 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 820] Fwd: TORCHLIGHTS IN ESL - New CAAL Paper References: Message-ID: NOTE: The earlier posting of this news release carried an incorrect linking address for the CAAL web site. The necessary correction has been made in the copy forwarded here. BH Begin forwarded message: > From: Gail Spangenberg > Date: June 4, 2007 10:23:42 AM EDT > To: assessment at nifl.gov, The Adult English Language Learners > Discussion List , > familyliteracy at nifl.gov, professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov, > povertyracewomen at nifl.gov, technology at nifl.gov, workplace at nifl.gov, > National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE nla at lists.literacytent.org>, library-lit at ala.org > Subject: TORCHLIGHTS IN ESL - New CAAL Paper > > > MONDAY, JUNE 4, 2007, NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Council for > Advancement of Adult Literacy today releases TORCHLIGHTS IN ESL: > Five Community College Profiles. The publication is a supplement to > PASSING THE TORCH: Strategies for Innovation in Community College > ESL -- the result of a two-year CAAL study by Forrest P. Chisman > and JoAnn Crandall, published in March 2007. Both projects were > made possible by support from the William and Flora Hewlett > Foundation, Harold W. McGraw, Jr., The McGraw-Hill Companies, > Inc., the Ford Foundation, and the Dollar General Corporation. > > TORCHLIGHTS, 123 pages, gives detailed profiles of the ESL programs > of each of the five colleges at the heart of CAAL's study. It was > authored by Elizabeth Zachry & Emily Dibble (Bunker Hill Community > College, MA), Sharon Seymour (City College of San Francisco, CA), > Suzanne Leibman (College of Lake County, IL), Sandy Ares & Beth > Larson (Seminole Community College, FL), and Pamela Ferguson > (Yakima Community College, WA). The profiles, especially if read > in conjunction with CAAL's main research report, should be helpful > to those who design and operate community college ESL programs as > well as to policy makers and funding agencies. For example, they > each contain a discussion of the financing and levels of funding > needed to provide high quality adult ESL services. > > The five programs profiled in TORCHLIGHTS offer extraordinarily > high quality ESL instruction. They are considered exemplary > according to standards and criteria developed in the CAAL research > project and as judged by dozens of professionals across the country > who nominated the programs for inclusion in the study. CAAL > promised in releasing PASSING THE TORCH that it would publish > detailed profiles of the programs. The release of TORCHLIGHTS makes > good on that promise. > > The main research report focuses on noncredit ESL services. It > concentrates on generating learning gains, retaining students, and > bringing about transitions to future education. Among the effective > strategies examined are high intensity instruction, learning > outside the classroom, and the use of "learner-centered" > curricular. Special attention is given to curricular integration, > coenrollment, vocational ESL (VESL), and the Spanish GED. Issues of > faculty training, development, and quality are examined, and > recommendations are given for "engineering innovation" in ESL > colleges and programs. Funding and assessment issues are also treated. > > To access the free PDF version of TORCHLIGHTS, click on the link > provided above. Bound copies may be purchased directly from CAAL > ($25 plus postage and delivery, contact bheitner at caalusa.org for > ordering instructions). Many other publications from CAAL, and from > the National Commission on Adult Literacy, are available in PDF > form at the CAAL web site (www.caalusa.org). All may be used freely > with attribution. > > > Gail Spangenberg President Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl New York, NY 10020 212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610 www.caalusa.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070604/4d1d52dd/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Sat Jun 16 23:02:53 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 23:02:53 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 821] Special Topic: Community Literacy Discussion, June 25-29 Message-ID: <4674A45D.2080704@comcast.net> Colleagues, We will hold a discussion about community literacy on the National Institute for Literacy Special Topics discussion list during the week of June 25 -29. Our guests for this discussion will include, among others: Margaret Doughty, Carl Guerriere, Petrice Sams- Abiodun, Darlene Kostrub, Jeff Carter, and Kathy Chernus. We will discuss: * what community adult and family literacy means * what the community literacy purposes and goals are * why community literacy is important * who key community literacy stakeholders are * examples of community literacy coalitions * incentives and strategies for strengthening community literacy * how to measure the health, outcomes and impact of community literacy * the effect of community literacy on a community * what we know about community literacy from research * what the relationship is of community literacy to workforce literacy, workforce development, and transition to higher education * the role of technology in community literacy * what resources are needed for effective community literacy collaboration * how literacy organizations can work together to make literacy a top community priority <>and more. To subscribe to the Special Topics Discussion List, go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics (After registering, you will be sent an email. You must reply to the email immediately to be subscribed.) <>You may unsubscribe, after this discussion, or remain subscribed to see if you are interested in the next discussion. Between these specific, topic-oriented discussions, you will not receive messages from the list. I look forward to your joining us in this discussion. David J. Rosen Special Topics Discussion List Moderator djrosen at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070616/68b0420f/attachment.html From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Mon Jun 18 15:24:46 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:24:46 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 822] NEW from National Commission on Adult Literacy Message-ID: NEWS RELEASE - June 18, 2007, NYC -- The National Commission on Adult Literacy is today releasing FORCES CHANGING OUR NATION'S FUTURE, another of the presentations given at its second meeting on April 17, 2007. This document, 44 pages long, was prepared by labor economist Andrew Sum of Northeastern University, a member of the National Commission. Dr. Sum is Professor and Director, Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. The resource is based on research findings from THE PERFECT STORM (Educational Testing Service, March 2007) which Dr. Sum co-authored along with Irwin Kirsch and other ETS researchers. It also draws on a number of other studies. The publication includes an Author's Introduction and Executive Summary and 30 graphs and tables. It examines the comparative performance of U.S. adults and youth on international literacy assessments, the importance of literacy/numeracy proficiencies for labor market success, and the projected outlook for literacy proficiencies of US. adults. The document is available in PDF form from the website of the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAAL manages the Commission project). It may also be purchased directly from CAAL in bound form ($25 plus postage, contact bheitner at caalusa.org for ordering instructions). ? The following publications from the Commission are also available from the CAAL web site, www.caalusa.org. DARE TO DREAM: A Collection of Papers from a Resource Group of 102 Education and Literacy Professionals; MOUNTING PRESSURES Facing the U.S. Workforce and the Increasing Need for Adult Education and Literacy (prepared by executives of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems); Four Lay-of-the-Land Papers on The Federal Role in Adult Literacy (Lennox L. McLendon, Garrett Murphy, James Parker). Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl New York, NY 10020 212-512-2363, F: 212-512-2610 www.caalusa.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070618/71eefa3c/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: forceschangingfuture.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1029574 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070618/71eefa3c/attachment.pdf -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070618/71eefa3c/attachment-0001.html From djrosen at comcast.net Tue Jun 19 19:15:15 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:15:15 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 823] Re: ALE WIki -- Wikiteers and Topic Leaders needed! In-Reply-To: <8761A2A8-0338-44F0-BC1D-0261ACF4FE4B@comcast.net> References: <8761A2A8-0338-44F0-BC1D-0261ACF4FE4B@comcast.net> Message-ID: Colleagues, Have you used the Adult Literacy Education Wiki? http://wiki.literacytent.org Have you contributed to the ALE Wiki? Would you like to be more involved with this (nearly 900 registered member) online adult literacy education community of practice? There are several areas that need topic leaders. Perhaps one of these would interest you: ? ESL/ESOL ? Workforce, Workplace and Worker Education ? Basic Literacy ? Reading ? Curriculum Development ? GED Research ? Learning Disabilities ? Program Design ? Project Based Learning ? Return on Investment ? Young Adult Literacy This is a volunteer effort, and it's best if you choose an area that you are already working on/want to learn more about. If you are interested in being a topic leader for one of the above areas, please e-mail me. David Rosen djrosen1 at comcast.net From Rwrightparker at ci.escondido.ca.us Thu Jun 21 11:31:06 2007 From: Rwrightparker at ci.escondido.ca.us (Robin Wright Parker) Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:31:06 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 824] On-line tracking system? Message-ID: <467A3749.D065.00A7.0@ci.escondido.ca.us> We currently have info in different forms (hard and soft data) and in different locations (excel, written, etc). We are seeking to move to an on-line platform so that tutors, learners, and administrators can enter certain information (demographic and/or assessment) on-line and the info will be stored in one comprehensive program so that we can then make better use of our data. Is anyone already using an online platform; and if so, did you develop it in-house or hire someone to develop it for you? We are looking for any model information we can find, but our searches haven't been very fruitful. Any insights, suggestions, or words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated. Warm regards, Robin Parker ******************************* Robin R. Wright Parker Families For Literacy Coordinator Escondido Public Library Phone: 760-839-4272 rwrightparker at ci.escondido.ca.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070621/d85e42e8/attachment.html From barguedas at sfccnm.edu Thu Jun 21 11:58:23 2007 From: barguedas at sfccnm.edu (Barbara Arguedas) Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 09:58:23 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 825] Re: On-line tracking system? In-Reply-To: <467A3749.D065.00A7.0@ci.escondido.ca.us> Message-ID: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C66D@ex01.sfcc.edu> Hello. New Mexico has adopted the LACES program, a product of LiteracyPro, for all ABE programs in the state. LACES is an on-line system. At this time we have not done input from off-site locations but it is possible to do. Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe has used the LiteracyPro database (not web-based), put out by the same company, for several years. LiteracyPro (the database) has extra components for entering tutor and donor information. We are waiting for the LiteracyPro database to become web-based and more compatible with LACES so that we can combine the data. You should be able to find LiteracyPro.com on the web. Hope this helps. Barbara Arguedas ABE Director Santa Fe Community College Santa Fe, NM -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Robin Wright Parker Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 9:31 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 824] On-line tracking system? We currently have info in different forms (hard and soft data) and in different locations (excel, written, etc). We are seeking to move to an on-line platform so that tutors, learners, and administrators can enter certain information (demographic and/or assessment) on-line and the info will be stored in one comprehensive program so that we can then make better use of our data. Is anyone already using an online platform; and if so, did you develop it in-house or hire someone to develop it for you? We are looking for any model information we can find, but our searches haven't been very fruitful. Any insights, suggestions, or words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated. Warm regards, Robin Parker ******************************* Robin R. Wright Parker Families For Literacy Coordinator Escondido Public Library Phone: 760-839-4272 rwrightparker at ci.escondido.ca.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070621/72e8e82d/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Sat Jun 23 07:17:52 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 07:17:52 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 826] Reminder: Community Literacy Discussion Begins Monday, June 25th Message-ID: <658AAD10-9E01-4835-8D77-5EE41BC78B89@comcast.net> Colleagues, The Community Literacy discussion begins Monday on the National Institute for Literacy's Special Topics List. For more information about the discussion go to: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/specialtopics/2007/000338.html or (the short URL): http://tinyurl.com/23nvye To subscribe (free) go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics David J. Rosen Special Topcs Discussion Moderator djrosen at comcast.net From gleasonm at ccliteracy.org Mon Jun 25 09:58:51 2007 From: gleasonm at ccliteracy.org (Mary V Gleason) Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:58:51 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 827] Re: On-line tracking system? In-Reply-To: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C66D@ex01.sfcc.edu> References: <4CFDD6B88B634C409A76C0F44B3509BE04B6C66D@ex01.sfcc.edu> Message-ID: <4583.168.53.172.145.1182779931.squirrel@webmail.ccliteracy.org> Hi - we just talked with e-tapestry. Their online donor database program sounds good, is expensive for us ($4-5000) but has some good ideas. I know there are others. I have heard from some folks that LACES is difficult. Mary > Hello. New Mexico has adopted the LACES program, a product of > LiteracyPro, for all ABE programs in the state. LACES is an on-line > system. At this time we have not done input from off-site locations but > it is possible to do. Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe has used the > LiteracyPro database (not web-based), put out by the same company, for > several years. LiteracyPro (the database) has extra components for > entering tutor and donor information. We are waiting for the > LiteracyPro database to become web-based and more compatible with LACES > so that we can combine the data. You should be able to find > LiteracyPro.com on the web. Hope this helps. > > Barbara Arguedas > > ABE Director > > Santa Fe Community College > > Santa Fe, NM > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Robin Wright Parker > Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 9:31 AM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 824] On-line tracking system? > > > > We currently have info in different forms (hard and soft data) and in > different locations (excel, written, etc). We are seeking to move to an > on-line platform so that tutors, learners, and administrators can enter > certain information (demographic and/or assessment) on-line and the info > will be stored in one comprehensive program so that we can then make > better use of our data. Is anyone already using an online platform; and > if so, did you develop it in-house or hire someone to develop it for > you? We are looking for any model information we can find, but our > searches haven't been very fruitful. Any insights, suggestions, or > words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated. > > > > Warm regards, > > > > > > > > Robin Parker > > ******************************* > > Robin R. Wright Parker > Families For Literacy Coordinator > Escondido Public Library > > Phone: 760-839-4272 > rwrightparker at ci.escondido.ca.us > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to gleasonm at ccliteracy.org > Mary V. Gleason Executive Director, CC Literacy Council 4044 Greenwood Dr., CC, TX 78416 (361) 857-5896 Fax: 854-5898 From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Sun Jul 1 09:17:50 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2007 09:17:50 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 828] Assessment in Distance Learning: Save the date! Message-ID: <007601c7bbe2$3a320c70$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know that there will be a guest discussion on assessment in distance learning on this List during the week of July 9. Look for a full announcement coming soon! Thanks! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070701/4cbbf3cb/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Jul 2 11:09:10 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 11:09:10 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 829] List Tips for Subscribers Message-ID: <013401c7bcba$f2484530$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Discussion List Tips Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Posting to the List Please include an email address in your signature line in at least your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry off-list if they choose. Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one person or the whole group. Managing Your Subscription Digest Format This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not suit everyone's needs. >From the Assessment Discussion List page: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and enter your subscription email address. This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've forgotten it.) Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click "submit my changes." Use the archives You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See below for more information on using the archives.) Just hit delete! This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic of discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can't hit delete for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and search for those posts in the archives. Using the Archives To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the Assessment List Archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. In the right-hand toolbar: Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, subject, or author. Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as past, Discussion Topics. Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070702/b0e64899/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Jul 6 12:14:54 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 12:14:54 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 830] Assessment in Distance Learning Discussion next week! Message-ID: <045601c7bfe8$cb305a10$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Discussion Announcement Dear Colleagues, I'm pleased to announce the following Guest Discussion, which will be held during the week of July 9 (next week!!): Topic: Assessment in Distance Learning Guest Participants: Jennifer Rafferty currently works as an independent education consultant. Formerly, she worked at the Adult Literacy Resource Institute at SABES Boston where she held the role of Project Manager for the Massachusetts ABE Distance Learning Project. She has worked in the field of ABE since 1998. Shannon Young is the Program Manager for the Support Center at Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online and is a Senior Research Area Specialist for the Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology at The University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. She oversees the Center's work on curriculum and assessment issues and leads the design team that creates online tools used to collect student data and support teachers in member states. Shannon has conducted education research in k-12 and ABE settings and been a tutor and writing instructor since 1991. Recommended preparations for this discussion: Please consider any of the following questions as catalysts for discussion. There is some redundancy with the questions below; however, the questions are articulated slightly differently and so might provide people with different entry points of thought. Also, perhaps subscribers will find it interesting to view Massachusetts as a sort of case study given that the issues faced there appear to mirror the issues faced elsewhere in Distance Learning. Measures of Progress-Informal and Ongoing In the discussion on pre-assessments for online learning (see Resources of Interest, below), participants talked about the ways in which they use various pre-assessments, orientation activities, and technology training to gauge readiness and prepare their students to become distance learners who persist beyond the "try-out" phase. In distance learning, the initial orientation period may be one of the few times teachers and students are face to face. The types of informal, ongoing assessments teachers routinely use in classrooms (e.g., "reading" students to determine comprehension, redirecting or expanding discussions, group activities, quizzes, etc.) frequently aren't available in a distance setting. So, once we have students in the distance-learning door, how can we use progress measures and informal assessments to help keep them engaged? What do those measures entail? What does and doesn't work and why? What role might partner agencies and/or interested "others" play in the assessment process and in helping students stay connected and engaged? As a distance teacher, how do you use the results of progress measures to inform your teaching? Post-Testing and the NRS In June, the NRS posted its official guidelines for counting distance learners in the NRS tables. One of the guidelines for counting distance learners states that students be post-tested in a proctored setting using a standardized assessment at intervals designated by the test developer or by state policy. Some states follow test developer guidelines. Others mandate students be post-tested after a certain number of days. * How do you get your distance learners to take standardized post-tests? * How do you prepare them in advance to understand the necessity of post-testing? * What sorts of partnerships have you formed with other service providers (e.g., libraries, career link centers, etc.) to handle post-testing distance learners? What advice would you have for others interested in forming these partnerships? * What do you do when a student achieves his/her goal before the pre-determined post-test interval? For example, many students come into distance programs with specific, short-term goals and study intently for brief periods of time (e.g., 50 hours of study over a two-week period). They meet their objectives and are ready to exit a program. If they have not been designated as a project-based learner, how do you handle accounting for these students? Do you post-test even if they haven't met the pre-established time-based criteria? The following questions are based on discussions that have come up with distance learning programs in Massachusetts: Questions related to standardized assessments, NRS, and state assessment policies: 1. What standardized testing instruments do you use with distance learners in your state? 2. Are your distance learning programs required to follow assessment policies/guidelines that were created for classroom programs, or has your state developed a separate set of distance learning assessment policies? 3. Do the standardized assessments align well with the dl curricula being used in your state? 4. How successful has your program been with pre and post assessment of distance learners? 5. What strategies have you implemented to encourage learners to return for a post-test and which strategies have been the most successful? 6. Has your state developed any remote testing guidelines that would make it easier for learners to access required assessments without having to return to the adult learning program? 7. Does your state use a standardized assessment that is online/web-based? If so, has having a web-based assessment made it easier for your program to pre and post-test learners? Questions related to other forms of assessment for dl programs: What other assessment instruments do you use to gauge whether your learners are appropriate for distance learning delivery? Do you think that these assessments give a good indication as to whether or not the learner is prepared for self-directed learning? What skills needed for dl are not so easily evaluated with inventories and assessments? Resources of interest: Project IDEAL (Improving Distance Education for Adult Learners): http://projectideal.org AdultEdOnline: http://www.adultedonline.org (Introduction to distance teaching and free online self-assessment for classroom teachers interested in becoming a distance teacher) "Pre-Assessments for On-Line Learning"; Excerpt from Special Topics Community Literacy discussion; go to: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.htm l The discussion begins with questions regarding early drop-out and retention issues and asks whether "try-out periods" are integral to on-line learning processes. It then focuses on the inclusion of pre-assessments, as well as pre- and on-going orientation sessions as strategies for improving retention and success rates. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070706/a8d1fc00/attachment.html From jataylor at utk.edu Fri Jul 6 12:24:23 2007 From: jataylor at utk.edu (Taylor, Jackie) Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 12:24:23 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 831] Discussion of Professional Development Research (July 9 - 13) Message-ID: <0913EC48F2B05C4FBE4878BAFCABBFEC8E0C50@KFSVS2.utk.tennessee.edu> Dear List Colleagues, Next week (July 9-13), the Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List is hosting a guest discussion on professional development research, and implications for teaching and learning in our field. To join the discussion, visit: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment For a web-based version of the announcement below, visit: http://tinyurl.com/yvuvzr Looking forward! Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator, jataylor at utk.edu Title: Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change: Implications for Adult Basic Education Date: July 9-13, 2007 Resource for Discussion: http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/ann_rev/smith-gillespie-07.pdf Guests: Marilyn Gillespie, Ed.D., Senior Educational Researcher, Center for Education Policy, SRI International Cristine Smith, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Guest Bios: http://tinyurl.com/2bpyap) To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment To submit questions for discussion, email: jataylor at utk.edu Description: Historically, very little research has been conducted in adult literacy professional development. Recently, the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) has published a chapter within the Review of Adult Learning and Literacy (v. 7) on research in professional development and teacher change . This chapter (available free and online) draws from the NCSALL Professional Development Study as well as research on professional development from the K-12 field. Join the Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List where the authors, Cristine Smith and Marilyn Gillespie, will participate with subscribers in discussion on teacher professional development issues like: * What is known about what makes teacher professional development effective * How teachers change as a result of professional development * Implications for policy, practice and research in professional development * How the Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers (AALPD) can take action to: a. Develop a centralized location for professional development research, and b. Advance research in adult literacy professional development. ************************************************ Preparation for PD Research Discussion Please reflect on your answers to any of the following... Overall: 1) From your experience, what has been the most effective professional development in which you have participated? What factors made it most valuable for your professional growth and learning? 2) What aspects of the chapter on professional development research stood out to you most? Why? 3) What are the similarities and notable differences between K-12 and adult literacy education professional development? Lessons Learned 4) Given the lessons learned from the NCSALL Professional Development Study and PD research in general, are these understandings being translated into the professional development our field is offering teachers? For example: a. Is more teacher training involving both the program administrator and teacher? b. Are you seeing more follow-up on-site? c. Is there less of a focus in the field on single-session workshops and more on program-based, job-embedded, or hybrid models of professional development? State of Research 5) What are the differences in K-12 and adult literacy professional development research needs? 6) What kinds of research in adult literacy professional development are most needed? Funding: 7) How are states currently funding professional development research? What are potential ways in which states may fund PD research, such as collaborating with neighboring states to address common PD research questions of concern? Professional Development Models 8) On-site professional development vs. the regional or state workshop model: What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Single-Session Professional Development - Exception vs. Norm 9) The authors note that one implication for practice from professional development research is that states should make single-session workshops the exception rather than the norm. Do you agree? Why or why not? 10) What are other options for increasing professional development designs that offer longer term, more job-embedded models of professional development? Teacher Working Conditions 11) Authors discuss what researchers call the "dilution effect" of professional development: The actual impact of the professional development is diluted by all of the other factors that support or hinder teachers from making change. a. How do teachers' working conditions (such as paid prep time or benefits) relate to their ability to make use of the professional development they receive? b. Is improving teacher working conditions a concern that can only be addressed at the local level? Why or why not? c. What work is being done to improve teacher working conditions in programs and states? What has changed since the advent of the NCSALL Professional Development Study, specifically pertaining to teacher working conditions? Have we "taken the lesson home?" To heart? The Role of the School Administrator in Teacher Professional Development 12) How do program directors support and/or constrain teacher change? Using Student Data to Improve Instruction 13) What work is being done in using student achievement data to improve teaching practice? Teacher Turnover 14) Is teacher turnover higher in adult education than in K-12? What are the factors that cause teachers to leave the field of adult education? What are the implications of high teacher turnover for our students, for our field? Serve More Students or Serve Fewer, Better? 15) From your experience, share your perspective on the issue about the extent to which research-based professional development should be more heavily invested. For example, given that research indicates that working conditions, such as access to benefits and paid preparation time for ABE teachers, may actually influence the effectiveness of professional development, should policy makers consider whether any increase in funding be channeled into such expenditures, even if fewer students are served as a result? 16) The annual average cost per adult education student in states is $800.00. In many states, this cost is much lower. Should it cost more to teach adult education students? Why or why not? 17) What other issues may arise in the quantity versus quality debate? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070706/d9859d36/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Jul 9 09:22:13 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 09:22:13 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 832] Assessment in Distance Learning discussion begins today!! Message-ID: <073201c7c22c$2a50dac0$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hello everyone, I would like to welcome our guests Jennifer Rafferty and Shannon Young. They have both posed some interesting questions as catalysts for discussion, and I encourage subscribers to take a look at these (http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance.html #prep), ask your own questions, or respond to any ideas that strike you. Let's hear from programs and states that are now engaged in offering distance learning opportunities: what are your successes and challenges? Do Shannon's and Jennifer's questions and points feel familiar to your experience? Do you have strategies for tackling assessment and accountability mandates? What are they? Did you read through the resource "Pre-Assessments for Online Learning"? (http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.ht ml). What did you think of that discussion? For full information on this discussion including the announcement, guest profiles, and suggested preparations, go to: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance.html# announce. Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070709/c1cd6b40/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jul 10 10:08:08 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:08:08 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 833] DL question on evaluation Message-ID: <084001c7c2fb$be807d20$0302a8c0@LITNOW> The following is posted on behalf of a subscriber: Do states that fund and support distance learning have a coordinating entity to provide leadership, oversight, and accountability? How do DL programs within a particular state get evaluated in terms of their effectiveness? Thanks, Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070710/fbaef50a/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jul 10 10:33:45 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:33:45 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Message-ID: <084501c7c2ff$52a73f90$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070710/3b2ae9cf/attachment.html From VenuT at lacnyc.org Tue Jul 10 15:13:20 2007 From: VenuT at lacnyc.org (Venu Thelakkat) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:13:20 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 835] Re: DL question on evaluation In-Reply-To: <084001c7c2fb$be807d20$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB84C3D9F@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> I can speak only from my experiences in New York State, which has a large number of students in Distance Learning programs. The State Education Department, which sets policies on management and assessment in these programs, have started conducting analyses on the effectiveness of distance learning programs vis-?-vis regular classroom programs (not that much difference in effectiveness) and programs themselves are encouraged to look at the NRS reports of distance learning programs separately. Distance learning programs are evaluated in NY the same way as other services are, using NRS guidelines. Starting in FY2008 (December 2009) the Federal Department of Education is going to ask all states provide disaggregated reports on students in distance learning programs, so the focus on these services is intensifying. Venu Thelakkat Director of ALIES/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th Floor New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 803-3370 Fax: (212) 785-3685 Email: venut at lacnyc.org Web: www.alies.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:08 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 833] DL question on evaluation The following is posted on behalf of a subscriber: Do states that fund and support distance learning have a coordinating entity to provide leadership, oversight, and accountability? How do DL programs within a particular state get evaluated in terms of their effectiveness? Thanks, Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070710/4aaf9c62/attachment.html From msturm at alphaplus.ca Tue Jul 10 15:41:36 2007 From: msturm at alphaplus.ca (Matthias Sturm) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:41:36 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 836] Re: DL question on evaluation References: <084001c7c2fb$be807d20$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Hi all Since my experience comes from working on pilot project in Ontario, Canada, I can't comment on how individual States in the U.S. accomplish this but I can share some things from North of the border with you and I hope they are to some value to this discussion. During the pilot phase of the project from 2003 to 2006, AlphaPlus Centre [http://www.alphaplus.ca] was contracted to provide the coordination of communications, research, professional development and to the extend of the research data gathered also accountability. Four literacy programs were contracted by the government directly to explore, implement and research distance, online, blended and/or flexible learning models in partnership with AlphaPlus. I was working as the project coordinator of this project at AlphaPlus Centre. In case you haven't seen the link posted on the introduction page to this discussion, the research report and an executive summary can be accessed online in pdf format. [http://distance.alphaplus.ca] Since the pilot project phases finished the Ontario government has been working on a accountability framework that would make the evaluation of the effectiveness of the programs and reporting to the government as the funder of ABE in Ontario more effective. Matthias ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Tue 10-Jul-07 10:08 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 833] DL question on evaluation The following is posted on behalf of a subscriber: Do states that fund and support distance learning have a coordinating entity to provide leadership, oversight, and accountability? How do DL programs within a particular state get evaluated in terms of their effectiveness? Thanks, Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 6764 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070710/cc3b5ff1/attachment.bin From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Tue Jul 10 18:40:44 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:40:44 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 837] Re: DL question on evaluation In-Reply-To: <084001c7c2fb$be807d20$0302a8c0@LITNOW> References: <084001c7c2fb$be807d20$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070710/4783ab1e/attachment.html From belcherkitty at shaw.ca Tue Jul 10 19:58:53 2007 From: belcherkitty at shaw.ca (mary belcher) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:58:53 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 838] Re: DL question on evaluation References: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB84C3D9F@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: <005901c7c34e$453a9100$6802a8c0@maryb> What are 'disaggregated reports' ? Mary B. ----- Original Message ----- From: Venu Thelakkat To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 12:13 PM Subject: [Assessment 835] Re: DL question on evaluation I can speak only from my experiences in New York State, which has a large number of students in Distance Learning programs. The State Education Department, which sets policies on management and assessment in these programs, have started conducting analyses on the effectiveness of distance learning programs vis-?-vis regular classroom programs (not that much difference in effectiveness) and programs themselves are encouraged to look at the NRS reports of distance learning programs separately. Distance learning programs are evaluated in NY the same way as other services are, using NRS guidelines. Starting in FY2008 (December 2009) the Federal Department of Education is going to ask all states provide disaggregated reports on students in distance learning programs, so the focus on these services is intensifying. Venu Thelakkat Director of ALIES/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th Floor New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 803-3370 Fax: (212) 785-3685 Email: venut at lacnyc.org Web: www.alies.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:08 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 833] DL question on evaluation The following is posted on behalf of a subscriber: Do states that fund and support distance learning have a coordinating entity to provide leadership, oversight, and accountability? How do DL programs within a particular state get evaluated in terms of their effectiveness? Thanks, Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to belcherkitty at shaw.ca ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/893 - Release Date: 7/9/2007 5:22 PM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070710/c83f8354/attachment.html From VenuT at lacnyc.org Tue Jul 10 23:07:48 2007 From: VenuT at lacnyc.org (Venu Thelakkat) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:07:48 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 839] Re: DL question on evaluation References: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB84C3D9F@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> <005901c7c34e$453a9100$6802a8c0@maryb> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB8377F1A@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Sorry, by that I meant reports prepared not for the whole program or agency but just for the distance learning program. This allows a program to evaluate the performance of a specific distance learning product or all distance learning offerings. Venu Thelakkat Director of ALIES/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th Floor New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 803-3370 Fax: (212) 785-3685 Email: venut at lacnyc.org Web: www.alies.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of mary belcher Sent: Tue 7/10/2007 7:58 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 838] Re: DL question on evaluation What are 'disaggregated reports' ? Mary B. ----- Original Message ----- From: Venu Thelakkat To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 12:13 PM Subject: [Assessment 835] Re: DL question on evaluation I can speak only from my experiences in New York State, which has a large number of students in Distance Learning programs. The State Education Department, which sets policies on management and assessment in these programs, have started conducting analyses on the effectiveness of distance learning programs vis-?-vis regular classroom programs (not that much difference in effectiveness) and programs themselves are encouraged to look at the NRS reports of distance learning programs separately. Distance learning programs are evaluated in NY the same way as other services are, using NRS guidelines. Starting in FY2008 (December 2009) the Federal Department of Education is going to ask all states provide disaggregated reports on students in distance learning programs, so the focus on these services is intensifying. Venu Thelakkat Director of ALIES/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th Floor New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 803-3370 Fax: (212) 785-3685 Email: venut at lacnyc.org Web: www.alies.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:08 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 833] DL question on evaluation The following is posted on behalf of a subscriber: Do states that fund and support distance learning have a coordinating entity to provide leadership, oversight, and accountability? How do DL programs within a particular state get evaluated in terms of their effectiveness? Thanks, Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ________________________________ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to belcherkitty at shaw.ca ________________________________ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/893 - Release Date: 7/9/2007 5:22 PM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070710/f4bb8958/attachment.html From mjjerdems at yahoo.com Wed Jul 11 07:46:07 2007 From: mjjerdems at yahoo.com (Mary Jane Jerde) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 04:46:07 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 840] Re: DL question on evaluation In-Reply-To: <005901c7c34e$453a9100$6802a8c0@maryb> Message-ID: <957046.67922.qm@web54001.mail.re2.yahoo.com> It means separated out into various groupings. mary belcher wrote: v\:* { BEHAVIOR: url(#default#VML) } o\:* { BEHAVIOR: url(#default#VML) } w\:* { BEHAVIOR: url(#default#VML) } .shape { BEHAVIOR: url(#default#VML) } st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } What are 'disaggregated reports' ? Mary B. ----- Original Message ----- From: Venu Thelakkat To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 12:13 PM Subject: [Assessment 835] Re: DL question on evaluation I can speak only from my experiences in New York State, which has a large number of students in Distance Learning programs. The State Education Department, which sets policies on management and assessment in these programs, have started conducting analyses on the effectiveness of distance learning programs vis-?-vis regular classroom programs (not that much difference in effectiveness) and programs themselves are encouraged to look at the NRS reports of distance learning programs separately. Distance learning programs are evaluated in NY the same way as other services are, using NRS guidelines. Starting in FY2008 (December 2009) the Federal Department of Education is going to ask all states provide disaggregated reports on students in distance learning programs, so the focus on these services is intensifying. Venu Thelakkat Director of ALIES/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th Floor New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 803-3370 Fax: (212) 785-3685 Email: venut at lacnyc.org Web: www.alies.org --------------------------------- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:08 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 833] DL question on evaluation The following is posted on behalf of a subscriber: Do states that fund and support distance learning have a coordinating entity to provide leadership, oversight, and accountability? How do DL programs within a particular state get evaluated in terms of their effectiveness? Thanks, Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ --------------------------------- ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to belcherkitty at shaw.ca --------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.2/893 - Release Date: 7/9/2007 5:22 PM ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to mjjerdems at yahoo.com --------------------------------- It's here! Your new message! Get new email alerts with the free Yahoo! Toolbar. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/b899c37c/attachment.html From Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu Wed Jul 11 09:06:14 2007 From: Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu (Jennifer A. Rafferty) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:06:14 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 840] Re: DL question on evaluation References: <084001c7c2fb$be807d20$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Thank you for your post, Tina! Great to see you here. My question to you is not related to assessment, but it is a follow-up question on what you have described below for going to scale. If all programs in AZ are required to offer a distance learning option, how is this funded? Did programs have to choose to offer a dl program service option and give up a f-2-f class in order to fund the component, or is there funding available for the required distance learning component? Jennifer Jennifer Rafferty jennifer.rafferty at umb.edu -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Sent: Tue 7/10/2007 6:40 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 837] Re: DL question on evaluation Hi NIFL List: In response to this question on evaluation, here in Arizona the state hired Sheryl Hart, Matthew Piech, and one other representative to handle the distance learning needs. Then the state offered additional funding to seven programs to run pilot sites for a three year period. These seven programs were chosen from a pool of current GED providers statewide. As of now we have completed our three year pilot and are going to scale, which means that all GED programs in Arizona must have a distance learning component whether they operate their own or partner with another provider. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: From: "Marie Cora" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 07/10/2007 07:08AM Subject: [Assessment 833] DL question on evaluation The following is posted on behalf of a subscriber: Do states that fund and support distance learning have a coordinating entity to provide leadership, oversight, and accountability? How do DL programs within a particular state get evaluated in terms of their effectiveness? Thanks, Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tina_luffman at yc.edu -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 3975 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/213c4653/attachment.bin From Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu Wed Jul 11 09:25:57 2007 From: Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu (Jennifer A. Rafferty) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:25:57 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 841] Re: DL question on evaluation References: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB84C3D9F@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: Thank you for you posting, Venu. You mention two distinct groups below that can provide us with data to analyze the effectiveness of distance learning, the classroom programs and distance learning programs. I am wondering if New York allows learners to coenroll in both a classroom and a distance learning program? Jennifer Jennifer Rafferty Distance Learning Project Manager Adult Literacy Resource Institute jennifer.rafferty at umb.edu 617-287-4081 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Venu Thelakkat Sent: Tue 7/10/2007 3:13 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 835] Re: DL question on evaluation I can speak only from my experiences in New York State, which has a large number of students in Distance Learning programs. The State Education Department, which sets policies on management and assessment in these programs, have started conducting analyses on the effectiveness of distance learning programs vis-?-vis regular classroom programs (not that much difference in effectiveness) and programs themselves are encouraged to look at the NRS reports of distance learning programs separately. Distance learning programs are evaluated in NY the same way as other services are, using NRS guidelines. Starting in FY2008 (December 2009) the Federal Department of Education is going to ask all states provide disaggregated reports on students in distance learning programs, so the focus on these services is intensifying. Venu Thelakkat Director of ALIES/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th Floor New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 803-3370 Fax: (212) 785-3685 Email: venut at lacnyc.org Web: www.alies.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:08 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 833] DL question on evaluation The following is posted on behalf of a subscriber: Do states that fund and support distance learning have a coordinating entity to provide leadership, oversight, and accountability? How do DL programs within a particular state get evaluated in terms of their effectiveness? Thanks, Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 3919 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/9e2c459f/attachment.bin From lchenven at 1199etjsp.org Wed Jul 11 10:45:14 2007 From: lchenven at 1199etjsp.org (Laura Chenven) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:45:14 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 842] Re: Questions for discussion In-Reply-To: <084501c7c2ff$52a73f90$0302a8c0@LITNOW> References: <084501c7c2ff$52a73f90$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Let me raise another question. I am new to this list so it may be something that many of you have already discussed. I work with a national labor/management partnership that supports training and education for the incumbent healthcare workforce. We are supporting several distance learning and hybrid nursing programs. Because these programs are asynchronous for the most part and can fit into many workers busy schedules, there is a great deal of interest in them. However, because we realize that distance learning may not be the best modality for everyone, we want to be able to be able to screen for students who are most likely to be successful in this kind of program and also pinpoint other students who may be successful with some extra help up front. I'd love to hear others experiences with this type of screening. Do you find it necessary? Is it helpful? What have you learned. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Laura Chenven H-CAP National Coordinator 202 257-7108 lchenven at 1199etjsp.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ . . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/812359d0/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Jul 11 11:47:16 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:47:16 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 843] Re: Screening for success In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <0a5f01c7c3d2$c3346d90$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Laura, Welcome and thanks for your question - which is an excellent one! I'm also looking forward to hearing from subscribers on this question. Some discussion on this can be found in one of the suggested resources, entitled "Pre-assessments for on-line learning". Go to: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.htm l The information in the discussion opens with a focus on "wait periods" or "tryout periods" so that prospective students can self-determine their ability and commitment, but it winds around to discuss assessing skills that people need to engage in technology and distance learning. I'd be very much interested in what List Subscribers think about that discussion and Laura's questions below. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Laura Chenven Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:45 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 842] Re: Questions for discussion Let me raise another question. I am new to this list so it may be something that many of you have already discussed. I work with a national labor/management partnership that supports training and education for the incumbent healthcare workforce. We are supporting several distance learning and hybrid nursing programs. Because these programs are asynchronous for the most part and can fit into many workers busy schedules, there is a great deal of interest in them. However, because we realize that distance learning may not be the best modality for everyone, we want to be able to be able to screen for students who are most likely to be successful in this kind of program and also pinpoint other students who may be successful with some extra help up front. I'd love to hear others experiences with this type of screening. Do you find it necessary? Is it helpful? What have you learned. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Laura Chenven H-CAP National Coordinator 202 257-7108 lchenven at 1199etjsp.org _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ . . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/d00a1f0e/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Jul 11 12:17:28 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:17:28 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 844] Just joining us? Message-ID: <0a8601c7c3d6$fab5e1f0$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, A number of folks have subscribed in the last couple of days for this discussion on assessment in distance learning. Here's what you need to know: For full information on this discussion including the announcement, guest profiles, and suggested preparations, go to: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance.html# announce. To catch up on the emails posted since Monday morning, go to the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment and click on Read Current Posted Messages at the top - posts from this discussion begin at #832. FYI: Assessment post #829 provides subscribers with suggestions for maximizing and managing your List experience, although it has lost it's user-friendly formatting in the archive. (If you would like this "List Tips" post in the nice format, send me an email and I will send it back to you). Thanks! If anyone has questions or difficulties, please never hesitate to contact me directly. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/b5b70b7d/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Wed Jul 11 13:08:14 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:08:14 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 845] Re: DL question on evaluation In-Reply-To: References: <084001c7c2fb$be807d20$0302a8c0@LITNOW> , Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/659bfcf4/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/octet-stream Size: 3975 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/659bfcf4/attachment.obj From shannony at umich.edu Wed Jul 11 15:34:32 2007 From: shannony at umich.edu (Shannon Young) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:34:32 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 846] Re: DL question on evaluation In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi Venu, Piggybacking on Jennifer's question, if you have any co-enrolled students, have you developed a policy for how to categorize these students in terms of NRS reporting? Thanks, Shannon -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org On 7/11/07 9:25 AM, "Jennifer A. Rafferty" wrote: > Thank you for you posting, Venu. You mention two distinct groups below that > can provide us with data to analyze the effectiveness of distance learning, > the classroom programs and distance learning programs. I am wondering if New > York allows learners to coenroll in both a classroom and a distance learning > program? > > Jennifer > > Jennifer Rafferty > Distance Learning Project Manager > Adult Literacy Resource Institute > jennifer.rafferty at umb.edu > 617-287-4081 > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Venu Thelakkat > Sent: Tue 7/10/2007 3:13 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 835] Re: DL question on evaluation > > I can speak only from my experiences in New York State, which has a large > number of students in Distance Learning programs. The State Education > Department, which sets policies on management and assessment in these > programs, have started conducting analyses on the effectiveness of distance > learning programs vis-?-vis regular classroom programs (not that much > difference in effectiveness) and programs themselves are encouraged to look at > the NRS reports of distance learning programs separately. Distance learning > programs are evaluated in NY the same way as other services are, using NRS > guidelines. Starting in FY2008 (December 2009) the Federal Department of > Education is going to ask all states provide disaggregated reports on students > in distance learning programs, so the focus on these services is intensifying. > > > > Venu Thelakkat > > Director of ALIES/Data Analysis > > Literacy Assistance Center > > 32 Broadway, 10th Floor > > New York, NY 10004 > > Phone: (212) 803-3370 > > Fax: (212) 785-3685 > > Email: venut at lacnyc.org > > Web: www.alies.org > > ________________________________ > From shannony at umich.edu Wed Jul 11 16:16:16 2007 From: shannony at umich.edu (Shannon Young) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:16:16 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 847] Re: Screening for success In-Reply-To: <0a5f01c7c3d2$c3346d90$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Hi Laura, I think the idea of a tryout period that Marie mentioned is a good one. We also recommend careful pre-screening. During the first round of Project IDEAL experiments, several states opened their distance programs to any and all who expressed interest. This approach proved problematic in many cases?students whose skills, abilities, and/or dispositions didn?t match well with distance study quickly became frustrated. As a result, drop-out rates were high. Programs discovered that they needed to carefully pre-screen students in several arenas to ensure a good fit. Many now begin by surveying students on their learning styles and preferences, time management skills, and motivation, using their responses as a jumping off point to talk about what distance study entails. Once some students understand what?s involved in being a distance learner, they realize a classroom program makes more sense for them. Prescreening also includes assessing students? technology skills and access as well as their basic literacy skills. This combination of pre-assessments helps teachers better determine (1) which students are potentially good candidates for distance and (2) what, if any, baseline training is needed. These days, there are a variety of ?is distance learning for me?? self-assessments available online for students. I?ve included a sample of some I?ve come across to give you an idea of what types of topics/issues distance programs are addressing. Guilford Technical Community College (http://www.gtcc.cc.nc.us/distance/dlForMe.html) --An original and entertaining approach to helping students determine whether distance learning makes sense for them. Student Online Readiness Tool (SORT) http://www.alt.usg.edu/sort/ --Six section self-assessment created by the University System of Georgia designed to help students determine whether they should study online. The six areas are: Technology experience, access to tools, study habits, lifestyle, goals and purposes, and learning preferences. Online Readiness Quiz (http://www.pima.edu/cgi-bin/onlineReadiness/quiz.pl) --This 41-item quiz from Pima Community College assesses potential distance students in four areas: computer and technology skills, time management, learning environment, and study and reading skills. Minnesota Virtual University: Are Distance Learning Courses for You? (http://www.mnvu.org/mnvu/5102.jsp) --Provides a computer scored self-assessment for distance learners. Shannon On 7/11/07 11:47 AM, "Marie Cora" wrote: > Hi Laura, Welcome and thanks for your question ? which is an excellent one! > I?m also looking forward to hearing from subscribers on this question. > > Some discussion on this can be found in one of the suggested resources, > entitled ?Pre-assessments for on-line learning?. Go to: > http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.html > > The information in the discussion opens with a focus on ?wait periods? or > ?tryout periods? so that prospective students can self-determine their ability > and commitment, but it winds around to discuss assessing skills that people > need to engage in technology and distance learning. > > I?d be very much interested in what List Subscribers think about that > discussion and Laura?s questions below. > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of Laura Chenven > Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:45 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 842] Re: Questions for discussion > > Let me raise another question. I am new to this list so it may be something > that many of you have already discussed. > > I work with a national labor/management partnership that supports training and > education for the incumbent healthcare workforce. We are supporting several > distance learning and hybrid nursing programs. Because these programs are > asynchronous for the most part and can fit into many workers busy schedules, > there is a great deal of interest in them. However, because we realize that > distance learning may not be the best modality for everyone, we want to be > able to be able to screen for students who are most likely to be successful in > this kind of program and also pinpoint other students who may be successful > with some extra help up front. > > I'd love to hear others experiences with this type of screening. Do you find > it necessary? Is it helpful? What have you learned. > I'm looking forward to hearing from you. > > Laura Chenven > H-CAP National Coordinator > 202 257-7108 > lchenven at 1199etjsp.org > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of Marie Cora > Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion > Hi everyone, > > It?s very quiet out there! I?ve had many new subscribers join our List, so I > know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know > you have experiences to share. Please post them now! > > Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already > been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and > Jennifer: > > Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up > measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional > development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) ? and I know how difficult > follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular > classroom-based programs ? getting full test scores can be really hard. So I > am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods > they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the > post-test. > > Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? > Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help > demonstrate achievement? > > Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able > to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; > some F2F (?face-to-face?)/no F2F; staffing; etc)? > > Thanks!! > > > Marie Cora > > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > . > > . > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to shannony at umich.edu -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/16696d82/attachment.html From dcornellier at doe.mass.edu Wed Jul 11 16:08:44 2007 From: dcornellier at doe.mass.edu (Cornellier, Donna) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:08:44 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 848] Re: Questions for discussion Message-ID: <85268246A4FDDC419FFAEC9BE229211D01E40F22@smtp.doemass.org> Hi Marie, I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that were sent out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from Cheryl Keenan. The distance education policy includes a definition of distance learners, guidance on how to measure contact hours for the learners, and describes assessment and reporting requirements which are summarized in the memo. It will be an interesting discussion around how states implement these policies, and you have posed some great questions below. Thanks, Donna Cornellier Massachusetts NRS Trainer _____ From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/3012fbe3/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Jul 11 16:28:03 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:28:03 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 849] Re: NRS Guidelines for DL In-Reply-To: <85268246A4FDDC419FFAEC9BE229211D01E40F22@smtp.doemass.org> Message-ID: <0b1301c7c3f9$fc367990$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, You will notice that the attachments Donna mentions were not attached! (Thanks Donna!!) We are trying to avoid sending attachments via the emails because some people's systems are not prepared to handle this type of thing. I am working on having the documents Donna talks about posted at the same site where the rest of the information for this discussion is. I'll let you know as soon as they are up there. In the meantime, perhaps some of you are already aware of the new guidelines or have access to them. Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Cornellier, Donna Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:09 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 848] Re: Questions for discussion Hi Marie, I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that were sent out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from Cheryl Keenan. The distance education policy includes a definition of distance learners, guidance on how to measure contact hours for the learners, and describes assessment and reporting requirements which are summarized in the memo. It will be an interesting discussion around how states implement these policies, and you have posed some great questions below. Thanks, Donna Cornellier Massachusetts NRS Trainer _____ From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/e2f893bc/attachment.html From LCondelli at air.org Wed Jul 11 16:41:30 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:41:30 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 850] Re: NRS Guidelines for DL In-Reply-To: <0b1301c7c3f9$fc367990$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Donna, Marie and Everyone, You can get these documents on the NRS web site. http://www.nrsweb.org. Look under What's New. Larry Condelli NRS Project Director ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:28 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 849] Re: NRS Guidelines for DL Hi everyone, You will notice that the attachments Donna mentions were not attached! (Thanks Donna!!) We are trying to avoid sending attachments via the emails because some people's systems are not prepared to handle this type of thing. I am working on having the documents Donna talks about posted at the same site where the rest of the information for this discussion is. I'll let you know as soon as they are up there. In the meantime, perhaps some of you are already aware of the new guidelines or have access to them. Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Cornellier, Donna Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:09 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 848] Re: Questions for discussion Hi Marie, I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that were sent out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from Cheryl Keenan. The distance education policy includes a definition of distance learners, guidance on how to measure contact hours for the learners, and describes assessment and reporting requirements which are summarized in the memo. It will be an interesting discussion around how states implement these policies, and you have posed some great questions below. Thanks, Donna Cornellier Massachusetts NRS Trainer ________________________________ From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070711/5cfd5fda/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Jul 12 14:28:37 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:28:37 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 851] Re: DL curriculum and materials In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <0c3301c7c4b2$77733450$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Shannon and everyone, Wow, thanks for all these great resources! I see that you advocate a variety of pre-assessments in order to best determine a person's readiness, which makes a lot of sense to me. It made me think of something else: what is there in the way of curriculum and materials used in DL? Do folks focus on 'commercial packages' or materials generated by the feds or states, or do programs develop their own curriculum and materials? I ask this because if there are particular requirements around assessing and reporting, then each of these pieces would be affected by the other. And I would assume that some things work better together than others. How does all that work in programs? Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Shannon Young Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:16 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 847] Re: Screening for success Hi Laura, I think the idea of a tryout period that Marie mentioned is a good one. We also recommend careful pre-screening. During the first round of Project IDEAL experiments, several states opened their distance programs to any and all who expressed interest. This approach proved problematic in many cases-students whose skills, abilities, and/or dispositions didn't match well with distance study quickly became frustrated. As a result, drop-out rates were high. Programs discovered that they needed to carefully pre-screen students in several arenas to ensure a good fit. Many now begin by surveying students on their learning styles and preferences, time management skills, and motivation, using their responses as a jumping off point to talk about what distance study entails. Once some students understand what's involved in being a distance learner, they realize a classroom program makes more sense for them. Prescreening also includes assessing students' technology skills and access as well as their basic literacy skills. This combination of pre-assessments helps teachers better determine (1) which students are potentially good candidates for distance and (2) what, if any, baseline training is needed. These days, there are a variety of "is distance learning for me?" self-assessments available online for students. I've included a sample of some I've come across to give you an idea of what types of topics/issues distance programs are addressing. Guilford Technical Community College (http://www.gtcc.cc.nc.us/distance/dlForMe.html) --An original and entertaining approach to helping students determine whether distance learning makes sense for them. Student Online Readiness Tool (SORT) http://www.alt.usg.edu/sort/ --Six section self-assessment created by the University System of Georgia designed to help students determine whether they should study online. The six areas are: Technology experience, access to tools, study habits, lifestyle, goals and purposes, and learning preferences. Online Readiness Quiz (http://www.pima.edu/cgi-bin/onlineReadiness/quiz.pl) --This 41-item quiz from Pima Community College assesses potential distance students in four areas: computer and technology skills, time management, learning environment, and study and reading skills. Minnesota Virtual University: Are Distance Learning Courses for You? (http://www.mnvu.org/mnvu/5102.jsp) --Provides a computer scored self-assessment for distance learners. Shannon On 7/11/07 11:47 AM, "Marie Cora" wrote: Hi Laura, Welcome and thanks for your question - which is an excellent one! I'm also looking forward to hearing from subscribers on this question. Some discussion on this can be found in one of the suggested resources, entitled "Pre-assessments for on-line learning". Go to: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.htm l The information in the discussion opens with a focus on "wait periods" or "tryout periods" so that prospective students can self-determine their ability and commitment, but it winds around to discuss assessing skills that people need to engage in technology and distance learning. I'd be very much interested in what List Subscribers think about that discussion and Laura's questions below. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Laura Chenven Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:45 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 842] Re: Questions for discussion Let me raise another question. I am new to this list so it may be something that many of you have already discussed. I work with a national labor/management partnership that supports training and education for the incumbent healthcare workforce. We are supporting several distance learning and hybrid nursing programs. Because these programs are asynchronous for the most part and can fit into many workers busy schedules, there is a great deal of interest in them. However, because we realize that distance learning may not be the best modality for everyone, we want to be able to be able to screen for students who are most likely to be successful in this kind of program and also pinpoint other students who may be successful with some extra help up front. I'd love to hear others experiences with this type of screening. Do you find it necessary? Is it helpful? What have you learned. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Laura Chenven H-CAP National Coordinator 202 257-7108 lchenven at 1199etjsp.org _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ . . _____ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to shannony at umich.edu -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070712/7078d4aa/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Thu Jul 12 17:00:19 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:00:19 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 852] Re: DL curriculum and materials In-Reply-To: <0c3301c7c4b2$77733450$0302a8c0@LITNOW> References: <0c3301c7c4b2$77733450$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070712/b650547e/attachment.html From Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu Thu Jul 12 17:09:20 2007 From: Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu (Jennifer A. Rafferty) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:09:20 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 853] Re: DL curriculum and materials References: <0c3301c7c4b2$77733450$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Hi everyone, In addition to the pre-assessment resources Shannon has shared, I would also like to share with you the URL for the Massachusetts ABE Distance Learning Project. www.anywhereanytimeabe.org . Over the past two years, we have developed the Orientation Modules section. It is actually being revised and updated as we engage in this discussion, so I encourage you to visit the site again in the next month because you will find that the resources have additional notes to the instructor as well as more interactive features and revised handouts. The Orientation Modules were created thinking of both the distance learner and the classroom learner. One of our visions for this section of our website was to see classroom programs incorporate content from the Orientation Modules into their curriculum so that classroom learners would be prepared for distance learning should they ever need to ?stop out? of the classroom. In fact, the content developers, who are both classroom and dl instructors, use the materials with both groups of learners. We created the modules thinking they could be used according to the needs of the learner. Our dl pilot programs are not required to complete the modules with distance learners during the orientation process, but they are encouraged to use the resources and adapt them. We generated all of the topics through discussions and focus groups with our dl pilot programs. The topics include: setting goals, barriers and supports, independent learning, technical skills, time management and study skills, and communication skills. As for your question about distance learning curricula, Massachusetts has implemented a variety of commercially produced curricula over the past eight years. During the pilot phase from 2004-07, programs were funded to pilot commercially produced curricula for which the state had purchased licenses. They were not funded to create curricula, although there is one ESOL dl pilot that had developed a homegrown curriculum prior to being funded. Of course, teachers supplement these curricular packages with their own materials to fill in gaps and to provide additional practice. We call these other materials ?supplemental?, based on Project IDEAL?s system for collecting proxy seat time for distance learners. There are currently three models I am aware of that have been created to approximate seat time for distance learners: the teacher judgment model, the student mastery model, and the clock time model. So, depending on the curriculum/a and the kind of delivery(e.g. multimedia, computer-based) a state chooses, this will dictate the way the proxy seat time is collected. Project IDEAL has a publication on this topic of seat time, it is Paper 2#, Measuring Contact Hours and Educational Progress in Distance Education, and can be accessed at their website at www.projectideal.org under the Publications section. One of the big questions we asked ourselves while piloting the commercially produced curricula was, do these curricula align with our state Curriculum Frameworks and our standardized assessment for ABE learners (the MAPT)? This past fiscal year, we examined the frameworks and the ABE curricular package that is currently being used in MA with dl pilots, so we have a better sense of where there will be a need to supplement our ABE dl curriculum. Jennifer Rafferty jennifer.rafferty at umb.edu -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Thu 7/12/2007 2:28 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 851] Re: DL curriculum and materials Hi Shannon and everyone, Wow, thanks for all these great resources! I see that you advocate a variety of pre-assessments in order to best determine a person's readiness, which makes a lot of sense to me. It made me think of something else: what is there in the way of curriculum and materials used in DL? Do folks focus on 'commercial packages' or materials generated by the feds or states, or do programs develop their own curriculum and materials? I ask this because if there are particular requirements around assessing and reporting, then each of these pieces would be affected by the other. And I would assume that some things work better together than others. How does all that work in programs? Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Shannon Young Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:16 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 847] Re: Screening for success Hi Laura, I think the idea of a tryout period that Marie mentioned is a good one. We also recommend careful pre-screening. During the first round of Project IDEAL experiments, several states opened their distance programs to any and all who expressed interest. This approach proved problematic in many cases-students whose skills, abilities, and/or dispositions didn't match well with distance study quickly became frustrated. As a result, drop-out rates were high. Programs discovered that they needed to carefully pre-screen students in several arenas to ensure a good fit. Many now begin by surveying students on their learning styles and preferences, time management skills, and motivation, using their responses as a jumping off point to talk about what distance study entails. Once some students understand what's involved in being a distance learner, they realize a classroom program makes more sense for them. Prescreening also includes assessing students' technology skills and access as well as their basic literacy skills. This combination of pre-assessments helps teachers better determine (1) which students are potentially good candidates for distance and (2) what, if any, baseline training is needed. These days, there are a variety of "is distance learning for me?" self-assessments available online for students. I've included a sample of some I've come across to give you an idea of what types of topics/issues distance programs are addressing. Guilford Technical Community College (http://www.gtcc.cc.nc.us/distance/dlForMe.html) --An original and entertaining approach to helping students determine whether distance learning makes sense for them. Student Online Readiness Tool (SORT) http://www.alt.usg.edu/sort/ --Six section self-assessment created by the University System of Georgia designed to help students determine whether they should study online. The six areas are: Technology experience, access to tools, study habits, lifestyle, goals and purposes, and learning preferences. Online Readiness Quiz (http://www.pima.edu/cgi-bin/onlineReadiness/quiz.pl) --This 41-item quiz from Pima Community College assesses potential distance students in four areas: computer and technology skills, time management, learning environment, and study and reading skills. Minnesota Virtual University: Are Distance Learning Courses for You? (http://www.mnvu.org/mnvu/5102.jsp) --Provides a computer scored self-assessment for distance learners. Shannon On 7/11/07 11:47 AM, "Marie Cora" wrote: Hi Laura, Welcome and thanks for your question - which is an excellent one! I'm also looking forward to hearing from subscribers on this question. Some discussion on this can be found in one of the suggested resources, entitled "Pre-assessments for on-line learning". Go to: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.htm l The information in the discussion opens with a focus on "wait periods" or "tryout periods" so that prospective students can self-determine their ability and commitment, but it winds around to discuss assessing skills that people need to engage in technology and distance learning. I'd be very much interested in what List Subscribers think about that discussion and Laura's questions below. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Laura Chenven Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:45 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 842] Re: Questions for discussion Let me raise another question. I am new to this list so it may be something that many of you have already discussed. I work with a national labor/management partnership that supports training and education for the incumbent healthcare workforce. We are supporting several distance learning and hybrid nursing programs. Because these programs are asynchronous for the most part and can fit into many workers busy schedules, there is a great deal of interest in them. However, because we realize that distance learning may not be the best modality for everyone, we want to be able to be able to screen for students who are most likely to be successful in this kind of program and also pinpoint other students who may be successful with some extra help up front. I'd love to hear others experiences with this type of screening. Do you find it necessary? Is it helpful? What have you learned. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Laura Chenven H-CAP National Coordinator 202 257-7108 lchenven at 1199etjsp.org _____ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ . . _____ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to shannony at umich.edu -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org From Kgotthardt at comcast.net Thu Jul 12 17:19:00 2007 From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net (Katherine G) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:19:00 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 854] Re: DL curriculum and materials In-Reply-To: <0c3301c7c4b2$77733450$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Re: [Assessment 843] Re: Screening for successHi Marie and everyone. In Prince William County, VA, we are using Project Connect for ESOL. This is our second session using it. If you are not familiar with the package, you can learn more about at http://pbslearnenglish.org/learn/page1.xml As an instructor, I find Project Connect easy to use, and in general, I think the students feel it is pretty simple. However, students still need a live help. Another experienced ESOL teacher (whom I think is on this list) holds live sessions on Friday nights. During the live sessions, I am logged into Project Connect from home so students can get instant responses to email and feedback on their work units. We provide students a handbook that illustrates Project Connect's key functions as well as helpful tips for students who might not be accustomed to online learning. In addition to this and the Project Connect online orientation, we will be providing live, monthly orientations in which we go through the handbook and program and catch up on any questions students might have about the technology. This helps me get some face-to-face time with the students as well. Last term, I worked with students online and spoke to them on the phone. However, since they only had live contact with the Friday night teacher, some students had difficulty with the concept I was a real person. This is common in most DL classes, so hopefully, the orientations will help eradicate the myth that I am a computer : ) And of course, they will continue to benefit from the blended method already in place. Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL DL Instructor Prince William County Public Schools Adult Education P.O. Box 389 Manassas, VA 20108 work 703-791-8387 fax 703-791-8889 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 2:29 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 851] Re: DL curriculum and materials Hi Shannon and everyone, Wow, thanks for all these great resources! I see that you advocate a variety of pre-assessments in order to best determine a person's readiness, which makes a lot of sense to me. It made me think of something else: what is there in the way of curriculum and materials used in DL? Do folks focus on 'commercial packages ' or materials generated by the feds or states, or do programs develop their own curriculum and materials? I ask this because if there are particular requirements around assessing and reporting, then each of these pieces would be affected by the other. And I would assume that some things work better together than others. How does all that work in programs? Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Shannon Young Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:16 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 847] Re: Screening for success Hi Laura, I think the idea of a tryout period that Marie mentioned is a good one. We also recommend careful pre-screening. During the first round of Project IDEAL experiments, several states opened their distance programs to any and all who expressed interest. This approach proved problematic in many cases-students whose skills, abilities, and/or dispositions didn't match well with distance study quickly became frustrated. As a result, drop-out rates were high. Programs discovered that they needed to carefully pre-screen students in several arenas to ensure a good fit. Many now begin by surveying students on their learning styles and preferences, time management skills, and motivation, using their responses as a jumping off point to talk about what distance study entails. Once some students understand what's involved in being a distance learner, they realize a classroom program makes more sense for them. Prescreening also includes assessing students' technology skills and access as well as their basic literacy skills. This combination of pre-assessments helps teachers better determine (1) which students are potentially good candidates for distance and (2) what, if any, baseline training is needed. These days, there are a variety of "is distance learning for me?" self-assessments available online for students. I've included a sample of some I've come across to give you an idea of what types of topics/issues distance programs are addressing. Guilford Technical Community College (http://www.gtcc.cc.nc.us/distance/dlForMe.html) --An original and entertaining approach to helping students determine whether distance learning makes sense for them. Student Online Readiness Tool (SORT) http://www.alt.usg.edu/sort/ --Six section self-assessment created by the University System of Georgia designed to help students determine whether they should study online. The six areas are: Technology experience, access to tools, study habits, lifestyle, goals and purposes, and learning preferences. Online Readiness Quiz (http://www.pima.edu/cgi-bin/onlineReadiness/quiz.pl) --This 41-item quiz from Pima Community College assesses potential distance students in four areas: computer and technology skills, time management, learning environment, and study and reading skills. Minnesota Virtual University: Are Distance Learning Courses for You? (http://www.mnvu.org/mnvu/5102.jsp) --Provides a computer scored self-assessment for distance learners. Shannon On 7/11/07 11:47 AM, "Marie Cora" wrote: Hi Laura, Welcome and thanks for your question - which is an excellent one! I'm also looking forward to hearing from subscribers on this question. Some discussion on this can be found in one of the suggested resources, entitled "Pre-assessments for on-line learning". Go to: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.html The information in the discussion opens with a focus on "wait periods" or "tryout periods" so that prospective students can self-determine their ability and commitment, but it winds around to discuss assessing skills that people need to engage in technology and distance learning. I'd be very much interested in what List Subscribers think about that discussion and Laura's questions below. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Laura Chenven Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:45 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 842] Re: Questions for discussion Let me raise another question. I am new to this list so it may be something that many of you have already discussed. I work with a national labor/management partnership that supports training and education for the incumbent healthcare workforce. We are supporting several distance learning and hybrid nursing programs. Because these programs are asynchronous for the most part and can fit into many workers busy schedules, there is a great deal of interest in them. However, because we realize that distance learning may not be the best modality for everyone, we want to be able to be able to screen for students who are most likely to be successful in this kind of program and also pinpoint other students who may be successful with some extra help up front. I'd love to hear others experiences with this type of screening. Do you find it necessary? Is it helpful? What have you learned. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Laura Chenven H-CAP National Coordinator 202 257-7108 lchenven at 1199etjsp.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ . . ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to shannony at umich.edu -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070712/4ee64565/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Jul 13 09:13:51 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:13:51 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Message-ID: <0d3b01c7c54f$a8d8b090$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. Today is our final day of conversation with Jennifer and Shannon on assessment in distance learning. I encourage you to post your questions and experiences now. I'm looking forward to reading the replies from yesterday's posts. Here's my next thought on this, I'm back to Post-Testing: does DL post-testing ever involve groups of learners together? Or is it usually a unilateral event for that one student? I'm asking because I know this is a tough area, and I was wondering if some amount of work with peers might alter this. What are people's thoughts and experiences on this? Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070713/d0e54cb3/attachment.html From Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu Fri Jul 13 10:06:05 2007 From: Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu (Jennifer A. Rafferty) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:06:05 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 856] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! References: <0d3b01c7c54f$a8d8b090$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Hi Marie, I don?t know if I understood you correctly, but logistically it is not always possible to get the dl learners together to be post-tested. In Massachusetts, our dl programs run with an open enrollment schedule, so students start at different times and they accumulate ?seat time? hours at different rates depending on the intensity of their studying. As is with the orientation process, our programs have to be prepared to provide support individually if the timing for orientation and pre/post-testing doesn?t fit the learners? schedules. I have seen some dl students go to classroom-based programs when post-testing is being conducted in a group. This seems to be a good logistical set-up, to look at the scheduling of post-testing for classroom programs in the agency, and send the dl learner to be post-tested there if it fits their schedule and scenario. When I was teaching in a dl ESOL program back in 2003, we were using the BEST to assess learners and it was challenging to coordinate because each learner needed to be assessed individually and the test needed to be administrated by another instructor. We ended up doing an exchange where I would assess classroom learners and a classroom teacher came to my program to assess my distance learners. Jennifer Rafferty jennifer.rafferty at umb.edu -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Fri 7/13/2007 9:13 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. Today is our final day of conversation with Jennifer and Shannon on assessment in distance learning. I encourage you to post your questions and experiences now. I'm looking forward to reading the replies from yesterday's posts. Here's my next thought on this, I'm back to Post-Testing: does DL post-testing ever involve groups of learners together? Or is it usually a unilateral event for that one student? I'm asking because I know this is a tough area, and I was wondering if some amount of work with peers might alter this. What are people's thoughts and experiences on this? Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 4030 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070713/4c33c565/attachment.bin From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Fri Jul 13 11:51:02 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:51:02 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 857] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! In-Reply-To: <0d3b01c7c54f$a8d8b090$0302a8c0@LITNOW> References: <0d3b01c7c54f$a8d8b090$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070713/ec83757d/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Jul 13 12:58:23 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 12:58:23 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 858] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <0da401c7c56f$068d1720$0302a8c0@LITNOW> (My apologies if you are receiving duplicates of any posts) Hi Jennifer - thanks so much for this. Yes, I didn't make myself that clear in my post, but your reply definitely speaks to some of the questions that I do have. I was indeed asking about what you discuss below: I am interested in how post-testing might get accomplished when you can be in f2f situations, and whether or not being able to group students together would make any difference at all. But I was also wondering (and I'm showing the true colors of my lack of knowledge around the details of DL - but that's ok because I am here to learn) these things: -I assume that some DL is purely DL - no f2f (is that right?) -If so, how do you use required tests that do not lend themselves to on-line delivery? -And if post-assessment *can* be accomplished purely on-line, are there ways to make that post-test more of a group task, which might lead to more people completing that piece of the puzzle? (this group task idea is obviously an assumption on my part) Ok, thanks and looking forward to hearing what people's experiences are with this. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: Jennifer A. Rafferty [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jennifer A. Rafferty Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 10:06 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: RE: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Hi Marie, I don't know if I understood you correctly, but logistically it is not always possible to get the dl learners together to be post-tested. In Massachusetts, our dl programs run with an open enrollment schedule, so students start at different times and they accumulate "seat time" hours at different rates depending on the intensity of their studying. As is with the orientation process, our programs have to be prepared to provide support individually if the timing for orientation and pre/post-testing doesn't fit the learners' schedules. I have seen some dl students go to classroom-based programs when post-testing is being conducted in a group. This seems to be a good logistical set-up, to look at the scheduling of post-testing for classroom programs in the agency, and send the dl learner to be post-tested there if it fits their schedule and scenario. When I was teaching in a dl ESOL program back in 2003, we were using the BEST to assess learners and it was challenging to coordinate because each learner needed to be assessed individually and the test needed to be administrated by another instructor. We ended up doing an exchange where I would assess classroom learners and a classroom teacher came to my program to assess my distance learners. Jennifer Rafferty jennifer.rafferty at umb.edu -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Fri 7/13/2007 9:13 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. Today is our final day of conversation with Jennifer and Shannon on assessment in distance learning. I encourage you to post your questions and experiences now. I'm looking forward to reading the replies from yesterday's posts. Here's my next thought on this, I'm back to Post-Testing: does DL post-testing ever involve groups of learners together? Or is it usually a unilateral event for that one student? I'm asking because I know this is a tough area, and I was wondering if some amount of work with peers might alter this. What are people's thoughts and experiences on this? Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ From shannony at umich.edu Fri Jul 13 13:40:22 2007 From: shannony at umich.edu (Shannon Young) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:40:22 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 859] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! In-Reply-To: <0da401c7c56f$068d1720$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Hi Marie, You've raised good questions many programs have to address. Most Project IDEAL states have policies requiring their students to be post-tested in a proctored f2f setting, regardless of whether they're pure distance students. I think this usually applies only to standardized testing, though I know states like North Carolina require students to come in for progress testing after each unit of study. NC's ESOL distance students receive "seat time" credit only after demonstrating mastery of the materials. I know Missouri at one point experimented with offering the TABE online, but I believe students were still required to complete the test in a proctored setting. Other curriculum-specific quizzes and tests are usually completed without a f2f component. Some programs and states (particularly ones that have large, rural populations) have set up partnerships with local libraries, schools, and other social service agencies to handle post-testing. That way, while students may have to drive some distance to participate in orientation, they can then go to a place that's closer to home to post-test. Last year, we surveyed Project IDEAL teachers to find out how they got students to return for post testing. One frequent answer: throw a party. When students knew they'd be seeing and socializing with other students from orientation (as Tina mentioned), they were more likely to come back in for testing. Does any state have a policy allowing post-testing to be conducted online and without a proctor? If so, how do you ensure validity? Thanks, Shannon -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org From teacherwendyq at gmail.com Fri Jul 13 15:04:04 2007 From: teacherwendyq at gmail.com (Wendy Quinones) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:04:04 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 860] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! In-Reply-To: <0d3b01c7c54f$a8d8b090$0302a8c0@LITNOW> References: <0d3b01c7c54f$a8d8b090$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Sorry for coming in late on this, but a couple of the pre-screening links Shannon gave us are dead -- the Pima Community College and Guilford Technical College ones. They sound terrific, so I'd really like to find them! Wendy Quinones On 7/13/07, Marie Cora wrote: > > Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. > > > > Today is our final day of conversation with Jennifer and Shannon on > assessment in distance learning. I encourage you to post your questions > and experiences now. I'm looking forward to reading the replies from > yesterday's posts. > > > > Here's my next thought on this, I'm back to Post-Testing: does DL > post-testing ever involve groups of learners together? Or is it usually a > unilateral event for that one student? I'm asking because I know this is > a tough area, and I was wondering if some amount of work with peers might > alter this. What are people's thoughts and experiences on this? > > > > Thanks, > > Marie > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070713/fd1cfa7c/attachment.html From shannony at umich.edu Fri Jul 13 15:53:38 2007 From: shannony at umich.edu (Shannon Young) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:53:38 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 861] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi Wendy, I didn?t have trouble with either link. Would you try again? Perhaps your browser handles things differently from mine. If neither works for you, you can find the ?Is Distance for Me?? quizzes on each site by going to their Distance Learning pages. For Guilford (www.gtcc.edu), go to Distance Learning (right hand menu on the home page) and then to the submenu Getting Started. For Pima, (www.pima.edu) it?s in Courses and Degrees, submenu Distance Learning. Pima: http://www.pima.edu/cgi-bin/onlineReadiness/quiz.pl Guilford: http://www.gtcc.edu/distance/dlForMe.html I hope this helps! Thanks, Shannon On 7/13/07 3:04 PM, "Wendy Quinones" wrote: > Sorry for coming in late on this, but a couple of the pre-screening links > Shannon gave us are dead -- the Pima Community College and Guilford Technical > College ones. They sound terrific, so I'd really like to find them! > > Wendy Quinones > > Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070713/f7d89bb9/attachment.html From KHinson at almanid.com Fri Jul 13 16:33:07 2007 From: KHinson at almanid.com (Katrina Hinson) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:33:07 +0200 Subject: [Assessment 862] Re: DL curriculum and materials In-Reply-To: References: <0c3301c7c4b2$77733450$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <4697A92F.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> I'm just getting caught up with the conversation and haven't read all the threads yet. I wish it wasn't the last day for the discussion. There is so much to talk about with regards to dl. I work with dl at my school and we use MHC online, Skills Tutor and another program called A+. I like all of them and all of them have their strengths and weaknesses. I also make supplemental materials available to my students - anything from workbooks to worksheets to face to face tutoring if they really get stuck. We communicate a lot by email and by phone. Like Tina, we're still in the early stages of our dl process. >>> 7/12/2007 5:00 pm >>> Hi Marie, Different states have purchased different software packages for their dl classes. Arizona purchased MHC Online. Later we added a Pre-GED LAN only software program to help with students who were not ready for the MHC Online materials. This summer Arizona purchased a newer version of Pre-GED that is web-based similar to MHC Online. Each program in our state has the ability to chose supplemental materials. Our college also has Skills Tutor, so we were blessed to have both of these electronic materials for our students. In addition, we had a few older McGraw-Hill GED and Pre-GED textbooks that we could loan to students. I encouraged students to buy a Complete Pre-GED book to have at home, but certainly did not require it. In IDEAL's course DL 102, the online instructors networked together to locate videos, Web sites, materials to scan and send to students, and generally worked creatively to find ways to meet curricular needs to explain challenging concepts at a distance. Much has been done, but we are still in the early stages of online education. Thanks, Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu -----assessment-bounces at nifl.gov wrote: ----- To: "'The Assessment Discussion List'" From: "Marie Cora" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov Date: 07/12/2007 11:28AM Subject: [Assessment 851] Re: DL curriculum and materials Hi Shannon and everyone, Wow, thanks for all these great resources! I see that you advocate a variety of pre-assessments in order to best determine a person?s readiness, which makes a lot of sense to me. It made me think of something else: what is there in the way of curriculum and materials used in DL? Do folks focus on ?commercial packages? or materials generated by the feds or states, or do programs develop their own curriculum and materials? I ask this because if there are particular requirements around assessing and reporting, then each of these pieces would be affected by the other. And I would assume that some things work better together than others. How does all that work in programs? Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Shannon Young Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:16 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 847] Re: Screening for success Hi Laura, I think the idea of a tryout period that Marie mentioned is a good one. We also recommend careful pre-screening. During the first round of Project IDEAL experiments, several states opened their distance programs to any and all who expressed interest. This approach proved problematic in many cases?students whose skills, abilities, and/or dispositions didn?t match well with distance study quickly became frustrated. As a result, drop-out rates were high. Programs discovered that they needed to carefully pre-screen students in several arenas to ensure a good fit. Many now begin by surveying students on their learning styles and preferences, time management skills, and motivation, using their responses as a jumping off point to talk about what distance study entails. Once some students understand what?s involved in being a distance learner, they realize a classroom program makes more sense for them. Prescreening also includes assessing students? technology skills and access as well as their basic literacy skills. This combination of pre-assessments helps teachers better determine (1) which students are potentially good candidates for distance and (2) what, if any, baseline training is needed. These days, there are a variety of ?is distance learning for me?? self-assessments available online for students. I?ve included a sample of some I?ve come across to give you an idea of what types of topics/issues distance programs are addressing. Guilford Technical Community College ( http://www.gtcc.cc.nc.us/distance/dlForMe.html) --An original and entertaining approach to helping students determine whether distance learning makes sense for them. Student Online Readiness Tool (SORT) http://www.alt.usg.edu/sort/ --Six section self-assessment created by the University System of Georgia designed to help students determine whether they should study online. The six areas are: Technology experience, access to tools, study habits, lifestyle, goals and purposes, and learning preferences. Online Readiness Quiz ( http://www.pima.edu/cgi-bin/onlineReadiness/quiz.pl) --This 41-item quiz from Pima Community College assesses potential distance students in four areas: computer and technology skills, time management, learning environment, and study and reading skills. Minnesota Virtual University: Are Distance Learning Courses for You? ( http://www.mnvu.org/mnvu/5102.jsp) -- Provides a computer scored self-assessment for distance learners. Shannon On 7/11/07 11:47 AM, "Marie Cora" wrote: Hi Laura, Welcome and thanks for your question ? which is an excellent one! I?m also looking forward to hearing from subscribers on this question. Some discussion on this can be found in one of the suggested resources, entitled ?Pre-assessments for on-line learning?. Go to: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.html The information in the discussion opens with a focus on ?wait periods? or ?tryout periods? so that prospective students can self-determine their ability and commitment, but it winds around to discuss assessing skills that people need to engage in technology and distance learning. I?d be very much interested in what List Subscribers think about that discussion and Laura?s questions below. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [ mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Laura Chenven Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:45 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 842] Re: Questions for discussion Let me raise another question. I am new to this list so it may be something that many of you have already discussed. I work with a national labor/management partnership that supports training and education for the incumbent healthcare workforce. We are supporting several distance learning and hybrid nursing programs. Because these programs are asynchronous for the most part and can fit into many workers busy schedules, there is a great deal of interest in them. However, because we realize that distance learning may not be the best modality for everyone, we want to be able to be able to screen for students who are most likely to be successful in this kind of program and also pinpoint other students who may be successful with some extra help up front. I'd love to hear others experiences with this type of screening. Do you find it necessary? Is it helpful? What have you learned. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Laura Chenven H-CAP National Coordinator 202 257-7108 lchenven at 1199etjsp.org From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [ mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It?s very quiet out there! I?ve had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) ? and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs ? getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F (?face-to-face?)/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ . . ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to shannony at umich.edu -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tina_luffman at yc.edu From KHinson at almanid.com Fri Jul 13 16:38:58 2007 From: KHinson at almanid.com (Katrina Hinson) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:38:58 +0200 Subject: [Assessment 863] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! In-Reply-To: References: <0d3b01c7c54f$a8d8b090$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <4697AA8E.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> We do pre and post testing face to face with DL students as well. They test in a group environment at least for the Pre Test. The post test are usually scheduled with me after so many hours of instruction and progress as we work towards their GED test. If they're not post tested before the end of a session, we'll bring them in as fits their schedule to get their post testing done. Flexibility has definitely been a key component of the DL process. One of the things I'm learning from the DL students is not that they don't want face to face interaction but don't have the time or resources to come to class as often as they would like to and DL provides them an avenue to make progress and positive steps forward in a way that fits their life commitments. Regards, Katrina Hinson >>> 7/13/2007 11:51 am >>> Hi Marie, We normally do posttesting in a group setting to save instructor time and energy. One teacher has offered posttesting done at the same time she is giving pretesting when she does orientations. She will send out an invitation to her online students to come in at a certain time, and she has had some success with that setup. She does these on Saturdays. She also has her students make arrangements with the campus instructor to do posttesting for her. I ask dl students to come to campus during the face-to-face (f2f) week of posttesting and give them a list of locations and times for them to give flexibility. I do posttesting one week per month. By the end of the semester, many students have come to at least one of these sessions. I also try to get the student to stay for the entire three hours class period to encourage some personal interaction with the staff and other students as well as to ask questions in person. Because these students enter our program in group orienatations with the f2f students, the followup posttesting in group settings with other students is a natural process and seems to be a welcoming system. We also do go out of our way to accommodate students with individual posttesting. Some students are actually nervous about meeting in groups, and others have scheduling or transportation issues that we are willing to work around within reason. Thanks, Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu From KHinson at almanid.com Fri Jul 13 16:47:25 2007 From: KHinson at almanid.com (Katrina Hinson) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:47:25 +0200 Subject: [Assessment 864] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! In-Reply-To: <0da401c7c56f$068d1720$0302a8c0@LITNOW> References: <0da401c7c56f$068d1720$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <4697AC89.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> DL isn't always purely Distant. Students get stuck with a problem, or have an issue and he or she may not understand an area and may need some momentary face to face interaction with a real person. My DL students know that I teach from 8-3 but that any time after 3 they can come in and meet with me. I'll even give up my lunch time if need be to meet with my students. Additionally, I will give my DL students my IM information and they know they can find me online if they want "real" time interaction outside of my normal workday hours. The NRS requirments for DL were just recently posted to the list. One of the requirements mentioned in the document is that pre and post testing has to be done face to face. We already require our students to do that and all GED practice tests have to be done online. Additionally, one thing we've found is that it's helpful to have some kind of face to face interaction with the students. It's not as impersonal as it could be if the DL student didn't see a warm face and know they could really get the help they needed if they have questions or problems. Regards, Katrina Hinson >>> "Marie Cora" 7/13/2007 12:58 pm >>> (My apologies if you are receiving duplicates of any posts) Hi Jennifer - thanks so much for this. Yes, I didn't make myself that clear in my post, but your reply definitely speaks to some of the questions that I do have. I was indeed asking about what you discuss below: I am interested in how post-testing might get accomplished when you can be in f2f situations, and whether or not being able to group students together would make any difference at all. But I was also wondering (and I'm showing the true colors of my lack of knowledge around the details of DL - but that's ok because I am here to learn) these things: -I assume that some DL is purely DL - no f2f (is that right?) -If so, how do you use required tests that do not lend themselves to on-line delivery? -And if post-assessment *can* be accomplished purely on-line, are there ways to make that post-test more of a group task, which might lead to more people completing that piece of the puzzle? (this group task idea is obviously an assumption on my part) Ok, thanks and looking forward to hearing what people's experiences are with this. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: Jennifer A. Rafferty [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jennifer A. Rafferty Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 10:06 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: RE: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Hi Marie, I don't know if I understood you correctly, but logistically it is not always possible to get the dl learners together to be post-tested. In Massachusetts, our dl programs run with an open enrollment schedule, so students start at different times and they accumulate "seat time" hours at different rates depending on the intensity of their studying. As is with the orientation process, our programs have to be prepared to provide support individually if the timing for orientation and pre/post-testing doesn't fit the learners' schedules. I have seen some dl students go to classroom-based programs when post-testing is being conducted in a group. This seems to be a good logistical set-up, to look at the scheduling of post-testing for classroom programs in the agency, and send the dl learner to be post-tested there if it fits their schedule and scenario. When I was teaching in a dl ESOL program back in 2003, we were using the BEST to assess learners and it was challenging to coordinate because each learner needed to be assessed individually and the test needed to be administrated by another instructor. We ended up doing an exchange where I would assess classroom learners and a classroom teacher came to my program to assess my distance learners. Jennifer Rafferty jennifer.rafferty at umb.edu -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Fri 7/13/2007 9:13 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. Today is our final day of conversation with Jennifer and Shannon on assessment in distance learning. I encourage you to post your questions and experiences now. I'm looking forward to reading the replies from yesterday's posts. Here's my next thought on this, I'm back to Post-Testing: does DL post-testing ever involve groups of learners together? Or is it usually a unilateral event for that one student? I'm asking because I know this is a tough area, and I was wondering if some amount of work with peers might alter this. What are people's thoughts and experiences on this? Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to khinson at almanid.com From djrosen at comcast.net Sat Jul 14 18:40:21 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 18:40:21 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 865] GED Outcomes and Earnings Discussion with Dr. John Tyler Message-ID: <2E60E47A-8503-49EC-9C3A-D700DFE753ED@comcast.net> Colleagues, On July 23rd, on the National Institute for Literacy Special Topics list, we will begin discussing the General Educational Development (GED) diploma outcomes research of Dr. John Tyler. Dr. Tyler is Associate Professor of Education, Economics, and Public Policy at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. An applied microeconomist, his research focuses on what is happening to low- skilled individuals in today's high-skill economy. He is regarded as one of the nation's experts on the economic returns to the General Educational Development (GED) certificate. Dr. Tyler's interests also include school reform issues, program evaluation, and quantitative research methods. Dr. Tyler will take our questions from the week's discussion, will respond to them the following Monday, and will continue to respond to follow-up questions throughout the week of July 30th. You or your colleagues who may wish to join this discussion can subscribe by going to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics After you complete the simple registration form (30 seconds) you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you wish to subscribe. Immediately reply to the email to complete your subscription. After the discussion ends you can unsubscribe from the same Web address, or stay on for the next discussion. To prepare for this discussion please look at a 30-minute video discussion with John Tyler; teacher, Sara Fass; and professional development coordinator, Sue Snider. The video panel discussion focuses on the economic benefits that accrue to holders of the GED credential. It was based on a review by John Tyler of eight (published and working) research papers on the GED. Several of these papers were authored by John Tyler, Richard Murnane, and John Willett, researchers with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) whose work has influenced what we know about the economic benefits of the GED. http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/ged/webcast_ged.html The following readings, mentioned in the video panel discussion, would also be useful preparation for this discussion: NCSALL GED Research Briefs http://www.ncsall.net/?id=27 Seven briefs by John Tyler are linked on this page, among which are: "The Economic Benefits of the GED: A Research Synthesis", "So You Want a GED? Estimating the Impact of the GED on the Earnings of Dropouts Who Seek the Credential", "Who Benefits from Obtaining a GED? Evidence from High School and Beyond", and "Estimating the Labor Market Signaling Value of the GED" Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmins/resources/teach/beyond_ged.pdf The following additional GED research articles by John Tyler will be found in .pdf on his Web page at http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Education/personnel.php? who=jhtyler#pubs 2005 - "Is the GED an Effective Route to Postsecondary Education?" 2004 - "Does the GED Improve Earnings? Estimates from a Sample of Both Successful and Unsuccessful GED Candidates?" Industrial and Labor Relations Review 57:4 (2004), 579-98. 2004 - "The Devil?s in the Details: Evidence from the GED on the Large Effects of Small Differences in High Stakes Exams ". Economics of Education Review 23:4 (2004), 336-49. With Richard J. Murnane and John B. Willett. GED teachers, especially, will find the following publication of GED outcomes data -- intended to be used by GED teachers and their students -- of special interest. It was written by Sara Fass and Barbara Garner in 2000, and updated by Eileen Barry in 2006. "Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future" http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1099 I look forward to having you join us in this discussion. David J. Rosen Special Topics Discussion Moderator djrosen at comcast.net From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Thu Jul 12 12:25:39 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:25:39 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 866] National Commission on Adult Literacy Web Site Message-ID: <9A530714-C566-4C8B-9888-AFB2F037A832@caalusa.org> Colleagues, You may be interested in the new web site of the National Commission on Adult Literacy. It was launched just yesterday and can be found at: www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org. As part of the site launch, the Commission is also making publicly available a DVD presentation made to the Commission on April 17th. It is a 17-minute talk about major findings of the New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce by Marc Tucker, president of the National Center for Education and the Economy and New Commission study director. The DVD may be viewed online on either Mac or PC platforms. It is the first entry on the PUBLICATIONS page. Gail S Gail Spangenberg President Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl New York, NY 10020 212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610 www.caalusa.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070712/aa95d7a2/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Jul 16 09:41:26 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:41:26 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 867] Discussion thanks Message-ID: <0fca01c7c7af$02c41e80$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Dear Colleagues, I would like to thank our guests, Shannon Young and Jennifer Rafferty, for taking the time to share their experiences with us in last week's discussion on assessment in distance learning. I encourage subscribers to check out the resources that were shared, and if you do, let us know what you think. Thanks also to those subscribers who posted their questions and thoughts on this topic. For now, if you have just subscribed to the List, you can read the discussion at the archives. Go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment and click on Read Current Posted Messages dated from last week. I will also prepare the discussion in user-friendly format and post it at the archives; I'll send email when it's ready - probably in about a week. If people still have thoughts on this topic, please feel free to carry on with the discussion. Thanks! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070716/2b930d61/attachment.html From teacherwendyq at gmail.com Mon Jul 16 09:53:43 2007 From: teacherwendyq at gmail.com (Wendy Quinones) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:53:43 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 868] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Both these links worked fine, Shannon -- thanks! I can't imagine what the problem was before, unless it was some Microsoft whimsy that day. Who can account for Bill Gates's moods? :-) Wendy On 7/13/07, Shannon Young wrote: > > Hi Wendy, > > I didn't have trouble with either link. Would you try again? Perhaps > your browser handles things differently from mine. If neither works for > you, you can find the "Is Distance for Me?" quizzes on each site by going to > their Distance Learning pages. For Guilford (www.gtcc.edu), go to > Distance Learning (right hand menu on the home page) and then to the submenu > Getting Started. For Pima, (www.pima.edu) it's in Courses and Degrees, > submenu Distance Learning. > > Pima: *http://www.pima.edu/cgi-bin/onlineReadiness/quiz.pl > * > Guilford: http://www.gtcc.edu/distance/dlForMe.html > > > I hope this helps! > > Thanks, Shannon > > On 7/13/07 3:04 PM, "Wendy Quinones" wrote: > > Sorry for coming in late on this, but a couple of the pre-screening links > Shannon gave us are dead -- the Pima Community College and Guilford > Technical College ones. They sound terrific, so I'd really like to find > them! > > Wendy Quinones > > > > > Shannon J. Young > Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online > Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & > Technology > Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan > > 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 > Ph: (734) 763-5325 > Fax: (734) 615-6638 > Email: shannony at umich.edu > Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070716/8a1fb8ae/attachment.html From lchenven at 1199funds.org Mon Jul 16 09:57:30 2007 From: lchenven at 1199funds.org (Laura Chenven) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:57:30 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 869] FW: Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Message-ID: Even though this discussion is officially over, we can still talk about the subject I hope. The Healthcare Career Advancement Program is, among other things, working with several labor management partnerships on distance learning nursing programs. One of the things we are interested in is the interaction between students and instructors. In some instances we understand that there is even more interaction in DL than would be possible in some of the lecture hall classes that many students experience in general education and nursing lecture courses. We are also looking at the issue of sheltered entry to college utilizing distance learning. For example, workers who have been out of school a long time often have difficulty making the transition to college and need a lot of support as they are beginning their gen ed courses and pre-requisites for nursing. We are considering a hybrid on-ground/on-line entry to college that starts with more classroom face time (and group computer time) and ends with more individual and asynchronous on line time. We think this would be particularly helpful for students interested in on line programs who need to get up to speed with using the computer and getting into distance learning. Do any of you have examples of these kinds of programs? Thanks, Laura ChenvenH-CAP National Coordinator P.O. Box 5688 Takoma Park, MD 20913 202 257-7108 lchenven at 1199funds.org -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Katrina Hinson Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 4:47 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 864] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! DL isn't always purely Distant. Students get stuck with a problem, or have an issue and he or she may not understand an area and may need some momentary face to face interaction with a real person. My DL students know that I teach from 8-3 but that any time after 3 they can come in and meet with me. I'll even give up my lunch time if need be to meet with my students. Additionally, I will give my DL students my IM information and they know they can find me online if they want "real" time interaction outside of my normal workday hours. The NRS requirments for DL were just recently posted to the list. One of the requirements mentioned in the document is that pre and post testing has to be done face to face. We already require our students to do that and all GED practice tests have to be done online. Additionally, one thing we've found is that it's helpful to have some kind of face to face interaction with the students. It's not as impersonal as it could be if the DL student didn't see a warm face and know they could really get the help they needed if they have questions or problems. Regards, Katrina Hinson >>> "Marie Cora" 7/13/2007 12:58 pm >>> (My apologies if you are receiving duplicates of any posts) Hi Jennifer - thanks so much for this. Yes, I didn't make myself that clear in my post, but your reply definitely speaks to some of the questions that I do have. I was indeed asking about what you discuss below: I am interested in how post-testing might get accomplished when you can be in f2f situations, and whether or not being able to group students together would make any difference at all. But I was also wondering (and I'm showing the true colors of my lack of knowledge around the details of DL - but that's ok because I am here to learn) these things: -I assume that some DL is purely DL - no f2f (is that right?) -If so, how do you use required tests that do not lend themselves to on-line delivery? -And if post-assessment *can* be accomplished purely on-line, are there ways to make that post-test more of a group task, which might lead to more people completing that piece of the puzzle? (this group task idea is obviously an assumption on my part) Ok, thanks and looking forward to hearing what people's experiences are with this. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: Jennifer A. Rafferty [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jennifer A. Rafferty Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 10:06 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: RE: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Hi Marie, I don't know if I understood you correctly, but logistically it is not always possible to get the dl learners together to be post-tested. In Massachusetts, our dl programs run with an open enrollment schedule, so students start at different times and they accumulate "seat time" hours at different rates depending on the intensity of their studying. As is with the orientation process, our programs have to be prepared to provide support individually if the timing for orientation and pre/post-testing doesn't fit the learners' schedules. I have seen some dl students go to classroom-based programs when post-testing is being conducted in a group. This seems to be a good logistical set-up, to look at the scheduling of post-testing for classroom programs in the agency, and send the dl learner to be post-tested there if it fits their schedule and scenario. When I was teaching in a dl ESOL program back in 2003, we were using the BEST to assess learners and it was challenging to coordinate because each learner needed to be assessed individually and the test needed to be administrated by another instructor. We ended up doing an exchange where I would assess classroom learners and a classroom teacher came to my program to assess my distance learners. Jennifer Rafferty jennifer.rafferty at umb.edu -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Fri 7/13/2007 9:13 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. Today is our final day of conversation with Jennifer and Shannon on assessment in distance learning. I encourage you to post your questions and experiences now. I'm looking forward to reading the replies from yesterday's posts. Here's my next thought on this, I'm back to Post-Testing: does DL post-testing ever involve groups of learners together? Or is it usually a unilateral event for that one student? I'm asking because I know this is a tough area, and I was wondering if some amount of work with peers might alter this. What are people's thoughts and experiences on this? Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to khinson at almanid.com ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lchenven at 1199etjsp.org . ?Please note that the email address for the person you are corresponding with has changed. The new address is listed above. Please use this new address in all future correspondence. Thank you? Health care information is personal and sensitive information. If such information is being emailed to you, it is after appropriate authorization from the patient or under circumstances that do not require patient authorization. You, the recipient, are obligated to maintain it in a safe, secure and confidential manner. Re-disclosure without additional patient consent or as permitted by law is prohibited. Unauthorized re-disclosure or failure to maintain confidentiality could subject you to penalties described in federal and state law. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the related message. From Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu Mon Jul 16 10:34:06 2007 From: Jennifer.Rafferty at umb.edu (Jennifer A. Rafferty) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:34:06 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 870] Re: FW: Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! References: Message-ID: Hi Laura, Thanks for posting. The hybrid/blended program that you describe with more face-to-face in the beginning phase of enrollment is an approach that we have used in MA with our distance learning pilot programs. While we never coined it as a model per se, we discussed what we recognized as a trend with some learners who gradually made their way into the independent learning mode. I always imagine a spectrum when I see distance learners. At one end is the group that enters and can immediately engage in distance learning because they have the independent learning skills and other skills needed to persist. At the other end of the spectrum are those who require a blended model with more face-to-face time. Some of these learners who start with the blended model eventually move on the spectrum towards the independent learning mode as they gain comfort with the new delivery. Others continue to need regular face-to-face support. In short, we have used a flexible approach that addresses the needs of the individual. Jennifer -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Laura Chenven Sent: Mon 7/16/2007 9:57 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 869] FW: Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Even though this discussion is officially over, we can still talk about the subject I hope. The Healthcare Career Advancement Program is, among other things, working with several labor management partnerships on distance learning nursing programs. One of the things we are interested in is the interaction between students and instructors. In some instances we understand that there is even more interaction in DL than would be possible in some of the lecture hall classes that many students experience in general education and nursing lecture courses. We are also looking at the issue of sheltered entry to college utilizing distance learning. For example, workers who have been out of school a long time often have difficulty making the transition to college and need a lot of support as they are beginning their gen ed courses and pre-requisites for nursing. We are considering a hybrid on-ground/on-line entry to college that starts with more classroom face time (and group computer time) and ends with more individual and asynchronous on line time. We think this would be particularly helpful for students interested in on line programs who need to get up to speed with using the computer and getting into distance learning. Do any of you have examples of these kinds of programs? Thanks, Laura ChenvenH-CAP National Coordinator P.O. Box 5688 Takoma Park, MD 20913 202 257-7108 lchenven at 1199funds.org -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Katrina Hinson Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 4:47 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 864] Re: Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! DL isn't always purely Distant. Students get stuck with a problem, or have an issue and he or she may not understand an area and may need some momentary face to face interaction with a real person. My DL students know that I teach from 8-3 but that any time after 3 they can come in and meet with me. I'll even give up my lunch time if need be to meet with my students. Additionally, I will give my DL students my IM information and they know they can find me online if they want "real" time interaction outside of my normal workday hours. The NRS requirments for DL were just recently posted to the list. One of the requirements mentioned in the document is that pre and post testing has to be done face to face. We already require our students to do that and all GED practice tests have to be done online. Additionally, one thing we've found is that it's helpful to have some kind of face to face interaction with the students. It's not as impersonal as it could be if the DL student didn't see a warm face and know they could really get the help they needed if they have questions or problems. Regards, Katrina Hinson >>> "Marie Cora" 7/13/2007 12:58 pm >>> (My apologies if you are receiving duplicates of any posts) Hi Jennifer - thanks so much for this. Yes, I didn't make myself that clear in my post, but your reply definitely speaks to some of the questions that I do have. I was indeed asking about what you discuss below: I am interested in how post-testing might get accomplished when you can be in f2f situations, and whether or not being able to group students together would make any difference at all. But I was also wondering (and I'm showing the true colors of my lack of knowledge around the details of DL - but that's ok because I am here to learn) these things: -I assume that some DL is purely DL - no f2f (is that right?) -If so, how do you use required tests that do not lend themselves to on-line delivery? -And if post-assessment *can* be accomplished purely on-line, are there ways to make that post-test more of a group task, which might lead to more people completing that piece of the puzzle? (this group task idea is obviously an assumption on my part) Ok, thanks and looking forward to hearing what people's experiences are with this. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: Jennifer A. Rafferty [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jennifer A. Rafferty Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 10:06 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: RE: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Hi Marie, I don't know if I understood you correctly, but logistically it is not always possible to get the dl learners together to be post-tested. In Massachusetts, our dl programs run with an open enrollment schedule, so students start at different times and they accumulate "seat time" hours at different rates depending on the intensity of their studying. As is with the orientation process, our programs have to be prepared to provide support individually if the timing for orientation and pre/post-testing doesn't fit the learners' schedules. I have seen some dl students go to classroom-based programs when post-testing is being conducted in a group. This seems to be a good logistical set-up, to look at the scheduling of post-testing for classroom programs in the agency, and send the dl learner to be post-tested there if it fits their schedule and scenario. When I was teaching in a dl ESOL program back in 2003, we were using the BEST to assess learners and it was challenging to coordinate because each learner needed to be assessed individually and the test needed to be administrated by another instructor. We ended up doing an exchange where I would assess classroom learners and a classroom teacher came to my program to assess my distance learners. Jennifer Rafferty jennifer.rafferty at umb.edu -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Marie Cora Sent: Fri 7/13/2007 9:13 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 855] Final Day for DL Assessment discussion! Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. Today is our final day of conversation with Jennifer and Shannon on assessment in distance learning. I encourage you to post your questions and experiences now. I'm looking forward to reading the replies from yesterday's posts. Here's my next thought on this, I'm back to Post-Testing: does DL post-testing ever involve groups of learners together? Or is it usually a unilateral event for that one student? I'm asking because I know this is a tough area, and I was wondering if some amount of work with peers might alter this. What are people's thoughts and experiences on this? Thanks, Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to khinson at almanid.com ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lchenven at 1199etjsp.org . "Please note that the email address for the person you are corresponding with has changed. The new address is listed above. Please use this new address in all future correspondence. Thank you" Health care information is personal and sensitive information. If such information is being emailed to you, it is after appropriate authorization from the patient or under circumstances that do not require patient authorization. You, the recipient, are obligated to maintain it in a safe, secure and confidential manner. Re-disclosure without additional patient consent or as permitted by law is prohibited. Unauthorized re-disclosure or failure to maintain confidentiality could subject you to penalties described in federal and state law. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the related message. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 7613 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070716/17ea5c3f/attachment.bin From djrosen at comcast.net Mon Jul 16 13:12:19 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:12:19 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 871] NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment In-Reply-To: <85268246A4FDDC419FFAEC9BE229211D01E40F22@smtp.doemass.org> References: <85268246A4FDDC419FFAEC9BE229211D01E40F22@smtp.doemass.org> Message-ID: <102918D9-C939-4AC1-9403-EE55E3CA6F2A@comcast.net> Assessment colleagues, Here's a follow-up to the discussion on distance learning assessment. I have a question about the changes to the NRS guidelines for distance education learners. ( http://www.nrsweb.org. Look under What's New.) Item 3: "For NRS reporting, states can count a student only once, as either a distance education student or traditional classroom learner." Presumably that means the student can be counted only once annually, and that the program needs to decide if the student is _primarily_ a distance learning student or _primarily_ a face-to-face (classroom or tutorial) student. Presumably this gives programs and students the freedom to offer distance learning options and face-to-face options to the same student within the year, that a face-to-face student could also have supplemental online learning. Presumably, the intent of this is to avoid double-counting the same person, not to restrict how students access learning (whether distance learning or face-to- face or both). Donna Cornellier, or Larry Condelli, are my presumptions correct? Thanks, David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Jul 11, 2007, at 4:08 PM, Cornellier, Donna wrote: > Hi Marie, > > I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that > were sent out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from > Cheryl Keenan. The distance education policy includes a definition > of distance learners, guidance on how to measure contact hours for > the learners, and describes assessment and reporting requirements > which are summarized in the memo. It will be an interesting > discussion around how states implement these policies, and you have > posed some great questions below. > > Thanks, > Donna Cornellier > Massachusetts NRS Trainer > > > From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] > Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion > > Hi everyone, > > > > It?s very quiet out there! I?ve had many new subscribers join our > List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have > questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post > them now! > > > > Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has > already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests > Shannon and Jennifer: > > > > Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important > follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within > professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) ? and I > know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. > The same goes for regular classroom-based programs ? getting full > test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in > hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get > DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. > > > > Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in > this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of > measures to help demonstrate achievement? > > > > Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are > you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels > of funding; timing; some F2F (?face-to-face?)/no F2F; staffing; etc)? > > > > Thanks!! > > > Marie Cora > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net From LCondelli at air.org Mon Jul 16 14:47:46 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:47:46 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 872] Re: NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment In-Reply-To: <102918D9-C939-4AC1-9403-EE55E3CA6F2A@comcast.net> Message-ID: Hi David, Yes, your are correct in your interpretation. The only intent for NRS purposes is to avoid double counting, while at the same time giving states as much latitude as possible to provide both distance and other instruction. States need only explain (in their distance education policy) how they make the determination for counting purposes. -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 1:12 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 871] NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment Assessment colleagues, Here's a follow-up to the discussion on distance learning assessment. I have a question about the changes to the NRS guidelines for distance education learners. ( http://www.nrsweb.org. Look under What's New.) Item 3: "For NRS reporting, states can count a student only once, as either a distance education student or traditional classroom learner." Presumably that means the student can be counted only once annually, and that the program needs to decide if the student is _primarily_ a distance learning student or _primarily_ a face-to-face (classroom or tutorial) student. Presumably this gives programs and students the freedom to offer distance learning options and face-to-face options to the same student within the year, that a face-to-face student could also have supplemental online learning. Presumably, the intent of this is to avoid double-counting the same person, not to restrict how students access learning (whether distance learning or face-to- face or both). Donna Cornellier, or Larry Condelli, are my presumptions correct? Thanks, David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Jul 11, 2007, at 4:08 PM, Cornellier, Donna wrote: > Hi Marie, > > I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that were > sent out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from Cheryl > Keenan. The distance education policy includes a definition of > distance learners, guidance on how to measure contact hours for the > learners, and describes assessment and reporting requirements which > are summarized in the memo. It will be an interesting discussion > around how states implement these policies, and you have posed some > great questions below. > > Thanks, > Donna Cornellier > Massachusetts NRS Trainer > > > From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] > Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion > > Hi everyone, > > > > It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our > List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have > questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them > now! > > > > Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has > already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests > Shannon and Jennifer: > > > > Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important > follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within > professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I > know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. > The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full > test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in > hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get > DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. > > > > Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in > this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of > measures to help demonstrate achievement? > > > > Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are > you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels > of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? > > > > Thanks!! > > > Marie Cora > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lcondelli at air.org From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Jul 16 15:50:41 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:50:41 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 873] AE Content Standards Warehouse redesign Message-ID: <108a01c7c7e2$97c3db00$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following message is from Cheryl Keenan. ************************************************************************ ************** I would like to take this opportunity to announce the redesign of the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse Website, which provides materials to support the planning, development, alignment, and implementation of content standards for adult education. We have revised the site to be more user-friendly and accessible to the viewer, based on input from the field and a usability evaluation. Please visit the revised site at , which I encourage you to bookmark for future reference. On this site, you can find content standards from a variety of states and organizations in the areas of English language acquisition, reading, and mathematics; relevant national and international standards; professional development materials for standards-based education reform; and A Process Guide for Developing Adult Education Content Standards. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) operates the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse Website through a contract with the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, US Department of Education. Cheryl Keenan Director, Division of Adult Education and Literacy Office of Vocational and Adult Education U.S. Department of Education 550 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20202-7240 Cheryl.Keenan at ed.gov (202) 245-7721 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070716/64c95860/attachment.html From shannony at umich.edu Mon Jul 16 16:41:17 2007 From: shannony at umich.edu (Shannon Young) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:41:17 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 874] Re: NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment In-Reply-To: Message-ID: The primary counting issue we've seen so far has to do with hybrid or blended learning students. In some instances, students study in a classroom program for some months and then switch to distance learning (e.g., during winter months). Does an agency assign status based on which program (classroom or distance) the student entered first? on which approach accumulated more hours?, etc. In other instances, the student may participate in a combination of distance and classroom study concurrently. At what point do you determine whether a student should be considered a distance or classroom learner? And, what are the benefits/drawbacks of counting them one way or the other? Traditionally, counting "seat time" hours has been used to determine when to post-test a student. Now that both distance and classroom hours can be accumulated, what impact, if any, should this have on post-testing timeframes? We will be working with Project IDEAL states this August on developing their policies and plans for counting distance learners using the new NRS guidelines. We will also have a paper (due out this fall) that addresses some of these questions. What other questions are you exploring as you review the new NRS guidelines and think about the ramifications for data collection and reporting? Thanks, Shannon -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org On 7/16/07 2:47 PM, "Condelli, Larry" wrote: > Hi David, > > Yes, your are correct in your interpretation. The only intent for NRS > purposes is to avoid double counting, while at the same time giving > states as much latitude as possible to provide both distance and other > instruction. States need only explain (in their distance education > policy) how they make the determination for counting purposes. > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 1:12 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 871] NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning > Assessment > > Assessment colleagues, > > Here's a follow-up to the discussion on distance learning assessment. I > have a question about the changes to the NRS > guidelines for distance education learners. ( http://www.nrsweb.org. > Look under What's New.) > > Item 3: "For NRS reporting, states can count a student only once, as > either a distance education student or traditional classroom learner." > > Presumably that means the student can be counted only once annually, and > that the program needs to decide if the student is _primarily_ a > distance learning student or _primarily_ a face-to-face (classroom or > tutorial) student. Presumably this gives programs and students the > freedom to offer distance learning options and face-to-face options to > the same student within the year, that a face-to-face student could also > have supplemental online learning. Presumably, the intent of this is to > avoid double-counting the same person, not to restrict how students > access learning (whether distance learning or face-to- face or both). > > Donna Cornellier, or Larry Condelli, are my presumptions correct? > > Thanks, > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net From VenuT at lacnyc.org Mon Jul 16 16:46:18 2007 From: VenuT at lacnyc.org (Venu Thelakkat) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:46:18 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 875] Re: NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB84C3FF3@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Larry, Where exactly would the double counting happen? If I understand the new reporting policy correctly, states are being required to submit two new tables, 4c and 5a, just for distance learning students but to include all students in the old NRS tables 1 - 6. This tells me that 4c is a subset of table 4 and 5a is a subset of table 5. On which table would we make the mistake of counting a student who is enrolled in both distance learning and traditional classroom instruction twice? We already make sure we don't double count students enrolled in more than one class. Is this not similar? Venu Thelakkat Director of ALIES/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th Floor New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 803-3370 Fax: (212) 785-3685 Email: venut at lacnyc.org Web: www.alies.org -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Condelli, Larry Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 2:48 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 872] Re: NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment Hi David, Yes, your are correct in your interpretation. The only intent for NRS purposes is to avoid double counting, while at the same time giving states as much latitude as possible to provide both distance and other instruction. States need only explain (in their distance education policy) how they make the determination for counting purposes. -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 1:12 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 871] NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment Assessment colleagues, Here's a follow-up to the discussion on distance learning assessment. I have a question about the changes to the NRS guidelines for distance education learners. ( http://www.nrsweb.org. Look under What's New.) Item 3: "For NRS reporting, states can count a student only once, as either a distance education student or traditional classroom learner." Presumably that means the student can be counted only once annually, and that the program needs to decide if the student is _primarily_ a distance learning student or _primarily_ a face-to-face (classroom or tutorial) student. Presumably this gives programs and students the freedom to offer distance learning options and face-to-face options to the same student within the year, that a face-to-face student could also have supplemental online learning. Presumably, the intent of this is to avoid double-counting the same person, not to restrict how students access learning (whether distance learning or face-to- face or both). Donna Cornellier, or Larry Condelli, are my presumptions correct? Thanks, David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Jul 11, 2007, at 4:08 PM, Cornellier, Donna wrote: > Hi Marie, > > I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that were > sent out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from Cheryl > Keenan. The distance education policy includes a definition of > distance learners, guidance on how to measure contact hours for the > learners, and describes assessment and reporting requirements which > are summarized in the memo. It will be an interesting discussion > around how states implement these policies, and you have posed some > great questions below. > > Thanks, > Donna Cornellier > Massachusetts NRS Trainer > > > From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] > Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion > > Hi everyone, > > > > It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our > List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have > questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them > now! > > > > Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has > already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests > Shannon and Jennifer: > > > > Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important > follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within > professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I > know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. > The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full > test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in > hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get > DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. > > > > Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in > this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of > measures to help demonstrate achievement? > > > > Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are > you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels > of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? > > > > Thanks!! > > > Marie Cora > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lcondelli at air.org ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to venut at lacnyc.org From KHinson at almanid.com Mon Jul 16 21:06:00 2007 From: KHinson at almanid.com (Katrina Hinson) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 03:06:00 +0200 Subject: [Assessment 876] Re: NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment In-Reply-To: References: <102918D9-C939-4AC1-9403-EE55E3CA6F2A@comcast.net> Message-ID: <469BDDB2.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> Ok, How does this work if say for instance, a student is enrolled in a physical class that runs from 8-12 and then is enrolled in a distance learning class for time outside the 8-12 boundary or for day he/she is absent. They are only counted once even though that is two separate classes, rosters and contracts? Regards, Katrina >>> "Condelli, Larry" 7/16/2007 2:47 pm >>> Hi David, Yes, your are correct in your interpretation. The only intent for NRS purposes is to avoid double counting, while at the same time giving states as much latitude as possible to provide both distance and other instruction. States need only explain (in their distance education policy) how they make the determination for counting purposes. -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 1:12 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 871] NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment Assessment colleagues, Here's a follow-up to the discussion on distance learning assessment. I have a question about the changes to the NRS guidelines for distance education learners. ( http://www.nrsweb.org. Look under What's New.) Item 3: "For NRS reporting, states can count a student only once, as either a distance education student or traditional classroom learner." Presumably that means the student can be counted only once annually, and that the program needs to decide if the student is _primarily_ a distance learning student or _primarily_ a face-to-face (classroom or tutorial) student. Presumably this gives programs and students the freedom to offer distance learning options and face-to-face options to the same student within the year, that a face-to-face student could also have supplemental online learning. Presumably, the intent of this is to avoid double-counting the same person, not to restrict how students access learning (whether distance learning or face-to- face or both). Donna Cornellier, or Larry Condelli, are my presumptions correct? Thanks, David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Jul 11, 2007, at 4:08 PM, Cornellier, Donna wrote: > Hi Marie, > > I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that were > sent out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from Cheryl > Keenan. The distance education policy includes a definition of > distance learners, guidance on how to measure contact hours for the > learners, and describes assessment and reporting requirements which > are summarized in the memo. It will be an interesting discussion > around how states implement these policies, and you have posed some > great questions below. > > Thanks, > Donna Cornellier > Massachusetts NRS Trainer > > > From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] > Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion > > Hi everyone, > > > > It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our > List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have > questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them > now! > > > > Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has > already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests > Shannon and Jennifer: > > > > Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important > follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within > professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I > know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. > The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full > test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in > hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get > DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. > > > > Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in > this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of > measures to help demonstrate achievement? > > > > Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are > you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels > of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? > > > > Thanks!! > > > Marie Cora > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lcondelli at air.org ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to khinson at almanid.com From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jul 17 00:17:35 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:17:35 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 877] Financial Literacy Discussion Announcement Message-ID: <10dd01c7c829$67d42840$0302a8c0@LITNOW> On the family literacy list there will be a discussion on financial literacy starting July 18th. If you are interesting in partaking in this discussion, you can subscribe to the list by going to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/familyliteracy If you would like to subscribe only for the discussion, you can unsubscribe at the same Web page when the discussion is over.. Here is the discussion announcement from Gail Price, the family and literacy discussion list facilitator: We will hold a discussion about financial literacy on the National Institute for Literacy Family Literacy discussion list during the week of July 18 -20. Our guest for this discussion will be Margo Waddell, Senior Program Specialist and Project Manager, National Center for Family Literacy. We will discuss: * What financial literacy is. * What the goals and purposes of financial literacy programs are. * Why financial literacy is important. * Where you can find resources in your community. * Lessons learned regarding instruction; adult and pre-school. * Ages and stages for financial education instruction. * Family involvement in financial planning. * ...and more Background Reading Visit the Verizon Thinkfinity Web site at http://literacynetwork.verizon.org/Family-Literacy.115.0.html to explore the following resources Basic Intergenerational Financial Literacy Resources - Four user friendly resources for teachers and adult learners. Family Money Matters: Exploring the World of Economics - More resources for teaching Basic Intergenerational Financial Literacy. Biography of Guest Margo Waddell, a senior program specialist and project manager with the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL), currently is the project manager for NCFL??*s Financial Education partnership with Women 4 Women. In partnership with the National Endowment for Financial Education, she is piloting a new curriculum for adult learners, Financial Opportunity: Family Progress, and has co-authored both an instruction guide for implementing the curriculum and a Family Financial Play Pack for pre-school children to explore at home with their parents. Margo began her work in family literacy co-coordinating one of the first National Barbara Bush Family Literacy grants at Western Suffolk BOCES, Dix Hills, New York, in 1990. She also provided technical assistance and professional development to Even Start family literacy programs across New York State for the Center for Family Resources in Mineola, New York. Margo joined the NCFL endorsed trainer network in 1995 and moved to Louisville to join the NCFL staff in 1998 as a project manager for the NCFL/UPS Careers for Families program. In 1992 she became project manager for the Family Independence Initiative. These programs demonstrated that family literacy is a practical solution to welfare reform and have been recognized by both the National Association of Welfare Statistics and the Welfare Information Network as promising practices. Questions We Will Discuss 1. How do you address financial literacy in your work now? 2. What are some financial literacy resources you have found helpful? 3. What source, if any, do you have for financial literacy resources? 4. What are some of the questions you are asked by students about financial matters? 5. What are the ages of the children in your programs and how are you introducing them to financial concepts? Gail J. Price Multimedia Specialist National Center for Family Literacy 325 W. Main Street, Suite 300 Louisville, KY 40202 gprice at famlit.org 502 584-1133, ext. 112 From mdaniels at proliteracy.org Wed Jul 18 12:59:10 2007 From: mdaniels at proliteracy.org (mdaniels) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:59:10 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 878] Model programs sought for performance accountability initiative Message-ID: <221E918332E818488687199E5CBD74CE065CAC6B@keats.proliteracy.org> WANTED: Model Programs for Performance Accountability Initiative DEADLINE! 5:00 PM EDT July 20, 2007 Join ProLiteracy America and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation in the three-year Dollar General/ProLiteracy Performance Accountability Initiative. Be one of eight model programs selected (in each year of the three years) to help identify promising practices in adult education and literacy program accountability. Your expertise and resources will be used to design training sessions that will help other programs improve their performance accountability. If your program can demonstrate success in the area of "Data Analysis for Program Decision-Making," ProLiteracy wants to hear from you! If you are selected, your program receives a small stipend, increased visibility, and the chance to impact others in the literacy and adult education field. Act NOW -- the deadline for accepting nominations is 5:00 PM EDT on Friday, July 20, 2007. Apply online at http://www.proliteracy.org/external/dg_pai.asp. Share this information with other programs you think would be a great resource. Thanks for your help in this important project (and your response by July 20!) Direct your questions to Melanie Daniels, project manager, via e-mail at mdaniels at proliteracy.org. From donnaedp at cox.net Thu Jul 19 08:37:30 2007 From: donnaedp at cox.net (Donna Chambers) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:37:30 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 879] Re: Questions for discussion References: <85268246A4FDDC419FFAEC9BE229211D01E40F22@smtp.doemass.org> Message-ID: <001601c7ca01$934f8a30$e884c848@DH89L251> Donna, I saw this on the Listserv, but didn't see the attachment that you sent out to State Directors. I would appreciate if you would send me the attachment. Thanks. Donna Chambers ----- Original Message ----- From: Cornellier, Donna To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:08 PM Subject: [Assessment 848] Re: Questions for discussion Hi Marie, I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that were sent out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from Cheryl Keenan. The distance education policy includes a definition of distance learners, guidance on how to measure contact hours for the learners, and describes assessment and reporting requirements which are summarized in the memo. It will be an interesting discussion around how states implement these policies, and you have posed some great questions below. Thanks, Donna Cornellier Massachusetts NRS Trainer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion Hi everyone, It's very quiet out there! I've had many new subscribers join our List, so I know this is of interest to you all. I know you have questions and I know you have experiences to share. Please post them now! Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and Jennifer: Post-testing: How is this done? How do you get that important follow-up measure from students? I have experience in DL within professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) - and I know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population. The same goes for regular classroom-based programs - getting full test scores can be really hard. So I am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test. Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard? Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help demonstrate achievement? Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing; some F2F ("face-to-face")/no F2F; staffing; etc)? Thanks!! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070719/83a60eb4/attachment.html From shannony at umich.edu Thu Jul 19 09:34:34 2007 From: shannony at umich.edu (Shannon Young) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:34:34 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 880] Re: NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment In-Reply-To: <469BDDB2.121C.00A0.0@almanid.com> Message-ID: Hi Katrina, I believe so. A student may only be counted one time even though he/she is enrolled in separate distance and classroom-based classes. Larry, would you confirm that this is the case? Thanks, Shannon -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org On 7/16/07 9:06 PM, "Katrina Hinson" wrote: > Ok, How does this work if say for instance, a student is enrolled in a > physical class that runs from 8-12 and then is enrolled in a distance learning > class for time outside the 8-12 boundary or for day he/she is absent. They > are only counted once even though that is two separate classes, rosters and > contracts? > > Regards, > Katrina > From shannony at umich.edu Thu Jul 19 09:50:24 2007 From: shannony at umich.edu (Shannon Young) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:50:24 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 881] Re: Questions for discussion In-Reply-To: <001601c7ca01$934f8a30$e884c848@DH89L251> Message-ID: Donna, The new guidelines document Donna Cornellier mentioned is posted on the NRS website in the second bullet in What?s New on the home page: www.nrsweb.org I didn?t see the memo from Cheryl Kenan. Shannon On 7/19/07 8:37 AM, "Donna Chambers" wrote: > Donna, > > I saw this on the Listserv, but didn't see the attachment that you sent out to > State Directors. I would appreciate if you would send me the attachment. > Thanks. Donna Chambers >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> >> From: Cornellier, Donna >> >> To: The Assessment Discussion List >> >> Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:08 PM >> >> Subject: [Assessment 848] Re: Questions for discussion >> >> >> >> Hi Marie, >> >> >> >> I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that were sent >> out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from Cheryl Keenan. The >> distance education policy includes a definition of distance learners, >> guidance on how to measure contact hours for the learners, and describes >> assessment and reporting requirements which are summarized in the memo. It >> will be an interesting discussion around how states implement these >> policies, and you have posed some great questions below. >> >> >> >> Thanks, >> >> Donna Cornellier >> >> Massachusetts NRS Trainer -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070719/f71ab9bc/attachment.html From LCondelli at air.org Thu Jul 19 10:43:47 2007 From: LCondelli at air.org (Condelli, Larry) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 10:43:47 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 882] Re: NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment References: Message-ID: Hi Shannon and Katrina, NRS requires a non-duplicated count of students. So the state has to have a policy on how to classify them (DL or not) for reporting. It's just the same as if a student took two separate classes at the same time -- they are only counted once in NRS. Of course you may have other procedures for local contracts, management, scheduling, etc., according to state/local policy. Again, it's the same as if a student took multiple classes at the same time. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Shannon Young Sent: Thu 7/19/2007 9:34 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 880] Re: NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning Assessment Hi Katrina, I believe so. A student may only be counted one time even though he/she is enrolled in separate distance and classroom-based classes. Larry, would you confirm that this is the case? Thanks, Shannon -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 615-6638 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org On 7/16/07 9:06 PM, "Katrina Hinson" wrote: > Ok, How does this work if say for instance, a student is enrolled in a > physical class that runs from 8-12 and then is enrolled in a distance learning > class for time outside the 8-12 boundary or for day he/she is absent. They > are only counted once even though that is two separate classes, rosters and > contracts? > > Regards, > Katrina > ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lcondelli at air.org -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 5377 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070719/79c0343e/attachment.bin From lchenven at 1199funds.org Thu Jul 19 10:41:52 2007 From: lchenven at 1199funds.org (Laura Chenven) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 10:41:52 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 883] Re: Model programs sought for performanceaccountability initiative In-Reply-To: <221E918332E818488687199E5CBD74CE065CAC6B@keats.proliteracy.org> References: <221E918332E818488687199E5CBD74CE065CAC6B@keats.proliteracy.org> Message-ID: Wow - I wish I had know about this before - guess I should have joined this listserv sooner - When will the next opportunity be available for applications. Laura Chenven -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of mdaniels Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 12:59 PM To: 'assessment at nifl.gov' Subject: [Assessment 878] Model programs sought for performanceaccountability initiative WANTED: Model Programs for Performance Accountability Initiative DEADLINE! 5:00 PM EDT July 20, 2007 Join ProLiteracy America and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation in the three-year Dollar General/ProLiteracy Performance Accountability Initiative. Be one of eight model programs selected (in each year of the three years) to help identify promising practices in adult education and literacy program accountability. Your expertise and resources will be used to design training sessions that will help other programs improve their performance accountability. If your program can demonstrate success in the area of "Data Analysis for Program Decision-Making," ProLiteracy wants to hear from you! If you are selected, your program receives a small stipend, increased visibility, and the chance to impact others in the literacy and adult education field. Act NOW -- the deadline for accepting nominations is 5:00 PM EDT on Friday, July 20, 2007. Apply online at http://www.proliteracy.org/external/dg_pai.asp. Share this information with other programs you think would be a great resource. Thanks for your help in this important project (and your response by July 20!) Direct your questions to Melanie Daniels, project manager, via e-mail at mdaniels at proliteracy.org. ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lchenven at 1199funds.org ?Please note that the email address for the person you are corresponding with has changed. The new address is listed above. Please use this new address in all future correspondence. Thank you? Health care information is personal and sensitive information. If such information is being emailed to you, it is after appropriate authorization from the patient or under circumstances that do not require patient authorization. You, the recipient, are obligated to maintain it in a safe, secure and confidential manner. Re-disclosure without additional patient consent or as permitted by law is prohibited. Unauthorized re-disclosure or failure to maintain confidentiality could subject you to penalties described in federal and state law. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the related message. From wfagan at mun.ca Sun Jul 22 18:56:06 2007 From: wfagan at mun.ca (Will Fagan) Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:26:06 -0230 Subject: [Assessment 884] GED Discussion Group In-Reply-To: <108a01c7c7e2$97c3db00$0302a8c0@LITNOW> References: <108a01c7c7e2$97c3db00$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <77D68C0C-9EE1-4BDE-B77F-7FD8A316DAE2@mun.ca> Hi: I recall reading about a discussion group on the GED - can't recall if it is past or coming up? Can you help? Many thanks! Bill Fagan On 16-Jul-07, at 5:20 PM, Marie Cora wrote: > Colleagues: > > > > The following message is from Cheryl Keenan. > > > > ********************************************************************** > **************** > > I would like to take this opportunity to announce the redesign of > the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse Website, which > provides materials to support the planning, development, alignment, > and implementation of content standards for adult education. We > have revised the site to be more user-friendly and accessible to > the viewer, based on input from the field and a usability > evaluation. Please visit the revised site at www.adultedcontentstandards.ed.gov>, which I encourage you to > bookmark for future reference. > > On this site, you can find content standards from a variety of > states and organizations in the areas of English language > acquisition, reading, and mathematics; relevant national and > international standards; professional development materials for > standards-based education reform; and A Process Guide for > Developing Adult Education Content Standards. > > The American Institutes for Research (AIR) operates the Adult > Education Content Standards Warehouse Website through a contract > with the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, US Department of > Education. > > Cheryl Keenan > Director, Division of Adult Education and Literacy > Office of Vocational and Adult Education > U.S. Department of Education > 550 12th Street, SW > Washington, DC 20202-7240 > Cheryl.Keenan at ed.gov > (202) 245-7721 > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to wfagan at mun.ca -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070722/2f157889/attachment.html From djgbrian at utk.edu Mon Jul 23 10:13:09 2007 From: djgbrian at utk.edu (Brian, Dr Donna J G) Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:13:09 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 885] Re: GED Discussion Group In-Reply-To: <77D68C0C-9EE1-4BDE-B77F-7FD8A316DAE2@mun.ca> Message-ID: Bill, Here's a copy of the original post announcing the discussion. As you can see, it starts today on the special topics list. Donna Brian ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Colleagues, On July 23rd, on the National Institute for Literacy Special Topics list, we will begin discussing the General Educational Development (GED) diploma outcomes research of Dr. John Tyler. Dr. Tyler is Associate Professor of Education, Economics, and Public Policy at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. An applied microeconomist, his research focuses on what is happening to low- skilled individuals in today's high-skill economy. He is regarded as one of the nation's experts on the economic returns to the General Educational Development (GED) certificate. Dr. Tyler's interests also include school reform issues, program evaluation, and quantitative research methods. Dr. Tyler will take our questions from the week's discussion, will respond to them the following Monday, and will continue to respond to follow-up questions throughout the week of July 30th. You or your colleagues who may wish to join this discussion can subscribe by going to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics After you complete the simple registration form (30 seconds) you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you wish to subscribe. Immediately reply to the email to complete your subscription. After the discussion ends you can unsubscribe from the same Web address, or stay on for the next discussion. To prepare for this discussion please look at a 30-minute video discussion with John Tyler; teacher, Sara Fass; and professional development coordinator, Sue Snider. The video panel discussion focuses on the economic benefits that accrue to holders of the GED credential. It was based on a review by John Tyler of eight (published and working) research papers on the GED. Several of these papers were authored by John Tyler, Richard Murnane, and John Willett, researchers with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) whose work has influenced what we know about the economic benefits of the GED. http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/ged/webcast_ged.html The following readings, mentioned in the video panel discussion, would also be useful preparation for this discussion: NCSALL GED Research Briefs http://www.ncsall.net/?id=27 Seven briefs by John Tyler are linked on this page, among which are: "The Economic Benefits of the GED: A Research Synthesis", "So You Want a GED? Estimating the Impact of the GED on the Earnings of Dropouts Who Seek the Credential", "Who Benefits from Obtaining a GED? Evidence from High School and Beyond", and "Estimating the Labor Market Signaling Value of the GED" Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmins/resources/teach/beyond_ged.pdf The following additional GED research articles by John Tyler will be found in .pdf on his Web page at http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Education/personnel.php ? who=jhtyler#pubs 2005 - "Is the GED an Effective Route to Postsecondary Education?" 2004 - "Does the GED Improve Earnings? Estimates from a Sample of Both Successful and Unsuccessful GED Candidates?" Industrial and Labor Relations Review 57:4 (2004), 579-98. 2004 - "The Devil's in the Details: Evidence from the GED on the Large Effects of Small Differences in High Stakes Exams ". Economics of Education Review 23:4 (2004), 336-49. With Richard J. Murnane and John B. Willett. GED teachers, especially, will find the following publication of GED outcomes data -- intended to be used by GED teachers and their students -- of special interest. It was written by Sara Fass and Barbara Garner in 2000, and updated by Eileen Barry in 2006. "Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future" http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1099 I look forward to having you join us in this discussion. David J. Rosen Special Topics Discussion Moderator djrosen at comcast.net ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Will Fagan Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 6:56 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 884] GED Discussion Group Hi: I recall reading about a discussion group on the GED - can't recall if it is past or coming up? Can you help? Many thanks! Bill Fagan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070723/ba5b16ac/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Mon Jul 23 10:21:21 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:21:21 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 886] Re: GED Discussion Group In-Reply-To: <77D68C0C-9EE1-4BDE-B77F-7FD8A316DAE2@mun.ca> References: <108a01c7c7e2$97c3db00$0302a8c0@LITNOW> <77D68C0C-9EE1-4BDE-B77F-7FD8A316DAE2@mun.ca> Message-ID: Assessment Colleagues, On Jul 22, 2007, at 6:56 PM, Will Fagan wrote: > I recall reading about a discussion group on the GED - can't recall > if it is past or coming up? Can you help? > Many thanks! Today, Monday, July 23rd, on the National Institute for Literacy Special Topics discussion list, we will begin discussing the General Educational Development (GED) diploma outcomes research of John Tyler. The process for the discussion is as follows: Now: Prepare for the discussion by looking at and/or reading the preparation materials described below Monday, July 23rd -Thursday, July 26th: Post your questions to the discussion list Friday, July 27th: I will organize and send your questions to Joh Tyler Monday, July 30th - Friday, August 3rd: Dr. Tyler will reply to your questions and reply to your follow-up questions and comments. This process depends on your preparation and your questions, so I hope you will take the time now to watch the video, read the articles and fire off questions to specialtopics at nifl.gov Guest Biography Dr. Tyler is Associate Professor of Education, Economics, and Public Policy, and Education Department Chair at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island. Dr. Tyler will take our questions from the week's discussion, will respond to them the following Monday, July 30, and will continue to respond to follow-up questions throughout the week of July 30th. Discussion Preparation To prepare for this discussion you can view a 30-minute video discussion with John Tyler; teacher, Sara Fass; and professional development coordinator, Sue Snider. The video panel discussion focuses on the economic benefits that accrue to holders of the GED credential. It was based on a review by John Tyler of eight (published and working) research papers on the GED. Several of these papers were authored by John Tyler, Richard Murnane, and John Willett, researchers with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) whose work has influenced what we know about the economic benefits of the GED. The following readings, mentioned in the video panel discussion, would be useful preparation for this discussion: NCSALL GED Research Briefs http://www.ncsall.net/?id=27 Seven briefs by John Tyler are linked on this page, among which are: "The Economic Benefits of the GED: A Research Synthesis", "So You Want a GED? Estimating the Impact of the GED on the Earnings of Dropouts Who Seek the Credential", "Who Benefits from Obtaining a GED? Evidence from High School and Beyond", and "Estimating the Labor Market Signaling Value of the GED" Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmins/resources/teach/beyond_ged.pdf GED teachers, especially, will find the following publication of GED outcomes data -- for GED students -- of special interest. It was written by Sarah Fass and Barbara Garner, April 2000, and updated by Eileen Barry, 2006. Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1099 Helping Others to Subscribe Please send this subscription information to your colleagues who may wish to join this discussion: One can subscribe by going to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics After completing the simple registration form (30 seconds) you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you wish to subscribe. Immediately reply to the email message to complete your subscription. After the discussion ends you can unsubscribe from the same Web address, or stay on for the next discussion. David J. Rosen Special Topics Discussion Moderator djrosen at comcast.net From alcdgg at langate.gsu.edu Mon Jul 23 10:24:14 2007 From: alcdgg at langate.gsu.edu (Daphne Greenberg) Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:24:14 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 887] Re: GED Discussion Group Message-ID: <46A481CE020000310002B489@mailsrv4.gsu.edu> Here is a copy of a message that David Rosen, the facilitator of the Special Topics Discussion List sent: Colleagues, On July 23rd, on the National Institute for Literacy Special Topics list, we will begin discussing the General Educational Development (GED) diploma outcomes research of Dr. John Tyler. Dr. Tyler is Associate Professor of Education, Economics, and Public Policy at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. An applied microeconomist, his research focuses on what is happening to low- skilled individuals in today's high-skill economy. He is regarded as one of the nation's experts on the economic returns to the General Educational Development (GED) certificate. Dr. Tyler's interests also include school reform issues, program evaluation, and quantitative research methods. Dr. Tyler will take our questions from the week's discussion, will respond to them the following Monday, and will continue to respond to follow-up questions throughout the week of July 30th. You or your colleagues who may wish to join this discussion can subscribe by going to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics After you complete the simple registration form (30 seconds) you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you wish to subscribe. Immediately reply to the email to complete your subscription. After the discussion ends you can unsubscribe from the same Web address, or stay on for the next discussion. To prepare for this discussion please look at a 30-minute video discussion with John Tyler; teacher, Sara Fass; and professional development coordinator, Sue Snider. The video panel discussion focuses on the economic benefits that accrue to holders of the GED credential. It was based on a review by John Tyler of eight (published and working) research papers on the GED. Several of these papers were authored by John Tyler, Richard Murnane, and John Willett, researchers with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) whose work has influenced what we know about the economic benefits of the GED. http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/ged/webcast_ged.html The following readings, mentioned in the video panel discussion, would also be useful preparation for this discussion: NCSALL GED Research Briefs http://www.ncsall.net/?id=27 Seven briefs by John Tyler are linked on this page, among which are: "The Economic Benefits of the GED: A Research Synthesis", "So You Want a GED? Estimating the Impact of the GED on the Earnings of Dropouts Who Seek the Credential", "Who Benefits from Obtaining a GED? Evidence from High School and Beyond", and "Estimating the Labor Market Signaling Value of the GED" Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmins/resources/teach/beyond_ged.pdf The following additional GED research articles by John Tyler will be found in .pdf on his Web page at http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Education/personnel.php? who=jhtyler#pubs 2005 - "Is the GED an Effective Route to Postsecondary Education?" 2004 - "Does the GED Improve Earnings? Estimates from a Sample of Both Successful and Unsuccessful GED Candidates?" Industrial and Labor Relations Review 57:4 (2004), 579-98. 2004 - "The Devil?s in the Details: Evidence from the GED on the Large Effects of Small Differences in High Stakes Exams ". Economics of Education Review 23:4 (2004), 336-49. With Richard J. Murnane and John B. Willett. GED teachers, especially, will find the following publication of GED outcomes data -- intended to be used by GED teachers and their students -- of special interest. It was written by Sara Fass and Barbara Garner in 2000, and updated by Eileen Barry in 2006. "Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future" http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1099 I look forward to having you join us in this discussion. David J. Rosen Special Topics Discussion Moderator dj rosen at comcast.net >>> Will Fagan 07/22/if it is past or coming up? Can you help? Many thanks! Bill Fagan On 16-Jul-07, at 5:20 PM, Marie Cora wrote: > Colleagues: > > > > The following message is from Cheryl Keenan. > > > > ********************************************************************** > **************** > > I would like to take this opportunity to announce the redesign of > the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse Website, which > provides materials to support the planning, development, alignment, > and implementation of content standards for adult education. We > have revised the site to be more user-friendly and accessible to > the viewer, based on input from the field and a usability > evaluation. Please visit the revised site at www.adultedcontentstandards.ed.gov>, which I encourage you to > bookmark for future reference. > > On this site, you can find content standards from a variety of > states and organizations in the areas of English language > acquisition, reading, and mathematics; relevant national and > international standards; professional development materials for > standards-based education reform; and A Process Guide for > Developing Adult Education Content Standards. > > The American Institutes for Research (AIR) operates the Adult > Education Content Standards Warehouse Website through a contract > with the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, US Department of > Education. > > Cheryl Keenan > Director, Division of Adult Education and Literacy > Office of Vocational and Adult Education > U.S. Department of Education > 550 12th Street, SW > Washington, DC 20202-7240 > Cheryl.Keenan at ed.gov > (202) 245-7721 > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to wfagan at mun.ca From kbeall at onlyinternet.net Thu Jul 26 13:20:08 2007 From: kbeall at onlyinternet.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:20:08 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 888] Registration is open! - Effective Transition in Adult Education conference on Nov 8-9, 2007 Message-ID: <007401c7cfa9$3750bfd0$0302a8c0@your4105e587b6> Dear Colleagues, We wish to invite you to join us for the National Conference on Effective Transitions in Adult Education that will take place on November 8-9, 2007 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Providence, RI. The two-day conference will focus on strategies and promising practices that help adult learners succeed in postsecondary education and training. The registration for the conference in now open! LINK: http://collegetransition.org/conference/registration.html Our keynote speaker, Dr. JoAnn Crandall, will kick off the event with a discussion of transition for English language learners. For more conference details, SEE http://www.collegetransition.org/novconference.html Cynthia Zafft, Director Priyanka Sharma, Coordinator National College Transition Network World Education, Inc. 44 Farnsworth Street Boston, MA 02210 617.482.9485 nctn at worlded.org www.collegetransition.org www.collegeforadults.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070726/071e3171/attachment.html From kbeall at onlyinternet.net Mon Jul 30 12:55:06 2007 From: kbeall at onlyinternet.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:55:06 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 889] New from NCSALL Message-ID: <005701c7d2ca$65732460$0302a8c0@your4105e587b6> We'd like to share two, new resources from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL). The materials can be downloaded free from the NCSALL website at www.ncsall.net . Skills for Disease Prevention and Screening By Rima E. Rudd, Lisa Soricone, and Jennie Maricel Santos The goal of this 15-hour study circle+ is to prepare participants to help their students develop basic skills needed for engaging in disease prevention and screening activities. These skills include decision-making, using graphs and charts, calculating percentages, and interpreting risks and probability. For more information and to download, go to: www.ncsall.net/?id=769#prevention Evidence-based Practice: A Workshop for Training Adult Basic Education, TANF and One Stop Practitioners and Program Administrators (May 2007) By Cristine Smith, Beth Bingman, Lennox McLendon, and John Comings The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) and the National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium (NAEPDC), with funding from the National Institute for Literacy (Institute), created a one-day workshop to assist practitioners and administrators in adult basic education, TANF (Transitional Assistance for Needy Families) and One Stop programs to understand evidence-based practice and develop strategies for continuously accessing, understanding, judging and using research. For more information and to download, go to: www.ncsall.net/?id=769#ebp_train Kaye **************** Kaye Beall World Education 6760 West Street Linn Grove, IN 46711 Tel: 765-717-3942 Fax: 617-482-0617 kaye_beall at worlded.org http://www.worlded.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070730/b537adca/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Jul 31 13:23:45 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:23:45 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 890] Assessment in DL discussion archived! Message-ID: <063801c7d397$8dc1a8b0$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Dear Colleagues, I have prepared our discussion from the other week in user-friendly format and it is now archived at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance.html At the top in blue you will see 4 different sections to the document: Discussion Announcement | Guest Participants | Recommended preparations | Full Discussion Click on the section that you want to read. Did you also know that you can see/read past discussions from any of the 11 Discussion Lists? You can also get info on upcoming discussions as well. Go to the main Discussions Page at http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/discussions.html In the right-hand toolbar, click on List Events. You see a listing of Upcoming Events on the Lists, and below that, you see Previous 2007 Events. Click on any of the Previous 2007 Events to read that discussion. Thanks! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070731/c14660ca/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Aug 1 14:52:15 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 14:52:15 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 891] Job Opportunity Message-ID: <076c01c7d46d$14b860e0$0302a8c0@LITNOW> The following post is from Emily Ellison. ----- Job Opportunity Literacy Action, Inc. Atlanta, GA JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title: Director of Education Reports To: Executive Director Supervises: Instructional Staff and Program Coordinators Employment Status: Regular full-time Summary: The Education Director is an essential member of the agency's Leadership Team whose main focus is on curriculum and instructional and programmatic operations, including assessment, evaluation, and accountability. Duties and Responsibilities: * Serve as Educational Leader of the organization * Oversee the implementation of a cohesive, coordinated and articulated core curriculum that incorporates state and national standards and latest research and best practices in the field of adult education * Assist in operationalizing the Strategic Goals of the agency as articulated by the Board of Trustees and Executive Director into educational programs that reflect and communicate the Mission and Values of Literacy Action * Manage the instructional staff and daily operation of educational programs at Literacy Action * Identify new education programs and services * Assess operations, coordinate and evaluate in-service and professional development activities for all instructional staff regularly * Convene regular meetings of instructors and programmatic staff to share best practices, increase communication and teamwork, and ensure quality services; attend Leadership Team meetings; attend Board meetings as required * Conduct quarterly and annual job assessments of all instructional staff * Assist in the development of program funding proposals and reports by providing accurate and timely data including: documenting student and program outcomes monthly, quarterly, and annually; evaluating educational services monthly, quarterly, and annually using a variety of methodologies including student surveys, regular pre and post testing, and other teacher created assessment instruments * Work collaboratively with the Executive Director, Director of Development, and Director of Finance and Administration to monitor outcome and costs of programs and service delivery * Function as a productive and collaborative member of the Literacy Action staff, helping to build a team spirit and contributing to a positive work environment and a culture of lifelong learning * Other duties as assigned by the Executive Director Qualifications: The candidate must have excellent oral and written communication skills; strong organizational and leadership skills are required, as well as an ability to work with a wide variety of people. Experience required in supervision, program evaluation. Experience in curriculum development preferred. Experience in and respect for adult literacy, low income, and multicultural populations. Masters degree in Education or related field preferred, with experience in adult education with educational leadership. It is essential that the person filling this position has kept up with latest research and best practices in the field of adult basic education, is a passionate advocate for adult literacy, and has exceptional interpersonal skills. All interested and qualified applicants should send a cover letter, or statement of philosophy, and their resume to: Emily Ellison at emellison at literacyaction.org Emily Emily Ellison Executive Director Literacy Action, Inc. 101 Marietta Street, Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30303 404.818.READ SAVE the DATE!! Please join us on Saturday, September 29, at 8:00 PM for a private stage performance of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD staring Tom Key, at Theatrical Outfit's Balzer Theatre. All proceeds from this unique fundraising event will enable Literacy Action to continue providing quality instruction to adults who want to break the intergeneration cycle of functional illiteracy. Call 404-818-7326 for details. Please help us Rewrite Futures. From nmuller at nafc.org Tue Aug 7 16:59:10 2007 From: nmuller at nafc.org (Nancy Muller) Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 16:59:10 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 892] Assessment of Literacy Message-ID: <00d101c7d935$cdc67d20$6801a8c0@NAFC.local> Which web site addresses do you recommend that I visit so that I can have the literacy level of our newly designed web site assessed on line? Thanks! Nancy Muller Executive Director National Association For Continence (NAFC) PO Box 1019 Charleston, SC 29402 USA Email: nmuller at nafc.org Telephone: 843.377.0900 extension 207 Facsimile: 843.377.0905 Web Address: www.nafc.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070807/5fdd1418/attachment.html From tsticht at znet.com Fri Aug 10 14:15:32 2007 From: tsticht at znet.com (tsticht at znet.com) Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:15:32 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 893] Message for International Literacy Day Message-ID: <1186769732.46bcab4482deb@webmail.znet.net> A Message for International Literacy Day 2007 UNESCO Recognition for Industrialized Nations: >From Fighting Pockets of Illiteracy to Raising Levels of Literacy Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education During 2007 I am presenting a series of workshops entitled Adult Literacy Education in Industrialized Nations. Earlier, I worked for 25 years (1979-2003) as a volunteer member of UNESCO's International Literacy Prize Jury. This Jury recommends to the Director General of UNESCO the winners of UNESCO's literacy awards each year on September 8, International Literacy Day. For most of the time that UNESCO has awarded literacy recognition the discourse was about "illiteracy" and most attention was, and still is, focussed on developing nations with large percentages of illiterate adults (age 15 and above). There were times, however, when recognition was given to industrialized nations where it was generally said that illiteracy was not a major problem but there were "pockets of illiteracy." This usually referred to socially marginalized groups of indigenous persons, immigrants, poverty stricken, incarcerated, and the like. Over time, the discourse of literacy has varied and has included "illiteracy," "functionally illiterate," "functionally literate," "literacy levels," and "multiple literacies." This listing moves from thinking about "illiteracy" as being almost totally unable to read and write, to thinking about literacy as a continuum from illiteracy through gradients of literacy from low to higher levels and to the idea of "multiple literacies" meaning the ability to use a variety of symbolic communication media (e.g, the internet) and graphic technologies such as maps, graphs, and the like. UNESCO may provide three types of recognition on International Literacy Day: Major Prizes with monetary awards, Honorable Mentions, and Recognition in the Palmares, the official document that proclaims the winners of each year's recognition. Of the six industrialized nations that are discussed in my workshop, five have received multiple recognition primarily before the shift in discourse in talking about "illiteracy" to "levels of literacy" or "multiple literacies." This UNESCO recognition has helped each of these five nations keep the need for literacy education in their nation in the awareness of policymakers and has provided a foundation for major activities that are underway to advance levels of literacy in these nations today. On September 8th of this year we should continue to press for international attention to the plight of hundreds of millions of illiterate adults around the world. But we should also recognize the need in all nations, both developing and developed, to raise the levels of literacy of thousands of millions of adults and promote the multiple literacies of adults who are at risk of losing such advances as they have made in their lives and the lives of their families in the face of a rapidly changing world. As a member of UNESCO's International Literacy Jury I was honored to participate in recognizing the work of nations that are part of my workshop on Adult Literacy in Industrialized Nations. Today I am pleased to once again recognize the outstanding adult literacy work that these nations have performed in the past, and to call attention to the continuing efforts of these and other industrialized nations which are today locked in a struggle to enhance the lives of millions of adults and their families through policies and practices aimed at improving literacy. Celebrate Adult Literacy Education on September 8th! UNESCO recognition of my workshop industrialized nations: 1. Australia 1969 HM Summer Institute of Education 1984 R Mr. Archibald Alexander Nelson 1989 R Workplace Education Project 1991 R News on Wheels 2. Canada 1977 HM Frontier College, Basic Education of the Canadian Frontier 1985 HM Canadian Organization for Development Through Education (CODE) 1988 HM Southam Incorporated 1995 Major Prize Community Academic Services Program (CASP), New Brunswick 2002 HM National Adult Literacy Database 3. New Zealand 1988 HM Mr. Michael Marquet 1995 HM Waitakera WEA Adult Literacy 1997 R National Association of ESOL Home Tutor Scheme 2000 HM Literacy Aotearoa, Inc. 2001 Major Prize Workbase, the National Center for Workplace Literacy & Language 4. United Kingdom 1981 HM "On the Move" Project of the British Broadcasting Corp. 1984 HM Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU) 1999 Major Prize Family Literacy Programme, Basic Skills Agency 5. United States 1968 HM International Reading Association 1971 HM National Affiliation for Literacy Advance 1972 HM Appalachian Adult Education Center 1978 HM Dr.Welthy Honziger Fisher 1980 R Mrs. Ruth Johnson Colvin 1981 R Laubach Literacy International 1992 R Beginning With Books Literacy Program 2007 Major Prize Reach out and Read Legend: HM-Honorable Mention; R-Recognition in the Palmares Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From MMaralit at NIFL.gov Mon Aug 13 09:44:30 2007 From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo) Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:44:30 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 894] Aug. 29 Webcast: Health Literacy of America's Adults Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B180C47BD@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov> SAVE THE DATE for a LIVE webcast! Health Literacy of America's Adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy WHEN: August 29, 2007 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM Eastern Time 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM Central Time 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Mountain Time 10:30 AM - 12:00 AM Pacific Time ** Registration information will be shared in a future posting, but for now, SAVE THE DATE for a LIVE webcast on Wednesday, August 29! ** For more information about this webcast or The National Institute for Literacy, go to: http://www.nifl.gov. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The August 29 webcast will focus on the Health Literacy of America's Adults: Results of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) 2003. The live webcast will feature: * Dr. Sheida White directs the National Assessment of Adult Literacy at the National Center for Education Statistics (or NCES). Her doctoral degree is in linguistics from Georgetown University. After working as a full-time reading researcher for 6 years, she joined NCES in 1991. During the first 8 years at NCES, she monitored the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). Since 1999, she has been directing the NAAL project. Dr. White has taught non-native English speaking adults. She created a guided reading program to address the reading comprehension needs of slow readers. Her articles have appeared in journals such as "Language in Society" and "Reading Research Quarterly". * Other panelists: TBA. The webcast will be moderated by Dr. Sandra L. Baxter, Director of the National Institute for Literacy. -------------------------- The National Institute for Literacy has hosted a number of web casts presenting information, findings and results from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), for more information on these webcast, please go to: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/NAAL2003.html. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070813/b867374d/attachment.html From MMaralit at NIFL.gov Mon Aug 20 17:36:53 2007 From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo) Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:36:53 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 895] REGISTER for the August 29 Health Literacy Webcast Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B15382DCC@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov> REGISTER for the August 29 Webcast: Health Literacy of America's Adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy WHEN: August 29, 2007 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM Eastern Time 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM Central Time 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Mountain Time 10:30 AM - 12:00 AM Pacific Time *To Register, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/NAALhealth/webcast0829.html * Be sure to mark your calendar for Wednesday, August 29. Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email that gives you more information on how to tune in for the webcast on August 29. (Please note, you will need either Windows Media Player or Real Player to view the webcast. More instructions will be provided, once you have registered.) For more information about this webcast or The National Institute for Literacy, go to: http://www.nifl.gov. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The August 29 webcast will focus on the Health Literacy of America's Adults: Results of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) 2003. The live webcast will feature: * Dr. Sheida White directs the National Assessment of Adult Literacy at the National Center for Education Statistics (or NCES). Her doctoral degree is in linguistics from Georgetown University. After working as a full-time reading researcher for 6 years, she joined NCES in 1991. During the first 8 years at NCES, she monitored the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). Since 1999, she has been directing the NAAL project. Dr. White has taught non-native English speaking adults. She created a guided reading program to address the reading comprehension needs of slow readers. Her articles have appeared in journals such as "Language in Society" and "Reading Research Quarterly". * Other panelists: TBA. * The webcast will be moderated by Dr. Sandra L. Baxter, Director of the National Institute for Literacy. -------------------------- The National Institute for Literacy has hosted a number of web casts presenting information, findings and results from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), for more information on these webcast, please go to: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/NAAL2003.html. From kbeall at onlyinternet.net Thu Aug 23 09:49:37 2007 From: kbeall at onlyinternet.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:49:37 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 896] Survey on Professional Development Needs/National Institute for Literacy Message-ID: <007a01c7e58c$72c713e0$020ba8c0@your4105e587b6> Adult education teachers and administrators: Have you ever wished you could have some input into decisions that are being made nationally on professional development opportunities? If so, here is your chance to express your opinion and share your thoughts. The National Institute for Literacy is conducting a survey on the professional development needs of adult education practitioners across the country. We need your help to gather information that reflects your own needs in the area of professional development as well as how you think professional development should be offered. We are asking for only 10-15 minutes of your time. Follow this link to take the survey at http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/needssurvey/. Information collected from the professional development needs survey will be used by the Institute and the LINCS Regional Resource Centers to (1) give us insights on how Institute-produced materials and training can be disseminated and (2) identify areas where the Institute might want to develop additional materials and trainings. The Regional Resource Centers will use the data to develop a regional dissemination plan that will include how to best disseminate and present Institute-sponsored resources and training in partnership with the state organizations. The National Institute for Literacy, a federal agency, provides leadership on literacy issues, including the improvement of reading instruction for children, youth, and adults. In consultation with the U.S. Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, the Institute serves as a national resource on current, comprehensive literacy research, practice, and policy. The National Institute for Literacy is committed to the dissemination of high-quality resources to help practitioners use evidence-based instructional practices that improve outcomes in adult learners' literacy skills. LINCS is the backbone of the Institute's dissemination system, providing information on a wide variety of literacy relevant topics, issues, and resources through regional resource centers, collections of resources, and discussion lists. For more information about the National Institute for Literacy and LINCS visit http://www.nifl.gov . NOTE: The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1800-0011 v. 86. National Institute for Literacy Regional Resource Centers Kaye Beall, Co-Director Region 1 Resource Center World Education, Inc./U.S. Division kaye_beall at worlded.org 765.717.3942 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070823/095491c3/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 4101 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070823/095491c3/attachment.jpe From MMaralit at NIFL.gov Mon Aug 27 16:51:04 2007 From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo) Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:51:04 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 897] Reminder: Aug 29 Webcast: Health Literacy Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B180C4900@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov> Hello, All, Just a final reminder about the Aug 29 webcast: Health Literacy of America's Adults. For more information and to register, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/NAALhealth/webcast0829.html Panelist include: Dr. Sheida White, Project Director, National Assessment of Adult Literacy at the National Center for Education. Dr. White directs the National Assessment of Adult Literacy at the National Center for Education Statistics (or NCES). Dr. Ian Bennett is an Assistant Professor at School of Medicine and a Research Associate at Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Toni Cordell is an adult learner and recently served as an expert panel member on the Joint Commission and nationally known speaker on the topic of health literacy, who draws from her personal struggle with dyslexia. Please feel free to pass along to others who may be interested in viewing this webcast. Regards, Jo Maralit mmaralit at nifl.gov From pnaidu at kennesaw.edu Tue Aug 28 13:20:48 2007 From: pnaidu at kennesaw.edu (Pinder Naidu) Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:20:48 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 897] Reading math textbooks Message-ID: Hello All: I am a PhD student in math education taking a adult education class and have some questions for you. Does anyone on the list know of any work being done assessing adult learners ability to read and comprehend math text books? I'd also like to know what effect this has on exam results? Does the ability to read interfere with success with numeracy? Thanks. Pinder Naidu (GSU student) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070828/ccd4d03f/attachment.html From jataylor at utk.edu Tue Aug 28 15:41:42 2007 From: jataylor at utk.edu (Taylor, Jackie) Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:41:42 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 898] Upcoming Discussion: Project-Based Learning as Professional Development Message-ID: <0913EC48F2B05C4FBE4878BAFCABBFECCF2048@KFSVS2.utk.tennessee.edu> Dear Colleagues: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List is pleased to host a guest discussion next week on Project-Based Learning as Professional Development (http://tinyurl.com/2eum64). Please see below for details. - Sound interesting? We're happy to have you join us! Visit: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment Best wishes, Jackie Taylor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Title: Project-Based Learning as Professional Development Date: September 4 - 11, 2007 Guest: Heide Spruck Wrigley, Senior Researcher, LiteracyWork International Resources for Discussion: http://tinyurl.com/2eum64 To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment To submit questions for discussion, email: jataylor at utk.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I. Description: Join the Adult Literacy Professional Development List to explore and share innovative practices in Project-Based Learning (PBL) as Professional Development. Guest participant Heide Spruck Wrigley will share her experiences with successful professional development models focused on PBL. A team of teachers who have facilitated student-projects in their classes will actively participate, share their professional development experiences, and offer practical advice on implementing projects. We hope you will join us and share your work. Discussion topics include: * Essential elements of project-based learning * Exploring the value added of project-based learning in ESOL and ABE * Examples of successful professional development models focused on project-based learning * Myths and realities: Is project-based learning time well-spent? * Evidence from research and practice * Assessments in project-based learning and student performance * How to get started in project-based learning This discussion introduces the PD List's Topic-of-the-Month: Keys to Communities of Practice. II. Guest Discussion Biography Heide Spruck Wrigley has been involved in all aspects of adult literacy, including family literacy, workplace literacy, adult ESL, EL civic and transition to higher education. Her work focuses on the intersection of policy, research, professional development, and classroom practice. She is currently a (non-resident) fellow with the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan Think Tank in Washington, D.C. and is finishing up a research and materials development project for Youth-at-Risk outside of Vancouver, British Columbia. Her staff development work around project-based learning includes a 3 year consultancy with Project IDEA, a Texas state wide Master Teacher project focused on PBL and a five year ongoing professional development project with teachers in Socorro, Texas. Her PBL work includes an emphasis on putting low and high end technology in the hands of learners (tape recorders, PowerPoint, digital cameras, video cameras) and creating learner showcases for the demonstration of these projects to a wider community of parents, teachers, and learners. Heide has been key in a number of U.S. national research studies focused on ESL literacy, but she has also been involved with ABE programs, youth literacy programs and with the Adult Literacy Media Alliance (TV 411). Her international work includes evaluations of teacher training programs in Poland and in Egypt, staff development in China, and presentations in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and in the UK. When she's home, Heide lives in Mesilla, a small town in Southern New Mexico, an hour from the US Mexico border. III. Preparation for Discussion Project-Based Learning and Professional Development Practical Ideas Research to Practice (a) ; (d) (c); (f); (e) (a); (b); (g); (h) (a) Research in Action: Teachers, Projects, and Technology http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/newsletr/june04/june04a.htm -- Project-Based Learning and Professional Development (b) Knowledge in Action: The Promise of Project-Based Learning http://www.ncsall.net/?id=384 Focus on Basics, v.2 Issue D -- From Research to Practice (c) Border Program Develops Model for State Socorro Independent School District implements three-year demonstration project www.bordercivics.org -- Examples of lesson plans and projects from Socorro, TX (d) From Low-Tech to High-Tech: Promising Practices in Integrating New Media into Adult Literacy and ESL http://www.literacynewyork.org/publications/LNYPract_June04.pdf -- Examples of Projects that Integrate Technology (e) Teachers Writing about Their Experience with PBL Project-Based Learning: Don't Dictate, Collaborate! http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/newsletr/sum00/sum00a.htm Lights, Camera, Active Learning! Enhancing ESL Instruction Through Video Projects http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/newsletr/june04/june04b.htm (f) Less Teaching and More Learning: Turning from traditional methods to project-based instruction, the author found that her students learned more -- Susan Gaer's article and the terrific website for both interactive computer-based learning and student web projects * Article http://www.ncsall.net/?id=385 * Website for E-Mail Projects http://www.otan.dni.us/webfarm/emailproject/email.htm (g) Problem-Based or Project-Based: Is there a big difference and what's appropriate for my class? Project-Based and Problem-Based: The same or different? http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/PBLGuide/PBL&PBL.htm Problem-based Learning and Adult English Language Learners http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/Problem-based.pdf (h) Project-Based Learning http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Project_Based_Learning -- A Compendium of Ideas and Reports on the Adult Literacy Education Wiki -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070828/57f74a33/attachment.html From ekocher at state.pa.us Tue Aug 28 15:44:44 2007 From: ekocher at state.pa.us (Kocher, Eileen) Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:44:44 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 899] PAACE Request for Proposals Message-ID: <4D4E531F4AA25841BE7BC07B478F574008FA1F9A@enhbgpri06.backup> The 43rd Annual PAACE Midwinter Conference on Adult Education, the largest gathering of adult educators in Pennsylvania, will be held at the Hershey Lodge, February 6-8, 2008. Adult educators and those from related areas will convene for the premier professional development and networking opportunity for all aspects of adult education in the Pennsylvania. The theme, ?Opening Windows,? will provide a focal point for exploring educational opportunities for all types of adult students, more efficient delivery systems, transition to postsecondary education and training, new research, professional development, workforce development, public policy supporting adult education, and an optimistic eye to the future. Keynote speaker will be Dr. Cheryl D. King, study director for the new National Commission on Adult Literacy. Honorary conference chair is the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board (PA WIB). PAACE (Pennsylvania Association for Adult Continuing Education) invites you and your colleagues to submit a proposal for a concurrent session, or a more informal roundtable. Proposals are being accepted NOW and fall into the following 11 categories: Aligned with PAACE Divisions: Adult Basic and Secondary Education (ABSE) Adult Literacy Continuing Higher Education (CHE) Corrections Education English as a Second Language (ESL) Family Literacy Workforce Development Special Categories: Administration Public Policy Research Or: General - of interest to a broad adult education audience and/or does not fit neatly into one of the above categories. We are requesting that all workshop proposals be submitted online. Please note under Format and Technique the option for Roundtable Discussion. We are providing space for facilitated discussions and networking on topics of interest. The Roundtables will convene at round tables accommodating 10 people and as many others who can pull up a chair. If your proposal has been solicited, please be sure to fill in the "Requested by" field. This is not a guarantee of acceptance but will give your proposal special attention. We hope you will consider taking the time to share your work in adult education. Proposal deadline is October 1, 2007. Here is the link to the online proposal form: http://www.smartwebsitesolutions.net/paace_rfp_2008.htm We hope to hear from you! Tana Reiff TIU Community Education Services First Vice-President Pennsylvania Association for Adult Continuing Education (PAACE) www.paacesite.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070828/4a7a65ad/attachment.html From bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net Wed Aug 29 10:57:35 2007 From: bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net (Bonnie Odiorne) Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:57:35 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 900] Re: Reading math textbooks In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <211901.53230.qm@web83314.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> I'd like to know about this, too, since I was asked by a math teacher to insert word problems in my reading comprehension summer course for at-risk students, and it would be interesting to correlate Accuplacer reading and math results. It would reinforce a writing across the curriculum initiative, which of course involves reading, at my university, whose median level is not much above a higher-level ABE student. Bonnie Odiorne, Ph.D. writing center director, adjunct professor, Post University, Waterbury, CT Pinder Naidu wrote: Hello All: I am a PhD student in math education taking a adult education class and have some questions for you. Does anyone on the list know of any work being done assessing adult learners ability to read and comprehend math text books? I'd also like to know what effect this has on exam results? Does the ability to read interfere with success with numeracy? Thanks. Pinder Naidu (GSU student) ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070829/07f05805/attachment.html From tsticht at znet.com Wed Aug 29 13:27:20 2007 From: tsticht at znet.com (tsticht at znet.com) Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:27:20 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 901] A Global Network for Adult Literacy Message-ID: <1188408440.46d5ac78742ba@webmail.znet.net> August 28, 2007 Toward a Global Network of Adult Literacy Education in Six Industrialized Nations Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education One of several recent international surveys that have examined adult language, literacy, and numeracy (LLN) education in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States is a report by McKenna & Fitzpatrick (2004). In this work it was noted that three of the nations have unitary governments (Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom) in which policies, funding, and educational practice are directed from a central, national government. The other three nations studied (Australia, Canada, United States) have federated governments in which a central government and a number of separate states or provinces share responsibility for policies, funding, and practices regarding adult LLN provision. As one of these three federated nations, the United States has long had an Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) that is jointly funded by federal and state governments and operates according to the provisions of a national law. This law, the Adult Education Act of 1966, continues today as the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Title 2, Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. For over 40 years now, this adult education system has provided language, literacy, and numeracy instruction for adults 16 years of age or older, who are not in school and have not received a secondary (high) school diploma or its substitute in the form of a General Educational Development (GED) certificate. This is the longest operating, federally legislated, nationally organized, and coherently operating adult LLN system among any of the six nations studied by McKenna & Fitzpatrick (2004). Today the AELS has some two to three million adult enrollees annually, and over its 40 year history over 100 million enrollments have been recorded. This remarkable achievement has been documented by an accountability system in which the states report data to the federal government which then aggregates the data on federal and state funding, enrollments, types of education (adult basic education (ABE), adult secondary education (ASE), or English as a second language (ESL) education), types of personnel (part-time employed, full-time employed, voluntary), and, at times, types of organizations providing the AELS services (e.g., adult high schools, community colleges, community based organizations, etc.). Since 2000, the AELS has operated with a National Reporting System that includes data on funding, enrollments, retention, and completion of programs. Additionally it includes information on progression in learning upward through six levels of achievement in ABE, ASE, and ESL as indicated by performance on standardized tests or other assessments, such as portfolios scored with rubrics. It also includes data on how many adults who are seeking a secondary education diploma or GED achieve this goal, how many of those seeking employment go on to become employed, how many seeking transition to secondary training or education actually complete such a transition, and other data reported by the states. This long-lasting AELS is supplemented in the United States by a number of other organizations such as libraries, community based, charitable organizations, and education providers working under other special government programs of health, human resources development, welfare-to-work, national defense, and early childhood education which includes some adult literacy education. National data on how many of such organizations exist, how many adults they serve, and outcomes achieved are not available to me, if they exist at all. Still, I venture an educated estimate that there may be another one million or so adults served in these various programs. Similarly, in the other six nations studied by McKenna & Fitzpatrick (2004) there are difficulties in acquiring complete data on adult LLN provision across a wide variety of organizations with either governmental or non-governmental sponsorship. But there has been for the last decade or so a growing interest in these industrialized nations in developing more stable, coherent systems of adult literacy provision. >From various ongoing activities in these six nations, new policies and new approaches to adult LLN education have been forthcoming, with improved accountability systems that hold the promise of offering substantial evidence that the provision of LLN for adults is a valuable addition to existing primary, secondary, and tertiary education systems. Over100 million adults in these six nations have been declared to be at risk for low literacy. In all six nations, each year hundreds of thousands of young adults continue to leave the childhood school systems with poor literacy. For these millions of adults, a solid educational LLN system will offer the opportunities for continued growth and development, not only for themselves, but also for their children and their communities. The time for well-funded, world-class education systems for adult LLN provision is upon us. Working together, as various reports indicates is happening, these six industrialized nations form a global network connected by the virtual reality of the world wide web. Through the continuation and expansion of this work, it may be possible to transform the visions of such national education systems from virtual into substantial realities. Reference McKenna, R. & Fitzpatrick, L. (2004). Building sustainable adult literacy policy and provision In Australia: A review of international policy and programs. http://www.ncver.edu.au Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From jackie.coelho at gmail.com Wed Aug 29 13:39:19 2007 From: jackie.coelho at gmail.com (Jackie Coelho) Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:39:19 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 902] Re: Reading math textbooks In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1dd5701e0708291039q578c1868ud0ab99cc2054ff81@mail.gmail.com> Hi Pinder, I am by no means an expert. However, I would say that the ability to read would indeed effect a reader's ability to comprehend math text books. Reading is reading. Which is probably not very helpful. I know a lot of work has been done on the link between numeracy and literacy. I apologize for not being able to point you in many directions. Try looking up the work that TIAN has done. That might help. Jackie Coelho On 8/28/07, Pinder Naidu wrote: > > Hello All: > > I am a PhD student in math education taking a adult education class and have > some questions for you. > > Does anyone on the list know of any work being done assessing adult learners > ability to read and comprehend math text books? > > I'd also like to know what effect this has on exam results? > > Does the ability to read interfere with success with numeracy? > > Thanks. Pinder Naidu (GSU student) > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com > > From djrosen at comcast.net Thu Aug 30 07:02:45 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:02:45 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 903] What International Literacy Programs Offer Programs in the U.S. Message-ID: <3CB4A95D-2A04-4E06-8F68-D6E541DFBFF5@comcast.net> Colleagues, I hope you will join us on September 7th -14th, 2007 for the Special Topics discussion What International Literacy Programs Offer Programs in the U.S. You or your colleagues who may wish to join this discussion can subscribe by going to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics After you complete the simple registration form (30 seconds) you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you wish to subscribe. Immediately reply to the email to complete your subscription. After the discussion ends you can unsubscribe from the same Web address, or stay on for the next discussion. We will talk with adult literacy educator experts who have experience with programs in the U.S. and in other countries. We will discuss with them what they have learned in other countries that may be useful to programs in the U.S. As the theme of this year?s International Literacy Day, on September 8th, is health literacy, we will also explore the intersection in their work of health and literacy. Guest Biographies and Guests' Suggested Readings for this Discussion Dr. Erik Jacobson Erik Jacobson is an Assistant Professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey, where he works in the Early Childhood, Elementary and Literacy Education Department. One of his research interests is the goals that teachers and students set for themselves in Japanese adult basic education classes (literacy and Japanese as a Second Language). He has been looking at this topic for almost 10 years, and he recently returned from visiting programs in Osaka and Nara. Erik is also the co-area leader of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki section on World Literacy and Nonformal Education, and he maintains a page on world literacy news. Suggested Web sites: Sample Story http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=305624 Context for Japanese ABE ?Multicultural? http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070327zg.html Buraku Discrimination http://blhrri.org/blhrri_e/blhrri/buraku.htm Organization Japan Society for the Study of Adult and Community Education http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jssace/index-e.html Dr. John Comings John is a senior research associate and lecturer on education at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and was director of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) from 1996 to 2007. Before HGSE and NCSALL, He spent 12 years as vice president of World Education in Boston. He has worked in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, and he lived for 6 years in Nepal and 2 years in Indonesia. In his international work, he has helped design, implement and evaluate adult literacy programs and skill training programs. Suggested Reading: http://www.worlded.org/docs/Publications/ teaching_adults_to_read.pdf Dr. Ujwala Samant Ujwala Samant is director of Learning for Life UK, a small NGo working in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UK. Under her leadership, LfL has stabilized financially and added new, larger projects and more than tripled their annual income. She was a senior researcher at the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy at Rutgers University, USA. Her research foci include gender, immigrant education, ESOL, learner engagement and voice. She has taught at the International Literacy Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and been a consultant in the field of development, education and gender. Her doctoral research examined the links between literacy and social change amongst women in Mumbai slums. She received The UK Asian Woman of Achievement 2007 award for Social and Humanitarian work Barbara Garner Known on NIFL?s discussion lists as the editor of ?Focus on Basics?, Barbara Garner led the development of non-profit World Education?s adult literacy efforts in Africa from 1998 through 2004, providing technical assistance around teacher training and curriculum development as well as leadership and program design. Her work took her to Guinea, Mali, Benin, and more recently Egypt, where she consulted on their national adult literacy assessment system. Earlier in her career she worked on non-formal education programs and refugee education programs in Indonesia, Thailand, and Nepal. Suggested Reading: to get a feel for adult literacy in West Africa read "Creating Curricula for Challenging Circumstances" from Focus on Basics http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=199 Pamela Civins Pamela Civins has worked in the field of nonprofit management, formal and nonformal education for over 15 years internationally and in Boston, Massachusetts. Currently, she is the Executive Director of Boston Partners in Education, an organization that enhances the academic achievement and nurtures the personal growth of Boston's public school students by providing them with focused, individualized in-school volunteer support. Pamela has been working exclusively in the US for the past three years. Prior to her work being focused on K-12 urban education, she provided coordination and managerial oversight of nonformal education and literacy programs for girls and women in Nepal, India and Pakistan. For eight years, she worked with the nonprofit, World Education, Inc., both in the US and abroad. She coordinated a women's literacy program and was based in Kathmandu, Nepal for two yeas. Pamela worked extensively in India supporting a collaboration with World Education and the Indian-based nongovernmental organization, PRIA, on a the Women's Empowerment Through Literacy and Livelihoods Development Project, an integrated literacy and livelihoods development program that took place in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. She also provided support to a women's literacy program in Pakistan. Pamela received her BA from the University of Colorado, a MIIM (Masters in Intercultural & International Management) from the School for International Training, and an M.Ed. with a focus on International Education Policy from Harvard University. Recommended readings. http://www.worlded.org/docs/Publications/teaching_adults_to_read.pdf http://www.iiz-dvv.de/englisch/Publikationen/Weltbank/inhalt.htm http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001200/120067Eo.pdf http://www.globalhealth.org/publications/contents.php3?id=2&issue=116 Brenda Bell Brenda Bell, for many years Associate Director of the Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee and Coordinator of the EFF National Center, is currently an education advisor with the Global Learning Group of the Education Development Center (EDC). In 2004 and 2005, she provided support to EDC?s Afghanistan Literacy and Community Empowerment Project which links literacy with governance and economic development activities in 200 rural villages. For the past year, she has been technical advisor to EQuALLS, an education quality and livelihood skills program in over 900 barangays in the western Mindanao area of the Philippines. Additionally, Brenda assists with program assessment, design and development activities in other countries. With many years of experience in nonformal and adult education in the U.S., Brenda (a former Peace Corps volunteer) is enjoying the opportunities and challenges of working outside of the U.S. She lives in Maryville, TN. Suggested Reading: Developing Adult Literacy: Approaches to planning, implementing and delivering literacy initiatives by Juliet Merrifield Juliet McCaffrey Juliet Millican Oxfam, September 30, 2007 [For this discussion this book will be available free online] Juliet Merrifield Juliet Merrifield is Principal of the Friends Centre, an independent adult education centre in Brighton, England. She has worked as an adult educator and researcher for the last 25 years, in the USA, England and Ireland. She was Director of the Learning from Experience Trust in London, and of the Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee, USA. David J. Rosen Special Topics Discussion Moderator djrosen at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070830/9ab8b56f/attachment.html From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Tue Sep 4 08:58:52 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 08:58:52 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 904] Reder Policy Brief for Commission released Message-ID: <6D966932-3686-40D1-AB73-7F9285037A0B@caalusa.org> New York, NY, 9/4/07 -- The National Commission on Adult Literacy today released ADULT EDUCATION AND POSTSECONDARY SUCCESS by Steve Reder of Portland State University and the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. The policy brief was presented at the Commission's third meeting on August 20, 2007. It examines GED holders in comparison to their counterparts who have received a high school diploma as well as those with no high school credential. The comparisons are made in terms of long-term postsecondary education outcomes. The author makes numerous recommendations for expanding and restructuring the adult education system, with the goal of college readiness and success in mind. [September 4, 2007, 29 pages, publ. Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy] This document and others that have been released are available from the Publications page of the National Commission website: http:// www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org/pandp.html. Over the next 2-3 weeks, three additional documents will be released: a policy brief by Julie Strawn of the Center for Law and Social Policy (Policies to Promote Adult Education and Postsecondary Alignment); a policy brief by education consultant James Parker (Workplace Education: Twenty State Perspectives); and a special perspectives paper developed by Tony Peyton of the National Center for Family Literacy (Family Literacy in Adult Education: The Federal and State Support Role). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070904/75273c68/attachment.html From mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us Tue Sep 4 11:28:54 2007 From: mbeheler at cabell.lib.wv.us (Mary Beheler) Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 11:28:54 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 905] Re: Reading math textbooks: suggested experiment In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Try this: Create or select a math worksheet that can be displayed and edited on your computer. Highlight everything. Change the font to "Symbol." Is it any harder to use now? (Make a decoder by writing the alphabet, numbers, and math symbols in the original font then changing that to "Symbol." You will see that the numbers and most of the math operators are still the same. Only the letters used to write the WORDS will change.) Or, an even simpler experiment: Turn a math book upside down, read a chapter, then do all the exercises, writing your answers upside down. Mary G. Beheler Tri-State Literacy 455 Ninth Street Huntington, WV 25701 304 528-5700, ext 156 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Pinder Naidu Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 1:21 PM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 897] Reading math textbooks Hello All: I am a PhD student in math education taking a adult education class and have some questions for you. Does anyone on the list know of any work being done assessing adult learners ability to read and comprehend math text books? I'd also like to know what effect this has on exam results? Does the ability to read interfere with success with numeracy? Thanks. Pinder Naidu (GSU student) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070904/fa993390/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Sep 4 14:12:36 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 14:12:36 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! Message-ID: <020b01c7ef1f$2c8a1520$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Dear Colleagues, Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List - what topics would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers - what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would you like to see discussed? I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take place this fall - one focused on GED and another focused on using data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have something focused on ESOL - any suggestions? I have a few ideas but want to hear from you. For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can be very helpful. Also - new folks may want to scroll down to read the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types of discussions we have had in the past. Thanks so much - looking forward to hearing from you and having some great discussions here! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Discussion List Tips Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Posting to the List Please include an email address in your signature line in at least your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry off-list if they choose. Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one person or the whole group. Managing Your Subscription Digest Format This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not suit everyone's needs. >From the Assessment Discussion List page: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and enter your subscription email address. This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've forgotten it.) Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click "submit my changes." Use the archives You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See below for more information on using the archives.) Just hit delete! This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic of discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can't hit delete for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and search for those posts in the archives. Using the Archives To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the Assessment List Archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. In the right-hand toolbar: Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, subject, or author. Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as past, Discussion Topics. Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070904/8f54fb82/attachment.html From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Tue Sep 4 16:57:22 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 16:57:22 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 907] Release of Commission Paper by James Parker Message-ID: New York, NY, 5:00 PM -- WORKPLACE EDUCATION: TWENTY STATE PERSPECTIVES, a paper prepared by education consultant James T. Parker for the National Commission on Adult Literacy, was released today. This Policy Brief was prepared for the Commission's third meeting on August 20, 2007 by education consultant James Parker (formerly of the U.S. Department of Education). It describes various aspects of current workplace education programs in 20 states: AR, CA, CT, FL, GA, IN, KY, LA, MA, MN, MS, NY, NC, OH, PA, SC, TX, VA, WV, and WI. It examines how the programs are funded; the level of effort in each case for the past two years; connections, partnerships, and/ or strategic plans implemented by workplace education programs; how states measure outcomes or determine success; the nature of workplace education outcomes achieved; challenges or barriers faced by the states; what the states consider to be the key elements of success in their workplace education efforts, and (8) what future policy options the states would like to consider. One section of the paper presents seven policy options from the author's perspective. In an appendix to the study, state profiles are given for the 20 states included. The document is available from the Commission website: http:// www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org/pandp.html. From donnaedp at cox.net Wed Sep 5 08:26:41 2007 From: donnaedp at cox.net (Donna Chambers) Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 08:26:41 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 908] Re: September welcome! References: <020b01c7ef1f$2c8a1520$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <004601c7efb8$037c30c0$975fdd48@DH89L251> Marie and All, Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already happened, please forgive me. I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner through a pipeline? This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. Donna Chambers From: Marie Cora To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! Dear Colleagues, Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List - what topics would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers - what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would you like to see discussed? I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take place this fall - one focused on GED and another focused on using data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have something focused on ESOL - any suggestions? I have a few ideas but want to hear from you. For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can be very helpful. Also - new folks may want to scroll down to read the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types of discussions we have had in the past. Thanks so much - looking forward to hearing from you and having some great discussions here! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Discussion List Tips Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Posting to the List Please include an email address in your signature line in at least your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry off-list if they choose. Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one person or the whole group. Managing Your Subscription Digest Format This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not suit everyone's needs. From the Assessment Discussion List page: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and enter your subscription email address. This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've forgotten it.) Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click "submit my changes." Use the archives You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See below for more information on using the archives.) Just hit delete! This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic of discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can't hit delete for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and search for those posts in the archives. Using the Archives To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the Assessment List Archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. In the right-hand toolbar: Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, subject, or author. Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as past, Discussion Topics. Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070905/09234aad/attachment.html From mmaralit at nifl.gov Thu Sep 6 08:33:54 2007 From: mmaralit at nifl.gov (Mary Jo Maralit) Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 08:33:54 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Assessment 909] September 28 Webcast: From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults Message-ID: <20070906123354.7FB8D11B47@mail.nifl.gov> TOPIC: From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults WHEN: Friday, September 28, 2007 TIME: 1:30 PM - 2:45 PM Eastern Time 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM Central Time 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM Mountain Time 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Pacific Time The National Institute for Literacy will host a webcast titled From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults on Friday, September 28, 2007. This webcast will present a practical and compelling rationale for the use of research-based principles for adult reading instruction. Dr. John Kruideiner, Dr. Rosalind Davidson, and Ms. Susan McShane will use two components of reading, word analysis and comprehension, as examples to illustrate research-based practices, focusing on specific assessment and instructional strategies derived from the research. Participants will learn about the direct link between research and evidence-based practice. The presenters also will explain how all four major components of reading provide a framework for assessing students' reading ability and how assessment results can lead to a program of instruction that improve students' reading. For more information, please contact info at nifl.gov or call 202-233-2025 or visit us online at http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/assesspractice/webcast0928.html. Please note: This webcast will be archived on the Institute's website about two weeks after the event. From mjjerdems at yahoo.com Thu Sep 6 09:38:42 2007 From: mjjerdems at yahoo.com (Mary Jane Jerde) Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 06:38:42 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 910] Re: September welcome! In-Reply-To: <004601c7efb8$037c30c0$975fdd48@DH89L251> Message-ID: <825176.35684.qm@web54008.mail.re2.yahoo.com> This is a good on-going topic. In my experience, ESL students either have the means to take the advanced grammar and pronunciation courses, etc., or they are pressed to get the diploma. If they can stay in school at all. In my experience, a transition class is an ideal. The reality has been that I attempt to ground them in the basics of English especially verbs,simple past and present, continuous, both kinds of future, a few modals, negatives. Then I encourage them that when they enter an ABE or similar class, they will still be responsible to maintain and develop their grammar and other English skills. It will not be the teacher's job to pour it into them or spend class time coaching them or having peer coaching the way that we can in ESL class. They have to be their own advocates on this. Mary Jane Jerde Donna Chambers wrote: Clean Clean DocumentEmail MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:* { BEHAVIOR: url(#default#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Marie and All, Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already happened, please forgive me. I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner through a pipeline? This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. Donna Chambers From: Marie Cora To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! Dear Colleagues, Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List ? what topics would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers ? what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would you like to see discussed? I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take place this fall ? one focused on GED and another focused on using data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have something focused on ESOL ? any suggestions? I have a few ideas but want to hear from you. For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can be very helpful. Also ? new folks may want to scroll down to read the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types of discussions we have had in the past. Thanks so much ? looking forward to hearing from you and having some great discussions here! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Discussion List Tips Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Posting to the List Please include an email address in your signature line in at least your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry off-list if they choose. Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one person or the whole group. Managing Your Subscription Digest Format This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not suit everyone?s needs. From the Assessment Discussion List page: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and enter your subscription email address. This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've forgotten it.) Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click "submit my changes." Use the archives You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don?t want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See below for more information on using the archives.) Just hit delete! This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic of discussion just isn?t up your alley, or you simply don?t have the time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It?s all your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can?t hit delete for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and search for those posts in the archives. Using the Archives To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the Assessment List Archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. In the right-hand toolbar: Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, subject, or author. Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as past, Discussion Topics. Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ --------------------------------- ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to mjjerdems at yahoo.com --------------------------------- Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070906/0310946c/attachment.html From crandall at umbc.edu Thu Sep 6 12:40:27 2007 From: crandall at umbc.edu (JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall) Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 12:40:27 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Assessment 911] Re: September welcome! In-Reply-To: <825176.35684.qm@web54008.mail.re2.yahoo.com> References: <825176.35684.qm@web54008.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <49437.130.85.83.247.1189096827.squirrel@webmail.umbc.edu> I agree that transition classes are a good idea, but a program which offers gradual transition to ABE may also be a good solution. Yakima Valley Community College has an integrated ESL/ABE program, with students in the upper levels of adult ESL taking first ABE math classes and then ABE reading. You can learn more about the program in a report that Forrest Chisman and I did on promising practices in adult ESL in the community college: Passing the Torch You can access the report online under Occasional Papers at www.caalusa.org I should note that we also identify one of the major barriers to transition for adult English Language Learners is the lack of an assessment system, with different tests used for exit from one program and entry to another. Jodi Crandall > This is a good on-going topic. > > In my experience, ESL students either have the means to take the advanced > grammar and pronunciation courses, etc., or they are pressed to get the > diploma. If they can stay in school at all. > > In my experience, a transition class is an ideal. The reality has been > that I attempt to ground them in the basics of English especially > verbs,simple past and present, continuous, both kinds of future, a few > modals, negatives. Then I encourage them that when they enter an ABE or > similar class, they will still be responsible to maintain and develop > their grammar and other English skills. It will not be the teacher's job > to pour it into them or spend class time coaching them or having peer > coaching the way that we can in ESL class. They have to be their own > advocates on this. > > Mary Jane Jerde > > > > Donna Chambers wrote: > Clean Clean DocumentEmail > MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:* { BEHAVIOR: > url(#default#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ > table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; > mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; > mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; > mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; > mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; > font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Marie > and All, > > Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on > the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already > happened, please forgive me. > > I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that > efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several > years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who > want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in > ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would > allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from > ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner > through a pipeline? > > This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of > professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. > These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I > found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based > assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of > formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the > classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work > along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being > focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would > make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. > > Donna Chambers > > From: Marie Cora > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM > Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! > > > Dear Colleagues, > > Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have > been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you > are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why > you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List ? what topics > would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers ? > what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would > you like to see discussed? > > I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take > place this fall ? one focused on GED and another focused on using > data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on > using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing > this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have > something focused on ESOL ? any suggestions? I have a few ideas > but want to hear from you. > > For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can > be very helpful. Also ? new folks may want to scroll down to read > the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types > of discussions we have had in the past. > > Thanks so much ? looking forward to hearing from you and having some > great discussions here! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > Discussion List Tips > Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List > Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as > well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the > Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always > feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you > need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > Posting to the List > Please include an email address in your signature line in at least > your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry > off-list if they choose. > Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of > your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the > Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people > converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first > posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion > threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change > it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. > Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one > person or the whole group. > Managing Your Subscription > Digest Format > This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List > messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line > will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often > mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, > subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that > was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not > suit everyone?s needs. > From the Assessment Discussion List page: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment > Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and > enter your subscription email address. > This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to > unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a > button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've > forgotten it.) > Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest > mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click > "submit my changes." > Use the archives > You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so > if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don?t > want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See > below for more information on using the archives.) > Just hit delete! > This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic > of discussion just isn?t up your alley, or you simply don?t have the > time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one > is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It?s all > your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can?t hit delete > for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get > logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time > or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and > search for those posts in the archives. > Using the Archives > To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the > Assessment List Archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. > The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. > In the right-hand toolbar: > Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment > archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, > subject, or author. > Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as > past, Discussion Topics. > Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to mjjerdems at yahoo.com > > > > --------------------------------- > Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to crandall at umbc.edu > -- JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Professor, Education Department Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture Coordinator, Peace Corps Master's International Program in ESOL/Bilingual Education University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 ph: 410-455-2313/2376 fax: 410-455-8947/1880 email: crandall at umbc.edu www.umbc.edu/llc/ www.umbc.edu/esol/ www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Sep 6 12:56:00 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 12:56:00 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 912] FW: [Technology 1259] Tech Integration Self-Assessment available now Message-ID: <055e01c7f0a6$ceae5f40$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: I thought some of you might be interested in this self-assessment for teachers. Note at the bottom of Marian's post that there will be a discussion focused on this tool on the Technology Discussion List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Technology). I'll keep you posted on when that discussion gets announced. Thanks, Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** The AdultEd Online project at www.adultedonline.org has launched a technology integration self-assessment for teachers. See how you are doing with using technology in your classroom, and what the possibilties are. There may be some here that you haven't considered before. The self-assessment takes about 15-20 minutes to complete, and if you wish you can continue, based on your results, to create a professional development plan for yourself and save it online. >From the link above you can register as a teacher or as an administrator. Administrators can invite teachers, track their results, and see aggregated results in order to plan professional development for a site or agency. There are two self-assessments on this Web site, the one for tech integration and also one for distance teaching, so be sure you are looking at technology integration. We will be discussing this new tool on this list in a few weeks, but I wanted you to know that it's available now, so please check it out when you have a chance. Our list moderator, Mariann Fedele, along with David Rosen, Jackie Taylor, and many others contributed much to the development of this tool, and we are eager to have people try it out. Marian ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marian Thacher, OTAN P.O. Box 269003 Sacramento, CA 95826-9003 (916) 228-2597 www.otan.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070906/828b45a7/attachment.html From kbeall at onlyinternet.net Thu Sep 6 15:32:22 2007 From: kbeall at onlyinternet.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 15:32:22 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 913] New from NCSALL Message-ID: <00b401c7f0bc$a60ac4f0$020ba8c0@your4105e587b6> Research Utilization in the Field of Adult Learning and Literacy: Lessons Learned by NCSALL About Connecting Practice, Policy, and Research By Cristine Smith, Beth Bingman, and Kaye Beall This occasional paper is a summary of what the staff of the NCSALL Dissemination Initiative learned about how to connect research, policy and practice in ways that promote evidence-based practice in the field of adult learning and literacy. Go to http://www.ncsall.net/?id=26#utilization to download the paper. **************** Kaye Beall World Education 6760 West Street Linn Grove, IN 46711 Tel: 765-717-3942 Fax: 617-482-0617 kaye_beall at worlded.org http://www.worlded.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070906/2f6f8529/attachment.html From forrest at crosslink.net Thu Sep 6 17:58:26 2007 From: forrest at crosslink.net (fchisman) Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 17:58:26 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 914] Re: September welcome! In-Reply-To: <49437.130.85.83.247.1189096827.squirrel@webmail.umbc.edu> Message-ID: The Yakima program and its outcomes are descriped in more detail in a separate report on it by Pamela Ferguson et.al, also published on www.caalusa.org. Forrest Chisman -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 12:40 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 911] Re: September welcome! I agree that transition classes are a good idea, but a program which offers gradual transition to ABE may also be a good solution. Yakima Valley Community College has an integrated ESL/ABE program, with students in the upper levels of adult ESL taking first ABE math classes and then ABE reading. You can learn more about the program in a report that Forrest Chisman and I did on promising practices in adult ESL in the community college: Passing the Torch You can access the report online under Occasional Papers at www.caalusa.org I should note that we also identify one of the major barriers to transition for adult English Language Learners is the lack of an assessment system, with different tests used for exit from one program and entry to another. Jodi Crandall > This is a good on-going topic. > > In my experience, ESL students either have the means to take the advanced > grammar and pronunciation courses, etc., or they are pressed to get the > diploma. If they can stay in school at all. > > In my experience, a transition class is an ideal. The reality has been > that I attempt to ground them in the basics of English especially > verbs,simple past and present, continuous, both kinds of future, a few > modals, negatives. Then I encourage them that when they enter an ABE or > similar class, they will still be responsible to maintain and develop > their grammar and other English skills. It will not be the teacher's job > to pour it into them or spend class time coaching them or having peer > coaching the way that we can in ESL class. They have to be their own > advocates on this. > > Mary Jane Jerde > > > > Donna Chambers wrote: > Clean Clean DocumentEmail > MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:* { BEHAVIOR: > url(#default#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ > table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; > mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; > mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; > mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; > mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; > font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Marie > and All, > > Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on > the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already > happened, please forgive me. > > I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that > efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several > years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who > want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in > ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would > allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from > ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner > through a pipeline? > > This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of > professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. > These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I > found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based > assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of > formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the > classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work > along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being > focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would > make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. > > Donna Chambers > > From: Marie Cora > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM > Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! > > > Dear Colleagues, > > Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have > been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you > are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why > you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List ? what topics > would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers ? > what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would > you like to see discussed? > > I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take > place this fall ? one focused on GED and another focused on using > data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on > using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing > this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have > something focused on ESOL ? any suggestions? I have a few ideas > but want to hear from you. > > For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can > be very helpful. Also ? new folks may want to scroll down to read > the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types > of discussions we have had in the past. > > Thanks so much ? looking forward to hearing from you and having some > great discussions here! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > Discussion List Tips > Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List > Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as > well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the > Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always > feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you > need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > Posting to the List > Please include an email address in your signature line in at least > your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry > off-list if they choose. > Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of > your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the > Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people > converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first > posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion > threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change > it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. > Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one > person or the whole group. > Managing Your Subscription > Digest Format > This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List > messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line > will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often > mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, > subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that > was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not > suit everyone?s needs. > From the Assessment Discussion List page: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment > Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and > enter your subscription email address. > This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to > unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a > button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've > forgotten it.) > Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest > mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click > "submit my changes." > Use the archives > You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so > if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don?t > want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See > below for more information on using the archives.) > Just hit delete! > This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic > of discussion just isn?t up your alley, or you simply don?t have the > time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one > is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It?s all > your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can?t hit delete > for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get > logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time > or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and > search for those posts in the archives. > Using the Archives > To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the > Assessment List Archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. > The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. > In the right-hand toolbar: > Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment > archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, > subject, or author. > Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as > past, Discussion Topics. > Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to mjjerdems at yahoo.com > > > > --------------------------------- > Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to crandall at umbc.edu > -- JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Professor, Education Department Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture Coordinator, Peace Corps Master's International Program in ESOL/Bilingual Education University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 ph: 410-455-2313/2376 fax: 410-455-8947/1880 email: crandall at umbc.edu www.umbc.edu/llc/ www.umbc.edu/esol/ www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to forrest at crosslink.net From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Sep 7 12:42:57 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 12:42:57 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 915] New resource Message-ID: <06db01c7f16e$266617b0$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, the following announcement is from Pat Campbell at Grass Roots Press. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Grass Roots Press has just released a new book titled Measures of Success: Assessment and Accountability in Adult Basic Education. In this book, 13 known and respected practitioners and researchers explore the theory and practice of assessment and accountability. The contributing authors include Jay Derrick, Kathryn Ecclestone, Juliet Merrifield, Jan Hagston, Dave Tout, Ralf St. Clair, Alisa Belzer, Katrina Grieve, William Fagan, Robin Millar, Karen Geraci, Christine Pinsent-Johnson, and Pat Campbell. Building on the premise that literacy is complex and multi-faceted, the authors define the dominant types of assessment tools and then shift to the broader questions of assessment for whom and for what. In Part 1, the authors describe standardized, diagnostic, competency-based, and performance-based assessment tools. In Part 2, the authors provide insight into the assessment and accountability systems in Canada, the United States, Scotland, England, Wales, and Australia. Part 3 provides a set of seven key principles to guide effective accountability systems. (375 pp.) The accompanying DVDS are an ideal training tool for workshops and in-services. The diagnostic assessment DVD demonstrates how to administer and interpret a diagnostic assessment. (Running time: 25 minutes.) The performance assessment DVD demonstrates an interview, portfolios, building a rubric, and demonstrations. (Running time: 27:30 minutes) To order this book, go to the Grass Roots Press website at www.literacyservices.com The pre-publication reviews are below. If I had to choose a single must-read for all literacy providers and policy-makers, Measures of Success would be it. This volume describes and critiques current assessment and accountability tools and practices in several English-speaking countries from the perspectives of 13 known and respected practitioner/researchers. Building on the premise that literacy is complex and multi-faceted, the authors define the dominant types of assessment tools, but shift the focus to the broader question of assessment for whom and for what. They conclude by proposing a set of seven key principles to guide effective accountability systems. Measures of Success is made to order for the moment. Linda Shohet Executive-Director, The Centre for Literacy This book is packed with useful information! It doesn't shy away from the complexities and debates at the heart of this field. Instead, it brings them out of the shadows and makes them accessible to practitioners and policy-makers alike. Nancy Jackson - University of Toronto It is rare that we find a text that practices so well what it preaches. In Measures of Success, Pat Campbell has brought together an international group of educators and researchers who share a strong commitment to the "multi-dimensional and changing nature of literacies." This shared commitment is the starting point for nine wide-ranging explorations of the theory and practice of assessment and accountability. As these articles make clear, national accountability systems have the power to drive enormous changes - for good and ill - in the adult basic education delivery system, with serious consequences for the adults who depend upon these programs to develop the skills they need to accomplish their diverse goals and purposes. This is indeed a critical contribution to the field at a time when accountability rules. Dr. Sondra Stein National Director (retired) Equipped for the Future Initiative Measures of Success offers a clear-eyed and nuanced account of the consequence-both positive and negative-of current assessment and accountability practices in adult basic education. Authors and perspectives from Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia give this book exceptional breadth of coverage. The need to expand available assessment tools to better capture the complexity of literacy and numeracy practices and to better reflect the diversity of adult learners' goals is a consistent theme across all chapters. As the chapters in this excellent book make clear, the tests we choose and the ways we use them convey powerful messages about learning goals and instructional priorities. As a whole, this book presents a compelling case for fundamental changes in our thinking about what we test, how we test it, and how we apply test results. Regie Stites Program Manager, Center for Educational Policy, SRI International Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070907/9627a4dc/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Sep 7 16:38:21 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 16:38:21 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 916] Re: formative and summative assessment in ESOL In-Reply-To: <004601c7efb8$037c30c0$975fdd48@DH89L251> Message-ID: <074201c7f18f$08392a90$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Donna and everyone, Thanks for your post - you've raised a whole bunch of interesting questions and issues. I see that a couple of other emails address parts of your post, so I will focus instead on your comments involving formative and summative assessment. I would argue that we need both of these types of assessment for different purposes, but I do believe that formative assessment can really provide the practitioner (and student!!) with some substantial immediate feedback in which they can both see where the strengths and challenges lie (lay?). I wonder if you could use various classroom (formative) assessments that are focused on ABE or ASE levels with ESOL students in order to determine their readiness in certain areas. Does anyone do this? Also, Donna you said: "Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being focused on the skills that need to be learned." Were you talking about the practitioner understanding assessment better, or the ESOL student understanding it? Both would be great!! Does anyone involve the ESOL student in assessment - do you do any self assessment with students? If so, what's it like? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator PS: here are a few resources/articles on formative assessment: Assessment Crisis: The Absence Of Assessment FOR Learning https://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0206sti.htm Assessment Resource Banks - New Zealand http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/nzcer3/using.htm Assessment Training Institute - ETS ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING: Formative Assessment That Can Improve Student Learning http://www.assessmentinst.com/ Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, Second Edition http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1555425003.html The Concept of Formative Assessment http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8 &n=9 Formative assessment and the Assessment Resource Banks http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/nzcer3/formative.htm Improving Teaching and Learning for Adults with Basic Skill Needs through Formative Assessment CERI (Centre for Educational Research and Innovation) http://www.oecd.org/edu/whatworks Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm NW Regional Educational Laboratory Assessment Toolkit98 http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/toolkit98.php A Primer: Diagnostic, Formative, & Summative Assessment http://www.mmrwsjr.com/assessment.htm The Value of Formative Assessment http://www.fairtest.org/examarts/winter99/k-forma3.html -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Donna Chambers Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:27 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 908] Re: September welcome! Marie and All, Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already happened, please forgive me. I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner through a pipeline? This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. Donna Chambers From: Marie Cora To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! Dear Colleagues, Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List - what topics would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers - what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would you like to see discussed? I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take place this fall - one focused on GED and another focused on using data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have something focused on ESOL - any suggestions? I have a few ideas but want to hear from you. For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can be very helpful. Also - new folks may want to scroll down to read the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types of discussions we have had in the past. Thanks so much - looking forward to hearing from you and having some great discussions here! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Discussion List Tips Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Posting to the List Please include an email address in your signature line in at least your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry off-list if they choose. Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one person or the whole group. Managing Your Subscription Digest Format This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not suit everyone's needs. >From the Assessment Discussion List page: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and enter your subscription email address. This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've forgotten it.) Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click "submit my changes." Use the archives You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See below for more information on using the archives.) Just hit delete! This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic of discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can't hit delete for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and search for those posts in the archives. Using the Archives To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the Assessment List Archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. In the right-hand toolbar: Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, subject, or author. Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as past, Discussion Topics. Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ _____ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070907/4cde743e/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Sep 7 16:45:35 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 16:45:35 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 917] Re: Being your own advocate In-Reply-To: <825176.35684.qm@web54008.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <074701c7f190$0b47ada0$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Mary Jane, Thanks so much for this. It sounds like you have worked on this area quite a bit. I definitely see that once the ESOL student has entered an ABE class, they certainly would need to keep up somewhat on their own (or already be confident at that level) because some of their skills would already be assumed in the regular ABE student. Mary Jane: do you have ways that you gauge if the student is ready to go to the ABE classroom? Do you work with ESOL students on gauging their own capabilities and then how to address any gaps? In other words, do you have strategies that you employ with your students that ready them to be their own advocate in the higher level classroom? Thanks, Marie Cora -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mary Jane Jerde Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 9:39 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 910] Re: September welcome! This is a good on-going topic. In my experience, ESL students either have the means to take the advanced grammar and pronunciation courses, etc., or they are pressed to get the diploma. If they can stay in school at all. In my experience, a transition class is an ideal. The reality has been that I attempt to ground them in the basics of English especially verbs,simple past and present, continuous, both kinds of future, a few modals, negatives. Then I encourage them that when they enter an ABE or similar class, they will still be responsible to maintain and develop their grammar and other English skills. It will not be the teacher's job to pour it into them or spend class time coaching them or having peer coaching the way that we can in ESL class. They have to be their own advocates on this. Mary Jane Jerde Donna Chambers wrote: Marie and All, Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already happened, please forgive me. I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner through a pipeline? This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. Donna Chambers From: Marie Cora To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! Dear Colleagues, Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List - what topics would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers - what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would you like to see discussed? I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take place this fall - one focused on GED and another focused on using data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have something focused on ESOL - any suggestions? I have a few ideas but want to hear from you. For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can be very helpful. Also - new folks may want to scroll down to read the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types of discussions we have had in the past. Thanks so much - looking forward to hearing from you and having some great discussions here! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Discussion List Tips Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Posting to the List Please include an email address in your signature line in at least your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry off-list if they choose. Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one person or the whole group. Managing Your Subscription Digest Format This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not suit everyone's needs. >From the Assessment Discussion List page: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and enter your subscription email address. This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've forgotten it.) Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click "submit my changes." Use the archives You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See below for more information on using the archives.) Just hit delete! This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic of discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can't hit delete for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and search for those posts in the archives. Using the Archives To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the Assessment List Archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. In the right-hand toolbar: Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, subject, or author. Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as past, Discussion Topics. Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ _____ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to mjjerdems at yahoo.com _____ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070907/792c4720/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Sep 7 17:15:35 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 17:15:35 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 918] Re: Passing the Torch In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <074c01c7f194$3c0876f0$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Hi Forrest and Jodi - thank you so much for these resources. I am aware of Passing the Torch, but I have not had the pleasure of reading it through. I've read the executive summary, which is quite a thorough overview. Guess I'll read the whole report now! I know that the paper is focused on Community College - would you say that the information would be applicable in other venues, for example, CBOs, volunteer organizations, and the like? Also, the overview provides an incredibly rich array of approaches, supports, techniques - indeed: innovative strategies for addressing this complex issue (see: #6. Improving Learning Gains in the executive summary). Do any of the strategies involve the student in assessment, or do any strategies include student self-assessment? (The section on Learning Outside the Classroom prompts me to ask these questions.) Finally, you note that computer-adaptive tests with voice recognition software would enhance the paucity of assessments that appropriately gauge the range of ESOL students' skills. I'm intrigued: would this mostly be focused on the oral skills of the student then? Do you feel there are adequate assessments for writing and reading skills? Can you talk a bit more about this? Thank you so much! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of fchisman Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 5:58 PM To: Jodi Crandall; The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 914] Re: September welcome! The Yakima program and its outcomes are descriped in more detail in a separate report on it by Pamela Ferguson et.al, also published on www.caalusa.org. Forrest Chisman -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 12:40 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 911] Re: September welcome! I agree that transition classes are a good idea, but a program which offers gradual transition to ABE may also be a good solution. Yakima Valley Community College has an integrated ESL/ABE program, with students in the upper levels of adult ESL taking first ABE math classes and then ABE reading. You can learn more about the program in a report that Forrest Chisman and I did on promising practices in adult ESL in the community college: Passing the Torch You can access the report online under Occasional Papers at www.caalusa.org I should note that we also identify one of the major barriers to transition for adult English Language Learners is the lack of an assessment system, with different tests used for exit from one program and entry to another. Jodi Crandall > This is a good on-going topic. > > In my experience, ESL students either have the means to take the advanced > grammar and pronunciation courses, etc., or they are pressed to get the > diploma. If they can stay in school at all. > > In my experience, a transition class is an ideal. The reality has been > that I attempt to ground them in the basics of English especially > verbs,simple past and present, continuous, both kinds of future, a few > modals, negatives. Then I encourage them that when they enter an ABE or > similar class, they will still be responsible to maintain and develop > their grammar and other English skills. It will not be the teacher's job > to pour it into them or spend class time coaching them or having peer > coaching the way that we can in ESL class. They have to be their own > advocates on this. > > Mary Jane Jerde > > > > Donna Chambers wrote: > Clean Clean DocumentEmail > MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:* { BEHAVIOR: > url(#default#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ > table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; > mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; > mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; > mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; > mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; > font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Marie > and All, > > Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on > the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already > happened, please forgive me. > > I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that > efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several > years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who > want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in > ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would > allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from > ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner > through a pipeline? > > This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of > professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. > These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I > found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based > assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of > formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the > classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work > along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being > focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would > make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. > > Donna Chambers > > From: Marie Cora > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM > Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! > > > Dear Colleagues, > > Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have > been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you > are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why > you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List - what topics > would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers - > what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would > you like to see discussed? > > I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take > place this fall - one focused on GED and another focused on using > data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on > using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing > this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have > something focused on ESOL - any suggestions? I have a few ideas > but want to hear from you. > > For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can > be very helpful. Also - new folks may want to scroll down to read > the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types > of discussions we have had in the past. > > Thanks so much - looking forward to hearing from you and having some > great discussions here! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > Discussion List Tips > Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List > Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as > well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the > Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always > feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you > need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > Posting to the List > Please include an email address in your signature line in at least > your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry > off-list if they choose. > Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of > your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the > Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people > converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first > posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion > threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change > it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. > Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one > person or the whole group. > Managing Your Subscription > Digest Format > This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List > messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line > will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often > mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, > subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that > was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not > suit everyone's needs. > From the Assessment Discussion List page: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment > Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and > enter your subscription email address. > This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to > unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a > button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've > forgotten it.) > Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest > mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click > "submit my changes." > Use the archives > You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so > if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't > want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See > below for more information on using the archives.) > Just hit delete! > This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic > of discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the > time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one > is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all > your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can't hit delete > for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get > logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time > or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and > search for those posts in the archives. > Using the Archives > To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the > Assessment List Archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. > The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. > In the right-hand toolbar: > Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment > archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, > subject, or author. > Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as > past, Discussion Topics. > Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to mjjerdems at yahoo.com > > > > --------------------------------- > Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to crandall at umbc.edu > -- JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Professor, Education Department Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture Coordinator, Peace Corps Master's International Program in ESOL/Bilingual Education University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 ph: 410-455-2313/2376 fax: 410-455-8947/1880 email: crandall at umbc.edu www.umbc.edu/llc/ www.umbc.edu/esol/ www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to forrest at crosslink.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com From forrest at crosslink.net Fri Sep 7 22:40:14 2007 From: forrest at crosslink.net (fchisman) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 22:40:14 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 919] Re: Passing the Torch In-Reply-To: <074c01c7f194$3c0876f0$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Marie, We don't have any empirical evidence about the applicability of these findings outside community colleges, but I see no reason why most of they should NOT be suitable for Board of Education programs and the more professionalized CBO's. I dobt, however, that thnly they are suitable to CBO's that rely primarily on volunteer tutoring. I think there is an element of student-self assessment in some of the "outside the classroom" strategies -- but not in the sense that the term "self-asessment" usually employed. I have nothing against it. We just didn't find it. No, we're interested in cost/effective (and time/effective) ways to measure all four skills. The idea about computer-adaptive tests was just a stab in the dark. As of now, there is no good, quick, inexpensive way to measure all four skills. Forrest -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Marie Cora Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 5:16 PM To: 'The Assessment Discussion List' Subject: [Assessment 918] Re: Passing the Torch Hi Forrest and Jodi - thank you so much for these resources. I am aware of Passing the Torch, but I have not had the pleasure of reading it through. I've read the executive summary, which is quite a thorough overview. Guess I'll read the whole report now! I know that the paper is focused on Community College - would you say that the information would be applicable in other venues, for example, CBOs, volunteer organizations, and the like? Also, the overview provides an incredibly rich array of approaches, supports, techniques - indeed: innovative strategies for addressing this complex issue (see: #6. Improving Learning Gains in the executive summary). Do any of the strategies involve the student in assessment, or do any strategies include student self-assessment? (The section on Learning Outside the Classroom prompts me to ask these questions.) Finally, you note that computer-adaptive tests with voice recognition software would enhance the paucity of assessments that appropriately gauge the range of ESOL students' skills. I'm intrigued: would this mostly be focused on the oral skills of the student then? Do you feel there are adequate assessments for writing and reading skills? Can you talk a bit more about this? Thank you so much! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of fchisman Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 5:58 PM To: Jodi Crandall; The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 914] Re: September welcome! The Yakima program and its outcomes are descriped in more detail in a separate report on it by Pamela Ferguson et.al, also published on www.caalusa.org. Forrest Chisman -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 12:40 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 911] Re: September welcome! I agree that transition classes are a good idea, but a program which offers gradual transition to ABE may also be a good solution. Yakima Valley Community College has an integrated ESL/ABE program, with students in the upper levels of adult ESL taking first ABE math classes and then ABE reading. You can learn more about the program in a report that Forrest Chisman and I did on promising practices in adult ESL in the community college: Passing the Torch You can access the report online under Occasional Papers at www.caalusa.org I should note that we also identify one of the major barriers to transition for adult English Language Learners is the lack of an assessment system, with different tests used for exit from one program and entry to another. Jodi Crandall > This is a good on-going topic. > > In my experience, ESL students either have the means to take the advanced > grammar and pronunciation courses, etc., or they are pressed to get the > diploma. If they can stay in school at all. > > In my experience, a transition class is an ideal. The reality has been > that I attempt to ground them in the basics of English especially > verbs,simple past and present, continuous, both kinds of future, a few > modals, negatives. Then I encourage them that when they enter an ABE or > similar class, they will still be responsible to maintain and develop > their grammar and other English skills. It will not be the teacher's job > to pour it into them or spend class time coaching them or having peer > coaching the way that we can in ESL class. They have to be their own > advocates on this. > > Mary Jane Jerde > > > > Donna Chambers wrote: > Clean Clean DocumentEmail > MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:* { BEHAVIOR: > url(#default#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ > table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; > mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; > mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; > mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; > mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; > font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Marie > and All, > > Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on > the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already > happened, please forgive me. > > I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that > efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several > years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who > want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in > ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would > allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from > ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner > through a pipeline? > > This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of > professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. > These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I > found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based > assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of > formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the > classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work > along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being > focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would > make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. > > Donna Chambers > > From: Marie Cora > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM > Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! > > > Dear Colleagues, > > Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have > been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you > are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why > you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List - what topics > would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers - > what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would > you like to see discussed? > > I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take > place this fall - one focused on GED and another focused on using > data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on > using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing > this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have > something focused on ESOL - any suggestions? I have a few ideas > but want to hear from you. > > For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can > be very helpful. Also - new folks may want to scroll down to read > the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types > of discussions we have had in the past. > > Thanks so much - looking forward to hearing from you and having some > great discussions here! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > Discussion List Tips > Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List > Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as > well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the > Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always > feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you > need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > Posting to the List > Please include an email address in your signature line in at least > your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry > off-list if they choose. > Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of > your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the > Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people > converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first > posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion > threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change > it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. > Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one > person or the whole group. > Managing Your Subscription > Digest Format > This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List > messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line > will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often > mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, > subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that > was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not > suit everyone's needs. > From the Assessment Discussion List page: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment > Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and > enter your subscription email address. > This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to > unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a > button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've > forgotten it.) > Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest > mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click > "submit my changes." > Use the archives > You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so > if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't > want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See > below for more information on using the archives.) > Just hit delete! > This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic > of discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the > time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one > is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all > your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can't hit delete > for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get > logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time > or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and > search for those posts in the archives. > Using the Archives > To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the > Assessment List Archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. > The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. > In the right-hand toolbar: > Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment > archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, > subject, or author. > Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as > past, Discussion Topics. > Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to mjjerdems at yahoo.com > > > > --------------------------------- > Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to crandall at umbc.edu > -- JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall Professor, Education Department Director, Ph.D. Program in Language, Literacy & Culture Coordinator, Peace Corps Master's International Program in ESOL/Bilingual Education University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 ph: 410-455-2313/2376 fax: 410-455-8947/1880 email: crandall at umbc.edu www.umbc.edu/llc/ www.umbc.edu/esol/ www.umbc.edu/esol/peacecorps.html ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to forrest at crosslink.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to forrest at crosslink.net From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Sat Sep 8 10:43:21 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2007 10:43:21 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 920] Commission Releases Family Literacy Paper Message-ID: <956F50A8-B74B-4C11-9BF9-74A956337A13@caalusa.org> September 8, 2007, New York, NY -- The National Commission on Adult Literacy has released a new paper, this one by Tony Peyton of the National Center for Family Literacy. Titled FAMILY LITERACY IN ADULT EDUCATION: The Federal and State Support Role, this special perspectives paper (15 pages) was prepared for the August 20 meeting of the Commission. The paper contains an Executive Summary and four major sections: (1) Making the Case: Why Provide Family Literacy Services; (2) Federal Support for Family Literacy; (3) Examples of State Family Literacy Initiatives; and (4) Issues & Recommendations. Among the five recommendations made by the author is that serious national and state attention should be given to the collection of comparable data about family literacy services, program types, funding, legislative provisions, and enrollments across the states, as well as research to fully demonstrate program outcomes. The paper is available at http://www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org/ pandp.html. Gail Spangenberg President Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl New York, NY 10020 212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610 www.caalusa.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070908/4fc73fa7/attachment.html From donnaedp at cox.net Sat Sep 8 14:59:44 2007 From: donnaedp at cox.net (donnaedp at cox.net) Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2007 14:59:44 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 921] Re: formative and summative assessment in ESOL Message-ID: <24233900.1189277984533.JavaMail.root@eastrmwml25.mgt.cox.net> JMarie and All, There is no argument. We need both formative and summative assessment, but for different purposes. It is important for both practitioners and students to understand the purpose for and the distinction between both. Formative assessment is one of the most effective tools we have to inform instruction in the classroom. It allows us to pace and modifiy currriculum as we move students along on their learning journey. On the other hand, summative assessment is necessary to determine readiness to move along to the next level of instruction or credentialing. Donna. ---- Marie Cora wrote: > Hi Donna and everyone, > > Thanks for your post - you've raised a whole bunch of interesting > questions and issues. I see that a couple of other emails address parts > of your post, so I will focus instead on your comments involving > formative and summative assessment. I would argue that we need both of > these types of assessment for different purposes, but I do believe that > formative assessment can really provide the practitioner (and student!!) > with some substantial immediate feedback in which they can both see > where the strengths and challenges lie (lay?). > > I wonder if you could use various classroom (formative) assessments that > are focused on ABE or ASE levels with ESOL students in order to > determine their readiness in certain areas. Does anyone do this? > > Also, Donna you said: "Understanding assessment would allow ESOL > learners to work along side native English speakers with teaching and > learning being focused on the skills that need to be learned." Were you > talking about the practitioner understanding assessment better, or the > ESOL student understanding it? Both would be great!! Does anyone > involve the ESOL student in assessment - do you do any self assessment > with students? If so, what's it like? > > Thanks! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > PS: here are a few resources/articles on formative assessment: > > Assessment Crisis: The Absence Of Assessment FOR Learning > https://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0206sti.htm > > Assessment Resource Banks - New Zealand > http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/nzcer3/using.htm > > Assessment Training Institute - ETS > ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING: > Formative Assessment That Can Improve Student Learning > http://www.assessmentinst.com/ > > Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, Second > Edition > http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1555425003.html > > The Concept of Formative Assessment > http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8 > &n=9 > > Formative assessment and the Assessment Resource Banks > http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/nzcer3/formative.htm > > Improving Teaching and Learning for Adults with Basic Skill Needs > through Formative Assessment > CERI (Centre for Educational Research and Innovation) > http://www.oecd.org/edu/whatworks > > > Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment > http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm > > NW Regional Educational Laboratory > Assessment Toolkit98 > http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/toolkit98.php > > A Primer: Diagnostic, Formative, & Summative Assessment > http://www.mmrwsjr.com/assessment.htm > > The Value of Formative Assessment > http://www.fairtest.org/examarts/winter99/k-forma3.html > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Donna Chambers > Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:27 AM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 908] Re: September welcome! > > Marie and All, > > Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on > the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already > happened, please forgive me. > > I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that > efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several > years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who > want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in > ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would > allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from > ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner > through a pipeline? > > This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of > professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. > These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I > found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based > assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of > formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the > classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work > along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being > focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would > make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. > > Donna Chambers > > From: Marie Cora > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM > Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! > > Dear Colleagues, > > Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have > been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you > are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why you > have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List - what topics would > you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers - what is > on your minds these days? What topics of interest would you like to see > discussed? > > I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take place > this fall - one focused on GED and another focused on using data in the > classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on using data for > program improvement (see below for info on accessing this discussion in > the archives). I would really like to have something focused on ESOL - > any suggestions? I have a few ideas but want to hear from you. > > For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can be > very helpful. Also - new folks may want to scroll down to read the > information on using the Archives so that you can see what types of > discussions we have had in the past. > > Thanks so much - looking forward to hearing from you and having some > great discussions here! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > Discussion List Tips > Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List > Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as well as > minimizing the time and effort involved in following the Discussion > List. In addition to the tips below, you should always feel free to > contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you need help: > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > Posting to the List > Please include an email address in your signature line in at least your > first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry off-list > if they choose. > Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of your > message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the Subject > Line, and often, the message content shifts as people converse, but the > Subject Line remains the same from the first posted message. This makes > it more difficult to follow discussion threads. Please remember to > check the Subject Line info and change it to appropriately reflect your > message content, if needed. > Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one person or > the whole group. > Managing Your Subscription > Digest Format > This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List messages > "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line will not be > topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often mean the subject > line will need adjusting before replying. Also, subscribers using digest > format do not receive the information that was posted right away. > Because of that, this option may or may not suit everyone's needs. > >From the Assessment Discussion List page: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment > Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and enter > your subscription email address. > This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to unsubscribe or > to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a button you can click > to have your password emailed to you if you've forgotten it.) > Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest mode". > Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click "submit my > changes." > Use the archives > You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so if > you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't want to be > a List Member, this option is open for you. (See below for more > information on using the archives.) > Just hit delete! > This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic of > discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the time > at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one is making you > be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all your choice! > Often subscribers say that they just can't hit delete for fear of > missing something, but remember that all posts get logged automatically > in the archives and so when you *do* have the time or when that topic > area *does* interest you, you can go back and search for those posts in > the archives. > Using the Archives > To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the > Assessment List Archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. > The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. > In the right-hand toolbar: > Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment archives or > all the List archives from here; search by thread, subject, or author. > Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as past, > Discussion Topics. > Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > _____ > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net From teacherwendyq at gmail.com Mon Sep 10 09:03:19 2007 From: teacherwendyq at gmail.com (Wendy Quinones) Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:03:19 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 922] Re: formative and summative assessment in ESOL In-Reply-To: <074201c7f18f$08392a90$0302a8c0@LITNOW> References: <004601c7efb8$037c30c0$975fdd48@DH89L251> <074201c7f18f$08392a90$0302a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Hello all, At the Community Learning Center in Cabmridge MA, I teach ABE at the level where most of our ESOL learners enter the ABE side. Transition has been a thorny issue for us, as you can imagine. We decided to try a formal transition class; it worked well for the first year, but since then there hasn't been a large enough group of students whom we felt would benefit from this kind of class. We've tried informally giving the TABE to ESOL students who wanted to move into ABE, and that was certainly a wake-up for the ESOL teachers because few earned the scores that we expect of ABE learners at this level. We're still working on it! Wendy Quinones On 9/7/07, Marie Cora wrote: > > Hi Donna and everyone, > > > > Thanks for your post ? you've raised a whole bunch of interesting > questions and issues. I see that a couple of other emails address parts > of your post, so I will focus instead on your comments involving formative > and summative assessment. I would argue that we need both of these types > of assessment for different purposes, but I do believe that formative > assessment can really provide the practitioner (and student!!) with some > substantial immediate feedback in which they can both see where the > strengths and challenges lie (lay?). > > > > I wonder if you could use various classroom (formative) assessments that > are focused on ABE or ASE levels with ESOL students in order to determine > their readiness in certain areas. Does anyone do this? > > > > Also, Donna you said: "Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners > to work along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being > focused on the skills that need to be learned." Were you talking about > the practitioner understanding assessment better, or the ESOL student > understanding it? Both would be great!! Does anyone involve the ESOL > student in assessment ? do you do any self assessment with students? If > so, what's it like? > > > > Thanks! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > PS: here are a few resources/articles on formative assessment: > > > > Assessment Crisis: The Absence Of Assessment FOR Learning > > https://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0206sti.htm > > > > Assessment Resource Banks ? New Zealand > > http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/nzcer3/using.htm > > > > Assessment Training Institute ? ETS > > ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING: > Formative Assessment That Can Improve Student Learning > > http://www.assessmentinst.com/ > > > > Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, Second > Edition > > http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1555425003.html > > > > The Concept of Formative Assessment > > http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8&n=9 > > > > Formative assessment and the Assessment Resource Banks > > http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/nzcer3/formative.htm > > > > Improving Teaching and Learning for Adults with Basic Skill Needs through > Formative Assessment > > CERI (Centre for Educational Research and Innovation) > > http://www.oecd.org/edu/whatworks > > Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment > > http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm > > > > NW Regional Educational Laboratory > > Assessment Toolkit98 > > http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/toolkit98.php > > > > A Primer: Diagnostic, Formative, & Summative Assessment > > http://www.mmrwsjr.com/assessment.htm > > > > The Value of Formative Assessment > > http://www.fairtest.org/examarts/winter99/k-forma3.html > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > *From:* assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] *On > Behalf Of *Donna Chambers > *Sent:* Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:27 AM > *To:* The Assessment Discussion List > *Subject:* [Assessment 908] Re: September welcome! > > > > Marie and All, > > > > Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on > the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already happened, > please forgive me. > > > > I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that > efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several years > now my experience has been with non-native English learners who want to > receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in ESOL classes > that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would allow them to move > ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from ESOL to ABE and how can > we in Adult Education facilitate the learner through a pipeline? > > > > This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of > professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. These > sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I found > everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based assessment > is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of formative vs. summative > assessment and how both guide instruction in the classroom. > Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work along side > native English speakers with teaching and learning being focused on > the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would make a great > discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. > > > > Donna Chambers > > > > *From:* Marie Cora > > *To:* Assessment at nifl.gov > > *Sent:* Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM > > *Subject:* [Assessment 906] September welcome! > > > > Dear Colleagues, > > > > Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have been > here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you are new > to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why you have > subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List ? what topics would you like to > see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers ? what is on your minds > these days? What topics of interest would you like to see discussed? > > > > I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take place > this fall ? one focused on GED and another focused on using data in the > classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on using data for > program improvement (see below for info on accessing this discussion in the > archives). I would really like to have something focused on ESOL ? any > suggestions? I have a few ideas but want to hear from you. > > > > For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can be > very helpful. Also ? new folks may want to scroll down to read the > information on using the Archives so that you can see what types of > discussions we have had in the past. > > > > Thanks so much ? looking forward to hearing from you and having some great > discussions here! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > *Discussion List Tips* > > Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List Member, > both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as well as minimizing > the time and effort involved in following the Discussion List. In > addition to the tips below, you should always feel free to contact me with > any questions or concerns, or if you need help: > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > *Posting to the List*** > > Please include an email address in your signature line in at least your > first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry off-list if > they choose. > > Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of your > message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the Subject Line, > and often, the message content shifts as people converse, but the Subject > Line remains the same from the first posted message. This makes it more > difficult to follow discussion threads. Please remember to check the > Subject Line info and change it to appropriately reflect your message > content, if needed. > > Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one person or > the whole group. > > *Managing Your Subscription*** > > *Di**gest Format* > > This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List messages > "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line will* not* be > topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often mean the subject line > will need adjusting before replying. Also, subscribers using digest format > * do not* receive the information that was posted right away. Because of > that, this option may or may not suit everyone's needs. > > From the Assessment Discussion List page: > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment > > Scroll down to *Unsubscribe and other options* at the bottom and enter > your subscription email address. > > This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to unsubscribe or > to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a button you can click to > have your password emailed to you if you've forgotten it.) > > Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest mode". > Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click "submit my changes." > > *Use the archives* > > You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so if you > are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't want to be a List > Member, this option is open for you. (See below for more information on > using the archives.) > > *Just hit delete!* > > This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic of > discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the time at > the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one is making you be a > subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all your choice! Often > subscribers say that they just can't hit delete for fear of missing > something, but remember that all posts get logged automatically in the > archives and so when you *do* have the time or when that topic area *does* > interest you, you can go back and search for those posts in the archives. > > *Using the Archives* > > To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the > Assessment List Archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. > > The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. > > In the right-hand toolbar: > > Click on *Search Archives*; you can search just the Assessment archives or > all the List archives from here; search by thread, subject, or author. > > Click on *List Events* to view information on upcoming, as well as past, > Discussion Topics. > > Click on *List Help* for the FAQ about using the Lists. > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection > > http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ > > > > > ------------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070910/02b6e6ac/attachment.html From mjjerdems at yahoo.com Tue Sep 11 07:01:59 2007 From: mjjerdems at yahoo.com (Mary Jane Jerde) Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:01:59 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 923] Re: formative and summative assessment in ESOL In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <708467.2171.qm@web54010.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Hello, The comment about self-assessment below is interesting. I've done simple self-assessments of ESL students, how well you can you speak in English at the store kind of thing. Some students are pretty well tuned in to where their English fluency is. Others have too rosy a view of themselves, in my view. I've taught in Even Start for several years. One good part of that program was watching the students leave my ESL class and join the ABE/GED class. The reports back from these students did a great job of opening up the ESL students' eyes. They were not formal reports. It just happened naturally during breaks we shared. For other programs some discussions like this may need to be set up as a class exchange or visit. Or advancing ESL students might visit the ABE class during their expected last class in ESL. The same could be said for ESL and ABE teachers to visit or exchange classes even for a half hour project. One day the Adult Ed director in my program filled in for me. She taught the pre-literacy ESL class. This was truly an extreme example and not what I intend for a bridging exercise, but she did learn a lot about the students. Mary Jane Wendy Quinones wrote: Hello all, At the Community Learning Center in Cabmridge MA, I teach ABE at the level where most of our ESOL learners enter the ABE side. Transition has been a thorny issue for us, as you can imagine. We decided to try a formal transition class; it worked well for the first year, but since then there hasn't been a large enough group of students whom we felt would benefit from this kind of class. We've tried informally giving the TABE to ESOL students who wanted to move into ABE, and that was certainly a wake-up for the ESOL teachers because few earned the scores that we expect of ABE learners at this level. We're still working on it! Wendy Quinones On 9/7/07, Marie Cora wrote: Hi Donna and everyone, Thanks for your post ? you've raised a whole bunch of interesting questions and issues. I see that a couple of other emails address parts of your post, so I will focus instead on your comments involving formative and summative assessment. I would argue that we need both of these types of assessment for different purposes, but I do believe that formative assessment can really provide the practitioner (and student!!) with some substantial immediate feedback in which they can both see where the strengths and challenges lie (lay?). I wonder if you could use various classroom (formative) assessments that are focused on ABE or ASE levels with ESOL students in order to determine their readiness in certain areas. Does anyone do this? Also, Donna you said: "Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being focused on the skills that need to be learned." Were you talking about the practitioner understanding assessment better, or the ESOL student understanding it? Both would be great!! Does anyone involve the ESOL student in assessment ? do you do any self assessment with students? If so, what's it like? Thanks! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator PS: here are a few resources/articles on formative assessment: Assessment Crisis: The Absence Of Assessment FOR Learning https://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0206sti.htm Assessment Resource Banks ? New Zealand http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/nzcer3/using.htm Assessment Training Institute ? ETS ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING: Formative Assessment That Can Improve Student Learning http://www.assessmentinst.com/ Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, Second Edition http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1555425003.html The Concept of Formative Assessment http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8&n=9 Formative assessment and the Assessment Resource Banks http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/nzcer3/formative.htm Improving Teaching and Learning for Adults with Basic Skill Needs through Formative Assessment CERI (Centre for Educational Research and Innovation) http://www.oecd.org/edu/whatworks Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm NW Regional Educational Laboratory Assessment Toolkit98 http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/toolkit98.php A Primer: Diagnostic, Formative, & Summative Assessment http://www.mmrwsjr.com/assessment.htm The Value of Formative Assessment http://www.fairtest.org/examarts/winter99/k-forma3.html -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Donna Chambers Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:27 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 908] Re: September welcome! Marie and All, Happy September! I must admit that I have not read all the postings on the listserv and so if the discussion I am suggesting has already happened, please forgive me. I would like to suggest a discussion designing a system that efficiently moves ESOL learners through to ABE and ASE. For several years now my experience has been with non-native English learners who want to receive their high school diploma or GED. They get "stuck" in ESOL classes that do not provide an integrated curriculum that would allow them to move ahead. How can we make the smooth transition from ESOL to ABE and how can we in Adult Education facilitate the learner through a pipeline? This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a number of professional development summer sessions that focused on assessment. These sessions were offered to K12 teachers and administrators, but I found everything relevant to adult learners as well. Competency-based assessment is my specialty, but I was introduced to the idea of formative vs. summative assessment and how both guide instruction in the classroom. Understanding assessment would allow ESOL learners to work along side native English speakers with teaching and learning being focused on the skills that need to be learned. I believe this would make a great discussion topic. Let me know if I can help. Donna Chambers From: Marie Cora To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:12 PM Subject: [Assessment 906] September welcome! Dear Colleagues, Hello! Welcome to September! Welcome to those List Members who have been here for a while, and welcome to new subscribers as well. If you are new to the List, please introduce yourself and let us know why you have subscribed to the Assessment Discussion List ? what topics would you like to see focused on here? And to veteran subscribers ? what is on your minds these days? What topics of interest would you like to see discussed? I have in the works a couple of guest discussions that will take place this fall ? one focused on GED and another focused on using data in the classroom as a follow up to our discussion last April on using data for program improvement (see below for info on accessing this discussion in the archives). I would really like to have something focused on ESOL ? any suggestions? I have a few ideas but want to hear from you. For those of you who are new, let me share these List Tips, they can be very helpful. Also ? new folks may want to scroll down to read the information on using the Archives so that you can see what types of discussions we have had in the past. Thanks so much ? looking forward to hearing from you and having some great discussions here! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Discussion List Tips Here are some suggestions for maximizing your experience as a List Member, both in terms of getting the most out of the content, as well as minimizing the time and effort involved in following the Discussion List. In addition to the tips below, you should always feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns, or if you need help: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Posting to the List Please include an email address in your signature line in at least your first message so that subscribers can respond to your inquiry off-list if they choose. Please be sure that the Subject Line heading matches the content of your message; many subscribers follow discussion threads via the Subject Line, and often, the message content shifts as people converse, but the Subject Line remains the same from the first posted message. This makes it more difficult to follow discussion threads. Please remember to check the Subject Line info and change it to appropriately reflect your message content, if needed. Consider whether your reply is best suited to send to only one person or the whole group. Managing Your Subscription Digest Format This format allows subscribers to receive Discussion List messages "bundled" into one or two emails per day. The subject line will not be topic-specific, so any replies to digest format often mean the subject line will need adjusting before replying. Also, subscribers using digest format do not receive the information that was posted right away. Because of that, this option may or may not suit everyone's needs. From the Assessment Discussion List page: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment Scroll down to Unsubscribe and other options at the bottom and enter your subscription email address. This takes you to a page where it asks you if you want to unsubscribe or to log in using your password. Log in. (There is a button you can click to have your password emailed to you if you've forgotten it.) Once you've logged in, scroll down to where it reads "set digest mode". Click this to "on", then scroll down further and click "submit my changes." Use the archives You do not have to be subscribed to a List to use the archives, so if you are interested in reading about certain topics, but don't want to be a List Member, this option is open for you. (See below for more information on using the archives.) Just hit delete! This is when the Subject Line can be your best friend! If the topic of discussion just isn't up your alley, or you simply don't have the time at the moment, the delete button is a good option. No one is making you be a subscriber so you should feel no guilt! It's all your choice! Often subscribers say that they just can't hit delete for fear of missing something, but remember that all posts get logged automatically in the archives and so when you *do* have the time or when that topic area *does* interest you, you can go back and search for those posts in the archives. Using the Archives To read full discussions, or search and read the archives, visit the Assessment List Archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment. The archives can be sorted by thread/subject/author. In the right-hand toolbar: Click on Search Archives; you can search just the Assessment archives or all the List archives from here; search by thread, subject, or author. Click on List Events to view information on upcoming, as well as past, Discussion Topics. Click on List Help for the FAQ about using the Lists. Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/ --------------------------------- ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to mjjerdems at yahoo.com --------------------------------- Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070911/15660659/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Tue Sep 11 13:17:58 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:17:58 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 924] Special Topics Discussion: Components of Numeracy Message-ID: <23CA4760-2383-4CF0-8384-ADFA5FFFEA87@comcast.net> Colleagues, From September 17th - 21st, the Special Topics list will hold a discussion with Mary Jane Schmitt, Myrna Manly and Dr. Lynda Ginsburg, authors of The Components of Numeracy, an occasional paper published by the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy in December 2006. You or your colleagues who may wish to join this discussion can subscribe by going to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics After you complete the simple registration form (30 seconds) you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you wish to subscribe. Immediately reply to the email to complete your subscription. After the discussion ends you can unsubscribe from the same Web address, or stay on for the next discussion. There is a discussion taking place on the Special Topics list now about International Education. It will end Friday, September 14th. If you do not want to get the posts from that discussion, wait until the 15th to subscribe -- but don't wait too long. The Components of Numeracy discussion begins on September 17th. Authors' Biographies Lynda Ginsburg is a senior researcher for mathematics education at Rutgers University and is currently conducting NSF-sponsored research on adult learners' work with their children on mathematics homework and on mathematics learning in out-of-school settings. Prior to this position, she worked at the National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL) for 12 years where she participated in the development of a number of adult education projects including Captured Wisdom, the Professional Development Kit (PDK) and LiteracyLink. She has taught mathematics in high schools, in ABE/GED and workplace programs, and in community college developmental classes. She holds a Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Myrna Manly (B.A. Mathematics, M.A. Education, M.S. Applied Mathematics) has experience teaching mathematics at many academic levels, most recently as a Professor of Mathematics at El Camino College. In that capacity, she developed curricula designed to adapt the foundation courses for the needs of at-risk students. She also is the author of The GED Math Problem Solver, a textbook that integrates all the strands of math into a coherent approach to test preparation. In addition to instruction, she has been involved with the assessment of the mathematics proficiency of adults as the Mathematics Specialist for the 1988 version of the GED test and as a member of the numeracy team for the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL). She also brings experience in Professional Development to the project, having worked with states and programs, facilitating staff- development and train-the-trainer workshops (e.g. Making Math Meaningful in CA and VA, GED as Project in VA, GED Math Institute in Washington, DC) that were aimed at improving mathematics instruction to adults. Mary Jane Schmitt has been an adult educator for over 35 years. She has taught mathematics in ABE, GED, and ESL programs, has worked at the Massachusetts Department of Education, and is currently a project director at TERC in Cambridge, MA, where she directs the Adult Numeracy at TERC projects. Mary Jane is the co-author and co-principal investigator for the Extending Mathematical Power (EMPower) Project Mathematics Curriculum for Adult Learners recently published by Key Curriculum Press. She is a co-founder of the Adult Numeracy Network (ANN). Mary Jane's undergraduate degree is in mathematics and she holds an M.Ed. from Harvard University. She is the 2004 recipient of the Kenneth J. Mattran Award for exemplary work at the national and international levels given by the Commission on Adult Basic Education (COABE). Discussion Preparation Recommended Readings The Components of Numeracy (especially the summary on page 34) The Adult Numeracy Network's "Teaching and Learning Principles" and "Professional Development Principles." The Inclusion of Numeracy in Adult Basic Education, Volume 3, Chapter 5, Review of Adult Learning and Literacy To gain insight into the importance of numeracy or quantitative literacy in today's society, select a few chapters that interest you from "Mathematics and Democracy: The case for Quantitative Literacy." David J. Rosen Special Topics Discussion Moderator djrosen at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070911/26a924d3/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Wed Sep 12 09:56:27 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 09:56:27 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 925] Special Topics Discussion: Components of Numeracy (with links to readings) Message-ID: Colleagues, I sent this message a few days ago but the links to the readings did not appear, so here they are -- at the bottom of the message. David J. Rosen Special Topics Discussion Leader djrosen at comcast.net From September 17th - 21st, the Special Topics list will hold a discussion with Mary Jane Schmitt, Myrna Manly and Dr. Lynda Ginsburg, authors of The Components of Numeracy, an occasional paper published by the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy in December 2006. You or your colleagues who may wish to join this discussion can subscribe by going to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/specialtopics After you complete the simple registration form (30 seconds) you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you wish to subscribe. Immediately reply to the email to complete your subscription. After the discussion ends you can unsubscribe from the same Web address, or stay on for the next discussion. There is a discussion taking place on the Special Topics list now about International Education. It will end Friday, September 14th. If you do not want to get the posts from that discussion, wait until the 15th to subscribe -- but don't wait too long. The Components of Numeracy discussion begins on September 17th. Authors' Biographies Lynda Ginsburg is a senior researcher for mathematics education at Rutgers University and is currently conducting NSF-sponsored research on adult learners' work with their children on mathematics homework and on mathematics learning in out-of-school settings. Prior to this position, she worked at the National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL) for 12 years where she participated in the development of a number of adult education projects including Captured Wisdom, the Professional Development Kit (PDK) and LiteracyLink. She has taught mathematics in high schools, in ABE/GED and workplace programs, and in community college developmental classes. She holds a Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Myrna Manly (B.A. Mathematics, M.A. Education, M.S. Applied Mathematics) has experience teaching mathematics at many academic levels, most recently as a Professor of Mathematics at El Camino College. In that capacity, she developed curricula designed to adapt the foundation courses for the needs of at-risk students. She also is the author of The GED Math Problem Solver, a textbook that integrates all the strands of math into a coherent approach to test preparation. In addition to instruction, she has been involved with the assessment of the mathematics proficiency of adults as the Mathematics Specialist for the 1988 version of the GED test and as a member of the numeracy team for the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL). She also brings experience in Professional Development to the project, having worked with states and programs, facilitating staff- development and train-the-trainer workshops (e.g. Making Math Meaningful in CA and VA, GED as Project in VA, GED Math Institute in Washington, DC) that were aimed at improving mathematics instruction to adults. Mary Jane Schmitt has been an adult educator for over 35 years. She has taught mathematics in ABE, GED, and ESL programs, has worked at the Massachusetts Department of Education, and is currently a project director at TERC in Cambridge, MA, where she directs the Adult Numeracy at TERC projects. Mary Jane is the co-author and co-principal investigator for the Extending Mathematical Power (EMPower) Project Mathematics Curriculum for Adult Learners recently published by Key Curriculum Press. She is a co-founder of the Adult Numeracy Network (ANN). Mary Jane's undergraduate degree is in mathematics and she holds an M.Ed. from Harvard University. She is the 2004 recipient of the Kenneth J. Mattran Award for exemplary work at the national and international levels given by the Commission on Adult Basic Education (COABE). Discussion Preparation Recommended Readings ?The Components of Numeracy? (especially the summary on p. 34) http:// www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/op_numeracy.pdf The Adult Numeracy Network?s ?Teaching and Learning Principles? and ?Professional Development Principles.? http://www.literacynet.org/ann/ teachingandlearningprinciplesv610.30.05 (newest).pdf The Inclusion of Numeracy in Adult Basic Education, Volume 3, Chapter 5, Review of Adult Learning and Literacy http://www.ncsall.net/?id=566 To gain insight into the importance of numeracy or quantitative literacy in today?s society, select a few chapters that interest you from ?Mathematics and Democracy: The case for Quantitative Literacy.? http://www.maa.org/ql/mathanddemocracy.html ----- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070912/5df6ff68/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Sat Sep 15 14:29:56 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2007 14:29:56 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 926] Financial Literacy Message-ID: <039801c7f7c6$6acfb150$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following post might be of interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator *************************** Good morning, everyone. Networks Financial Institute is pleased to announce the release of a national study analyzing adult trends in financial literacy. What does the term 'financial literacy' mean to Americans? Do we support financial literacy education? Where do we get our financial information? These are some of the questions we sough to answer in this study. To complement this study, in a few weeks we will be releasing a second study seeking, for the first time, to detail what financial literacy programs are available to U.S. adults in all sectors: for profit, non profit, governmental, and higher education. We will notify you as soon as this study is released. Please feel free to contact me with comments or questions, and please forward this press release to any of your constituents who might be interested. Thanks so much. ---------------- David Godsted, Director of Financial Literacy Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University 2902 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN 46208 (W) 317-536-0291 (F) 317-536-2269 david.godsted at isunetworks.org - http://www.isunetworks.org National Study Assesses U.S. Adults' Financial Literacy (September 4, 2007, Indianapolis, IN) -, Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University has released results of a national survey that assesses U.S. adults' self-reported levels of financial literacy. The findings indicate that les than 30% of U.S. adults view their personal financial knowledge as very good or better. The quantitative online survey of 805 adults randomly selected from throughout the U.S. with respondents statistically profiling the U.S. adult population. The survey aimed to establish a baseline assessment of U.S. adults' financial literacy levels, identify the types of information these adults seek to improve their financial knowledge, uncover areas in which adults believe they need the most help with personal financial education and understand perceived barriers adults face in seeking financial literacy education. Fewer than 30% of U.S. adults view their overall financial knowledge as very good or better; however, the research also found that more than half of U.S. adults believe they understand the concept of managing, saving, spending and investing money wisely, reporting a need for the most guidance with investing, retirement planning and taxes. A separate question revealed that despite economic trends in personal bankruptcy, mortgage foreclosure, a climbing credit card debt, U.S. adults are somewhat more confident in their knowledge of spending, insurance, lending/borrowing and banking. Adults perceive a need for financial literacy. Eight in 10 U.S. adults think it is important that financial literacy be taught. They also express a desire to enhance their own personal financial knowledge to assist them with saving and preparing for the future. However, they are not actively seeking assistance with these life skills. Sixty-five percent of U.S. adults have not received any financial literacy instruction in the past 12 months. In identifying sources of financial education, the research asked respondents to indicate the most frequently sought sources for financial information. Family members were highest ranked followed by friends/colleagues and financial planners. While family and friends were most frequently consulted, financial planners were viewed as the most valuable source of personal financial education. Bank personnel were viewed as moderately valuable. Human resources personnel and credit counselors were reported as the least valued sources. "Respondents' lack of value in the services available through human resources departments is particularly disturbing as these departments typically manage the bulk of individuals benefits, including insurance and retirement planning options," noted David Godsted, director of financial literacy at Networks Financial Institute. Adult consumers desire facts and personalized assistance in investing, retirement planning and the wise use of money. Despite the value placed on financial planners, the vast majority of U.S. adults do not rely on someone else to handle their finances. While U.S. adults express a desire to learn more about financial education, they cite a lack of funds and time as primary barriers to being more financially literate. While less than a third of U.S. adults have sought financial information, assistance or instruction within the past 12 months, only about one third report that they are likely to seek such resources in the next 12 months. Networks Financial Institute released the report during the August 28th, Nation's Foreclosure Epidemic: Causes, Consequences and Remedies conference presented in Indianapolis. Similar to the research findings, speakers at the foreclosure forum indicated that a lack of financial literacy is one of the key culprits in the current foreclosure crisis. A copy of the Adult Financial Literacy Study is available online at www.isunetworks.org. Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University was founded in 2003 with a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. The non-profit organization strives to facilitate a more effective national and international financial services marketplace through education, outreach and research. Networks Financial Institute is headquartered in Indianapolis with offices on the campus of Indiana State University in Terre Haute and outreach in Washington, D.C., and internationally. For more information about Networks Financial Institute, visit www.networksfinancialinstitute.org . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070915/0b9a2507/attachment.html From MMaralit at NIFL.gov Tue Sep 18 11:09:00 2007 From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo) Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:09:00 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 927] Sept. 28 Webcast: Registration OPEN References: <0122B345-3693-4B80-99C2-AE93BDC64E31@comcast.net> Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B15382EB7@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov> >From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults Webcast to be held Friday September 28, 2007 1:30 PM - 2:45 PM Eastern Time 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM Central Time 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM Mountain Time 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Pacific Time To register, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/assesspractice/webcast0928.html The National Institute for Literacy is pleased to host a webcast titled From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults on Friday, September 28, 2007. Join Dr. John Kruidenier, Dr. Rosalind Davidson, and Ms. Susan McShane as they present a practical and compelling rationale for the use of research-based principles for adult reading instruction. Viewers can participate by submitting questions to panelist after the presentations. Please feel free to pass along to others who may be interested in viewing this webcast. For more information on the National Institute for Literacy, go to : http://www.nifl.gov or call 202-233-2025. Regards, Jo Maralit mmaralit at nifl.gov From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Sep 20 09:51:42 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:51:42 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 928] Save the date! Message-ID: <01f201c7fb8d$609b9d00$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Dear Colleagues, I'm pleased to announce the upcoming Guest Discussion: Creativity and the GED: Learning Outside the Practice Books When: October 8 through 12 We will hear from guests as well as subscribers on interesting topics including using: a theme-based approach, project-based learning, on-line learning, and more! The full announcement for this discussion will go out early next week. Looking forward to 'seeing' you all then! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070920/1fad346b/attachment.html From tsticht at znet.com Sun Sep 23 19:53:36 2007 From: tsticht at znet.com (tsticht at znet.com) Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:53:36 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 929] Is Adult Literacy Assessment Healthy? Message-ID: <1190591616.46f6fc808fcc2@webmail.znet.net> September 23, 2007 The Assessment of Health Literacy: Is it in Good Health? Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Literacy I recently arrived back in the office from travel and took a quick look at what was going on on various discussion lists on the internet. Of particular interest was a conversation that had just ended on the Health Literacy discussion list of the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) which was concerned with the results of the Health Literacy test results of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). The NAAL general findings were released late in 2003 while the Health Literacy results were released in 2007. For me, the discussion once again illustrated the severe problem of knowing what is actually being measured with the NAAL and similar assessments, such as the International Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALL) survey, which like the NAAL was also released in 2006 but in January, well before the release of the first of the NAAL reports. In the Health Literacy assessment, items that were part of the overall NAAL survey were pulled out for separate analysis. In the NAAL there were three scales of literacy: Prose, Document, and Quantitative. But in forming the Health Literacy scale, these three distinctions were ignored and instead items from these different scales were used to create one scale of Health Literacy. The discussion on the NIFL Health Literacy list raised some important questions regarding the construct validity, that is, the question of what is being measured, of both the general NAAL, which included the Health Literacy items, and the Health Literacy assessment pulled from the general NAAL. One of the strands of discussion dealt with just what was the difference between general literacy and health literacy. This question was never answered in any definitive manner, thus raising the issue of the construct validity of both the general NAAL and the specific Health part of the NAAL. The issue is: what are these two assessments assessing? Apparently, all general literacy includes health literacy, because the items comprising the latter Health Literacy scale were included in the general literacy scales, but Health Literacy does not necessarily include all aspects of general literacy. Just what these "general" aspects are was not stated. Discussions of the meaning of "health literacy" lead to such a wide ranging set of proposals as to render questionable the very construct of "health literacy," rendering it as near meaningless as the construct of "general literacy" purportedly measured in the total NAAL. A second question of the validity of the NAAL was raised when it was asked why the NAAL used a probability of .67% for saying someone was proficient at a given level of either general or health literacy. The answer given by a principal in the development of the NAAL was, "The 67% is a parameter in a statistical theory of item performance that must be understood in connection with all the other parameters." However this does not explain how the .67% probability of performance came to be the standard for assigning skill levels to people and people to task difficulty levels. In the International ALL survey released in early 2006, which included data for adult literacy in the United States, the parameter for proficiency was a .80% probability of getting items correct. But a National Academy of Sciences panel determined that this was too high and it was an unreasonable standard, so they recommended dropping the standard to .67%. All this standard setting was the discussion of an earlier meeting of experts in psychometrics in which it was acknowledged that a 50 percent standard was the most defensible technical standard because it kept the probability of making mistakes about peoples skills equal in terms of overstating or understating such skills. The fact is that setting the standards of proficiency, even though given much forethought, remains an arbitrary action and illustrates the point that far from measuring some "levels' of skills that adults possess, it is instead a creation of a distribution or distributions of skills that can be made to make a population look good or bad depending on the decisions taken. As things stand today, when asked, most adults in the national literacy surveys do not think they have much of a problem with literacy. This raises validity issues again. The question is, which scale of measurement provides the most valid indicator of people's actual ability to perform literacy tasks in the "real world" in which they live: people's self reports or the creations of distributions on literacy tests by psychometricians? Unlike geological strata, there are no literacy levels out there to be discovered, they must be created. How many adults are "at risk" because of low literacy skills? No one knows. NOTE: I have refrained from identifying particular discussants on the Health Literacy list without their permission. The discussion itself may be found online by going to www.nifl.gov and clicking on the Discussion Lists pages for Health Literacy. It is an interesting discussion raising questions about the "health" of the assessment of adult literacy in general. For additional comments on the assessment of adult literacy google Sticht assessment adult literacy. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Sep 24 11:11:06 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:11:06 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 930] Technology Self-Assessment for Teachers Message-ID: <00f401c7febd$222b8520$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, Some of you may be interested in the following. To subscribe to this discussion, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Technology Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Discussion Announcement: On October 1 - 5, Marian Thacher will be joining the NIFL Technology and Literacy Discussion List to lead a discussion on the new online technology self-assessment for teachers at AdultEd Online, www.adultedonline.org. Marian is the director of OTAN (www.otan.us) a California adult education project that provides information and technology integration support for adult educators in California. Prior to her five years with OTAN, she taught ESL and was involved in workplace education and media projects in San Diego and Chicago. In addition to sharing information about the self-assessment and the professional development plan that accompanies it, Marian will share the development process and resources that were used to create the tool. Questions related to technology integration are: 1. What are the skills an adult education teacher should have in order to use technology effectively with learners? 2. What is the role of a professional development plan, and how should it be used? 3. How do we keep up with the fast pace of technology change? What are our learning strategies? What other questions would you like to discuss about technology integration competencies, professional development plans, and the challenge of keeping up? Mariann Fedele Director, NYC Regional Adult Education Network Literacy Assistance Center Moderator, NIFL Technology and Literacy Discussion List 32 Broadway 10th Floor New York, New York 10004 212-803-3325 mariannf at lacnyc.org www.lacnyc.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070924/fabb844d/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Sep 28 11:05:30 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:05:30 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 931] PD Needs Assessment Message-ID: <017801c801e1$032b5520$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Dear Colleagues: The following survey on professional development from the National Institute for Literacy is still on-line for you to fill out! If you haven't taken the opportunity to let NIFL know your thoughts, please consider doing so. This information will be used to shape the PD opportunities developed and offered by the LINCS Regional Resource Centers. Please read on! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** Re: Professional Development Needs Assessment Adult education teachers and administrators: Have you taken the time to complete the National Institute for Literacy's online professional development survey? If not, there is still time to express your opinion and share your thoughts to help influence decisions that are being made nationally on professional development. The National Institute for Literacy is conducting a survey on the professional development needs of adult education practitioners across the country. We need your help to gather information that reflects your own needs in the area of professional development as well as how you think professional development should be offered. We are asking for only 10-15 minutes of your time. Follow this link to take the survey at http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/needssurvey/. The online survey is available until November 9, 2007. Information collected from the professional development needs survey will be used by the Institute and the LINCS Regional Resource Centers to 1) give us insights on how Institute-produced materials and training can be disseminated and 2) identify areas where the Institute might want to develop additional materials and trainings. The Regional Resource Centers will use the data to develop a regional dissemination plan that will include how to best disseminate and present Institute-sponsored resources and training in partnership with the state organizations. The National Institute for Literacy, a federal agency, provides leadership on literacy issues, including the improvement of reading instruction for children, youth, and adults. In consultation with the U.S. Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, the Institute serves as a national resource on current, comprehensive literacy research, practice, and policy. The National Institute for Literacy is committed to the dissemination of high-quality resources to help practitioners use evidence-based instructional practices that improve outcomes in adult learners' literacy skills. LINCS is the backbone of the Institute's dissemination system, providing information on a wide variety of literacy relevant topics, issues, and resources through regional resource centers, collections of resources, and discussion lists. For more information about the National Institute for Literacy and LINCS visit http://www.nifl.gov Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20070928/27db0292/attachment.html From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Mon Oct 1 09:21:51 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 09:21:51 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 932] (no subject) Message-ID: <29665244-BB3C-424E-9C9B-09C238726837@caalusa.org> New York, NY 10-1-07 -- The Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAAL) has released a new Policy Brief by senior analyst Julie Strawn of the Center for Law and Social Policy. This publication, POLICIES TO PROMOTE ADULT EDUCATION AND POSTSECONDARY ALIGNMENT, was prepared for the 3rd meeting of the National Commission on Adult Literacy on August 20, 2007. As introduced by its author, the publication focuses on "helping adults with lower skills and/or limited English proficiency earn postsecondary credentials that open doors to family- supporting jobs." It examines obstacles to moving toward this goal -- with major attention to lack of alignment between federal and state adult education efforts, job training services, and postsecondary education policies. It also draws attention to the financial, personal, and family challenges that prevent adults from seeking and completing programs. Numerous policy and action recommendations are given for Commission consideration. The publication is available for download from the website of the National Commission, at www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org/pandp.html It is also available in bound version from CAAL (for pricing and ordering instructions, bheitner at caalusa.org). Other materials developed for various meetings of the National Commission are also available at the Commission's website. The website, and publications and the activities of the National Commission, are supported by grants and in-kind support from the Dollar General Corporation, The McGraw-Hill Companies, the Ford Foundation, and several individual donors including Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Fl New York, NY 10020 212-512-2362, F: 212-512-2610 www.caalusa.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071001/e33cf3a7/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Oct 2 15:00:04 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 15:00:04 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 933] Discussion Announcement: Creativity and the GED Message-ID: <068801c80526$71f5f620$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Discussion Announcement Dear Colleagues, This announcement can also be accessed at: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html I'm pleased to announce the following Guest Panel Discussion, which will be held during the week of October 8: Topic: Creativity and the GED: Learning Outside the Practice Books Guest Participants: Kate Brandt Staff Development Coordinator Language and Literacy Programs City University of New York Kate is part-time ABE/GED staff developer at the City University of New York Adult Literacy/GED program. She has worked as a teacher in the adult literacy field since 1990. ***** Anson Green San Antonio, Texas Anson has extensive experience providing training and consulting services in the areas of workplace literacy, e-learning initiatives, curriculum development, and learning disabilities. Anson developed the Ready for Work! work readiness curriculum with students in his welfare-to-work GED and computer literacy classes. He has published a variety of articles on the topics of workforce literacy and women and education. After completing Ready for Work!, Anson taught developmental reading for Northwest Vista College in San Antonio where he also developed the college's first computer literacy and English as a Second Language programs. ***** Crystal Hack GED-i Coordinator Center for the Application of Information Technologies (CAIT) Western Illinois University Crystal has worked in the field of adult education as an instructor, professional development trainer, and technology leader for over 15 years. In 2001, Crystal took the lead in the curriculum and site development of Illinois's first GED online learning tool. With her guidance and leadership, the GED-i system has grown from a state-wide, grassroots initiative to a national presence that is being used literally from coast to coast. Throughout the curriculum development, Crystal has guided the development team in their assessment practices, ensuring that the content incorporates a variety of assessment features which range from 'self-checks' to submitted teacher reviewed activities. In addition to ensuring that the learner's progress can be evaluated, Crystal leads a professional development team that provides comprehensive training throughout Illinois and all partnering states. Crystal has often stated that working on the GED-i project and its related professional development opportunities is the highlight of her career. Recommended preparations for this discussion: Theme-Based Curricula Advantages http://adulted.about.com/cs/ged/a/GEDcurricula.htm Resources from City University of New York can be accessed at: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html * A short text entitled "CUNY's Approach to the GED" which gives a sense of the principles underlying GED instruction * A longer text entitled "Designing Courses Using Books" which is manual for teachers planning theme- and content-based courses. * A sample lesson from a curriculum on Colonialism in North America * Two sample lessons from a curriculum called The World's Water * A sample lesson from a curriculum created for a GED-to-work program GED-i www.gedillinois.org A Program Overview of GED-i can be accessed at: http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html Project-Based Learning and the GED by Anson M. Green http://www.ncsall.net/?id=408 This is an account of one teacher's journey using ambitious and effective student-based projects within his GED class. He was able to blend the GED skills work with these exciting projects, which inspired the students to gain confidence, motivation and workforce skills along with the test skills, and at the same time connect with their community in a meaningful way. There are resources listed at the end. Optional Background Materials: The Chesterfield County (VA) Public Schools adult G.E.D. program recently experienced an over 200% increase, more than 400 applicants and test-takers in three weeks, thanks to a cell phone text message-based radio promotion. Read about this at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/education/mobile_marketing/prweb536274.htm Focus on Basics, Transitions Issue (6D) This contains several articles about different aspects of transitions. Creativity and Innovation at the ALE Wiki http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Creativity_and_Innovation See the section entitled Creative GED Prep GED teachers, especially, will find the following publication of GED outcomes data -- intended to be used by GED teachers and their students -- of special interest. It was written by Sara Fass and Barbara Garner in 2000, and updated by Eileen Barry in 2006. "Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future" Is the GED an Effective Route to Postsecondary Education? A Conversation with John Tyler by Barbara Garner Recognizing that high school is not enough, growing numbers of adult basic education programs (ABE) are emphasizing the transition to postsecondary education. What impact does earning a certificate of General Educational Development (GED) have on the post secondary enrollment of high school dropouts? Brown University professor and NCSALL researcher John Tyler and a colleague, Magnus Lofstrom of the University of Texas at Dallas, examined this question using data from Texas. Focus on Basics asked John Tyler to summarize the results and discuss the questions they raise. Webcast from the National Institute for Literacy: Research on the Economic Impact of the GED Diploma Panel Discussion Moderated by Dr. David J. Rosen, and featuring Dr. John Tyler, Sara Fass and Sue Snider. NCSALL GED Research Briefs Seven briefs by John Tyler are linked on this page, among which are: "The Economic Benefits of the GED: A Research Synthesis", "So You Want a GED? Estimating the Impact of the GED on the Earnings of Dropouts Who Seek the Credential", "Who Benefits from Obtaining a GED? Evidence from High School and Beyond", and "Estimating the Labor Market Signaling Value of the GED" Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071002/85cd71c3/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Oct 2 15:28:45 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 15:28:45 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 934] Announcement correction Message-ID: <06af01c8052a$73cd9f80$0402a8c0@LITNOW> My apologies for this: please use this URL for accessing the GED Discussion Announcement and resources http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071002/de7937bf/attachment.html From tsticht at znet.com Tue Oct 2 16:34:54 2007 From: tsticht at znet.com (tsticht at znet.com) Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:34:54 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 935] Milestones in Adult Literacy Message-ID: <1191357294.4702ab6e02522@webmail.znet.net> October 2, 2007 Milestones in the History of Adult Literacy Education Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education In a number of venues in the last few years I have presented a speech entitled "The Shoulders on Which We Stand." This presentation has reviewed a number of great adult literacy educators who have worked to teach reading to adults from the time of the Civil War to World War II. After the presentation I have often been asked for references to any papers I have written about this history of adult literacy education, and I have provided a reference to papers on the www.nald.ca library web pages. But those papers do not include any photographs or other graphics that I use in my presentation. Now the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) has produced a new electronic newspaper series called QEd. This e-newspaper is available on the www.nifl.gov web site. The QEd will present a series of five e-papers on the scientific evidence for adult literacy educators. Additionally, the series will provide a series of brief notes from my presentation on The Shoulders on Which We Stand called Milestones. According to the first issue, "Milestones features some of the exceptional people who have been part of the long history of adult literacy education in the United States. It also illustrates the movement toward integrating professional wisdom and scientific approaches in teaching reading to adults." In the NIFL newsletter in addition to text there are photos or other graphics that those who have attended my presentation have asked about. Now you can acquire a series of historical Milestones with text and photos that can be used to inspire adult educators in their work by letting them see that they are part of a long term effort by some people just like themselves. These are people dedicated to helping adults learn to read and write and they provide The Shoulders on Which We Stand today. The text of the first Milestone follows. "HARRIET A. JACOBS: LITERACY AND LIBERATION by Tom Sticht One of the earliest accounts of teaching an adult to read comes from the slave Harriet A.Jacobs (1813-1897).Even though it was unlawful to teach slaves to read,Jacobs ?owner ?s daughter taught her to read and write.In 1861,after she became a free woman,Jacobs wrote "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself "(Jacobs,1987/1861).In the book she tells how she helped an older black man,a slave like her,learn to read:"I taught him his A,B,C ?his progress was astonishing ?At the end of six months he had read through the New Testament and could find any text in it." Later,Jacobs taught literacy to former slaves in the Freedmen ?s schools during Reconstruction following the Civil War." You will find a photo of Harriet Jacobs in the first issue of the QEd. Collect all five issues of the QEd for a nice illustrated set of Milestones of adult literacy education in the United States. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From chack at cait.org Thu Oct 4 14:33:54 2007 From: chack at cait.org (Crystal Hack) Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 13:33:54 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [Assessment 936] Creativity and the GED In-Reply-To: <06af01c8052a$73cd9f80$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <3655432.25891191522834167.JavaMail.root@vanadium.sys.ma.cait.org> Hello Everyone, If you would like to check out some samples of the online instruction offered via the GED-i (formerly the GED Illinois), you can venture to the following URL. The lessons were designed by instructors practicing in the adult education classrooms around Illinois. I am happy to discuss how we brought those teachers to think outside the typical practice book and venture into how to effectively present content online. And let me add we are constantly growing and changing and adapting our approach as we learn from our online experience. http://ged-i.org/instruction/samples/samples.html Let me know your thoughts and questions. I will tell you that I must travel to a leadership training in Chicago on Oct 10 and 11. I will respond as promptly as I can to our discussion on those days. Take care and chat with you soon. Sincerely, Crystal Hack GED-i Coordinator -- Center for the Application of Information Technologies ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marie Cora" To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Tuesday, October 2, 2007 2:28:45 PM (GMT-0600) America/Chicago Subject: [Assessment 934] Announcement correction My apologies for this: please use this URL for accessing the GED Discussion Announcement and resources http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071004/97242c11/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Oct 4 14:47:24 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 14:47:24 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 937] Creativity and the GED Message-ID: <025701c806b7$01ae2170$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, There have been a couple of updates added to the announcement that I sent out earlier this week. Please see the entire announcement with info on guests and suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html Thanks and looking forward to seeing you all next week! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071004/a932db88/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Oct 8 09:16:21 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 09:16:21 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 938] GED Discussion Begins Today! Message-ID: <000001c809ad$6bb538d0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. I hope this email finds you well. Today we begin our discussion on the GED and Creativity. You can access the full announcement and accompanying guest bios and suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html I would like to acknowledge that today is Columbus Day and there are many folks who observe this holiday. Please join us as you are able. As a reminder, all emails are automatically archived at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment - click on Read Current Posted Messages at the top. To get us started, I would like to ask our guests to tell us how/why they ended up involved in these projects connected with the GED. Also, I would like to ask subscribers to share any work that they do with GED preparation and study that is also more creative than drilling in the practice books. And! Please post any questions you have for our guests now! Thanks! Looking forward to our discussion! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071008/ecbef993/attachment.html From gbundy at rmi.net Mon Oct 8 14:03:01 2007 From: gbundy at rmi.net (Gail B) Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 14:03:01 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Assessment 939] Re: GED Discussion Begins Today! Message-ID: <27940231.1191866581582.JavaMail.root@mswamui-blood.atl.sa.earthlink.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071008/924d67d4/attachment.html From chack at cait.org Mon Oct 8 17:03:59 2007 From: chack at cait.org (Crystal Hack) Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 16:03:59 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [Assessment 940] Re: GED Discussion Begins Today! In-Reply-To: <000001c809ad$6bb538d0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <591242.40471191877439227.JavaMail.root@vanadium.sys.ma.cait.org> Hello All, I believe that teaching is the most effective change agent in a person?s life and my teaching career is diverse, ranging from the traditional K-12 classroom to summer programs for at-risk youth and job readiness skills. Additionally, I have been able to work with Adult Basic Education learners in the Illinois Department of Corrections. I found a passion for the adult education and was able to transition into the role as a professional development trainer. This opportunity helped me connect with adult education teachers throughout Illinois, building relationships with administrators, instructors, and adult learners. In response to Marie's question, the Illinois Community College Board was taking a very proactive step in the support and development of an online learning curriculum for GED preparation. My role as an experienced classroom teacher and professional development trainer for the Center for the Application of Information Technologies (http://www.cait.org) at Western Illinois University made participating in the GED-i project a natural fit. Leading a team of GED instructors, web developers, and content experts through the curricular development to create an engaging opportunity was a phenomenal opportunity. The goal was to have dynamic lessons that met the instructional needs of the students and went beyond just drill and practice. The resulting project is GED-i (http://ged-i.org) and the environment allows for learners to prepare for their GED with interactive lessons, facilitated instruction, and peer communication. This goes beyond the scope of the traditional pen and paper practice. Remember you can check the GED-i's online orientation at the following URL: http://ged-i.org/orientation/introduction/introduction-p1.jsp Let me know what questions you have any questions about this information or beyond this. Crystal Hack GED-i Coordinator Center for the Application of Information Technologies ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marie Cora" To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Monday, October 8, 2007 8:16:21 AM (GMT-0600) America/Chicago Subject: [Assessment 938] GED Discussion Begins Today! Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. I hope this email finds you well. Today we begin our discussion on the GED and Creativity. You can access the full announcement and accompanying guest bios and suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html I would like to acknowledge that today is Columbus Day and there are many folks who observe this holiday. Please join us as you are able. As a reminder, all emails are automatically archived at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment - click on Read Current Posted Messages at the top. To get us started, I would like to ask our guests to tell us how/why they ended up involved in these projects connected with the GED. Also, I would like to ask subscribers to share any work that they do with GED preparation and study that is also more creative than drilling in the practice books. And! Please post any questions you have for our guests now! Thanks! Looking forward to our discussion! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071008/fb126d2b/attachment.html From shannony at umich.edu Mon Oct 8 10:13:36 2007 From: shannony at umich.edu (Shannon Young) Date: Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:13:36 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 941] Call for Distance Education Presenters In-Reply-To: <000001c809ad$6bb538d0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: Project IDEAL (Improving Distance Education for Adult Learners) is pleased to host the second annual Distance Education strand at COABE in St. Louis (April 28th-May 1st, 2008). Last year?s strand was well-received with 12 sessions and 27 presenters covering a variety of distance ed topics. Teachers, program administrators, state staff, and researchers from across the country discussed teaching strategies, online professional development, using technologies, new tools for distance, national and local research findings, and policy development. We encourage you to submit a proposal about your experiences working in distance education. Go to the COABE website (http://www.coabeconference.org/) and complete the online proposal form. Under Educational Focus, check the box next to Technology/Distance Learning. Proposals will be forwarded by COABE to Project IDEAL for review and selection. Proposals are due by October 31st. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks, Shannon Young -- Shannon J. Young Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 5267 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 Ph: (734) 763-5325 Fax: (734) 647-3652 Email: shannony at umich.edu Websites: http://projectideal.org http://www.adultedonline.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071008/3d79a0d6/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Oct 9 10:19:33 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 10:19:33 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! Message-ID: <01c201c80a7f$6ae33a60$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Hi everyone, We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! Thanks!! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071009/ae660a1e/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Tue Oct 9 11:29:35 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (djrosen at comcast.net) Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:29:35 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 943] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Message-ID: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Colleagues, I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic standards AND creativity. But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Marie Cora" > Hi everyone, > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > suggested resources go to: > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can > catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > Thanks!! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Marie Cora" Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 Size: 9260 Url: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071009/264c0553/attachment.mht From Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu Tue Oct 9 15:24:17 2007 From: Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu (Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu) Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 15:24:17 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 944] Re: GED Discussion Begins Today! In-Reply-To: <27940231.1191866581582.JavaMail.root@mswamui-blood.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: Hi, Gail, I was really interested to hear about the work you are doing with Native Americans. As diverse as our student body is here in New York City, Native Americans are one group of students that we rarely see. I love the way you start off with students--asking them to write about a value. I think this can be such a great way to get to know students, and to show them that their education can be a way for them to reflect on their own ideas and experiences in the light of new information that they are learning in school. GED classes at CUNY are thematically based. Values are not the center of any of the theme-based curricula we've produced, but I do think that the kinds of questions that would be raised in a curriculum centered around values would be similar to the kinds of questions that are at the heart of any good theme-based course. What's vital to a good theme-based course is that there is a broad, open-ended question at the center of it; a question such as (very broadly) "what makes a good relationship?" or (a bit more narrowly) "How is child development influenced by culture?" The texts that students read, the questions they discuss, the graphs they create or examine, can all provide information that students use to make up their own minds about the central question that guides the theme. If I were to develop a theme-based curriculum around values, I think I would probably focus on a series of short stories and/or essays that offered different perspectives on a central guiding question related to values. To bring in history, I might have students read some biographies of people who embodied some of the values under examination through the theme. This could be the opening to a short unit on the history of the time/place of the person whose biography we were reading in class. But to comment on your second question. With this question, I think you raise important issues about creativity and theme-based approaches in the GED classroom. While I think creativity is important, I think it's also important that the course a teacher creates is developed with the GED test in mind. Experienced teachers generally have a pretty good sense of the subject matter most likely to come up on the test. The idea behind theme-based teaching is that you will not be able to cover all of the topics that could come up on the test. Rather, you will be able to target one or two areas within, say, the discipline of social studies, and address these in depth. Let's say you choose Colonialism, knowing that this is an important concept to understanding world history in general, and also knowing that there are bound to be questions on the GED test that will relate to it. My colleague Gayle Cooper and I created such a curriculum for GED students. We had a number of learning goals in mind when we did so. One goal was simply to engage students in a lot of reading and writing for a purpose. We've found it's easier for students to remember material if it related to a central concept. Another goal we had in mind was to introduce students to some broad concepts that come up again and again in the area of social studies. So, in the Colonialism curriculum, students were asked to examine three cultures--European, Native American and African--in some depth, and to compare these cultures to their own culture using a set of guiding questions that remained the same from culture to culture. Organizing students' learning in this way allowed us to bring in material on different ways of organizing societies, on social class, and on different types of economies, to name a few areas. The actual reading that students did came from a variety of texts that included excerpts from young adult historical fiction, textbooks, trade books and poetry. Each lesson had a number of GED practice questions attached that were clearly related to what students had been studying in class that day. So what the thematic approach allowed us to do was to teach with the test in mind, but to try to give students a deeper understanding by using richer texts (and more text--we think students need this) and teaching in a way that would highlight certain broad concepts that we thought were central to the discipline of history/social studies. In your second question you also raised the issue of how much time teachers give to making their classes creative and how they balance this with the constraints of their own time. Of course, this is an important issue. At CUNY, we've been lucky to have a team of staff developers and a modest amount of funding to run curriculum development seminars that give teachers the chance to create their own courses. Also, there are a large number of teacher-created curricula that all CUNY teachers can now choose from when they plan courses. Interestingly, a lot of teachers opt to plan their own courses even though the curricula are available. I think that, for many of our teachers, this is one of the payoffs of the job--that they can be creative in their teaching. That said, I do think that it is a very tall order--to create a curriculum that is both creative and will meet the needs of students. What I've found as a teacher is that I make a lot of mistakes the first time I teach a certain theme, but by the second time I've corrected a lot of those mistakes and by the third time it runs pretty smoothly. So while it's a lot of effort to create a theme-based course the first time around, it gets easier and the investment of time pays off as I go along. I'll look forward to hearing others' responses on this Gail B Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 10/08/2007 02:23 PM Please respond to Gail B ; Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To assessment at nifl.gov cc Subject [Assessment 939] Re: GED Discussion Begins Today! My name is Gail Bundy, I ran the night school at the Native American Multi-Cultural Education School (NAMES), a community-based GED school in Denver, CO. While our school is the only adult education school in metro Denver that targets Native Americans, we are open to all who wish to learn. We serve about 150 students a year with our student base being about 25% Native American, 75% Latino, and about 10% divided among people with Asian and African tribal heritage and people of European heritage. About 90% of our students are youth, ages 17 to 23, and the remainder are older adults. Our average student dropped out of public school in the ninth grade and pretests on the TABE at about 5th Grade. About thirty students a year earn their GED ? and around 60% progress at least two grade levels in core subjects. I am a semi-retired corporate strategic planner and writer. I was volunteering as a tutor, grant and report writer when the night teacher had to leave on family emergency. The director asked me pinch hit for a few weeks. I have now been teaching the night classes for almost 4 years. My corporate planning background helps me provide night students (who work during the day) with real life context for the GED. For example, when we work with graphs and charts, I ask them to ask to develop statistics from their work lives, so they learn the language for decision-making within their own industry. A cashier from an auto reports store brought in a daily chart of sales figures vs. inventory, and we developed a trend analysis. We used the knowledge of a clerk in a supermarket floral shop along with the other student?s experience with flowers to examine the seasonal peaks and valleys of the flower business as the basis for understanding economic supply and demand theory. Another student who is a housekeeper in a large hospital, begin charting her supervisor?s daily production orders, and developed her own solution for improving the work flow and presented it to her supervisor, who with some surprise, implemented the change. My director specifically asked me to join this listserv to learn from other teachers about how they add special thematic instruction to their programs. Like most GED programs, we use the standard texts from Contemporary, Steck-Vaughn and others to help our students move towards attaining their goals of getting to the GED as soon as possible, and then moving on to college or some other higher education. However, we all know that the GED education texts are limited in what they actually teach. For several years, NAMES has been working on what we call the Morning Star Medicine Wheel of Learning?, a values-based approach to the GED curriculum, which blends traditional Native American philosophy and story-telling techniques with the GED subjects: reading, writing, math, social studies, and science. The eight-pointed Morning Star is often seen on the beautiful star quilts made by Native American women. It is the first star seen in the morning, and represents that first light of hope and possibility that students have in reaching out to achieve thier education dreams. The eight pointed star also represents a compass with each point related to values that provide students with a moral compass. We look for and share with students? traditional stories from many cultures related to the values of respect, truth, honesty, humility, humor, compassion, wisdom, and love. We also challenge students to write their own stories exploring these values. In this way we provide students with creative, practical, and humorous applications of knowledge gained by many cultures from around the world. We believe that this is particularly important for our younger students who struggle with growing up in these urban environments. Values discussions also provide our older students with a way to help teach the younger students. Let me give you one example of how we include these values. We ask each student upon entry (after taking the TABE) to write an essay on the topic of Respect. We give them some guides for potential topics, and an outline that guides them in developing three points, introduction, and conclusion. We let them take their own time with it. After they handwrite a rough draft, we sit them at the computer, and have them type it and work with them on one or two simple versions. If the student is a low level writer, we will let them dictate their ideas to us, which we will transcribe. But they will still have to type it and revise on their own. By the end of their second or third day with us, they have a typewritten five paragraph essay, signed and dated that describes their own beliefs and experience about Respect. We have a good idea of the student's level in writing -- but even more importantly, one of the teachers has had a discussion with the student about their perception of the value of respect. We learn a little about their families, their elders, and their lives. They learn a little about us as teachers. The questions that I have for the listserve are: I. We wonder if anyone else is developing thematic work based on values -- and would like to understand the frameworks that are being used. 2. I am also curious how teachers incorporate the standard GED texts into their thematic work. In actuality we have so little time with our students - that it is necessary to rely on the books for consistency and coverage. I am curious about how other teachers balance the creativity of developing new curriculum with student's time constraints. I look forward to the discussion. -----Original Message----- From: Marie Cora Sent: Oct 8, 2007 9:16 AM To: Assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 938] GED Discussion Begins Today! Clean Clean DocumentEmail MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all. I hope this email finds you well. Today we begin our discussion on the GED and Creativity. You can access the full announcement and accompanying guest bios and suggested resources at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html I would like to acknowledge that today is Columbus Day and there are many folks who observe this holiday. Please join us as you are able. As a reminder, all emails are automatically archived at: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment - click on Read Current Posted Messages at the top. To get us started, I would like to ask our guests to tell us how/why they ended up involved in these projects connected with the GED. Also, I would like to ask subscribers to share any work that they do with GED preparation and study that is also more creative than drilling in the practice books. And! Please post any questions you have for our guests now! Thanks! Looking forward to our discussion! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kate.brandt at mail.cuny.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071009/840a292b/attachment.html From jackie.coelho at gmail.com Tue Oct 9 13:13:48 2007 From: jackie.coelho at gmail.com (Jackie Coelho) Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 13:13:48 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 945] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> References: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Message-ID: <1dd5701e0710091013ie49e1f8yafeed5c0603c9ef9@mail.gmail.com> I must respond to this question. I do not believe that creativity is a distraction. Creativity is the flesh on the bones of skills and knowledge. Although our students want to pass the GED, we have to ask ourselves what our job as educators is. If we simply believe that pushing our students to the level of the GED is all we have to do, then perhaps we can pass on the creative side of things. However, if our goal is create life long learners, who will pass the GED on then continue learning and contributing in more and more positive ways, then I think the answer is clear. Creativity is a must. It is what will hook a person into learning. However, there is another issue. Not only do the students pressure GED teachers into teaching to the test. The pressure is on from above also. Students who pass the GED are counted and those numbers help the DOE decide if a program is doing its job. I am not against accountability. But I do think that without considering all the long-term effects of the current method of "counting" students is revised, then some creativity will be squashed as teachers work to satisfy a numbers requirement. On 10/9/07, djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all > education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education > and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National > Commission on Adult Literacy, > http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. > education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive > without high academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will > not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass > the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 > teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, > but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and > administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give > a quick reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For > the full announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you can catch > up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com > > From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Oct 9 16:58:36 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 16:58:36 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 946] GED: Creativity is essential Message-ID: <002e01c80ab7$29bd3da0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> The following post is from Kate Brandt. On this question, I'd have to weigh in on the "creativity is essential" side. I'd argue that the "creative" lessons I've seen aim for a much higher standard than many of the more "traditional" lessons I've seen, because they ask more of students in terms of critical thinking, reading, and writing. Many of the theme and content-based curricula we've developed at CUNY (City University of New York) pose open-ended questions that require students to think, learn new information and then apply that information to the questions that have been posed. This approach to instruction also asks more from students in terms of reading and writing. A typical "course" would expose students to a range of texts--poetry, excerpts from textbooks and tradebooks, novels, short stories, graphs, newspaper articles, etc.--and a variety of different writing assignments, so that students learn to read widely and write for different purposes. Theme and content-based courses at CUNY also aim to expose students to the typical ways of thinking of each discipline. In developing our courses, we're thinking not only of students' need to pass the GED, but also of the academic skills students will need when they go on to college. In New York City, the diversity and educational needs of the students we encounter varies enormously. Some of the adult students in our programs may need just a "brush up," but many others have large gaps in their academic knowledge. Recent research in reading instruction, such as that presented in an article entitled "Learning From Text" by Patricia Alexander and Tamara Jetton, point to the enormous importance of background knowledge in reading comprehension. Without a frame of reference, students are likely to forget what they have read and studied. Theme- and content-based instruction, when designed well, helps students build a frame of reference for the academic content that they are learning so that they are more likely to remember it and "make it their own." In this discussion, I've had the feeling that "creativity" is being used to describe any approach to GED instruction that is not based almost entirely on the test-prep book. It's odd to hear "creativity" described as a "distraction" because the word I would use for the theme and content based approach I've been describing is "rigorous." While this approach is creative in the sense that we strive to engage students' interest by designing activities that require students to be active participants in their own learning, I have a hard time thinking of it as a "distraction." In addition to doing a better job of preparing students academically, it's based on respect for students' intelligence--the belief that they are capable of actively acquiring knowledge. Kate Brandt Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071009/05f5c586/attachment.html From andresmuro at aol.com Tue Oct 9 18:05:47 2007 From: andresmuro at aol.com (andresmuro at aol.com) Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:05:47 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 946] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <1dd5701e0710091013ie49e1f8yafeed5c0603c9ef9@mail.gmail.com> References: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> <1dd5701e0710091013ie49e1f8yafeed5c0603c9ef9@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <8C9D8D7AE386CDA-1384-75A5@webmail-da03.sysops.aol.com> In our GED classes for Migrants, we teach creative writing. Our students publish books. See: http://bordersenses.com/memorias The books are in spanish, but some of the stories and poems are translated into English. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Jackie Coelho To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 12:13 pm Subject: [Assessment 945] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! I must respond to this question. I do not believe that creativity is a istraction. Creativity is the flesh on the bones of skills and nowledge. Although our students want to pass the GED, we have to ask urselves what our job as educators is. If we simply believe that ushing our students to the level of the GED is all we have to do, hen perhaps we can pass on the creative side of things. However, if ur goal is create life long learners, who will pass the GED on then ontinue learning and contributing in more and more positive ways, hen I think the answer is clear. Creativity is a must. It is what ill hook a person into learning. However, there is another issue. Not only do the students pressure GED eachers into teaching to the test. The pressure is on from above lso. Students who pass the GED are counted and those numbers help the OE decide if a program is doing its job. I am not against accountability. But I do think that without onsidering all the long-term effects of the current method of counting" students is revised, then some creativity will be squashed s teachers work to satisfy a numbers requirement. On 10/9/07, djrosen at comcast.net wrote: Colleagues, I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic standards AND creativity. But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Marie Cora" > Hi everyone, > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > suggested resources go to: > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can > catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > Thanks!! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Marie Cora" To: Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! Hi everyone, We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! Thanks!! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com ------------------------------ ational Institute for Literacy ssessment mailing list ssessment at nifl.gov o unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to ttp://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment mail delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071009/761e8444/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Tue Oct 9 20:27:45 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 17:27:45 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 947] GED: Creativity is essential In-Reply-To: <002e01c80ab7$29bd3da0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> References: <002e01c80ab7$29bd3da0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071009/9c540a81/attachment.html From donnaedp at cox.net Tue Oct 9 20:49:25 2007 From: donnaedp at cox.net (Donna Chambers) Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 20:49:25 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 948] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! References: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Message-ID: <003001c80ad7$67a43400$8e5fdd48@DH89L251> David and All, I believe that most of the problem we face in our AE programs is that we are entrenched in "GED classes" that making the minimum (just passing the test) is the predominant objective. Why are we not teaching to standards of learning that are required for a more generic purpose that can build a strong foundation for learning? It is very hard to break away from the GED focus when classes are called GED classes and teachers are called GED teachers. MA practitioners are encouraged to use the terms ABE and ASE to get away from the GED mindset. Most GED teachers, as you pointed out, feel the pressure to teach to the GED test rather than to facilitate learning that would encourage critical thinking skills that go beyond simply passing the GED. If we are truly to be standards based, we must focus on what skills need to be taught and consider how we will assess the skills so we know when they are learned, before moving on. This should be part of our everyday practice and is not forced by following page by page in a GED workbook. Creativity and innovation should always drive instruction in order to motivate the learner to learn reading, writing, and math skills that can be applied in any situation, not just to pass the GED. Research gives us a lot of information today on how people learn, but do we consider these components of learning in our instruction? Yes, we should be creative in how we apply various methods of teaching and learning to our AE classrooms, especially knowing that for many the more traditional approach is not effective. In RI the K12 has moved to a proficiency based system. This allows the focus on teaching and learning to be driven by standards that must be learned before moving on. My work allows me to look closely at what the K12 teachers are doing to allow various opportunities for the students to learn. Teachers have brought creative strategies into the classroom so that all children learn. I see no reason why these strategies would not work with adults as well, but it will require change, not just in the classroom and with the teachers, but with the administration and policy makers as well. Building academic and learning skills takes time and patience. Teachers must feel comfortable trying alternative ways to instruct and not feel the pressure of outcomes. Is it important that our students pass the GED or is it more important that exceed expectations when taking the GED because they have a strong learning base? If we all stop and think about what we really want for our students, it is not to achieve the goal to pass the GED. It is to build a strong foundation of academic skills and learning techniques that will benefit the student throughout life. And guess what? They will pass the GED along the way. Donna Chambers ----- Original Message ----- From: To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 11:29 AM Subject: [Assessment 943] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Colleagues, I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic standards AND creativity. But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Marie Cora" > Hi everyone, > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > suggested resources go to: > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can > catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > Thanks!! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > From chack at cait.org Tue Oct 9 22:43:10 2007 From: chack at cait.org (Crystal Hack) Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 21:43:10 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [Assessment 949] Creative and meaningful lessons...the development process is so imporant In-Reply-To: <8C9D8D7AE386CDA-1384-75A5@webmail-da03.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <168834.48911191984190779.JavaMail.root@vanadium.sys.ma.cait.org> Hello again assessment group, Over the course of the last seven years, our instructional design process has grown as we have learned how to integrate multiple methods of assessment in the online design process. When working with the content experts, I instructed them to imagine the possibilities of assessment practices that go beyond the tools in the traditional classroom. Also, they are provided with ideas, examples, and templates to use as a building block. As with any quality instruction, it is critical that the assessment is aligned with the objectives of the lesson. Some methods of assessment appeared ?content light? and we worked together to create relevant and meaningful assessment activities. I have found that by reminding instructors of the key elements in the development process (to have procedures in place such as creating objectives, establishing assessment, designing the instruction, and reflecting on the completed process) they tend to have a much more effective instructional approach in the content they develop. Even more importantly as it relates to this discussion, they can do this and be creative. We also take a group approach to developing lessons. This gets the minds of 3-4 instructors focused on the lesson topic, the objectives, the learning activities and content. The more feedback we get on the quality and creativity the better the end result for our student users. The process sounds like it would take a long time, but really we have streamlined the development process getting that amount of feedback probably takes only a little more time than developing a lesson without the input from others. I guess my points are 1) the development process is the foundation of a creative meaningful lesson 2) lesson can be meaningful and creative and 3) don't create in a vacuum, involve others and tap into their creativity. Crystal -- Center for the Application of Information Technologies -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071009/3cb1475a/attachment.html From khinson at almanid.com Wed Oct 10 07:15:33 2007 From: khinson at almanid.com (Katrina Hinson) Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:15:33 +0100 Subject: [Assessment 950] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Message-ID: <470CD075020000A000005231@aiqwul01a.qwu.de.almanid.com> I'm going to have to weigh in on the side of creativity is essential as well. I definitely don't see it as a distraction - that being said, what I don't really see is creativity being supported. I liked how Jackie Coelho stated that creativity if sometimes stifled from above because the focus is on completion rates. I heartily echo that. When I am sent new students the first word out of everyone's mouth is "when can I test?" No matter how much I try to explain that attending class isn't solely about the "test" that is definitely where everyone's attention rest. When I first started teaching in adult ed 10 years ago, I remember being told that the idea was to teach differently than what the traditional school system had done - to provide an alternative learning environment in hopes that those students who had now returned to school would find a safe, student centered learning environment - yet over those 10 years, I've seen the creativity squelched as focus shifted more and more away from life-long learning to learning for the 'now', the 'test', program 'performance measures...' For some, not all, programs, the focus is on how quickly can you get them ready to test...not on how well the student might actually be retaining what they're being exposed to. Coming in to a class for 12 hours and just to test, doesn't allow much room for anyone to be creative. I loved the ideas of a thematic approach - but I want to know how you do that in a program where every class is multi-level, open entry (daily - new students can arrive) and where administration is focused on bodies in a seat, quick turn around time and bottom line results? How do you find a workable venue for creativity? I do some different things in my class that others in my area don't do and I hate relying on the "workbooks" and often come up with my own tools to use - but beyond that, I feel very limited in my ability to be creative. Regards Katrina Hinson >>> 10/09/07 4:29 PM >>> Colleagues, I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic standards AND creativity. But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Marie Cora" > Hi everyone, > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > suggested resources go to: > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can > catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > Thanks!! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > From donnac at gwi.net Wed Oct 10 10:07:47 2007 From: donnac at gwi.net (Donna Curry) Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:07:47 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 951] GED: What you need to know References: <002e01c80ab7$29bd3da0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <00ac01c80b47$22de0ba0$f290c3d8@DonnaCurry> Hi. I'd like to add my two-cents to the discussion about the need to help students get their GED quickly. I'm on a local shellfish committee looking for wardens to check out the clam flats. When I asked what the requirements were for being a warden, I was told they needed to have a GED or high school diploma. This struck me so I asked why. I was told that the warden would have to send in periodic reports based on his/her findings so s/he needed "at least a GED." I worry about the disconnect between our teaching just to the test (in writing, for example, the test requires students to write an "essay") and what the broader community and business people are expecting our adult learners to be able to do once they have a GED (such as write short reports, but rarely an "essay"). Are we explicit in the skills that we're teaching so that students can actually use what they've learned after they pass their GED?? Do we give them opportunities to transfer their learning from the workbook (or computer) to real-life situations so they know how to use different skills in different situations? Donna Donna Curry Center for Literacy Studies University of Tennessee ("branch office" - Westport Island, Maine) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071010/965b19f2/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Wed Oct 10 10:56:11 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (djrosen at comcast.net) Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:56:11 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 952] Obstacles to GED Creativity and How to Overcome them Message-ID: <101020071456.23688.470CE80B000E4D5700005C882212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Assessment Colleagues, Several obstacles to GED program creativity have been mentioned, and there are are others. I would be interested in hearing how creative GED practitioners have overcome each of these challenges. I hope those who have solutions will pick one or more of these challenges and address them in this discussion. How have you pushed back the pressure for GED programs to be primarily test preparation, not substantive learning? How have you successfully addressed these constraints? 1) Students' determination to pass the test in the shortest time possible 2) Students' holding the goal "getting the GED" as an unexamined act of faith that this is what they need that "having the certificate or diploma" will meet their needs 3) Students' belief that "real school" looks just like the often failed) schools they have attended, traditional models of schooling 4) Teachers' lack of experience (and therefore discomfort) with creative teaching such as theme-based or project-based learning 5) Accountability for "GED outcomes" within a short time period from funders at the national, state and/or local level. 6) Other obstacles or constraints, especially those that are unique to GED Preparation programs or, Adult Secondary Education. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Donna Curry" Subject: [Assessment 951] GED: What you need to know Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:31:53 +0000 Size: 4981 Url: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071010/474134b8/attachment.mht From Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu Wed Oct 10 12:12:26 2007 From: Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu (Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu) Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:12:26 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 953] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <470CD075020000A000005231@aiqwul01a.qwu.de.almanid.com> Message-ID: Katrina, I wanted to reply briefly to your message because I think you bring up some important points. It's certainly true that not only administrators but students as well tend to be very focussed on the test. I've been teaching for ten years and invariably the students who enter my pre-GED class ask when they can take the test on the very first day of class. When I look at their reading and writing, I know that they have a road to travel, yet they just want to "get it over with." My feeling about this is that when students have such a long road to travel to reach their goal, they are going to have to learn to like learning, to embrace it somehow, or they're just not going to get there. This is where I feel what we're calling "creativity" is important. Students deserve the chance to have good educational experiences--to enjoy talking about a book that they've read with a fellow student; to look at pictures from a particular historical era and imagine life in that time. This is a second chance for them to become, as you put it, lifelong learners. I also think you made a good point about thematic education. I think it is very difficult to use a thematic approach if you have constant turnover in your classes and a wide range of levels. One of the decisions made at CUNY (City University of New York), where I teach, was not to let students into a class past a certain point in the semester. I really think that's an essential decision to make if you want to teach content, because when you are learning content, it's necessary for new information to build upon previously learned. I do think that "creativity" has to be supported by a program or it will have to be limited. Even within limits, it's possible to do some "creative" things. For instance, I think, when teaching a particular content area--let's say photosynthesis-- it's possible to go out and look for other texts besides those in the GED book. Students need to review information more than once to really "get" it--also reading multiple texts helps students get a sense of what's most important about a topic and gives them additional reading practice. It's a lot of work to do this in the beginning, but you can re-use texts once you've found good ones. There are many other ways to draw students in by doing something that is more active than traditiona learning. I like to use these methods to "trick" students in to liking school. Kate Brandt City University of New York "Katrina Hinson" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 10/10/2007 09:32 AM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To cc Subject [Assessment 950] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! I'm going to have to weigh in on the side of creativity is essential as well. I definitely don't see it as a distraction - that being said, what I don't really see is creativity being supported. I liked how Jackie Coelho stated that creativity if sometimes stifled from above because the focus is on completion rates. I heartily echo that. When I am sent new students the first word out of everyone's mouth is "when can I test?" No matter how much I try to explain that attending class isn't solely about the "test" that is definitely where everyone's attention rest. When I first started teaching in adult ed 10 years ago, I remember being told that the idea was to teach differently than what the traditional school system had done - to provide an alternative learning environment in hopes that those students who had now returned to school would find a safe, student centered learning environment - yet over those 10 years, I've seen the creativity squelched as focus shifted more and m ore away from life-long learning to learning for the 'now', the 'test', program 'performance measures...' For some, not all, programs, the focus is on how quickly can you get them ready to test...not on how well the student might actually be retaining what they're being exposed to. Coming in to a class for 12 hours and just to test, doesn't allow much room for anyone to be creative. I loved the ideas of a thematic approach - but I want to know how you do that in a program where every class is multi-level, open entry (daily - new students can arrive) and where administration is focused on bodies in a seat, quick turn around time and bottom line results? How do you find a workable venue for creativity? I do some different things in my class that others in my area don't do and I hate relying on the "workbooks" and often come up with my own tools to use - but beyond that, I feel very limited in my ability to be creative. Regards Katrina Hinson >>> 10/09/07 4:29 PM >>> Colleagues, I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic standards AND creativity. But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Marie Cora" > Hi everyone, > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > suggested resources go to: > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can > catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > Thanks!! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kate.brandt at mail.cuny.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071010/05883475/attachment.html From Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu Wed Oct 10 15:19:51 2007 From: Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu (Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu) Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:19:51 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 954] Re: Obstacles to GED Creativity and How to Overcome them In-Reply-To: <101020071456.23688.470CE80B000E4D5700005C882212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Message-ID: Hi, colleagues, In response to David Rosen's questions, I think I'll respond to number four. Because I work at an institution where theme-based teaching in GED classrooms is policy, I think I'm in a good position to speak to this one. The City University of New York has taken a theme-based approach to instruction, particularly GED instruction, for at least a decade now. There are eleven campuses throughout New York City where GED classes are offered. The administrators and teachers who work at these sites are overseen by CUNY's Central Office and so there is a community of sorts between CUNY adult literacy teachers and administrators across the campuses. While theme-based teaching, when it was introduced, encountered some resistance from teachers, there was also a lot of enthusiasm for it. Having a community allowed teachers who were trying out this new approach to share materials and experiences, both at their campus programs and across programs. In addition to supporting each other, teachers were--and are--supported by a team of staff developers who work with them in a number of ways: team-teaching, periodic campus meetings, seminars, conferences, online fora, and more. One of the seminars that is run regularly is a curriculum development seminar in which teachers are paid to work with staff developers, first in a group setting, and then one-on-one, to produce curricula that they can use in their own teaching and which are also available to other CUNY teachers in "ready to use" form. I do think this approach to teaching is challenging and that institutional support makes a world of difference. In our curriculum development seminars teachers have the chance to plan instruction carefully, thinking about the broad concepts they want to get across, the texts and other materials they will use, the learning goals they have for students, and the way that the many threads that must be included in GED instruction can be "braided" together. While it's challenging, I also think planning in this way forces teachers to think about teaching in a deep and detailed way. They must really think through each class--what students will learn; which activities they will engage in; which texts will be used and why. As a staff developer, I work with teachers who vary widely in terms of their approaches to teaching. Some of the teachers I work with would be considered "traditional," while others favor "student-centered" learning and still others mix a variety of styles. It can be hard to get teachers who have never tried an activity like student role play to take the risk. As part of a group of teachers taking part in a seminar, though, that teacher is more likely to try it out. So I do think theme-based teaching is a challenge, but well worth it. And my experience has shown me that institutional support makes all the difference. Kate Brandt djrosen at comcast.net Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 10/10/2007 12:02 PM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To The Assessment Discussion List cc Subject [Assessment 952] Obstacles to GED Creativity and How to Overcome them Assessment Colleagues, Several obstacles to GED program creativity have been mentioned, and there are are others. I would be interested in hearing how creative GED practitioners have overcome each of these challenges. I hope those who have solutions will pick one or more of these challenges and address them in this discussion. How have you pushed back the pressure for GED programs to be primarily test preparation, not substantive learning? How have you successfully addressed these constraints? 1) Students' determination to pass the test in the shortest time possible 2) Students' holding the goal "getting the GED" as an unexamined act of faith that this is what they need that "having the certificate or diploma" will meet their needs 3) Students' belief that "real school" looks just like the often failed) schools they have attended, traditional models of schooling 4) Teachers' lack of experience (and therefore discomfort) with creative teaching such as theme-based or project-based learning 5) Accountability for "GED outcomes" within a short time period from funders at the national, state and/or local level. 6) Other obstacles or constraints, especially those that are unique to GED Preparation programs or, Adult Secondary Education. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ----- Message from "Donna Curry" on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:31:53 +0000 ----- To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Subject: [Assessment 951] GED: What you need to know Hi. I'd like to add my two-cents to the discussion about the need to help students get their GED quickly. I'm on a local shellfish committee looking for wardens to check out the clam flats. When I asked what the requirements were for being a warden, I was told they needed to have a GED or high school diploma. This struck me so I asked why. I was told that the warden would have to send in periodic reports based on his/her findings so s/he needed "at least a GED." I worry about the disconnect between our teaching just to the test (in writing, for example, the test requires students to write an "essay") and what the broader community and business people are expecting our adult learners to be able to do once they have a GED (such as write short reports, but rarely an "essay"). Are we explicit in the skills that we're teaching so that students can actually use what they've learned after they pass their GED?? Do we give them opportunities to transfer their learning from the workbook (or computer) to real-life situations so they know how to use different skills in different situations? Donna Donna Curry Center for Literacy Studies University of Tennessee ("branch office" - Westport Island, Maine) ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kate.brandt at mail.cuny.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071010/9168393f/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Thu Oct 11 09:44:22 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (djrosen at comcast.net) Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:44:22 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 955] Assessing Creative GED Programs Message-ID: <101120071344.8970.470E28B6000CB2CD0000230A2212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Assessment Colleagues, I have some assessment questions below, but first please look at the following two examples of creative, theme-based and project-based GED teaching: 1. The Fabric of History curriculum -- designed for young adults who are not usually excited about learning American History, but who are interested in clothes and fashion, a whole American history curriculum built on this theme: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Fabric_of_History 2. A Virtual Visit to a Lowell, Massachusetts Mill museum -- a Web site designed by and for young adults in a GED preparation program that features a visit to a 19th century mill and readings, writings and discussion about the period. http://tech.worlded.org/docs/lowell/home.htm My Overall Question: How should we assess learning in creative GED programs? Consider the examples above, the theme-based CUNY GED program that Kate Brandt has written about here, and other examples from this disscussion and elsewhere: How should we do summative assessment for a creative GED program? How should we do formative assessment? 1) Summative Assessment Are scores on the GED test all we need? Or do we also need to know, for example: a. College as a Goal. How many/what percent of GED program participants hold the goal of going to college, and how has that changed from the beginning to the end of the program? b. College Preparation. For those who hold this goal, how many/what percent are prepared for college? For example, how many have been admitted to college, and how many/what percent have been admitted as regular, not developmental studies, students? How many have high GED scores as one indication of preparation for college level work? How many, particularly "first generation" college students, have learned about the culture of higher education and how to navigate it successfully ? c. Success in college. How many of the GED program graduates complete the first year of college? How many complete a two-year degree? A four-year degree? d. What else should be assessed at the end of the program or later to determine impact or effect of the GED program? 2) Formative Assessment Formative assessment is systematic measuring of learning progress or learning about how-to-learn strategies for the students themselves and for their teacher or tutor. What formative assessment tools are/could be effective in creative GED programs, for example in programs that use themes or learning projects: Dialogue journals? (Online or hold-in-the-hand) portfolios? Videotaped demonstrations of application of skills, knowledge or understanding? Assessments of attitude changes? Something else? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: djrosen at comcast.net Subject: Assessing Creative GED Programs Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:27:13 +0000 Size: 18523 Url: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071011/b4d3a3ee/attachment.mht From anson.green at twc.state.tx.us Fri Oct 12 07:29:14 2007 From: anson.green at twc.state.tx.us (Green, Anson) Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:29:14 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 956] Re: Assessing Creative GED Programs In-Reply-To: <101120071344.8970.470E28B6000CB2CD0000230A2212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> References: <101120071344.8970.470E28B6000CB2CD0000230A2212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Message-ID: <1AD062FD584EB44F9628DEAF8B21D6A10AF72D22@exchg103p.actdc101p.rtdcx101p.twc.state.tx.us> Hi folks: I was catching up on the posts last night and wanted to make some observations related to providing more than just test prep in GED programs. Many of you have identified very salient points and are doing great things it sounds like. I'll just toss out some ideas in an email or two to keep the conversation churning. The first one is on program retention. Adult education struggles with persistence and retention issues, sometimes mightily. I have seen the research that speaks to the outside reasons (family, work, illness) that students leave, but one that is not written about as much is that students sometimes just get bored. If we consider just one large and growing population in adult education, recent public school leavers (AKA drop outs), consider that one of the main reasons they identify as for dropping out is that they were bored. A Gates Foundation report last year (The Silent Epidemic) found that: "nearly half (47 percent) said a major reason for dropping out was that classes were not interesting. These young people reported being bored and disengaged from high school. Almost as many (42 percent) spent time with people who were not interested in school. These were among the top reasons selected by those with high GPAs and by those who said they were motivated to work hard." The report found that 88% of high school leavers had passing grades; 70% were confident they could have graduated; and 81% understood that graduating was vital to their success. This being said, how can programs aim to provide anything BUT programs that are engaging, relevant and have a future focus --on higher education and work? As the respondents on this list have identified (I'm preaching to the choir) there are multiple instructional reasons for providing a "creative" GED class. As to the notion of performance, consider that if students stay in class (because they are challenged and not bored), performance should benefit. I'm some ways, providing GED "test prep" tracks in programs only really seems to reinforce a message that the program is delivering at 'just the minimum" ----prep for a test. It seems that, at least for out of school youth, they are looking for much more. Saying that, I always thought there was great benefit in viewing students as our customers ( we are providing a service after all). Some will come and are on a fast track to get somewhere, they really just want to "take the test." They have their mind set on another goal and that is what we want. Fine. Make sure we provide them with that option. Others are looking for more and are undecided as to what direction they want to go, to training or to a better job for example. Programs need to provide both customers with these options. Doing so will position us toward better outcomes and better retention. So that is my first observation. Anson From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Oct 12 09:50:37 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:50:37 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 957] Last day for GED discussion! Message-ID: <008601c80cd6$df155130$30ca0acf@LITNOW> Good morning colleagues, This has been a great discussion this week! Great questions have been raised here and great ideas have been shared. I will prepare this discussion in UFF (User Friendly Format!) once is has completed and post it for your convenience and use. Today is our last day of the discussion with guests! Please share your thoughts, experiences, and ideas now. I would particularly like to hear people respond to David's set of questions focused on formative and summative assessment. While I'm anxious to hear about both, I'm really interested in what subscribers have to say about David's questions regarding the summative piece: how can we determine the effect/impact of earning a GED in more creative ways than what we do now, which is mostly done through examining the scores. We could track some of the data that David suggests - does anyone do it? Would you now consider it? Do you feel that tracking other pieces of the puzzle would be beneficial to you, your program and students? In what ways? Thanks and looking forward to reading more from you today! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071012/7836931a/attachment.html From Kgotthardt at comcast.net Fri Oct 12 10:56:21 2007 From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net (Katherine G) Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:56:21 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 958] Re: Assessing Creative GED Programs In-Reply-To: <101120071344.8970.470E28B6000CB2CD0000230A2212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Message-ID: David, these are fabulous projects. I have to admit, as a fan of 19th century culture, I was completely sucked into the "fashion" unit. Great pictures! Minus the corset, I would love to have worn those clothes (but not in the heat, in which case I would do the Jo March thing and wear only pantaloons, much to the chagrin of my neighbors). I have put off responding to the assessment question because I have not used this kind of tool in my teaching other than when I have assigned projects to undergrads. When I did so, I used a check sheet that covered first, the parts of the project requirements (i.e. did they complete all the parts and what was the grade for each part); second, separate grading for each part of the project. Students would receive a copy of this so they knew exactly how they did on each part. So the grading "matrix" (I guess that's what you would call it) looked something like this: WRITTEN RESEARCH PAPER Completed? yes/no Grade____ __Content __Clarity __Mechanics __Organization __Documentation VISUAL AIDS Completed? yes/no Grade____ __Creativity __Relationship to Project __Representation of topic (i.e. did it add anything to our understanding of the topic?) ORAL PRESENTATION Completed? yes/no Grade____ __Organization __Presentation of Content __Clarity __Preparedness __Delivery Final Grade for Project (all pieces averages together) _________ Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of djrosen at comcast.net Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 9:44 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 955] Assessing Creative GED Programs Assessment Colleagues, I have some assessment questions below, but first please look at the following two examples of creative, theme-based and project-based GED teaching: 1. The Fabric of History curriculum -- designed for young adults who are not usually excited about learning American History, but who are interested in clothes and fashion, a whole American history curriculum built on this theme: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Fabric_of_History 2. A Virtual Visit to a Lowell, Massachusetts Mill museum -- a Web site designed by and for young adults in a GED preparation program that features a visit to a 19th century mill and readings, writings and discussion about the period. http://tech.worlded.org/docs/lowell/home.htm My Overall Question: How should we assess learning in creative GED programs? Consider the examples above, the theme-based CUNY GED program that Kate Brandt has written about here, and other examples from this disscussion and elsewhere: How should we do summative assessment for a creative GED program? How should we do formative assessment? 1) Summative Assessment Are scores on the GED test all we need? Or do we also need to know, for example: a. College as a Goal. How many/what percent of GED program participants hold the goal of going to college, and how has that changed from the beginning to the end of the program? b. College Preparation. For those who hold this goal, how many/what percent are prepared for college? For example, how many have been admitted to college, and how many/what percent have been admitted as regular, not developmental studies, students? How many have high GED scores as one indication of preparation for college level work? How many, particularly "first generation" college students, have learned about the culture of higher education and how to navigate it successfully ? c. Success in college. How many of the GED program graduates complete the first year of college? How many complete a two-year degree? A four-year degree? d. What else should be assessed at the end of the program or later to determine impact or effect of the GED program? 2) Formative Assessment Formative assessment is systematic measuring of learning progress or learning about how-to-learn strategies for the students themselves and for their teacher or tutor. What formative assessment tools are/could be effective in creative GED programs, for example in programs that use themes or learning projects: Dialogue journals? (Online or hold-in-the-hand) portfolios? Videotaped demonstrations of application of skills, knowledge or understanding? Assessments of attitude changes? Something else? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Fri Oct 12 11:50:25 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:50:25 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 959] Re: Assessing Creative GED Programs In-Reply-To: <1AD062FD584EB44F9628DEAF8B21D6A10AF72D22@exchg103p.actdc101p.rtdcx101p.twc.state.tx.us> References: <101120071344.8970.470E28B6000CB2CD0000230A2212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net>, <1AD062FD584EB44F9628DEAF8B21D6A10AF72D22@exchg103p.actdc101p.rtdcx101p.twc.state.tx.us> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071012/3e489541/attachment.html From teacherwendyq at gmail.com Fri Oct 12 13:04:32 2007 From: teacherwendyq at gmail.com (Wendy Quinones) Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:04:32 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 960] Re: Assessing Creative GED Programs In-Reply-To: <101120071344.8970.470E28B6000CB2CD0000230A2212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> References: <101120071344.8970.470E28B6000CB2CD0000230A2212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Message-ID: Hello all, I weigh in on the side of creativity! My class created the virtual visit that David Rosen mentions, and I can tell you that the experience allowed students to enter history in a way I can't imagine anything else would have. It allowed them to see what could have been a dry subject (GED Social Studies materials, for example) as something that affected real humans, that real people participated in. It gave them a new framework for all of the history and social studies we were studying, as well as a real and shared experience to write about. Had it occurred early in the year, I'm sure my students would have objected. But by then I had perfected my answer to the perennial question, "Will it be on the test?" Now I simply say, "Yes." You'd be amazed at how seldom I have been called upon to justify the answer! But it's not hard -- history is a subject, critical thinking is required, and so on. Finally another possible way to reduce at least student pressure for a test-driven curriculum is to give homework out of the Steck-Vaughn skills books. They are cheap (maybe $2 apiece or so) and they keep students happy, along with giving you material for discussing test-taking skills -- which, after all, is a form of critical thinking. Having said all of that, I have also struggled with theme-based learning. The same issues of open enrollment and spotty attendance plague me. I'm trying it again this year, though, with lower-level students (GLE about 3-6) who generally tend to have better attendance than higher levels. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Wendy Quinones On 10/11/07, djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Assessment Colleagues, > > I have some assessment questions below, but first please look at the > following two examples of creative, theme-based and project-based GED > teaching: > > 1. The Fabric of History curriculum -- designed for young adults who are > not usually excited about learning American History, but who are interested > in clothes and fashion, a whole American history curriculum built on this > theme: > > http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Fabric_of_History > > 2. A Virtual Visit to a Lowell, Massachusetts Mill museum -- a Web site > designed by and for young adults in a GED preparation program that features > a visit to a 19th century mill and readings, writings and discussion about > the period. > > http://tech.worlded.org/docs/lowell/home.htm > > My Overall Question: How should we assess learning in creative GED > programs? Consider the examples above, the theme-based CUNY GED program that > Kate Brandt has written about here, and other examples from this disscussion > and elsewhere: > > How should we do summative assessment for a creative GED program? How > should we do formative assessment? > > 1) Summative Assessment > > Are scores on the GED test all we need? Or do we also need to know, for > example: > > a. College as a Goal. How many/what percent of GED program participants > hold the goal of going to college, and how has that changed from the > beginning to the end of the program? > b. College Preparation. For those who hold this goal, how many/what > percent are prepared for college? For example, how many have been admitted > to college, and how many/what percent have been admitted as regular, not > developmental studies, students? How many have high GED scores as one > indication of preparation for college level work? How many, particularly > "first generation" college students, have learned about the culture of > higher education and how to navigate it successfully ? > c. Success in college. How many of the GED program graduates complete the > first year of college? How many complete a two-year degree? A four-year > degree? > d. What else should be assessed at the end of the program or later to > determine impact or effect of the GED program? > > 2) Formative Assessment > > Formative assessment is systematic measuring of learning progress or > learning about how-to-learn strategies for the students themselves and for > their teacher or tutor. > > What formative assessment tools are/could be effective in creative GED > programs, for example in programs that use themes or learning projects: > Dialogue journals? (Online or hold-in-the-hand) portfolios? Videotaped > demonstrations of application of skills, knowledge or understanding? > Assessments of attitude changes? Something else? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: djrosen at comcast.net > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:27:13 +0000 > Subject: Assessing Creative GED Programs > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: djrosen at comcast.net > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:16:44 +0000 > Subject: Assessing Creative GED Programs > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: djrosen at comcast.net > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:07:20 +0000 > Subject: Assessing Creative GED Programs > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: djrosen at comcast.net > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:04:50 +0000 > Subject: Assessing Creative GED Programs > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: djrosen at comcast.net > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:02:49 +0000 > Subject: Re: [Assessment 954] Re: Obstacles to GED Creativity and How to > Overcome them > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Kate.Brandt at mail.cuny.edu > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:28:58 +0000 > Subject: [Assessment 954] Re: Obstacles to GED Creativity and How to > Overcome them > > Hi, colleagues, > > In response to David Rosen's questions, I think I'll respond to number > four. Because I work at an institution where theme-based teaching in GED > classrooms is policy, I think I'm in a good position to speak to this one. > > The City University of New York has taken a theme-based approach to > instruction, particularly GED instruction, for at least a decade now. > There are eleven campuses throughout New York City where GED classes are > offered. The administrators and teachers who work at these sites are > overseen by CUNY's Central Office and so there is a community of sorts > between CUNY adult literacy teachers and administrators across the campuses. > While theme-based teaching, when it was introduced, encountered some > resistance from teachers, there was also a lot of enthusiasm for it. Having > a community allowed teachers who were trying out this new approach to share > materials and experiences, both at their campus programs and across > programs. > > In addition to supporting each other, teachers were--and are--supported by > a team of staff developers who work with them in a number of ways: > team-teaching, periodic campus meetings, seminars, conferences, online > fora, and more. One of the seminars that is run regularly is a curriculum > development seminar in which teachers are paid to work with staff > developers, first in a group setting, and then one-on-one, to produce > curricula that they can use in their own teaching and which are also > available to other CUNY teachers in "ready to use" form. > > I do think this approach to teaching is challenging and that institutional > support makes a world of difference. In our curriculum development > seminars teachers have the chance to plan instruction carefully, thinking > about the broad concepts they want to get across, the texts and other > materials they will use, the learning goals they have for students, and the > way that the many threads that must be included in GED instruction can be > "braided" together. While it's challenging, I also think planning in this > way forces teachers to think about teaching in a deep and detailed way. > They must really think through each class--what students will learn; which > activities they will engage in; which texts will be used and why. > > As a staff developer, I work with teachers who vary widely in terms of > their approaches to teaching. Some of the teachers I work with would be > considered "traditional," while others favor "student-centered" learning and > still others mix a variety of styles. It can be hard to get teachers who > have never tried an activity like student role play to take the risk. As > part of a group of teachers taking part in a seminar, though, that teacher > is more likely to try it out. > > So I do think theme-based teaching is a challenge, but well worth it. And > my experience has shown me that institutional support makes all the > difference. > > Kate Brandt > > > *djrosen at comcast.net* > Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > 10/10/2007 12:02 PM Please respond to > The Assessment Discussion List > > To > The Assessment Discussion List cc > Subject > [Assessment 952] Obstacles to GED Creativity and How to Overcome > them > > > > > Assessment Colleagues, > > Several obstacles to GED program creativity have been mentioned, and there > are are others. I would be interested in hearing how creative GED > practitioners have overcome each of these challenges. I hope those who have > solutions will pick one or more of these challenges and address them in this > discussion. How have you pushed back the pressure for GED programs to be > primarily test preparation, not substantive learning? How have you > successfully addressed these constraints? > > 1) Students' determination to pass the test in the shortest time possible > 2) Students' holding the goal "getting the GED" as an unexamined act of > faith that this is what they need that "having the certificate or diploma" > will meet their needs > 3) Students' belief that "real school" looks just like the often failed) > schools they have attended, traditional models of schooling > 4) Teachers' lack of experience (and therefore discomfort) with creative > teaching such as theme-based or project-based learning > 5) Accountability for "GED outcomes" within a short time period from > funders at the national, state and/or local level. > 6) Other obstacles or constraints, especially those that are unique to GED > Preparation programs or, Adult Secondary Education. > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ----- Message from "Donna Curry" on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 > 14:31:53 +0000 ----- *To:* > "The Assessment Discussion List" *Subject:* > [Assessment 951] GED: What you need to know > Hi. I'd like to add my two-cents to the discussion about the need to help > students get their GED quickly. > > I'm on a local shellfish committee looking for wardens to check out the > clam flats. When I asked what the requirements were for being a warden, I > was told they needed to have a GED or high school diploma. This struck me > so I asked why. I was told that the warden would have to send in periodic > reports based on his/her findings so s/he needed "at least a GED." > > I worry about the disconnect between our teaching just to the test (in > writing, for example, the test requires students to write an "essay") and > what the broader community and business people are expecting our adult > learners to be able to do once they have a GED (such as write short reports, > but rarely an "essay"). > > Are we explicit in the skills that we're teaching so that students can > actually use what they've learned after they pass their GED?? Do we give > them opportunities to transfer their learning from the workbook (or > computer) to real-life situations so they know how to use different skills > in different situations? > > > Donna > > Donna Curry > Center for Literacy Studies > University of Tennessee > ("branch office" - Westport Island, Maine) > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to kate.brandt at mail.cuny.edu > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071012/219a7f60/attachment.html From macsimoin at hotmail.com Fri Oct 12 13:38:20 2007 From: macsimoin at hotmail.com (Mary Lynn Simons) Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:38:20 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 961] Re: Assessing Creative GED Programs In-Reply-To: <1AD062FD584EB44F9628DEAF8B21D6A10AF72D22@exchg103p.actdc101p.rtdcx101p.twc.state.tx.us> References: <101120071344.8970.470E28B6000CB2CD0000230A2212020784020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> <1AD062FD584EB44F9628DEAF8B21D6A10AF72D22@exchg103p.actdc101p.rtdcx101p.twc.state.tx.us> Message-ID: I am familiar with these statistics on bored students. Left out of the research is "What does 'bored' mean?". People are most often bored when they put little effort into what they are supposed to learn. If someone is making zero effort he/she gets more and more bored. Many "Let's make the GED exciting" classes just keep the students from doing the work. In order to pass the test, students must make a big personal effort. They have to bring their reading comprehension way up, get used to the type of test, bring up their math and their grammar and writing. A class where the teacher is spending most of the time talking will not work, though, because students must grapple with the GED material, and sometimes the most interesting teachers make the worst GED teachers because they keep the students from doing what needs to be done to pass the test. Encouraging students, calling them when they don't come, keeping track of their progress, and making that personal connection -- being persistent is what makes a good GED teacher. Students are not bored when they are succeeding and they succeed when the teacher takes an interest in their progress. Also, individualizing instruction is important in getting students through the GED. Computer labs with programs such as Plato and Contemporary's PreGED are great. A GED teacher must be fixated on the progress of each student and the best way to do that is to keep a notebook where student progress is recorded. Then phone calls to absent students are easier to make because the teacher can discuss the next step more easily with the student: "Oh, you need to come in for your Social Studies Pretest", etc. ----------------------------------------> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:29:14 -0500> From: anson.green at twc.state.tx.us> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 956] Re: Assessing Creative GED Programs>>> Hi folks:> I was catching up on the posts last night and wanted to make some> observations related to providing more than just test prep in GED> programs. Many of you have identified very salient points and are doing> great things it sounds like.>> I'll just toss out some ideas in an email or two to keep the> conversation churning.>> The first one is on program retention. Adult education struggles with> persistence and retention issues, sometimes mightily. I have seen the> research that speaks to the outside reasons (family, work, illness) that> students leave, but one that is not written about as much is that> students sometimes just get bored.>> If we consider just one large and growing population in adult education,> recent public school leavers (AKA drop outs), consider that one of the> main reasons they identify as for dropping out is that they were bored.> A Gates Foundation report last year (The Silent Epidemic) found that:>> "nearly half (47 percent) said a major reason for dropping out was that> classes were not interesting. These young people reported being bored> and disengaged from high school. Almost as many (42 percent) spent time> with people who were not interested in school. These were among the top> reasons selected by those with high GPAs and by those who said they were> motivated to work hard.">> The report found that 88% of high school leavers had passing grades; 70%> were confident they could have graduated; and 81% understood that> graduating was vital to their success.>> This being said, how can programs aim to provide anything BUT programs> that are engaging, relevant and have a future focus --on higher> education and work?>> As the respondents on this list have identified (I'm preaching to the> choir) there are multiple instructional reasons for providing a> "creative" GED class. As to the notion of performance, consider that if> students stay in class (because they are challenged and not bored),> performance should benefit. I'm some ways, providing GED "test prep"> tracks in programs only really seems to reinforce a message that the> program is delivering at 'just the minimum" ----prep for a test. It> seems that, at least for out of school youth, they are looking for much> more.>> Saying that, I always thought there was great benefit in viewing> students as our customers ( we are providing a service after all). Some> will come and are on a fast track to get somewhere, they really just> want to "take the test." They have their mind set on another goal and> that is what we want. Fine. Make sure we provide them with that> option. Others are looking for more and are undecided as to what> direction they want to go, to training or to a better job for example.> Programs need to provide both customers with these options. Doing so> will position us toward better outcomes and better retention.>> So that is my first observation.>> Anson> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline From tsticht at znet.com Fri Oct 12 21:38:38 2007 From: tsticht at znet.com (tsticht at znet.com) Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 18:38:38 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 962] The Literacy Testing Debacle Message-ID: <1192239518.4710219ebfc14@webmail.znet.net> 12 October 2007 The Great Literacy Testing Debacle in the United States Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Definition: Debacle: n. A total, often ludicrous failure. Online dictionary at www.answers.com/topic/debacle The United States seems to be caught up in measurement mania when it comes to literacy. The No Child Left Behind law calls for extensive testing of children's reading abilities in different grade levels. For adults, the U.S. Education Department has developed adult literacy tests, and Title 2: The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 calls for accountability measures which the U. S. Education Department has implemented in a National Reporting System that makes extensive use of adult literacy tests. But in all these cases, the actual measurement instruments and procedures for measuring reading/literacy and comparing states suffer from major flaws. They all follow different procedures in their development, which renders them incomparable, and hence interpretations of the data produced by comparing the findings of the various tests are essentially meaningless. Testing Children's Learning of Reading On page 39 of the June 4, 2007 issue of Time magazine a graph is presented showing differences between the percentage of fourth graders in each state who are deemed "proficient" in reading based on each state's different standardized test. The graph also shows the percentage deemed "proficient" on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) which are standardized tests given in all states in the nation. There are some very large differences between the state and national test results. For instance, Mississippi reports that close to 90 percent of fourth-graders are proficient in reading on the state developed test, while on the NAEP only about 19 percent score as proficient. This is a whopping 71 percentage points difference in the numbers of fourth graders in Mississippi who are considered proficient in reading. The Time article provides data indicating that using state test data the average percentage of fourth graders considered proficient is 70 percent. Using the national NAEP tests only 30 percent of U.S. fourth graders score as proficient. This is a 40 point average gap between state and national estimates of fourth grade reading proficiency. The state and national tests use different procedures to determine if children are proficient readers, and are hence incommensurate. This raises the question of which tests should be considered as the valid indicators of the reading abilities of the nation's fourth grade children, the state or the federal tests. or perhaps neither. Testing Adult's Literacy Ability Jumping ahead to when fourth graders have grown up, the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) presents data for Prose and Document literacy which indicate that in 1992 15 percent of adults over the age of 16 scored as proficient on these tests while in 2003 13 percent of adults scored as proficient, a drop of 2 percent during the decade. Surprisingly, only 30 percent of adult college graduates scored as proficient in literacy. Although there are clearly differences between the NAEP reading tests for fourth graders and the adult literacy tests, again rendering them incommensurate, nonetheless they both attempt to portray how many of their target groups are "proficient" in literacy. The data indicate that there are fewer than half as many adults (13 percent) who are proficient in literacy as there are fourth-graders (30 percent) who are proficient using the federal-made NAEP, and there are only a fifth as many proficient adults as there are proficient fourth graders (70 percent), if the average of the state-made tests are used. This suggests a tremendous loss of proficiency as children grow into adulthood! Measuring Literacy For Accountability in Adult Literacy Education The problems of assessing literacy also show up in the accountability system of the nation's Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS), which is made up of the some 3,000 programs that are funded jointly by federal money from Title 2 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and state and local funds. The National Reporting System (NRS) which prepares reports on how well adults are learning literacy in the AELS has acknowledged that different states use different standardized tests, with differing amounts of time between pre- and post-tests to assess growth in literacy learning. The NRS has also indicated that the comparison of educational functioning levels and level gains across states is complicated by this lack of comparability. But despite the acknowledged lack of comparability in the tests and procedures used in various states the NRS goes ahead and computes averages of the percentage of adults making learning gains across the fifty states. Of course, the lack of comparability in measurement tools and their administration renders these data totally meaningless and useless to Congress (or anyone else for that matter) in deciding whether or not states are using their federal funds responsibly and productively. The Debacle of Testing Literacy Ability Despite all these faults of testing for literacy skills, there is apparently no hesitancy in using the test results to reward some educators and punish others for what they are doing to teach literacy, whether to children or adults. Despite extensive use of standardized tests of various sorts by the fifty states, thirty- year trend data with the NAEP show that reading has not improved for 9, 13, or 17 year old children since the early 1970s. Further, the testing of adult literacy in 1992 and again in 2003 shows little or no improvement in literacy at the lowest levels and a decline at the highest levels. To date, then, the great literacy testing debacle has cost hundreds of millions of dollars, threatened teachers and administrators, subjected children to hours of drill and practice in test taking rather than engaging in learning important content and skills, and cast aspersions on the literacy skills of America's workforce, thus advertising to the world that the U. S. workforce is incompetent. This cannot be good for the health and welfare of the nation nor its international competitiveness in the global economy. Even if we could get the testing of literacy right, which we have not done up to now, there is no way we can test ourselves out of the serious educational problems that afflict our K-12 and adult literacy education systems. There is a word for the obsessive repetition of utterly foolish, unreasonable, and failed practices: insanity. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From Kgotthardt at comcast.net Mon Oct 15 09:20:38 2007 From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net (Katherine G) Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:20:38 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 963] Re: The Literacy Testing Debacle In-Reply-To: <1192239518.4710219ebfc14@webmail.znet.net> Message-ID: This is awesome information. Thank you for posting it. If I use parts of this in a paper, how should I cite it (APA)? Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of tsticht at znet.com Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 9:39 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 962] The Literacy Testing Debacle 12 October 2007 The Great Literacy Testing Debacle in the United States Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Definition: Debacle: n. A total, often ludicrous failure. Online dictionary at www.answers.com/topic/debacle The United States seems to be caught up in measurement mania when it comes to literacy. The No Child Left Behind law calls for extensive testing of children's reading abilities in different grade levels. For adults, the U.S. Education Department has developed adult literacy tests, and Title 2: The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 calls for accountability measures which the U. S. Education Department has implemented in a National Reporting System that makes extensive use of adult literacy tests. But in all these cases, the actual measurement instruments and procedures for measuring reading/literacy and comparing states suffer from major flaws. They all follow different procedures in their development, which renders them incomparable, and hence interpretations of the data produced by comparing the findings of the various tests are essentially meaningless. Testing Children's Learning of Reading On page 39 of the June 4, 2007 issue of Time magazine a graph is presented showing differences between the percentage of fourth graders in each state who are deemed "proficient" in reading based on each state's different standardized test. The graph also shows the percentage deemed "proficient" on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) which are standardized tests given in all states in the nation. There are some very large differences between the state and national test results. For instance, Mississippi reports that close to 90 percent of fourth-graders are proficient in reading on the state developed test, while on the NAEP only about 19 percent score as proficient. This is a whopping 71 percentage points difference in the numbers of fourth graders in Mississippi who are considered proficient in reading. The Time article provides data indicating that using state test data the average percentage of fourth graders considered proficient is 70 percent. Using the national NAEP tests only 30 percent of U.S. fourth graders score as proficient. This is a 40 point average gap between state and national estimates of fourth grade reading proficiency. The state and national tests use different procedures to determine if children are proficient readers, and are hence incommensurate. This raises the question of which tests should be considered as the valid indicators of the reading abilities of the nation's fourth grade children, the state or the federal tests. or perhaps neither. Testing Adult's Literacy Ability Jumping ahead to when fourth graders have grown up, the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) presents data for Prose and Document literacy which indicate that in 1992 15 percent of adults over the age of 16 scored as proficient on these tests while in 2003 13 percent of adults scored as proficient, a drop of 2 percent during the decade. Surprisingly, only 30 percent of adult college graduates scored as proficient in literacy. Although there are clearly differences between the NAEP reading tests for fourth graders and the adult literacy tests, again rendering them incommensurate, nonetheless they both attempt to portray how many of their target groups are "proficient" in literacy. The data indicate that there are fewer than half as many adults (13 percent) who are proficient in literacy as there are fourth-graders (30 percent) who are proficient using the federal-made NAEP, and there are only a fifth as many proficient adults as there are proficient fourth graders (70 percent), if the average of the state-made tests are used. This suggests a tremendous loss of proficiency as children grow into adulthood! Measuring Literacy For Accountability in Adult Literacy Education The problems of assessing literacy also show up in the accountability system of the nation's Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS), which is made up of the some 3,000 programs that are funded jointly by federal money from Title 2 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and state and local funds. The National Reporting System (NRS) which prepares reports on how well adults are learning literacy in the AELS has acknowledged that different states use different standardized tests, with differing amounts of time between pre- and post-tests to assess growth in literacy learning. The NRS has also indicated that the comparison of educational functioning levels and level gains across states is complicated by this lack of comparability. But despite the acknowledged lack of comparability in the tests and procedures used in various states the NRS goes ahead and computes averages of the percentage of adults making learning gains across the fifty states. Of course, the lack of comparability in measurement tools and their administration renders these data totally meaningless and useless to Congress (or anyone else for that matter) in deciding whether or not states are using their federal funds responsibly and productively. The Debacle of Testing Literacy Ability Despite all these faults of testing for literacy skills, there is apparently no hesitancy in using the test results to reward some educators and punish others for what they are doing to teach literacy, whether to children or adults. Despite extensive use of standardized tests of various sorts by the fifty states, thirty- year trend data with the NAEP show that reading has not improved for 9, 13, or 17 year old children since the early 1970s. Further, the testing of adult literacy in 1992 and again in 2003 shows little or no improvement in literacy at the lowest levels and a decline at the highest levels. To date, then, the great literacy testing debacle has cost hundreds of millions of dollars, threatened teachers and administrators, subjected children to hours of drill and practice in test taking rather than engaging in learning important content and skills, and cast aspersions on the literacy skills of America's workforce, thus advertising to the world that the U. S. workforce is incompetent. This cannot be good for the health and welfare of the nation nor its international competitiveness in the global economy. Even if we could get the testing of literacy right, which we have not done up to now, there is no way we can test ourselves out of the serious educational problems that afflict our K-12 and adult literacy education systems. There is a word for the obsessive repetition of utterly foolish, unreasonable, and failed practices: insanity. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Oct 15 11:06:04 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:06:04 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 964] The Literacy Testing Debacle citation format Message-ID: <01ea01c80f3c$e8db7510$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: The following is from Tom Sticht. ********** The APA citation format for the piece I sent is: Sticht, T. (2007, October). The great literacy testing debacle in the United States. Online at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/000961.html. Access date: October 15, 2007. Note: Of course the access date should change if people access the article on other dates. I hope this is helpful. Tom Sticht From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Oct 15 14:01:16 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:01:16 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 965] Discussion Thanks! Message-ID: <02d101c80f55$623caec0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Dear Colleagues, I would like to thank our guests from last week's discussion - Crystal Hack, Kate Brandt, and Anson Green - as well as subscribers for posting their thoughts, experiences, and questions. It was a very interesting and rich discussion. My apologies that a couple of posts were not sent through until the weekend - I had some email glitches on Friday afternoon. If people have more to say on the topic, please feel free to carry on. I will prepare the discussion in a format that's friendly, and I'll send out email to let you know when and where that can be accessed. In the meantime, if you missed the discussion but would like to browse the content, you can read the archives by going to: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html Thank you all once again for a great discussion last week. Looking forward to more! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071015/3163f37d/attachment.html From ALCDGG at langate.gsu.edu Wed Oct 17 10:48:19 2007 From: ALCDGG at langate.gsu.edu (Daphne Greenberg) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:48:19 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 966] level movement Message-ID: <4715E882.919D.0031.0@langate.gsu.edu> Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University From mhefner at cccti.edu Wed Oct 17 11:30:02 2007 From: mhefner at cccti.edu (Melinda Hefner) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:30:02 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 967] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: <4715E882.919D.0031.0@langate.gsu.edu> References: <4715E882.919D.0031.0@langate.gsu.edu> Message-ID: <4715F23A.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> If I were merely looking at performance from an administrative point of view, I would consider anything that meets or exceeds NRS standards a good rate. Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 >>> On 10/17/2007 at 10:48 am, in message <4715E882.919D.0031.0 at langate.gsu.edu>, "Daphne Greenberg" wrote: Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to mhefner at cccti.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071017/11d1f5a4/attachment.html From tarv at chemeketa.edu Wed Oct 17 11:30:46 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:30:46 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 968] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: <4715E882.919D.0031.0@langate.gsu.edu> References: <4715E882.919D.0031.0@langate.gsu.edu> Message-ID: What about something like this? OK 10-20 % of those who had this as a goal Fair 20-30% of those who had this as a goal Good 30-40% of those who had this as a goal Excellent anything above 50% ?????? va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 7:48 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 966] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tarv at chemeketa.edu From CColletti at ILSOS.NET Wed Oct 17 11:43:02 2007 From: CColletti at ILSOS.NET (Colletti, Cyndy) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:43:02 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 969] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <589FDF4DF91307439D211F7404B00E8760E911@exc01.ILSOS.ORG> I think its important that Virginia brought in the qualifier "who had this as a goal" You also need to qualify the "advancement" or "completion" by considering the level of the learners at the beginning of the period being measured and the amount of instructional hours leading to that advancement. There is a great variation among our learners that we need to honor as authentic and clearly measure for the information of funders. Cyndy Colletti -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Virginia Tardaewether Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 10:31 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 968] Re: level movement What about something like this? OK 10-20 % of those who had this as a goal Fair 20-30% of those who had this as a goal Good 30-40% of those who had this as a goal Excellent anything above 50% ?????? va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 7:48 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 966] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tarv at chemeketa.edu ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to ccolletti at ilsos.net From mcarson at ksbor.org Wed Oct 17 12:04:37 2007 From: mcarson at ksbor.org (Michelle Carson) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:04:37 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 970] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: References: <4715E882.919D.0031.0@langate.gsu.edu> Message-ID: <4715EC43.4E08.009A.0@ksbor.org> To determine a good rate I would consider the following: the state average for completion for those levels (did the program meet or exceed it?) the national average for completion for those levels (how does the program compare? If the state average is higher than the national average then this would not influence my assessment of the program's performance.) the program's performance history ( I would consider trend data...is the program showing continuous improvement? How do they compare over time? How do they compare to other program's of similar size and demographics?) the program's performance targets (are they meeting or exceeding those?) Overall, I think you have to consider how a program is doing in relationship to itself as well as to other programs in the state in making a determination as to what a 'good' rating would be. >>> "Virginia Tardaewether" 10/17/2007 10:30 AM >>> What about something like this? OK 10-20 % of those who had this as a goal Fair 20-30% of those who had this as a goal Good 30-40% of those who had this as a goal Excellent anything above 50% ?????? va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 7:48 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 966] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tarv at chemeketa.edu ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to mcarson at ksbor.org Michelle Carson, M.S. Associate Director of Adult Education Kansas Board of Regents 1000 SW Jackson, Suite 520 Topeka, KS 66612 phone: 785-368-7359 fax: 785-296-4526 e-mail: mcarson at ksbor.org -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: Michelle Carson.vcf Url: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071017/9a913955/attachment.ksh From jschneider at eicc.edu Wed Oct 17 12:11:54 2007 From: jschneider at eicc.edu (Schneider, Jim) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:11:54 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 971] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: <4715E882.919D.0031.0@langate.gsu.edu> Message-ID: <208D21E3AC92D449A31336961A46FB8709EF9816@eiccd-exch1.eiccd.net> The NRS level is probably the best place to start... And is likely to be the closest thing to an apples to apples comparison between programs/states/etc. However, so much depends on the parameters of the question - the operational definition of graduation or completion and who is included in the student mix. If considering all students who ever walk through the door to a program 30% would be pretty good... Using a minimum of 12 hours of instruction vs 100+ hours of instruction will provide vastly different answers. Jim Schneider Scott Community College -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 9:48 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 966] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to jschneider at eicc.edu From Philip.Anderson at fldoe.org Wed Oct 17 12:44:54 2007 From: Philip.Anderson at fldoe.org (Anderson, Philip) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:44:54 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 972] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 15 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <96E135649F1AD048AA6FF8CBC598C23E127C3868@MAIL1.FLDOE.INT> Daphne, These are just some thoughts... First it would seem to me that completion of one program and transition to another program would depend heavily on the goals the student had for enrolling in the first program. It would be important to develop a measure of success that relates back to why the student enrolled in ESOL in the first place. In my case of teaching ESOL in a night class held at a local church, about 75% of the students told me they really needed to learn how to speak and write their personal information, so they could give it to intake clerks at offices and hospitals, and also to be able to sign their name. If my class were evaluated by its rate of students completing all levels of ESOL and going to ABE, it would have been considered a failure. But if it were evaluated on these measures related to the skill of communicating basic personal information in public settings, it could have been considered a success by using a relevant measure. On the other hand, I also had day time classes of about 25 students held at a community college where about 25% of the students expressed intent to obtain a GED, 50% wanted to enter a career program and the other 25% wanted to start college to get a bachelor's degree. In the first month, the students and I talked one on one and together we set up measures of success. Some students set a goal of finishing ESOL in one year, others two years. It ended up that about half of the students actually did reach their goals they set at the beginning. I did not consider that to be as successful as I hoped, but it seemed to be comparable to other similar programs. In the current process of the US DOE negotiating with states what the rate of level completion (passing from one level to the next) will be for the next year, and states negotiating with local programs what the rate of level completion will be, that could be used as a measure of success. If a local program set their completion rate at 35% and they met or exceeded that, this could be declared a "good" rate. So, if your measurement tool includes the program's negotiated rate with the state, that could be used to help gauge success too. Phil Anderson Adult ESOL Program Specialist Florida Department of Education Please take a few minutes to provide feedback on the quality of service you received from our staff. The Department of Education values your feedback as a customer. Commissioner of Education Jeanine Blomberg is committed to continuously assessing and improving the level and quality of services provided to you.Simply use the link below. Thank you in advance for completing the survey. http://data.fldoe.org/cs/default.cfm?staff=Philip.Anderson at fldoe.org|12:44:55%20Wed%2017%20Oct%202007 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of assessment-request at nifl.gov Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 12:00 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 15 Send Assessment mailing list submissions to assessment at nifl.gov To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to assessment-request at nifl.gov You can reach the person managing the list at assessment-owner at nifl.gov When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." Today's Topics: 1. [Assessment 966] level movement (Daphne Greenberg) 2. [Assessment 967] Re: level movement (Melinda Hefner) 3. [Assessment 968] Re: level movement (Virginia Tardaewether) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:48:19 -0400 From: "Daphne Greenberg" Subject: [Assessment 966] level movement To: Message-ID: <4715E882.919D.0031.0 at langate.gsu.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:30:02 -0400 From: "Melinda Hefner" Subject: [Assessment 967] Re: level movement To: Message-ID: <4715F23A.1F1A.005D.0 at cccti.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" If I were merely looking at performance from an administrative point of view, I would consider anything that meets or exceeds NRS standards a good rate. Melinda M. Hefner Director, Literacy Support Services Basic Skills Department Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute 2855 Hickory Blvd. Hudson, North Carolina 28638 Office: (828) 726-2245 FAX: (828) 726-2266 >>> On 10/17/2007 at 10:48 am, in message <4715E882.919D.0031.0 at langate.gsu.edu>, "Daphne Greenberg" wrote: Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to mhefner at cccti.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071017/11d1f5a4/a ttachment-0001.html ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:30:46 -0700 From: "Virginia Tardaewether" Subject: [Assessment 968] Re: level movement To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" What about something like this? OK 10-20 % of those who had this as a goal Fair 20-30% of those who had this as a goal Good 30-40% of those who had this as a goal Excellent anything above 50% ?????? va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 7:48 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 966] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tarv at chemeketa.edu ------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 15 ****************************************** From VenuT at lacnyc.org Wed Oct 17 12:58:58 2007 From: VenuT at lacnyc.org (Venu Thelakkat) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:58:58 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 973] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: <4715EC43.4E08.009A.0@ksbor.org> References: <4715E882.919D.0031.0@langate.gsu.edu> <4715EC43.4E08.009A.0@ksbor.org> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB8591677@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> NRS is a good place to start because a) the definitions of terms like completion and educational functioning levels are the best known in the field and b) data based on NRS reporting is easier find. However, it is never a bad idea to think beyond NRS after the first analysis is done. Like Michelle, I would definitely recommend using actual data from the state to set benchmarks for assessing a program's performance. My preference, however, would be using the state median for performance at each level rather than the average. This is because the average is more likely to be biased by outlier values (a program or two doing extremely well or very badly in the state). I find federal NRS data to be much less useful because you really have no idea what you are getting. Different states have different assessment instruments and testing policies and statistics are not comparable at all from one state to the other. State targets are also less valuable than looking at actual state data because I have come across instances where the targets are set because of a policy push to improve performance in a state rather than based on actual data. If you can compare the performance of your program to that of a similar program or programs, that is of course the best way to go, in my opinion. The only problem is that this data may be hard to get. Venu Thelakkat Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 803-3370 venut at lacnyc.org www.lacnyc.org -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Michelle Carson Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 12:05 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 970] Re: level movement To determine a good rate I would consider the following: the state average for completion for those levels (did the program meet or exceed it?) the national average for completion for those levels (how does the program compare? If the state average is higher than the national average then this would not influence my assessment of the program's performance.) the program's performance history ( I would consider trend data...is the program showing continuous improvement? How do they compare over time? How do they compare to other program's of similar size and demographics?) the program's performance targets (are they meeting or exceeding those?) Overall, I think you have to consider how a program is doing in relationship to itself as well as to other programs in the state in making a determination as to what a 'good' rating would be. >>> "Virginia Tardaewether" 10/17/2007 10:30 AM >>> What about something like this? OK 10-20 % of those who had this as a goal Fair 20-30% of those who had this as a goal Good 30-40% of those who had this as a goal Excellent anything above 50% ?????? va -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daphne Greenberg Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 7:48 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 966] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few NIFL lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tarv at chemeketa.edu ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to mcarson at ksbor.org Michelle Carson, M.S. Associate Director of Adult Education Kansas Board of Regents 1000 SW Jackson, Suite 520 Topeka, KS 66612 phone: 785-368-7359 fax: 785-296-4526 e-mail: mcarson at ksbor.org From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Wed Oct 17 20:26:26 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:26:26 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 974] FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Message-ID: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW> This email is cross-posted for your interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest, and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University _______________________________________________ AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy http://literacytent.org _____ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071017/bdf9edca/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT01420.txt Url: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071017/bdf9edca/attachment.txt From mhefner at cccti.edu Thu Oct 18 11:22:42 2007 From: mhefner at cccti.edu (Melinda Hefner) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:22:42 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 975] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure descriptions and requirement that were in the original post. While there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there are also optional requirements or outcome measures that states may choose to include for determination of performance among its local programs. NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction. To say that nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators around the country who make it appear that way. Fortunately, in North Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly for students transitioning into post-secondary training. Although there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult literacy providers should make successful transition into post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable. One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). Melinda >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" wrote: This email is cross-posted for your interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 20073:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest, and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movementForgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me.If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate?Thanks,Daphne GreenbergGeorgiaStateUniversity_______________________________________________AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.orghttp://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nlaLiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacyhttp://literacytent.org Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071018/c2ae401f/attachment.html From andresmuro at aol.com Thu Oct 18 12:45:43 2007 From: andresmuro at aol.com (andresmuro at aol.com) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:45:43 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 976] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: <47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW> <47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> Message-ID: <8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> Melinda: I don't disagree with anything that you are saying. However, in my opinion, the problem with NRS-WIA is the same problem as with NCLB.? Skillful teachers? in the right settings with the proper tools can facilitate knowledge in broad areas, and yet help many students show progress in standardized tests. However, most teachers feel like they are under pressure to demonstrate level gains in the given measuring tool. Comments from Tom Stitch in the NLA forum articulated exactly this. Essentially teachers felt pressure to show gains in standardized instruments and spent most of their time preparing students to demonstrate gains in these instruments. Most felt that they had little time for other activities and that they were unable to teach things that they felt were important. Comments, to me personally, from teachers throughout the US over the years suggests the same. In fact, when teachers are asked to document evidence of additional activities and progress in other areas aside from the mandated assessment, they become highly resentful. They feel that they are under pressure to prepare the students to show gains in the TABE, BEST plus, CASAS, and whatever else, and in addition, their administrators want them to demonstrate that their students are becoming more knowledgeable of civics, health, politics, history, the environment and whatever else. Teachers feel that the paperwork becomes insurmountable and that their role is to keep with an endless bureaucracy rather than concentrate on just teaching. In addition, as I argued in the NLA forum, there is no evidence that standardized tests demonstrate anything other than knowledge on how to take them. I don't think that there is a single scientific article that states that not getting a certain score in the BEST plus, TABE, CASAS or whatever, means that you do not posses the skills that the instrument attempts to measure. You make that argument yourself. You claim that having an GED is no indication of academic skills in math, reading, etc. The only difference is that the GED does represent access to employment, college and a significant entitlement for many. However, moving from beginning literacy ESL to beginning ESL is absolutely, unquestionably, indisputably, unarguably, overwhelmingly, incredibly meaningless. In fact, what happens in many programs is that a student will start in beginning literacy ESL, spend a whole semester or year in the same level and at the end of the year the student will demonstrate that he/she moved to beginning ESL. The student will stop attending for whatever reason and return to the same or a different program some time later. The student will be assessed again and will likely place in beginning literacy ESL again, and do the whole thing again. Now, this is not an exception. This is the rule w/ many programs. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Melinda Hefner To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 9:22 am Subject: [Assessment 975] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure descriptions and requirement that were in the original post.? While there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there are also optional?requirements or outcome measures that states may choose to include for determination of performance among its local programs.? NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction.? To say that nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators around the country who make it appear that way.? Fortunately, in North Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. ? Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly for students transitioning into post-secondary training.? Although there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult literacy providers should make successful transition into post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable.? One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). ? Melinda >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" wrote: This email is cross-posted for your interest. ? Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ? ********** ? -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement ? Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students? show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go? take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest,? and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres ? ? -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a? "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University _______________________________________________ AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy http://literacytent.org Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071018/e858f77b/attachment.html From tarv at chemeketa.edu Thu Oct 18 13:12:11 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:12:11 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 977] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: <8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> <8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: Andres, etal. What I've noticed in 37 years of teaching adults is if students are improving their think-attack skills, their scores improve, no matter what the assessment tool. It is not necessary to teach to the test. Plus, any good assessment is going to be about life and work and will fit what people/students have as goals. The largest challenge really is getting at that fine-tuned goal, getting students to see their potential and apply their abilities in new ways toward reaching it. Va ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:46 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 976] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Melinda: I don't disagree with anything that you are saying. However, in my opinion, the problem with NRS-WIA is the same problem as with NCLB. Skillful teachers in the right settings with the proper tools can facilitate knowledge in broad areas, and yet help many students show progress in standardized tests. However, most teachers feel like they are under pressure to demonstrate level gains in the given measuring tool. Comments from Tom Stitch in the NLA forum articulated exactly this. Essentially teachers felt pressure to show gains in standardized instruments and spent most of their time preparing students to demonstrate gains in these instruments. Most felt that they had little time for other activities and that they were unable to teach things that they felt were important. Comments, to me personally, from teachers throughout the US over the years suggests the same. In fact, when teachers are asked to document evidence of additional activities and progress in other ar eas aside from the mandated assessment, they become highly resentful. They feel that they are under pressure to prepare the students to show gains in the TABE, BEST plus, CASAS, and whatever else, and in addition, their administrators want them to demonstrate that their students are becoming more knowledgeable of civics, health, politics, history, the environment and whatever else. Teachers feel that the paperwork becomes insurmountable and that their role is to keep with an endless bureaucracy rather than concentrate on just teaching. In addition, as I argued in the NLA forum, there is no evidence that standardized tests demonstrate anything other than knowledge on how to take them. I don't think that there is a single scientific article that states that not getting a certain score in the BEST plus, TABE, CASAS or whatever, means that you do not posses the skills that the instrument attempts to measure. You make that argument yourself. You claim that having an GED is no indication of academic skills in math, reading, etc. The only difference is that the GED does represent access to employment, college and a significant entitlement for many. However, moving from beginning literacy ESL to beginning ESL is absolutely, unquestionably, indisputably, unarguably, overwhelmingly, incredibly meaningless. In fact, what happens in many programs is that a student will start in beginning literacy ESL, spend a whole semester or year in the same level and at the end of the year the student will demonstrate that he/she mo ved to beginning ESL. The student will stop attending for whatever reason and return to the same or a different program some time later. The student will be assessed again and will likely place in beginning literacy ESL again, and do the whole thing again. Now, this is not an exception. This is the rule w/ many programs. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Melinda Hefner To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 9:22 am Subject: [Assessment 975] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure descriptions and requirement that were in the original post. While there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there are also optional requirements or outcome measures that states may choose to include for determination of performance among its local programs. NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction. To say that nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators around the country who make it appear that way. Fortunately, in North Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly for students transitioning into post-secondary training. Although there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult literacy providers should make successful transition into post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable. One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). Melinda >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" wrote: This email is cross-posted for your interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org ] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest, and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University _______________________________________________ AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy http://literacytent.org ________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________ size=2 width="100%" align=center> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071018/2ff10d1a/attachment.html From dglass at ksbor.org Thu Oct 18 13:12:59 2007 From: dglass at ksbor.org (Dianne Glass) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:12:59 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 978] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: <47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW> <47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> Message-ID: <47174DC9.176C.0067.0@ksbor.org> I agree with Melinda. While the NRS does require that AEFLA-funded programs report on educational functioning level completions, the NRS also requires states to report on the number of participants who have other significant reasons for entering adult education programs as well as the number and percentage of participants who achieve the following outcomes: entering employment, retaining/improving employment, passing the GED, and entering post-secondary education and training. While this list does not include all the goals that adult learners have, it certainly reflects the primary goals that adult learners in Kansas identify as their reasons for participating in adult education. In addition, DAEL encourages states to identify and collect data on other goals that adult learners may have. In Kansas, AEFLA programs report on the following additional goals and outcomes: acquiring the skills necessary to become a United States citizen, participating in children's (pre-school age children) literacy activities, and participating in children's (pre-K - Grade 6 age children) educational activities. Not only do Kansas programs encourage participants to identify and work toward these goals if they are appropriate, adult education programs are rewarded when learners achieve these outcomes just as they are when learners achieve the other outcomes listed above. Kansas has a performance-based funding formula, and the secondary outcomes that are specific to Kansas are "worth" just as much as educational level completion. Contrary to some of the opinions expressed during this discussion, the NRS system is simply a mechanism for collecting, reporting, and analyzing data. As a tax payer, I personally hope that every federal (and state) funded program holds grant recipients to some level of accountability. Dianne S. Glass Director of Adult Education Kansas Board of Regents 1000 SW Jackson, Suite 520 Topeka, KS 66612-1368 785.296.7159 dglass at ksbor.org >>> "Melinda Hefner" 10/18/2007 10:22 AM >>> I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure descriptions and requirement that were in the original post. While there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there are also optional requirements or outcome measures that states may choose to include for determination of performance among its local programs. NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction. To say that nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators around the country who make it appear that way. Fortunately, in North Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly for students transitioning into post-secondary training. Although there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult literacy providers should make successful transition into post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable. One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). Melinda >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" wrote: This email is cross-posted for your interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 20073:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest, and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movementForgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me.If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate?Thanks,Daphne GreenbergGeorgiaStateUniversity_______________________________________________AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.orghttp://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nlaLiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacyhttp://literacytent.org Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! From hdooley at riral.org Thu Oct 18 13:29:17 2007 From: hdooley at riral.org (Howard Dooley) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:29:17 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 979] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <0BF2D0726318524ABEF6D58E7BB3CCEB0B9534@pdc.Riral.local> I do not know where the "66%" number quoted comes from. I have never heard of this; has anyone else? My understanding is that each state negotiates appropriate rates for each level, based on past performance and continuous improvement expectations. While I agree that WIA creates a program model that emphasizes accountability, perhaps too much so, at the state levels, I disagree that it is an "insane bureaucracy". I do agree that programs which find its model does not meet the primary needs of its learners, should not go after its money. Howard Dooley RIRAL -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071018/3e16c39e/attachment.html From andreawilder at comcast.net Thu Oct 18 14:35:44 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:35:44 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 980] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> <8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: Hi Virginia, Would you please define "think-attack skills?" Thanks. Andrea On Oct 18, 2007, at 1:12 PM, Virginia Tardaewether wrote: > Andres, etal. > What I?ve noticed in 37 years of teaching adults is if students are > improving their think-attack skills, their scores improve, no matter > what the assessment tool. It is not necessary to teach to the test.? > Plus, any good assessment is going to be about life and work and will > fit what people/students have as goals. > ? > The largest challenge really is getting at that fine-tuned goal, > getting students to see their potential and apply their abilities in > new ways toward reaching it. > Va > ? > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com > Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:46 AM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 976] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement > ? > Melinda: > > I don't disagree with anything that you are saying. However, in my > opinion, the problem with NRS-WIA is the same problem as with NCLB.? > Skillful teachers? in the right settings with the proper tools can > facilitate knowledge in broad areas, and yet help many students show > progress in standardized tests. However, most teachers feel like they > are under pressure to demonstrate level gains in the given measuring > tool. Comments from Tom Stitch in the NLA forum articulated exactly > this. Essentially teachers felt pressure to show gains in standardized > instruments and spent most of their time preparing students to > demonstrate gains in these instruments. Most felt that they had little > time for other activities and that they were unable to teach things > that they felt were important. Comments, to me personally, from > teachers throughout the US over the years suggests the same. In fact, > when teachers are asked to document evidence of additional activities > and progress in other ar eas aside from the mandated assessment, they > become highly resentful. They feel that they are under pressure to > prepare the students to show gains in the TABE, BEST plus, CASAS, and > whatever else, and in addition, their administrators want them to > demonstrate that their students are becoming more knowledgeable of > civics, health, politics, history, the environment and whatever else. > Teachers feel that the paperwork becomes insurmountable and that their > role is to keep with an endless bureaucracy rather than concentrate on > just teaching. > > In addition, as I argued in the NLA forum, there is no evidence that > standardized tests demonstrate anything other than knowledge on how to > take them. I don't think that there is a single scientific article > that states that not getting a certain score in the BEST plus, TABE, > CASAS or whatever, means that you do not posses the skills that the > instrument attempts to measure. You make that argument yourself. You > claim that having an GED is no indication of academic skills in math, > reading, etc. The only difference is that the GED does represent > access to employment, college and a significant entitlement for many. > However, moving from beginning literacy ESL to beginning ESL is > absolutely, unquestionably, indisputably, unarguably, overwhelmingly, > incredibly meaningless. In fact, what happens in many programs is that > a student will start in beginning literacy ESL, spend a whole semester > or year in the same level and at the end of the year the student will > demonstrate that he/she mo ved to beginning ESL. The student will stop > attending for whatever reason and return to the same or a different > program some time later. The student will be assessed again and will > likely place in beginning literacy ESL again, and do the whole thing > again. Now, this is not an exception. This is the rule w/ many > programs. > > Andres > ? > ? > > -----Original Message----- > From: Melinda Hefner > To: Assessment at nifl.gov > Sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 9:22 am > Subject: [Assessment 975] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement > I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful > because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some > slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure > descriptions and requirement that were in the original post.? While > there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there > are also optional?requirements or outcome measures that states may > choose to include for determination of performance among its local > programs.? NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of > student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals > are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction.? To say that > nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely > accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators > around the country who make it appear that way.? Fortunately, in North > Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very > seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. > ? > Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, > unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student > functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or > language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly > for students transitioning into post-secondary training.? Although > there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students > who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult > literacy providers should make successful transition into > post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable.? > One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via > pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the > adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient > information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). > ? > Melinda > > >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message > <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" > wrote: > This email is cross-posted for your interest. > ? > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > ? > ********** > ? > -----Original Message----- > From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org > [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of > andresmuro at aol.com > Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM > To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org > Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement > ? > Daphnee: > > I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will > complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of > students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. > Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In > other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the > next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have > beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. > They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, > and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is > something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy > ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While > there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE > programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number > of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone > down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show > progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to > access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, > build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only > thing that matters is if students? show progress in the BEST or TABE. > In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the > student decides to go? take the GED on her own, that would not be > considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares > beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have > the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. > > I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS > ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest,? and assess the students > every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate > outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction > we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very > high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had > an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to > the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program > anymore. > > Andres > ? > ? > -----Original Message----- > From: Daphne Greenberg > To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org > Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am > Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement > Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the > following > > > > > > > > > > > > > > question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can > share with the > > > > > > > > > > > > > > person who asked me. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates > from one > > > > > > > > > > > > > > level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to > ASE/GED) > > > > > > > > > > > > > > what would you consider a? "good" rate? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Daphne Greenberg > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Georgia State University > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla > > > > > > > > > > > > > > LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://literacytent.org > > Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! > ------------------------------- > > > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > > > Assessment mailing list > > > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com > size=2 width="100%" align=center> > Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 28187 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071018/b6499038/attachment.bin From tarv at chemeketa.edu Thu Oct 18 15:24:38 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:24:38 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 981] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu><8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: Andrea Think-attack skills include: please add folks 1) plan do review 2) Does this make sense? 3) What am I looking for here? 4) Will what I already know work in this new situation, or 5) How do I need to change what I know so it works in this new situation? 6) What is the situation? 7) Gosh this looks like that, humm therefore I might know something about it 8) Derivation: oh that word came to us from there, ahhhhhh 9) Meanings: oh here's a missed meaning for that word that I didn't know 10) Meanings: this meaning is not what I thought, I need to update my meaning file 11) Va ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:36 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 980] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Hi Virginia, Would you please define "think-attack skills?" Thanks. Andrea On Oct 18, 2007, at 1:12 PM, Virginia Tardaewether wrote: Andres, etal. What I've noticed in 37 years of teaching adults is if students are improving their think-attack skills, their scores improve, no matter what the assessment tool. It is not necessary to teach to the test. Plus, any good assessment is going to be about life and work and will fit what people/students have as goals. The largest challenge really is getting at that fine-tuned goal, getting students to see their potential and apply their abilities in new ways toward reaching it. Va From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:46 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 976] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Melinda: I don't disagree with anything that you are saying. However, in my opinion, the problem with NRS-WIA is the same problem as with NCLB. Skillful teachers in the right settings with the proper tools can facilitate knowledge in broad areas, and yet help many students show progress in standardized tests. However, most teachers feel like they are under pressure to demonstrate level gains in the given measuring tool. Comments from Tom Stitch in the NLA forum articulated exactly this. Essentially teachers felt pressure to show gains in standardized instruments and spent most of their time preparing students to demonstrate gains in these instruments. Most felt that they had little time for other activities and that they were unable to teach things that they felt were important. Comments, to me personally, from teachers throughout the US over the years suggests the same. In fact, when teachers are asked to document evidence of additional activities and progress in other ar eas aside from the mandated assessment, they become highly resentful. They feel that they are under pressure to prepare the students to show gains in the TABE, BEST plus, CASAS, and whatever else, and in addition, their administrators want them to demonstrate that their students are becoming more knowledgeable of civics, health, politics, history, the environment and whatever else. Teachers feel that the paperwork becomes insurmountable and that their role is to keep with an endless bureaucracy rather than concentrate on just teaching. In addition, as I argued in the NLA forum, there is no evidence that standardized tests demonstrate anything other than knowledge on how to take them. I don't think that there is a single scientific article that states that not getting a certain score in the BEST plus, TABE, CASAS or whatever, means that you do not posses the skills that the instrument attempts to measure. You make that argument yourself. You claim that having an GED is no indication of academic skills in math, reading, etc. The only difference is that the GED does represent access to employment, college and a significant entitlement for many. However, moving from beginning literacy ESL to beginning ESL is absolutely, unquestionably, indisputably, unarguably, overwhelmingly, incredibly meaningless. In fact, what happens in many programs is that a student will start in beginning literacy ESL, spend a whole semester or year in the same level and at the end of the year the student will demonstrate that he/she mo ved to beginning ESL. The student will stop attending for whatever reason and return to the same or a different program some time later. The student will be assessed again and will likely place in beginning literacy ESL again, and do the whole thing again. Now, this is not an exception. This is the rule w/ many programs. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Melinda Hefner To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 9:22 am Subject: [Assessment 975] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure descriptions and requirement that were in the original post. While there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there are also optional requirements or outcome measures that states may choose to include for determination of performance among its local programs. NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction. To say that nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators around the country who make it appear that way. Fortunately, in North Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly for students transitioning into post-secondary training. Although there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult literacy providers should make successful transition into post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable. One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). Melinda >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" wrote: This email is cross-posted for your interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest, and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University _______________________________________________ AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy http://literacytent.org Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com size=2 width="100%" align=center> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071018/2dde9310/attachment.html From EBrown at parkland.edu Thu Oct 18 16:14:26 2007 From: EBrown at parkland.edu (Evelyn Brown) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:14:26 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 982] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu><8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <47177852.A3CD.0046.0@parkland.edu> Tha'ts the most useful list of critical thinking skills questions/statements I've seen. thanks, Evelyn >>> "Virginia Tardaewether" 10/18/2007 2:24 PM >>> Andrea Think-attack skills include: please add folks 1) plan do review 2) Does this make sense? 3) What am I looking for here? 4) Will what I already know work in this new situation, or 5) How do I need to change what I know so it works in this new situation? 6) What is the situation? 7) Gosh this looks like that, humm therefore I might know something about it 8) Derivation: oh that word came to us from there, ahhhhhh 9) Meanings: oh here's a missed meaning for that word that I didn't know 10) Meanings: this meaning is not what I thought, I need to update my meaning file 11) Va ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:36 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 980] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Hi Virginia, Would you please define "think-attack skills?" Thanks. Andrea On Oct 18, 2007, at 1:12 PM, Virginia Tardaewether wrote: Andres, etal. What I've noticed in 37 years of teaching adults is if students are improving their think-attack skills, their scores improve, no matter what the assessment tool. It is not necessary to teach to the test. Plus, any good assessment is going to be about life and work and will fit what people/students have as goals. The largest challenge really is getting at that fine-tuned goal, getting students to see their potential and apply their abilities in new ways toward reaching it. Va From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:46 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 976] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Melinda: I don't disagree with anything that you are saying. However, in my opinion, the problem with NRS-WIA is the same problem as with NCLB. Skillful teachers in the right settings with the proper tools can facilitate knowledge in broad areas, and yet help many students show progress in standardized tests. However, most teachers feel like they are under pressure to demonstrate level gains in the given measuring tool. Comments from Tom Stitch in the NLA forum articulated exactly this. Essentially teachers felt pressure to show gains in standardized instruments and spent most of their time preparing students to demonstrate gains in these instruments. Most felt that they had little time for other activities and that they were unable to teach things that they felt were important. Comments, to me personally, from teachers throughout the US over the years suggests the same. In fact, when teachers are asked to document evidence of additional activities and progress in other ar eas aside from the mandated assessment, they become highly resentful. They feel that they are under pressure to prepare the students to show gains in the TABE, BEST plus, CASAS, and whatever else, and in addition, their administrators want them to demonstrate that their students are becoming more knowledgeable of civics, health, politics, history, the environment and whatever else. Teachers feel that the paperwork becomes insurmountable and that their role is to keep with an endless bureaucracy rather than concentrate on just teaching. In addition, as I argued in the NLA forum, there is no evidence that standardized tests demonstrate anything other than knowledge on how to take them. I don't think that there is a single scientific article that states that not getting a certain score in the BEST plus, TABE, CASAS or whatever, means that you do not posses the skills that the instrument attempts to measure. You make that argument yourself. You claim that having an GED is no indication of academic skills in math, reading, etc. The only difference is that the GED does represent access to employment, college and a significant entitlement for many. However, moving from beginning literacy ESL to beginning ESL is absolutely, unquestionably, indisputably, unarguably, overwhelmingly, incredibly meaningless. In fact, what happens in many programs is that a student will start in beginning literacy ESL, spend a whole semester or year in the same level and at the end of the year the student will demonstrate that he/she mo ved to beginning ESL. The student will stop attending for whatever reason and return to the same or a different program some time later. The student will be assessed again and will likely place in beginning literacy ESL again, and do the whole thing again. Now, this is not an exception. This is the rule w/ many programs. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Melinda Hefner To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 9:22 am Subject: [Assessment 975] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure descriptions and requirement that were in the original post. While there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there are also optional requirements or outcome measures that states may choose to include for determination of performance among its local programs. NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction. To say that nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators around the country who make it appear that way. Fortunately, in North Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly for students transitioning into post-secondary training. Although there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult literacy providers should make successful transition into post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable. One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). Melinda >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" wrote: This email is cross-posted for your interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest, and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University _______________________________________________ AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy http://literacytent.org Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com size=2 width="100%" align=center> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net Evelyn Brown Academic Development Specialist Parkland College 2400 West Bradley Champaign, IL 61821 217.351.2587 ebrown at parkland.edu From VenuT at lacnyc.org Thu Oct 18 19:00:03 2007 From: VenuT at lacnyc.org (Venu Thelakkat) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:00:03 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 983] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: <8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> <8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB85916FE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> I am told that standardized assessments, especially those used in adult literacy, have many problems. But what is the alternative? Policy makers and funders (private or public) want accountability for the money they disperse and there is very little else that has been proposed. Even in NRS, educational gain is the only measure that has some validity as a program outcome. The other measures such as getting a job or entering post secondary education are very unreliable given the wide variety of methods used to collect and report the data. Venu Thelakkat Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 803-3370 venut at lacnyc.org www.lacnyc.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 12:46 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 976] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Melinda: I don't disagree with anything that you are saying. However, in my opinion, the problem with NRS-WIA is the same problem as with NCLB. Skillful teachers in the right settings with the proper tools can facilitate knowledge in broad areas, and yet help many students show progress in standardized tests. However, most teachers feel like they are under pressure to demonstrate level gains in the given measuring tool. Comments from Tom Stitch in the NLA forum articulated exactly this. Essentially teachers felt pressure to show gains in standardized instruments and spent most of their time preparing students to demonstrate gains in these instruments. Most felt that they had little time for other activities and that they were unable to teach things that they felt were important. Comments, to me personally, from teachers throughout the US over the years suggests the same. In fact, when teachers are asked to document evidence of additional activities and progress in other ar eas aside from the mandated assessment, they become highly resentful. They feel that they are under pressure to prepare the students to show gains in the TABE, BEST plus, CASAS, and whatever else, and in addition, their administrators want them to demonstrate that their students are becoming more knowledgeable of civics, health, politics, history, the environment and whatever else. Teachers feel that the paperwork becomes insurmountable and that their role is to keep with an endless bureaucracy rather than concentrate on just teaching. In addition, as I argued in the NLA forum, there is no evidence that standardized tests demonstrate anything other than knowledge on how to take them. I don't think that there is a single scientific article that states that not getting a certain score in the BEST plus, TABE, CASAS or whatever, means that you do not posses the skills that the instrument attempts to measure. You make that argument yourself. You claim that having an GED is no indication of academic skills in math, reading, etc. The only difference is that the GED does represent access to employment, college and a significant entitlement for many. However, moving from beginning literacy ESL to beginning ESL is absolutely, unquestionably, indisputably, unarguably, overwhelmingly, incredibly meaningless. In fact, what happens in many programs is that a student will start in beginning literacy ESL, spend a whole semester or year in the same level and at the end of the year the student will demonstrate that he/she mo ved to beginning ESL. The student will stop attending for whatever reason and return to the same or a different program some time later. The student will be assessed again and will likely place in beginning literacy ESL again, and do the whole thing again. Now, this is not an exception. This is the rule w/ many programs. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Melinda Hefner To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 9:22 am Subject: [Assessment 975] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure descriptions and requirement that were in the original post. While there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there are also optional requirements or outcome measures that states may choose to include for determination of performance among its local programs. NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction. To say that nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators around the country who make it appear that way. Fortunately, in North Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly for students transitioning into post-secondary training. Although there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult literacy providers should make successful transition into post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable. One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). Melinda >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" wrote: This email is cross-posted for your interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org ] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest, and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University _______________________________________________ AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy http://literacytent.org ________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________ size=2 width="100%" align=center> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071018/6936d842/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Thu Oct 18 20:38:11 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:38:11 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 984] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB85916FE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> <8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB85916FE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: Assessment Colleagues, On Oct 18, 2007, at 7:00 PM, Venu Thelakkat asked: > I am told that standardized assessments, especially those used in > adult literacy, have many problems. But what is the alternative? > Policy makers and funders (private or public) want accountability > for the money they disperse and there is very little else that has > been proposed. Even in NRS, educational gain is the only measure > that has some validity as a program outcome. The other measures > such as getting a job or entering post secondary education are very > unreliable given the wide variety of methods used to collect and > report the data. Great question, Venu. One alternative that makes sense has been proposed, but I am told that Congress so far has been unwilling to accept it. Instead of reporting outcomes for every student in every federally-funded program, OVAE should each year pick a random sample of federally- funded programs and measure attainment of student goals over a multi- year period, that is, measure impact. Some would argue that measuring impact is not possible, that adult education students are too hard to track over time, but the Longitudinal Study of Adult Literacy, now in its eighth year in Portland, Oregon, has shown that it is not impossible. Isn't impact more useful to policy makers than outcomes? Does anyone in Congress really care how many level gains students make? Some policy makers may care about how many program participants -- especially over time -- have improved their employment status, can read to their children, can use a computer, now have a diploma or GED, and have succeeded in their education beyond secondary level. Of these goals, only the GED and high school diploma (for now at least) require a standardized test. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071018/b6890a1c/attachment.html From dglass at ksbor.org Fri Oct 19 01:13:30 2007 From: dglass at ksbor.org (Dianne Glass) Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:13:30 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 985] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Message-ID: <4717F6AA020000670000989B@KSBORWEB.KSBOR.ORG> Several states, Kansas being one of them, have the option of using data matching with the Department of Labor UI to determine employment and retain/improve employment outcomes for adult education participants. We also do data matching to determine GED outcomes. For the first time ever, this year we will be able to do data matching with our postsecondary education database to determine enter postsecondary education or training outcomes for adult education participants. While every state does not have these data matching options, those of us who do have these opportunities have a much more convincing argument to present to state legislators for supporting adult education. Kansas has received an increase of 35% in state funding since FY04. For years we made our presentations to legislative committees with adult learners telling their stories. Adult education was only one of many state-funded programs that postively impacted the lives of Kansans--according to the virtually endless number of presentations made to legislative committees. However, when Kansas Adult Education could give legislators actual numbers of adult education participants who entered employment, retained employment, entered postsecondary education, and passed the GED Test--determined through data matching--legislators definitely took notice. I had a legislative committee chair tell me that his committee decided to recommend support an increase in funding for adult education because, "You had the numbers. It's always hard to determine where to allocate limited dollars. Everybody has a convincing argument for why we should give them additional funding. But you had 'hard' evidence that adult education is making a difference in Kansas." Are there problems with data matching? Of course. Many adult education participants choose not to or cannot provide social security numbers or work permit numbers, so we "lose" any employment-related outcomes these learners achieve. For eight years, we have done EXTENSIVE surveying to determine if learners with the goal of entering postsecondary education or training have actually achieved these goals, but our contact rate has always been less than 70%. Even when we have the option of data matching with the Kansas postsecondary database, we will only be able to capture those exited adult education participants who enter postsecondary education and training in Kansas. (A special problem since 30% of our learners live within 10 miles of Kansas City, MO.) So while our numbers under represent the numbers and percentages of adult learners who actually achieve these outcomes--WE HAVE NUMBERS! Conservative numbers are better than no numbers. And using the numbers we do have, we strive each year to do better. It's very difficult to improve without a baseline... Dianne Glass Director of Adult Education Kansas Board of Regents 1000 SW Jackson, Suite 520 Topeka, KS 66612-1368 785.296.7159 dglass at ksbor.org >>> "Venu Thelakkat" 10/18/07 6:00 PM >>> I am told that standardized assessments, especially those used in adult literacy, have many problems. But what is the alternative? Policy makers and funders (private or public) want accountability for the money they disperse and there is very little else that has been proposed. Even in NRS, educational gain is the only measure that has some validity as a program outcome. The other measures such as getting a job or entering post secondary education are very unreliable given the wide variety of methods used to collect and report the data. Venu Thelakkat Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 803-3370 venut at lacnyc.org www.lacnyc.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 12:46 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 976] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Melinda: I don't disagree with anything that you are saying. However, in my opinion, the problem with NRS-WIA is the same problem as with NCLB. Skillful teachers in the right settings with the proper tools can facilitate knowledge in broad areas, and yet help many students show progress in standardized tests. However, most teachers feel like they are under pressure to demonstrate level gains in the given measuring tool. Comments from Tom Stitch in the NLA forum articulated exactly this. Essentially teachers felt pressure to show gains in standardized instruments and spent most of their time preparing students to demonstrate gains in these instruments. Most felt that they had little time for other activities and that they were unable to teach things that they felt were important. Comments, to me personally, from teachers throughout the US over the years suggests the same. In fact, when teachers are asked to document evidence of additional activities and progress in other ar eas aside from the mandated assessment, they become highly resentful. They feel that they are under pressure to prepare the students to show gains in the TABE, BEST plus, CASAS, and whatever else, and in addition, their administrators want them to demonstrate that their students are becoming more knowledgeable of civics, health, politics, history, the environment and whatever else. Teachers feel that the paperwork becomes insurmountable and that their role is to keep with an endless bureaucracy rather than concentrate on just teaching. In addition, as I argued in the NLA forum, there is no evidence that standardized tests demonstrate anything other than knowledge on how to take them. I don't think that there is a single scientific article that states that not getting a certain score in the BEST plus, TABE, CASAS or whatever, means that you do not posses the skills that the instrument attempts to measure. You make that argument yourself. You claim that having an GED is no indication of academic skills in math, reading, etc. The only difference is that the GED does represent access to employment, college and a significant entitlement for many. However, moving from beginning literacy ESL to beginning ESL is absolutely, unquestionably, indisputably, unarguably, overwhelmingly, incredibly meaningless. In fact, what happens in many programs is that a student will start in beginning literacy ESL, spend a whole semester or year in the same level and at the end of the year the student will demonstrate that he/she mo ved to beginning ESL. The student will stop attending for whatever reason and return to the same or a different program some time later. The student will be assessed again and will likely place in beginning literacy ESL again, and do the whole thing again. Now, this is not an exception. This is the rule w/ many programs. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Melinda Hefner To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 9:22 am Subject: [Assessment 975] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure descriptions and requirement that were in the original post. While there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there are also optional requirements or outcome measures that states may choose to include for determination of performance among its local programs. NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction. To say that nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators around the country who make it appear that way. Fortunately, in North Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly for students transitioning into post-secondary training. Although there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult literacy providers should make successful transition into post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable. One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). Melinda >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" wrote: This email is cross-posted for your interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org ] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest, and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University _______________________________________________ AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy http://literacytent.org ________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________ size=2 width="100%" align=center> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! From hdooley at riral.org Fri Oct 19 09:45:34 2007 From: hdooley at riral.org (Howard Dooley) Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:45:34 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 986] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement In-Reply-To: <8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu> <8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <0BF2D0726318524ABEF6D58E7BB3CCEB0B9538@pdc.Riral.local> I only want to say that I think the message below crossed the line from discussion to rant. Several facts stated are not facts at all, but anecdotes and opinions. I was particularly struck that Melinda's statements about the GED were misconstrued: she never states that "the GED is no indication of academic skills". It, in fact, is. And while it is true that an individual adult may not be able to demonstrate existing skill or knowledge with a particular instrument, the reverse is not true; namely, that success on the instrument is unrelated to actual knowledge. I don't have the inclination to go tit for tat with what was said. However, I do want to say that: instructors at programs I know are not resentful when asked to report on all the successes their learners are achieving in their classes; and, if instructors and program managers are unable to do more than teach to tests, warehouse adults, and recycle them meaninglessly through class after class, then perhaps, they should rethink their teaching methods and their program structures. Howard RIRAL ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 12:46 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 976] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Melinda: I don't disagree with anything that you are saying. However, in my opinion, the problem with NRS-WIA is the same problem as with NCLB. Skillful teachers in the right settings with the proper tools can facilitate knowledge in broad areas, and yet help many students show progress in standardized tests. However, most teachers feel like they are under pressure to demonstrate level gains in the given measuring tool. Comments from Tom Stitch in the NLA forum articulated exactly this. Essentially teachers felt pressure to show gains in standardized instruments and spent most of their time preparing students to demonstrate gains in these instruments. Most felt that they had little time for other activities and that they were unable to teach things that they felt were important. Comments, to me personally, from teachers throughout the US over the years suggests the same. In fact, when teachers are asked to document evidence of additional activities and progress in other ar eas aside from the mandated assessment, they become highly resentful. They feel that they are under pressure to prepare the students to show gains in the TABE, BEST plus, CASAS, and whatever else, and in addition, their administrators want them to demonstrate that their students are becoming more knowledgeable of civics, health, politics, history, the environment and whatever else. Teachers feel that the paperwork becomes insurmountable and that their role is to keep with an endless bureaucracy rather than concentrate on just teaching. In addition, as I argued in the NLA forum, there is no evidence that standardized tests demonstrate anything other than knowledge on how to take them. I don't think that there is a single scientific article that states that not getting a certain score in the BEST plus, TABE, CASAS or whatever, means that you do not posses the skills that the instrument attempts to measure. You make that argument yourself. You claim that having an GED is no indication of academic skills in math, reading, etc. The only difference is that the GED does represent access to employment, college and a significant entitlement for many. However, moving from beginning literacy ESL to beginning ESL is absolutely, unquestionably, indisputably, unarguably, overwhelmingly, incredibly meaningless. In fact, what happens in many programs is that a student will start in beginning literacy ESL, spend a whole semester or year in the same level and at the end of the year the student will demonstrate that he/she mo ved to beginning ESL. The student will stop attending for whatever reason and return to the same or a different program some time later. The student will be assessed again and will likely place in beginning literacy ESL again, and do the whole thing again. Now, this is not an exception. This is the rule w/ many programs. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Melinda Hefner To: Assessment at nifl.gov Sent: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 9:22 am Subject: [Assessment 975] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement I hope that this post will not be perceived as being disrespectful because it's certainly not intended to be; however, there are some slight but noteworthy inaccuracies in the NRS outcome measure descriptions and requirement that were in the original post. While there are certain NRS requirements that all states must meet, there are also optional requirements or outcome measures that states may choose to include for determination of performance among its local programs. NRS guidelines, when adhered to, are quite supportive of student and instructor led educational plans where instructional goals are dynamic, meet student needs, and drive instruction. To say that nothing else matters other than level completion is not entirely accurate although I'm certain that there may be some administrators around the country who make it appear that way. Fortunately, in North Carolina our state leadership, while taking NRS guidelines very seriously, use them to support instruction not impede it. Additionally, while I obviously support GED completion as a goal, unfortunately GED completion alone does not assure that a student functions at an adult secondary high level in math, reading, and/or language which has been problematic in a number of ways particularly for students transitioning into post-secondary training. Although there are similar transitioning issues among underprepared students who graduate from high school in the traditional fashion, adult literacy providers should make successful transition into post-secondary training a high priority for students as applicable. One of the many ways to do this is to assure and validate via pre-testing and post-testing that students do, indeed, function at the adult secondary high level and have not merely gained sufficient information and skills to have passed a GED test(s). Melinda >>> On 10/17/2007 at 8:26 pm, in message <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0 at LITNOW>, "Marie Cora" wrote: This email is cross-posted for your interest. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** -----Original Message----- From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org ] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Daphnee: I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one. WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the % of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students show progress in the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL class and the student decides to go take the GED on her own, that would not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters. I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE program. So, we don't have to pretest, and assess the students every five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE- grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next. It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Daphne Greenberg To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the following question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share with the person who asked me. If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates from one level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to ASE/GED) what would you consider a "good" rate? Thanks, Daphne Greenberg Georgia State University _______________________________________________ AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy http://literacytent.org ________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________ size=2 width="100%" align=center> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071019/ac5e5f4b/attachment.html From gbundy at rmi.net Fri Oct 19 12:23:52 2007 From: gbundy at rmi.net (Gail B) Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:23:52 -0600 (GMT-06:00) Subject: [Assessment 987] Re: FW: [AAACE-NLA] level movement Message-ID: <19629977.1192811032702.JavaMail.root@mswamui-thinleaf.atl.sa.earthlink.net> I am with a small program that has an AEFLA Grant. I have personally struggled intellectually with the level gain measure -- afterall -- how many students enter a program with a goal of increasing their test scores by at least 1 EFL. However, after several years, I realize that the level gain targets actually helps maintain pressure on us teachers to make sure that students are gaining academic skills and competencies. Also, I have come to realize that students like the honesty of the TABE test results. Instead of having a vague sense that they are bad at math, we are able to show them exactly what they need to learn. Just last week one student who had been struggling with math for over a year - continually testing in the third EFL -- finally had the major breakthrough - and jumped six grade levels - and 2 EFLs -- She was ecstatic -- and the whole class celebrated with her -- with as much enthusiasm as they will celebrate when she actually passes the math test -- becasue we all know that she is conquering her math fear and will be passing the test from a solid baseline of math competence. And as a teacher, I know that we finally developed a learning and problem-solving strategy that really works for her. Post-program survey work would not be effective with the population we serve -- We do call students after they have left and try to maintain records on how they are doing -- and we often hear from relatives and referrals how students are doing. However, between high mobility and cell phone numbers that change a couple times a year -- I would hypothesize that the percent that could be found would be relatively low. Gail Bundy Native American Multi-Cultural Education School 3600 Morrison Road Denver, CO 80219 From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Fri Oct 19 12:44:40 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:44:40 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 988] FW: Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, Racism Message-ID: <074b01c8126f$58bc89c0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: the following post is from Tom Sticht. When Tom first sent this email to be posted, I initially questioned the relevance of it for the assessment discussion list. There are certainly connections here, but part of what this List is intended for is to be true to the issue of learner assessment. So Tom and I had an email exchange and he said to me: "I think the whole IQ and intelligence debate centers on test (assessment) results, as Watson said. So I thought it was a natural for the Assessment folks..." which convinced me that it is indeed relevant. What are your thoughts - either on the content of Tom's article, or on my and his exchange, for that matter? This also makes me think of the hotly debated issue of using comprehensive tests to determine whether a child graduates from high school - or whether a fast-track GED is a good thing or not. What are your thoughts? Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********** October 17, 2007 Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, and Racism Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) found that, as with most general literacy and other broadband cognitive assessments of the last century, African-Americans scored well below White adults. Perhaps for most people, this signifies that greater efforts are needed in the education of African-Americans. But for some others, this may simply reinforce the belief that African-Americans are genetically lower in intelligence compared to Whites and this shows itself in the differences in literacy scores. According to an article on the web site for The Independent news service in London, England for 17 October 2007, online at http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece, James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for work on DNA and genetics, thinks that Africans are less intelligent than Westerners. The article states that in a recent interview Watson "claimed that black people were less intelligent than white people and the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared across racial groups was a delusion." According to The Independent, Watson said that "Western policies towards African countries were wrongly based on an assumption that black people were as clever as their white counterparts when "testing" suggested the contrary. He claimed genes responsible for creating differences in human intelligence could be found within a decade." In an earlier interview in 2005, another Nobel Prize laureate, this time for economics, James Heckman discussed his ideas about cognitive skills and their malleability in later life with members of a presidential commission consisting of former U.S. senators, heads of federal agencies, tax attorneys and academic economists. In his comments Heckman expressed his belief that "IQ is basically formed by age 8, and there are huge differences in IQ among people. . I think these observations on human skill formation are exactly why the job training programs aren't working in the United States and why many remediation programs directed toward disadvantaged young adults are so ineffective." That these kinds of beliefs by Nobel Prize winners are more widespread and influential in affecting policies and funding for adult literacy education is illustrated in a Forbes Magazine article for October 2, 2000. Written by Dan Seligman, a widely read commentator, the article discussed the National Adult Literacy Survey (NAL) of 1993 and argued that the test was not about literacy and said, "The cluster of abilities being examined is obviously a proxy for plain old "intelligence." Remarking then about the "familiar old bell curve" Seligman says, ".do not tell us that government or any other institution is going to transform this situation." This clearly reflects the belief that the literacy test was actually a test of intelligence, that the latter is genetically based, and was not going to be changed by adult literacy programs. These sorts of comments by Nobel prize laureates and well-placed popular writers are not good for adult literacy education. They can convince policymakers and funding organizations that investments in adult literacy education are not worthwhile. For instance, the New York Times for January 20, 2000 published an article by Kevin Sack about a gift of $100 million being given to schools in Mississippi to promote the teaching of reading to children. The article says that the philanthropist giving the money and "many experts are less than bullish on the prospects for attacking adult illiteracy." The philanthropist is then quoted as saying, "What this program says is that we can't solve the adult literacy problem but we can work with the children." In addition to the deleterious effects of these types of comments on adult literacy education funding, they foment racist thinking and the denigration of African-Americans and others whose performance on various standardized tests are below those of Whites. For these reasons it is important for the adult education field to challenge these beliefs with renewed commitments to educational practice. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) of 2003 showed that 67 percent of African-American adults scored at the Basic or Below Basic literacy levels for prose tasks. Unfortunately enrollments of African-Americans in the Adult Education and Literacy system of the United States fell by 13,073 from 548,562 in fiscal year 2000-01 to 535,489 in fiscal year 2003-04, the last year for which I have found data for the nation. Concerted efforts are needed to attract adult African-Americans with underdeveloped literacy skills into adult literacy education programs and to provide the best education possible. >From researchers in the field of adult literacy education, help is needed in dispelling these ideas about intelligence. Even discussing conceptual frameworks such as "multiple intelligences" may give some the impression that there is something "real" about various intelligences with which one could be genetically endowed. This includes verbal and quantitative intelligences of the sort generally used in developing IQ tests and pointed to as factors distinguishing African-Americans as inferior to Whites in intelligence. Despite 15 years of federally funded adult literacy research centers, I have yet to find any research by adult literacy researchers with which to counter the arguments by the Nobel Prize winners, mal-informed popular journalists, and philanthropists cited above, and others not cited. This suggests that there is an urgent need for adult literacy researchers to fight against the ideological foundations of racism that stigmatize adult literacy education in general and the literacy education of African-American adults in particular. NOTE: For an extended discussion of issues related to ideas that marginalize adult literacy education see the last of my papers at http://adulted.about.com/od/adultbasiceducation/a/sticht.htm This paper deals with issues of IQ, brain science, adult literacy and debunks myths that hold adult literacy education back. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From andreawilder at comcast.net Fri Oct 19 13:20:45 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:20:45 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 989] Re: FW: Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, Racism In-Reply-To: <074b01c8126f$58bc89c0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> References: <074b01c8126f$58bc89c0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> Message-ID: <7dd0cd93e05ec2e9a71c6592dfaf0224@comcast.net> Marie-- I'm from MA. I see nothing wrong with comprehensive tests based on taught class material as a graduation requirement. The problem lies in kids' backgrounds and teaching skills. This is the context. In MA, there are students who do not pass the tests. They are subsequently given many opportunities to retake the tests. Kids with weak educational backgrounds will have a harder time. This is where quality of teaching, number of students in the class, a safe school, are important. As to intelligence tests. They describe something, but what? Way back in the sixties, Gerald Lesser issued a report that compared children from different and class and ethnic groups. His findings: the skills/aptitude of middle class kids all fell in the same range, while the same was true for poor kids. The PROFILES of scores were different for each ethnic group. A problem: girls scores were not disaggregated--this was before feminism. The study was not published--it was done around 1964, I think, and the political fallout would have been catnip for some, I guess. There are maybe 2 copies at the Ed School, Harvard. Andrea On Oct 19, 2007, at 12:44 PM, Marie Cora wrote: > Colleagues: the following post is from Tom Sticht. When Tom first > sent > this email to be posted, I initially questioned the relevance of it for > the assessment discussion list. There are certainly connections here, > but part of what this List is intended for is to be true to the issue > of > learner assessment. So Tom and I had an email exchange and he said to > me: > > "I think the whole IQ and intelligence debate centers on test > (assessment) results, as Watson said. So I thought it was a natural for > the Assessment folks..." > > which convinced me that it is indeed relevant. > > What are your thoughts - either on the content of Tom's article, or on > my and his exchange, for that matter? > > This also makes me think of the hotly debated issue of using > comprehensive tests to determine whether a child graduates from high > school - or whether a fast-track GED is a good thing or not. > > What are your thoughts? > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > ********** > > October 17, 2007 > > Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, and Racism > > Tom Sticht > International Consultant in Adult Education > > The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) found that, as > with > most general literacy and other broadband cognitive assessments of the > last > century, African-Americans scored well below White adults. Perhaps for > most > people, this signifies that greater efforts are needed in the education > of > African-Americans. But for some others, this may simply reinforce the > belief that African-Americans are genetically lower in intelligence > compared to Whites and this shows itself in the differences in literacy > scores. > > According to an article on the web site for The Independent news > service > in > London, England for 17 October 2007, online at > http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece, James > Watson, > a > Nobel Prize winner for work on DNA and genetics, thinks that Africans > are > less intelligent than Westerners. The article states that in a recent > interview Watson "claimed that black people were less intelligent than > white people and the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared > across > racial groups was a delusion." According to The Independent, Watson > said > that "Western policies towards African countries were wrongly based on > an > assumption that black people were as clever as their white counterparts > when "testing" suggested the contrary. He claimed genes responsible for > creating differences in human intelligence could be found within a > decade." > > In an earlier interview in 2005, another Nobel Prize laureate, this > time > for > economics, James Heckman discussed his ideas about cognitive skills and > their malleability in later life with members of a presidential > commission > consisting of former U.S. senators, heads of federal agencies, tax > attorneys and academic economists. In his comments Heckman expressed > his > belief that "IQ is basically formed by age 8, and there are huge > differences in IQ among people. . I think these observations on human > skill > formation are exactly why the job training programs aren't working in > the > United States and why many remediation programs directed toward > disadvantaged young adults are so ineffective." > > That these kinds of beliefs by Nobel Prize winners are more widespread > and > influential in affecting policies and funding for adult literacy > education > is illustrated in a Forbes Magazine article for October 2, 2000. > Written > by > Dan Seligman, a widely read commentator, the article discussed the > National > Adult Literacy Survey (NAL) of 1993 and argued that the test was not > about > literacy and said, "The cluster of abilities being examined is > obviously > a > proxy for plain old "intelligence." Remarking then about the "familiar > old > bell curve" Seligman says, ".do not tell us that government or any > other > institution is going to transform this situation." This clearly > reflects > the belief that the literacy test was actually a test of intelligence, > that > the latter is genetically based, and was not going to be changed by > adult > literacy programs. > > These sorts of comments by Nobel prize laureates and well-placed > popular > writers are not good for adult literacy education. They can convince > policymakers and funding organizations that investments in adult > literacy > education are not worthwhile. For instance, the New York Times for > January > 20, 2000 published an article by Kevin Sack about a gift of $100 > million > being given to schools in Mississippi to promote the teaching of > reading > to > children. The article says that the philanthropist giving the money and > "many experts are less than bullish on the prospects for attacking > adult > illiteracy." The philanthropist is then quoted as saying, "What this > program says is that we can't solve the adult literacy problem but we > can > work with the children." > > In addition to the deleterious effects of these types of comments on > adult > literacy education funding, they foment racist thinking and the > denigration > of African-Americans and others whose performance on various > standardized > tests are below those of Whites. For these reasons it is important for > the > adult education field to challenge these beliefs with renewed > commitments > to educational practice. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy > (NAAL) > of 2003 showed that 67 percent of African-American adults scored at the > Basic or Below Basic literacy levels for prose tasks. Unfortunately > enrollments of African-Americans in the Adult Education and Literacy > system > of the United States fell by 13,073 from 548,562 in fiscal year 2000-01 > to > 535,489 in fiscal year 2003-04, the last year for which I have found > data > for the nation. Concerted efforts are needed to attract adult > African-Americans with underdeveloped literacy skills into adult > literacy > education programs and to provide the best education possible. > >> From researchers in the field of adult literacy education, help is > needed in > dispelling these ideas about intelligence. Even discussing conceptual > frameworks such as "multiple intelligences" may give some the > impression > that there is something "real" about various intelligences with which > one > could be genetically endowed. This includes verbal and quantitative > intelligences of the sort generally used in developing IQ tests and > pointed > to as factors distinguishing African-Americans as inferior to Whites in > intelligence. Despite 15 years of federally funded adult literacy > research > centers, I have yet to find any research by adult literacy researchers > with > which to counter the arguments by the Nobel Prize winners, mal-informed > popular journalists, and philanthropists cited above, and others not > cited. > This suggests that there is an urgent need for adult literacy > researchers to > fight against the ideological foundations of racism that stigmatize > adult > literacy education in general and the literacy education of > African-American adults in particular. > > NOTE: For an extended discussion of issues related to ideas that > marginalize > adult literacy education see the last of my papers at > http://adulted.about.com/od/adultbasiceducation/a/sticht.htm > This paper deals with issues of IQ, brain science, adult literacy and > debunks myths that hold adult literacy education back. > > Thomas G. Sticht > International Consultant in Adult Education > 2062 Valley View Blvd. > El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 > Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 > Email: tsticht at aznet.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > From jackie.coelho at gmail.com Fri Oct 19 13:41:19 2007 From: jackie.coelho at gmail.com (Jackie Coelho) Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:41:19 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 990] Re: FW: Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, Racism In-Reply-To: <7dd0cd93e05ec2e9a71c6592dfaf0224@comcast.net> References: <074b01c8126f$58bc89c0$0402a8c0@LITNOW> <7dd0cd93e05ec2e9a71c6592dfaf0224@comcast.net> Message-ID: <1dd5701e0710191041j20be62c5o55189062c06d2f75@mail.gmail.com> Andrea, Thanks for mentioning the socio-economic influences on assessments. Although you mention one study, I am sure there are many. Regarding what the noble prize winners had to say, one is an economist. The fame of neither allows us to believe that every thought they have is golden. Stephen Jay Gould wrote an enlightening book entitled, "The Mismeasure of Man". In it he takes a very critical and analytical look at the idea of the bell curve and testing. I am an ABE instructor, not a professional researcher. However, this topic does indeed need more rearch, and if I knew how to pick up the baton, I would run with it. Jackie On 10/19/07, Andrea Wilder wrote: > Marie-- > > I'm from MA. I see nothing wrong with comprehensive tests based on > taught class material as a graduation requirement. The problem lies in > kids' backgrounds and teaching skills. This is the context. In MA, > there are students who do not pass the tests. They are subsequently > given many opportunities to retake the tests. Kids with weak > educational backgrounds will have a harder time. This is where quality > of teaching, number of students in the class, a safe school, are > important. > > As to intelligence tests. They describe something, but what? > > Way back in the sixties, Gerald Lesser issued a report that compared > children from different and class and ethnic groups. His findings: > the skills/aptitude of middle class kids all fell in the same range, > while the same was true for poor kids. The PROFILES of scores were > different for each ethnic group. A problem: girls scores were not > disaggregated--this was before feminism. The study was not > published--it was done around 1964, I think, and the political fallout > would have been catnip for some, I guess. There are maybe 2 copies > at the Ed School, Harvard. > > Andrea > > On Oct 19, 2007, at 12:44 PM, Marie Cora wrote: > > > Colleagues: the following post is from Tom Sticht. When Tom first > > sent > > this email to be posted, I initially questioned the relevance of it for > > the assessment discussion list. There are certainly connections here, > > but part of what this List is intended for is to be true to the issue > > of > > learner assessment. So Tom and I had an email exchange and he said to > > me: > > > > "I think the whole IQ and intelligence debate centers on test > > (assessment) results, as Watson said. So I thought it was a natural for > > the Assessment folks..." > > > > which convinced me that it is indeed relevant. > > > > What are your thoughts - either on the content of Tom's article, or on > > my and his exchange, for that matter? > > > > This also makes me think of the hotly debated issue of using > > comprehensive tests to determine whether a child graduates from high > > school - or whether a fast-track GED is a good thing or not. > > > > What are your thoughts? > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > ********** > > > > October 17, 2007 > > > > Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, and Racism > > > > Tom Sticht > > International Consultant in Adult Education > > > > The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) found that, as > > with > > most general literacy and other broadband cognitive assessments of the > > last > > century, African-Americans scored well below White adults. Perhaps for > > most > > people, this signifies that greater efforts are needed in the education > > of > > African-Americans. But for some others, this may simply reinforce the > > belief that African-Americans are genetically lower in intelligence > > compared to Whites and this shows itself in the differences in literacy > > scores. > > > > According to an article on the web site for The Independent news > > service > > in > > London, England for 17 October 2007, online at > > http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece, James > > Watson, > > a > > Nobel Prize winner for work on DNA and genetics, thinks that Africans > > are > > less intelligent than Westerners. The article states that in a recent > > interview Watson "claimed that black people were less intelligent than > > white people and the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared > > across > > racial groups was a delusion." According to The Independent, Watson > > said > > that "Western policies towards African countries were wrongly based on > > an > > assumption that black people were as clever as their white counterparts > > when "testing" suggested the contrary. He claimed genes responsible for > > creating differences in human intelligence could be found within a > > decade." > > > > In an earlier interview in 2005, another Nobel Prize laureate, this > > time > > for > > economics, James Heckman discussed his ideas about cognitive skills and > > their malleability in later life with members of a presidential > > commission > > consisting of former U.S. senators, heads of federal agencies, tax > > attorneys and academic economists. In his comments Heckman expressed > > his > > belief that "IQ is basically formed by age 8, and there are huge > > differences in IQ among people. . I think these observations on human > > skill > > formation are exactly why the job training programs aren't working in > > the > > United States and why many remediation programs directed toward > > disadvantaged young adults are so ineffective." > > > > That these kinds of beliefs by Nobel Prize winners are more widespread > > and > > influential in affecting policies and funding for adult literacy > > education > > is illustrated in a Forbes Magazine article for October 2, 2000. > > Written > > by > > Dan Seligman, a widely read commentator, the article discussed the > > National > > Adult Literacy Survey (NAL) of 1993 and argued that the test was not > > about > > literacy and said, "The cluster of abilities being examined is > > obviously > > a > > proxy for plain old "intelligence." Remarking then about the "familiar > > old > > bell curve" Seligman says, ".do not tell us that government or any > > other > > institution is going to transform this situation." This clearly > > reflects > > the belief that the literacy test was actually a test of intelligence, > > that > > the latter is genetically based, and was not going to be changed by > > adult > > literacy programs. > > > > These sorts of comments by Nobel prize laureates and well-placed > > popular > > writers are not good for adult literacy education. They can convince > > policymakers and funding organizations that investments in adult > > literacy > > education are not worthwhile. For instance, the New York Times for > > January > > 20, 2000 published an article by Kevin Sack about a gift of $100 > > million > > being given to schools in Mississippi to promote the teaching of > > reading > > to > > children. The article says that the philanthropist giving the money and > > "many experts are less than bullish on the prospects for attacking > > adult > > illiteracy." The philanthropist is then quoted as saying, "What this > > program says is that we can't solve the adult literacy problem but we > > can > > work with the children." > > > > In addition to the deleterious effects of these types of comments on > > adult > > literacy education funding, they foment racist thinking and the > > denigration > > of African-Americans and others whose performance on various > > standardized > > tests are below those of Whites. For these reasons it is important for > > the > > adult education field to challenge these beliefs with renewed > > commitments > > to educational practice. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy > > (NAAL) > > of 2003 showed that 67 percent of African-American adults scored at the > > Basic or Below Basic literacy levels for prose tasks. Unfortunately > > enrollments of African-Americans in the Adult Education and Literacy > > system > > of the United States fell by 13,073 from 548,562 in fiscal year 2000-01 > > to > > 535,489 in fiscal year 2003-04, the last year for which I have found > > data > > for the nation. Concerted efforts are needed to attract adult > > African-Americans with underdeveloped literacy skills into adult > > literacy > > education programs and to provide the best education possible. > > > >> From researchers in the field of adult literacy education, help is > > needed in > > dispelling these ideas about intelligence. Even discussing conceptual > > frameworks such as "multiple intelligences" may give some the > > impression > > that there is something "real" about various intelligences with which > > one > > could be genetically endowed. This includes verbal and quantitative > > intelligences of the sort generally used in developing IQ tests and > > pointed > > to as factors distinguishing African-Americans as inferior to Whites in > > intelligence. Despite 15 years of federally funded adult literacy > > research > > centers, I have yet to find any research by adult literacy researchers > > with > > which to counter the arguments by the Nobel Prize winners, mal-informed > > popular journalists, and philanthropists cited above, and others not > > cited. > > This suggests that there is an urgent need for adult literacy > > researchers to > > fight against the ideological foundations of racism that stigmatize > > adult > > literacy education in general and the literacy education of > > African-American adults in particular. > > > > NOTE: For an extended discussion of issues related to ideas that > > marginalize > > adult literacy education see the last of my papers at > > http://adulted.about.com/od/adultbasiceducation/a/sticht.htm > > This paper deals with issues of IQ, brain science, adult literacy and > > debunks myths that hold adult literacy education back. > > > > Thomas G. Sticht > > International Consultant in Adult Education > > 2062 Valley View Blvd. > > El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 > > Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 > > Email: tsticht at aznet.net > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com > From jay.derrick at blueyonder.co.uk Fri Oct 19 15:54:35 2007 From: jay.derrick at blueyonder.co.uk (jay.derrick) Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:54:35 +0100 Subject: [Assessment 991] Re: FW: Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, Racism References: <074b01c8126f$58bc89c0$0402a8c0@LITNOW><7dd0cd93e05ec2e9a71c6592dfaf0224@comcast.net> <1dd5701e0710191041j20be62c5o55189062c06d2f75@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <008501c81289$e10882b0$6401a8c0@DF01> I've been following this debate with great interest, and would like strongly to support Jackie's recommendation of Stephen Jay Gould's book 'The Mismeasure of Man', in the context of this discussion. It is a comprehensive history and critique of intelligence testing, and in my view it is highly relevant to a discussion of assessment in education, and especially adult basic education, for the same reason that Tom Sticht's original posting is relevant. I would go further and suggest that Gould's book is essential reading for anybody working in education, and indeed for all citizens in democratic societies. What Gould argues is that the results of all standardised tests of learning or ability, should be recognised as imperfect at best. This imperfection isn't the problem though - the problem is how the results of these imperfect tests are interpreted and then used. Too often, either from ignorance or prejudice, the results of tests are taken to be completely true reflections of reality, and important decisions are taken about people's lives or about future policy or funding on the basis of them, to the exclusion of all other relevant and possibly contradictory information. As an extreme example, Gould cites the way low scores in intelligence tests in the first half of the last century were used to justify people being compulsorily sterilised, because of the belief that low intelligence was inherited. He shows that reliance on standardised testing makes sense from a positivist and behaviourist theoretical viewpoint which sees 'intelligence' as something inherent and immutable to all individuals, similar to height or shoe-size. More recent theories of learning take a more complex and developmental view which demands a more sophisticated approach to assessment. However, I don't think this means that we shouldn't ever use tests as part of teaching and learning! They can be very useful to teachers who want information for course and programme planning, or for stimulating discussions with learners about learning, in what will be recognised as formative assessment, or assessment for learning. I am one of the team working on a research project in the UK called Improving Formative Assessment (see www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/education/staffinfo/eccleston-FAproject.html) which is looking at these issues in adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL classes and other post-compulsory programmes in colleges and adult education centres. We are finding that whatever the regulations governing summative assessment and quality assurance, these have effects for better or worse on the ways teachers teach, not always to the benefit of learning, and that these effects are more pronounced for learners with less confidence in themselves as learners, perhaps because of bad experiences at school. My belief is that the main reason why standardised tests are so popular with policymakers, in spite of the arguments for them being blunt instruments, is that they are a simple and cheap solution to the need for accountability for certification. There is also of course a major industry of (mostly commercial) test providers which counts on the continuing widespread use of them, and on the argument that the results are completely valid and reliable. We certainly need data about how well teachers are teaching and how well learners are learning, but it needs to be much better quality data than can be provided solely through standardised tests. I agree entirely with Tom that adult basic education practitioners should get involved in this discussion as part of supporting learners to get the best assessment possible. If not I think we are selling them short. Thanks for starting this discussion, Tom! Jay Derrick UK-based educational consultant ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jackie Coelho" To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 6:41 PM Subject: [Assessment 990] Re: FW: Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, Racism > Andrea, > Thanks for mentioning the socio-economic influences on assessments. > Although you mention one study, I am sure there are many. > Regarding what the noble prize winners had to say, one is an > economist. The fame of neither allows us to believe that every thought > they have is golden. > Stephen Jay Gould wrote an enlightening book entitled, "The > Mismeasure of Man". In it he takes a very critical and analytical look > at the idea of the bell curve and testing. > I am an ABE instructor, not a professional researcher. However, > this topic does indeed need more rearch, and if I knew how to pick up > the baton, I would run with it. > Jackie > > On 10/19/07, Andrea Wilder wrote: > > Marie-- > > > > I'm from MA. I see nothing wrong with comprehensive tests based on > > taught class material as a graduation requirement. The problem lies in > > kids' backgrounds and teaching skills. This is the context. In MA, > > there are students who do not pass the tests. They are subsequently > > given many opportunities to retake the tests. Kids with weak > > educational backgrounds will have a harder time. This is where quality > > of teaching, number of students in the class, a safe school, are > > important. > > > > As to intelligence tests. They describe something, but what? > > > > Way back in the sixties, Gerald Lesser issued a report that compared > > children from different and class and ethnic groups. His findings: > > the skills/aptitude of middle class kids all fell in the same range, > > while the same was true for poor kids. The PROFILES of scores were > > different for each ethnic group. A problem: girls scores were not > > disaggregated--this was before feminism. The study was not > > published--it was done around 1964, I think, and the political fallout > > would have been catnip for some, I guess. There are maybe 2 copies > > at the Ed School, Harvard. > > > > Andrea > > > > On Oct 19, 2007, at 12:44 PM, Marie Cora wrote: > > > > > Colleagues: the following post is from Tom Sticht. When Tom first > > > sent > > > this email to be posted, I initially questioned the relevance of it for > > > the assessment discussion list. There are certainly connections here, > > > but part of what this List is intended for is to be true to the issue > > > of > > > learner assessment. So Tom and I had an email exchange and he said to > > > me: > > > > > > "I think the whole IQ and intelligence debate centers on test > > > (assessment) results, as Watson said. So I thought it was a natural for > > > the Assessment folks..." > > > > > > which convinced me that it is indeed relevant. > > > > > > What are your thoughts - either on the content of Tom's article, or on > > > my and his exchange, for that matter? > > > > > > This also makes me think of the hotly debated issue of using > > > comprehensive tests to determine whether a child graduates from high > > > school - or whether a fast-track GED is a good thing or not. > > > > > > What are your thoughts? > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > ********** > > > > > > October 17, 2007 > > > > > > Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, and Racism > > > > > > Tom Sticht > > > International Consultant in Adult Education > > > > > > The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) found that, as > > > with > > > most general literacy and other broadband cognitive assessments of the > > > last > > > century, African-Americans scored well below White adults. Perhaps for > > > most > > > people, this signifies that greater efforts are needed in the education > > > of > > > African-Americans. But for some others, this may simply reinforce the > > > belief that African-Americans are genetically lower in intelligence > > > compared to Whites and this shows itself in the differences in literacy > > > scores. > > > > > > According to an article on the web site for The Independent news > > > service > > > in > > > London, England for 17 October 2007, online at > > > http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece, James > > > Watson, > > > a > > > Nobel Prize winner for work on DNA and genetics, thinks that Africans > > > are > > > less intelligent than Westerners. The article states that in a recent > > > interview Watson "claimed that black people were less intelligent than > > > white people and the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared > > > across > > > racial groups was a delusion." According to The Independent, Watson > > > said > > > that "Western policies towards African countries were wrongly based on > > > an > > > assumption that black people were as clever as their white counterparts > > > when "testing" suggested the contrary. He claimed genes responsible for > > > creating differences in human intelligence could be found within a > > > decade." > > > > > > In an earlier interview in 2005, another Nobel Prize laureate, this > > > time > > > for > > > economics, James Heckman discussed his ideas about cognitive skills and > > > their malleability in later life with members of a presidential > > > commission > > > consisting of former U.S. senators, heads of federal agencies, tax > > > attorneys and academic economists. In his comments Heckman expressed > > > his > > > belief that "IQ is basically formed by age 8, and there are huge > > > differences in IQ among people. . I think these observations on human > > > skill > > > formation are exactly why the job training programs aren't working in > > > the > > > United States and why many remediation programs directed toward > > > disadvantaged young adults are so ineffective." > > > > > > That these kinds of beliefs by Nobel Prize winners are more widespread > > > and > > > influential in affecting policies and funding for adult literacy > > > education > > > is illustrated in a Forbes Magazine article for October 2, 2000. > > > Written > > > by > > > Dan Seligman, a widely read commentator, the article discussed the > > > National > > > Adult Literacy Survey (NAL) of 1993 and argued that the test was not > > > about > > > literacy and said, "The cluster of abilities being examined is > > > obviously > > > a > > > proxy for plain old "intelligence." Remarking then about the "familiar > > > old > > > bell curve" Seligman says, ".do not tell us that government or any > > > other > > > institution is going to transform this situation." This clearly > > > reflects > > > the belief that the literacy test was actually a test of intelligence, > > > that > > > the latter is genetically based, and was not going to be changed by > > > adult > > > literacy programs. > > > > > > These sorts of comments by Nobel prize laureates and well-placed > > > popular > > > writers are not good for adult literacy education. They can convince > > > policymakers and funding organizations that investments in adult > > > literacy > > > education are not worthwhile. For instance, the New York Times for > > > January > > > 20, 2000 published an article by Kevin Sack about a gift of $100 > > > million > > > being given to schools in Mississippi to promote the teaching of > > > reading > > > to > > > children. The article says that the philanthropist giving the money and > > > "many experts are less than bullish on the prospects for attacking > > > adult > > > illiteracy." The philanthropist is then quoted as saying, "What this > > > program says is that we can't solve the adult literacy problem but we > > > can > > > work with the children." > > > > > > In addition to the deleterious effects of these types of comments on > > > adult > > > literacy education funding, they foment racist thinking and the > > > denigration > > > of African-Americans and others whose performance on various > > > standardized > > > tests are below those of Whites. For these reasons it is important for > > > the > > > adult education field to challenge these beliefs with renewed > > > commitments > > > to educational practice. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy > > > (NAAL) > > > of 2003 showed that 67 percent of African-American adults scored at the > > > Basic or Below Basic literacy levels for prose tasks. Unfortunately > > > enrollments of African-Americans in the Adult Education and Literacy > > > system > > > of the United States fell by 13,073 from 548,562 in fiscal year 2000-01 > > > to > > > 535,489 in fiscal year 2003-04, the last year for which I have found > > > data > > > for the nation. Concerted efforts are needed to attract adult > > > African-Americans with underdeveloped literacy skills into adult > > > literacy > > > education programs and to provide the best education possible. > > > > > >> From researchers in the field of adult literacy education, help is > > > needed in > > > dispelling these ideas about intelligence. Even discussing conceptual > > > frameworks such as "multiple intelligences" may give some the > > > impression > > > that there is something "real" about various intelligences with which > > > one > > > could be genetically endowed. This includes verbal and quantitative > > > intelligences of the sort generally used in developing IQ tests and > > > pointed > > > to as factors distinguishing African-Americans as inferior to Whites in > > > intelligence. Despite 15 years of federally funded adult literacy > > > research > > > centers, I have yet to find any research by adult literacy researchers > > > with > > > which to counter the arguments by the Nobel Prize winners, mal-informed > > > popular journalists, and philanthropists cited above, and others not > > > cited. > > > This suggests that there is an urgent need for adult literacy > > > researchers to > > > fight against the ideological foundations of racism that stigmatize > > > adult > > > literacy education in general and the literacy education of > > > African-American adults in particular. > > > > > > NOTE: For an extended discussion of issues related to ideas that > > > marginalize > > > adult literacy education see the last of my papers at > > > http://adulted.about.com/od/adultbasiceducation/a/sticht.htm > > > This paper deals with issues of IQ, brain science, adult literacy and > > > debunks myths that hold adult literacy education back. > > > > > > Thomas G. Sticht > > > International Consultant in Adult Education > > > 2062 Valley View Blvd. > > > El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 > > > Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 > > > Email: tsticht at aznet.net > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to jay.derrick at blueyonder.co.uk > > From VenuT at lacnyc.org Fri Oct 19 18:55:00 2007 From: VenuT at lacnyc.org (Venu Thelakkat) Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:55:00 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 992] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu><8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com><6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB85916FE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB8591771@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> David, An independent study of adult education students over a longer period of time sounds like a great way to evaluate the adult education system from a national or state perspective, even though, like you said, there are some methodological challenges. It will certainly provide more valid and reliable data than we get from NRS. However, it still leaves unresolved the issue of evaluating individual programs. Like Diane said, states have been using NRS data to allocate funding and target technical assistance. How would a longitudinal study meet this need? Venu Thelakkat Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 803-3370 venut at lacnyc.org www.lacnyc.org ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:38 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 984] Re: level movement Assessment Colleagues, On Oct 18, 2007, at 7:00 PM, Venu Thelakkat asked: I am told that standardized assessments, especially those used in adult literacy, have many problems. But what is the alternative? Policy makers and funders (private or public) want accountability for the money they disperse and there is very little else that has been proposed. Even in NRS, educational gain is the only measure that has some validity as a program outcome. The other measures such as getting a job or entering post secondary education are very unreliable given the wide variety of methods used to collect and report the data. Great question, Venu. One alternative that makes sense has been proposed, but I am told that Congress so far has been unwilling to accept it. Instead of reporting outcomes for every student in every federally-funded program, OVAE should each year pick a random sample of federally-funded programs and measure attainment of student goals over a multi-year period, that is, measure impact. Some would argue that measuring impact is not possible, that adult education students are too hard to track over time, but the Longitudinal Study of Adult Literacy, now in its eighth year in Portland, Oregon, has shown that it is not impossible. Isn't impact more useful to policy makers than outcomes? Does anyone in Congress really care how many level gains students make? Some policy makers may care about how many program participants -- especially over time -- have improved their employment status, can read to their children, can use a computer, now have a diploma or GED, and have succeeded in their education beyond secondary level. Of these goals, only the GED and high school diploma (for now at least) require a standardized test. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071019/0419c805/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Fri Oct 19 12:42:19 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:42:19 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 993] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hi everyone, I feel strongly that even though standardized testing does not necessarily reflect the learning taking place in the classroom, especially with the changes in our reporting this year, it is still better than going with a more holistic but subjective method for deciding how our students are learning. Unless a test can be created that is holistic as well as not terribly time consuming for instructors to grade, I am glad we are currently staying with our current form of testing. It may be wise for the federal government to require one test being done nationwide, and perhaps they have the resources and research available to create one test, just as the GED exam is one test. Challenges to this test will be able to be made in the future concerning whether this test does or does not represent people from various sociopolitical and cultural backgrounds, and more discussion will continue, but at least we could then say that ABEII means the same thing in Boston as it means in St. Louis, as it means in small town USA. I qualify my statement by saying I have only been teaching GED for 3.5 years, so many of you may have better input, but this is how I perceive the situation. Thanks for listening. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu "David J. Rosen" Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 10/19/2007 06:16 AM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To The Assessment Discussion List cc Subject [Assessment 984] Re: level movement Assessment Colleagues, On Oct 18, 2007, at 7:00 PM, Venu Thelakkat asked: I am told that standardized assessments, especially those used in adult literacy, have many problems. But what is the alternative? Policy makers and funders (private or public) want accountability for the money they disperse and there is very little else that has been proposed. Even in NRS, educational gain is the only measure that has some validity as a program outcome. The other measures such as getting a job or entering post secondary education are very unreliable given the wide variety of methods used to collect and report the data. Great question, Venu. One alternative that makes sense has been proposed, but I am told that Congress so far has been unwilling to accept it. Instead of reporting outcomes for every student in every federally-funded program, OVAE should each year pick a random sample of federally-funded programs and measure attainment of student goals over a multi-year period, that is, measure impact. Some would argue that measuring impact is not possible, that adult education students are too hard to track over time, but the Longitudinal Study of Adult Literacy, now in its eighth year in Portland, Oregon, has shown that it is not impossible. Isn't impact more useful to policy makers than outcomes? Does anyone in Congress really care how many level gains students make? Some policy makers may care about how many program participants -- especially over time -- have improved their employment status, can read to their children, can use a computer, now have a diploma or GED, and have succeeded in their education beyond secondary level. Of these goals, only the GED and high school diploma (for now at least) require a standardized test. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tina_luffman at yc.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071019/f1132b3c/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Sat Oct 20 10:04:08 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:04:08 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 994] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB8591771@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu><8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com><6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB85916FE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB8591771@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: <9E27E4E9-7729-4CBB-8BFF-5EB16782DFE1@comcast.net> Hello Venu, I don't think a longitudinal study, or a random sample of programs, would meet the need that individual programs or students have for measuring learner progress, or programs' interest in knowing learner outcomes or impact on learners. These need to be addressed in other ways. But since you have asked, here -- in broad brush strokes -- is what we need to do: ? Programs need formative and summative evaluation measures. A good formative system should have as one of its goals no surprises for the student and teacher when they see the results of a summative assessment. ? Standardized tests could be part of program evaluation if there is a high degree of validity between what is taught and tested. ? Multiple measures are important. In addition to standardized tests, teacher evaluation, student self-evaluation, performance-based measures, and other measures could be part of the mix. ? In adult education it is especially important to measure progress toward and attainment of student goals and objectives. A superficial process of asking students to check off their goals when they enroll is not sufficient. Student goals need to regularly be re-visited, and broken down into short-term objectives. Students need an opportunity to regularly reflect on their progress, perhaps with a teacher or tutor, or with other students. Their goals may change. indeed changing goals may be one measure of progress! Does all of this sound like it would take more resources than most adult education programs have? Yes. High quality in education often requires more resources. If we believe in high quality, then we should advocate for it, and for the resources needed to achieve it. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 19, 2007, at 6:55 PM, Venu Thelakkat wrote: > David, > > > > An independent study of adult education students over a longer > period of time sounds like a great way to evaluate the adult > education system from a national or state perspective, even though, > like you said, there are some methodological challenges. It will > certainly provide more valid and reliable data than we get from > NRS. However, it still leaves unresolved the issue of evaluating > individual programs. Like Diane said, states have been using NRS > data to allocate funding and target technical assistance. How > would a longitudinal study meet this need? > > > > Venu Thelakkat > > Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis > > Literacy Assistance Center > > 32 Broadway, 10th floor > > New York, NY 10004 > > (212) 803-3370 > > venut at lacnyc.org > > www.lacnyc.org > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:38 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 984] Re: level movement > > > > Assessment Colleagues, > > > > On Oct 18, 2007, at 7:00 PM, Venu Thelakkat asked: > >> I am told that standardized assessments, especially those used in >> adult literacy, have many problems. But what is the alternative? >> Policy makers and funders (private or public) want accountability >> for the money they disperse and there is very little else that has >> been proposed. Even in NRS, educational gain is the only measure >> that has some validity as a program outcome. The other measures >> such as getting a job or entering post secondary education are >> very unreliable given the wide variety of methods used to collect >> and report the data. >> > > > Great question, Venu. > > One alternative that makes sense has been proposed, but I am told > that Congress so far has been unwilling to accept it. Instead of > reporting outcomes for every student in every federally-funded > program, OVAE should each year pick a random sample of federally- > funded programs and measure attainment of student goals over a > multi-year period, that is, measure impact. Some would argue that > measuring impact is not possible, that adult education students are > too hard to track over time, but the Longitudinal Study of Adult > Literacy, now in its eighth year in Portland, Oregon, has shown > that it is not impossible. > > > > Isn't impact more useful to policy makers than outcomes? Does > anyone in Congress really care how many level gains students make? > Some policy makers may care about how many program participants -- > especially over time -- have improved their employment status, can > read to their children, can use a computer, now have a diploma or > GED, and have succeeded in their education beyond secondary level. > Of these goals, only the GED and high school diploma (for now at > least) require a standardized test. > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net From RKenyon721 at aol.com Sun Oct 21 12:04:20 2007 From: RKenyon721 at aol.com (RKenyon721 at aol.com) Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 12:04:20 EDT Subject: [Assessment 995] Online Discussion on LD Discussion List - Guest Speaker Dr. Arlyn Roffman Message-ID: Hello, I am the Moderator for the Learning Disabilities Discussion List. I am very pleased to announce that Dr. Arlyn Roffman will be leading an online discussion on the topic of Transition and Learning Disabilities. The relevant information follows: Theme: ?Guiding Teens with LD: Navigating the Transition from High School to Adulthood.? Date: November 8-9, 2007 Learning Disabilities Discussion List Guest: Dr. Arlyn Roffman Guest's Bio: Dr. Arlyn Roffman, author of the recently published Guiding Teens with Learning Disabilities: Navigating the Transition from High School to Adulthood, (Princeton Review/Random House) is a Professor of Special Education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she served as the founding director of the Threshold Program, a non-degree transition program for young adults with LD, from 1981-1996. A licensed psychologist, she also maintains a private practice focusing on the adjustment of youth and adults with learning disabilities. Dr. Hoffman earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology at Boston College, an M.Ed. in special education from Lesley University, and a B.A. at Connecticut College. She is the author of numerous articles and chapters on learning disabilities and two other books, A Classroom Teacher?s Guide to Mainstreaming and Meeting the Challenge of LD in Adulthood. Dr. Roffman has served on the professional advisory boards of the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA), National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), the National Adult Literacy and Learning Disability Center, and several other organizations. She has consulted and made conference presentations on issues related to special education and psychology throughout the U.S. and abroad and has served as an expert witness on several cases related to transition for students with disabilities. Tentative Outline for the Discussion Laying the Foundation for a Successful Transition What do K-12 teachers need to know about how to prepare students for the real-life, practical challenges of the adult world in terms of ? Continuing education ? Entering the workforce ? Participating in community life? What do adult educators need to know about their students? needs beyond basic skills in order to help them successfully transition into adult life? Meeting Students? Legal rights What does the law say about transition during the middle and high school years? ? How can teachers help students participate in the transition planning process? What laws protect students after a student exits high school? What can adult educators expect students to know if they have been on an IEP in high school? What can adult educators do for those who have not been diagnosed and served under IDEA? Suggested Background Reading Guiding Teens with Learning Disabilities: Navigating the Transition from High School to Adulthood (Arlyn Roffman) A Classroom Teacher?s Guide to Mainstreaming (Arlyn Roffman) Meeting the Challenge of LD in Adulthood (Arlyn Roffman) Researchers' Roundtable on Transition for Young Adults with Learning Disabilities _http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=7_ (http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=787) 87 Transition to Adulthood: Focusing on Life after High School _http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=9_ (http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=970) 70 Research Roundup (_LDNews March 2006_ (http://www.ncld.org/content/view/879/480/) ) _http://www.ncld.org/content/view/881/480_ (http://www.ncld.org/content/view/881/480) Please begin posting specific questions to the List for Dr. Roffman based on her tentative outline above. We will continue collecting the questions until Nov. 6, 2007, two days before the discussion begins. If you have colleagues interested in the topic of Transition & LD, kindly share or forward this announcement to them. Information on how to subscribe to the Learning Disabilities Discussion List - and how to post messages is below. I encourage your participation in this event and look forward to receiving your questions. Thanks so much, Rochelle Kenyon Rochelle Kenyon Moderator, NIFL/LINCS Learning Disabilities Discussion List Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee _RKenyon721 at aol.com_ (mailto:RKenyon721 at aol.com) To post a message: _Learningdisabilities at nifl.gov_ (mailto:Learningdisabilities at nifl.gov) To subscribe: _http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/LearningDisabilities_ (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/LearningDisabilities) To read archived messages: _http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/learningdisabilities/2007/date.html_ (http://www.nifl.gov/linc/discussions/list_archives.html) ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071021/0a3d799f/attachment.html From gbundy at rmi.net Mon Oct 22 01:51:11 2007 From: gbundy at rmi.net (Gail B) Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:51:11 -0600 (GMT-06:00) Subject: [Assessment 996] Re: FW: Genes, Intelligence, Literacy, Racism Message-ID: <11593532.1193032272212.JavaMail.root@mswamui-billy.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Another aspect of Stephen Jay Gould's book 'The Mismeasure of Man' is his discussion of the political maneuverings involved with getting certain tests selected as the national standards. From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Mon Oct 22 15:08:11 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:08:11 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 997] GED Discussion archived Message-ID: <022301c814de$e5cd2060$0802a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues: You can now access our discussion on Creativity and the GED at: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html Discussion Summary and Full Discussion are added to the menu of choices at the top. Thanks! Marie Cora Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071022/24e4c570/attachment.html From lloyd_david at creativeworkplacelearning.org Tue Oct 23 14:47:24 2007 From: lloyd_david at creativeworkplacelearning.org (Lloyd David) Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:47:24 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 998] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: <9E27E4E9-7729-4CBB-8BFF-5EB16782DFE1@comcast.net> References: <059c01c8111d$85f2ba20$0402a8c0@LITNOW><47174202.1F1A.005D.0@cccti.edu><8C9DFBD75A4B076-BD4-870B@WEBMAIL-MC05.sysops.aol.com><6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB85916FE@lac-exch.lacnyc.local><6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB8591771@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> <9E27E4E9-7729-4CBB-8BFF-5EB16782DFE1@comcast.net> Message-ID: <009401c815a5$275072f0$3564a8c0@DirectorEVO> David, I believe that one of the beautiful features of workplace education is the need to include and somehow combine both academic evaluations and workplace measures of change or progress. In the workplace education programs that CWL offers there is always a TEAM comprised of representatives of the company and the CWL program manager and if possible the instructor. One of the TEAMs that we presently work with is composed of the HR manager, 2 supervisors from different shifts, the plant manager, 2 production workers from different shifts, the CWL program manager, and the CWL instructor. The TEAM designed a notice about the program and informed the workforce about the time and days for orientation and assessments. Initially we assessed 37 workers using CWL developed instruments in reading, writing, and speech. The company had previously developed a math test. The TEAM selected 14 students for 2 classes based on the results of the assessments. The TEAM had already decided the skill levels desired for each class. Later CWL will assess the 14 students using standardized test - BEST Plus and TABE. We will later re-test the students using both CWL tests ,BEST Plus and the TABE to measure academic changes. The members of the Team have discussed the goals of the program and what they hope people will learn so as to improve productivity on the job. The instructor is designing the curriculum to achieve these goals as well as meeting the individual goals and needs of the students. I did an evaluation study on a program CWL ran in a distribution center. The study measured changes in attendance at work, error rates, and individual benefits derived from participating in the classes. We interviewed each student, the instructor, the supervisors, plant managers, and CFO (chief financial officer). The study entitled "Value of Workplace Education" is on a website www.creativeworkplacelearning.org The most significant changes resulted from the increase in confidence as described by the students and the supervisors. Errors decreased and attendance improved as measured against a control group of similar workers who did not attend the classes. Lloyd Lloyd David, EdD. Creative Workplace Learning 311 Washington Street Brighton, MA 02135 Tel : 617-783-6360 FAX: 617-782-0136 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2007 10:04 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 994] Re: level movement Hello Venu, I don't think a longitudinal study, or a random sample of programs, would meet the need that individual programs or students have for measuring learner progress, or programs' interest in knowing learner outcomes or impact on learners. These need to be addressed in other ways. But since you have asked, here -- in broad brush strokes -- is what we need to do: . Programs need formative and summative evaluation measures. A good formative system should have as one of its goals no surprises for the student and teacher when they see the results of a summative assessment. . Standardized tests could be part of program evaluation if there is a high degree of validity between what is taught and tested. . Multiple measures are important. In addition to standardized tests, teacher evaluation, student self-evaluation, performance-based measures, and other measures could be part of the mix. . In adult education it is especially important to measure progress toward and attainment of student goals and objectives. A superficial process of asking students to check off their goals when they enroll is not sufficient. Student goals need to regularly be re-visited, and broken down into short-term objectives. Students need an opportunity to regularly reflect on their progress, perhaps with a teacher or tutor, or with other students. Their goals may change. indeed changing goals may be one measure of progress! Does all of this sound like it would take more resources than most adult education programs have? Yes. High quality in education often requires more resources. If we believe in high quality, then we should advocate for it, and for the resources needed to achieve it. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 19, 2007, at 6:55 PM, Venu Thelakkat wrote: > David, > > > > An independent study of adult education students over a longer period > of time sounds like a great way to evaluate the adult education system > from a national or state perspective, even though, like you said, > there are some methodological challenges. It will certainly provide > more valid and reliable data than we get from NRS. However, it still > leaves unresolved the issue of evaluating individual programs. Like > Diane said, states have been using NRS data to allocate funding and > target technical assistance. How would a longitudinal study meet this > need? > > > > Venu Thelakkat > > Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis > > Literacy Assistance Center > > 32 Broadway, 10th floor > > New York, NY 10004 > > (212) 803-3370 > > venut at lacnyc.org > > www.lacnyc.org > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:38 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 984] Re: level movement > > > > Assessment Colleagues, > > > > On Oct 18, 2007, at 7:00 PM, Venu Thelakkat asked: > >> I am told that standardized assessments, especially those used in >> adult literacy, have many problems. But what is the alternative? >> Policy makers and funders (private or public) want accountability for >> the money they disperse and there is very little else that has been >> proposed. Even in NRS, educational gain is the only measure that has >> some validity as a program outcome. The other measures such as >> getting a job or entering post secondary education are very >> unreliable given the wide variety of methods used to collect and >> report the data. >> > > > Great question, Venu. > > One alternative that makes sense has been proposed, but I am told that > Congress so far has been unwilling to accept it. Instead of reporting > outcomes for every student in every federally-funded program, OVAE > should each year pick a random sample of federally- funded programs > and measure attainment of student goals over a multi-year period, that > is, measure impact. Some would argue that measuring impact is not > possible, that adult education students are too hard to track over > time, but the Longitudinal Study of Adult Literacy, now in its eighth > year in Portland, Oregon, has shown that it is not impossible. > > > > Isn't impact more useful to policy makers than outcomes? Does anyone > in Congress really care how many level gains students make? > Some policy makers may care about how many program participants -- > especially over time -- have improved their employment status, can > read to their children, can use a computer, now have a diploma or > GED, and have succeeded in their education beyond secondary level. > Of these goals, only the GED and high school diploma (for now at > least) require a standardized test. > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lloyd_david at ceilearn.com From MMaralit at NIFL.gov Wed Oct 24 16:54:09 2007 From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo) Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:54:09 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 999] NEW: News and Notes from the National Institute for Literacy Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B180C4DF8@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov> October 24, 2007 Welcome News and Notes from the National Institute for Literacy: The National Institute for Literacy this week welcomed its Advisory Board. Our 10-member, presidentially appointed Board met in Washington, DC on Tuesday, October 23 and on Wednesday, October 24. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) hosted day one of the two-day meeting. And on Wednesday, the meeting was convened at the Institute's headquarters. On Tuesday, October 23, I shared with the Board highlights and accomplishments of the Institute's 2006-2007 fiscal year in my Director's Report. I am pleased to share a copy with you as an attachment to this email. The report is also available at: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/publications/directors_report07.pdf. WHAT'S NEW AT THE INSTITUTE * Now Available-Adolescent Literacy Report: On October 23, the Institute issued "What Content-Area Teachers Should Know About Adolescent Literacy," a 61-page report developed by an Interagency working group comprised of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Institute for Literacy. The report is designed to support the needs of middle and high school classroom teachers, administrators and parents in search of basic information about how to build the reading and writing skills of adolescents. To download the report: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/publications/adolescent_literacy07.pdf. * Take part in a Survey on PD: The Institute's Regional Resource Center grantees are conducting an online survey on the professional development needs of adult education practitioners across the country. The Professional Development Needs Assessment survey was released in August 2007 and will conclude on November 9. Survey results will help inform the Institute and its Literacy Information and Communications System (LINCS) Regional Resource Centers about the dissemination of materials and training products it produces; and help identify new professional development resources needed in the field. To access the survey: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/news_events/PDsurvey07.html * National Ad Placement: Look for the Institute's "Literacy Begins at Home" full-page color advertisement in the November issue of Essence, the premier lifestyle magazine for African-American women. Through its new partnership with Essence and the ESSENCE CARES national mentoring initiative, the Institute is creating literacy awareness and providing expert resources to parents and the magazine's 1.5 million subscribers. This national ad placement, a first for the Institute, carries the slogan-"Literacy Begins at Home: Give Your Children the Gift of a Lifetime.... Teach them to Read." The Institute's insert for parents, released in time for the start of the school year, was also distributed in Essence. The insert, a handy checklist for parents of toddlers through third graders, provided information about literacy, reading, and the Institute to 1.5 million subscribers, households, and readers! To download a copy of the insert: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/news_events/essence_insert.html. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- NOTE: For the latest news, updates and publications, subscribe to the National Institute for Literacy's Announcement List: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/announce As of October 24, 2007, the Institute has started a new list to share information about new and on-going programs and projects, we invite you to subscribe to this list. If you have any questions or comments, please email info at nifl.gov. Thank you. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071024/a77c6de9/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: directors_report07.pdf Type: application/octet-stream Size: 146633 bytes Desc: directors_report07.pdf Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071024/a77c6de9/attachment.obj From msledet at yahoo.com Thu Oct 25 15:12:14 2007 From: msledet at yahoo.com (shirley ledet) Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:12:14 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 1000] Re: level movement In-Reply-To: <009401c815a5$275072f0$3564a8c0@DirectorEVO> Message-ID: <70131.15318.qm@web90410.mail.mud.yahoo.com> I belelive that a good program and good instruction can have a positive long term afffect on students lives. The assessment is a way to measure academic achievement, however many students return to say how their lives have changed since they attended my class. Their relationships improve at home; on the job; at their kids school. They explain that they do want to get the GED and that is a goal, howvever they do not feel ready. I dn not beleive that many agencies measure the far reaching effects some programs may have on lives. I am currently attempting to contact students from 2003-2007 to find out what they are doing, what they currently need and how my program might best serve them. Numbers are important but we must start looking at people. Shirley Ledet, GEd Instructor North Harris College-Carver Center Lloyd David wrote: David, I believe that one of the beautiful features of workplace education is the need to include and somehow combine both academic evaluations and workplace measures of change or progress. In the workplace education programs that CWL offers there is always a TEAM comprised of representatives of the company and the CWL program manager and if possible the instructor. One of the TEAMs that we presently work with is composed of the HR manager, 2 supervisors from different shifts, the plant manager, 2 production workers from different shifts, the CWL program manager, and the CWL instructor. The TEAM designed a notice about the program and informed the workforce about the time and days for orientation and assessments. Initially we assessed 37 workers using CWL developed instruments in reading, writing, and speech. The company had previously developed a math test. The TEAM selected 14 students for 2 classes based on the results of the assessments. The TEAM had already decided the skill levels desired for each class. Later CWL will assess the 14 students using standardized test - BEST Plus and TABE. We will later re-test the students using both CWL tests ,BEST Plus and the TABE to measure academic changes. The members of the Team have discussed the goals of the program and what they hope people will learn so as to improve productivity on the job. The instructor is designing the curriculum to achieve these goals as well as meeting the individual goals and needs of the students. I did an evaluation study on a program CWL ran in a distribution center. The study measured changes in attendance at work, error rates, and individual benefits derived from participating in the classes. We interviewed each student, the instructor, the supervisors, plant managers, and CFO (chief financial officer). The study entitled "Value of Workplace Education" is on a website www.creativeworkplacelearning.org The most significant changes resulted from the increase in confidence as described by the students and the supervisors. Errors decreased and attendance improved as measured against a control group of similar workers who did not attend the classes. Lloyd Lloyd David, EdD. Creative Workplace Learning 311 Washington Street Brighton, MA 02135 Tel : 617-783-6360 FAX: 617-782-0136 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2007 10:04 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 994] Re: level movement Hello Venu, I don't think a longitudinal study, or a random sample of programs, would meet the need that individual programs or students have for measuring learner progress, or programs' interest in knowing learner outcomes or impact on learners. These need to be addressed in other ways. But since you have asked, here -- in broad brush strokes -- is what we need to do: . Programs need formative and summative evaluation measures. A good formative system should have as one of its goals no surprises for the student and teacher when they see the results of a summative assessment. . Standardized tests could be part of program evaluation if there is a high degree of validity between what is taught and tested. . Multiple measures are important. In addition to standardized tests, teacher evaluation, student self-evaluation, performance-based measures, and other measures could be part of the mix. . In adult education it is especially important to measure progress toward and attainment of student goals and objectives. A superficial process of asking students to check off their goals when they enroll is not sufficient. Student goals need to regularly be re-visited, and broken down into short-term objectives. Students need an opportunity to regularly reflect on their progress, perhaps with a teacher or tutor, or with other students. Their goals may change. indeed changing goals may be one measure of progress! Does all of this sound like it would take more resources than most adult education programs have? Yes. High quality in education often requires more resources. If we believe in high quality, then we should advocate for it, and for the resources needed to achieve it. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 19, 2007, at 6:55 PM, Venu Thelakkat wrote: > David, > > > > An independent study of adult education students over a longer period > of time sounds like a great way to evaluate the adult education system > from a national or state perspective, even though, like you said, > there are some methodological challenges. It will certainly provide > more valid and reliable data than we get from NRS. However, it still > leaves unresolved the issue of evaluating individual programs. Like > Diane said, states have been using NRS data to allocate funding and > target technical assistance. How would a longitudinal study meet this > need? > > > > Venu Thelakkat > > Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis > > Literacy Assistance Center > > 32 Broadway, 10th floor > > New York, NY 10004 > > (212) 803-3370 > > venut at lacnyc.org > > www.lacnyc.org > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:38 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 984] Re: level movement > > > > Assessment Colleagues, > > > > On Oct 18, 2007, at 7:00 PM, Venu Thelakkat asked: > >> I am told that standardized assessments, especially those used in >> adult literacy, have many problems. But what is the alternative? >> Policy makers and funders (private or public) want accountability for >> the money they disperse and there is very little else that has been >> proposed. Even in NRS, educational gain is the only measure that has >> some validity as a program outcome. The other measures such as >> getting a job or entering post secondary education are very >> unreliable given the wide variety of methods used to collect and >> report the data. >> > > > Great question, Venu. > > One alternative that makes sense has been proposed, but I am told that > Congress so far has been unwilling to accept it. Instead of reporting > outcomes for every student in every federally-funded program, OVAE > should each year pick a random sample of federally- funded programs > and measure attainment of student goals over a multi-year period, that > is, measure impact. Some would argue that measuring impact is not > possible, that adult education students are too hard to track over > time, but the Longitudinal Study of Adult Literacy, now in its eighth > year in Portland, Oregon, has shown that it is not impossible. > > > > Isn't impact more useful to policy makers than outcomes? Does anyone > in Congress really care how many level gains students make? > Some policy makers may care about how many program participants -- > especially over time -- have improved their employment status, can > read to their children, can use a computer, now have a diploma or > GED, and have succeeded in their education beyond secondary level. > Of these goals, only the GED and high school diploma (for now at > least) require a standardized test. > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lloyd_david at ceilearn.com ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071025/c1a8bbb2/attachment.html From msledet at yahoo.com Thu Oct 25 16:30:08 2007 From: msledet at yahoo.com (shirley ledet) Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:30:08 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> Message-ID: <900557.83206.qm@web90413.mail.mud.yahoo.com> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized test. We need look no further then those who have been successful on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity between socio economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on more creativity! Shirley Ledet GED Instructor NHC-Carver djrosen at comcast.net wrote: Colleagues, I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic standards AND creativity. But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Marie Cora" > Hi everyone, > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > suggested resources go to: > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can > catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > Thanks!! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > From: "Marie Cora" To: Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 Hi everyone, We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! Thanks!! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071025/a17d4226/attachment.html From tborge at bhcc.mass.edu Fri Oct 26 15:39:46 2007 From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu (Borge, Toni F) Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:39:46 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1002] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <900557.83206.qm@web90413.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> <900557.83206.qm@web90413.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59016389AC@mercury.bhcc.dom> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the test. Toni Borge BHCC Adult Education & Transitions Program Boston, MA ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized test. We need look no further then those who have been successful on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity between socio economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on more creativity! Shirley Ledet GED Instructor NHC-Carver djrosen at comcast.net wrote: Colleagues, I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic standards AND creativity. But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Marie Cora" > Hi everyone, > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > suggested resources go to: > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can > catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > Thanks!! > > Marie Cora > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > Marie Cora > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > From: "Marie Cora" To: Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 Hi everyone, We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! Thanks!! Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071026/73ac900f/attachment.html From macsimoin at hotmail.com Fri Oct 26 16:01:31 2007 From: macsimoin at hotmail.com (Mary Lynn Simons) Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:01:31 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 1003] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59016389AC@mercury.bhcc.dom> References: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> <900557.83206.qm@web90413.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59016389AC@mercury.bhcc.dom> Message-ID: Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot and if students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a skill. The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The reason people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do not play the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I say, "Shut up and read." ________________________________> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:39:46 -0400> From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 1002] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the test.> Toni Borge> BHCC> Adult Education & Transitions Program> Boston, MA> ________________________________> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized test. We need look no further then those who have been successful on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity between socio economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on more creativity!> Shirley Ledet> GED Instructor> NHC-Carver> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:> Colleagues,> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic standards AND creativity.> But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> -------------- Original message ----------------------> From: "Marie Cora">> Hi everyone,>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>> suggested resources go to:>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can>> catch up in the archives at:>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>> Thanks!!>>>> Marie Cora>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>> From: "Marie Cora"> To:> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know!> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000> Hi everyone,> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to:> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!> Thanks!!> Marie Cora> Assessment Discussion List Moderator> Marie Cora> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline From teacherwendyq at gmail.com Fri Oct 26 17:23:19 2007 From: teacherwendyq at gmail.com (Wendy Quinones) Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:23:19 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1004] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: References: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> <900557.83206.qm@web90413.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59016389AC@mercury.bhcc.dom> Message-ID: Actually, all of the GED tests are reading -- even math for the most part. I think Mary Lynn is right on! On 10/26/07, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > > Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot and if > students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a > skill. The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The > reason people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do not > play the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I say, > "Shut up and read." > > > > > ________________________________> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:39:46 -0400> > From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment > 1002] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> When we are referring to > creativity do we mean teaching critical thinking skills which once our > students know how to think in a critical thinking way they will be > successful in achieving their education and other life goals. However, just > like K-12 education, adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning > wheel of accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test.> Toni Borge> BHCC> Adult Education & Transitions Program> Boston, MA> > ________________________________> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov[mailto: > assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet> Sent: Thursday, > October 25, 2007 4:30 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: > [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> I agree that > creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized test. We need look no > further then those who have been successful on any type of test. We tend to > use terms like natuarally gifted, just smart, etc. If you speak to these > folks they are well rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use > terms like "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is > more disparity between socio economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to > the arts, banking industry, faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your > everyday life tends to offer more of an advantage when testing then someone > whose only exposure is to go to school and study hard. My students > participate in a quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" > tend to do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time and > they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated when "all of > their hard work does not pay off like they would like." Creativity also > leads to retention; especially those activities that have to be completed in > increments. Let's bring on more creativity!> Shirley Ledet> GED Instructor> > NHC-Carver> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:> Colleagues,> I am a proponent of > creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc > Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has > said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, > http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic > standards AND creativity.> But many GED teachers and administrators believe > that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a > time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also > believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be > the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many > GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.> > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?> David J. > Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> -------------- Original message > ----------------------> From: "Marie Cora">> Hi everyone,>>>> We've had > several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to>> give a quick > reminder where you can get the information on this>> discussion. For the > full announcement, information on guests, and>> suggested resources go > to:>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>> > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can>> > catch up in the archives at:>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>> Please post > your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>> Thanks!!>>>> > Marie Cora>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>> From: > "Marie Cora"> To:> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need > to know!> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000> Hi everyone,> We've had > several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a quick > reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For the full > announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to:> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html> If > you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you can catch up > in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html> Please post your > questions and also your own experiences to share now!> Thanks!!> Marie Cora> > Assessment Discussion List Moderator> Marie Cora> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> > -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment > mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your > subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net> -------------------------------> National Institute > for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe > or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > msledet at yahoo.com > > _________________________________________________________________ > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop > by today. > > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071026/8c50550c/attachment.html From djrosen at comcast.net Fri Oct 26 22:53:35 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:53:35 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59016389AC@mercury.bhcc.dom> References: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net> <900557.83206.qm@web90413.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59016389AC@mercury.bhcc.dom> Message-ID: <42345370-5924-41C1-9085-CFA9D5C204B0@comcast.net> Assessment colleagues, Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a shot. Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or both? And where do critical skills fit in? I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem solving. Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring now adult secondary education programs? ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring creative skills. If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now often describe as "thinking outside the box"). Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking and creativity. I invite your comments on this. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test. > > Toni Borge > > BHCC > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > Boston, MA > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > more creativity! > > Shirley Ledet > > GED Instructor > > NHC-Carver > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > Hi everyone, > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net From donnaedp at cox.net Sat Oct 27 09:10:29 2007 From: donnaedp at cox.net (Donna Chambers) Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! References: <100920071529.20063.470B9E5F000BAE9900004E5F2216566276020A9C019D060B@comcast.net><900557.83206.qm@web90413.mail.mud.yahoo.com><25C5446CAEEA054E8087E673DF6C1F59016389AC@mercury.bhcc.dom> <42345370-5924-41C1-9085-CFA9D5C204B0@comcast.net> Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48@DH89L251> David and All, Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity. Critical thinking is a learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be nurtured, but not necessarily learned.. In Adult Education creativity is not a necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment programs such as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program. This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be able to do and this information has changed over the years. Most states' education systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education seems to be GED driven. As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass the GED. The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment is apparent, at least to me. In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of competencies that need to be learned. Merely passing a standardized test does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, from the perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy makers, passing the test has become paramount in Adult Education. Outcomes has been translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED is "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the GED, all will be well. Not necessarily so! Adult Education needs complete reform. Let's look at what the metacognative research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge and skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills into all activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a performance based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know and be able to do today. Passing the GED will still be an attainable measure, but only one of many that need to be achieved. Instructors and students must know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking skills will lead to passing the test. A strong foundation will, more importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in our complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the beginning upon entering AE programs. Learners must be given the opportunity to understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path to skill building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes will be more meaningful. Donna Chambers ----- Original Message ----- From: "David J. Rosen" To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Assessment colleagues, Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a shot. Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or both? And where do critical skills fit in? I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem solving. Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring now adult secondary education programs? ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring creative skills. If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now often describe as "thinking outside the box"). Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking and creativity. I invite your comments on this. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test. > > Toni Borge > > BHCC > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > Boston, MA > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > more creativity! > > Shirley Ledet > > GED Instructor > > NHC-Carver > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > Hi everyone, > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net From Kgotthardt at comcast.net Sat Oct 27 09:35:10 2007 From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net (Katherine G) Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <42345370-5924-41C1-9085-CFA9D5C204B0@comcast.net> Message-ID: David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop. Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms, figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods. Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes on. Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach them to think critically. Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include creativity used and expected in every academic setting. Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor Prince William County Public Schools Adult Education P.O. Box 389 Manassas, VA 20108 work 703-791-8387 fax 703-791-8889 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Assessment colleagues, Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a shot. Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or both? And where do critical skills fit in? I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem solving. Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring now adult secondary education programs? ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring creative skills. If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now often describe as "thinking outside the box"). Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking and creativity. I invite your comments on this. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test. > > Toni Borge > > BHCC > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > Boston, MA > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > more creativity! > > Shirley Ledet > > GED Instructor > > NHC-Carver > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > Hi everyone, > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Sat Oct 27 11:46:59 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:46:59 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 1008] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071027/ed185c73/attachment.html From andreawilder at comcast.net Sat Oct 27 14:57:29 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 14:57:29 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1009] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <69c09a7aab39d4d0fcd91c58d6b0e1d4@comcast.net> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading and 2. creativity? Howard Gardner is said to regret that he every wrote about multiple intelligences. Anyone here want to try to define that? Thanks. Andrea On Oct 27, 2007, at 11:46 AM, Tina_Luffman at yc.edu wrote: > Hi everyone, > ? > I really support Donna's ideas in this posting, and I will go so > far?as to say that?I believe teaching critical thinking skills > is?vital to passing the Reading, Science, and Social Studies tests > anyway. And critical thinking skills are the foundation for writing > the GED Essay.??It seems to me that the reasoning behind the > teach-to-the-test pattern we fall into is that our primary outcomes > are educational gains and passing a GED exam. > ? > Another?challenge GED teachers must grapple with is that?we still need > to measure learning, and the standardized tests are the most objective > form available. Once I test a student and let them know they have come > up in a particular subject, this feedback gives the student efficacy > and encouragement, and helps so much with retention. I have seen this > over and over again in the classroom. Students who feel they aren't > getting anywhere and are ready to?quit?sit up three inches taller > when?they find out that they have come up three grade levels in the > past two months in Math, for example. > ? > Concerning creativity, here is a great resource: Harry Noden's book > Image Grammar. This English book was written for ~ 6th grade classroom > and encompases things like metrics for parallelism, graphcal arts?as > impetus for writing an essay, and so on. Please check out this link > for some pictures you can use to stimulate students writing an essay. > I found this book when writing my thesis for college where I looked > for ways to use Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory in the > Basic Writing classrom. > http://www3.uakron.edu/noden/web/students/index.html > ? > If anyone is interested in reading other ideas I found, you can go to > this link and click on MIT Activities for the BW Classroom link on the > left panel: http://www.luffman.us/tina/eng621/ > ? > Thanks, > ? > Tina > > ? > Tina?Luffman > Coordinator,?Developmental?Education > Verde?Valley?Campus > 928-634-6544 > tina_luffman at yc.edu > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3960 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071027/0415850a/attachment.bin From MLCarver at CLCILLINOIS.EDU Sat Oct 27 16:22:34 2007 From: MLCarver at CLCILLINOIS.EDU (Carver, Mary-Lynn) Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:22:34 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1010] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 References: Message-ID: Donna Chambers - Well said. I am in total agreement. Where do we start? Thanks, Mary Lynn Carver ABE/GED Instructor College of Lake County Building 4, Office 405 19351 W. Washington Street Grayslake, IL 60031 Phone:847/543-2677 mlcarver at clcillinois.edu Fax: 847/543-7580 "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly amused" -- Unknown We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. --Peter F. Drucker ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of assessment-request at nifl.gov Sent: Sat 10/27/2007 11:00 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 Send Assessment mailing list submissions to assessment at nifl.gov To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to assessment-request at nifl.gov You can reach the person managing the list at assessment-owner at nifl.gov When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." Today's Topics: 1. [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Donna Chambers) 2. [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Katherine G) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 From: "Donna Chambers" Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; reply-type=original David and All, Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity. Critical thinking is a learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be nurtured, but not necessarily learned.. In Adult Education creativity is not a necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment programs such as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program. This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be able to do and this information has changed over the years. Most states' education systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education seems to be GED driven. As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass the GED. The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment is apparent, at least to me. In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of competencies that need to be learned. Merely passing a standardized test does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, from the perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy makers, passing the test has become paramount in Adult Education. Outcomes has been translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED is "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the GED, all will be well. Not necessarily so! Adult Education needs complete reform. Let's look at what the metacognative research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge and skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills into all activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a performance based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know and be able to do today. Passing the GED will still be an attainable measure, but only one of many that need to be achieved. Instructors and students must know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking skills will lead to passing the test. A strong foundation will, more importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in our complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the beginning upon entering AE programs. Learners must be given the opportunity to understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path to skill building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes will be more meaningful. Donna Chambers ----- Original Message ----- From: "David J. Rosen" To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Assessment colleagues, Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a shot. Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or both? And where do critical skills fit in? I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem solving. Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring now adult secondary education programs? ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring creative skills. If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now often describe as "thinking outside the box"). Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking and creativity. I invite your comments on this. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test. > > Toni Borge > > BHCC > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > Boston, MA > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > more creativity! > > Shirley Ledet > > GED Instructor > > NHC-Carver > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > Hi everyone, > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 From: "Katherine G" Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop. Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms, figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods. Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes on. Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach them to think critically. Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include creativity used and expected in every academic setting. Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor Prince William County Public Schools Adult Education P.O. Box 389 Manassas, VA 20108 work 703-791-8387 fax 703-791-8889 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Assessment colleagues, Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a shot. Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or both? And where do critical skills fit in? I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem solving. Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring now adult secondary education programs? ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring creative skills. If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now often describe as "thinking outside the box"). Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking and creativity. I invite your comments on this. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test. > > Toni Borge > > BHCC > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > Boston, MA > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > more creativity! > > Shirley Ledet > > GED Instructor > > NHC-Carver > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > Hi everyone, > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net ------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 ****************************************** -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 27688 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071027/f382eae3/attachment.bin From djrosen at comcast.net Sat Oct 27 19:17:10 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills Message-ID: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9@comcast.net> Colleagues, The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy tutoring) ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), ? OTAN (integrating technology) and ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL learners can and cannot do with literacy) I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for adult literacy education classroom videos. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net From macsimoin at hotmail.com Sat Oct 27 21:01:15 2007 From: macsimoin at hotmail.com (Mary Lynn Simons) Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: References: <42345370-5924-41C1-9085-CFA9D5C204B0@comcast.net> Message-ID: Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or training as fast as possible. ----------------------------------------> From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline From andreawilder at comcast.net Sat Oct 27 22:24:28 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: References: <42345370-5924-41C1-9085-CFA9D5C204B0@comcast.net> Message-ID: <9e32f2dbe2ba96b51be97f5819a91d2c@comcast.net> Hi Mary Lynn-- One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't waste their time." Is this what you are getting at? Andrea On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to > be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to > college or training as fast as possible. > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct > 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - > what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential > in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely > think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require > program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, > writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement > creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For > students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize > different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics > and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to > communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another > posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not > reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor > is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students > are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take > that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we > might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who > want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to > have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just > now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a > long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED > students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, > depending on the> teacher and the class). > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in > extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend > college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between > public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine > Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> > work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion > List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will > more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And > where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, > that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would > put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and > as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should > provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that > are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking > skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and > the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary > education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through > standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and > if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education > is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not > paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the > historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that > the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for > K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED > tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look > at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to > try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent > an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other > figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and > follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of > thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. > No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED > or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone > to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door > to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should > be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical > thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. > Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, > Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean > teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how > to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in > achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like > K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes > spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult > Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: > assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> > To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: > GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that > creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need > look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of > test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. > If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, > mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just > know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for > disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity > between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the > arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of > your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing > then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. > My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those > that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that > feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" > are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay > off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; > especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. > Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED > Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> > Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of > the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a > presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, > http://>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive > without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED > teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not > pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to > pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. > (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe > creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be > the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds > of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists > to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for > success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> > -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie > Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the > past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can > get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, > information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what > you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, > and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the > information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, > information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? > there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion > List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > macsimoin at hotmail.com > > _________________________________________________________________ > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > Stop by today. > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > From djrosen at comcast.net Sat Oct 27 22:39:24 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills In-Reply-To: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9@comcast.net> References: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9@comcast.net> Message-ID: <0570AB67-85EE-4F24-AF0B-2E657CB60778@comcast.net> ....and the Web address for MLoTS is: http://www.mlots.org David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote: > Colleagues, > > The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- > based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms > and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy > videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: > > ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy > tutoring) > ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), > ? OTAN (integrating technology) > and > ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL > learners can and cannot do with literacy) > > I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or > tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am > hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for > adult literacy education classroom videos. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net From djrosen at comcast.net Sat Oct 27 23:17:38 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity In-Reply-To: <69c09a7aab39d4d0fcd91c58d6b0e1d4@comcast.net> References: <69c09a7aab39d4d0fcd91c58d6b0e1d4@comcast.net> Message-ID: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C@comcast.net> Hello Andrea, On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading > and 2. creativity? Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60 of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and in the creative problem solving of daily living. In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests. Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to nourish creativity. What do you think about this? * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net From donnaedp at cox.net Sun Oct 28 07:51:18 2007 From: donnaedp at cox.net (Donna Chambers) Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! References: <42345370-5924-41C1-9085-CFA9D5C204B0@comcast.net> Message-ID: <001f01c81958$da000530$8e5fdd48@DH89L251> Mary Lynn, Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for just "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our job. Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a high school student and be ready to transition to college level academics is in the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they do. If the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter community college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but it is not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic and secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy. Donna Chambers ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Lynn Simons" To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or training as fast as possible. ----------------------------------------> From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net From Kgotthardt at comcast.net Sun Oct 28 07:52:28 2007 From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net (Katherine G) Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:52:28 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1017] Re: GED preparation and creativity In-Reply-To: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C@comcast.net> Message-ID: I don't think we can distinguish creativity from critical thinking. They overlap and feed one another. The more you ask students to be creative, the more critical thinking they practice. After all, how can one begin to do something like write a poem or story, create a picture, sing a song, make meaning of what they see and hear without critical thinking? Likewise, unless we express our critical thinking, what good is it? Rote memorization yields neither critical thinking nor creativity. Creativity, to me, means expressing our thoughts in meaningful ways, expressing our ideas in ways that others might not expect but that a variety of people with different learning styles and perspectives can appreciate, melding those ideas so they come out in a form we design. But this kind of thinking takes time and a willingness to consider ideas. Rigid, controlling individuals rarely appreciate creativity. Anyone care to help me qualify that statement? : ) Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:18 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity Hello Andrea, On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading > and 2. creativity? Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60 of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and in the creative problem solving of daily living. In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests. Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to nourish creativity. What do you think about this? * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net From Kgotthardt at comcast.net Sun Oct 28 08:15:19 2007 From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net (Katherine G) Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 08:15:19 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1018] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <9e32f2dbe2ba96b51be97f5819a91d2c@comcast.net> Message-ID: I don't think encouraging students to express themselves and to think critically is being maternal or paternal. I think it's good teaching with an emphasis on caring. Students need to feel like we care about them and their success. This doesn't mean we have to change their diapers to do it! We are not responsible for the lives our students live outside the classroom. But we ARE responsible for what happens IN the classroom and in our schools. Struggling students in particular need our support. If they need support we cannot provide, we need to make sure we at least refer them to the people who can help. There IS only so much we can do, and I know that frustrates many teachers. Solid program structure, training, policy and procedure help teachers manage the fine balances required in the classroom. That includes teaching teachers how to encourage critical thinking and creativity. Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 10:24 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Hi Mary Lynn-- One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't waste their time." Is this what you are getting at? Andrea On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to > be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to > college or training as fast as possible. > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct > 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - > what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential > in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely > think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require > program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, > writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement > creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For > students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize > different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics > and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to > communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another > posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not > reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor > is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students > are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take > that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we > might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who > want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to > have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just > now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a > long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED > students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, > depending on the> teacher and the class). > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in > extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend > college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between > public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine > Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> > work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion > List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will > more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And > where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, > that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would > put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and > as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should > provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that > are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking > skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and > the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary > education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through > standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and > if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education > is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not > paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the > historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that > the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for > K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED > tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look > at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to > try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent > an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other > figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and > follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of > thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. > No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED > or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone > to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door > to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should > be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical > thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. > Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, > Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean > teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how > to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in > achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like > K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes > spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult > Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: > assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> > To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: > GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that > creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need > look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of > test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. > If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, > mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just > know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for > disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity > between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the > arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of > your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing > then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. > My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those > that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that > feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" > are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay > off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; > especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. > Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED > Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> > Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of > the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a > presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, > http://>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive > without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED > teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not > pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to > pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. > (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe > creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be > the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds > of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists > to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for > success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> > -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie > Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the > past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can > get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, > information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what > you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, > and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the > information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, > information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? > there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion > List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > macsimoin at hotmail.com > > _________________________________________________________________ > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > Stop by today. > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net From MLCarver at CLCILLINOIS.EDU Mon Oct 29 09:13:26 2007 From: MLCarver at CLCILLINOIS.EDU (Carver, Mary-Lynn) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:13:26 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1019] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 References: Message-ID: Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success. Thanks, Mary Lynn Carver ABE/GED Instructor College of Lake County Building 4, Office 405 19351 W. Washington Street Grayslake, IL 60031 Phone:847/543-2677 mlcarver at clcillinois.edu Fax: 847/543-7580 "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly amused" -- Unknown We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. --Peter F. Drucker ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of assessment-request at nifl.gov Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 Send Assessment mailing list submissions to assessment at nifl.gov To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to assessment-request at nifl.gov You can reach the person managing the list at assessment-owner at nifl.gov When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." Today's Topics: 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills (David J. Rosen) 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Mary Lynn Simons) 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Andrea Wilder) 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills (David J. Rosen) 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J. Rosen) 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Donna Chambers) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400 From: David J. Rosen Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List , The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List , The Assessment Discussion List , The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List Message-ID: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9 at comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; format=flowed Colleagues, The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy tutoring) ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), ? OTAN (integrating technology) and ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL learners can and cannot do with literacy) I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for adult literacy education classroom videos. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000 From: Mary Lynn Simons Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: The Assessment Discussion List Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or training as fast as possible. ----------------------------------------> From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the co llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifle s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a qu ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------ ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400 From: Andrea Wilder Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: The Assessment Discussion List Message-ID: <9e32f2dbe2ba96b51be97f5819a91d2c at comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; format=flowed Hi Mary Lynn-- One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't waste their time." Is this what you are getting at? Andrea On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to > be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to > college or training as fast as possible. > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct > 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - > what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential > in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely > think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require > program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, > writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement > creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For > students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize > different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics > and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to > communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another > posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not > reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor > is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students > are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take > that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we > might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who > want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to > have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just > now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a > long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED > students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, > depending on the> teacher and the class). > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in > extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend > college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between > public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine > Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> > work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion > List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will > more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And > where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, > that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would > put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and > as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should > provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that > are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking > skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and > the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary > education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through > standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and > if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education > is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not > paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the > historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that > the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for > K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED > tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look > at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to > try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent > an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other > figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and > follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of > thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. > No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED > or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone > to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door > to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should > be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical > thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. > Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, > Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean > teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how > to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in > achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like > K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes > spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult > Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: > assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> > To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: > GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that > creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need > look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of > test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. > If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, > mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just > know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for > disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity > between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the > arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of > your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing > then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. > My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those > that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that > feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" > are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay > off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; > especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. > Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED > Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> > Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of > the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a > presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, > http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive > without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED > teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not > pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to > pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. > (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe > creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be > the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds > of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists > to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for > success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> > -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie > Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the > past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can > get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, > information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what > you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, > and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the > information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, > information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? > there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion > List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > macsimoin at hotmail.com > > _________________________________________________________________ > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > Stop by today. > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400 From: "David J. Rosen" Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills To: The Assessment Discussion List Message-ID: <0570AB67-85EE-4F24-AF0B-2E657CB60778 at comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; format=flowed ....and the Web address for MLoTS is: http://www.mlots.org David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote: > Colleagues, > > The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- > based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms > and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy > videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: > > ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy > tutoring) > ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), > ? OTAN (integrating technology) > and > ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL > learners can and cannot do with literacy) > > I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or > tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am > hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for > adult literacy education classroom videos. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400 From: "David J. Rosen" Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity To: The Assessment Discussion List Message-ID: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C at comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Hello Andrea, On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading > and 2. creativity? Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60 of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and in the creative problem solving of daily living. In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests. Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to nourish creativity. What do you think about this? * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400 From: "Donna Chambers" Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Message-ID: <001f01c81958$da000530$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; reply-type=original Mary Lynn, Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for just "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our job. Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a high school student and be ready to transition to college level academics is in the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they do. If the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter community college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but it is not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic and secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy. Donna Chambers ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Lynn Simons" To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or training as fast as possible. ----------------------------------------> From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net ------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 ****************************************** -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 51960 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/3dbe0112/attachment.bin From jschneider at eicc.edu Mon Oct 29 12:20:43 2007 From: jschneider at eicc.edu (Schneider, Jim) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:20:43 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1020] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <208D21E3AC92D449A31336961A46FB870A108F15@eiccd-exch1.eiccd.net> I have to believe that there is a happy middle ground between simply preparing them for the test and expecting that all learners are going to spend the time and effort required to building the skills necessary for success in a college level curriculum. There is little doubt that many GED students are capable of far more than what they actually achieve - however, they are self-determining adults... It is our professional responsibility to ensure that they are aware of the benefits/rewards/consequences of their choices. If we are creative and engaging, we are much more likely will encourage/convince more to elect to become petter prepared... However, there are others who have chosen to not engage in the past, and are not ready to fully engage now... we have a duty to assist them in fulfilling their goals as well - to simply pass the test, get the job, join the military, etc., regardless of whether we agree with them or not. Incidentally, Ralph Tyler (one of the GED creators) conducted a fascinating comprehensive study of the GED that was published in 1956. They knew then that the passing score of the GED was not adequate for college success. They discovered that by raising a passing score to a 50 average (500 in the 2002 Test) greatly increased the likelihood of college success, but eliminated too many students will scores between 45 and 50 who were successful in college. So rather than closing the door on the lesser prepared, the average passing score was left at 45. In my opinion they recognized the realities of adult lives in the 1950's... and while our learners would be better off if they had to be better prepared... we also need to be cognizant of the realities of our learners lives. Jim Schneider Assistant Dean Scott Community College Career Assistance Center 627 W. Second Street Davenport, IA 52801 (563) 326-5319 phone (563) 326-6039 fax Do not despise the small act. Every small act, if you do it deeply, profoundly, can touch the whole universe. Millions of small acts will build a wonderful world. Chan Khong ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Carver, Mary-Lynn Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 8:13 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: RE: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success. Thanks, Mary Lynn Carver ABE/GED Instructor College of Lake County Building 4, Office 405 19351 W. Washington Street Grayslake, IL 60031 Phone:847/543-2677 mlcarver at clcillinois.edu Fax: 847/543-7580 "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly amused" -- Unknown We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. --Peter F. Drucker ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of assessment-request at nifl.gov Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 Send Assessment mailing list submissions to assessment at nifl.gov To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to assessment-request at nifl.gov You can reach the person managing the list at assessment-owner at nifl.gov When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." Today's Topics: 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills (David J. Rosen) 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Mary Lynn Simons) 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Andrea Wilder) 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills (David J. Rosen) 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J. Rosen) 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Donna Chambers) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400 From: David J. Rosen Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List , The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List , The Assessment Discussion List , The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List Message-ID: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9 at comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; format=flowed Colleagues, The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy tutoring) ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), ? OTAN (integrating technology) and ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL learners can and cannot do with literacy) I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for adult literacy education classroom videos. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000 From: Mary Lynn Simons Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: The Assessment Discussion List Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or training as fast as possible. ----------------------------------------> From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the co llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifle s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a qu ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>> >>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------ ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_O ctWLtagline ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400 From: Andrea Wilder Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: The Assessment Discussion List Message-ID: <9e32f2dbe2ba96b51be97f5819a91d2c at comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; format=flowed Hi Mary Lynn-- One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't waste their time." Is this what you are getting at? Andrea On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to > be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to > college or training as fast as possible. > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct > 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - > what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential > in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely > think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require > program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, > writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement > creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For > students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize > different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics > and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to > communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another > posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not > reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor > is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students > are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take > that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we > might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who > want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to > have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just > now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a > long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED > students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, > depending on the> teacher and the class). > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in > extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend > college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between > public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine > Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> > work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion > List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will > more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And > where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, > that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would > put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and > as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should > provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that > are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking > skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and > the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary > education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through > standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and > if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education > is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not > paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the > historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that > the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for > K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED > tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look > at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to > try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent > an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other > figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and > follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of > thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. > No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED > or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone > to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door > to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should > be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical > thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. > Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, > Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean > teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how > to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in > achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like > K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes > spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult > Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: > assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> > To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: > GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that > creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need > look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of > test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. > If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, > mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just > know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for > disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity > between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the > arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of > your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing > then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. > My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those > that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that > feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" > are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay > off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; > especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. > Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED > Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> > Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of > the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a > presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, > http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive > without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED > teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not > pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to > pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. > (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe > creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be > the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds > of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists > to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for > success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> > -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie > Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the > past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can > get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, > information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what > you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, > and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the > information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, > information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? > there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion > List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > macsimoin at hotmail.com > > _________________________________________________________________ > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > Stop by today. > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400 From: "David J. Rosen" Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills To: The Assessment Discussion List Message-ID: <0570AB67-85EE-4F24-AF0B-2E657CB60778 at comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; format=flowed ....and the Web address for MLoTS is: http://www.mlots.org David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote: > Colleagues, > > The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- > based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms > and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy > videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: > > ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy > tutoring) > ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), > ? OTAN (integrating technology) > and > ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL > learners can and cannot do with literacy) > > I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or > tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am > hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for > adult literacy education classroom videos. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400 From: "David J. Rosen" Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity To: The Assessment Discussion List Message-ID: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C at comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Hello Andrea, On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading > and 2. creativity? Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60 of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and in the creative problem solving of daily living. In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests. Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to nourish creativity. What do you think about this? * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400 From: "Donna Chambers" Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Message-ID: <001f01c81958$da000530$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; reply-type=original Mary Lynn, Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for just "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our job. Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a high school student and be ready to transition to college level academics is in the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they do. If the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter community college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but it is not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic and secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy. Donna Chambers ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Lynn Simons" To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or training as fast as possible. ----------------------------------------> From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>> >>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_O ctWLtagline ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net ------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 ****************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/8485839c/attachment.html From mtate at sbctc.edu Mon Oct 29 12:26:38 2007 From: mtate at sbctc.edu (Michael Tate) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:26:38 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 1021] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <0CA6C79FCB4AC642A77B76C17A4316EE0210A7E4@exch-1.sbctc2.local> In all the studies I've read, when business leaders are asked what kind of intelligence they want in a worker, they say they want intuitive thinking . They are looking for people who can quickly size up a situation from incomplete data, make a decision, and implement a strategy that works. They're not looking for the painfully slow (and hugely expensive) deliberative process that government uses. Adult education is generally unable to offer training in creative thinking because it doesn't have teachers who can teach creativity. That's not likely to change until adult education is provided by a sector that values creativity higher than consensus. Michael Tate From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Carver, Mary-Lynn Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:23 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: RE: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 Donna Chambers - Well said. I am in total agreement. Where do we start? Thanks, Mary Lynn Carver ABE/GED Instructor College of Lake County Building 4, Office 405 19351 W. Washington Street Grayslake, IL 60031 Phone:847/543-2677 mlcarver at clcillinois.edu Fax: 847/543-7580 "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly amused" -- Unknown We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. --Peter F. Drucker ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of assessment-request at nifl.gov Sent: Sat 10/27/2007 11:00 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 Send Assessment mailing list submissions to assessment at nifl.gov To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to assessment-request at nifl.gov You can reach the person managing the list at assessment-owner at nifl.gov When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." Today's Topics: 1. [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Donna Chambers) 2. [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Katherine G) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 From: "Donna Chambers" Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; reply-type=original David and All, Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity. Critical thinking is a learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be nurtured, but not necessarily learned.. In Adult Education creativity is not a necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment programs such as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program. This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be able to do and this information has changed over the years. Most states' education systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education seems to be GED driven. As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass the GED. The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment is apparent, at least to me. In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of competencies that need to be learned. Merely passing a standardized test does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, from the perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy makers, passing the test has become paramount in Adult Education. Outcomes has been translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED is "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the GED, all will be well. Not necessarily so! Adult Education needs complete reform. Let's look at what the metacognative research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge and skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills into all activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a performance based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know and be able to do today. Passing the GED will still be an attainable measure, but only one of many that need to be achieved. Instructors and students must know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking skills will lead to passing the test. A strong foundation will, more importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in our complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the beginning upon entering AE programs. Learners must be given the opportunity to understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path to skill building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes will be more meaningful. Donna Chambers ----- Original Message ----- From: "David J. Rosen" To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Assessment colleagues, Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a shot. Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or both? And where do critical skills fit in? I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem solving. Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring now adult secondary education programs? ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring creative skills. If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now often describe as "thinking outside the box"). Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking and creativity. I invite your comments on this. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test. > > Toni Borge > > BHCC > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > Boston, MA > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > more creativity! > > Shirley Ledet > > GED Instructor > > NHC-Carver > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > Hi everyone, > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 From: "Katherine G" Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop. Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms, figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods. Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes on. Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach them to think critically. Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include creativity used and expected in every academic setting. Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor Prince William County Public Schools Adult Education P.O. Box 389 Manassas, VA 20108 work 703-791-8387 fax 703-791-8889 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Assessment colleagues, Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a shot. Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or both? And where do critical skills fit in? I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem solving. Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring now adult secondary education programs? ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring creative skills. If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now often describe as "thinking outside the box"). Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking and creativity. I invite your comments on this. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test. > > Toni Borge > > BHCC > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > Boston, MA > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > more creativity! > > Shirley Ledet > > GED Instructor > > NHC-Carver > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > Hi everyone, > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net ------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 ****************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/404be008/attachment.html From andreawilder at comcast.net Mon Oct 29 11:19:48 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <69cbc825214882ee73340c228f35e01a@comcast.net> Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would I see??? would there be a real difference? Thanks. Andrea On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote: > Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents > come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking > or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and > acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with > the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one > of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to > succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is > paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success. > > Thanks, > Mary Lynn Carver > ABE/GED Instructor > College of Lake County > Building 4, Office 405 > 19351 W. Washington Street > Grayslake, IL 60031 > Phone:847/543-2677 > mlcarver at clcillinois.edu > Fax: 847/543-7580 > > "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be > constantly amused" -- Unknown > > We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping > abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how > to learn. --Peter F. Drucker > > ________________________________ > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of > assessment-request at nifl.gov > Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > > > > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > assessment at nifl.gov > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > You can reach the person managing the list at > assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills > (David J. Rosen) > 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Mary Lynn Simons) > 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Andrea Wilder) > 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills > (David J. Rosen) > 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J. > Rosen) > 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Donna Chambers) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400 > From: David J. Rosen > Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills > To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List , > The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List > , The Assessment > Discussion List > , The Adult English Language Learners > Discussion > List > Message-ID: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9 at comcast.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > format=flowed > > Colleagues, > > The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- > based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms > and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy > videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: > > ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy > tutoring) > ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), > ? OTAN (integrating technology) > and > ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL > learners can and cannot do with literacy) > > I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or > tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am > hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for > adult literacy education classroom videos. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000 > From: Mary Lynn Simons > Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" > > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to > be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to > college or training as fast as possible. > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct > 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - > what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential > in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely > think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require > program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, > writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement > creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For > students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi > sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into > statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations > are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in > another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are > not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the > instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if > the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of > more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need > to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline > that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students > who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to > have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just > now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a > long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > creativity is used in the co > llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college > (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the > class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm > believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning > to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications > between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine > Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> > work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion > List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need > to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will > more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And > where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, > that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would > put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and > as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should > provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that > are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking > skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and > the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring >> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, >> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical >> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in >> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc >> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest >> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree >> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> >> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only >> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important >> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and >> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a >> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, >> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, >> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead >> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin > king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> > and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> > djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F > wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching > critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think > in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving > their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 > education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning > wheel of>> accountability which stifle > s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> > BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October > 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: > [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on > any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just > smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy > reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, > I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the > reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more > disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure > to the arts, banking industry, faculty > ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to > offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only > exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate > in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend > to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of > time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally > frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they > would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> > more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> > NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a > proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all > education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for > Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the > National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// >>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> >>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without >>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers >>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the >>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the >>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many >>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe >>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be >>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the >>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the >>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it >>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> >>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message >>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> >>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> >>> wanted to>>> give a qu > ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. > For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested > resources go to:>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what > you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, > and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you > can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full > announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go > to:>>>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? > there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion > List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>> ------ > ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, please go to>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings > , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com > > _________________________________________________________________ > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > Stop by today. > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400 > From: Andrea Wilder > Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Message-ID: <9e32f2dbe2ba96b51be97f5819a91d2c at comcast.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > format=flowed > > Hi Mary Lynn-- > > One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't > waste their time." Is this what you are getting at? > > Andrea > > On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > >> >> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them >> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically >> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to >> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to >> college or training as fast as possible. >> >> >> >> ----------------------------------------> From: >> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct >> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - >> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential >> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to >> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely >> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are >> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require >> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, >> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> >> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> >> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. >> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement >> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For >> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize >> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics >> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to >> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another >> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not >> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor >> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students >> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> >> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take >> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we >> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who >> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to >> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just >> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a >> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> >> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED >> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, >> depending on the> teacher and the class). >> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in >> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend >> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between >> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED >> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> >> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine >> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County >> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> >> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov >> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> >> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion >> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to >> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by >> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a >> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will >> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test >> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want >> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And >> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, >> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would >> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and >> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should >> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that >> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking >> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and >> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the >> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary >> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through >> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and >> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education >> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not >> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the >> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that >> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for >> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED >> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look >> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to >> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent >> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other >> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and >> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of >> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the >> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. >> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED >> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone >> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door >> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should >> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical >> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. >> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, >> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean >> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how >> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in >> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like >> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes >> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and >> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult >> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: >> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On >> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> >> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: >> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that >> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need >> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of >> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. >> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, >> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just >> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for >> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity >> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the >> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of >> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing >> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. >> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those >> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that >> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" >> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay >> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; >> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. >> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED >> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> >> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy >> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of >> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a >> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, >> http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. >> education >> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive >> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED >> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not >> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to >> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. >> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe >> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be >> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds >> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists >> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for >> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> >> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie >> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the >> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can >> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, >> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - >> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please >> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> >> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: >> "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what >> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi >> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, >> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the >> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, >> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? >> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share >> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion >> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> >> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> >> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or >> change your subscription settings, please go to>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to >> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription >> settings, please go to>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to >> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription >> settings, please go to>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to >> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to >> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to >> macsimoin at hotmail.com >> >> _________________________________________________________________ >> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. >> Stop by today. >> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? >> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net >> > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400 > From: "David J. Rosen" > Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Message-ID: <0570AB67-85EE-4F24-AF0B-2E657CB60778 at comcast.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > format=flowed > > ....and the Web address for MLoTS is: > > http://www.mlots.org > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote: > >> Colleagues, >> >> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- >> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms >> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy >> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: >> >> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy >> tutoring) >> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), >> ? OTAN (integrating technology) >> and >> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL >> learners can and cannot do with literacy) >> >> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or >> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am >> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for >> adult literacy education classroom videos. >> >> David J. Rosen >> djrosen at comcast.net >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400 > From: "David J. Rosen" > Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Message-ID: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C at comcast.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed > > Hello Andrea, > > On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > >> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading >> and 2. creativity? > > Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite > unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60 > of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far > as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for > creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be > taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that > some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that > it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the > kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would > agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might > differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in > different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and > in the creative problem solving of daily living. > > In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was > thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as > innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe > Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically > valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic > success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education > systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests. > > Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, > secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If > so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In > many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even > acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen > it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value > and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we > are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should > value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to > nourish creativity. > > What do you think about this? > > > * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of > creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: > Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 6 > Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400 > From: "Donna Chambers" > Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: <001f01c81958$da000530$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > reply-type=original > > Mary Lynn, > > Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not > suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for > just > "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our > job. > Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a > high > school student and be ready to transition to college level academics > is in > the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community > College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they > do. If > the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter > community > college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but > it is > not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic > and > secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy. > > Donna Chambers > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mary Lynn Simons" > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM > Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > decide > what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able > to > pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or > training as fast as possible. > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: > assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: > [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, > I > agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> > students > are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> > minimal > ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh > options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> > require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As > we> > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to > develop.>> > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > Humanities> > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative > forms,> > figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to > truly> > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time > periods.> > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list > goes> > on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students > in a > GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at > all. > If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are > writing, if > the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of > more> > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take > that> > home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might > not> > get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to > teach> > them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay > from > Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past > lives. > The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college > classroom as > well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not > to this > extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in > extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend > college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between > public > schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to > succeed. > Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected > in > every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online > Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> > P.O. Box > 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax > 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: > assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> > Behalf > Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The > Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED > Discussion - > what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we > mean > by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > means > to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more > students > have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is > creativity > itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically > prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit > in?>> I > would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> > skills > and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these > catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> > education > (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to > have > academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong > critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong > academic > skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is > the > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary > education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through > standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and > if so > how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is > measuring> > creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying > attention to > one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of > the > U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus > on > high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only > traditional> > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> > like > the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> > perspectives, > the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability > to > represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a > metaphor or > other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand > and > follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of > thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > box").>> Are > these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> > they be? > Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school > diploma as > a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and > self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful > post-secondary > learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: > academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I > invite > your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On > Oct 26, > 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to > creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once > our > students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be > successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. > However, > just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high > stakes > spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > teachers > teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & > Transitions > Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> > Sent: > Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion > List>> > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on > standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been > successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally > gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> > "I > don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may > be > the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more > disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure > to > the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part > of > your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing > then > someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My > students > participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get > into > it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste > of > time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally > frustrated>> > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." > Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that > have > to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> > Shirley > Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net > wrote:>>>> > Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of > the > National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a > presention>> > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > >> > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> > and he > includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic > standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators > believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus > on > skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators > or > policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high > stakes > tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key > question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I > invite > the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it > essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> > djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original > message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi > everyone,>>>>>> > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted > to>>> > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> > suggested resources go to:>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > there > were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > post > your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> > Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > "Marie > Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you > need to > know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> > We?ve > had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to > give a > quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. > For > the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested > resources go > to:>>>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> > can > catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> > assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also > your > own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > ------------------------------->> > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> > ------------------------------->> > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> > National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, > please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> > National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > settings, > please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com > > _________________________________________________________________ > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > Stop by > today. > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > ****************************************** > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net From msledet at yahoo.com Mon Oct 29 13:51:32 2007 From: msledet at yahoo.com (shirley ledet) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:51:32 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 1023] Re: GED preparation and creativity In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <822641.35829.qm@web90412.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Critical thinking is apply knowledge with speculation. "I think that because the author refers to the drenched grass and the beautiful rainbow" it must have rained." For GED success is can be thought of as a logical conclusion to a given set of information. These skills can be transferred to all 5 subjects. In science if a bird uses it beak to peck at it food, the picture of the one with the pointiest beak should selected. Using the concept of money and food to do and understand word problems. Teaching critical thinking helps our students understand that they know more then they think they know. This in turn inspires them to stay, dream and want to succeed. Finally a place that believes in the their ability to learn and not expect that they already know and should just study harder. Shirley-NHC-Carver Houston, Texas Katherine G wrote: I don't think we can distinguish creativity from critical thinking. They overlap and feed one another. The more you ask students to be creative, the more critical thinking they practice. After all, how can one begin to do something like write a poem or story, create a picture, sing a song, make meaning of what they see and hear without critical thinking? Likewise, unless we express our critical thinking, what good is it? Rote memorization yields neither critical thinking nor creativity. Creativity, to me, means expressing our thoughts in meaningful ways, expressing our ideas in ways that others might not expect but that a variety of people with different learning styles and perspectives can appreciate, melding those ideas so they come out in a form we design. But this kind of thinking takes time and a willingness to consider ideas. Rigid, controlling individuals rarely appreciate creativity. Anyone care to help me qualify that statement? : ) Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:18 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity Hello Andrea, On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading > and 2. creativity? Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60 of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and in the creative problem solving of daily living. In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests. Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to nourish creativity. What do you think about this? * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/1f46a517/attachment.html From msledet at yahoo.com Mon Oct 29 14:15:38 2007 From: msledet at yahoo.com (shirley ledet) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:15:38 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 1024] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <146640.56583.qm@web90407.mail.mud.yahoo.com> I agree, however by the time I students get to us they need a reason to read. Discussion brings an interest and desire to read. When very young children are given that desire because of the way it is introduced. the desire build, the cognitive recognition of reading, thoughts, imagination and pleasure are place in the lexicon and "walaa" you have a reader. When this is not done, the students sees reading as a means to end and therefore drudgery. Telling a students to read whose mantra has become "I hate reading" " I was never good at reading" "I always fail reading" is pointless. We must awaken the desire and the learning will come. With joy.....most of the time. Shirley Wendy Quinones wrote: Actually, all of the GED tests are reading -- even math for the most part. I think Mary Lynn is right on! On 10/26/07, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot and if students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a skill. The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The reason people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do not play the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I say, "Shut up and read." ________________________________> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:39:46 -0400> From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu> To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 1002] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the test.> Toni Borge> BHCC> Adult Education & Transitions Program> Boston, MA> ________________________________> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized test. We need look no further then those who have been successful on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity between socio economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on more creativity!> Shirley Ledet> GED Instructor> NHC-Carver> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:> Colleagues,> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high academic standards AND creativity.> But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> -------------- Original message ----------------------> From: "Marie Cora">> Hi everyone,>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>> suggested resources go to:>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can>> catch up in the archives at:>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>> Thanks!!>>>> Marie Cora>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>> From: "Marie Cora"> To:> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know!> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000> Hi everyone,> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to:> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!> Thanks!!> Marie Cora> Assessment Discussion List Moderator> Marie Cora> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/e0286fd2/attachment.html From macsimoin at hotmail.com Mon Oct 29 15:27:40 2007 From: macsimoin at hotmail.com (Mary Lynn Simons) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:27:40 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 1025] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 In-Reply-To: <69cbc825214882ee73340c228f35e01a@comcast.net> References: <69cbc825214882ee73340c228f35e01a@comcast.net> Message-ID: I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.> From: andreawilder at comcast.net> Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33> > Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary > Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would > I see???> would there be a real difference?> Thanks.> > Andrea> On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote:> > > Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents > > come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking > > or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and > > acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with > > the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one > > of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to > > succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is > > paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success.> >> > Thanks,> > Mary Lynn Carver> > ABE/GED Instructor> > College of Lake County> > Building 4, Office 405> > 19351 W. Washington Street> > Grayslake, IL 60031> > Phone:847/543-2677> > mlcarver at clcillinois.edu> > Fax: 847/543-7580> >> > "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be > > constantly amused" -- Unknown> >> > We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping > > abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how > > to learn. --Peter F. Drucker> >> > ________________________________> >> > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of > > assessment-request at nifl.gov> > Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM> > To: assessment at nifl.gov> > Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33> >> >> >> > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to> > assessment at nifl.gov> >> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to> > assessment-request at nifl.gov> >> > You can reach the person managing the list at> > assessment-owner at nifl.gov> >> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific> > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..."> >> >> > Today's Topics:> >> > 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills> > (David J. Rosen)> > 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> > (Mary Lynn Simons)> > 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> > (Andrea Wilder)> > 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills> > (David J. Rosen)> > 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J. > > Rosen)> > 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> > (Donna Chambers)> >> >> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------> >> > Message: 1> > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400> > From: David J. Rosen > > Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills> > To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List ,> > The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List> > , The Assessment > > Discussion List> > , The Adult English Language Learners > > Discussion> > List > > Message-ID: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9 at comcast.net>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;> > format=flowed> >> > Colleagues,> >> > The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web-> > based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms> > and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy> > videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:> >> > ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy> > tutoring)> > ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),> > ? OTAN (integrating technology)> > and> > ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL> > learners can and cannot do with literacy)> >> > I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or> > tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am> > hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for> > adult literacy education classroom videos.> >> > David J. Rosen> > djrosen at comcast.net> >> >> >> >> >> > ------------------------------> >> > Message: 2> > Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000> > From: Mary Lynn Simons > > Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"> >> >> > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > > decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to > > be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to > > college or training as fast as possible.> >> >> >> > ----------------------------------------> From: > > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct > > 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - > > what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential > > in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > > college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely > > think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > > usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require > > program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, > > writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > > Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement > > creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For > > students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi> > sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into > > statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations > > are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in > > another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are > > not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the > > instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if > > the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of > > more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need > > to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline > > that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students > > who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to > > have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just > > now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a > > long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > > creativity is used in the co> > llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college > > (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the > > class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm > > believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning > > to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications > > between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > > students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > > creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine > > Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > > Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> > > work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion > > List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need> > to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > > creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > > means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will > > more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > > scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > > students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And > > where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, > > that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would > > put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and > > as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should > > provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that > > are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking > > skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and > > the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> >> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, > >> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical > >> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in > >> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc > >> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest > >> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree > >> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> > >> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only > >> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important > >> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and > >> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a > >> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, > >> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, > >> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead > >> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin> > king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> > > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> > > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> > > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> > > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> > > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> > > and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> > > djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F > > wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching > > critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think > > in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving > > their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 > > education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning > > wheel of>> accountability which stifle> > s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> > > BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October > > 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: > > [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on > > any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just > > smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy > > reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, > > I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the > > reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more > > disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure > > to the arts, banking industry, faculty> > ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to > > offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only > > exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate > > in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend > > to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of > > time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally > > frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they > > would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> > > more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> > > NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a > > proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all > > education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for > > Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the > > National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > >>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> > >>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without > >>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers > >>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the > >>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the > >>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many > >>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe > >>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be > >>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the > >>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the > >>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it > >>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> > >>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message > >>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> > >>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> > >>> wanted to>>> give a qu> > ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. > > For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested > > resources go to:>>>>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > > there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > > post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > > now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > > Moderator>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > > "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what > > you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > > everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, > > and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you> > can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full > > announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go > > to:>>>>>>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? > > there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion > > List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > > Moderator>>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > > ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > > djrosen at comcast.net>> ------> > ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > > msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National > > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings, please go to>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > > djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National > > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > > kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National > > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings> > , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > > delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com> >> > _________________________________________________________________> > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > > Stop by today.> > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline> >> > ------------------------------> >> > Message: 3> > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400> > From: Andrea Wilder > > Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Message-ID: <9e32f2dbe2ba96b51be97f5819a91d2c at comcast.net>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;> > format=flowed> >> > Hi Mary Lynn--> >> > One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't> > waste their time." Is this what you are getting at?> >> > Andrea> >> > On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:> >> >>> >> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them> >> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically> >> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to> >> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to> >> college or training as fast as possible.> >>> >>> >>> >> ----------------------------------------> From:> >> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct> >> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion -> >> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential> >> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to> >> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely> >> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are> >> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require> >> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,> >> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>> >> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>> >> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.> >> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement> >> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For> >> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize> >> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics> >> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to> >> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another> >> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not> >> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor> >> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students> >> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more>> >> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take> >> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we> >> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who> >> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to> >> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just> >> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a> >> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>> >> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED> >> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent,> >> depending on the> teacher and the class).> >> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in> >> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend> >> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between> >> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED> >> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>> >> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine> >> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County> >> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>> >> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->> >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov> >> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>> >> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion> >> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to> >> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by> >> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a> >> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will> >> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test> >> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want> >> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And> >> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,> >> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would> >> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and> >> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should> >> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that> >> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking> >> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and> >> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the> >> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary> >> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through> >> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and> >> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education> >> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not> >> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the> >> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that> >> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for> >> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED> >> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look> >> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to> >> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent> >> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other> >> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and> >> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of> >> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the> >> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have.> >> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED> >> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone> >> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door> >> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should> >> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical> >> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J.> >> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge,> >> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean> >> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how> >> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in> >> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like> >> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes> >> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and> >> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult> >> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From:> >> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On> >> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>>> >> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re:> >> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that> >> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need> >> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of> >> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc.> >> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading,> >> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just> >> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for> >> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity> >> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the> >> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of> >> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing> >> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard.> >> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those> >> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that> >> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED"> >> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay> >> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention;> >> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments.> >> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED> >> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>>> >> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy> >> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of> >> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a> >> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy,> >> http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. > >> education> >> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive> >> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED> >> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not> >> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to> >> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster.> >> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe> >> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be> >> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds> >> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists> >> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for> >> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>> >> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie> >> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the> >> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can> >> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement,> >> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday -> >> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please> >> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>> >> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List> >> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List> >> Moderator>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:> >> "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what> >> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi> >> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,> >> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the> >> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement,> >> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/> >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?> >> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:> >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>> >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share> >> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion> >> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>> >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List> >> Moderator>>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>> >> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>> >> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or> >> change your subscription settings, please go to>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to> >> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National> >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>> >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription> >> settings, please go to>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to> >> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National> >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>> >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription> >> settings, please go to>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to> >> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National> >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to> >> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National> >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to> >> macsimoin at hotmail.com> >>> >> _________________________________________________________________> >> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.> >> Stop by today.> >> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?> >> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline> >> -------------------------------> >> National Institute for Literacy> >> Assessment mailing list> >> Assessment at nifl.gov> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> >> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net> >>> >> >> >> > ------------------------------> >> > Message: 4> > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400> > From: "David J. Rosen" > > Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills> > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Message-ID: <0570AB67-85EE-4F24-AF0B-2E657CB60778 at comcast.net>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;> > format=flowed> >> > ....and the Web address for MLoTS is:> >> > http://www.mlots.org > >> > David J. Rosen> > djrosen at comcast.net> >> >> > On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote:> >> >> Colleagues,> >>> >> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web-> >> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms> >> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy> >> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:> >>> >> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy> >> tutoring)> >> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),> >> ? OTAN (integrating technology)> >> and> >> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL> >> learners can and cannot do with literacy)> >>> >> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or> >> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am> >> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for> >> adult literacy education classroom videos.> >>> >> David J. Rosen> >> djrosen at comcast.net> >>> >>> >>> >> -------------------------------> >> National Institute for Literacy> >> Assessment mailing list> >> Assessment at nifl.gov> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> >> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > ------------------------------> >> > Message: 5> > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400> > From: "David J. Rosen" > > Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity> > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Message-ID: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C at comcast.net>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed> >> > Hello Andrea,> >> > On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote:> >> >> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading> >> and 2. creativity?> >> > Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite> > unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60> > of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far> > as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for> > creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be> > taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that> > some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that> > it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the> > kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would> > agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might> > differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in> > different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and> > in the creative problem solving of daily living.> >> > In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was> > thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as> > innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe> > Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically> > valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic> > success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education> > systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests.> >> > Are adult literacy education students (including basic education,> > secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If> > so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In> > many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even> > acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen> > it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value> > and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we> > are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should> > value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to> > nourish creativity.> >> > What do you think about this?> >> >> > * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of> > creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity:> > Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press.> >> > David J. Rosen> > djrosen at comcast.net> >> >> >> >> > ------------------------------> >> > Message: 6> > Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400> > From: "Donna Chambers" > > Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > > Message-ID: <001f01c81958$da000530$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251>> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";> > reply-type=original> >> > Mary Lynn,> >> > Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not> > suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for > > just> > "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our > > job.> > Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a > > high> > school student and be ready to transition to college level academics > > is in> > the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community> > College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they > > do. If> > the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter > > community> > college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but > > it is> > not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic > > and> > secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy.> >> > Donna Chambers> >> >> > ----- Original Message -----> > From: "Mary Lynn Simons" > > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > > Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM> > Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!> >> >> >> > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them> > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > > decide> > what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able > > to> > pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or> > training as fast as possible.> >> >> >> > ----------------------------------------> From: > > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To:> > assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject:> > [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, > > I> > agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> > > students> > are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> > > minimal> > ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh> > options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges>> > require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As > > we>> > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to > > develop.>>> > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>> > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > > Humanities>> > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative > > forms,>> > figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to > > truly>> > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time > > periods.>> > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which>> > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list > > goes>> > on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students > > in a> > GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at > > all.> > If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are > > writing, if> > the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of > > more>> > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take > > that>> > home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might > > not>> > get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue>> > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to > > teach>> > them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay > > from> > Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past > > lives.> > The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college > > classroom as> > well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not > > to this> > extent, depending on the> teacher and the class).> > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in> > extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend> > college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between > > public> > schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to > > succeed.> > Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected > > in> > every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online> > Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> > > P.O. Box> > 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax> > 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From:> > assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> > > Behalf> > Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The> > Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED > > Discussion -> > what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we > > mean> > by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > > means> > to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more > > students> > have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is > > creativity> > itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically> > prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit > > in?>> I> > would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> > > skills> > and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these> > catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> > > education> > (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to > > have> > academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong> > critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong > > academic> > skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is > > the> > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary> > education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through> > standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and > > if so> > how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is > > measuring>> > creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying > > attention to> > one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of > > the> > U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus > > on> > high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only > > traditional>> > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> > > like> > the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> > > perspectives,> > the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability > > to> > represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a > > metaphor or> > other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand > > and> > follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of> > thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > > box").>> Are> > these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> > > they be?> > Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school > > diploma as> > a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and> > self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful > > post-secondary> > learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring:> > academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I > > invite> > your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On > > Oct 26,> > 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to> > creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once > > our> > students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be> > successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. > > However,> > just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high > > stakes> > spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > > teachers> > teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & > > Transitions> > Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov> > [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> > > Sent:> > Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion > > List>>> > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to> > know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on> > standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been> > successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally> > gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>>> > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> > > "I> > don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may > > be> > the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more> > disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure > > to> > the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part > > of> > your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing > > then> > someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My > > students> > participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get > > into> > it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste > > of> > time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally > > frustrated>>> > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like."> > Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that > > have> > to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> > > Shirley> > Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net > > wrote:>>>>> > Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy> > education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of > > the> > National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a > > presention>>> > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > >>> > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> > > and he> > includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic> > standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators> > believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus > > on> > skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>>> > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators > > or> > policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high > > stakes> > tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key> > question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I > > invite> > the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it> > essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> > djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original> > message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi > > everyone,>>>>>>> > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted > > to>>>> > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>>> > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>>> > suggested resources go to:>>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > > there> > were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > > post> > your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>>> > Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List> > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > > "Marie> > Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you > > need to> > know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> > > We?ve> > had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to > > give a> > quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. > > For> > the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested > > resources go> > to:>>>>>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>>> > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> > > can> > catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>>> > assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also > > your> > own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>> > Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List> > Moderator>>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > > ------------------------------->>> > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings,> > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email> > delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>> > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings,> > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email> > delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> > > ------------------------------->>> > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>> > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings,> > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email> > delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> ------------------------------->> > National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings,> > please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email> > delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> > National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>> > Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings,> > please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email> > delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com> >> > _________________________________________________________________> > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > > Stop by> > today.> > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline> > -------------------------------> > National Institute for Literacy> > Assessment mailing list> > Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net> >> >> >> > ------------------------------> >> > -------------------------------> > National Institute for Literacy> > Assessment mailing list> > Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> >> >> > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33> > ******************************************> >> >> > -------------------------------> > National Institute for Literacy> > Assessment mailing list> > Assessment at nifl.gov> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net> > -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! http://www.reallivemoms.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM&loc=us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/58847fc8/attachment.html From andreawilder at comcast.net Mon Oct 29 14:01:24 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:01:24 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1026] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 In-Reply-To: <0CA6C79FCB4AC642A77B76C17A4316EE0210A7E4@exch-1.sbctc2.local> References: <0CA6C79FCB4AC642A77B76C17A4316EE0210A7E4@exch-1.sbctc2.local> Message-ID: What to say. This confirms my feeling that "education" in the sense of "creativity" and "critical skills" is left off the plate when it comes to the GED. In my view, most of the time, it is the teachers who guard these particular portals. Ideally, "problem solving" should be built in--this can require new ways of thinking and collaboration between students. Andrea On Oct 29, 2007, at 12:26 PM, Michael Tate wrote: > In all the studies I?ve read, when business leaders are asked what > kind of intelligence they want in a worker, they say they want > intuitive thinking .? They are looking for people who can quickly size > up a situation from incomplete data, make a decision, and implement a > strategy that works.? They?re not looking for the painfully slow (and > hugely expensive) deliberative process that government ?uses.? Adult > education is generally unable to offer training in creative thinking > because it doesn?t have teachers who can teach creativity.? That?s not > likely to change until adult education is provided by a sector that > values creativity higher than consensus. > ? > Michael Tate > ? > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of Carver, Mary-Lynn > Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:23 PM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: RE: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > ? > Donna Chambers - > Well said. I am in total agreement. > ? > Where do we start? > ? > Thanks, > Mary Lynn Carver > ABE/GED Instructor > College of Lake County > Building 4, Office 405 > 19351 W. Washington Street > Grayslake, IL? 60031 > Phone:847/543-2677 > mlcarver at clcillinois.edu > Fax: 847/543-7580 > ? > "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be > constantly amused" -- Unknown > ? > We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping > abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how > to learn. --Peter F. Drucker > ? > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of > assessment-request at nifl.gov > Sent: Sat 10/27/2007 11:00 AM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > ??????? assessment at nifl.gov > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > ??????? http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > ??????? assessment-request at nifl.gov > > You can reach the person managing the list at > ??????? assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > ?? 1. [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > ????? (Donna Chambers) > ?? 2. [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > ????? (Katherine G) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 > From: "Donna Chambers" > Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > ??????? reply-type=original > > David and All, > > Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity.? Critical > thinking is a > learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be > nurtured, > but not necessarily learned..? In Adult Education creativity is not a > necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. > > I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment > programs such > as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma > Program. > This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be > able to > do and this information has changed over the years.? Most states' > education > systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education > seems to be > GED driven.? As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass > the GED. > The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment > is > apparent, at least to me. > > In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of > competencies that need to be learned.? Merely passing a standardized > test > does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, > from the > perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy > makers, > passing the test has become paramount? in Adult Education. Outcomes > has been > translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED > is > "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the > GED, all > will be well.?? Not necessarily so! > > Adult Education needs complete reform.? Let's look at what the > metacognative > research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge > and > skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills > into all > activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a > performance > based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know > and be > able to do today.? Passing the GED will still be an attainable > measure, but > only one of many that need to be achieved.? Instructors and students > must > know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking > skills will lead to passing the test.? A strong foundation will, more > importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school > certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in > our > complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the > beginning > upon entering AE programs.? Learners must be given the opportunity to > understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path > to skill > building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. > Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes > will > be more meaningful. > > Donna? Chambers > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David J. Rosen" > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity.? Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both?? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily.? But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test.? We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test.? We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc.? If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff."? Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like."? Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments.? Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion.? For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at:? http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 > From: "Katherine G" > Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain;?????? charset="Windows-1252" > > David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, > especially if > students are planning to go on to college!? Students who pass the GED > with > minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, > and > weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom.? Most > colleges > require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum."? As > we > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to > develop. > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.? > Humanities > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative > forms, > figures of speech, figurative language, and more.? For students to > truly > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time > periods. > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas.? The > list goes > on. > > Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a > GED > class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at > all.? If > the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, > if the > students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading.? In terms of > more > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to > take that > home.? Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we > might not > get with GED students.? But especially with students who want to > pursue > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to > teach > them to think critically. > > Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I > haven't > studied in a long time but did in my past lives.? The essay > demonstrates how > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED > students can > expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the > teacher and the class).? http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm > > I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED > students > planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have > communications between public schools and college to make this happen > if we > want GED students to succeed.? Part of these discussions should > include > creativity used and expected in every academic setting. > > > Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor > Prince William County Public Schools > Adult Education > P.O. Box 389 > Manassas, VA 20108 > work 703-791-8387 > fax 703-791-8889 > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On > Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity.? Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both?? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily.? But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test.? We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test.? We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc.? If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff."? Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like."? Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments.? Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion.? For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at:? http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > ****************************************** > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 87362 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/2b2c2513/attachment.bin From drizikbaer at gmail.com Mon Oct 29 16:44:13 2007 From: drizikbaer at gmail.com (Daniel Rizik-Baer) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:44:13 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 1027] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 40 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1c1b65fe0710291344y539824a5w8ee3ba1c8361880b@mail.gmail.com> Being new to the forum I have been a little hesitant to reply. Here goes: As educators, what is the definition of education? What is the purpose of education? I think this gets to the core of the argument when discussing creativity vs. critical thinking vs. rote memorization. None of these methods of thinking and learning take place within a vacuum and all overlap. However, depending on the purpose of any particular educational exercise, these methods can be ignored or highlighted. With GED classes, there is an end goal, and that is to, obviously, pass the GED. But what is the purpose of passing the GED? To escape poverty? Maybe with a GED they may be able to find a better job. But how much better? I it almost laughable in today's society, especially with no clear definition of poverty and the Government's failure to properly calculate the poverty line, that a person with a GED still will only make a small amount over the poverty line. As educators I feel that we have a responsibility to go beyond standards based assessment and to create real learning and thinking individuals. In my view, to help someone to learn is not strictly to help them learn what they need to pass, but in the end to help them learn to learn. This is why creativity, critical thinking and rote memorization are all necessary qualities of a well-rounded education. As teachers and educators our job is not simply to teach a curriculum, but to learn, to help people become more intelligent in multiple ways, gaining the skills they need to contribute to society in more ways than economics. This is not maternalistic/paternalistic, this is HUMAN and the definition of culture/society. We are responsible, in some ways, for their lives outside of the classroom, for that is why we teach. We do not teach for the pleasure of them doing well strictly in the few hours we see them, but to help them apply what they learn to life. Only through this can we hope to build a world of educated people who have the ability and power to think, and be respected for their ideas. It is the lack of education that is one of the most effective methods to keeping a population subservient. A limited education taught to a specific test is not that much better. Am I saying I do not believe in testing? No! I am saying that education is holistic. One cannot think critically without having memorized certain concepts. One cannot express themselves creatively without learning about life in a multitude of different areas. As soon as we implement programs that are actually intended to give people the power of learning, instead of the most basic skills necessary for an employer to underpay them we will continually be struggling with the consequences of the absence of such programs. Daniel Rizik-Baer On 10/29/07, assessment-request at nifl.gov wrote: > > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > assessment at nifl.gov > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > You can reach the person managing the list at > assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. [Assessment 1026] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > (Andrea Wilder) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:01:24 -0400 > From: Andrea Wilder > Subject: [Assessment 1026] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > What to say. This confirms my feeling that "education" in the sense > of "creativity" and "critical skills" is left off the plate when it > comes to the GED. In my view, most of the time, it is the teachers who > guard these particular portals. Ideally, "problem solving" should be > built in--this can require new ways of thinking and collaboration > between students. > > Andrea > On Oct 29, 2007, at 12:26 PM, Michael Tate wrote: > > > In all the studies I?ve read, when business leaders are asked what > > kind of intelligence they want in a worker, they say they want > > intuitive thinking .? They are looking for people who can quickly size > > up a situation from incomplete data, make a decision, and implement a > > strategy that works.? They?re not looking for the painfully slow (and > > hugely expensive) deliberative process that government ?uses.? Adult > > education is generally unable to offer training in creative thinking > > because it doesn?t have teachers who can teach creativity.? That?s not > > likely to change until adult education is provided by a sector that > > values creativity higher than consensus. > > ? > > Michael Tate > > ? > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > > On Behalf Of Carver, Mary-Lynn > > Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:23 PM > > To: assessment at nifl.gov > > Subject: RE: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > > ? > > Donna Chambers - > > Well said. I am in total agreement. > > ? > > Where do we start? > > ? > > Thanks, > > Mary Lynn Carver > > ABE/GED Instructor > > College of Lake County > > Building 4, Office 405 > > 19351 W. Washington Street > > Grayslake, IL? 60031 > > Phone:847/543-2677 > > mlcarver at clcillinois.edu > > Fax: 847/543-7580 > > ? > > "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be > > constantly amused" -- Unknown > > ? > > We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping > > abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how > > to learn. --Peter F. Drucker > > ? > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of > > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > Sent: Sat 10/27/2007 11:00 AM > > To: assessment at nifl.gov > > Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > > > > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > > ??????? assessment at nifl.gov > > > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > ??????? http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > > ??????? assessment-request at nifl.gov > > > > You can reach the person managing the list at > > ??????? assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > > > > Today's Topics: > > > > ?? 1. [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > ????? (Donna Chambers) > > ?? 2. [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > ????? (Katherine G) > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Message: 1 > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 > > From: "Donna Chambers" > > Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > > Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> > > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > > ??????? reply-type=original > > > > David and All, > > > > Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity.? Critical > > thinking is a > > learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be > > nurtured, > > but not necessarily learned..? In Adult Education creativity is not a > > necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. > > > > I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment > > programs such > > as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma > > Program. > > This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be > > able to > > do and this information has changed over the years.? Most states' > > education > > systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education > > seems to be > > GED driven.? As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass > > the GED. > > The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment > > is > > apparent, at least to me. > > > > In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of > > competencies that need to be learned.? Merely passing a standardized > > test > > does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, > > from the > > perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy > > makers, > > passing the test has become paramount? in Adult Education. Outcomes > > has been > > translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED > > is > > "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the > > GED, all > > will be well.?? Not necessarily so! > > > > Adult Education needs complete reform.? Let's look at what the > > metacognative > > research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge > > and > > skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills > > into all > > activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a > > performance > > based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know > > and be > > able to do today.? Passing the GED will still be an attainable > > measure, but > > only one of many that need to be achieved.? Instructors and students > > must > > know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking > > skills will lead to passing the test.? A strong foundation will, more > > importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school > > certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in > > our > > complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the > > beginning > > upon entering AE programs.? Learners must be given the opportunity to > > understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path > > to skill > > building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. > > Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes > > will > > be more meaningful. > > > > Donna? Chambers > > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "David J. Rosen" > > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM > > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > Assessment colleagues, > > > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity.? Good question. I'll give it a > > shot. > > > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > > both?? And where do critical skills fit in? > > > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > > solving. > > > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > > now adult secondary education programs? > > > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > > creative skills. > > > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > > they be? Not necessarily.? But for students who see the GED or high > > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > > and creativity. > > > > I invite your comments on this. > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > > test. > > > > > > Toni Borge > > > > > > BHCC > > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > > know! > > > > > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > > test.? We need look no further then those who have been successful > > > on any type of test.? We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > > just smart, etc.? If you speak to these folks they are well > > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > > "I don't know, I just know stuff."? Researchers have found that > > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > > like."? Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > > activities that have to be completed in increments.? Let's bring on > > > more creativity! > > > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > > > GED Instructor > > > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > > > Colleagues, > > > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > > wanted to > > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > > you can > > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > > now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > To: > > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > > on this discussion.? For the full announcement, information on > > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > > can catch up in the archives at:? http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 2 > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 > > From: "Katherine G" > > Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain;?????? charset="Windows-1252" > > > > David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, > > especially if > > students are planning to go on to college!? Students who pass the GED > > with > > minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, > > and > > weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom.? Most > > colleges > > require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum."? As > > we > > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to > > develop. > > > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using > > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.? > > Humanities > > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative > > forms, > > figures of speech, figurative language, and more.? For students to > > truly > > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time > > periods. > > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which > > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas.? The > > list goes > > on. > > > > Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a > > GED > > class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at > > all.? If > > the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, > > if the > > students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading.? In terms of > > more > > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to > > take that > > home.? Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we > > might not > > get with GED students.? But especially with students who want to > > pursue > > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to > > teach > > them to think critically. > > > > Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I > > haven't > > studied in a long time but did in my past lives.? The essay > > demonstrates how > > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED > > students can > > expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the > > teacher and the class).? http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm > > > > I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED > > students > > planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have > > communications between public schools and college to make this happen > > if we > > want GED students to succeed.? Part of these discussions should > > include > > creativity used and expected in every academic setting. > > > > > > Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor > > Prince William County Public Schools > > Adult Education > > P.O. Box 389 > > Manassas, VA 20108 > > work 703-791-8387 > > fax 703-791-8889 > > > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On > > Behalf Of David J. Rosen > > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > Assessment colleagues, > > > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity.? Good question. I'll give it a > > shot. > > > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > > both?? And where do critical skills fit in? > > > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > > solving. > > > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > > now adult secondary education programs? > > > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > > creative skills. > > > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > > they be? Not necessarily.? But for students who see the GED or high > > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > > and creativity. > > > > I invite your comments on this. > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > > test. > > > > > > Toni Borge > > > > > > BHCC > > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > > know! > > > > > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > > test.? We need look no further then those who have been successful > > > on any type of test.? We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > > just smart, etc.? If you speak to these folks they are well > > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > > "I don't know, I just know stuff."? Researchers have found that > > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > > like."? Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > > activities that have to be completed in increments.? Let's bring on > > > more creativity! > > > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > > > GED Instructor > > > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > > > Colleagues, > > > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > > wanted to > > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > > you can > > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > > now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > To: > > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > > on this discussion.? For the full announcement, information on > > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > > can catch up in the archives at:? http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > > ****************************************** > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: not available > Type: text/enriched > Size: 87362 bytes > Desc: not available > Url : > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/2b2c2513/attachment.bin > > ------------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 40 > ****************************************** > -- Daniel Rizik-Baer Family Literacy Coordinator Children Youth and Family Collaborative (818) 442-4407 cell -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/de0ea44d/attachment.html From jschneider at eicc.edu Mon Oct 29 16:10:50 2007 From: jschneider at eicc.edu (Schneider, Jim) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:10:50 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1033] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <208D21E3AC92D449A31336961A46FB870A169C2E@eiccd-exch1.eiccd.net> Adult Education is capable of providing ANYTHING that it is funded to do and or asked to do within reason... unfortunately the system has never been funded nor supported in a manner that would suggest that it was to do anything more than it is currently doing. Jim Schneider ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 1:01 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1026] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 What to say. This confirms my feeling that "education" in the sense of "creativity" and "critical skills" is left off the plate when it comes to the GED. In my view, most of the time, it is the teachers who guard these particular portals. Ideally, "problem solving" should be built in--this can require new ways of thinking and collaboration between students. Andrea On Oct 29, 2007, at 12:26 PM, Michael Tate wrote: In all the studies I've read, when business leaders are asked what kind of intelligence they want in a worker, they say they want intuitive thinking . They are looking for people who can quickly size up a situation from incomplete data, make a decision, and implement a strategy that works. They're not looking for the painfully slow (and hugely expensive) deliberative process that government uses. Adult education is generally unable to offer training in creative thinking because it doesn't have teachers who can teach creativity. That's not likely to change until adult education is provided by a sector that values creativity higher than consensus. Michael Tate From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Carver, Mary-Lynn Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:23 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: RE: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 Donna Chambers - Well said. I am in total agreement. Where do we start? Thanks, Mary Lynn Carver ABE/GED Instructor College of Lake County Building 4, Office 405 19351 W. Washington Street Grayslake, IL 60031 Phone:847/543-2677 mlcarver at clcillinois.edu Fax: 847/543-7580 "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly amused" -- Unknown We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. --Peter F. Drucker From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of assessment-request at nifl.gov Sent: Sat 10/27/2007 11:00 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 Send Assessment mailing list submissions to assessment at nifl.gov To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to assessment-request at nifl.gov You can reach the person managing the list at assessment-owner at nifl.gov When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." Today's Topics: 1. [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Donna Chambers) 2. [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! (Katherine G) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 From: "Donna Chambers" Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; reply-type=original David and All, Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity. Critical thinking is a learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be nurtured, but not necessarily learned.. In Adult Education creativity is not a necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment programs such as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program. This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be able to do and this information has changed over the years. Most states' education systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education seems to be GED driven. As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass the GED. The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment is apparent, at least to me. In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of competencies that need to be learned. Merely passing a standardized test does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, from the perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy makers, passing the test has become paramount in Adult Education. Outcomes has been translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED is "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the GED, all will be well. Not necessarily so! Adult Education needs complete reform. Let's look at what the metacognative research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge and skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills into all activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a performance based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know and be able to do today. Passing the GED will still be an attainable measure, but only one of many that need to be achieved. Instructors and students must know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking skills will lead to passing the test. A strong foundation will, more importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in our complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the beginning upon entering AE programs. Learners must be given the opportunity to understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path to skill building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes will be more meaningful. Donna Chambers ----- Original Message ----- From: "David J. Rosen" To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Assessment colleagues, Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a shot. Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or both? And where do critical skills fit in? I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem solving. Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring now adult secondary education programs? ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring creative skills. If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now often describe as "thinking outside the box"). Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking and creativity. I invite your comments on this. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test. > > Toni Borge > > BHCC > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > Boston, MA > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > more creativity! > > Shirley Ledet > > GED Instructor > > NHC-Carver > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > Hi everyone, > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 From: "Katherine G" Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop. Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms, figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods. Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes on. Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach them to think critically. Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include creativity used and expected in every academic setting. Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor Prince William County Public Schools Adult Education P.O. Box 389 Manassas, VA 20108 work 703-791-8387 fax 703-791-8889 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of David J. Rosen Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Assessment colleagues, Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a shot. Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or both? And where do critical skills fit in? I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem solving. Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring now adult secondary education programs? ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring creative skills. If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now often describe as "thinking outside the box"). Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking and creativity. I invite your comments on this. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > test. > > Toni Borge > > BHCC > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > Boston, MA > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > more creativity! > > Shirley Ledet > > GED Instructor > > NHC-Carver > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > Colleagues, > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -- > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > academic standards AND creativity. > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Marie Cora" > > Hi everyone, > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > 07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > you can > > catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > To: > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > Hi everyone, > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > Thanks!! > > > > Marie Cora > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net ------------------------------ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 ****************************************** ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/5856c709/attachment.html From gbundy at rmi.net Mon Oct 29 17:18:00 2007 From: gbundy at rmi.net (Gail B) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:18:00 -0600 (GMT-06:00) Subject: [Assessment 1028] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 Message-ID: <28194025.1193692680843.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net> There is always a tension in the workplace between executives who want workers who have that intuitive thinking and inexperienced supervisors who want workers who only do as they are told. I beleive that it is part of my role as a teacher of adults to help students gain the critical thinking skills to prepare students for both scenarios. In adult education, we have always had an emphasis on using reallife examples and making education relevant. Our adult students are a rich repository of data / stories that can be used to develop some creative problem-solving skills. What I do as part of the ABE/ GED instruction is to work with students to develop real-life applications for their math, social studies, science, or reading, based on their actual workplace experience - or on their desired or fantasy profession (e.g. hip hop song album producer). And then develop ideas for improving some aspect of that profession. For instance, a woman who is a housekeeper at a hospital, examined the physics of how her tools, such as mops and brooms, work. She began recording the productivity directions from her boss, which she than graphed, identified a problem, developed a solution, and wrote a memo to her supervisor, suggesting a solution. A young man who works as a concrete pourer developed a set of word problems for his classmates to solve, based on his work. The big hangup for most students is not the lack of creativity -- many of our students have at least one area where they are very creative - it is the negative self-talk, sensitivity around criticism and debate, lack of experience in solving problems related to productivity in a group setting that then combine with the low literacy skills that hinders creativity in the workplace. Gail Bundy Night Instructor Native American Multi-Cultural Education School Denver, CO From gbundy at rmi.net Mon Oct 29 17:33:55 2007 From: gbundy at rmi.net (Gail B) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:33:55 -0600 (GMT-06:00) Subject: [Assessment 1029] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 Message-ID: <20243988.1193693636069.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net> In our experience, the reading diagnostics from the TABE test are very good indicators of the critical thinking skills that are required for college and career. Those skills -- e.g finding the main idea, fact vs opinion, sequencing, finding meaning from context, making inferences, making conclusions, cause and effect -- these are all essential skills for critical thinking as well as for reading. Luckily our GED texts in Reading, Science, and Social Studies contain good lessons on these skills. It doesn't take a lot of time for students to come up with examples in their personal and work life - where these skills would help them be more effective. Gail Bundy Native American Multi-Cultural Education School Denver, CO -----Original Message----- >From: "Carver, Mary-Lynn" >Sent: Oct 29, 2007 7:13 AM >To: assessment at nifl.gov >Subject: [Assessment 1019] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > >Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success. > >Thanks, >Mary Lynn Carver >ABE/GED Instructor >College of Lake County >Building 4, Office 405 >19351 W. Washington Street >Grayslake, IL 60031 >Phone:847/543-2677 >mlcarver at clcillinois.edu >Fax: 847/543-7580 > >"Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly amused" -- Unknown > >We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. --Peter F. Drucker > >________________________________ > >From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of assessment-request at nifl.gov >Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM >To: assessment at nifl.gov >Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > > > >Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > assessment at nifl.gov > >To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > assessment-request at nifl.gov > >You can reach the person managing the list at > assessment-owner at nifl.gov > >When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific >than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > >Today's Topics: > > 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills > (David J. Rosen) > 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Mary Lynn Simons) > 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Andrea Wilder) > 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills > (David J. Rosen) > 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J. Rosen) > 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Donna Chambers) > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Message: 1 >Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400 >From: David J. Rosen >Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills >To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List , > The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List > , The Assessment Discussion List > , The Adult English Language Learners Discussion > List >Message-ID: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9 at comcast.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > format=flowed > >Colleagues, > >The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- >based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms >and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy >videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: > >? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy >tutoring) >? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), >? OTAN (integrating technology) > and >? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL >learners can and cannot do with literacy) > >I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or >tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am >hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for >adult literacy education classroom videos. > >David J. Rosen >djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 2 >Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000 >From: Mary Lynn Simons >Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! >To: The Assessment Discussion List >Message-ID: >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" > > >Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or training as fast as possible. > > > >----------------------------------------> From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi > sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the co > llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need > to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > > now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin > king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifle > s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty > ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a qu > ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you > can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------ > ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings > , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com > >_________________________________________________________________ >Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by today. >http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > >------------------------------ > >Message: 3 >Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400 >From: Andrea Wilder >Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! >To: The Assessment Discussion List >Message-ID: <9e32f2dbe2ba96b51be97f5819a91d2c at comcast.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > format=flowed > >Hi Mary Lynn-- > >One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't >waste their time." Is this what you are getting at? > >Andrea > >On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > >> >> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them >> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically >> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to >> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to >> college or training as fast as possible. >> >> >> >> ----------------------------------------> From: >> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct >> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - >> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential >> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to >> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely >> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are >> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require >> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, >> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> >> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> >> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. >> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement >> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For >> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize >> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics >> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to >> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another >> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not >> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor >> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students >> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> >> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take >> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we >> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who >> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to >> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just >> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a >> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> >> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED >> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, >> depending on the> teacher and the class). >> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in >> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend >> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between >> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED >> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> >> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine >> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County >> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> >> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov >> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> >> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion >> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to >> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by >> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a >> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will >> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test >> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want >> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And >> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, >> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would >> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and >> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should >> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that >> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking >> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and >> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the >> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary >> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through >> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and >> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education >> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not >> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the >> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that >> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for >> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED >> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look >> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to >> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent >> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other >> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and >> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of >> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the >> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. >> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED >> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone >> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door >> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should >> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical >> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. >> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, >> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean >> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how >> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in >> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like >> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes >> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and >> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult >> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: >> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On >> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> >> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: >> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that >> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need >> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of >> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. >> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, >> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just >> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for >> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity >> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the >> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of >> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing >> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. >> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those >> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that >> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" >> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay >> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; >> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. >> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED >> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> >> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy >> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of >> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a >> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, >> http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education >> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive >> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED >> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not >> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to >> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. >> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe >> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be >> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds >> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists >> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for >> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> >> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie >> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the >> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can >> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, >> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - >> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please >> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> >> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: >> "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what >> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi >> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, >> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the >> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, >> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? >> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share >> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion >> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> >> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> >> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or >> change your subscription settings, please go to>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to >> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription >> settings, please go to>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to >> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription >> settings, please go to>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to >> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to >> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to >> macsimoin at hotmail.com >> >> _________________________________________________________________ >> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. >> Stop by today. >> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? >> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net >> > > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 4 >Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400 >From: "David J. Rosen" >Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills >To: The Assessment Discussion List >Message-ID: <0570AB67-85EE-4F24-AF0B-2E657CB60778 at comcast.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > format=flowed > >....and the Web address for MLoTS is: > >http://www.mlots.org > >David J. Rosen >djrosen at comcast.net > > >On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote: > >> Colleagues, >> >> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- >> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms >> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy >> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: >> >> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy >> tutoring) >> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), >> ? OTAN (integrating technology) >> and >> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL >> learners can and cannot do with literacy) >> >> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or >> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am >> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for >> adult literacy education classroom videos. >> >> David J. Rosen >> djrosen at comcast.net >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 5 >Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400 >From: "David J. Rosen" >Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity >To: The Assessment Discussion List >Message-ID: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C at comcast.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed > >Hello Andrea, > >On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > >> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading >> and 2. creativity? > >Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite >unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60 >of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far >as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for >creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be >taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that >some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that >it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the >kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would >agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might >differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in >different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and >in the creative problem solving of daily living. > >In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was >thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as >innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe >Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically >valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic >success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education >systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests. > >Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, >secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If >so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In >many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even >acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen >it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value >and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we >are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should >value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to >nourish creativity. > >What do you think about this? > > >* Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of >creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: >Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press. > >David J. Rosen >djrosen at comcast.net > > > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 6 >Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400 >From: "Donna Chambers" >Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! >To: "The Assessment Discussion List" >Message-ID: <001f01c81958$da000530$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> >Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > reply-type=original > >Mary Lynn, > >Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not >suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for just >"passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our job. >Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a high >school student and be ready to transition to college level academics is in >the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community >College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they do. If >the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter community >college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but it is >not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic and >secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy. > >Donna Chambers > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Mary Lynn Simons" >To: "The Assessment Discussion List" >Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM >Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > >Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them >accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically decide >what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able to >pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or >training as fast as possible. > > > >----------------------------------------> From: Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: >assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: >[Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, I >agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> students >are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal >ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh >options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> >require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> >know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> >Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> >rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities> >courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms,> >figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly> >understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods.> >Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> >graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> >on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a >GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. >If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if >the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> >formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that> >home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not> >get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> >higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach> >them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay from >Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past lives. >The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college classroom as >well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this >extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). >http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in >extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend >college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between public >schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to succeed. >Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected in >every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online >Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box >389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax >703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: >assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf >Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The >Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - >what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean >by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a means >to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more students >have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is creativity >itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically >prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit in?>> I >would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> skills >and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these >catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> education >(e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to have >academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong >critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic >skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the >assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary >education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through >standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so >how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring> >creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to >one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the >U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on >high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional> >basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> like >the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, >the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to >represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or >other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and >follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of >thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> Are >these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> they be? >Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school diploma as >a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and >self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful post-secondary >learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: >academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I invite >your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, >2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to >creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our >students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be >successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, >just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes >spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and teachers >teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions >Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov >[mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: >Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> >Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to >know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on >standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been >successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally >gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> >rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I >don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be >the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more >disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to >the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of >your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing then >someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students >participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into >it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of >time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated>> >when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." >Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that have >to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley >Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> >Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy >education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the >National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> >recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// >> >www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> and he >includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic >standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators >believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus on >skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> >"distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or >policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes >tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key >question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite >the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it >essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> >djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original >message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> >We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> >give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> >discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> >suggested resources go to:>>>>>> >http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> >07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there >were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> >http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please post >your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> >Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List >Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> >NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: "Marie >Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to >know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve >had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to give a >quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. For >the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go >to:>>>>>>>> >http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> >If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> can >catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> >assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your >own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> >Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> >marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List >Moderator>>>> >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> >National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> >Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, >please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email >delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> >National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> >Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, >please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email >delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> >National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> >Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, >please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email >delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> >National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> >Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, >please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email >delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> >National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> >Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, >please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email >delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com > >_________________________________________________________________ >Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop by >today. >http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline >------------------------------- >National Institute for Literacy >Assessment mailing list >Assessment at nifl.gov >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > >------------------------------ > >------------------------------- >National Institute for Literacy >Assessment mailing list >Assessment at nifl.gov >To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > >End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 >****************************************** > > From MLCarver at CLCILLINOIS.EDU Mon Oct 29 21:20:52 2007 From: MLCarver at CLCILLINOIS.EDU (Carver, Mary-Lynn) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:20:52 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1030] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 39 References: Message-ID: < wrote: Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot and if students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a skill. The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The reason people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do not play the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I say, "Shut up and read.">> And here lies my problem with many GED programs. There are a lot of students in GED programs who don't know HOW to read well - as a result of poor schooling or possibly a physiological learning/processing disability. They will not successfully pass the GED if we don't teach them reading strategies, information processing and (the aforementioned) critical thinking skills. I would never insult an adult student by saying "shut up and read" - it makes the assumption that anyone can do it and if they're in GED in the first place, maybe the reason is because they have a deficit in their reading skills. When we speak of metacognition, learning styles and strategies for processing materials in class, there is better comprehension, retention and higher scoring on the GED when they take it. Learning the vocabulary required for each content area is another area that boosts comprehension, so we mix decoding strategies with content area vocabulary. It takes the same amount of time to frustrate students and reinforce their lifelong humiliation in school as it does to help teach and reinforce the reading and critical thinking skills for success. I choose the latter. Thanks, Mary Lynn Carver ABE/GED Instructor College of Lake County Building 4, Office 405 19351 W. Washington Street Grayslake, IL 60031 Phone:847/543-2677 mlcarver at clcillinois.edu Fax: 847/543-7580 "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly amused" -- Unknown We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. --Peter F. Drucker -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 5552 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071029/fedde542/attachment.bin From jackie.coelho at gmail.com Tue Oct 30 07:19:12 2007 From: jackie.coelho at gmail.com (Jackie Coelho) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:19:12 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1031] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <146640.56583.qm@web90407.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <146640.56583.qm@web90407.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1dd5701e0710300419h22768734p27ce482309125ca6@mail.gmail.com> Shirley, I agree that an enjoyment of reading is the first step. I have been reading small novels with my Pre-GED level students for three years now. And when we finish one book, they are always quick to ask what the next will be. They really enjoy spending time discussing the characters, the issues and relating all to themselves. Last week we read a text that explains in detail why leaves change color and then fall off. The next day a student told me she had never looked at fall foliage the way she does now. If a student enjoys reading or sees a real purpose to it, he or she does it more than willingly. Jackie On 10/29/07, shirley ledet wrote: > I agree, however by the time I students get to us they need a reason to > read. Discussion brings an interest and desire to read. When very young > children are given that desire because of the way it is introduced. the > desire build, the cognitive recognition of reading, thoughts, imagination > and pleasure are place in the lexicon and "walaa" you have a reader. When > this is not done, the students sees reading as a means to end and therefore > drudgery. Telling a students to read whose mantra has become "I hate > reading" " I was never good at reading" "I always fail reading" is > pointless. We must awaken the desire and the learning will come. With > joy.....most of the time. > Shirley > > > Wendy Quinones wrote: > Actually, all of the GED tests are reading -- even math for the most part. > I think Mary Lynn is right on! > > On 10/26/07, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > > > Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot and if > students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a skill. > The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The reason > people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do not play > the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I say, "Shut > up and read." > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 > 15:39:46 -0400> From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu> To: assessment at nifl.gov > > Subject: [Assessment 1002] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical thinking > skills which once our students know how to think in a critical thinking way > they will be successful in achieving their education and other life goals. > However, just like K-12 education, adult education is captured on the high > stakes spinning wheel of accountability which stifles creativity and > teachers teach to the test.> Toni Borge> BHCC> Adult Education & Transitions > Program> Boston, MA> ________________________________> > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of shirley ledet> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM> To: The > Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - > what you need to know!> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success > on standardized test. We need look no further then those who have been > successful on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well rounded, enjoy > reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like "I don't know, I just > know stuff." Researchers have found that this may be the reason for > disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity between socio > economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, > faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure is to go > to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few creative > projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all subjects. > Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study for the > GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does not pay off > like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on more > creativity!> Shirley Ledet> GED Instructor> NHC-Carver> djrosen at comcast.net > wrote:> Colleagues,> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the > National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, > http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. > education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive > without high academic standards AND creativity.> But many GED teachers and > administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they > focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or > policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes > tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question > on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the > panelists to address it.> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for > success? Why?> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> -------------- Original > message ----------------------> From: "Marie Cora">> Hi everyone,>>>> We've > had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to>> give a > quick reminder where you can get the information on this>> discussion. For > the full announcement, information on guests, and>> suggested resources go > to:>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>> > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can>> > catch up in the archives at:>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>> > Thanks!!>>>> Marie Cora>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>> > Marie Cora>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>> NIFL Assessment Discussion > List Moderator>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>> From: > "Marie Cora"> To:> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need > to know!> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000> Hi everyone,> We've had > several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a quick > reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For the full > announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to:> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html> > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you can catch > up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!> > Thanks!!> Marie Cora> Assessment Discussion List Moderator> Marie Cora> > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > -------------------------------> National Institute for > Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or > change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > delivered to djrosen at comcast.net> > -------------------------------> National Institute for > Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or > change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email > delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop > by today. > > > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com > > From jackie.coelho at gmail.com Tue Oct 30 07:23:20 2007 From: jackie.coelho at gmail.com (Jackie Coelho) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:23:20 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1032] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 In-Reply-To: <0CA6C79FCB4AC642A77B76C17A4316EE0210A7E4@exch-1.sbctc2.local> References: <0CA6C79FCB4AC642A77B76C17A4316EE0210A7E4@exch-1.sbctc2.local> Message-ID: <1dd5701e0710300423o3addd329m81d600f61d112441@mail.gmail.com> I think this goes back to the "what is creativity" question. Can a teacher teach creativity? Or can a teacher simply provide a large enough variety of information and the enthusiasm to seek out more, thus providing students with the means and motivation to apply the knowledge in creative ways? On 10/29/07, Michael Tate wrote: > > > > In all the studies I've read, when business leaders are asked what kind of > intelligence they want in a worker, they say they want intuitive thinking . > They are looking for people who can quickly size up a situation from > incomplete data, make a decision, and implement a strategy that works. > They're not looking for the painfully slow (and hugely expensive) > deliberative process that government uses. Adult education is generally > unable to offer training in creative thinking because it doesn't have > teachers who can teach creativity. That's not likely to change until adult > education is provided by a sector that values creativity higher than > consensus. > > > > Michael Tate > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of Carver, Mary-Lynn > Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:23 PM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: RE: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > > > > > > Donna Chambers - > > > Well said. I am in total agreement. > > > > > > Where do we start? > > > > > > Thanks, > > > Mary Lynn Carver > > > ABE/GED Instructor > > > College of Lake County > > > Building 4, Office 405 > > > 19351 W. Washington Street > > > Grayslake, IL 60031 > > > Phone:847/543-2677 > > > mlcarver at clcillinois.edu > > > Fax: 847/543-7580 > > > > > > "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly > amused" -- Unknown > > > > > > We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping > abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to > learn. --Peter F. Drucker > > > > ________________________________ > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of assessment-request at nifl.gov > Sent: Sat 10/27/2007 11:00 AM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > > > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > assessment at nifl.gov > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > You can reach the person managing the list at > assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Donna Chambers) > 2. [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Katherine G) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 > From: "Donna Chambers" > Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > reply-type=original > > David and All, > > Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity. Critical thinking is a > learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be nurtured, > but not necessarily learned.. In Adult Education creativity is not a > necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. > > I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment programs such > as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program. > This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be able to > do and this information has changed over the years. Most states' education > systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education seems to be > GED driven. As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass the GED. > The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment is > apparent, at least to me. > > In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of > competencies that need to be learned. Merely passing a standardized test > does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, from the > perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy makers, > passing the test has become paramount in Adult Education. Outcomes has been > translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED is > "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the GED, all > will be well. Not necessarily so! > > Adult Education needs complete reform. Let's look at what the metacognative > research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge and > skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills into all > activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a performance > based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know and be > able to do today. Passing the GED will still be an attainable measure, but > only one of many that need to be achieved. Instructors and students must > know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking > skills will lead to passing the test. A strong foundation will, more > importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school > certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in our > complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the beginning > upon entering AE programs. Learners must be given the opportunity to > understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path to skill > building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. > Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes will > be more meaningful. > > Donna Chambers > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David J. Rosen" > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 > From: "Katherine G" > Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" > > David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if > students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with > minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and > weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges > require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop. > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms, > figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods. > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes > on. > > Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED > class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If > the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the > students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that > home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not > get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach > them to think critically. > > Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't > studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can > expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the > teacher and the class). > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm > > I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students > planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have > communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we > want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include > creativity used and expected in every academic setting. > > > Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor > Prince William County Public Schools > Adult Education > P.O. Box 389 > Manassas, VA 20108 > work 703-791-8387 > fax 703-791-8889 > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On > Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > ****************************************** > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > assessment at nifl.gov > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > You can reach the person managing the list at > assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Donna Chambers) > 2. [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Katherine G) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 > From: "Donna Chambers" > Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > reply-type=original > > David and All, > > Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity. Critical thinking is a > learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be nurtured, > but not necessarily learned.. In Adult Education creativity is not a > necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. > > I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment programs such > as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program. > This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be able to > do and this information has changed over the years. Most states' education > systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education seems to be > GED driven. As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass the GED. > The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment is > apparent, at least to me. > > In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of > competencies that need to be learned. Merely passing a standardized test > does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, from the > perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy makers, > passing the test has become paramount in Adult Education. Outcomes has been > translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED is > "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the GED, all > will be well. Not necessarily so! > > Adult Education needs complete reform. Let's look at what the metacognative > research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge and > skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills into all > activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a performance > based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know and be > able to do today. Passing the GED will still be an attainable measure, but > only one of many that need to be achieved. Instructors and students must > know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking > skills will lead to passing the test. A strong foundation will, more > importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school > certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in our > complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the beginning > upon entering AE programs. Learners must be given the opportunity to > understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path to skill > building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. > Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes will > be more meaningful. > > Donna Chambers > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David J. Rosen" > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 > From: "Katherine G" > Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" > > David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if > students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with > minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and > weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges > require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop. > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms, > figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods. > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes > on. > > Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED > class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If > the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the > students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that > home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not > get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach > them to think critically. > > Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't > studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can > expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the > teacher and the class). > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm > > I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students > planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have > communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we > want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include > creativity used and expected in every academic setting. > > > Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor > Prince William County Public Schools > Adult Education > P.O. Box 389 > Manassas, VA 20108 > work 703-791-8387 > fax 703-791-8889 > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On > Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > ****************************************** > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com > > From andreawilder at comcast.net Tue Oct 30 09:03:39 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:03:39 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1034] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <1dd5701e0710300419h22768734p27ce482309125ca6@mail.gmail.com> References: <146640.56583.qm@web90407.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <1dd5701e0710300419h22768734p27ce482309125ca6@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: There is brain research which shows that when the TEACHER focuses on a certain aspect of reading or learning, he STUDENT will follow this lead. Andrea On Oct 30, 2007, at 7:19 AM, Jackie Coelho wrote: > Shirley, I agree that an enjoyment of reading is the first step. I > have been reading small novels with my Pre-GED level students for > three years now. And when we finish one book, they are always quick to > ask what the next will be. They really enjoy spending time discussing > the characters, the issues and relating all to themselves. Last week > we read a text that explains in detail why leaves change color and > then fall off. The next day a student told me she had never looked at > fall foliage the way she does now. > If a student enjoys reading or sees a real purpose to it, he or she > does it more than willingly. > Jackie > > On 10/29/07, shirley ledet wrote: >> I agree, however by the time I students get to us they need a reason >> to >> read. Discussion brings an interest and desire to read. When very >> young >> children are given that desire because of the way it is introduced. >> the >> desire build, the cognitive recognition of reading, thoughts, >> imagination >> and pleasure are place in the lexicon and "walaa" you have a reader. >> When >> this is not done, the students sees reading as a means to end and >> therefore >> drudgery. Telling a students to read whose mantra has become "I hate >> reading" " I was never good at reading" "I always fail reading" is >> pointless. We must awaken the desire and the learning will come. With >> joy.....most of the time. >> Shirley >> >> >> Wendy Quinones wrote: >> Actually, all of the GED tests are reading -- even math for the most >> part. >> I think Mary Lynn is right on! >> >> On 10/26/07, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: >>> >>> Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot >>> and if >> students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a >> skill. >> The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The >> reason >> people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do not >> play >> the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I say, >> "Shut >> up and read." >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> ________________________________> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 >> 15:39:46 -0400> From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu> To: assessment at nifl.gov > >> Subject: [Assessment 1002] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to >> know!>> >> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical >> thinking >> skills which once our students know how to think in a critical >> thinking way >> they will be successful in achieving their education and other life >> goals. >> However, just like K-12 education, adult education is captured on the >> high >> stakes spinning wheel of accountability which stifles creativity and >> teachers teach to the test.> Toni Borge> BHCC> Adult Education & >> Transitions >> Program> Boston, MA> ________________________________> >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov >> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On >> Behalf Of shirley ledet> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM> >> To: The >> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED >> Discussion - >> what you need to know!> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of >> success >> on standardized test. We need look no further then those who have been >> successful on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally >> gifted, >> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well rounded, >> enjoy >> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like "I don't know, I >> just >> know stuff." Researchers have found that this may be the reason for >> disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity >> between socio >> economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking >> industry, >> faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends >> to offer >> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure is >> to go >> to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few >> creative >> projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all >> subjects. >> Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study >> for the >> GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does not >> pay off >> like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially >> those >> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on >> more >> creativity!> Shirley Ledet> GED Instructor> NHC-Carver> >> djrosen at comcast.net >> wrote:> Colleagues,> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy >> education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the >> National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a >> presention >> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, >> http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. >> education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be >> competitive >> without high academic standards AND creativity.> But many GED >> teachers and >> administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED >> unless they >> focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that >> creativity is a >> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators >> or >> policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high >> stakes >> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key >> question >> on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the >> panelists to address it.> Is creativity a distraction or is it >> essential for >> success? Why?> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> -------------- >> Original >> message ----------------------> From: "Marie Cora">> Hi everyone,>>>> >> We've >> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to>> >> give a >> quick reminder where you can get the information on this>> >> discussion. For >> the full announcement, information on guests, and>> suggested >> resources go >> to:>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ >> 07creativityGED.html>>>> >> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you >> can>> >> catch up in the archives at:>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>> >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share >> now!>>>> >> Thanks!!>>>> Marie Cora>> Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator>>>>>>>>>> >> Marie Cora>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>> NIFL Assessment >> Discussion >> List Moderator>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>> From: >> "Marie Cora"> To:> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what >> you need >> to know!> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000> Hi everyone,> We've >> had >> several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a >> quick >> reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For >> the full >> announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to:> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html> >> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you >> can catch >> up in the archives at: >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html> >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share >> now!> >> Thanks!!> Marie Cora> Assessment Discussion List Moderator> Marie >> Cora> >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> NIFL Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > >> -------------------------------> National Institute for >> Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To >> unsubscribe or >> change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email >> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net> >> -------------------------------> National Institute for >> Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To >> unsubscribe or >> change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email >> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com >>> >>> >> _________________________________________________________________ >>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. >>> Stop >> by today. >>> >> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? >> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline >>> ------------------------------- >>> National Institute for Literacy >>> Assessment mailing list >>> Assessment at nifl.gov >>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>> Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com >>> >> >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com >> >> > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > From djrosen at comcast.net Tue Oct 30 09:30:31 2007 From: djrosen at comcast.net (David J. Rosen) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:30:31 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1035] GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking In-Reply-To: References: <69cbc825214882ee73340c228f35e01a@comcast.net> Message-ID: <2D916EB3-B229-48D1-8C81-BCEB7D8FD785@comcast.net> Mary Lynn wrote: > I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college > or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is > unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous > term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is > paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise. Creativity need not be nebulous. For example, here's a good definition from the Wikipedia: "Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity I am sure you can see the direct application of this kind of creativity to scoring high on the GED tests, for example in writing a good essay, and perhaps in other areas. Equally important -- for students who believe that GED preparation is the key to success in post-secondary education and some kinds of job skills training -- generating new ideas or concepts and making associations between existing ideas or concepts is essential for success. Let me return to the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, Marc Tucker's claim that if the U.S. is to be competitive, if Americans are to have good jobs, they not only need strong basic skills and some college education, but they also need to be creative, that this is the cultural edge that leads to innovation and invention, that makes the American economy strong, and will enable American workers to thrive. Some adult education students, of course, don't care about that. They want the GED for other reasons, and that's fine. Let them fast track to the test. Those who want GED prepararation for college and good jobs, however, will need more: stronger academic skills to succeed in college, and -- if Tucker is right -- skills in the mental processes to generate new ideas or concepts, and new associations between existing concepts, and perhaps other kinds of creativity. Mary Lynn, I would like to challenge the belief that we "owe [it] to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible." This has not produced good results for adult students whose goal is to succeed in college. Only a very small percentage of adult GED holders actually succeed in college, often because they lack the academic reading and writing skills, and numeracy (especially algebra) that they need to enroll in regular (not developmental) courses. Unfortunately way too many use up their college financial aide in college developmental courses and then have to drop out before achieving a certificate or degree. Many of these students will need to take the time to prepare for college in their GED preparation program, not fast track to the GED test. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 29, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; > critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against > teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by > students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order > to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five > subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and > mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively > discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what > they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have > busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to > to our students to get them to community college or training as > fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to > decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We > must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or > maternalistic to do otherwise. > > From: andreawilder at comcast.net > > Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400 > > To: assessment at nifl.gov > > Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > > > > Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two > (Mary > > Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what > would > > I see??? > > would there be a real difference? > > Thanks. > > > > Andrea > > On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote: > > > > > Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/ > GEDstudents > > > come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical > thinking > > > or transitional college skills. If we don't help them > understand and > > > acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed > with > > > the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it > is one > > > of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they > need to > > > succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is > > > paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success. > > > > > > Thanks, > > > Mary Lynn Carver > > > ABE/GED Instructor > > > College of Lake County > > > Building 4, Office 405 > > > 19351 W. Washington Street > > > Grayslake, IL 60031 > > > Phone:847/543-2677 > > > mlcarver at clcillinois.edu > > > Fax: 847/543-7580 > > > > > > "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be > > > constantly amused" -- Unknown > > > > > > We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of > keeping > > > abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach > people how > > > to learn. --Peter F. Drucker > > > > > > ________________________________ > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of > > > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > > Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM > > > To: assessment at nifl.gov > > > Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > > > > > > > > > > > > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > > > assessment at nifl.gov > > > > > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > > > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > > > > > You can reach the person managing the list at > > > assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > > > > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more > specific > > > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > > > > > > > Today's Topics: > > > > > > 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills > > > (David J. Rosen) > > > 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > (Mary Lynn Simons) > > > 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > (Andrea Wilder) > > > 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills > > > (David J. Rosen) > > > 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J. > > > Rosen) > > > 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > (Donna Chambers) > > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > Message: 1 > > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400 > > > From: David J. Rosen > > > Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills > > > To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List > , > > > The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List > > > , The Assessment > > > Discussion List > > > , The Adult English Language Learners > > > Discussion > > > List > > > Message-ID: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9 at comcast.net> > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > > > format=flowed > > > > > > Colleagues, > > > > > > The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- > > > based library of short digital videos of adult education > classrooms > > > and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy > > > videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: > > > > > > ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy > > > tutoring) > > > ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), > > > ? OTAN (integrating technology) > > > and > > > ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL > > > learners can and cannot do with literacy) > > > > > > I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good > classroom or > > > tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am > > > hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for > > > adult literacy education classroom videos. > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > > > Message: 2 > > > Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000 > > > From: Mary Lynn Simons > > > Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need > to know! > > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > > Message-ID: > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" > > > > > > > > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach > them > > > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/ > maternalistically > > > decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to > know to > > > be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them > get to > > > college or training as fast as possible. > > > > > > > > > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > > > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct > > > 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED > Discussion - > > > what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is > essential > > > in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > > > college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely > > > think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > > > usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require > > > program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As > we> know, > > > writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to > develop.>> > > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and > using> > > > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > > > Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even > implement > > > creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and > more. For > > > students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi > > > sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into > > > statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and > equations > > > are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone > here or in > > > another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class > who are > > > not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the > > > instructor is writing on the board, if the students are > writing, if > > > the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In > terms of > > > more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely > need > > > to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of > discipline > > > that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with > students > > > who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we > need to > > > have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I > just > > > now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> > studied in a > > > long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > > > creativity is used in the co > > > llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in > college > > > (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher > and the > > > class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm > > > believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> > planning > > > to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> > communications > > > between public schools and college to make this happen if we> > want GED > > > students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > > > creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> > Katherine > > > Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > > > Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> > > > work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original > Message-----> > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > > > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment > Discussion > > > List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you > need > > > to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > > > creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > > > means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches > will > > > more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > > > scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > > > students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> > both? And > > > where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc > Tucker does, > > > that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I > would > > > put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a > means and > > > as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs > should > > > provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills > that > > > are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking > > > skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), > and > > > the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > > > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > > >> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic > skills, > > >> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical > > >> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in > > >> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc > > >> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> > greatest > > >> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> > agree > > >> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> > > >> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only > > >> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important > > >> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly > and > > >> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and > evaluate a > > >> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an > image, > > >> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative > language, > > >> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but > instead > > >> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin > > > king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > box").>> > > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. > Should> > > > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or > high> > > > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to > stable> > > > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> > > > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we > should be> > > > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical > thinking> > > > and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. > Rosen> > > > djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F > > > wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching > > > critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to > think > > > in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving > > > their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 > > > education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes > spinning > > > wheel of>> accountability which stifle > > > s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> > > > BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, > MA>>>>>>>> > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> > > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, > October > > > 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: > > > [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > >>>>>>>> > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on > standardized>> > > > test. We need look no further then those who have been > successful>> on > > > any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally > gifted,>> just > > > smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> > rounded, enjoy > > > reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't > know, > > > I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the > > > reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more > > > disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. > Exposure > > > to the arts, banking industry, faculty > > > ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to > > > offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only > > > exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students > participate > > > in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into > it" tend > > > to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of > > > time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally > > > frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like > they > > > would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially > those>> > > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring > on>> > > > more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> > > > NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I > am a > > > proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed > in all > > > education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for > > > Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently > to the > > > National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > >>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -->> > > >>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without > > >>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED > teachers > > >>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not > pass the > > >>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to > pass the > > >>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. > (Many > > >>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe > > >>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I > hate to be > > >>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the > > >>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the > > >>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or > is it > > >>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> > > >>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message > > >>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi > everyone,>>>>>> > > >>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> > > >>> wanted to>>> give a qu > > > ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> > discussion. > > > For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested > > > resources go to:>>>>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from > yesterday - > > > there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> > Please > > > post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > > > now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > > > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > > > Moderator>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > From: > > > "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion > - what > > > you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > > > everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the > past day, > > > and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you > > > can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full > > > announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go > > > to:>>>>>>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from > yesterday ? > > > there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > > now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion > > > List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > > > Moderator>>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > > > ------------------------------->> National Institute for > Literacy>> > > > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > > > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > delivered to > > > djrosen at comcast.net>> ------ > > > ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > > > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > > > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > delivered to > > > msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> > National > > > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > > settings, please go to>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > delivered to > > > djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> > National > > > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > Assessment at nifl.gov> > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > delivered to > > > kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National > > > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > Assessment at nifl.gov> > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings > > > , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> > Email > > > delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger > Caf?. > > > Stop by today. > > > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > > > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > > > Message: 3 > > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400 > > > From: Andrea Wilder > > > Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need > to know! > > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > > Message-ID: <9e32f2dbe2ba96b51be97f5819a91d2c at comcast.net> > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > > > format=flowed > > > > > > Hi Mary Lynn-- > > > > > > One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: > "Don't > > > waste their time." Is this what you are getting at? > > > > > > Andrea > > > > > > On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > > > > >> > > >> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then > teach them > > >> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/ > maternalistically > > >> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to > know to > > >> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them > get to > > >> college or training as fast as possible. > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> ----------------------------------------> From: > > >> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 > Oct > > >> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED > Discussion - > > >> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is > essential > > >> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > > >> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to > freely > > >> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > > >> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> > require > > >> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As > we> know, > > >> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to > develop.>> > > >> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and > using> > > >> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > > >> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even > implement > > >> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and > more. For > > >> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to > visualize > > >> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into > statistics > > >> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are > used to > > >> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in > another > > >> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not > > >> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the > instructor > > >> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> > students > > >> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> > > >> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need > to take > > >> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline > that we > > >> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students > who > > >> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we > need to > > >> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I > just > > >> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> > studied in a > > >> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > > >> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED > > >> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this > extent, > > >> depending on the> teacher and the class). > > >> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm > believer in > > >> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to > attend > > >> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications > between > > >> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > > >> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > > >> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> > Katherine > > >> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > > >> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA > 20108> > > >> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original > Message-----> > > >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > >> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > > >> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment > Discussion > > >> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you > need to > > >> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > > >> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is > creativity a > > >> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches > will > > >> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > > >> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > > >> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> > both? And > > >> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc > Tucker does, > > >> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I > would > > >> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a > means and > > >> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs > should > > >> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills > that > > >> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical > thinking > > >> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic > skills), and > > >> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > > >> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult > secondary > > >> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through > > >> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking > skills, and > > >> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy > education > > >> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we > are not > > >> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one > of the > > >> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and > believe that > > >> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for > > >> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED > > >> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability > to look > > >> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the > ability to > > >> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to > represent > > >> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor > or other > > >> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to > understand and > > >> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional > paths of > > >> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > > >> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should > have. > > >> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see > the GED > > >> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping > stone > > >> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open > the door > > >> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills > we should > > >> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical > > >> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> > David J. > > >> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, > Borge, > > >> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean > > >> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students > know how > > >> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in > > >> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, > just like > > >> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes > > >> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > > >> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult > > >> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: > > >> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> > bounces at nifl.gov] On > > >> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 > 4:30 PM>> > > >> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment > 1001] Re: > > >> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that > > >> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. > We need > > >> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any > type of > > >> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just > smart, etc. > > >> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy > reading, > > >> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I > just > > >> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the > reason for > > >> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity > > >> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure > to the > > >> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as > part of > > >> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when > testing > > >> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and > study hard. > > >> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects > and those > > >> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those > that > > >> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for > the GED" > > >> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does > not pay > > >> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; > > >> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in > increments. > > >> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED > > >> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> > > >> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > > >> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, > President of > > >> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said > in a > > >> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult > Literacy, > > >> http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the > U.S. > > >> education > > >> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be > competitive > > >> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many > GED > > >> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will > not > > >> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge > needed to > > >> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time- > waster. > > >> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also > believe > > >> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate > to be > > >> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on > the minds > > >> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the > panelists > > >> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it > essential for > > >> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> > > >> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: > "Marie > > >> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers > over the > > >> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where > you can > > >> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full > announcement, > > >> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > > >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from > yesterday - > > >> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives > at:>>> > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> > Please > > >> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > > >> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion > List > > >> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > > >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > > >> Moderator>>> > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > From: > > >> "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED > Discussion - what > > >> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > > >> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the > past day, > > >> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the > > >> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, > > >> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from > yesterday ? > > >> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/ > date.html>>>>>>>> > > >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > >> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment > Discussion > > >> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > > >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion > List > > >> Moderator>>>> > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > > >> ------------------------------->> National Institute for > Literacy>> > > >> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > > >> change your subscription settings, please go to>> > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > delivered to > > >> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National > > >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > >> settings, please go to>> > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > delivered to > > >> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> > National > > >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > >> settings, please go to>> > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > delivered to > > >> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> > National > > >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > Assessment at nifl.gov> > > >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go > to> > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > delivered to > > >> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> > National > > >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > Assessment at nifl.gov> > > >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > delivered to > > >> macsimoin at hotmail.com > > >> > > >> _________________________________________________________________ > > >> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger > Caf?. > > >> Stop by today. > > >> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > > >> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > > >> ------------------------------- > > >> National Institute for Literacy > > >> Assessment mailing list > > >> Assessment at nifl.gov > > >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > >> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > > > Message: 4 > > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400 > > > From: "David J. Rosen" > > > Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills > > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > > Message-ID: <0570AB67-85EE-4F24-AF0B-2E657CB60778 at comcast.net> > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > > > format=flowed > > > > > > ....and the Web address for MLoTS is: > > > > > > http://www.mlots.org > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote: > > > > > >> Colleagues, > > >> > > >> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- > > >> based library of short digital videos of adult education > classrooms > > >> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy > > >> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: > > >> > > >> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy > > >> tutoring) > > >> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), > > >> ? OTAN (integrating technology) > > >> and > > >> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL > > >> learners can and cannot do with literacy) > > >> > > >> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good > classroom or > > >> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am > > >> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for > > >> adult literacy education classroom videos. > > >> > > >> David J. Rosen > > >> djrosen at comcast.net > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> ------------------------------- > > >> National Institute for Literacy > > >> Assessment mailing list > > >> Assessment at nifl.gov > > >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > >> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > > > Message: 5 > > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400 > > > From: "David J. Rosen" > > > Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity > > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > > Message-ID: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C at comcast.net> > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; > format=flowed > > > > > > Hello Andrea, > > > > > > On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > > > > > >> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading > > >> and 2. creativity? > > > > > > Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite > > > unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more > than 60 > > > of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far > > > as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for > > > creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be > > > taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I > believe that > > > some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and > that > > > it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned > with the > > > kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us > would > > > agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might > > > differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in > > > different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in > technology, and > > > in the creative problem solving of daily living. > > > > > > In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was > > > thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer > to as > > > innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I > believe > > > Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have > historically > > > valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American > economic > > > success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education > > > systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized > tests. > > > > > > Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, > > > secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of > creativity? If > > > so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we > should. In > > > many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not > even > > > acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen > > > it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not > value > > > and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, > if we > > > are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should > > > value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to > > > nourish creativity. > > > > > > What do you think about this? > > > > > > > > > * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of > > > creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: > > > Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University > Press. > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > > > Message: 6 > > > Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400 > > > From: "Donna Chambers" > > > Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need > to know! > > > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > > > Message-ID: <001f01c81958$da000530$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> > > > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > > > reply-type=original > > > > > > Mary Lynn, > > > > > > Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am > not > > > suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them > for > > > just > > > "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility > of our > > > job. > > > Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a > > > high > > > school student and be ready to transition to college level > academics > > > is in > > > the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. > Community > > > College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and > yet they > > > do. If > > > the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter > > > community > > > college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be > smoother, but > > > it is > > > not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic > > > and > > > secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult > Literacy. > > > > > > Donna Chambers > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: "Mary Lynn Simons" > > > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > > > Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM > > > Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need > to know! > > > > > > > > > > > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach > them > > > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/ > maternalistically > > > decide > > > what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to > be able > > > to > > > pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to > college or > > > training as fast as possible. > > > > > > > > > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > > > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: > > > assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> > Subject: > > > [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> > David, > > > I > > > agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> > > > students > > > are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> > > > minimal > > > ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, > and> weigh > > > options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most > colleges> > > > require program elements such as "writing across the > curriculum." As > > > we> > > > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to > > > develop.>> > > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and > using> > > > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > > > Humanities> > > > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative > > > forms,> > > > figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to > > > truly> > > > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time > > > periods.> > > > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in > which> > > > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. > The list > > > goes> > > > on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that > students > > > in a > > > GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing > reading at > > > all. > > > If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are > > > writing, if > > > the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In > terms of > > > more> > > > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need > to take > > > that> > > > home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we > might > > > not> > > > get with GED students. But especially with students who want to > pursue> > > > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the > time to > > > teach> > > > them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an > essay > > > from > > > Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in > my past > > > lives. > > > The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college > > > classroom as > > > well as what GED students can> expect in college (though > perhaps not > > > to this > > > extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). > > > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm > believer in > > > extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to > attend > > > college, and I think it's essential to have> communications > between > > > public > > > schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > students to > > > succeed. > > > Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and > expected > > > in > > > every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL > Online > > > Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> > > > P.O. Box > > > 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax > > > 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: > > > assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On> > > > Behalf > > > Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: > The > > > Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED > > > Discussion - > > > what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked > what we > > > mean > > > by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is > creativity a > > > means > > > to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more > > > students > > > have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is > > > creativity > > > itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both > academically > > > prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit > > > in?>> I > > > would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> > > > skills > > > and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these > > > catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> > > > education > > > (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> > opportunity to > > > have > > > academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, > strong > > > critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong > > > academic > > > skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since > this is > > > the > > > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult > secondary > > > education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through > > > standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking > skills, and > > > if so > > > how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is > > > measuring> > > > creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying > > > attention to > > > one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic > strengths of > > > the > > > U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive > focus > > > on > > > high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only > > > traditional> > > > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative > skills> > > > like > > > the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> > > > perspectives, > > > the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the > ability > > > to > > > represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a > > > metaphor or > > > other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to > understand > > > and > > > follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional > paths of > > > thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > > > box").>> Are > > > these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> > > > they be? > > > Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school > > > diploma as > > > a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment > and > > > self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful > > > post-secondary > > > learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and > measuring: > > > academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I > > > invite > > > your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> > djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On > > > Oct 26, > > > 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to > > > creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which > once > > > our > > > students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they > will be > > > successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. > > > However, > > > just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the > high > > > stakes > > > spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > > > teachers > > > teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & > > > Transitions > > > Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > > [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley > ledet>> > > > Sent: > > > Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion > > > List>> > > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > > > know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of > success on > > > standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who > have been > > > successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like > natuarally > > > gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are > well>> > > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms > like>> > > > "I > > > don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> > this may > > > be > > > the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there > is more > > > disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. > Exposure > > > to > > > the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues > as part > > > of > > > your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when > testing > > > then > > > someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study > hard. My > > > students > > > participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that > "get > > > into > > > it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is > a waste > > > of > > > time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally > > > frustrated>> > > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> > like." > > > Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> > activities that > > > have > > > to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity! > >>>> > > > Shirley > > > Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net > > > wrote:>>>> > > > Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > > > education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, > President of > > > the > > > National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a > > > presention>> > > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > > >> > > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system > -->> > > > and he > > > includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> > academic > > > standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and > administrators > > > believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they > focus > > > on > > > skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity > is a>> > > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> > administrators > > > or > > > policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing > high > > > stakes > > > tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's > the key > > > question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and > administrators, so I > > > invite > > > the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or > is it > > > essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> > > > djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original > > > message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi > > > everyone,>>>>>> > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> > wanted > > > to>>> > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, > and>>> > > > suggested resources go to:>>>>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from > yesterday - > > > there > > > were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> > Please > > > post > > > your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> > > > Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > > > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > From: > > > "Marie > > > Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what > you > > > need to > > > know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > everyone,>>>>>>>> > > > We?ve > > > had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> > wanted to > > > give a > > > quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this > discussion. > > > For > > > the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested > > > resources go > > > to:>>>>>>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? > you>> > > > can > > > catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> > > > assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions > and also > > > your > > > own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie > Cora>>>> > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie > Cora>>>> > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > > > Moderator>>>> > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > > > ------------------------------->> > > > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > > settings, > > > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/ > assessment>> Email > > > delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> > ------------------------------->> > > > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > > settings, > > > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/ > assessment>> Email > > > delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> > > > ------------------------------->> > > > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > > settings, > > > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/ > assessment>> Email > > > delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> > -------------------------------> > > > National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > > > Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > > settings, > > > please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> > Email > > > delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> > -------------------------------> > > > National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > > > Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > > settings, > > > please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> > Email > > > delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger > Caf?. > > > Stop by > > > today. > > > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > > > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > > > ****************************************** > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > National Institute for Literacy > > > Assessment mailing list > > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com > > Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! Get 'em! > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071030/3d45dc3b/attachment.html From andreawilder at comcast.net Sun Oct 28 18:51:01 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:51:01 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1036] Re: GED preparation and creativity In-Reply-To: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C@comcast.net> References: <69c09a7aab39d4d0fcd91c58d6b0e1d4@comcast.net> <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C@comcast.net> Message-ID: <20f8d2e00f698f77db680b64d461ea62@comcast.net> David, This is an interesting topic. There is the idea that the creative person goes off into the wild and somehow invents something. To quote Click and Clack, this idea is wacko. I think there has to be tremendous support for new ideas--books, for instance, need a reading public, agents, people interesting in publishing, and a guaranteed audience. . How much $$$$ was poured into science before computers were created and developed? How about solar panels? They have been around since when...1940's? Earlier? That's it for tonight on competitiveness. Except--how about Japan? An educational system that has as its main technique rote learning? Yet, I drive a Japanese car. Andrea I On Oct 27, 2007, at 11:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote: > Hello Andrea, > > On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > >> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading >> and 2. creativity? > > Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite > unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60 > of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far > as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for > creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be > taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that > some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that > it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the > kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would > agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might > differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in > different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and > in the creative problem solving of daily living. > > In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was > thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as > innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe > Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically > valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic > success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education > systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests. > > Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, > secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If > so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In > many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even > acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen > it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value > and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we > are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should > value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to > nourish creativity. > > What do you think about this? > > > * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of > creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: > Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > From bcarmel at rocketmail.com Tue Oct 30 10:21:17 2007 From: bcarmel at rocketmail.com (Bruce C) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:21:17 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 1037] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <1dd5701e0710300419h22768734p27ce482309125ca6@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <37771.91927.qm@web37901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Thanks everyone for the great discussion. It's heartening to know that there are so many people out there who are NOT just teaching to the test, but are working to develop reading, writing, math, and thinking skills. I'm going to show this discussion to my whole Adult Basic Education and GED prep staff. from Bruce Carmel at Turning Point in Brooklyn, NY Jackie Coelho wrote: Shirley, I agree that an enjoyment of reading is the first step. I have been reading small novels with my Pre-GED level students for three years now. And when we finish one book, they are always quick to ask what the next will be. They really enjoy spending time discussing the characters, the issues and relating all to themselves. Last week we read a text that explains in detail why leaves change color and then fall off. The next day a student told me she had never looked at fall foliage the way she does now. If a student enjoys reading or sees a real purpose to it, he or she does it more than willingly. Jackie On 10/29/07, shirley ledet wrote: > I agree, however by the time I students get to us they need a reason to > read. Discussion brings an interest and desire to read. When very young > children are given that desire because of the way it is introduced. the > desire build, the cognitive recognition of reading, thoughts, imagination > and pleasure are place in the lexicon and "walaa" you have a reader. When > this is not done, the students sees reading as a means to end and therefore > drudgery. Telling a students to read whose mantra has become "I hate > reading" " I was never good at reading" "I always fail reading" is > pointless. We must awaken the desire and the learning will come. With > joy.....most of the time. > Shirley > > > Wendy Quinones wrote: > Actually, all of the GED tests are reading -- even math for the most part. > I think Mary Lynn is right on! > > On 10/26/07, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > > > Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot and if > students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a skill. > The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The reason > people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do not play > the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I say, "Shut > up and read." > Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical thinking > skills which once our students know how to think in a critical thinking way > they will be successful in achieving their education and other life goals. > However, just like K-12 education, adult education is captured on the high > stakes spinning wheel of accountability which stifles creativity and > teachers teach to the test.> Toni Borge> BHCC> Adult Education & Transitions > Program> Boston, MA> Re: GED Discussion - I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success > on standardized test. We need look no further then those who have been > successful on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well rounded, enjoy > reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like "I don't know, I just > know stuff." Researchers have found that this may be the reason for > disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity between socio > economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, > faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure is to go > to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few creative > projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all subjects. > Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study for the > GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does not pay off > like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on more > creativity!> Shirley Ledet> GED Instructor> NHC-Carver> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:> Colleagues,> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the > National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, > http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. > education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive > without high academic standards AND creativity.> But many GED teachers and > administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED unless they > focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators or > policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high stakes > tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key question > on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the > panelists to address it.> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for > success? Why?> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> From: "Marie Cora">> Hi everyone,>>>> We've > had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to>> give a > quick reminder where you can get the information on this>> discussion. For > the full announcement, information on guests, and>> suggested resources go > to:>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html>>>> > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you can>> > catch up in the archives at:>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now!>>>> > Thanks!!>>>> Marie Cora>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>> __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071030/e32fc1fa/attachment.html From bcarmel at rocketmail.com Tue Oct 30 10:24:02 2007 From: bcarmel at rocketmail.com (Bruce C) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:24:02 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 1038] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <204599.61506.qm@web37905.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi Andrea Sounds interesting. I'd like to learn more. Where can I find this research? Thanks from Bruce Carmel Andrea Wilder wrote: There is brain research which shows that when the TEACHER focuses on a certain aspect of reading or learning, he STUDENT will follow this lead. Andrea On Oct 30, 2007, at 7:19 AM, Jackie Coelho wrote: > Shirley, I agree that an enjoyment of reading is the first step. I > have been reading small novels with my Pre-GED level students for > three years now. And when we finish one book, they are always quick to > ask what the next will be. They really enjoy spending time discussing > the characters, the issues and relating all to themselves. Last week > we read a text that explains in detail why leaves change color and > then fall off. The next day a student told me she had never looked at > fall foliage the way she does now. > If a student enjoys reading or sees a real purpose to it, he or she > does it more than willingly. > Jackie > > On 10/29/07, shirley ledet wrote: >> I agree, however by the time I students get to us they need a reason >> to >> read. Discussion brings an interest and desire to read. When very >> young >> children are given that desire because of the way it is introduced. >> the >> desire build, the cognitive recognition of reading, thoughts, >> imagination >> and pleasure are place in the lexicon and "walaa" you have a reader. >> When >> this is not done, the students sees reading as a means to end and >> therefore >> drudgery. Telling a students to read whose mantra has become "I hate >> reading" " I was never good at reading" "I always fail reading" is >> pointless. We must awaken the desire and the learning will come. With >> joy.....most of the time. >> Shirley >> >> >> Wendy Quinones wrote: >> Actually, all of the GED tests are reading -- even math for the most >> part. >> I think Mary Lynn is right on! >> >> On 10/26/07, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: >>> >>> Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot >>> and if >> students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a >> skill. >> The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The >> reason >> people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do not >> play >> the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I say, >> "Shut >> up and read." >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> ________________________________> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 >> 15:39:46 -0400> From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu> To: assessment at nifl.gov > >> Subject: [Assessment 1002] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to >> know!>> >> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical >> thinking >> skills which once our students know how to think in a critical >> thinking way >> they will be successful in achieving their education and other life >> goals. >> However, just like K-12 education, adult education is captured on the >> high >> stakes spinning wheel of accountability which stifles creativity and >> teachers teach to the test.> Toni Borge> BHCC> Adult Education & >> Transitions >> Program> Boston, MA> ________________________________> >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov >> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On >> Behalf Of shirley ledet> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM> >> To: The >> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED >> Discussion - >> what you need to know!> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of >> success >> on standardized test. We need look no further then those who have been >> successful on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally >> gifted, >> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well rounded, >> enjoy >> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like "I don't know, I >> just >> know stuff." Researchers have found that this may be the reason for >> disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity >> between socio >> economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking >> industry, >> faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends >> to offer >> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure is >> to go >> to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few >> creative >> projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all >> subjects. >> Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study >> for the >> GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does not >> pay off >> like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially >> those >> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on >> more >> creativity!> Shirley Ledet> GED Instructor> NHC-Carver> >> djrosen at comcast.net >> wrote:> Colleagues,> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy >> education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the >> National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a >> presention >> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, >> http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. >> education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be >> competitive >> without high academic standards AND creativity.> But many GED >> teachers and >> administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED >> unless they >> focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that >> creativity is a >> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, administrators >> or >> policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high >> stakes >> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key >> question >> on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite the >> panelists to address it.> Is creativity a distraction or is it >> essential for >> success? Why?> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> -------------- >> Original >> message ----------------------> From: "Marie Cora">> Hi everyone,>>>> >> We've >> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to>> >> give a >> quick reminder where you can get the information on this>> >> discussion. For >> the full announcement, information on guests, and>> suggested >> resources go >> to:>>>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ >> 07creativityGED.html>>>> >> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you >> can>> >> catch up in the archives at:>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>> >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share >> now!>>>> >> Thanks!!>>>> Marie Cora>> Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator>>>>>>>>>> >> Marie Cora>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>> NIFL Assessment >> Discussion >> List Moderator>> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>> From: >> "Marie Cora"> To:> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what >> you need >> to know!> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000> Hi everyone,> We've >> had >> several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give a >> quick >> reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For >> the full >> announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go to:> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html> >> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you >> can catch >> up in the archives at: >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html> >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share >> now!> >> Thanks!!> Marie Cora> Assessment Discussion List Moderator> Marie >> Cora> >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> NIFL Assessment Discussion List >> Moderator> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > >> -------------------------------> National Institute for >> Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To >> unsubscribe or >> change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email >> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net> >> -------------------------------> National Institute for >> Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To >> unsubscribe or >> change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email >> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com >>> >>> >> _________________________________________________________________ >>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. >>> Stop >> by today. >>> >> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? >> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline >>> ------------------------------- >>> National Institute for Literacy >>> Assessment mailing list >>> Assessment at nifl.gov >>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>> Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com >>> >> >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com >> >> > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to bcarmel at rocketmail.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071030/cb9782ce/attachment.html From andreawilder at comcast.net Tue Oct 30 11:03:05 2007 From: andreawilder at comcast.net (Andrea Wilder) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:03:05 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1039] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <204599.61506.qm@web37905.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <204599.61506.qm@web37905.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <7dd0c2b8de8bd9ac35b745d4d97b3bbd@comcast.net> McCandliss is the researcher. He talked in one part of a speech at the Learning and the Brain Conference. All sessions are recorded, so I bought some copies on CD's. McCandliss used as his example whole word learning and phonetic learning--what the teacher focuses on the student will follow. It's also the white matter, myelinated parts of axons (10,000/neuron) that send the electric/chemical signals to the next neuron. "Speed of processing" accounts for a lot of "intelligence." "The race to he swift," etc. Andrea On Oct 30, 2007, at 10:24 AM, Bruce C wrote: > Hi Andrea > Sounds interesting. I'd like to learn more. Where can I find this > research? > Thanks from Bruce Carmel > > > Andrea Wilder wrote: >> There is brain research which shows that when the TEACHER focuses on a >> certain aspect of reading or learning, he STUDENT will follow this >> lead. >> >> Andrea >> >> On Oct 30, 2007, at 7:19 AM, Jackie Coelho wrote: >> >> > Shirley, I agree that an enjoyment of reading is the first step. I >> > have been reading small novels with my Pre-GED level students for >> > three years now. And when we finish one book, they are always quick >> to >> > ask what the next will be. They really enjoy spending time >> discussing >> > the characters, the issues and relating all to themselves. Last week >> > we read a text that explains in detail why leaves change color and >> > then fall off. The next day a student told me she had never looked >> at >> > fall foliage the way she does now. >> > If a student enjoys reading or sees a real purpose to it, he or she >> > does it more than willingly. >> > Jackie >> > >> > On 10/29/07, shirley ledet wrote: >> >> I agree, however by the time I students get to us they need a >> reason >> >> to >> >> read. Discussion brings an interest and desire to read. When very >> >> young >> >> children are given that desire because of the way it is introduced. >> >> the >> >> desire build, the cognitive recognition of reading, thoughts, >> >> imagination >> >> and pleasure are place in the lexicon and "walaa" you have a >> reader. >> >> When >> >> this is not done, the students sees reading as a means to end and >> >> therefore >> >> drudgery. Telling a students to read whose mantra has become "I >> hate >> >> reading" " I was never good at reading" "I always fail reading" is >> >> pointless. We must awaken the desire and the learning will come. >> With >> >> joy.....most of the time. >> >> Shirley >> >> >> >> >> >> Wendy Quinones wrote: >> >> Actually, all of the GED tests are reading -- even math for the >> most >> >> part. >> >> I think Mary Lynn is right on! >> >> >> >> On 10/26/07, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: >> >>> >> >>> Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a >> lot >> >>> and if >> >> students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a >> >> skill. >> >> The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. >> The >> >> reason >> >> people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do >> not >> >> play >> >> the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I >> say, >> >> "Shut >> >> up and read." >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> ________________________________> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 >> >> 15:39:46 -0400> From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu> To: >> assessment at nifl.gov > >> >> Subject: [Assessment 1002] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to >> >> know!>> >> >> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical >> >> thinking >> >> skills which once our students know how to think in a critical >> >> thinking way >> >> they will be successful in achieving their education and other life >> >> goals. >> >> However, just like K-12 education, adult education is captured on >> the >> >> high >> >> stakes spinning wheel of accountability which stifles creativity >> and >> >> teachers teach to the test.> Toni Borge> BHCC> Adult Education & >> >> Transitions >> >> Program> Boston, MA> ________________________________> >> >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov >> >> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On >> >> Behalf Of shirley ledet> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM> >> >> To: The >> >> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED >> >> Discussion - >> >> what you need to know!> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of >> >> success >> >> on standardized test. We need look no further then those who have >> been >> >> successful on any type of test. We tend to use terms like >> natuarally >> >> gifted, >> >> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well rounded, >> >> enjoy >> >> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like "I don't >> know, I >> >> just >> >> know stuff." Researchers have found that this may be the reason for >> >> disparity between ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity >> >> between socio >> >> economic background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking >> >> industry, >> >> faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends >> >> to offer >> >> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure >> is >> >> to go >> >> to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few >> >> creative >> >> projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all >> >> subjects. >> >> Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study >> >> for the >> >> GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does not >> >> pay off >> >> like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; >> especially >> >> those >> >> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on >> >> more >> >> creativity!> Shirley Ledet> GED Instructor> NHC-Carver> >> >> djrosen at comcast.net >> >> wrote:> Colleagues,> I am a proponent of creativity in adult >> literacy >> >> education -- indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of >> the >> >> National Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a >> >> presention >> >> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, >> >> http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. >> >> education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be >> >> competitive >> >> without high academic standards AND creativity.> But many GED >> >> teachers and >> >> administrators believe that their students will not pass the GED >> >> unless they >> >> focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass the test, that >> >> creativity is a >> >> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, >> administrators >> >> or >> >> policy makers also believe creativity distracts from passing high >> >> stakes >> >> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key >> >> question >> >> on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I invite >> the >> >> panelists to address it.> Is creativity a distraction or is it >> >> essential for >> >> success? Why?> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> -------------- >> >> Original >> >> message ----------------------> From: "Marie Cora">> Hi >> everyone,>>>> >> >> We've >> >> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to>> >> >> give a >> >> quick reminder where you can get the information on this>> >> >> discussion. For >> >> the full announcement, information on guests, and>> suggested >> >> resources go >> >> to:>>>> >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ >> >> 07creativityGED.html>>>> >> >> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you >> >> can>> >> >> catch up in the archives at:>> >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>> >> >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share >> >> now!>>>> >> >> Thanks!!>>>> Marie Cora>> Assessment Discussion List >> >> Moderator>>>>>>>>>> >> >> Marie Cora>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>> NIFL Assessment >> >> Discussion >> >> List Moderator>> >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>> From: >> >> "Marie Cora"> To:> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what >> >> you need >> >> to know!> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000> Hi everyone,> We've >> >> had >> >> several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted to give >> a >> >> quick >> >> reminder where you can get the information on this discussion. For >> >> the full >> >> announcement, information on guests, and suggested resources go >> to:> >> >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ >> 07creativityGED.html> >> >> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you >> >> can catch >> >> up in the archives at: >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html> >> >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share >> >> now!> >> >> Thanks!!> Marie Cora> Assessment Discussion List Moderator> Marie >> >> Cora> >> >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> NIFL Assessment Discussion List >> >> Moderator> >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > >> >> -------------------------------> National Institute for >> >> Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To >> >> unsubscribe or >> >> change your subscription settings, please go to >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email >> >> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net> >> >> -------------------------------> National Institute for >> >> Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To >> >> unsubscribe or >> >> change your subscription settings, please go to >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email >> >> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com >> >>> >> >>> >> >> _________________________________________________________________ >> >>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger >> Caf?. >> >>> Stop >> >> by today. >> >>> >> >> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? >> >> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline >> >>> ------------------------------- >> >>> National Institute for Literacy >> >>> Assessment mailing list >> >>> Assessment at nifl.gov >> >>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> >>> Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com >> >>> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> >> National Institute for Literacy >> >> Assessment mailing list >> >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> >> Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> >> National Institute for Literacy >> >> Assessment mailing list >> >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> >> Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com >> >> >> >> >> > ------------------------------- >> > National Institute for Literacy >> > Assessment mailing list >> > Assessment at nifl.gov >> > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net >> > >> >> ------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Assessment mailing list >> Assessment at nifl.gov >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >> Email delivered to bcarmel at rocketmail.com > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 11354 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071030/5cf3804d/attachment.bin From mtate at sbctc.edu Tue Oct 30 11:50:07 2007 From: mtate at sbctc.edu (Michael Tate) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:50:07 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 1040] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 In-Reply-To: <1dd5701e0710300423o3addd329m81d600f61d112441@mail.gmail.com> References: <0CA6C79FCB4AC642A77B76C17A4316EE0210A7E4@exch-1.sbctc2.local> <1dd5701e0710300423o3addd329m81d600f61d112441@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <0CA6C79FCB4AC642A77B76C17A4316EE0210AAEA@exch-1.sbctc2.local> I think the term creativity confuses the issue. How many of Gardner's seven intelligences do we teach (or that get taught after the sixth grade)? Not many, if any at all. We teach a little in the logical/math and linguistic intelligences, but really very little at the metacognitive level that Gardner is talking about. Some ABE teachers get in to the inter/intrapersonal, but rarely at the meta-level. So that leaves the spatial, musical, body kinesthetic which are even more rarely used. Gardner's 8th intelligence, the naturalistic may show up in some vocational programs, but hardly ever in an ABE classroom. In this "get them to work" environment, I can't imagine a funder tolerating much of what would be labeled "touchy-feely". It's too bad, too. It takes more than having a resume and knowing how to read a tape measure to succeed in life. -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jackie Coelho Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 4:23 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1032] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 I think this goes back to the "what is creativity" question. Can a teacher teach creativity? Or can a teacher simply provide a large enough variety of information and the enthusiasm to seek out more, thus providing students with the means and motivation to apply the knowledge in creative ways? On 10/29/07, Michael Tate wrote: > > > > In all the studies I've read, when business leaders are asked what kind of > intelligence they want in a worker, they say they want intuitive thinking . > They are looking for people who can quickly size up a situation from > incomplete data, make a decision, and implement a strategy that works. > They're not looking for the painfully slow (and hugely expensive) > deliberative process that government uses. Adult education is generally > unable to offer training in creative thinking because it doesn't have > teachers who can teach creativity. That's not likely to change until adult > education is provided by a sector that values creativity higher than > consensus. > > > > Michael Tate > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On > Behalf Of Carver, Mary-Lynn > Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:23 PM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: RE: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > > > > > > Donna Chambers - > > > Well said. I am in total agreement. > > > > > > Where do we start? > > > > > > Thanks, > > > Mary Lynn Carver > > > ABE/GED Instructor > > > College of Lake County > > > Building 4, Office 405 > > > 19351 W. Washington Street > > > Grayslake, IL 60031 > > > Phone:847/543-2677 > > > mlcarver at clcillinois.edu > > > Fax: 847/543-7580 > > > > > > "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly > amused" -- Unknown > > > > > > We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping > abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to > learn. --Peter F. Drucker > > > > ________________________________ > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of assessment-request at nifl.gov > Sent: Sat 10/27/2007 11:00 AM > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > > > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > assessment at nifl.gov > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > You can reach the person managing the list at > assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Donna Chambers) > 2. [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Katherine G) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 > From: "Donna Chambers" > Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > reply-type=original > > David and All, > > Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity. Critical thinking is a > learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be nurtured, > but not necessarily learned.. In Adult Education creativity is not a > necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. > > I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment programs such > as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program. > This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be able to > do and this information has changed over the years. Most states' education > systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education seems to be > GED driven. As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass the GED. > The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment is > apparent, at least to me. > > In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of > competencies that need to be learned. Merely passing a standardized test > does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, from the > perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy makers, > passing the test has become paramount in Adult Education. Outcomes has been > translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED is > "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the GED, all > will be well. Not necessarily so! > > Adult Education needs complete reform. Let's look at what the metacognative > research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge and > skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills into all > activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a performance > based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know and be > able to do today. Passing the GED will still be an attainable measure, but > only one of many that need to be achieved. Instructors and students must > know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking > skills will lead to passing the test. A strong foundation will, more > importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school > certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in our > complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the beginning > upon entering AE programs. Learners must be given the opportunity to > understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path to skill > building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. > Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes will > be more meaningful. > > Donna Chambers > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David J. Rosen" > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 > From: "Katherine G" > Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" > > David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if > students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with > minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and > weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges > require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop. > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms, > figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods. > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes > on. > > Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED > class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If > the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the > students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that > home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not > get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach > them to think critically. > > Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't > studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can > expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the > teacher and the class). > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm > > I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students > planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have > communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we > want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include > creativity used and expected in every academic setting. > > > Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor > Prince William County Public Schools > Adult Education > P.O. Box 389 > Manassas, VA 20108 > work 703-791-8387 > fax 703-791-8889 > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On > Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > ****************************************** > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > assessment at nifl.gov > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > You can reach the person managing the list at > assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Donna Chambers) > 2. [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > (Katherine G) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:10:29 -0400 > From: "Donna Chambers" > Subject: [Assessment 1006] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: <005e01c8189a$bfe81f70$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > reply-type=original > > David and All, > > Let's not confuse critical thinking with creativity. Critical thinking is a > learned process, whereas, creativity is a mental vision and can be nurtured, > but not necessarily learned.. In Adult Education creativity is not a > necessary skill, while critical thinking should be paramount. > > I work in ASE through competency-based performance assessment programs such > as the Adult Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program. > This work has allowed me to focus on what adults need to know and be able to > do and this information has changed over the years. Most states' education > systems are moving toward being standards driven.Adult Education seems to be > GED driven. As such, is limited to just what is necessary to pass the GED. > The need for competency/proficiency based instruction and assessment is > apparent, at least to me. > > In today's world, critical thinking should be high on the list of > competencies that need to be learned. Merely passing a standardized test > does not guarantee that the adult is able to think critically. Yet, from the > perspective of the instructors, administrators, students, and policy makers, > passing the test has become paramount in Adult Education. Outcomes has been > translated to mean numbers of GED passers. Minimally passing the GED is > "good enough" as a good outcome. If the student can just pass the GED, all > will be well. Not necessarily so! > > Adult Education needs complete reform. Let's look at what the metacognative > research tells us and design a system around what essential knowledge and > skills are needed today, embedding critical thinking/reading skills into all > activities. Refocus the outcome from just passing the GED to a performance > based demonstration of competencies based on what adults need to know and be > able to do today. Passing the GED will still be an attainable measure, but > only one of many that need to be achieved. Instructors and students must > know that building a strong foundation of basic knowledge and thinking > skills will lead to passing the test. A strong foundation will, more > importantly, guarantee success for the next steps beyond high school > certification and provide the cognitive functional skills needed in our > complex world. This must be communicated to the learners from the beginning > upon entering AE programs. Learners must be given the opportunity to > understand what commitment in time and effort is needed on the path to skill > building and filling in gaps process in order to achieve their goals. > Changing the paradigm will be a win-win for everyone and the outcomes will > be more meaningful. > > Donna Chambers > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David J. Rosen" > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:53 PM > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400 > From: "Katherine G" > Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" > > David, I agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if > students are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with > minimal ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and > weigh options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges > require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop. > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. Humanities > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative forms, > figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to truly > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time periods. > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list goes > on. > > Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students in a GED > class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If > the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the > students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take that > home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might not > get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to teach > them to think critically. > > Finally, I just now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't > studied in a long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how > creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED students can > expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the > teacher and the class). > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm > > I'm a firm believer in extensive transitional services for GED students > planning to attend college, and I think it's essential to have > communications between public schools and college to make this happen if we > want GED students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include > creativity used and expected in every academic setting. > > > Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor > Prince William County Public Schools > Adult Education > P.O. Box 389 > Manassas, VA 20108 > work 703-791-8387 > fax 703-791-8889 > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On > Behalf Of David J. Rosen > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > Assessment colleagues, > > Toni asked what we mean by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a > shot. > > Is creativity a means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching > approaches will more students have more and higher academic skills, > better test scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we > want students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or > both? And where do critical skills fit in? > > I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic > skills and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both > these catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary > education (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the > opportunity to have academic skills that are strong enough to succeed > in college, strong critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable > from strong academic skills), and the skills of creative problem > solving. > > Since this is the assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > now adult secondary education programs? > > ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through standardized tests > ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and if so how? > ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is measuring > creative skills. > > If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the > greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I > agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high > stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only traditional > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills > like the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different > perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a range of > solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, a moving > image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, or > rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead to > disregard instructions or traditional paths of thinking (what we now > often describe as "thinking outside the box"). > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking > and creativity. > > I invite your comments on this. > > David J. Rosen > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote: > > > When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching critical > > thinking skills which once our students know how to think in a > > critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their > > education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 education, > > adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning wheel of > > accountability which stifles creativity and teachers teach to the > > test. > > > > Toni Borge > > > > BHCC > > Adult Education & Transitions Program > > > > Boston, MA > > > > > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet > > Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful > > on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted, > > just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like > > "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that > > this may be the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe > > there is more disparity between socio economic background then > > ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, faculty, > > medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to offer > > more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only exposure > > is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a > > quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to > > do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of time > > and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally frustrated > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would > > like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on > > more creativity! > > > > Shirley Ledet > > > > GED Instructor > > > > NHC-Carver > > > > djrosen at comcast.net wrote: > > > > Colleagues, > > > > I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -- > > indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National > > Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a presention > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education > system -- > > and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high > > academic standards AND creativity. > > > > But many GED teachers and administrators believe that their > > students will not pass the GED unless they focus on skills and > > knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers, > > administrators or policy makers also believe creativity distracts > > from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this > > issue, but it's the key question on the minds of many GED teachers > > and administrators, so I invite the panelists to address it. > > > > Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for success? Why? > > > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > > From: "Marie Cora" > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to > > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > > > suggested resources go to: > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - > > you can > > > catch up in the archives at: > > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now! > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: "Marie Cora" > > To: > > Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000 > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > > We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I > > wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the information > > on this discussion. For the full announcement, information on > > guests, and suggested resources go to: > > > > > > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html > > > > > > > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you > > can catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/ > > assessment/2007/date.html > > > > > > > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share now! > > > > > > > > Thanks!! > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Marie Cora > > > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com > > > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator > > > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net > > > > ------------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 31 > ****************************************** > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com > > ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to mtate at sbctc.edu From bcarmel at rocketmail.com Tue Oct 30 11:50:48 2007 From: bcarmel at rocketmail.com (Bruce C) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:50:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Assessment 1041] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking In-Reply-To: <2D916EB3-B229-48D1-8C81-BCEB7D8FD785@comcast.net> Message-ID: <774810.99004.qm@web37905.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Thank you David for your comments. In New York City, there are many problems with GED students who are not adequately prepared for college. While the GED exam is full of contextualized questions, entrance exams to the City University of New York (CUNY) are more abstract. Students whose instruction has been narrowly focused on passing the GED test are likely to have a tough time in college. CUNY's completion rates, especially at the community college level, support the assertion that many, many people entering college are not academically prepared. I agree with Mary Lynn that we must respect the goals of the students. All of our students say the goal is to get the GED and then go to college or get a job. If I am to respect this goal, it's my job to prepare them for that as best I can. Respecting students' goals means I share my knowledge and experience with them. They don't know that college skills are somewhat different from GED skills. It's quite a challenge to attend to their goals, but also help them broaden and clarify their goals. I don't think it's paternalistic/maternalistic to bring what I know to the classroom. We are not going to "teach to the test" and send academically unprepared people into a college setting they can't handle. From Bruce Carmel "David J. Rosen" wrote: Mary Lynn wrote: I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise. Creativity need not be nebulous. For example, here's a good definition from the Wikipedia: "Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity I am sure you can see the direct application of this kind of creativity to scoring high on the GED tests, for example in writing a good essay, and perhaps in other areas. Equally important -- for students who believe that GED preparation is the key to success in post-secondary education and some kinds of job skills training -- generating new ideas or concepts and making associations between existing ideas or concepts is essential for success. Let me return to the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, Marc Tucker's claim that if the U.S. is to be competitive, if Americans are to have good jobs, they not only need strong basic skills and some college education, but they also need to be creative, that this is the cultural edge that leads to innovation and invention, that makes the American economy strong, and will enable American workers to thrive. Some adult education students, of course, don't care about that. They want the GED for other reasons, and that's fine. Let them fast track to the test. Those who want GED prepararation for college and good jobs, however, will need more: stronger academic skills to succeed in college, and -- if Tucker is right -- skills in the mental processes to generate new ideas or concepts, and new associations between existing concepts, and perhaps other kinds of creativity. Mary Lynn, I would like to challenge the belief that we "owe [it] to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible." This has not produced good results for adult students whose goal is to succeed in college. Only a very small percentage of adult GED holders actually succeed in college, often because they lack the academic reading and writing skills, and numeracy (especially algebra) that they need to enroll in regular (not developmental) courses. Unfortunately way too many use up their college financial aide in college developmental courses and then have to drop out before achieving a certificate or degree. Many of these students will need to take the time to prepare for college in their GED preparation program, not fast track to the GED test. David J. Rosen djrosen at comcast.net On Oct 29, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise. > From: andreawilder at comcast.net > Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400 > To: assessment at nifl.gov > Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > > Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary > Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would > I see??? > would there be a real difference? > Thanks. > > Andrea > On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote: > > > Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents > > come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking > > or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and > > acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with > > the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one > > of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to > > succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is > > paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success. > > > > Thanks, > > Mary Lynn Carver > > ABE/GED Instructor > > College of Lake County > > Building 4, Office 405 > > 19351 W. Washington Street > > Grayslake, IL 60031 > > Phone:847/543-2677 > > mlcarver at clcillinois.edu > > Fax: 847/543-7580 > > > > "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be > > constantly amused" -- Unknown > > > > We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping > > abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how > > to learn. --Peter F. Drucker > > > > ________________________________ > > > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of > > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM > > To: assessment at nifl.gov > > Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > > > > > > > > Send Assessment mailing list submissions to > > assessment at nifl.gov > > > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > > assessment-request at nifl.gov > > > > You can reach the person managing the list at > > assessment-owner at nifl.gov > > > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > > than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest..." > > > > > > Today's Topics: > > > > 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills > > (David J. Rosen) > > 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > (Mary Lynn Simons) > > 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > (Andrea Wilder) > > 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills > > (David J. Rosen) > > 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J. > > Rosen) > > 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > (Donna Chambers) > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Message: 1 > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400 > > From: David J. Rosen > > Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills > > To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List , > > The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List > > , The Assessment > > Discussion List > > , The Adult English Language Learners > > Discussion > > List > > Message-ID: <1BB3689A-BB68-4D01-9B2E-5FCFC26EC3B9 at comcast.net> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > > format=flowed > > > > Colleagues, > > > > The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- > > based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms > > and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy > > videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: > > > > ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy > > tutoring) > > ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), > > ? OTAN (integrating technology) > > and > > ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL > > learners can and cannot do with literacy) > > > > I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or > > tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am > > hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for > > adult literacy education classroom videos. > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 2 > > Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000 > > From: Mary Lynn Simons > > Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Message-ID: > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" > > > > > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > > decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to > > be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to > > college or training as fast as possible. > > > > > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct > > 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - > > what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential > > in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > > college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely > > think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > > usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require > > program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, > > writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > > Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement > > creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For > > students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi > > sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into > > statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations > > are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in > > another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are > > not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the > > instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if > > the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of > > more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need > > to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline > > that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students > > who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to > > have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just > > now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a > > long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > > creativity is used in the co > > llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college > > (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the > > class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm > > believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning > > to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications > > between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > > students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > > creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine > > Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > > Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> > > work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > > Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion > > List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need > > to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > > creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > > means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will > > more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > > scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > > students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And > > where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, > > that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would > > put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and > > as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should > > provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that > > are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking > > skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and > > the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring > >> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, > >> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical > >> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in > >> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc > >> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest > >> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree > >> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high> > >> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only > >> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important > >> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and > >> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a > >> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image, > >> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language, > >> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead > >> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin > > king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>> > > Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> > > they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> > > school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> > > employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> > > successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be> > > teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking> > > and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> > > djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F > > wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching > > critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think > > in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving > > their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12 > > education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning > > wheel of>> accountability which stifle > > s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> > > BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> > > bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October > > 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: > > [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> > > I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> > > test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on > > any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just > > smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy > > reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, > > I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the > > reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more > > disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure > > to the arts, banking industry, faculty > > ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to > > offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only > > exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate > > in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend > > to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of > > time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally > > frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they > > would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> > > activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> > > more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> > > NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a > > proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all > > education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for > > Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the > > National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > >>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> > >>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without > >>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers > >>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the > >>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the > >>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many > >>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe > >>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be > >>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the > >>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the > >>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it > >>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> > >>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message > >>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> > >>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> > >>> wanted to>>> give a qu > > ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion. > > For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested > > resources go to:>>>>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > > there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > > post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > > now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > > Moderator>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > > "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what > > you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > > everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, > > and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you > > can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full > > announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go > > to:>>>>>>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? > > there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> > > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > > now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion > > List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > > Moderator>>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > > ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > > djrosen at comcast.net>> ------ > > ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > > Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > > change your subscription settings, please go to>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > > msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National > > Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings, please go to>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > > djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National > > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > > kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National > > Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings > > , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > > delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > > Stop by today. > > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 3 > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400 > > From: Andrea Wilder > > Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Message-ID: <9e32f2dbe2ba96b51be97f5819a91d2c at comcast.net> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > > format=flowed > > > > Hi Mary Lynn-- > > > > One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't > > waste their time." Is this what you are getting at? > > > > Andrea > > > > On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > > >> > >> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > >> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > >> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to > >> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to > >> college or training as fast as possible. > >> > >> > >> > >> ----------------------------------------> From: > >> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct > >> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - > >> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential > >> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to > >> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely > >> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are > >> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require > >> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know, > >> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>> > >> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > >> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > >> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement > >> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For > >> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize > >> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics > >> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to > >> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another > >> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not > >> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor > >> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students > >> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more> > >> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take > >> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we > >> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who > >> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to > >> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just > >> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a > >> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how> > >> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED > >> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent, > >> depending on the> teacher and the class). > >> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in > >> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend > >> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between > >> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED > >> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include> > >> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine > >> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County > >> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108> > >> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> > >> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > >> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen> > >> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion > >> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > >> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by > >> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > >> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will > >> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test > >> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want > >> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And > >> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does, > >> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would > >> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and > >> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should > >> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that > >> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking > >> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and > >> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the > >> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary > >> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through > >> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and > >> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education > >> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not > >> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the > >> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that > >> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for > >> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED > >> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look > >> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to > >> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent > >> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other > >> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and > >> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of > >> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > >> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. > >> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED > >> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone > >> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door > >> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should > >> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical > >> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. > >> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, > >> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean > >> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how > >> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in > >> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like > >> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes > >> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > >> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult > >> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: > >> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On > >> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> > >> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: > >> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that > >> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need > >> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of > >> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc. > >> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading, > >> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just > >> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for > >> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity > >> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the > >> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of > >> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing > >> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. > >> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those > >> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that > >> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" > >> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay > >> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; > >> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments. > >> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED > >> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> > >> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > >> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of > >> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a > >> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, > >> http:// >> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. > >> education > >> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive > >> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED > >> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not > >> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to > >> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. > >> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe > >> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be > >> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds > >> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists > >> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for > >> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> > >> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie > >> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the > >> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can > >> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement, > >> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>> > >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > >> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > >> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>> > >> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > >> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > >> Moderator>>> > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > >> "Marie Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what > >> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi > >> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day, > >> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the > >> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement, > >> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>> > >> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > >> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? > >> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at: > >> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> > >> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > >> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion > >> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > >> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > >> Moderator>>>> > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > >> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> > >> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or > >> change your subscription settings, please go to>> > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > >> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National > >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > >> settings, please go to>> > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > >> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National > >> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > >> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > >> settings, please go to>> > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to > >> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National > >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to> > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > >> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National > >> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> > >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > >> macsimoin at hotmail.com > >> > >> _________________________________________________________________ > >> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > >> Stop by today. > >> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > >> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > >> ------------------------------- > >> National Institute for Literacy > >> Assessment mailing list > >> Assessment at nifl.gov > >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > >> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > >> > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 4 > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400 > > From: "David J. Rosen" > > Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Message-ID: <0570AB67-85EE-4F24-AF0B-2E657CB60778 at comcast.net> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; > > format=flowed > > > > ....and the Web address for MLoTS is: > > > > http://www.mlots.org > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote: > > > >> Colleagues, > >> > >> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web- > >> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms > >> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy > >> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from: > >> > >> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy > >> tutoring) > >> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology), > >> ? OTAN (integrating technology) > >> and > >> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL > >> learners can and cannot do with literacy) > >> > >> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or > >> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am > >> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for > >> adult literacy education classroom videos. > >> > >> David J. Rosen > >> djrosen at comcast.net > >> > >> > >> > >> ------------------------------- > >> National Institute for Literacy > >> Assessment mailing list > >> Assessment at nifl.gov > >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > >> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 5 > > Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400 > > From: "David J. Rosen" > > Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Message-ID: <65D538BA-4A9D-42EE-A726-89161F3F5D5C at comcast.net> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed > > > > Hello Andrea, > > > > On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote: > > > >> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading > >> and 2. creativity? > > > > Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite > > unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60 > > of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far > > as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for > > creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be > > taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that > > some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that > > it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the > > kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would > > agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might > > differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in > > different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and > > in the creative problem solving of daily living. > > > > In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was > > thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as > > innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe > > Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically > > valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic > > success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education > > systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests. > > > > Are adult literacy education students (including basic education, > > secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If > > so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In > > many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even > > acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen > > it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value > > and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we > > are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should > > value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to > > nourish creativity. > > > > What do you think about this? > > > > > > * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of > > creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity: > > Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press. > > > > David J. Rosen > > djrosen at comcast.net > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 6 > > Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400 > > From: "Donna Chambers" > > Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > > Message-ID: <001f01c81958$da000530$8e5fdd48 at DH89L251> > > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252"; > > reply-type=original > > > > Mary Lynn, > > > > Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not > > suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for > > just > > "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our > > job. > > Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a > > high > > school student and be ready to transition to college level academics > > is in > > the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community > > College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they > > do. If > > the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter > > community > > college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but > > it is > > not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic > > and > > secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy. > > > > Donna Chambers > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Mary Lynn Simons" > > To: "The Assessment Discussion List" > > Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM > > Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! > > > > > > > > Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them > > accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically > > decide > > what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able > > to > > pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or > > training as fast as possible. > > > > > > > > ----------------------------------------> From: > > Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: > > assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: > > [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David, > > I > > agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if> > > students > > are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with> > > minimal > > ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh > > options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> > > require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As > > we> > > know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to > > develop.>> > > Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using> > > rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more. > > Humanities> > > courses demand students to understand and even implement creative > > forms,> > > figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to > > truly> > > understand history, they must be able to visualize different time > > periods.> > > Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which> > > graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list > > goes> > > on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students > > in a > > GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at > > all. > > If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are > > writing, if > > the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of > > more> > > formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take > > that> > > home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might > > not> > > get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue> > > higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to > > teach> > > them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay > > from > > Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past > > lives. > > The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college > > classroom as > > well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not > > to this > > extent, depending on the> teacher and the class). > > http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in > > extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend > > college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between > > public > > schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to > > succeed. > > Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected > > in > > every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online > > Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education> > > P.O. Box > > 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax > > 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From: > > assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> > > Behalf > > Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The > > Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED > > Discussion - > > what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we > > mean > > by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a > > means > > to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more > > students > > have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is > > creativity > > itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically > > prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit > > in?>> I > > would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic> > > skills > > and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these > > catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary> > > education > > (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to > > have > > academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong > > critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong > > academic > > skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is > > the > > assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary > > education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through > > standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and > > if so > > how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is > > measuring> > > creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying > > attention to > > one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of > > the > > U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus > > on > > high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only > > traditional> > > basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills> > > like > > the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different> > > perspectives, > > the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability > > to > > represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a > > metaphor or > > other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand > > and > > follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of > > thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the > > box").>> Are > > these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should> > > they be? > > Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school > > diploma as > > a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and > > self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful > > post-secondary > > learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring: > > academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I > > invite > > your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On > > Oct 26, > > 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to > > creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once > > our > > students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be > > successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals. > > However, > > just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high > > stakes > > spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and > > teachers > > teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & > > Transitions > > Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > > [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> > > Sent: > > Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion > > List>> > > Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > > know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on > > standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been > > successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally > > gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> > > rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> > > "I > > don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may > > be > > the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more > > disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure > > to > > the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part > > of > > your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing > > then > > someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My > > students > > participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get > > into > > it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste > > of > > time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally > > frustrated>> > > when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like." > > Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that > > have > > to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> > > Shirley > > Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net > > wrote:>>>> > > Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy > > education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of > > the > > National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a > > presention>> > > recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http:// > > >> > > www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->> > > and he > > includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic > > standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators > > believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus > > on > > skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>> > > "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators > > or > > policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high > > stakes > > tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key > > question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I > > invite > > the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it > > essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> > > djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original > > message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi > > everyone,>>>>>> > > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted > > to>>> > > give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> > > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> > > suggested resources go to:>>>>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>> > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - > > there > > were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please > > post > > your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>> > > Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List > > Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> > > NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: > > "Marie > > Cora" >> To: >> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you > > need to > > know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>> > > We?ve > > had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to > > give a > > quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion. > > For > > the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested > > resources go > > to:>>>>>>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/ > > 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> > > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>> > > can > > catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> > > assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also > > your > > own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > > Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> > > marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List > > Moderator>>>> > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>> > > ------------------------------->> > > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings, > > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > > delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> > > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings, > > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > > delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> > > ------------------------------->> > > National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> > > Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings, > > please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email > > delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> > > National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > > Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings, > > please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > > delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> > > National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> > > Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription > > settings, > > please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email > > delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > > Stop by > > today. > > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html? > > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > > > > > End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33 > > ****************************************** > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! Get 'em! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to bcarmel at rocketmail.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071030/a518d30e/attachment.html From MLCarver at CLCILLINOIS.EDU Tue Oct 30 13:32:27 2007 From: MLCarver at CLCILLINOIS.EDU (Carver, Mary-Lynn) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:32:27 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1042] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 48 References: Message-ID: This may be a really petty point, but I want to go on record as the Mary Lynn who COMPLETELY agrees with David Rosen and others who believe that our students need as many critical thinking and college success strategies as we can give them - at the same time they are achieving their goal of attaining a GED and becoming better readers. I find it interesting that the two Mary Lynn's have such diametric viewpoints. Any chance I could ask you to add a last initial when referring to one of us? Thanks, Mary Lynn Carver ABE/GED Instructor -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 3668 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071030/fe38801d/attachment.bin From lloyd_david at creativeworkplacelearning.org Tue Oct 30 14:34:04 2007 From: lloyd_david at creativeworkplacelearning.org (Lloyd David) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:34:04 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1043] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! In-Reply-To: <1dd5701e0710300419h22768734p27ce482309125ca6@mail.gmail.com> References: <146640.56583.qm@web90407.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <1dd5701e0710300419h22768734p27ce482309125ca6@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <001901c81b23$74ea3310$3a64a8c0@DirectorEVO> Jackie, I was very pleased to learn about your success in getting students to find enjoyment in reading. In the CWL Adult Diploma Program the first class is English, and students are required to read a short novel. In the past we have chosen "Lilies of the Field". They discussed it in class, were given quizzes, and asked to write essays on particular subjects. Afterwards they were asked to write a book report on a novel of their choice. Many picked " A Perfect Storm" and "The Joy Luck Club". Prior to reading "Lilies of the Field", most students had never read a novel in English. I believe these assignments prepared them for work in the later courses. Lloyd Lloyd David, EdD. Creative Workplace Learning 311 Washington Street Brighton, MA 02135 Tel : 617-783-6360 FAX: 617-782-0136 -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jackie Coelho Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 7:19 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1031] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know! Shirley, I agree that an enjoyment of reading is the first step. I have been reading small novels with my Pre-GED level students for three years now. And when we finish one book, they are always quick to ask what the next will be. They really enjoy spending time discussing the characters, the issues and relating all to themselves. Last week we read a text that explains in detail why leaves change color and then fall off. The next day a student told me she had never looked at fall foliage the way she does now. If a student enjoys reading or sees a real purpose to it, he or she does it more than willingly. Jackie On 10/29/07, shirley ledet wrote: > I agree, however by the time I students get to us they need a reason > to read. Discussion brings an interest and desire to read. When very > young children are given that desire because of the way it is > introduced. the desire build, the cognitive recognition of reading, > thoughts, imagination and pleasure are place in the lexicon and > "walaa" you have a reader. When this is not done, the students sees > reading as a means to end and therefore drudgery. Telling a students > to read whose mantra has become "I hate reading" " I was never good at > reading" "I always fail reading" is pointless. We must awaken the > desire and the learning will come. With joy.....most of the time. > Shirley > > > Wendy Quinones wrote: > Actually, all of the GED tests are reading -- even math for the most part. > I think Mary Lynn is right on! > > On 10/26/07, Mary Lynn Simons wrote: > > > > Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot > > and if > students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a skill. > The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The > reason people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people > do not play the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and > on. I say, "Shut up and read." > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________> Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 > 15:39:46 -0400> From: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu> To: assessment at nifl.gov > > Subject: [Assessment 1002] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to > know!>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching > critical thinking skills which once our students know how to think in > a critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving their education and other life goals. > However, just like K-12 education, adult education is captured on the > high stakes spinning wheel of accountability which stifles creativity > and teachers teach to the test.> Toni Borge> BHCC> Adult Education & > Transitions > Program> Boston, MA> ________________________________> > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of shirley ledet> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM> > To: The Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED > Discussion - what you need to know!> I agree that creativity is not > the enemy of success on standardized test. We need look no further > then those who have been successful on any type of test. We tend to > use terms like natuarally gifted, just smart, etc. If you speak to > these folks they are well rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they > tend to use terms like "I don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers > have found that this may be the reason for disparity between > ethnicity. I believe there is more disparity between socio economic > background then ethnicity. Exposure to the arts, banking industry, > faculty, medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to > offer more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only > exposure is to go to school and study hard. My students participate in a quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend to do better in all subjects. > Those that feel it is a waste of time and they just want to "study for > the GED" are generally frustrated when "all of their hard work does > not pay off like they would like." Creativity also leads to retention; > especially those activities that have to be completed in increments. > Let's bring on more creativity!> Shirley Ledet> GED Instructor> > NHC-Carver> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:> Colleagues,> I am a proponent > of creativity in adult literacy education -- indeed in all education. > As Marc Tucker, President of the National Center for Education and the > Economy, has said in a presention recently to the National Commission > on Adult Literacy, http://www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. > education system -- and he includes adult education, cannot be > competitive without high academic standards AND creativity.> But many > GED teachers and administrators believe that their students will not > pass the GED unless they focus on skills and knowledge needed to pass > the test, that creativity is a "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many > K-12 teachers, administrators or policy makers also believe creativity > distracts from passing high stakes > tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this issue, but it's the key > question on the minds of many GED teachers and administrators, so I > invite the panelists to address it.> Is creativity a distraction or is > it essential for success? Why?> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> > -------------- Original message ----------------------> From: "Marie > Cora">> Hi everyone,>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the > past day, and so I wanted to>> give a quick reminder where you can get > the information on this>> discussion. For the full announcement, > information on guests, and>> suggested resources go to:>>>> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html> > >>> If you missed the posts from yesterday - there were a couple - you > can>> catch up in the archives at:>> > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now!>>>> Thanks!!>>>> Marie Cora>> Assessment Discussion List > Moderator>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>> NIFL > Assessment Discussion List Moderator>> > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>> From: > "Marie Cora"> To:> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you > need to know!> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000> Hi everyone,> > We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I wanted > to give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this > discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and > suggested resources go to:> > http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07creativityGED.html> > If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you can > catch up in the archives at: > http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html> > Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share > now!> Thanks!!> Marie Cora> Assessment Discussion List Moderator> > Marie Cora> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> NIFL Assessment Discussion > List Moderator> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > -------------------------------> National Institute for > Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe > Literacy> or > change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to > djrosen at comcast.net> > -------------------------------> National Institute for > Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe > Literacy> or > change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to > msledet at yahoo.com > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. > > Stop > by today. > > > http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM > _OctWLtagline > > ------------------------------- > > National Institute for Literacy > > Assessment mailing list > > Assessment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > > Email delivered to teacherwendyq at gmail.com > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to msledet at yahoo.com > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to jackie.coelho at gmail.com > > ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to lloyd_david at ceilearn.com From macsimoin at hotmail.com Tue Oct 30 15:28:40 2007 From: macsimoin at hotmail.com (Mary Lynn Simons) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:28:40 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 1044] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 39 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sorry for the misunderstanding...I would not tell a student to "Shut up and read." I meant that teachers should shut up and allow their students to do what is necessary to improve reading skills, that is read. Pre-reading discussions with students are good if they activate what the student already knows about the subject. I am against too much teacher/student talk. Does talking about how to ride a horse make someone a good horse rider? It will help, but getting on the horse and riding teaches the person to ride. Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:20:52 -0500From: MLCarver at CLCILLINOIS.EDUTo: assessment at nifl.govSubject: [Assessment 1030] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 39 < wrote: Three of the GED tests are reading. If the teacher is talking a lot and if students are talking a lot, students are not reading. Reading is a skill. The reason most people read poorly is that they don't read much. The reason people type poorly is that they don't type; the reason people do not play the guitar well is that they don't play, and on and on and on. I say, "Shut up and read.">> And here lies my problem with many GED programs. There are a lot of students in GED programs who don't know HOW to read well - as a result of poor schooling or possibly a physiological learning/processing disability. They will not successfully pass the GED if we don't teach them reading strategies, information processing and (the aforementioned) critical thinking skills. I would never insult an adult student by saying "shut up and read" - it makes the assumption that anyone can do it and if they're in GED in the first place, maybe the reason is because they have a deficit in their reading skills. When we speak of metacognition, learning styles and strategies for processing materials in class, there is better comprehension, retention and higher scoring on the GED when they take it. Learning the vocabulary required for each content area is another area that boosts comprehension, so we mix decoding strategies with content area vocabulary. It takes the same amount of time to frustrate students and reinforce their lifelong humiliation in school as it does to help teach and reinforce the reading and critical thinking skills for success. I choose the latter. Thanks, Mary Lynn Carver ABE/GED Instructor College of Lake County Building 4, Office 405 19351 W. Washington Street Grayslake, IL 60031 Phone:847/543-2677 mlcarver at clcillinois.edu Fax: 847/543-7580 "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be constantly amused" -- Unknown We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. --Peter F. Drucker _________________________________________________________________ Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! http://www.reallivemoms.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM&loc=us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071030/2e28613a/attachment.html From drizikbaer at gmail.com Tue Oct 30 19:06:22 2007 From: drizikbaer at gmail.com (Daniel Rizik-Baer) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:06:22 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 1045] Family Literacy Intake Questionnaire Message-ID: <1c1b65fe0710301606o5447b915r6d152fd1c8aa66c8@mail.gmail.com> Does anyone know of a standard intake questionnaire, or a questionnaire that they have used that they feel represents the family literacy practices in the home well? I need to find something to use as an intake method for a new Parent Education Involvement Program which requires this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. -- Daniel Rizik-Baer Family Literacy Coordinator Children Youth and Family Collaborative (818) 442-4407 cell -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071030/8fa80ef3/attachment.html From tarv at chemeketa.edu Tue Oct 30 19:28:09 2007 From: tarv at chemeketa.edu (Virginia Tardaewether) Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:28:09 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 1046] Re: Family Literacy Intake Questionnaire In-Reply-To: <1c1b65fe0710301606o5447b915r6d152fd1c8aa66c8@mail.gmail.com> References: <1c1b65fe0710301606o5447b915r6d152fd1c8aa66c8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Daniel Some things I'd check: 1) the readability. I've seen a number of forms that weren't at the parents' level. 2) The function-will this form give you the information you need? 3) How inclusive is the form for all the families? This is the start of a relationship and being as inclusive as possible from the get-go can increase your retention and enrollment. So who will complete the form in the family, are all adults included, are children included, etc.? va ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daniel Rizik-Baer Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 4:06 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 1045] Family Literacy Intake Questionnaire Does anyone know of a standard intake questionnaire, or a questionnaire that they have used that they feel represents the family literacy practices in the home well? I need to find something to use as an intake method for a new Parent Education Involvement Program which requires this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. -- Daniel Rizik-Baer Family Literacy Coordinator Children Youth and Family Collaborative (818) 442-4407 cell -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071030/b3687aae/attachment.html From macsimoin at hotmail.com Tue Oct 30 21:25:43 2007 From: macsimoin at hotmail.com (Mary Lynn Simons) Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:25:43 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 1047] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking In-Reply-To: <2D916EB3-B229-48D1-8C81-BCEB7D8FD785@comcast.net> References: <69cbc825214882ee73340c228f35e01a@comcast.net> <2D916EB3-B229-48D1-8C81-BCEB7D8FD785@comcast.net> Message-ID: I still say students should get their GED as soon as possible and that it is not our job to hold students back by teaching them not only to pass the test but things we personally think they should know. We are hired to help people pass the test; that is what the taxpayers want us to do and that is why students come to the adult school in the first place. Also, I think the GED is a pretty good test. One-third of high school graduates cannot pass it. I don't know what states you all come from, but where I am in California, if someone passes the GED, that is a sign their skills are fairly high, high enough not to spend time on much remediation in the community college. The army used to prefer diploma grads to GED grads, not because the latter were less educated but because diploma grads have more stick-to-itiveness. Perhaps this is true in college also and accounts for the high college dropout rate of GED grads. ________________________________> From: djrosen at comcast.net> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:30:31 -0400> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 1035] GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking>> Mary Lynn wrote:> I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.> Creativity need not be nebulous. For example, here's a good definition from the Wikipedia:> "Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity> I am sure you can see the direct application of this kind of creativity to scoring high on the GED tests, for example in writing a good essay, and perhaps in other areas. Equally important -- for students who believe that GED preparation is the key to success in post-secondary education and some kinds of job skills training -- generating new ideas or concepts and making associations between existing ideas or concepts is essential for success.> Let me return to the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, Marc Tucker's claim that if the U.S. is to be competitive, if Americans are to have good jobs, they not only need strong basic skills and some college education, but they also need to be creative, that this is the cultural edge that leads to innovation and invention, that makes the American economy strong, and will enable American workers to thrive. Some adult education students, of course, don't care about that. They want the GED for other reasons, and that's fine. Let them fast track to the test. Those who want GED prepararation for college and good jobs, however, will need more: stronger academic skills to succeed in college, and -- if Tucker is right -- skills in the mental processes to generate new ideas or concepts, and new associations between existing concepts, and perhaps other kinds of creativity.> Mary Lynn, I would like to challenge the belief that we "owe [it] to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible." This has not produced good results for adult students whose goal is to succeed in college. Only a very small percentage of adult GED holders actually succeed in college, often because they lack the academic reading and writing skills, and numeracy (especially algebra) that they need to enroll in regular (not developmental) courses. Unfortunately way too many use up their college financial aide in college developmental courses and then have to drop out before achieving a certificate or degree. Many of these students will need to take the time to prepare for college in their GED preparation program, not fast track to the GED test.> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> On Oct 29, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:> I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.>> From: andreawilder at comcast.net>> Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>> Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>> Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary>> Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would>> I see???>> would there be a real difference?>> Thanks.>>>> Andrea>> On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote:>>>>> Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents>>> come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking>>> or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and>>> acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with>>> the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one>>> of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to>>> succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is>>> paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success.>>>>>> Thanks,>>> Mary Lynn Carver>>> ABE/GED Instructor>>> College of Lake County>>> Building 4, Office 405>>> 19351 W. Washington Street>>> Grayslake, IL 60031>>> Phone:847/543-2677>>> mlcarver at clcillinois.edu>>> Fax: 847/543-7580>>>>>> "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be>>> constantly amused" -- Unknown>>>>>> We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping>>> abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how>>> to learn. --Peter F. Drucker>>>>>> ________________________________>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>> Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM>>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>>> Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>>>>>>>>>> Send Assessment mailing list submissions to>>> assessment at nifl.gov>>>>>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>>>>> You can reach the person managing the list at>>> assessment-owner at nifl.gov>>>>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific>>> than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest...">>>>>>>>> Today's Topics:>>>>>> 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Mary Lynn Simons)>>> 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Andrea Wilder)>>> 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J.>>> Rosen)>>> 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Donna Chambers)>>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>> Message: 1>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400>>> From: David J. Rosen>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List>,>>> The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List>>>>, The Assessment>>> Discussion List>>>>, The Adult English Language Learners>>> Discussion>>> List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>> tutoring)>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>> and>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 2>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000>>> From: Mary Lynn Simons>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID:>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252">>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi>>> sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into>>> statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations>>> are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in>>> another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are>>> not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the>>> instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need>>> to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline>>> that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students>>> who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>> creativity is used in the co>>> llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college>>> (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the>>> class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm>>> believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning>>> to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications>>> between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need>>> to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring>>>> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills,>>>> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical>>>> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in>>>> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc>>>> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest>>>> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree>>>> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high>>>>> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>>> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important>>>> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and>>>> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a>>>> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image,>>>> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language,>>>> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead>>>> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin>>> king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>>>>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high>>>> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable>>>> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to>>>> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be>>>> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking>>>> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F>>> wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching>>> critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think>>> in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving>>> their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12>>> education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning>>> wheel of>> accountability which stifle>>> s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->>>>> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October>>> 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>>>>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on>>> any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just>>> smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy>>> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know,>>> I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the>>> reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to the arts, banking industry, faculty>>> ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to>>> offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only>>> exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate>>> in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend>>> to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they>>> would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>>>>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>>>>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a>>> proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all>>> education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for>>> Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the>>> National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>>>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without>>>>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers>>>>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the>>>>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the>>>>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many>>>>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the>>>>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the>>>>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message>>>>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>>>>>>> wanted to>>> give a qu>>> ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion.>>> For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested>>> resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you>>> can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full>>> announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------>>> ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings>>> , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 3>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400>>> From: Andrea Wilder>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Hi Mary Lynn-->>>>>> One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't>>> waste their time." Is this what you are getting at?>>>>>> Andrea>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize>>>> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics>>>> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to>>>> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another>>>> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not>>>> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor>>>> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students>>>> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more>>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>>> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we>>>> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who>>>> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>>> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED>>>> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent,>>>> depending on the> teacher and the class).>>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>>> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>>> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>>> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education>>>> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not>>>> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the>>>> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that>>>> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for>>>> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED>>>> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look>>>> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to>>>> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent>>>> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other>>>> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and>>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>>> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have.>>>> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED>>>> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone>>>> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door>>>> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should>>>> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical>>>> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J.>>>> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge,>>>> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean>>>> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how>>>> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in>>>> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like>>>> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes>>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>>> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult>>>> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From:>>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On>>>> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>>>>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re:>>>> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that>>>> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need>>>> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of>>>> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc.>>>> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading,>>>> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just>>>> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for>>>> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity>>>> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the>>>> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of>>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>>> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard.>>>> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those>>>> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that>>>> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED">>>> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay>>>> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention;>>>> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments.>>>> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED>>>> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>>> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>>> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy,>>>> http://>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S.>>>> education>>>> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive>>>> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED>>>> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not>>>> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to>>>> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster.>>>> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds>>>> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists>>>> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for>>>> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie>>>> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the>>>> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can>>>> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the>>>> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>>> Stop by today.>>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 4>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> ....and the Web address for MLoTS is:>>>>>> http://www.mlots.org>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>>> tutoring)>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>>> and>>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 5>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed>>>>>> Hello Andrea,>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote:>>>>>>> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading>>>> and 2. creativity?>>>>>> Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite>>> unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60>>> of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far>>> as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for>>> creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be>>> taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that>>> some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that>>> it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the>>> kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would>>> agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might>>> differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in>>> different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and>>> in the creative problem solving of daily living.>>>>>> In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was>>> thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as>>> innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe>>> Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically>>> valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic>>> success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education>>> systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests.>>>>>> Are adult literacy education students (including basic education,>>> secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If>>> so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In>>> many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even>>> acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen>>> it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value>>> and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we>>> are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should>>> value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to>>> nourish creativity.>>>>>> What do you think about this?>>>>>>>>> * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of>>> creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity:>>> Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 6>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400>>> From: "Donna Chambers">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";>>> reply-type=original>>>>>> Mary Lynn,>>>>>> Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not>>> suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for>>> just>>> "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our>>> job.>>> Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a>>> high>>> school student and be ready to transition to college level academics>>> is in>>> the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community>>> College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they>>> do. If>>> the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter>>> community>>> college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but>>> it is>>> not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic>>> and>>> secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy.>>>>>> Donna Chambers>>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----->>> From: "Mary Lynn Simons">>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide>>> what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able>>> to>>> pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or>>> training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To:>>> assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David,>>> I>>> agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if>>>> students>>> are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with>>>> minimal>>> ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh>>> options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges>>>> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As>>> we>>>> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to>>> develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities>>>> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative>>> forms,>>>> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to>>> truly>>>> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time>>> periods.>>>> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which>>>> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list>>> goes>>>> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students>>> in a>>> GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at>>> all.>>> If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are>>> writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>> that>>>> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might>>> not>>>> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue>>>> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to>>> teach>>>> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay>>> from>>> Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past>>> lives.>>> The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college>>> classroom as>>> well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not>>> to this>>> extent, depending on the> teacher and the class).>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>> public>>> schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to>>> succeed.>>> Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected>>> in>>> every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online>>> Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education>>>> P.O. Box>>> 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax>>> 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From:>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On>>>> Behalf>>> Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The>>> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED>>> Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we>>> mean>>> by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means>>> to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more>>> students>>> have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is>>> creativity>>> itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically>>> prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit>>> in?>> I>>> would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic>>>> skills>>> and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these>>> catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary>>>> education>>> (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to>>> have>>> academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong>>> critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong>>> academic>>> skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is>>> the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>> if so>>> how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is>>> measuring>>>> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying>>> attention to>>> one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of>>> the>>> U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus>>> on>>> high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>> traditional>>>> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills>>>> like>>> the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different>>>> perspectives,>>> the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability>>> to>>> represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a>>> metaphor or>>> other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand>>> and>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>> box").>> Are>>> these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be?>>> Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school>>> diploma as>>> a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and>>> self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful>>> post-secondary>>> learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring:>>> academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I>>> invite>>> your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On>>> Oct 26,>>> 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to>>> creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once>>> our>>> students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be>>> successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals.>>> However,>>> just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high>>> stakes>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>> teachers>>> teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education &>>> Transitions>>> Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>>>>> Sent:>>> Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List>>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>> know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on>>> standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been>>> successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally>>> gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>>>>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>>>>> "I>>> don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may>>> be>>> the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to>>> the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part>>> of>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>> then>>> someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My>>> students>>> participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get>>> into>>> it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste>>> of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>>>>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like.">>> Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that>>> have>>> to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>>>>> Shirley>>> Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>> wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>> the>>> National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>> presention>>>>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>> and he>>> includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic>>> standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators>>> believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus>>> on>>> skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>>>>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators>>> or>>> policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high>>> stakes>>> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key>>> question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I>>> invite>>> the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original>>> message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted>>> to>>>>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>>>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>>>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there>>> were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post>>> your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie>>> Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you>>> need to>>> know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We?ve>>> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a>>> quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion.>>> For>>> the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested>>> resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>>>>> can>>> catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>>>>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also>>> your>>> own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by>>> today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>> End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>> ******************************************>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com> Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! Get 'em!> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net _________________________________________________________________ Boo!?Scare away worms, viruses and so much more! Try Windows Live OneCare! http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/purchase/trial.aspx?s_cid=wl_hotmailnews From andresmuro at aol.com Wed Oct 31 12:09:38 2007 From: andresmuro at aol.com (andresmuro at aol.com) Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:09:38 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1048] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking In-Reply-To: References: <69cbc825214882ee73340c228f35e01a@comcast.net> <2D916EB3-B229-48D1-8C81-BCEB7D8FD785@comcast.net> Message-ID: <8C9E9EF92397B0F-A30-5EAF@WEBMAIL-DF12.sysops.aol.com> The thing is that students learn better if information relates to their knowledge and experiences. For example, in my program, students have difficulty writing. Once we get them to write about their own experiences, and teach them to do so, they become better writers. They also publish their stories. Also, our students face health barriers and want to learn about health prevention, improvement, access. They also take nutrition classes. Because they are interested in these topics, they learn fast and they remain focused and motivated. Also we have good retention. Ultimately, these topics do not deter them to learn information to pass the GED. The GED is basically having good reading, writing and math skills and test taking skills. It doesn't really matter if you teaching them to read by using the Glencoe GED book, or a health brochure, a bag of potato chips, legal information, etc. I do this workshop in which I show teachers that I can teach pretty much all the math skills for the GED using a bag of potato chips. I can also teach reading, writing and graph skills with the same bag. Thing is, bags of potato chips are fascinating to students.? They capture? their imagination and keep them focused and working on task.? They are also learning how to read nutrition labels and how to watch what they eat. So, in a sense, teaching the GED and teaching things that are not in the book are not necessarily contradictory things. Also, in my program, in every class,? we have a small percentage of students who have diabetes and don't even know about it. We do a glucose test every semester. Those who have diabetes are referred to the doctor. To us, even if these students don't pass the GED, it is a triumph. We essentially saved limbs, if not lives. In fact, most of these students do get the GED. We also have victims of domestic violence that start to get counseling, support and protection. Many of these people would never get the GED. Finally, as I said before, our students get published, which is a huge self esteem builder. You can see the student's writings at http://bordersenses.com/memorias.? Click on the books below. You can click on traducciones on the right to read the translations. Imagine a GED student who gets published and shows that to her peers, teachers, relatives. How many students ever dream of getting published or think that they have any knowledge worth sharing? Andres -----Original Message----- From: Mary Lynn Simons To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 7:25 pm Subject: [Assessment 1047] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking I still say students should get their GED as soon as possible and that it is not our job to hold students back by teaching them not only to pass the test but things we personally think they should know. We are hired to help people pass the test; that is what the taxpayers want us to do and that is why students come to the adult school in the first place. Also, I think the GED is a pretty good test. One-third of high school graduates cannot pass it. I don't know what states you all come from, but where I am in California, if someone passes the GED, that is a sign their skills are fairly high, high enough not to spend time on much remediation in the community college. The army used to prefer diploma grads to GED grads, not because the latter were less educated but because diploma grads have more stick-to-itiveness. Perhaps this is true in college also and accounts for the high college dropout rate of GED grads. ________________________________> From: djrosen at comcast.net> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:30:31 -0400> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 1035] GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking>> Mary Lynn wrote:> I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.> Creativity need not be nebulous. For example, here's a good definition from the Wikipedia:> "Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity> I am sure you can see the direct application of this kind of creativity to scoring high on the GED tests, for example in writing a good essay, and perhaps in other areas. Equally important -- for students who believe that GED preparation is the key to success in post-secondary education and some kinds of job skills training -- generating new ideas or concepts and making associations between existing ideas or concepts is essential for success.> Let me return to the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, Marc Tucker's claim that if the U.S. is to be competitive, if Americans are to have good jobs, they not only need strong basic skills and some college education, but they also need to be creative, that this is the cultural edge that leads to innovation and invention, that makes the American economy strong, and will enable American workers to thrive. Some adult education students, of course, don't care about that. They want the GED for other reasons, and that's fine. Let them fast track to the test. Those who want GED prepararation for college and good jobs, however, will need more: stronger academic skills to succeed in college, and -- if Tucker is right -- skills in the mental processes to generate new ideas or concepts, and new associations between existing concepts, and perhaps other kinds of creativity.> Mary Lynn, I would like to challenge the belief that we "owe [it] to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible." This has not produced good results for adult students whose goal is to succeed in college. Only a very small percentage of adult GED holders actually succeed in college, often because they lack the academic reading and writing skills, and numeracy (especially algebra) that they need to enroll in regular (not developmental) courses. Unfortunately way too many use up their college financial aide in college developmental courses and then have to drop out before achieving a certificate or degree. Many of these students will need to take the time to prepare for college in their GED preparation program, not fast track to the GED test.> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> On Oct 29, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:> I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.>> From: andreawilder at comcast.net>> Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>> Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>> Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary>> Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would>> I see???>> would there be a real difference?>> Thanks.>>>> Andrea>> On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote:>>>>> Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents>>> come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking>>> or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and>>> acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with>>> the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one>>> of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to>>> succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is>>> paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success.>>>>>> Thanks,>>> Mary Lynn Carver>>> ABE/GED Instructor>>> College of Lake County>>> Building 4, Office 405>>> 19351 W. Washington Street>>> Grayslake, IL 60031>>> Phone:847/543-2677>>> mlcarver at clcillinois.edu>>> Fax: 847/543-7580>>>>>> "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be>>> constantly amused" -- Unknown>>>>>> We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping>>> abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how>>> to learn. --Peter F. Drucker>>>>>> ________________________________>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>> Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM>>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>>> Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>>>>>>>>>> Send Assessment mailing list submissions to>>> assessment at nifl.gov>>>>>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>>>>> You can reach the person managing the list at>>> assessment-owner at nifl.gov>>>>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific>>> than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest...">>>>>>>>> Today's Topics:>>>>>> 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Mary Lynn Simons)>>> 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Andrea Wilder)>>> 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J.>>> Rosen)>>> 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Donna Chambers)>>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>> Message: 1>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400>>> From: David J. Rosen>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List>,>>> The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List>>>>, The Assessment>>> Discussion List>>>>, The Adult English Language Learners>>> Discussion>>> List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>> tutoring)>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>> and>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 2>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000>>> From: Mary Lynn Simons>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID:>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252">>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi>>> sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into>>> statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations>>> are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in>>> another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are>>> not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the>>> instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need>>> to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline>>> that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students>>> who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>> creativity is used in the co>>> llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college>>> (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the>>> class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm>>> believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning>>> to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications>>> between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need>>> to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring>>>> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills,>>>> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical>>>> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in>>>> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc>>>> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest>>>> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree>>>> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high>>>>> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>>> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important>>>> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and>>>> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a>>>> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image,>>>> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language,>>>> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead>>>> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin>>> king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>>>>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high>>>> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable>>>> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to>>>> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be>>>> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking>>>> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F>>> wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching>>> critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think>>> in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving>>> their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12>>> education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning>>> wheel of>> accountability which stifle>>> s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->>>>> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October>>> 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>>>>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on>>> any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just>>> smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy>>> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know,>>> I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the>>> reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to the arts, banking industry, faculty>>> ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to>>> offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only>>> exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate>>> in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend>>> to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they>>> would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>>>>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>>>>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a>>> proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all>>> education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for>>> Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the>>> National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>>>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without>>>>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers>>>>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the>>>>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the>>>>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many>>>>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the>>>>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the>>>>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message>>>>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>>>>>>> wanted to>>> give a qu>>> ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion.>>> For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested>>> resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you>>> can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full>>> announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------>>> ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings>>> , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 3>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400>>> From: Andrea Wilder>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Hi Mary Lynn-->>>>>> One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't>>> waste their time." Is this what you are getting at?>>>>>> Andrea>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize>>>> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics>>>> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to>>>> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another>>>> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not>>>> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor>>>> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students>>>> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more>>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>>> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we>>>> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who>>>> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>>> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED>>>> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent,>>>> depending on the> teacher and the class).>>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>>> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>>> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>>> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education>>>> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not>>>> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the>>>> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that>>>> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for>>>> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED>>>> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look>>>> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to>>>> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent>>>> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other>>>> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and>>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>>> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have.>>>> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED>>>> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone>>>> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door>>>> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should>>>> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical>>>> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J.>>>> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge,>>>> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean>>>> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how>>>> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in>>>> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like>>>> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes>>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>>> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult>>>> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From:>>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On>>>> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>>>>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re:>>>> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that>>>> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need>>>> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of>>>> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc.>>>> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading,>>>> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just>>>> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for>>>> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity>>>> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the>>>> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of>>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>>> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard.>>>> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those>>>> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that>>>> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED">>>> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay>>>> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention;>>>> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments.>>>> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED>>>> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>>> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>>> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy,>>>> http://>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S.>>>> education>>>> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive>>>> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED>>>> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not>>>> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to>>>> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster.>>>> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds>>>> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists>>>> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for>>>> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie>>>> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the>>>> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can>>>> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the>>>> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>>> Stop by today.>>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 4>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> ....and the Web address for MLoTS is:>>>>>> http://www.mlots.org>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>>> tutoring)>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>>> and>>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 5>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed>>>>>> Hello Andrea,>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote:>>>>>>> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading>>>> and 2. creativity?>>>>>> Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite>>> unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60>>> of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far>>> as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for>>> creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be>>> taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that>>> some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that>>> it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the>>> kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would>>> agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might>>> differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in>>> different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and>>> in the creative problem solving of daily living.>>>>>> In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was>>> thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as>>> innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe>>> Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically>>> valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic>>> success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education>>> systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests.>>>>>> Are adult literacy education students (including basic education,>>> secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If>>> so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In>>> many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even>>> acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen>>> it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value>>> and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we>>> are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should>>> value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to>>> nourish creativity.>>>>>> What do you think about this?>>>>>>>>> * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of>>> creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity:>>> Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 6>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400>>> From: "Donna Chambers">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";>>> reply-type=original>>>>>> Mary Lynn,>>>>>> Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not>>> suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for>>> just>>> "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our>>> job.>>> Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a>>> high>>> school student and be ready to transition to college level academics>>> is in>>> the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community>>> College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they>>> do. If>>> the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter>>> community>>> college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but>>> it is>>> not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic>>> and>>> secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy.>>>>>> Donna Chambers>>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----->>> From: "Mary Lynn Simons">>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide>>> what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able>>> to>>> pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or>>> training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To:>>> assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David,>>> I>>> agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if>>>> students>>> are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with>>>> minimal>>> ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh>>> options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges>>>> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As>>> we>>>> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to>>> develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities>>>> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative>>> forms,>>>> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to>>> truly>>>> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time>>> periods.>>>> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which>>>> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list>>> goes>>>> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students>>> in a>>> GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at>>> all.>>> If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are>>> writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>> that>>>> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might>>> not>>>> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue>>>> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to>>> teach>>>> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay>>> from>>> Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past>>> lives.>>> The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college>>> classroom as>>> well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not>>> to this>>> extent, depending on the> teacher and the class).>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>> public>>> schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to>>> succeed.>>> Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected>>> in>>> every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online>>> Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education>>>> P.O. Box>>> 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax>>> 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From:>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On>>>> Behalf>>> Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The>>> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED>>> Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we>>> mean>>> by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means>>> to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more>>> students>>> have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is>>> creativity>>> itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically>>> prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit>>> in?>> I>>> would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic>>>> skills>>> and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these>>> catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary>>>> education>>> (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to>>> have>>> academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong>>> critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong>>> academic>>> skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is>>> the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>> if so>>> how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is>>> measuring>>>> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying>>> attention to>>> one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of>>> the>>> U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus>>> on>>> high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>> traditional>>>> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills>>>> like>>> the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different>>>> perspectives,>>> the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability>>> to>>> represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a>>> metaphor or>>> other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand>>> and>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>> box").>> Are>>> these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be?>>> Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school>>> diploma as>>> a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and>>> self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful>>> post-secondary>>> learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring:>>> academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I>>> invite>>> your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On>>> Oct 26,>>> 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to>>> creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once>>> our>>> students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be>>> successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals.>>> However,>>> just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high>>> stakes>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>> teachers>>> teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education &>>> Transitions>>> Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>>>>> Sent:>>> Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List>>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>> know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on>>> standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been>>> successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally>>> gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>>>>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>>>>> "I>>> don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may>>> be>>> the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to>>> the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part>>> of>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>> then>>> someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My>>> students>>> participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get>>> into>>> it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste>>> of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>>>>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like.">>> Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that>>> have>>> to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>>>>> Shirley>>> Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>> wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>> the>>> National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>> presention>>>>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>> and he>>> includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic>>> standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators>>> believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus>>> on>>> skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>>>>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators>>> or>>> policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high>>> stakes>>> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key>>> question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I>>> invite>>> the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original>>> message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted>>> to>>>>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>>>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>>>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there>>> were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post>>> your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie>>> Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you>>> need to>>> know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We?ve>>> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a>>> quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion.>>> For>>> the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested>>> resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>>>>> can>>> catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>>>>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also>>> your>>> own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by>>> today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>> End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>> ******************************************>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com> Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! Get 'em!> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net _________________________________________________________________ Boo!?Scare away worms, viruses and so much more! Try Windows Live OneCare! http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/purchase/trial.aspx?s_cid=wl_hotmailnews ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071031/556d0c81/attachment.html From Tina_Luffman at yc.edu Wed Oct 31 13:04:21 2007 From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu (Tina_Luffman at yc.edu) Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:04:21 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 1049] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking In-Reply-To: <8C9E9EF92397B0F-A30-5EAF@WEBMAIL-DF12.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: Andres, Thanks so much for your posting. Our program is similarly trying to build health literacy gradually this semester, and I am going to borrow your idea on the potato chip bag as an idea generator for our classes. Who do you get to come in to do the diabetes checks? The local health department? I think this is a great idea. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu andresmuro at aol.com Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 10/31/2007 09:38 AM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To assessment at nifl.gov cc Subject [Assessment 1048] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking The thing is that students learn better if information relates to their knowledge and experiences. For example, in my program, students have difficulty writing. Once we get them to write about their own experiences, and teach them to do so, they become better writers. They also publish their stories. Also, our students face health barriers and want to learn about health prevention, improvement, access. They also take nutrition classes. Because they are interested in these topics, they learn fast and they remain focused and motivated. Also we have good retention. Ultimately, these topics do not deter them to learn information to pass the GED. The GED is basically having good reading, writing and math skills and test taking skills. It doesn't really matter if you teaching them to read by using the Glencoe GED book, or a health brochure, a bag of potato chips, legal information, etc. I do this workshop in which I show teachers that I can teach pretty much all the math skills for the GED using a bag of potato chips. I can also teach reading, writing and graph skills with the same bag. Thing is, bags of potato chips are fascinating to students. They capture their imagination and keep them focused and working on task. They are also learning how to read nutrition labels and how to watch what they eat. So, in a sense, teaching the GED and teaching things that are not in the book are not necessarily contradictory things. Also, in my program, in every class, we have a small percentage of students who have diabetes and don't even know about it. We do a glucose test every semester. Those who have diabetes are referred to the doctor. To us, even if these students don't pass the GED, it is a triumph. We essentially saved limbs, if not lives. In fact, most of these students do get the GED. We also have victims of domestic violence that start to get counseling, support and protection. Many of these people would never get the GED. Finally, as I said before, our students get published, which is a huge self esteem builder. You can see the student's writings at http://bordersenses.com/memorias. Click on the books below. You can click on traducciones on the right to read the translations. Imagine a GED student who gets published and shows that to her peers, teachers, relatives. How many students ever dream of getting published or think that they have any knowledge worth sharing? Andres -----Original Message----- From: Mary Lynn Simons To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 7:25 pm Subject: [Assessment 1047] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking I still say students should get their GED as soon as possible and that it is not our job to hold students back by teaching them not only to pass the test but things we personally think they should know. We are hired to help people pass the test; that is what the taxpayers want us to do and that is why students come to the adult school in the first place. Also, I think the GED is a pretty good test. One-third of high school graduates cannot pass it. I don't know what states you all come from, but where I am in California, if someone passes the GED, that is a sign their skills are fairly high, high enough not to spend time on much remediation in the community college. The army used to prefer diploma grads to GED grads, not because the latter were less educated but because diploma grads have more stick-to-itiveness. Perhaps this is true in college also and accounts for the high college dropout rate of GED grads. ________________________________> From: djrosen at comcast.net> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:30:31 -0400> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 1035] GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking>> Mary Lynn wrote:> I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.> Creativity need not be nebulous. For example, here's a good definition from the Wikipedia:> "Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity> I am sure you can see the direct application of this kind of creativity to scoring high on the GED tests, for example in writing a good essay, and perhaps in other areas. Equally important -- for students who believe that GED preparation is the key to success in post-secondary education and some kinds of job skills training -- generating new ideas or concepts and making associations between existing ideas or concepts is essential for success.> Let me return to the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, Marc Tucker's claim that if the U.S. is to be competitive, if Americans are to have good jobs, they not only need strong basic skills and some college education, but they also need to be creative, that this is the cultural edge that leads to innovation and invention, that makes the American economy strong, and will enable American workers to thrive. Some adult education students, of course, don't care about that. They want the GED for other reasons, and that's fine. Let them fast track to the test. Those who want GED prepararation for college and good jobs, however, will need more: stronger academic skills to succeed in college, and -- if Tucker is right -- skills in the mental processes to generate new ideas or concepts, and new associations between existing concepts, and perhaps other kinds of creativity.> Mary Lynn, I would like to challenge the belief that we "owe [it] to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible." This has not produced good results for adult students whose goal is to succeed in college. Only a very small percentage of adult GED holders actually succeed in college, often because they lack the academic reading and writing skills, and numeracy (especially algebra) that they need to enroll in regular (not developmental) courses. Unfortunately way too many use up their college financial aide in college developmental courses and then have to drop out before achieving a certificate or degree. Many of these students will need to take the time to prepare for college in their GED preparation program, not fast track to the GED test.> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> On Oct 29, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:> I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.>> From: andreawilder at comcast.net>> Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>> Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>> Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary>> Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would>> I see???>> would there be a real difference?>> Thanks.>>>> Andrea>> On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote:>>>>> Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents>>> come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking>>> or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and>>> acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with>>> the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one>>> of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to>>> succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is>>> paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success.>>>>>> Thanks,>>> Mary Lynn Carver>>> ABE/GED Instructor>>> College of Lake County>>> Building 4, Office 405>>> 19351 W. Washington Street>>> Grayslake, IL 60031>>> Phone:847/543-2677>>> mlcarver at clcillinois.edu>>> Fax: 847/543-7580>>>>>> "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be>>> constantly amused" -- Unknown>>>>>> We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping>>> abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how>>> to learn. --Peter F. Drucker>>>>>> ________________________________>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>> Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM>>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>>> Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>>>>>>>>>> Send Assessment mailing list submissions to>>> assessment at nifl.gov>>>>>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>>>>> You can reach the person managing the list at>>> assessment-owner at nifl.gov >>>>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific>>> than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest...">>>>>>>>> Today's Topics:>>>>>> 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Mary Lynn Simons)>>> 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Andrea Wilder)>>> 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J.>>> Rosen)>>> 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Donna Chambers)>>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>> Message: 1>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400>>> From: David J. Rosen>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List>,>>> The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List>>>>, The Assessment>>> Discussion List>>>>, The Adult English Language Learners>>> Discussion>>> List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>> tutoring)>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>> and>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 2>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000>>> From: Mary Lynn Simons>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID:>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252">>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi>>> sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into>>> statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations>>> are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in>>> another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are>>> not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the>>> instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need>>> to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline>>> that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students>>> who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>> creativity is used in the co>>> llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college>>> (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the>>> class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm>>> believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning>>> to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications>>> between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need>>> to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring>>>> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills,>>>> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical>>>> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in>>>> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc>>>> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest>>>> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree>>>> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high>>>>> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>>> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important>>>> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and>>>> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a>>>> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image,>>>> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language,>>>> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead>>>> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin>>> king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>>>>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high>>>> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable>>>> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to>>>> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be>>>> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking>>>> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F>>> wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching>>> critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think>>> in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving>>> their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12>>> education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning>>> wheel of>> accountability which stifle>>> s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->>>>> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October>>> 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>>>>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on>>> any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just>>> smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy>>> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know,>>> I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the>>> reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to the arts, banking industry, faculty>>> ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to>>> offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only>>> exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate>>> in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend>>> to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they>>> would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>>>>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>>>>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a>>> proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all>>> education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for>>> Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the>>> National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>>>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without>>>>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers>>>>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the>>>>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the>>>>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many>>>>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the>>>>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the>>>>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message>>>>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>>>>>>> wanted to>>> give a qu>>> ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion.>>> For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested>>> resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you>>> can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full>>> announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------>>> ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings>>> , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 3>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400>>> From: Andrea Wilder>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Hi Mary Lynn-->>>>>> One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't>>> waste their time." Is this what you are getting at?>>>>>> Andrea>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize>>>> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics>>>> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to>>>> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another>>>> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not>>>> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor>>>> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students>>>> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more>>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>>> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we>>>> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who>>>> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>>> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED>>>> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent,>>>> depending on the> teacher and the class).>>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>>> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>>> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>>> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education>>>> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not>>>> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the>>>> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that>>>> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for>>>> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED>>>> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look>>>> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to>>>> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent>>>> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other>>>> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and>>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>>> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have.>>>> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED>>>> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone>>>> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door>>>> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should>>>> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical>>>> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J.>>>> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge,>>>> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean>>>> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how>>>> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in>>>> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like>>>> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes>>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>>> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult>>>> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From:>>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On>>>> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>>>>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re:>>>> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that>>>> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need>>>> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of>>>> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc.>>>> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading,>>>> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just>>>> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for>>>> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity>>>> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the>>>> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of>>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>>> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard.>>>> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those>>>> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that>>>> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED">>>> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay>>>> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention;>>>> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments.>>>> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED>>>> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>>> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>>> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy,>>>> http://>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S.>>>> education>>>> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive>>>> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED>>>> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not>>>> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to>>>> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster.>>>> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds>>>> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists>>>> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for>>>> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie>>>> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the>>>> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can>>>> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the>>>> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>>> Stop by today.>>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov >>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 4>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> ....and the Web address for MLoTS is:>>>>>> http://www.mlots.org>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>>> tutoring)>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>>> and>>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 5>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed>>>>>> Hello Andrea,>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote:>>>>>>> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading>>>> and 2. creativity?>>>>>> Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite>>> unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60>>> of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far>>> as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for>>> creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be>>> taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that>>> some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that>>> it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the>>> kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would>>> agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might>>> differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in>>> different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and>>> in the creative problem solving of daily living.>>>>>> In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was>>> thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as>>> innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe>>> Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically>>> valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic>>> success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education>>> systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests.>>>>>> Are adult literacy education students (including basic education,>>> secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If>>> so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In>>> many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even>>> acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen>>> it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value>>> and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we>>> are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should>>> value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to>>> nourish creativity.>>>>>> What do you think about this?>>>>>>>>> * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of>>> creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity:>>> Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 6>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400>>> From: "Donna Chambers">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";>>> reply-type=original>>>>>> Mary Lynn,>>>>>> Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not>>> suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for>>> just>>> "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our>>> job.>>> Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a>>> high>>> school student and be ready to transition to college level academics>>> is in>>> the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community>>> College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they>>> do. If>>> the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter>>> community>>> college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but>>> it is>>> not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic>>> and>>> secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy.>>>>>> Donna Chambers>>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----->>> From: "Mary Lynn Simons">>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide>>> what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able>>> to>>> pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or>>> training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To:>>> assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David,>>> I>>> agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if>>>> students>>> are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with>>>> minimal>>> ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh>>> options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges>>>> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As>>> we>>>> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to>>> develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities>>>> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative>>> forms,>>>> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to>>> truly>>>> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time>>> periods.>>>> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which>>>> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list>>> goes>>>> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students>>> in a>>> GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at>>> all.>>> If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are>>> writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>> that>>>> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might>>> not>>>> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue>>>> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to>>> teach>>>> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay>>> from>>> Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past>>> lives.>>> The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college>>> classroom as>>> well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not>>> to this>>> extent, depending on the> teacher and the class).>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>> public>>> schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to>>> succeed.>>> Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected>>> in>>> every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online>>> Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education>>>> P.O. Box>>> 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax>>> 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From:>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On>>>> Behalf>>> Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The>>> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED>>> Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we>>> mean>>> by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means>>> to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more>>> students>>> have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is>>> creativity>>> itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically>>> prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit>>> in?>> I>>> would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic>>>> skills>>> and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these>>> catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary>>>> education>>> (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to>>> have>>> academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong>>> critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong>>> academic>>> skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is>>> the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>> if so>>> how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is>>> measuring>>>> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying>>> attention to>>> one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of>>> the>>> U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus>>> on>>> high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>> traditional>>>> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills>>>> like>>> the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different>>>> perspectives,>>> the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability>>> to>>> represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a>>> metaphor or>>> other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand>>> and>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>> box").>> Are>>> these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be?>>> Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school>>> diploma as>>> a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and>>> self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful>>> post-secondary>>> learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring:>>> academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I>>> invite>>> your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On>>> Oct 26,>>> 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to>>> creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once>>> our>>> students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be>>> successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals.>>> However,>>> just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high>>> stakes>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>> teachers>>> teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education &>>> Transitions>>> Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>>>>> Sent:>>> Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List>>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>> know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on>>> standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been>>> successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally>>> gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>>>>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>>>>> "I>>> don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may>>> be>>> the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to>>> the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part>>> of>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>> then>>> someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My>>> students>>> participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get>>> into>>> it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste>>> of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>>>>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like.">>> Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that>>> have>>> to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>>>>> Shirley>>> Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>> wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>> the>>> National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>> presention>>>>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>> and he>>> includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic>>> standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators>>> believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus>>> on>>> skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>>>>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators>>> or>>> policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high>>> stakes>>> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key>>> question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I>>> invite>>> the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original>>> message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted>>> to>>>>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>>>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>>>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there>>> were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post>>> your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment >>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie>>> Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you>>> need to>>> know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We?ve>>> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a>>> quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion.>>> For>>> the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested>>> resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>>>>> can>>> catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>>>>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also>>> your>>> own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by>>> today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html ?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov >>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>> End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>> ******************************************>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com> Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! Get 'em!> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net _________________________________________________________________ Boo! Scare away worms, viruses and so much more! Try Windows Live OneCare! http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/purchase/trial.aspx?s_cid=wl_hotmailnews ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tina_luffman at yc.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071031/cc249d05/attachment.html From andresmuro at aol.com Wed Oct 31 15:54:15 2007 From: andresmuro at aol.com (andresmuro at aol.com) Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:54:15 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1050] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <8C9EA0EF36D0A3D-4A0-DDB@FWM-M11.sysops.aol.com> Tina: We get different entities to do health screenings. We also have a health literacy instructor who goes to all the classes for about a week and teaches health education in a GED format. We refer students to health clinics for further check-ups. We have been incorporating health literacy into GED instruction for quite a while. Please send me an email, or call me if you need additional ideas. My number is (915) 831-4161. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Tina_Luffman at yc.edu To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:04 am Subject: [Assessment 1049] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking Andres, Thanks so much for your posting. Our program is similarly trying to build health literacy gradually this semester, and I am going to borrow your idea on the potato chip bag as an idea generator for our classes. Who do you get to come in to do the diabetes checks? The local health department? I think this is a great idea. Tina Tina Luffman Coordinator, Developmental Education Verde Valley Campus 928-634-6544 tina_luffman at yc.edu andresmuro at aol.com Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 10/31/2007 09:38 AM Please respond to The Assessment Discussion List To assessment at nifl.gov cc Subject [Assessment 1048] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking The thing is that students learn better if information relates to their knowledge and experiences. For example, in my program, students have difficulty writing. Once we get them to write about their own experiences, and teach them to do so, they become better writers. They also publish their stories. Also, our students face health barriers and want to learn about health prevention, improvement, access. They also take nutrition classes. Because they are interested in these topics, they learn fast and they remain focused and motivated. Also we have good retention. Ultimately, these topics do not deter them to learn information to pass the GED. The GED is basically having good reading, writing and math skills and test taking skills. It doesn't really matter if you teaching them to read by using the Glencoe GED book, or a health brochure, a bag of potato chips, legal information, etc. I do this workshop in which I show teachers that I can teach pretty much all the math skills for the GED using a bag of potato chips. I can also teach reading, writing and graph skills with the same bag. Thing is, bags of potato chips are fascinating to students. ?They capture ?their imagination and keep them focused and working on task. ?They are also learning how to read nutrition labels and how to watch what they eat. So, in a sense, teaching the GED and teaching things that are not in the book are not necessarily contradictory things. Also, in my program, in every class, ?we have a small percentage of students who have diabetes and don't even know about it. We do a glucose test every semester. Those who have diabetes are referred to the doctor. To us, even if these students don't pass the GED, it is a triumph. We essentially saved limbs, if not lives. In fact, most of these students do get the GED. We also have victims of domestic violence that start to get counseling, support and protection. Many of these people would never get the GED. Finally, as I said before, our students get published, which is a huge self esteem builder. You can see the student's writings at http://bordersenses.com/memorias. ?Click on the books below. You can click on traducciones on the right to read the translations. Imagine a GED student who gets published and shows that to her peers, teachers, relatives. How many students ever dream of getting published or think that they have any knowledge worth sharing? Andres -----Original Message----- From: Mary Lynn Simons To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 7:25 pm Subject: [Assessment 1047] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking I still say students should get their GED as soon as possible and that it is not our job to hold students back by teaching them not only to pass the test but things we personally think they should know. We are hired to help people pass the test; that is what the taxpayers want us to do and that is why students come to the adult school in the first place. ?Also, I think the GED is a pretty good test. One-third of ?high school graduates cannot pass it. I don't know what states you all come from, but where I am in California, if someone passes the GED, that is a sign their skills are fairly high, high enough not to spend time on much remediation in the community college. The army used to prefer diploma grads to GED grads, not because the latter were less educated but because diploma grads have more stick-to-itiveness. Perhaps this is true in college also and accounts for the high college dropout rate of GED grads. ________________________________> From: djrosen at comcast.net> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:30:31 -0400> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 1035] GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking>> Mary Lynn wrote:> I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.> Creativity need not be nebulous. For example, here's a good definition from the Wikipedia:> "Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity> I am sure you can see the direct application of this kind of creativity to scoring high on the GED tests, for example in writing a good essay, and perhaps in other areas. Equally important -- for students who believe that GED preparation is the key to success in post-secondary education and some kinds of job skills training -- generating new ideas or concepts and making associations between existing ideas or concepts is essential for success.> Let me return to the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, Marc Tucker's claim that if the U.S. is to be competitive, if Americans are to have good jobs, they not only need strong basic skills and some college education, but they also need to be creative, that this is the cultural edge that leads to innovation and invention, that makes the American economy strong, and will enable American workers to thrive. Some adult education students, of course, don't care about that. They want the GED for other reasons, and that's fine. Let them fast track to the test. Those who want GED prepararation for college and good jobs, however, will need more: stronger academic skills to succeed in college, and -- if Tucker is right -- skills in the mental processes to generate new ideas or concepts, and new associations between existing concepts, and perhaps other kinds of creativity.> Mary Lynn, I would like to challenge the belief that we "owe [it] to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible." This has not produced good results for adult students whose goal is to succeed in college. Only a very small percentage of adult GED holders actually succeed in college, often because they lack the academic reading and writing skills, and numeracy (especially algebra) that they need to enroll in regular (not developmental) courses. Unfortunately way too many use up their college financial aide in college developmental courses and then have to drop out before achieving a certificate or degree. Many of these students will need to take the time to prepare for college in their GED preparation program, not fast track to the GED test.> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> On Oct 29, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:> I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.>> From: andreawilder at comcast.net>> Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>> Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>> Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary>> Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would>> I see???>> would there be a real difference?>> Thanks.>>>> Andrea>> On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote:>>>>> Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents>>> come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking>>> or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and>>> acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with>>> the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one>>> of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to>>> succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is>>> paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success.>>>>>> Thanks,>>> Mary Lynn Carver>>> ABE/GED Instructor>>> College of Lake County>>> Building 4, Office 405>>> 19351 W. Washington Street>>> Grayslake, IL 60031>>> Phone:847/543-2677>>> mlcarver at clcillinois.edu>>> Fax: 847/543-7580>>>>>> "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be>>> constantly amused" -- Unknown>>>>>> We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping>>> abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how>>> to learn. --Peter F. Drucker>>>>>> ________________________________>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>> Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM>>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>>> Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>>>>>>>>>> Send Assessment mailing list submissions to>>> assessment at nifl.gov>>>>>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>>>>> You can reach the person managing the list at>>> assessment-owner at nifl.gov>>>>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific>>> than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest...">>>>>>>>> Today's Topics:>>>>>> 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Mary Lynn Simons)>>> 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Andrea Wilder)>>> 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J.>>> Rosen)>>> 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Donna Chambers)>>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>> Message: 1>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400>>> From: David J. Rosen>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List>,>>> The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List>>>>, The Assessment>>> Discussion List>>>>, The Adult English Language Learners>>> Discussion>>> List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>> tutoring)>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>> and>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 2>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000>>> From: Mary Lynn Simons>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID:>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252">>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi>>> sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into>>> statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations>>> are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in>>> another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are>>> not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the>>> instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need>>> to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline>>> that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students>>> who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>> creativity is used in the co>>> llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college>>> (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the>>> class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm>>> believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning>>> to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications>>> between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need>>> to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring>>>> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills,>>>> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical>>>> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in>>>> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc>>>> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest>>>> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree>>>> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high>>>>> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>>> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important>>>> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and>>>> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a>>>> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image,>>>> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language,>>>> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead>>>> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin>>> king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>>>>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high>>>> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable>>>> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to>>>> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be>>>> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking>>>> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F>>> wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching>>> critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think>>> in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving>>> their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12>>> education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning>>> wheel of>> accountability which stifle>>> s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->>>>> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October>>> 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>>>>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on>>> any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just>>> smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy>>> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know,>>> I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the>>> reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to the arts, banking industry, faculty>>> ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to>>> offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only>>> exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate>>> in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend>>> to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they>>> would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>>>>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>>>>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a>>> proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all>>> education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for>>> Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the>>> National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>>; www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>>>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without>>>>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers>>>>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the>>>>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the>>>>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many>>>>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the>>>>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the>>>>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message>>>>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>>>>>>> wanted to>>> give a qu>>> ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion.>>> For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested>>> resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you>>> can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full>>> announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------>>> ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings>>> , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 3>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400>>> From: Andrea Wilder>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Hi Mary Lynn-->>>>>> One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't>>> waste their time." Is this what you are getting at?>>>>>> Andrea>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize>>>> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics>>>> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to>>>> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another>>>> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not>>>> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor>>>> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students>>>> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more>>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>>> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we>>>> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who>>>> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>>> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED>>>> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent,>>>> depending on the> teacher and the class).>>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>>> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>>> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>>> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education>>>> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not>>>> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the>>>> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that>>>> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for>>>> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED>>>> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look>>>> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to>>>> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent>>>> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other>>>> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and>>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>>> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have.>>>> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED>>>> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone>>>> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door>>>> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should>>>> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical>>>> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J.>>>> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge,>>>> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean>>>> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how>>>> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in>>>> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like>>>> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes>>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>>> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult>>>> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From:>>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On>>>> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>>>>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re:>>>> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that>>>> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need>>>> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of>>>> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc.>>>> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading,>>>> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just>>>> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for>>>> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity>>>> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the>>>> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of>>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>>> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard.>>>> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those>>>> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that>>>> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED">>>> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay>>>> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention;>>>> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments.>>>> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED>>>> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>>> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>>> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy,>>>> http://>>; www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S.>>>> education>>>> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive>>>> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED>>>> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not>>>> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to>>>> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster.>>>> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds>>>> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists>>>> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for>>>> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie>>>> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the>>>> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can>>>> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the>>>> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>>> Stop by today.>>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 4>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> ....and the Web address for MLoTS is:>>>>>> http://www.mlots.org>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>>> tutoring)>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>>> and>>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 5>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed>>>>>> Hello Andrea,>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote:>>>>>>> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading>>>> and 2. creativity?>>>>>> Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite>>> unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60>>> of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far>>> as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for>>> creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be>>> taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that>>> some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that>>> it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the>>> kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would>>> agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might>>> differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in>>> different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and>>> in the creative problem solving of daily living.>>>>>> In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was>>> thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as>>> innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe>>> Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically>>> valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic>>> success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education>>> systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests.>>>>>> Are adult literacy education students (including basic education,>>> secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If>>> so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In>>> many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even>>> acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen>>> it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value>>> and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we>>> are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should>>> value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to>>> nourish creativity.>>>>>> What do you think about this?>>>>>>>>> * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of>>> creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity:>>> Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 6>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400>>> From: "Donna Chambers">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";>>> reply-type=original>>>>>> Mary Lynn,>>>>>> Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not>>> suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for>>> just>>> "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our>>> job.>>> Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a>>> high>>> school student and be ready to transition to college level academics>>> is in>>> the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community>>> College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they>>> do. If>>> the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter>>> community>>> college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but>>> it is>>> not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic>>> and>>> secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy.>>>>>> Donna Chambers>>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----->>> From: "Mary Lynn Simons">>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide>>> what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able>>> to>>> pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or>>> training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To:>>> assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David,>>> I>>> agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if>>>> students>>> are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with>>>> minimal>>> ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh>>> options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges>>>> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As>>> we>>>> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to>>> develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities>>>> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative>>> forms,>>>> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to>>> truly>>>> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time>>> periods.>>>> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which>>>> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list>>> goes>>>> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students>>> in a>>> GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at>>> all.>>> If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are>>> writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>> that>>>> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might>>> not>>>> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue>>>> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to>>> teach>>>> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay>>> from>>> Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past>>> lives.>>> The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college>>> classroom as>>> well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not>>> to this>>> extent, depending on the> teacher and the class).>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>> public>>> schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to>>> succeed.>>> Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected>>> in>>> every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online>>> Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education>>>> P.O. Box>>> 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax>>> 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From:>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On>>>> Behalf>>> Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The>>> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED>>> Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we>>> mean>>> by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means>>> to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more>>> students>>> have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is>>> creativity>>> itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically>>> prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit>>> in?>> I>>> would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic>>>> skills>>> and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these>>> catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary>>>> education>>> (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to>>> have>>> academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong>>> critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong>>> academic>>> skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is>>> the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>> if so>>> how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is>>> measuring>>>> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying>>> attention to>>> one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of>>> the>>> U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus>>> on>>> high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>> traditional>>>> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills>>>> like>>> the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different>>>> perspectives,>>> the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability>>> to>>> represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a>>> metaphor or>>> other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand>>> and>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>> box").>> Are>>> these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be?>>> Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school>>> diploma as>>> a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and>>> self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful>>> post-secondary>>> learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring:>>> academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I>>> invite>>> your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On>>> Oct 26,>>> 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to>>> creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once>>> our>>> students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be>>> successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals.>>> However,>>> just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high>>> stakes>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>> teachers>>> teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education &>>> Transitions>>> Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>>>>> Sent:>>> Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List>>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>> know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on>>> standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been>>> successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally>>> gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>>>>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>>>>> "I>>> don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may>>> be>>> the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to>>> the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part>>> of>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>> then>>> someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My>>> students>>> participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get>>> into>>> it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste>>> of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>>>>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like.">>> Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that>>> have>>> to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>>>>> Shirley>>> Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>> wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>> the>>> National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>> presention>>>>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>>>>>; www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>> and he>>> includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic>>> standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators>>> believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus>>> on>>> skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>>>>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators>>> or>>> policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high>>> stakes>>> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key>>> question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I>>> invite>>> the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original>>> message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted>>> to>>>>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>>>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>>>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there>>> were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post>>> your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie>>> Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you>>> need to>>> know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We?ve>>> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a>>> quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion.>>> For>>> the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested>>> resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>>>>> can>>> catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>>>>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also>>> your>>> own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by>>> today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>> End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>> ******************************************>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com> Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! Get 'em!> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net _________________________________________________________________ Boo! Scare away worms, viruses and so much more! Try Windows Live OneCare! http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/purchase/trial.aspx?s_cid=wl_hotmailnews ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to tina_luffman at yc.edu ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071031/9f2cb907/attachment.html From PTyler at msde.state.md.us Wed Oct 31 16:45:03 2007 From: PTyler at msde.state.md.us (Patricia Tyler) Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:45:03 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1051] Re: Family Literacy Intake Questionnaire In-Reply-To: <1c1b65fe0710301606o5447b915r6d152fd1c8aa66c8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <2433CF3169B9054193EB844AC38230CC0AFCB44A@msebex1.msde.net> Daniel: In Maryland, we developed a simple Family Literacy Intake Survey that establishes a baseline of family literacy practices. The questions regard how much time is spent reading with children, and how often parents visit the library with children, and what children's books or magazines they have acquired for their homes. Additionally the survey queries how often they have met with their children's teachers (or child care professional), how often they have helped with school work (in class or homework), and how often they have participated in school activities. As with any Intake process, the expectation is that it would be completed (either in group or individually) with guidance from staff. As stated, this survey establishes a baseline at intake. Measurement of increases in these activities is another issue. Logging of the various activities your program strives to promote is a first step, but a log of activity may not provide the level of documentation you need. In order to more substantially document a parent's reading with children for example, some of our programs use a form that the parent completes with the date and time the parent read to the child, name of the book, some information about the plot or theme of the book, whether the child liked the book, and a statement of the parent's opinion of the book (why they did or did not like the book for their child). Another activity that is well documented by some of our Maryland Family Literacy grantees is meeting with the child(ren)'s teacher(s). Prior to the conferences, parents are assisted with planning for the conference and articulating the questions they would like to ask. The parents fill out a form with some of the basics of the conference (date, time, location, teacher's name, subjects to be discussed), take it to the conference and obtain the teacher's signature. This works well in a program where the school staff is very familiar with the Family Literacy program. Both of these methods of documenting the activities serve as contextual learning opportunities for the parents. Patricia Tyler Adult Education and Family Literacy Specialist Maryland State Department of Education ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Daniel Rizik-Baer Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 6:06 PM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 1045] Family Literacy Intake Questionnaire Does anyone know of a standard intake questionnaire, or a questionnaire that they have used that they feel represents the family literacy practices in the home well? I need to find something to use as an intake method for a new Parent Education Involvement Program which requires this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. -- Daniel Rizik-Baer Family Literacy Coordinator Children Youth and Family Collaborative (818) 442-4407 cell -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071031/36cda3f3/attachment.html From jrethlake at hcde-texas.org Thu Nov 1 00:24:59 2007 From: jrethlake at hcde-texas.org (Joanie Rethlake) Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:24:59 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1052] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking In-Reply-To: <8C9E9EF92397B0F-A30-5EAF@WEBMAIL-DF12.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: Bravo for being a creative educator and retaining your students!! Joanie Rethlake, Texas LEARNS ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 10:10 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 1048] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking The thing is that students learn better if information relates to their knowledge and experiences. For example, in my program, students have difficulty writing. Once we get them to write about their own experiences, and teach them to do so, they become better writers. They also publish their stories. Also, our students face health barriers and want to learn about health prevention, improvement, access. They also take nutrition classes. Because they are interested in these topics, they learn fast and they remain focused and motivated. Also we have good retention. Ultimately, these topics do not deter them to learn information to pass the GED. The GED is basically having good reading, writing and math skills and test taking skills. It doesn't really matter if you teaching them to read by using the Glencoe GED book, or a health brochure, a bag of potato chips, legal information, etc. I do this workshop in which I show teachers that I can teach pretty much all the math skills for the GED using a bag of potato chips. I can also teach reading, writing and graph skills with the same bag. Thing is, bags of potato chips are fascinating to students. They capture their imagination and keep them focused and working on task. They are also learning how to read nutrition labels and how to watch what they eat. So, in a sense, teaching the GED and teaching things that are not in the book are not necessarily contradictory things. Also, in my program, in every class, we have a small percentage of students who have diabetes and don't even know about it. We do a glucose test every semester. Those who have diabetes are referred to the doctor. To us, even if these students don't pass the GED, it is a triumph. We essentially saved limbs, if not lives. In fact, most of these students do get the GED. We also have victims of domestic violence that start to get counseling, support and protection. Many of these people would never get the GED. Finally, as I said before, our students get published, which is a huge self esteem builder. You can see the student's writings at http://bordersenses.com/memorias. Click on the books below. You can click on traducciones on the right to read the translations. Imagine a GED student who gets published and shows that to her peers, teachers, relatives. How many students ever dream of getting published or think that they have any knowledge worth sharing? Andres -----Original Message----- From: Mary Lynn Simons To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 7:25 pm Subject: [Assessment 1047] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking I still say students should get their GED as soon as possible and that it is not our job to hold students back by teaching them not only to pass the test but things we personally think they should know. We are hired to help people pass the test; that is what the taxpayers want us to do and that is why students come to the adult school in the first place. Also, I think the GED is a pretty good test. One-third of high school graduates cannot pass it. I don't know what states you all come from, but where I am in California, if someone passes the GED, that is a sign their skills are fairly high, high enough not to spend time on much remediation in the community college. The army used to prefer diploma grads to GED grads, not because the latter were less educated but because diploma grads have more stick-to-itiveness. Perhaps this is true in college also and accounts for the high college dropout rate of GED grads. ________________________________> From: djrosen at comcast.net> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:30:31 -0400> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 1035] GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking>> Mary Lynn wrote:> I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.> Creativity need not be nebulous. For example, here's a good definition from the Wikipedia:> "Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity> I am sure you can see the direct application of this kind of creativity to scoring high on the GED tests, for example in writing a good essay, and perhaps in other areas. Equally important -- for students who believe that GED preparation is the key to success in post-secondary education and some kinds of job skills training -- generating new ideas or concepts and making associations between existing ideas or concepts is essential for success.> Let me return to the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, Marc Tucker's claim that if the U.S. is to be competitive, if Americans are to have good jobs, they not only need strong basic skills and some college education, but they also need to be creative, that this is the cultural edge that leads to innovation and invention, that makes the American economy strong, and will enable American workers to thrive. Some adult education students, of course, don't care about that. They want the GED for other reasons, and that's fine. Let them fast track to the test. Those who want GED prepararation for college and good jobs, however, will need more: stronger academic skills to succeed in college, and -- if Tucker is right -- skills in the mental processes to generate new ideas or concepts, and new associations between existing concepts, and perhaps other kinds of creativity.> Mary Lynn, I would like to challenge the belief that we "owe [it] to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible." This has not produced good results for adult students whose goal is to succeed in college. Only a very small percentage of adult GED holders actually succeed in college, often because they lack the academic reading and writing skills, and numeracy (especially algebra) that they need to enroll in regular (not developmental) courses. Unfortunately way too many use up their college financial aide in college developmental courses and then have to drop out before achieving a certificate or degree. Many of these students will need to take the time to prepare for college in their GED preparation program, not fast track to the GED test.> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> On Oct 29, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:> I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.>> From: andreawilder at comcast.net>> Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>> Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>> Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary>> Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would>> I see???>> would there be a real difference?>> Thanks.>>>> Andrea>> On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote:>>>>> Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents>>> come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking>>> or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and>>> acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with>>> the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one>>> of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to>>> succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is>>> paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success.>>>>>> Thanks,>>> Mary Lynn Carver>>> ABE/GED Instructor>>> College of Lake County>>> Building 4, Office 405>>> 19351 W. Washington Street>>> Grayslake, IL 60031>>> Phone:847/543-2677>>> mlcarver at clcillinois.edu>>> Fax: 847/543-7580>>>>>> "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be>>> constantly amused" -- Unknown>>>>>> We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping>>> abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how>>> to learn. --Peter F. Drucker>>>>>> ________________________________>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>> Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM>>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>>> Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>>>>>>>>>> Send Assessment mailing list submissions to>>> assessment at nifl.gov>>>>>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>>>>> You can reach the person managing the list at>>> assessment-owner at nifl.gov>>>>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific>>> than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest...">>>>>>>>> Today's Topics:>>>>>> 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Mary Lynn Simons)>>> 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Andrea Wilder)>>> 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J.>>> Rosen)>>> 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Donna Chambers)>>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------->> >>>> Message: 1>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400>>> From: David J. Rosen>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List>,>>> The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List>>>>, The Assessment>>> Discussion List>>>>, The Adult English Language Learners>>> Discussion>>> List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>> tutoring)>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>> and>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 2>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000>>> From: Mary Lynn Simons>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID:>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252">>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi>>> sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into>>> statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations>>> are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in>>> another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are>>> not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the>>> instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need>>> to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline>>> that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students>>> who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>> creativity is used in the co>>> llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college>>> (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the>>> class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm>>> believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning>>> to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications>>> between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On > Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need>>> to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring>>>> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills,>>>> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical>>>> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in>>>> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc>>>> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest>>>> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree>>>> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high>>>>> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>>> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important>>>> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and>>>> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a>>>> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image,>>>> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language,>>>> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead>>>> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin>>> king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>>>>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high>>>> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable>>>> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to>>>> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be>>>> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking>>>> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F>>> wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching>>> critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think>>> in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving>>> their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12>>> education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning>>> wheel of>> accountability which stifle>>> s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- >>>>> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October>>> 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>>>>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on>>> any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just>>> smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy>>> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know,>>> I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the>>> reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to the arts, banking industry, faculty>>> ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to>>> offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only>>> exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate>>> in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend>>> to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they>>> would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>>>>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>>>>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a>>> proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all>>> education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for>>> Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the>>> National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>>>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without>>>>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers>>>>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the>>>>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the>>>>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many>>>>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the>>>>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the>>>>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message>>>>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>>>>>>> wanted to>>> give a qu>>> ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion.>>> For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested>>> resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you>>> can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full>>> announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------>>> ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings>>> , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 3>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400>>> From: Andrea Wilder>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Hi Mary Lynn-->>>>>> One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't>>> waste their time." Is this what you are getting at?>>>>>> Andrea>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize>>>> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics>>>> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to>>>> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another>>>> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not>>>> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor>>>> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students>>>> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more>>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>>> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we>>>> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who>>>> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>>> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED>>>> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent,>>>> depending on the> teacher and the class).>>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>>> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On > Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>>> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>>> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education>>>> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not>>>> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the>>>> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that>>>> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for>>>> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED>>>> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look>>>> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to>>>> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent>>>> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other>>>> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and>>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>>> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have.>>>> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED>>>> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone>>>> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door>>>> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should>>>> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical>>>> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J.>>>> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge,>>>> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean>>>> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how>>>> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in>>>> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like>>>> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes>>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>>> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult>>>> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From:>>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment- >> bounces at nifl.gov] On>>>> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>>>>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re:>>>> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that>>>> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need>>>> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of>>>> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc.>>>> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading,>>>> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just>>>> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for>>>> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity>>>> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the>>>> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of>>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>>> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard.>>>> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those>>>> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that>>>> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED">>>> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay>>>> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention;>>>> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments.>>>> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED>>>> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>>> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>>> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy,>>>> http://>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S.>>>> education>>>> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive>>>> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED>>>> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not>>>> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to>>>> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster.>>>> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds>>>> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists>>>> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for>>>> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie>>>> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the>>>> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can>>>> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the>>>> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>>> Stop by today.>>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 4>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> ....and the Web address for MLoTS is:>>>>>> http://www.mlots.org>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>>> tutoring)>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>>> and>>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 5>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed>>>>>> Hello Andrea,>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote:>>>>>>> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading>>>> and 2. creativity?>>>>>> Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite>>> unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60>>> of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far>>> as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for>>> creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be>>> taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that>>> some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that>>> it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the>>> kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would>>> agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might>>> differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in>>> different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and>>> in the creative problem solving of daily living.>>>>>> In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was>>> thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as>>> innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe>>> Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically>>> valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic>>> success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education>>> systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests.>>>>>> Are adult literacy education students (including basic education,>>> secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If>>> so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In>>> many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even>>> acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen>>> it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value>>> and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we>>> are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should>>> value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to>>> nourish creativity.>>>>>> What do you think about this?>>>>>>>>> * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of>>> creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity:>>> Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 6>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400>>> From: "Donna Chambers">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";>>> reply-type=original>>>>>> Mary Lynn,>>>>>> Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not>>> suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for>>> just>>> "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our>>> job.>>> Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a>>> high>>> school student and be ready to transition to college level academics>>> is in>>> the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community>>> College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they>>> do. If>>> the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter>>> community>>> college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but>>> it is>>> not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic>>> and>>> secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy.>>>>>> Donna Chambers>>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----->>> From: "Mary Lynn Simons">>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide>>> what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able>>> to>>> pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or>>> training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To:>>> assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David,>>> I>>> agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if>>>> students>>> are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with>>>> minimal>>> ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh>>> options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges>>>> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As>>> we>>>> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to>>> develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities>>>> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative>>> forms,>>>> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to>>> truly>>>> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time>>> periods.>>>> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which>>>> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list>>> goes>>>> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students>>> in a>>> GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at>>> all.>>> If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are>>> writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>> that>>>> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might>>> not>>>> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue>>>> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to>>> teach>>>> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay>>> from>>> Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past>>> lives.>>> The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college>>> classroom as>>> well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not>>> to this>>> extent, depending on the> teacher and the class).>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>> public>>> schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to>>> succeed.>>> Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected>>> in>>> every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online>>> Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education>>>> P.O. Box>>> 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax>>> 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From:>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On >>>> Behalf>>> Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The>>> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED>>> Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we>>> mean>>> by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means>>> to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more>>> students>>> have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is>>> creativity>>> itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically>>> prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit>>> in?>> I>>> would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic>>>> skills>>> and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these>>> catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary>>>> education>>> (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to>>> have>>> academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong>>> critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong>>> academic>>> skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is>>> the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>> if so>>> how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is>>> measuring>>>> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying>>> attention to>>> one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of>>> the>>> U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus>>> on>>> high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>> traditional>>>> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills>>>> like>>> the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different>>>> perspectives,>>> the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability>>> to>>> represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a>>> metaphor or>>> other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand>>> and>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>> box").>> Are>>> these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be?>>> Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school>>> diploma as>>> a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and>>> self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful>>> post-secondary>>> learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring:>>> academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I>>> invite>>> your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On>>> Oct 26,>>> 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to>>> creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once>>> our>>> students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be>>> successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals.>>> However,>>> just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high>>> stakes>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>> teachers>>> teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education &>>> Transitions>>> Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment- >> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>>>>> Sent:>>> Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List>>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>> know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on>>> standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been>>> successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally>>> gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>>>>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>>>>> "I>>> don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may>>> be>>> the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to>>> the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part>>> of>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>> then>>> someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My>>> students>>> participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get>>> into>>> it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste>>> of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>>>>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like.">>> Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that>>> have>>> to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>>>>> Shirley>>> Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>> wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>> the>>> National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>> presention>>>>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>> and he>>> includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic>>> standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators>>> believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus>>> on>>> skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>>>>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators>>> or>>> policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high>>> stakes>>> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key>>> question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I>>> invite>>> the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original>>> message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted>>> to>>>>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>>>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>>>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there>>> were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post>>> your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie>>> Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you>>> need to>>> know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We?ve>>> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a>>> quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion.>>> For>>> the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested>>> resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>>>>> can>>> catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>>>>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also>>> your>>> own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by>>> today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>> End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>> ******************************************>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com> Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! Get 'em!> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net _________________________________________________________________ Boo! Scare away worms, viruses and so much more! Try Windows Live OneCare! http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/purchase/trial.aspx?s_cid=wl_hotm ailnews ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________ size=2 width="100%" align=center> Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail ! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071031/8474196e/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Nov 1 08:57:27 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 08:57:27 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1053] Assessing LD - FYI Message-ID: <021401c81c86$c1e90b50$0802a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, There is presently a discussion happening on the Learning Disabilities List that some of you might be interested in. Here is a post by a subscriber that kicked off the conversation: I am interested in the assessment procedures being used in adult literacy/adult education programs in regard to the identification of learning and cognitive disabilities in populations who did not receive such assessments as children in public school systems. Given the paucity of funds in adult education programs and adult rehabilitation services, it would seem that the best way to get adults involved in such assessment would be through pro bono work done by psychological diagnosticians on a community level. Do you agree with that? Or are you aware of other strategies that programs used to obtain diagnoses and accommodations for adult students with specific learning disabilities? If this is of interest to you, you can subscribe yourself to that discussion by going to: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Learningdisabilities or you can read the archives at that same page - click on Read Current Posted Messages at the top. Marie Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071101/0e84cb89/attachment.html From andresmuro at aol.com Thu Nov 1 12:15:13 2007 From: andresmuro at aol.com (andresmuro at aol.com) Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:15:13 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1054] jrethlake@hcde-texas.org In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <8C9EAB984C7AFFF-4B0-72C4@FWM-M37.sysops.aol.com> Thx, Joanie: I hope that you weren't reading my rants against WIA-NRS. Andres -----Original Message----- From: Joanie Rethlake To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:24 pm Subject: [Assessment 1052] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking Bravo for being a creative educator and retaining your students!! ? Joanie Rethlake, Texas LEARNS ? From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of andresmuro at aol.com Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 10:10 AM To: assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 1048] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking ? The thing is that students learn better if information relates to their knowledge and experiences. For example, in my program, students have difficulty writing. Once we get them to write about their own experiences, and teach them to do so, they become better writers. They also publish their stories. Also, our students face health barriers and want to learn about health prevention, improvement, access. They also take nutrition classes. Because they are interested in these topics, they learn fast and they remain focused and motivated. Also we have good retention. Ultimately, these topics do not deter them to learn information to pass the GED. The GED is basically having good reading, writing and math skills and test taking skills. It doesn't really matter if you teaching them to read by using the Glencoe GED book, or a health brochure, a bag of potato chips, legal information, etc. I do this workshop in which I show teachers that I can teach pretty much all the math skills for the GED using a bag of potato chips. I can also teach reading, writing and graph skills with the same bag. Thing is, bags of potato chips are fascinating to students.? They capture? their imagination and keep them focused and working on task.? They are also learning how to read nutrition labels and how to watch what they eat. So, in a sense, teaching the GED and teaching things that are not in the book are not necessarily contradictory things. Also, in my program, in every class,? we have a small percentage of students who have diabetes and don't even know about it. We do a glucose test every semester. Those who have diabetes are referred to the doctor. To us, even if these students don't pass the GED, it is a triumph. We essentially saved limbs, if not lives. In fact, most of these students do get the GED. We also have victims of domestic violence that start to get counseling, support and protection. Many of these people would never get the GED. Finally, as I said before, our students get published, which is a huge self esteem builder. You can see the student's writings at http://bordersenses.com/memorias.?; Click on the books below. You can click on traducciones on the right to read the translations. Imagine a GED student who gets published and shows that to her peers, teachers, relatives. How many students ever dream of getting published or think that they have any knowledge worth sharing? Andres ? ? -----Original Message----- From: Mary Lynn Simons To: The Assessment Discussion List Sent: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 7:25 pm Subject: [Assessment 1047] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking ?I still say students should get their GED as soon as possible and that it is not our job to hold students back by teaching them not only to pass the test but things we personally think they should know. We are hired to help people pass the test; that is what the taxpayers want us to do and that is why students come to the adult school in the first place.? Also, I think the GED is a pretty good test. One-third of? high school graduates cannot pass it. I don't know what states you all come from, but where I am in California, if someone passes the GED, that is a sign their skills are fairly high, high enough not to spend time on much remediation in the community college. The army used to prefer diploma grads to GED grads, not because the latter were less educated but because diploma grads have more stick-to-itiveness. Perhaps this is true in college also and accounts for the high college dropout rate of GED grads. ________________________________> From: djrosen at comcast.net> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:30:31 -0400> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 1035] GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking>> Mary Lynn wrote:> I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.> Creativity need not be nebulous. For example, here's a good definition from the Wikipedia:> "Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity> I am sure you can see the direct application of this kind of creativity to scoring high on the GED tests, for example in writing a good essay, and perhaps in other areas. Equally important -- for students who believe that GED preparation is the key to success in post-secondary education and some kinds of job skills training -- generating new ideas or concepts and making associations between existing ideas or concepts is essential for success.> Let me return to the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, Marc Tucker's claim that if the U.S. is to be competitive, if Americans are to have good jobs, they not only need strong basic skills and some college education, but they also need to be creative, that this is the cultural edge that leads to innovation and invention, that makes the American economy strong, and will enable American workers to thrive. Some adult education students, of course, don't care about that. They want the GED for other reasons, and that's fine. Let them fast track to the test. Those who want GED prepararation for college and good jobs, however, will need more: stronger academic skills to succeed in college, and -- if Tucker is right -- skills in the mental processes to generate new ideas or concepts, and new associations between existing concepts, and perhaps other kinds of creativity.> Mary Lynn, I would like to challenge the belief that we "owe [it] to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible." This has not produced good results for adult students whose goal is to succeed in college. Only a very small percentage of adult GED holders actually succeed in college, often because they lack the academic reading and writing skills, and numeracy (especially algebra) that they need to enroll in regular (not developmental) courses. Unfortunately way too many use up their college financial aide in college developmental courses and then have to drop out before achieving a certificate or degree. Many of these students will need to take the time to prepare for college in their GED preparation program, not fast track to the GED test.> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> On Oct 29, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:> I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.>> From: andreawilder at comcast.net>> Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>> Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>> Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary>> Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would>> I see???>> would there be a real difference?>> Thanks.>>>> Andrea>> On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote:>>>>> Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents>>> come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking>>> or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and>>> acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with>>> the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one>>> of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to>>> succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is>>> paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success.>>>>>> Thanks,>>> Mary Lynn Carver>>> ABE/GED Instructor>>> College of Lake County>>> Building 4, Office 405>>> 19351 W. Washington Street>>> Grayslake, IL 60031>>> Phone:847/543-2677>>> mlcarver at clcillinois.edu>>> Fax: 847/543-7580>>>>>> "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be>>> constantly amused" -- Unknown>>>>>> We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping>>> abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how>>> to learn. --Peter F. Drucker>>>>>> ________________________________>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>> Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM>>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>>> Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>>>>>>>>>> Send Assessment mailing list submissions to>>> assessment at nifl.gov>>>>>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>>>>> You can reach the person managing the list at>>> assessment-owner at nifl.gov>>>>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific>>> than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest...">>>>>>>>> Today's Topics:>>>>>> 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Mary Lynn Simons)>>> 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Andrea Wilder)>>> 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J.>>> Rosen)>>> 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Donna Chambers)>>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>> Message: 1>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400>>> From: David J. Rosen>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List>,>>> The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List>>>>, The Assessment>>> Discussion List>>>>, The Adult English Language Learners>>> Discussion>>> List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>> tutoring)>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>> and>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 2>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000>>> From: Mary Lynn Simons>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID:>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252">>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi>>> sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into>>> statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations>>> are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in>>> another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are>>> not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the>>> instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need>>> to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline>>> that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students>>> who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>> creativity is used in the co>>> llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college>>> (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the>>> class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm>>> believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning>>> to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications>>> between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need>>> to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring>>>> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills,>>>> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical>>>> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in>>>> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc>>>> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest>>>> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree>>>> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high>>>>> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>>> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important>>>> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and>>>> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a>>>> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image,>>>> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language,>>>> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead>>>> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin>>> king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>>>>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high>>>> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable>>>> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to>>>> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be>>>> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking>>>> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F>>> wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching>>> critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think>>> in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving>>> their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12>>> education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning>>> wheel of>> accountability which stifle>>> s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->>>>> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October>>> 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>>>>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on>>> any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just>>> smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy>>> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know,>>> I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the>>> reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to the arts, banking industry, faculty>>> ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to>>> offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only>>> exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate>>> in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend>>> to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they>>> would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>>>>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>>>>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a>>> proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all>>> education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for>>> Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the>>> National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>>; www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>>>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without>>>>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers>>>>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the>>>>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the>>>>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many>>>>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the>>>>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the>>>>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message>>>>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>>>>>>> wanted to>>> give a qu>>> ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion.>>> For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested>>> resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you>>> can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full>>> announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------>>> ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings>>> , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 3>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400>>> From: Andrea Wilder>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Hi Mary Lynn-->>>>>> One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't>>> waste their time." Is this what you are getting at?>>>>>> Andrea>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize>>>> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics>>>> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to>>>> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another>>>> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not>>>> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor>>>> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students>>>> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more>>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>>> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we>>>> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who>>>> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>>> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED>>>> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent,>>>> depending on the> teacher and the class).>>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>>> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>>> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>>> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education>>>> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not>>>> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the>>>> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that>>>> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for>>>> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED>>>> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look>>>> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to>>>> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent>>>> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other>>>> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and>>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>>> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have.>>>> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED>>>> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone>>>> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door>>>> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should>>>> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical>>>> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J.>>>> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge,>>>> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean>>>> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how>>>> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in>>>> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like>>>> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes>>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>>> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult>>>> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From:>>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On>>>> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>>>>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re:>>>> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that>>>> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need>>>> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of>>>> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc.>>>> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading,>>>> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just>>>> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for>>>> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity>>>> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the>>>> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of>>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>>> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard.>>>> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those>>>> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that>>>> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED">>>> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay>>>> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention;>>>> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments.>>>> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED>>>> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>>> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>>> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy,>>>> http://>>; www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S.>>>> education>>>> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive>>>> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED>>>> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not>>>> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to>>>> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster.>>>> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds>>>> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists>>>> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for>>>> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie>>>> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the>>>> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can>>>> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the>>>> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>>> Stop by today.>>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 4>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> ....and the Web address for MLoTS is:>>>>>> http://www.mlots.org>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>>> tutoring)>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>>> and>>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 5>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed>>>>>> Hello Andrea,>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote:>>>>>>> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading>>>> and 2. creativity?>>>>>> Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite>>> unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60>>> of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far>>> as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for>>> creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be>>> taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that>>> some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that>>> it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the>>> kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would>>> agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might>>> differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in>>> different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and>>> in the creative problem solving of daily living.>>>>>> In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was>>> thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as>>> innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe>>> Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically>>> valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic>>> success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education>>> systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests.>>>>>> Are adult literacy education students (including basic education,>>> secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If>>> so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In>>> many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even>>> acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen>>> it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value>>> and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we>>> are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should>>> value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to>>> nourish creativity.>>>>>> What do you think about this?>>>>>>>>> * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of>>> creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity:>>> Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 6>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400>>> From: "Donna Chambers">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";>>> reply-type=original>>>>>> Mary Lynn,>>>>>> Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not>>> suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for>>> just>>> "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our>>> job.>>> Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a>>> high>>> school student and be ready to transition to college level academics>>> is in>>> the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community>>> College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they>>> do. If>>> the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter>>> community>>> college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but>>> it is>>> not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic>>> and>>> secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy.>>>>>> Donna Chambers>>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----->>> From: "Mary Lynn Simons">>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide>>> what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able>>> to>>> pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or>>> training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To:>>> assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David,>>> I>>> agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if>>>> students>>> are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with>>>> minimal>>> ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh>>> options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges>>>> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As>>> we>>>> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to>>> develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities>>>> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative>>> forms,>>>> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to>>> truly>>>> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time>>> periods.>>>> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which>>>> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list>>> goes>>>> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students>>> in a>>> GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at>>> all.>>> If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are>>> writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>> that>>>> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might>>> not>>>> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue>>>> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to>>> teach>>>> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay>>> from>>> Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past>>> lives.>>> The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college>>> classroom as>>> well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not>>> to this>>> extent, depending on the> teacher and the class).>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>> public>>> schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to>>> succeed.>>> Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected>>> in>>> every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online>>> Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education>>>> P.O. Box>>> 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax>>> 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From:>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On>>>> Behalf>>> Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The>>> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED>>> Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we>>> mean>>> by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means>>> to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more>>> students>>> have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is>>> creativity>>> itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically>>> prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit>>> in?>> I>>> would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic>>>> skills>>> and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these>>> catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary>>>> education>>> (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to>>> have>>> academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong>>> critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong>>> academic>>> skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is>>> the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>> if so>>> how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is>>> measuring>>>> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying>>> attention to>>> one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of>>> the>>> U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus>>> on>>> high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>> traditional>>>> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills>>>> like>>> the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different>>>> perspectives,>>> the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability>>> to>>> represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a>>> metaphor or>>> other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand>>> and>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>> box").>> Are>>> these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be?>>> Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school>>> diploma as>>> a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and>>> self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful>>> post-secondary>>> learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring:>>> academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I>>> invite>>> your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On>>> Oct 26,>>> 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to>>> creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once>>> our>>> students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be>>> successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals.>>> However,>>> just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high>>> stakes>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>> teachers>>> teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education &>>> Transitions>>> Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>>>>> Sent:>>> Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List>>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>> know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on>>> standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been>>> successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally>>> gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>>>>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>>>>> "I>>> don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may>>> be>>> the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to>>> the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part>>> of>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>> then>>> someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My>>> students>>> participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get>>> into>>> it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste>>> of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>>>>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like.">>> Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that>>> have>>> to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>>>>> Shirley>>> Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>> wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>> the>>> National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>> presention>>>>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>>>>>; www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>> and he>>> includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic>>> standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators>>> believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus>>> on>>> skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>>>>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators>>> or>>> policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high>>> stakes>>> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key>>> question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I>>> invite>>> the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original>>> message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted>>> to>>>>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>>>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>>>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there>>> were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post>>> your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie>>> Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you>>> need to>>> know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We?ve>>> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a>>> quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion.>>> For>>> the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested>>> resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>>>>> can>>> catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>>>>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also>>> your>>> own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by>>> today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>> End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>> ******************************************>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com> Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! Get 'em!> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net _________________________________________________________________ Boo!?Scare away worms, viruses and so much more! Try Windows Live OneCare! http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/purchase/trial.aspx?s_cid=wl_hotmailnews ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com size=2 width="100%" align=center Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to andresmuro at aol.com ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071101/1a8309ff/attachment.html From jataylor at utk.edu Fri Nov 2 10:01:39 2007 From: jataylor at utk.edu (Taylor, Jackie) Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 10:01:39 -0400 Subject: [Assessment 1055] Professional Development Quality Standards Discussion Message-ID: <0913EC48F2B05C4FBE4878BAFCABBFEC0127B33E@KFSVS2.utk.tennessee.edu> Dear Colleagues, Have you ever attended a professional development (PD) activity and wondered why you spent your time participating? Have you ever attended professional development and felt that your practice significantly improved because of it? Join the Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List for a three-part discussion of quality professional development that will culminate in finalizing a set of PD quality standards that AALPD will use to advance quality professional development in the field. Subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment When: November 12 - 30th (Quiet week November 19-23) History: http://tinyurl.com/36raut Additional Resources: http://tinyurl.com/3xd5c8 Please see below for details. For a web-based version of the announcement, visit: http://tinyurl.com/32k3zr I hope you will join us! Best, Jackie Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator, jataylor at utk.edu Part I: Quality Professional Development When: November 12 - 16 What makes quality professional development? Join us to discuss what subscribers identify as quality PD, and to explore the benefits and issues with building a professional development system based on quality standards. * What are characteristics of quality professional development? * How do you know it when you see it? * What is the value added in having PD standards? * What are the drawbacks? * PD Providers: Are standards really going to help you provide better PD? * Practitioners: Are standards really going to help you identify quality PD? Part II: Reflection Week When: November 19 - 23 AALPD will disseminate a set of quality professional development standards and indicators that the AALPD PD Standards Committee has drafted. This is a quiet week to: 1. Reflect on the quality characteristics generated by list subscribers during Part I. 2. Review the AALPD draft PD Standards. Ask yourself the questions listed in Part III below, to prepare. Part III: AALPD Professional Development Quality Standards When: November 26 - 30 Join us to discuss the draft AALPD PD Quality Standards. Based on this important discussion, a final draft of the AALPD PD Quality Standards will be sent to the AALPD Membership for an up or down vote. A final version will be placed on the AALPD Website, and will become the foundation for a program and state self-assessment tool to advance quality professional development in our field. Discussion Questions Include (but are not limited to): * How well does this draft measure up with what subscribers have indicated is quality professional development? * From this draft: * What are the most important PD standards or indicators from your perspective? * What are the most important standards to advance PD in your area/state? * What PD Standards would be easy to implement? * What would be hard to implement? * Is there anything missing? * Is there anything that isn't clear? * What would need to be in place in order to make these standards possible? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------- >From the Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers (AALPD) Standards Committee and Executive Board http://www.aalpd.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071102/42305c5f/attachment.html From msledet at yahoo.com Sun Nov 4 18:17:01 2007 From: msledet at yahoo.com (shirley ledet) Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2007 15:17:01 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Assessment 1056] Re: GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <51430.25242.qm@web90404.mail.mud.yahoo.com> I cannot count how many students have returned over the years who have not yet attained the GED. The return to tell me they want to return or that they should have stayed. One running theme, however is how much they did learn about life, community, work ettiquette, family, their children and their children's education and school relationships. I agree our goal and job is to ultimately help them get the GED. However let us not loose the human element in the equation. Self-worth equals a drive to succeed and that drives leads to the GEd and so much more. Mary Lynn Simons wrote: I still say students should get their GED as soon as possible and that it is not our job to hold students back by teaching them not only to pass the test but things we personally think they should know. We are hired to help people pass the test; that is what the taxpayers want us to do and that is why students come to the adult school in the first place. Also, I think the GED is a pretty good test. One-third of high school graduates cannot pass it. I don't know what states you all come from, but where I am in California, if someone passes the GED, that is a sign their skills are fairly high, high enough not to spend time on much remediation in the community college. The army used to prefer diploma grads to GED grads, not because the latter were less educated but because diploma grads have more stick-to-itiveness. Perhaps this is true in college also and accounts for the high college dropout rate of GED grads. ________________________________> From: djrosen at comcast.net> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:30:31 -0400> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Subject: [Assessment 1035] GED, Creativity and Fast-tracking>> Mary Lynn wrote:> I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.> Creativity need not be nebulous. For example, here's a good definition from the Wikipedia:> "Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity> I am sure you can see the direct application of this kind of creativity to scoring high on the GED tests, for example in writing a good essay, and perhaps in other areas. Equally important -- for students who believe that GED preparation is the key to success in post-secondary education and some kinds of job skills training -- generating new ideas or concepts and making associations between existing ideas or concepts is essential for success.> Let me return to the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, Marc Tucker's claim that if the U.S. is to be competitive, if Americans are to have good jobs, they not only need strong basic skills and some college education, but they also need to be creative, that this is the cultural edge that leads to innovation and invention, that makes the American economy strong, and will enable American workers to thrive. Some adult education students, of course, don't care about that. They want the GED for other reasons, and that's fine. Let them fast track to the test. Those who want GED prepararation for college and good jobs, however, will need more: stronger academic skills to succeed in college, and -- if Tucker is right -- skills in the mental processes to generate new ideas or concepts, and new associations between existing concepts, and perhaps other kinds of creativity.> Mary Lynn, I would like to challenge the belief that we "owe [it] to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible." This has not produced good results for adult students whose goal is to succeed in college. Only a very small percentage of adult GED holders actually succeed in college, often because they lack the academic reading and writing skills, and numeracy (especially algebra) that they need to enroll in regular (not developmental) courses. Unfortunately way too many use up their college financial aide in college developmental courses and then have to drop out before achieving a certificate or degree. Many of these students will need to take the time to prepare for college in their GED preparation program, not fast track to the GED test.> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net> On Oct 29, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:> I am definitely not against teaching critical thinking skills; critical thinking and the GED go hand in hand. I am against teachers wasting student time with too much talking, both by students and by themselves, and calling it "creativity". In order to be able to pass the tests, students must grapple with the five subject areas. People will never improve reading, writing and mathematics unless they read, write, and do math! Lively discussions, though interesting, can keep students from doing what they need to do to be able to pass. Adult education students have busy lives and have little time to get their GED. I think we owe to to our students to get them to community college or training as fast as possible. That is their goal and it is unfair for us to decide that they need "creativity", a nebulous term at best. We must respect the goal of the student, and it is paternalistic or maternalistic to do otherwise.>> From: andreawilder at comcast.net>> Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:19:48 -0400>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>> Subject: [Assessment 1022] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>> Words are so tricky, I don't really know what either of you two (Mary>> Lynn) are talking about--if I were to observe your classes, what would>> I see???>> would there be a real difference?>> Thanks.>>>> Andrea>> On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Carver, Mary-Lynn wrote:>>>>> Wow, I must say I disagree with Mary Lynn Simons. Many ABE/GEDstudents>>> come in just wanting to pass the test, but have no critical thinking>>> or transitional college skills. If we don't help them understand and>>> acquire some of those skills, they will not be able to succeed with>>> the transition to higher education. If not us, who? I think it is one>>> of the first duties of any teacher to give students what they need to>>> succeed in their class and beyond. I don't feel it is>>> paternal/maternalistic to help them set a course to success.>>>>>> Thanks,>>> Mary Lynn Carver>>> ABE/GED Instructor>>> College of Lake County>>> Building 4, Office 405>>> 19351 W. Washington Street>>> Grayslake, IL 60031>>> Phone:847/543-2677>>> mlcarver at clcillinois.edu>>> Fax: 847/543-7580>>>>>> "Blessed are they who laugh at themselves, for they shall be>>> constantly amused" -- Unknown>>>>>> We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping>>> abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how>>> to learn. --Peter F. Drucker>>>>>> ________________________________>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>> Sent: Sun 10/28/2007 8:23 AM>>> To: assessment at nifl.gov>>> Subject: Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>>>>>>>>>>> Send Assessment mailing list submissions to>>> assessment at nifl.gov>>>>>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to>>> assessment-request at nifl.gov>>>>>> You can reach the person managing the list at>>> assessment-owner at nifl.gov>>>>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific>>> than "Re: Contents of Assessment digest...">>>>>>>>> Today's Topics:>>>>>> 1. [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 2. [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Mary Lynn Simons)>>> 3. [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Andrea Wilder)>>> 4. [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> (David J. Rosen)>>> 5. [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity (David J.>>> Rosen)>>> 6. [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> (Donna Chambers)>>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>> Message: 1>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:17:10 -0400>>> From: David J. Rosen>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1011] Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Technology and Literacy Discussion List>,>>> The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List>>>>, The Assessment>>> Discussion List>>>>, The Adult English Language Learners>>> Discussion>>> List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>> tutoring)>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>> and>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 2>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:01:15 +0000>>> From: Mary Lynn Simons>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID:>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252">>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to vi>>> sualize different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into>>> statistics and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations>>> are used to communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in>>> another posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are>>> not reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the>>> instructor is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need>>> to take that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline>>> that we might not> get with GED students. But especially with students>>> who want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>> creativity is used in the co>>> llege classroom as well as what GED students can> expect in college>>> (though perhaps not to this extent, depending on the> teacher and the>>> class). http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm>>> believer in extensive transitional services for GED students> planning>>> to attend college, and I think it's essential to have> communications>>> between public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need>>> to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring>>>> now adult secondary education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills,>>>> at least through standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical>>>> thinking skills, and if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in>>>> adult literacy education is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc>>>> Tucker is right, we are not paying attention to one of the> greatest>>>> economic assets, one of the historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree>>>> with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus on high>>>>> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>>> traditional> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important>>>> creative skills> like the ability to look at a problem freshly and>>>> from different> perspectives, the ability to try out and evaluate a>>>> range of> solutions, the ability to represent an idea with an image,>>>> a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other figurative language,>>>> or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and follow, but instead>>>> to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of thin>>> king (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the box").>>>>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high>>>> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable>>>> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to>>>> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should be>>>> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical thinking>>>> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F>>> wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean teaching>>> critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how to think>>> in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in achieving>>> their>> education and other life goals. However, just like K-12>>> education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes spinning>>> wheel of>> accountability which stifle>>> s creativity and teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->>>>> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October>>> 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>>>>> test. We need look no further then those who have been successful>> on>>> any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just>>> smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy>>> reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know,>>> I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the>>> reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to the arts, banking industry, faculty>>> ,>> medicine, legal issues as part of your everyday life tends to>>> offer>> more of an advantage when testing then someone whose only>>> exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My students participate>>> in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get into it" tend>>> to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they>>> would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>>>>> activities that have to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>>>>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a>>> proponent of creativity in adult literacy education -->> indeed in all>>> education. As Marc Tucker, President of the National>> Center for>>> Education and the Economy, has said in a presention>> recently to the>>> National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>>>> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive without>>>>> high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers>>>>> and administrators believe that their>> students will not pass the>>>>> GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the>>>>> test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many>>>>> K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the>>>>> minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the>>>>> panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original message>>>>> ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>>>>>>> wanted to>>> give a qu>>> ick reminder where you can get the information on this>>> discussion.>>> For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>> suggested>>> resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you>>> can get the information>> on this discussion. For the full>>> announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------>>> ------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings>>> , please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 3>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:24:28 -0400>>> From: Andrea Wilder>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1013] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> Hi Mary Lynn-->>>>>> One of my mantras for students, no matter the age, has been: "Don't>>> waste their time." Is this what you are getting at?>>>>>> Andrea>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 9:01 PM, Mary Lynn Simons wrote:>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>>> decide what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to>>>> be able to pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to>>>> college or training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To: assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct>>>> 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject: [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion ->>>> what you need to know!>> David, I agree that creativity is essential>>>> in GED programs, especially if> students are planning to go on to>>>> college! Students who pass the GED with> minimal ability to freely>>>> think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh options are>>>> usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges> require>>>> program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As we> know,>>>> writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to develop.>>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>>> Humanities> courses demand students to understand and even implement>>>> creative forms,> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For>>>> students to truly> understand history, they must be able to visualize>>>> different time periods.> Symbolic thought translates into statistics>>>> and math classes in which> graphs, numbers and equations are used to>>>> communicate ideas. The list goes> on.>> Someone here or in another>>>> posting made the remark that students in a GED> class who are not>>>> reading in class are not practicing reading at all. If> the instructor>>>> is writing on the board, if the students are writing, if the> students>>>> are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of more>>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>>> that> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we>>>> might not> get with GED students. But especially with students who>>>> want to pursue> higher education after earning the GED, we need to>>>> have the time to teach> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just>>>> now ran across an essay from Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a>>>> long time but did in my past lives. The essay demonstrates how>>>>> creativity is used in the college classroom as well as what GED>>>> students can> expect in college (though perhaps not to this extent,>>>> depending on the> teacher and the class).>>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>>> public schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED>>>> students to succeed. Part of these discussions should include>>>>> creativity used and expected in every academic setting.>>> Katherine>>>> Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor> Prince William County>>>> Public Schools> Adult Education> P.O. Box 389> Manassas, VA 20108>>>>> work 703-791-8387> fax 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message----->>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>>> [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On> Behalf Of David J. Rosen>>>>> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The Assessment Discussion>>>> List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>>> know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we mean by>>>> creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>>> means to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will>>>> more students have more and higher academic skills,> better test>>>> scores? Or is creativity itself an end -- that is, do we> want>>>> students to be both academically prepared and creative? Or> both? And>>>> where do critical skills fit in?>> I would argue, as Marc Tucker does,>>>> that we need both high academic> skills and creativity, and I would>>>> put critical thinking in both> these catregories, both as a means and>>>> as an end. Our adult secondary> education (e.g. GED) programs should>>>> provide students with the> opportunity to have academic skills that>>>> are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong critical thinking>>>> skills (these may be inseparable> from strong academic skills), and>>>> the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is the>>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>>> if so how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education>>>> is measuring> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not>>>> paying attention to one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the>>>> historic strengths of the U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that>>>> the nearly exclusive focus on high> stakes basic skills tests for>>>> K-12, and the focus on only traditional> basic skills for the GED>>>> tests disrespects important creative skills> like the ability to look>>>> at a problem freshly and from different> perspectives, the ability to>>>> try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability to represent>>>> an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a metaphor or other>>>> figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand and>>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>>> box").>> Are these goals that every GED student has or should have.>>>> No. Should> they be? Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED>>>> or high> school diploma as a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone>>>> to stable> employment and self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door>>>> to> successful post-secondary learning, these are the skills we should>>>> be> teaching and measuring: academic skills, including critical>>>> thinking> and creativity.>> I invite your comments on this.>> David J.>>>> Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On Oct 26, 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge,>>>> Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to creativity do we mean>>>> teaching critical>> thinking skills which once our students know how>>>> to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be successful in>>>> achieving their>> education and other life goals. However, just like>>>> K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high stakes>>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>>> teachers teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult>>>> Education & Transitions Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From:>>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On>>>> Behalf Of shirley ledet>> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>>>>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re:>>>> GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>> I agree that>>>> creativity is not the enemy of success on standardized>> test. We need>>>> look no further then those who have been successful>> on any type of>>>> test. We tend to use terms like natuarally gifted,>> just smart, etc.>>>> If you speak to these folks they are well>> rounded, enjoy reading,>>>> mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>> "I don't know, I just>>>> know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may be the reason for>>>> disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more disparity>>>> between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure to the>>>> arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part of>>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>>> then someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard.>>>> My students participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those>>>> that "get into it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that>>>> feel it is a waste of time>> and they just want to "study for the GED">>>> are generally frustrated>> when "all of their hard work does not pay>>>> off like they would>> like." Creativity also leads to retention;>>>> especially those>> activities that have to be completed in increments.>>>> Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>> Shirley Ledet>>>> GED>>>> Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net wrote:>>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>>> the National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>>> presention>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy,>>>> http://>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S.>>>> education>>>> system -->> and he includes adult education, cannot be competitive>>>> without high>> academic standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED>>>> teachers and administrators believe that their>> students will not>>>> pass the GED unless they focus on skills and>> knowledge needed to>>>> pass the test, that creativity is a>> "distraction" and a time-waster.>>>> (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators or policy makers also believe>>>> creativity distracts>> from passing high stakes tests.) I hate to be>>>> the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key question on the minds>>>> of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I invite the panelists>>>> to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it essential for>>>> success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>> -------------- Original message ---------------------->> From: "Marie>>>> Cora">>> Hi everyone,>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the>>>> past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a quick reminder where you can>>>> get the information on this>>> discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on guests, and>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>>> there were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>>> post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>>>> now!>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>>> "Marie Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what>>>> you need to know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi>>>> everyone,>>>>>>>> We?ve had several new subscribers over the past day,>>>> and so I>> wanted to give a quick reminder where you can get the>>>> information>> on this discussion. For the full announcement,>>>> information on>> guests, and suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ?>>>> there were a couple ? you>> can catch up in the archives at:>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also your own experiences to share>>>> now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>> Assessment Discussion>>>> List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>>> Moderator>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>>>>>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or>>>> change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->> National>>>> Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>>> settings, please go to>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> kgotthardt at comcast.net>> -------------------------------> National>>>> Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to>>>> macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>>> Stop by today.>>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 4>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:39:24 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1014] Re: Media Library of Teaching Skills>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;>>> format=flowed>>>>>> ....and the Web address for MLoTS is:>>>>>> http://www.mlots.org>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, at 7:17 PM, David J. Rosen wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>>>>>> The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) project, a free Web->>>> based library of short digital videos of adult education classrooms>>>> and tutorials, now has three MLoTS-created reading and numeracy>>>> videos and over 30 other videos, including those from:>>>>>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Professional Development Kit (ESOL and basic literacy>>>> tutoring)>>>> ? NCAL/ILI Captured Wisdom (integrating technology),>>>> ? OTAN (integrating technology)>>>> and>>>> ? CLESE (an informal assessment to capture what low-literate ESOL>>>> learners can and cannot do with literacy)>>>>>>>> I hope you will take a look. If you know of other good classroom or>>>> tutoring short videos in digital form, please let me know. I am>>>> hoping that MLoTS will become a large, "one-stop" collection for>>>> adult literacy education classroom videos.>>>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy>>>> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 5>>> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:17:38 -0400>>> From: "David J. Rosen">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1015] GED preparation and creativity>>> To: The Assessment Discussion List>>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed>>>>>> Hello Andrea,>>>>>> On Oct 27, 2007, you wrote:>>>>>>> Has anybody yet in this conversation defined 1. critical reading>>>> and 2. creativity?>>>>>> Here's more on defining creativity. To begin with, it's quite>>> unlikely that we will agree on a definition. There are more than 60>>> of them in the psychological literature (Taylor, 1988), and as far>>> as I am aware there is no standardized measurement instrument for>>> creativity. Some believe it is inherited; some believe it can be>>> taught; some believe it can be nurtured or encouraged. I believe that>>> some kinds of creativity can be taught or at least nurtured and that>>> it involves a set of mental activities often closely aligned with the>>> kind of mental activities we call critical thinking. Most of us would>>> agree, I believe, that a key element is originality, but we might>>> differ in describing the paths to it. And it may look different in>>> different contexts, in the sciences, in the arts, in technology, and>>> in the creative problem solving of daily living.>>>>>> In the context in which I raised the issue of creativity, I was>>> thinking of the application of new ideas, what some would refer to as>>> innovation or ingenuity. It is this applied creativity that I believe>>> Marc Tucker had in mind as something that Americans have historically>>> valued and excelled at, that has been an element of American economic>>> success, and that may be undervalued or lost now in the education>>> systems' rush toward performance on high stakes standardized tests.>>>>>> Are adult literacy education students (including basic education,>>> secondary education and ESOL) capable of this kind of creativity? If>>> so, should we nurture it? I believe they are and that we should. In>>> many GED programs I have seen, it is not nourished, usually not even>>> acknowledged in program goals or objectives. And I have never seen>>> it measured. This indicates to me that, as a field, we do not value>>> and support student creativity. I agree with Marc Tucker that, if we>>> are interested in Americans' global competitiveness that we should>>> value creativity, and of course, there are other good reasons to>>> nourish creativity.>>>>>> What do you think about this?>>>>>>>>> * Taylor, C.W. (1988). "Various approaches to and definitions of>>> creativity", in ed. Sternberg, R.J.: The nature of creativity:>>> Contemporary psychological perspectives. Cambridge University Press.>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> Message: 6>>> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:51:18 -0400>>> From: "Donna Chambers">>>> Subject: [Assessment 1016] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Message-ID: >>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";>>> reply-type=original>>>>>> Mary Lynn,>>>>>> Your argument to push learners forward is a common belief. I am not>>> suggesting to hold learners back, but if we are to prepare them for>>> just>>> "passing the test" we are overlooking the "ASE" responsibility of our>>> job.>>> Preparing the learner to possess the expected academic skills of a>>> high>>> school student and be ready to transition to college level academics>>> is in>>> the learners' best interest in respect to time and money. Community>>> College should not have to remediate adult basic skills, and yet they>>> do. If>>> the GED were to be more aligned with the tests required to enter>>> community>>> college, such as the Accuplacer, the transition would be smoother, but>>> it is>>> not. Preparation for the learners next steps, which includes basic>>> and>>> secondary fundamental skills, is the responsibility of Adult Literacy.>>>>>> Donna Chambers>>>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----->>> From: "Mary Lynn Simons">>>> To: "The Assessment Discussion List">>>> Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 9:01 PM>>> Subject: [Assessment 1012] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>>>>>>>>>>>> Community Colleges test students when they enter and then teach them>>> accordingly. It is not our job to paternalistically/maternalistically>>> decide>>> what is best for our students beyond what they need to know to be able>>> to>>> pass the test. We must not hold them back. Let them get to college or>>> training as fast as possible.>>>>>>>>>>>> ----------------------------------------> From:>>> Kgotthardt at comcast.net> To:>>> assessment at nifl.gov> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:35:10 -0400> Subject:>>> [Assessment 1007] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to know!>> David,>>> I>>> agree that creativity is essential in GED programs, especially if>>>> students>>> are planning to go on to college! Students who pass the GED with>>>> minimal>>> ability to freely think creatively, explore abstract ideas, and> weigh>>> options are usually at a loss in the college classroom. Most colleges>>>> require program elements such as "writing across the curriculum." As>>> we>>>> know, writing requires abstract thought, the kind adults need to>>> develop.>>>>> Even basic college writing classes require understanding and using>>>> rhetorical patterns found in the descriptive essay and more.>>> Humanities>>>> courses demand students to understand and even implement creative>>> forms,>>>> figures of speech, figurative language, and more. For students to>>> truly>>>> understand history, they must be able to visualize different time>>> periods.>>>> Symbolic thought translates into statistics and math classes in which>>>> graphs, numbers and equations are used to communicate ideas. The list>>> goes>>>> on.>> Someone here or in another posting made the remark that students>>> in a>>> GED> class who are not reading in class are not practicing reading at>>> all.>>> If> the instructor is writing on the board, if the students are>>> writing, if>>> the> students are taking practice tests, they ARE reading. In terms of>>> more>>>> formalized, lengthier readings, students will most likely need to take>>> that>>>> home. Yes, this requires a certain amount of discipline that we might>>> not>>>> get with GED students. But especially with students who want to pursue>>>> higher education after earning the GED, we need to have the time to>>> teach>>>> them to think critically.>> Finally, I just now ran across an essay>>> from>>> Peter Elbow whom I haven't> studied in a long time but did in my past>>> lives.>>> The essay demonstrates how> creativity is used in the college>>> classroom as>>> well as what GED students can> expect in college (though perhaps not>>> to this>>> extent, depending on the> teacher and the class).>>> http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm>> I'm a firm believer in>>> extensive transitional services for GED students> planning to attend>>> college, and I think it's essential to have> communications between>>> public>>> schools and college to make this happen if we> want GED students to>>> succeed.>>> Part of these discussions should include> creativity used and expected>>> in>>> every academic setting.>>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online>>> Instructor> Prince William County Public Schools> Adult Education>>>> P.O. Box>>> 389> Manassas, VA 20108> work 703-791-8387> fax>>> 703-791-8889>>>>>> -----Original Message-----> From:>>> assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On>>>> Behalf>>> Of David J. Rosen> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 10:54 PM> To: The>>> Assessment Discussion List> Subject: [Assessment 1005] Re: GED>>> Discussion ->>> what you need to know!>>> Assessment colleagues,>> Toni asked what we>>> mean>>> by creativity. Good question. I'll give it a> shot.>> Is creativity a>>> means>>> to an end -- that is, with creative teaching> approaches will more>>> students>>> have more and higher academic skills,> better test scores? Or is>>> creativity>>> itself an end -- that is, do we> want students to be both academically>>> prepared and creative? Or> both? And where do critical skills fit>>> in?>> I>>> would argue, as Marc Tucker does, that we need both high academic>>>> skills>>> and creativity, and I would put critical thinking in both> these>>> catregories, both as a means and as an end. Our adult secondary>>>> education>>> (e.g. GED) programs should provide students with the> opportunity to>>> have>>> academic skills that are strong enough to succeed> in college, strong>>> critical thinking skills (these may be inseparable> from strong>>> academic>>> skills), and the skills of creative problem> solving.>> Since this is>>> the>>> assessment list, let me ask what are we measuring> now adult secondary>>> education programs?>> ? Perhaps academic skills, at least through>>> standardized tests> ? Are we measuring critical thinking skills, and>>> if so>>> how?> ? I am not aware that anyone in adult literacy education is>>> measuring>>>> creative skills.>> If Marc Tucker is right, we are not paying>>> attention to>>> one of the> greatest economic assets, one of the historic strengths of>>> the>>> U.S. I> agree with Tucker and believe that the nearly exclusive focus>>> on>>> high> stakes basic skills tests for K-12, and the focus on only>>> traditional>>>> basic skills for the GED tests disrespects important creative skills>>>> like>>> the ability to look at a problem freshly and from different>>>> perspectives,>>> the ability to try out and evaluate a range of> solutions, the ability>>> to>>> represent an idea with an image, a moving> image, a drawing; a>>> metaphor or>>> other figurative language, or> rhetoric; and the ability to understand>>> and>>> follow, but instead to> disregard instructions or traditional paths of>>> thinking (what we now> often describe as "thinking outside the>>> box").>> Are>>> these goals that every GED student has or should have. No. Should>>>> they be?>>> Not necessarily. But for students who see the GED or high> school>>> diploma as>>> a way out of poverty, as a stepping stone to stable> employment and>>> self-sufficiency, as a key to open the door to> successful>>> post-secondary>>> learning, these are the skills we should be> teaching and measuring:>>> academic skills, including critical thinking> and creativity.>> I>>> invite>>> your comments on this.>> David J. Rosen> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> On>>> Oct 26,>>> 2007, at 3:39 PM, Borge, Toni F wrote:>>> When we are referring to>>> creativity do we mean teaching critical>> thinking skills which once>>> our>>> students know how to think in a>> critical thinking way they will be>>> successful in achieving their>> education and other life goals.>>> However,>>> just like K-12 education,>> adult education is captured on the high>>> stakes>>> spinning wheel of>> accountability which stifles creativity and>>> teachers>>> teach to the>> test.>>>> Toni Borge>>>> BHCC>> Adult Education &>>> Transitions>>> Program>>>> Boston, MA>>>>>>>> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov>>> [mailto:assessment->> bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of shirley ledet>>>>> Sent:>>> Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:30 PM>> To: The Assessment Discussion>>> List>>>>> Subject: [Assessment 1001] Re: GED Discussion - what you need to>>> know!>>>>>>>> I agree that creativity is not the enemy of success on>>> standardized>> test. We need look no further then those who have been>>> successful>> on any type of test. We tend to use terms like natuarally>>> gifted,>> just smart, etc. If you speak to these folks they are well>>>>> rounded, enjoy reading, mvies, theater, they tend to use terms like>>>>> "I>>> don't know, I just know stuff." Researchers have found that>> this may>>> be>>> the reason for disparity between ethnicity. I believe>> there is more>>> disparity between socio economic background then>> ethnicity. Exposure>>> to>>> the arts, banking industry, faculty,>> medicine, legal issues as part>>> of>>> your everyday life tends to offer>> more of an advantage when testing>>> then>>> someone whose only exposure>> is to go to school and study hard. My>>> students>>> participate in a>> quite a few creative projects and those that "get>>> into>>> it" tend to>> do better in all subjects. Those that feel it is a waste>>> of>>> time>> and they just want to "study for the GED" are generally>>> frustrated>>>>> when "all of their hard work does not pay off like they would>> like.">>> Creativity also leads to retention; especially those>> activities that>>> have>>> to be completed in increments. Let's bring on>> more creativity!>>>>>>> Shirley>>> Ledet>>>> GED Instructor>>>> NHC-Carver>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>> wrote:>>>>>>> Colleagues,>>>> I am a proponent of creativity in adult literacy>>> education -->> indeed in all education. As Marc Tucker, President of>>> the>>> National>> Center for Education and the Economy, has said in a>>> presention>>>>> recently to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, http://>>>>>>>> www.caalusa.org/video/choices.html , the U.S. education system -->>>>> and he>>> includes adult education, cannot be competitive without high>> academic>>> standards AND creativity.>>>> But many GED teachers and administrators>>> believe that their>> students will not pass the GED unless they focus>>> on>>> skills and>> knowledge needed to pass the test, that creativity is a>>>>> "distraction" and a time-waster. (Many K-12 teachers,>> administrators>>> or>>> policy makers also believe creativity distracts>> from passing high>>> stakes>>> tests.) I hate to be the one to raise this>> issue, but it's the key>>> question on the minds of many GED teachers>> and administrators, so I>>> invite>>> the panelists to address it.>>>> Is creativity a distraction or is it>>> essential for success? Why?>>>>>> David J. Rosen>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net>>>> -------------- Original>>> message ---------------------->> From: "Marie Cora">>> Hi>>> everyone,>>>>>>>>> We've had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted>>> to>>>>>> give a quick reminder where you can get the information on this>>>>>> discussion. For the full announcement, information on guests, and>>>>>> suggested resources go to:>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ->>> there>>> were a couple ->> you can>>> catch up in the archives at:>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>> Please>>> post>>> your questions and also your own experiences to share>> now!>>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>> Marie Cora>>> Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From:>>> "Marie>>> Cora">> To:>> Subject: [Assessment 942] GED Discussion - what you>>> need to>>> know!>> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 14:43:14 +0000>>>> Hi everyone,>>>>>>>>>>> We?ve>>> had several new subscribers over the past day, and so I>> wanted to>>> give a>>> quick reminder where you can get the information>> on this discussion.>>> For>>> the full announcement, information on>> guests, and suggested>>> resources go>>> to:>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/>>> 07creativityGED.html>>>>>>>>>>> If you missed the posts from yesterday ? there were a couple ? you>>>>> can>>> catch up in the archives at: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/>>>>> assessment/2007/date.html>>>>>>>> Please post your questions and also>>> your>>> own experiences to share now!>>>>>>>> Thanks!!>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> Assessment Discussion List Moderator>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marie Cora>>>>>>> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>>>> NIFL Assessment Discussion List>>> Moderator>>>>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to msledet at yahoo.com>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>>> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email>>> delivered to djrosen at comcast.net>>>>>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to kgotthardt at comcast.net>> ------------------------------->>>> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list>>>> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription>>> settings,>>> please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email>>> delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com>>>>>> _________________________________________________________________>>> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?.>>> Stop by>>> today.>>> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?>>> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to donnaedp at cox.net>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>>>>>>>> End of Assessment Digest, Vol 25, Issue 33>>> ******************************************>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------->>> National Institute for Literacy>>> Assessment mailing list>>> Assessment at nifl.gov>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>>> Email delivered to andreawilder at comcast.net>>>> ------------------------------->> National Institute for Literacy>> Assessment mailing list>> Assessment at nifl.gov>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment>> Email delivered to macsimoin at hotmail.com> Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! Get 'em!> -------------------------------> National Institute for Literacy> Assessment mailing list> Assessment at nifl.gov> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment> Email delivered to djrosen at comcast.net === message truncated === -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071104/14479d1f/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Nov 8 08:10:27 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 08:10:27 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1057] Seeking assessments Message-ID: <013b01c82208$bbf5ccb0$620110ac@LITNOW> Colleagues, The following post is from Kevin O'Connor, from Framingham, Mass: I'm trying to find what other adult ed programs have used for assessment with female second-language learners who may be low-income or homeless. * How many used commercially-based assessments (BEST+, REEP, TABE, CASAS, etc)? * How many use alternative assessments (portfolio-based, interviews, observations, self-assessments, etc)? * Do any of the list subscribers use the EFF framework as part of their curriculum/assessment structure? * Which approaches have been/would be the most authentic and informative for your program? Marie Cora marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071108/da991c28/attachment.html From cdubois1 at student.gsu.edu Mon Nov 12 15:35:09 2007 From: cdubois1 at student.gsu.edu (Courtney Leigh DuBois) Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:35:09 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1058] Program Assessment Message-ID: <1194899709.dab5caccdubois1@student.gsu.edu> Hi Folks, I'm a graduate student in Instructional Technology at Georgia State University. I've been reading this newsgroup since the beginning of the semester with great interest since assessment is one of the five competences in our program. I have a question for you all. Do you conduct any formative and/or summative evaluations on your program? If so, what type of program evaluation do you conduct, and how often do you evaluate your program? Courtney DuBois M.S. Instructional Technology Georgia State University Expected graduation May 2008 (yeah!) From ryanryanc at yahoo.com Sat Nov 17 17:51:30 2007 From: ryanryanc at yahoo.com (Ryan Hall) Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:51:30 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1059] TABE Training Message-ID: Hi everyone, I am doing some work for a nonprofit literacy agency in Georgia, and I need some information about using the TABE. I was hoping that people on this list could tell me the best way for me to get training for administering, scoring, and analyzing scores on the TABE. Any suggestions? Thanks, Ryan From bsanders37 at yahoo.com Sat Nov 17 21:53:05 2007 From: bsanders37 at yahoo.com (Benny L Sanders) Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 18:53:05 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Assessment 1060] Re: TABE Training In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <903920.14027.qm@web35901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hi, I would suggest TABE PC. It does all of that for you and saves hours of study, testing and scoring and analyzing. It cost about $350 for 50 applications. To me, that is the only way to go. It is a Contemporary Publisher product. Benny Sanders Ryan Hall wrote: Hi everyone, I am doing some work for a nonprofit literacy agency in Georgia, and I need some information about using the TABE. I was hoping that people on this list could tell me the best way for me to get training for administering, scoring, and analyzing scores on the TABE. Any suggestions? Thanks, Ryan ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to bsanders37 at yahoo.com Benny L. Sanders Executive Director Reach Across Houston 9808 Bauman Road Houston, TX 77076 (v) 713-697-2244 (f) 713-697-2323 (c)832-797-3373 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071117/40218ebb/attachment.html From alflinn at templejc.edu Sun Nov 18 09:53:34 2007 From: alflinn at templejc.edu (alflinn at templejc.edu) Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 08:53:34 -0600 Subject: [Assessment 1061] Re: TABE Training Message-ID: We use TABE PC, but find the system is not always user friendly. We often are forced to use the "paper pencil" tests especially when it repeatedly "bumps" a learner out of the system. No matter what you use, it is essential that staff READ the manuals and take the test themselves to understand the personality of the test and what it will and will not tell you. The publisher will be glad to provide you with training, but an experienced user would be a better choice (often the publisher is only interested in selling the product, not explaining it). Are you near any adult education/literacy programs using TABE? You might be able to attend their training or find a trainer through them. Please note: There is an IT issue with TABE PC as well. I belive the requirement is Flash 8 NOT 9. We have had nightmares trying to utilize our campus testing center because most of the tests the center provides require the OTHER Flash player. Make sure you check with TABE PC folks AND your internal IT people to make sure you are set up properly. Good luck! Amy Flinn Temple College ------- Original Message ------- >From : Benny L Sanders[mailto:bsanders37 at yahoo.com] Sent : 11/17/2007 8:53:05 PM To : assessment at nifl.gov Cc : Subject : RE: [Assessment 1060] Re: TABE Training Hi, I would suggest TABE PC. It does all of that for you and saves hours of study, testing and scoring and analyzing. It cost about $350 for 50 applications. To me, that is the only way to go. It is a Contemporary Publisher product. Benny Sanders Ryan Hall wrote: Hi everyone, I am doing some work for a nonprofit literacy agency in Georgia, and I need some information about using the TABE. I was hoping that people on this list could tell me the best way for me to get training for administering, scoring, and analyzing scores on the TABE. Any suggestions? Thanks, Ryan ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to bsanders37 at yahoo.com Benny L. Sanders Executive Director Reach Across Houston 9808 Bauman Road Houston, TX 77076 (v) 713-697-2244 (f) 713-697-2323 (c)832-797-3373 From bcarmel at rocketmail.com Sun Nov 18 12:01:24 2007 From: bcarmel at rocketmail.com (Bruce C) Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:01:24 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Assessment 1062] Re: TABE Training In-Reply-To: <903920.14027.qm@web35901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <475710.80712.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hello Assessment List: Here's the bind we have been in forever: The standardized tests like the TABE tell us little about what is really go on, but they are required, easy to administer, and give us a "score." Other assessments--formal and informal--give lots of information about what is really going on but they take too much time and are not considered "valid and reliable" scores. I would discourage people from using the TABE to analyze students' reading abilities. The TABE is not even a great indicator of reading level or progress, and I think any analysis of students' skill sets based on the TABE is really shaky--no matter what the publishers who make tons of money on the TABE say. It takes a lot more time to do one-on-one assessments where you ask students to read something--silently and/or aloud--note their errors and ask them questions about it. But that is definitely worth analyzing. Also, I think the TABE is a particularly bad standardized test. A few comments: --If students scores high on the TABE, they are pretty much guaranteed to be good readers (and a good test takers) --If students scores low on the TABE: they might be poor readers, they might have been tripped up by this bad test: maybe they needed more time to read well maybe they got nervous, maybe they read and understood every bit of the TABE but picked the wrong answers or maybe something else was wrong--they were tired, distracted by something in their personal lives, hungry, or sick. from Bruce Carmel Turning Point Brooklyn NY ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ From bhofmeyer at niesc.k12.in.us Sun Nov 18 18:35:05 2007 From: bhofmeyer at niesc.k12.in.us (Barbara Hofmeyer) Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:35:05 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1063] Re: TABE Training In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4740CC29.3020605@niesc.k12.in.us> Ryan, If you contact CTB McGraw Hill, they advertise staff development tools including videos and PowerPoint on how to administer, score, and interpret TABE tests. Their website is www.ctb.com/tabe. You will also find a link to FAQ's on the website. That may answer many of your questions. Your regional CTB consultant may also be able to point you to some local live training. Barb Hofmeyer Ryan Hall wrote: > Hi everyone, > I am doing some work for a nonprofit literacy agency in Georgia, and I need > some information about using the TABE. I was hoping that people on this list > could tell me the best way for me to get training for administering, > scoring, and analyzing scores on the TABE. Any suggestions? > Thanks, > Ryan > > > > > ------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Assessment mailing list > Assessment at nifl.gov > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment > Email delivered to bhofmeyer at niesc.k12.in.us > > > From gbundy at rmi.net Sun Nov 18 18:44:20 2007 From: gbundy at rmi.net (Gail B) Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:44:20 -0700 (GMT-07:00) Subject: [Assessment 1064] Re: TABE Training Message-ID: <20212402.1195429461095.JavaMail.root@mswamui-swiss.atl.sa.earthlink.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071118/3abaa6ab/attachment.html From caltamari at gmail.com Mon Nov 19 12:47:01 2007 From: caltamari at gmail.com (Cindi Al-Tamari) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:47:01 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 1065] Re: TABE Training In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1143e2770711190947l521df4cai12b5a7b050fe9328@mail.gmail.com> Hi everyone, I am at graduate student at Fort Hays State University. Currently I am taking a course in assessment and I had a few questions pertaining to assessment of ESL adult learners. I have been reading this listserv since the beginning of the semester, and have found a lot of good information but not as much as I was hoping pertaining to assessment of adult ESL learners. I would greatly appreciate your input on the following questions: 1) How does assessment of adult ESL students vary from assessment of K-12 ESL students? 2) Should there be, or is there, one standard of assessment of adult ESL students or should the assessment vary according to the students motive for studying English? (Communicative purposes vs. academic purposes)? 3) Are there any web sites or previous posts from this listserv that you suggest for more information on adult ESL assessment. 4) What is your view of standardized tests such as the TOEFL etc...Do you feel these tests adequately assess ESL students true level of competency in English? Where do these tests fall short and how can they be improved? Thank you, Cindi From PowerPath at aol.com Tue Nov 20 09:37:21 2007 From: PowerPath at aol.com (PowerPath at aol.com) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:37:21 EST Subject: [Assessment 1066] Using TABE with Literacy and ABE students - Guidelines for Inclusive Test Admin!!! Message-ID: Ryan - in response to your inquiry about using the TABE test in a literacy program, based upon our recent research (4,567 adult education and literacy students from 13 states in 108 programs, 2003 - 2006) on the incidence of special learning needs in adult education here are some things I think you should be thinking about: 1.? About 4-5 out of every 10 adults in literacy and basic education programs have a vision function problem - mostly near vision and binocularity (using the two eyes together for sustained reading). 2.? Between 7 to 8 out of every 10 adults in literacy and basic education programs have attention challenges and will begin to loose comprehension and struggle with time-on-task. 3.? About 8 to 9 out of every 10 adults in literacy and basic education programs have issues with bright overhead lights, white paper and black letters (too much glare, letters move or go in and out of focus, difficulties with following lines within paragraphs AND great difficulty with filling in bubble sheets accurately) - the TABE is on white paper - has black letters and uses a bubble sheet answer form.? This key (and little known) learning challenge is call visual stress syndrome (VSS) or scotopic sensitivity. 4.? About 4 out of every 10 adults in literacy and basic education programs already have a diagnosis of 'Learning Disability' with about 6 to 7 out of 10 that could, if not already, be diagnosed as having a some type of learning disability.? We all know the legal issues re: ADA, IDEA, Section 504, etc., and the need to provide accommodations and adaptations...right? Consequently, in administration of the TABE there are some key issues that must be addressed OR the adult learner will not be able to demonstrate 'what they know' on the TABE due to the way the test materials are presented. CTB McGraw-Hill (publisher of the TABE) has known that there needs to be special accommodations and adaptations made for adults with special learning needs - most of which could be ID'd as 'disabilities' if the resources were available for neuro-psychological testing.? EVEN without such diagnostic testing being available for a formal diagnosis, CTB McGraw-Hill has a created a set of accommodations and adaptations for inclusion of all adults to better show what they know on the TABE test. The Guidelines for Inclusive Test Administration IS NOT often referred to by either TABE trainers, in TABE materials or by the CTB McGraw-Hill sales force....so, this document isn't widely circulated - BUT IT DOES EXIST!? The Guidelines have been included as part of the conversation in conference sessions in adult education via The National Association for Adults with Special Learning Needs (NAASLN) at both NAASLN conferences, as part of preconference information in NAASLN sponsored pre-conferences, and in NAASLN conference sessions tracks at COABE and CEA.? Below is the link to this Guide.? I believe it is a huge disservice to all of our literacy and adult basic education students/customers IF ACCOMMODATIONS and ADAPTATIONS ARE NOT MADE POSSIBLE in ALL learning situations and especially in testing. Guidelines for Inclusive Test Administration 2005 http://www.ctb.com/articles/article_information.jsp?CO NTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673254933&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474395222381& ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395213825&bmUID=1195562339042 Laura Weisel, Ph.D., Clinical Services The TLP Group* PO Box 21510 Columbus, OH? 43221 614.850.8677 dr.weisel at powerpath.com *The TLP Group is a social entrepreneurial company that uses traditional entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage ventures for creating needed social change to address recognized social problems.? The social entrepreneurial company often tackles social problems that have not been successfully solved by traditional government or nonprofit initiatives.???? The TLP Group works in partnership with state departments, universities, c olleges, communities, community providers and institutional providers.? By combining the best of talents, the most effective use of resources, and the latest evidence based research, The TLP Group is dedicated to making a dramatic impact on service delivery and client outcomes. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071120/3c5f8536/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Tue Nov 20 11:27:11 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:27:11 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1067] DEADLINE Reminder - WE LEARN Conference Proposals Message-ID: <075901c82b92$3530a860$0202a8c0@LITNOW> 2008 Conference Call for Proposals WE LEARN 5th Annual (Net)Working Gathering & Conference on Women & Literacy Building Alliances / Construyendo Alianzas http://www.litwomen.org/conference.html March 7- 8, 2008 Fordham Univ. at Lincoln Center in New York City, NY Co-Sponsored with WE LEARN by Fordham University Graduate School of Education ** The Call for Proposals is now available -- both poster & form are available in English and Spanish. ** We are seeking a variety of creative formats, both formal and informal: Formal 90 minute sessions: Hands-OnWorkshop or Demonstration Panel Presentation Facilitated Discussion Performance/Reading followed by Discussion/Activity Research Paper/Presentation Informal Options: Community Share Table Space: Display a Poster, Collage, or Art Work / Share Classroom or Program Materials, etc. (This option is available to literacy programs, student groups, or community centers that want to share their work addressing women's literacy issues and/or the theme of the conference.) ** Space Limited Open Air **Time: 15 minutes or less: Tell a story, Sing a song, Recite a poem, Perform a skit, etc. (Open to individuals or groups who want to share their work addressing women's literacy issues and/or the theme of the conference.) Caucus Time: Facilitate a discussion to exchange ideas, Build alliances, Organize a regional group, etc. Wellness Activity: Lead Tai Chi, Yoga, stretching or meditation, Guide a group walk, Lead dance or movement, Prepare a craft or art activity, Organize a music activity, etc. DEADLINE for Application: Nov. 30, 2007 Please apply using the Internet form. http://www.litwomen.org/conferences/2008/props08.html Sponsorship, advertiser, and exhibitor information also available: http://www.litwomen.org/conferences/2008/sponsors.pdf Registration and hotel information will be available by December 3. For questions or concerns, please contact: Mev Miller, Ed.D., Director WE LEARN Women Expanding: Literacy Education Action Resource Network www.litwomen.org/welearn.html 182 Riverside Ave. Cranston, RI 02910 401-383-4374 welearn at litwomen.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071120/964a493a/attachment.html From fgibson4 at student.gsu.edu Tue Nov 20 11:41:48 2007 From: fgibson4 at student.gsu.edu (Frederick W. Gibson) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:41:48 +0000 Subject: [Assessment 1068] Re: TABE Training Message-ID: <1195576908.b9db104fgibson4@student.gsu.edu> Hello everyone: A dededicated Website to ESL assessment would be: http://www-esl.info/ Assessment by testing is just away to give all of the testing centers in the United State an opportunity to rob (steal money) all of the public and private school system of money spent on testing. Most of the test given have some type of bias or does not adequately represent what is being assessed. Thanks Fred Gibson GSU -----Original Message----- From: "Cindi Al-Tamari" To: "The Assessment Discussion List" Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:47:01 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 1065] Re: TABE Training Hi everyone, I am at graduate student at Fort Hays State University. Currently I am taking a course in assessment and I had a few questions pertaining to assessment of ESL adult learners. I have been reading this listserv since the beginning of the semester, and have found a lot of good information but not as much as I was hoping pertaining to assessment of adult ESL learners. I would greatly appreciate your input on the following questions: 1) How does assessment of adult ESL students vary from assessment of K-12 ESL students? 2) Should there be, or is there, one standard of assessment of adult ESL students or should the assessment vary according to the students motive for studying English? (Communicative purposes vs. academic purposes)? 3) Are there any web sites or previous posts from this listserv that you suggest for more information on adult ESL assessment. 4) What is your view of standardized tests such as the TOEFL etc...Do you feel these tests adequately assess ESL students true level of competency in English? Where do these tests fall short and how can they be improved? Thank you, Cindi ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to fgibson4 at student.gsu.edu From hdooley at riral.org Tue Nov 20 12:00:24 2007 From: hdooley at riral.org (Howard Dooley) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:00:24 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1069] Re: Using TABE with Literacy and ABE students -Guidelines for Inclusive Test Admin!!! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <0BF2D0726318524ABEF6D58E7BB3CCEB0B960E@pdc.Riral.local> These are interesting stats. Where are they from? They seem inflated, given other references and research I have seen. Howard D. ________________________________ From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of PowerPath at aol.com Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 9:37 AM To: ryanryanc at yahoo.com; assessment at nifl.gov Subject: [Assessment 1066] Using TABE with Literacy and ABE students -Guidelines for Inclusive Test Admin!!! Ryan - in response to your inquiry about using the TABE test in a literacy program, based upon our recent research (4,567 adult education and literacy students from 13 states in 108 programs, 2003 - 2006) on the incidence of special learning needs in adult education here are some things I think you should be thinking about: 1. About 4-5 out of every 10 adults in literacy and basic education programs have a vision function problem - mostly near vision and binocularity (using the two eyes together for sustained reading). 2. Between 7 to 8 out of every 10 adults in literacy and basic education programs have attention challenges and will begin to loose comprehension and struggle with time-on-task. 3. About 8 to 9 out of every 10 adults in literacy and basic education programs have issues with bright overhead lights, white paper and black letters (too much glare, letters move or go in and out of focus, difficulties with following lines within paragraphs AND great difficulty with filling in bubble sheets accurately) - the TABE is on white paper - has black letters and uses a bubble sheet answer form. This key (and little known) learning challenge is call visual stress syndrome (VSS) or scotopic sensitivity. 4. About 4 out of every 10 adults in literacy and basic education programs already have a diagnosis of 'Learning Disability' with about 6 to 7 out of 10 that could, if not already, be diagnosed as having a some type of learning disability. We all know the legal issues re: ADA, IDEA, Section 504, etc., and the need to provide accommodations and adaptations...right? Consequently, in administration of the TABE there are some key issues that must be addressed OR the adult learner will not be able to demonstrate 'what they know' on the TABE due to the way the test materials are presented. CTB McGraw-Hill (publisher of the TABE) has known that there needs to be special accommodations and adaptations made for adults with special learning needs - most of which could be ID'd as 'disabilities' if the resources were available for neuro-psychological testing. EVEN without such diagnostic testing being available for a formal diagnosis, CTB McGraw-Hill has a created a set of accommodations and adaptations for inclusion of all adults to better show what they know on the TABE test. The Guidelines for Inclusive Test Administration IS NOT often referred to by either TABE trainers, in TABE materials or by the CTB McGraw-Hill sales force....so, this document isn't widely circulated - BUT IT DOES EXIST! The Guidelines have been included as part of the conversation in conference sessions in adult education via The National Association for Adults with Special Learning Needs (NAASLN) at both NAASLN conferences, as part of preconference information in NAASLN sponsored pre-conferences, and in NAASLN conference sessions tracks at COABE and CEA. Below is the link to this Guide. I believe it is a huge disservice to all of our literacy and adult basic education students/customers IF ACCOMMODATIONS and ADAPTATIONS ARE NOT MADE POSSIBLE in ALL learning situations and especially in testing. Guidelines for Inclusive Test Administration 2005 http://www.ctb.com/articles/article_information.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id= 10134198673254933&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474395222381&ASSORTMENT%3C%3 East_id=1408474395213825&bmUID=1195562339042 Laura Weisel, Ph.D., Clinical Services The TLP Group* PO Box 21510 Columbus, OH 43221 614.850.8677 dr.weisel at powerpath.com *The TLP Group is a social entrepreneurial company that uses traditional entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage ventures for creating needed social change to address recognized social problems. The social entrepreneurial company often tackles social problems that have not been successfully solved by traditional government or nonprofit initiatives. The TLP Group works in partnership with state departments, universities, colleges, communities, community providers and institutional providers. By combining the best of talents, the most effective use of resources, and the latest evidence based research, The TLP Group is dedicated to making a dramatic impact on service delivery and client outcomes. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071120/a9345bf5/attachment.html From PowerPath at aol.com Tue Nov 20 14:03:23 2007 From: PowerPath at aol.com (PowerPath at aol.com) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:03:23 EST Subject: [Assessment 1070] Re: Using TABE with Literacy and ABE students -Guidelines for Inclusive Test Admin!!! Message-ID: Howard - The statistics are from 108 adult basic and literacy programs, in 13 states, who have staff trained in administering the engagement interview and screenings in the PowerPath system. The screenings included an information processing screening battery, vision and hearing function screenings, and screenings for attention difficulties and visual stress syndrome. The core screenings have been normed, standardized, and prove to be reliable measures for screening individuals 16 years of age and older who are native English speakers. The core screenings have been correlated and weighted to predict a Woodcock Johnson full scale score. The data mentioned in the previous e-mail has been presented at the '07 & '06 COABE conference, '07 & '06 CEA conference, at the recent '07 ProLiteracy conference, and at the '06 Meeting of the Minds Research Symposium. Earlier data ('03 - '05) was presented to NAEPDC in '05. A session will also be held at the '08 COABE conference titled 'Incidence of Special Learning Needs'. Additional data (collected from correction adult basic and literacy programs) was presented in a Focus on Basics article (Understanding the Complexities of Offenders' Special Learning Needs, Volume 7, Issue D, August '05). Papers are currently being prepared for publication on the research, data collection, and findings. I too was blown away by the data. It is powerful and has a myriad of implications. New data ('07) that is being collected appears to mirror previous data. If you would like more information on the data collection, please contact me directly. Laura Weisel, Ph.D., Clinical Services The TLP Group* PO Box 21510 Columbus, OH 43221 614.850.8677 dr.weisel at powerpath.com *The TLP Group is a social entrepreneurial company that uses traditional entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage ventures for creating needed social change to address recognized social problems. The social entrepreneurial company often tackles social problems that have not been successfully solved by traditional government or nonprofit initiatives. The TLP Group works in partnership with state departments, universities, colleges, communities, community providers and institutional providers. By combining the best of talents, the most effective use of resources, and the latest evidence based research, The TLP Group is dedicated to making a dramatic impact on service delivery and client outcomes. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071120/268f0aa0/attachment.html From dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu Tue Nov 20 17:38:57 2007 From: dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu (Dianna Baycich) Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:38:57 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1071] Re: TABE reading test In-Reply-To: <475710.80712.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <903920.14027.qm@web35901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <475710.80712.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <014e01c82bc6$267f8730$f5607b83@Hebe> Hi, Good points about using the TABE to assess reading. I'd like to suggest a couple of resources to supplement the scant information we get from the TABE. The first is the Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles site at http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/ The second are the Quick Reading Assessments (and they really are quick) at the Ohio Literacy Alliance site. http://www.ohioliteracyalliance.org/ The adult passages range from grade one to grade 8 reading level. The high school passages go from grade 9 to 12 reading level. Hope these are helpful. Dianna -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bruce C Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 12:01 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1062] Re: TABE Training Hello Assessment List: Here's the bind we have been in forever: The standardized tests like the TABE tell us little about what is really go on, but they are required, easy to administer, and give us a "score." Other assessments--formal and informal--give lots of information about what is really going on but they take too much time and are not considered "valid and reliable" scores. I would discourage people from using the TABE to analyze students' reading abilities. The TABE is not even a great indicator of reading level or progress, and I think any analysis of students' skill sets based on the TABE is really shaky--no matter what the publishers who make tons of money on the TABE say. It takes a lot more time to do one-on-one assessments where you ask students to read something--silently and/or aloud--note their errors and ask them questions about it. But that is definitely worth analyzing. Also, I think the TABE is a particularly bad standardized test. A few comments: --If students scores high on the TABE, they are pretty much guaranteed to be good readers (and a good test takers) --If students scores low on the TABE: they might be poor readers, they might have been tripped up by this bad test: maybe they needed more time to read well maybe they got nervous, maybe they read and understood every bit of the TABE but picked the wrong answers or maybe something else was wrong--they were tired, distracted by something in their personal lives, hungry, or sick. from Bruce Carmel Turning Point Brooklyn NY ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to dbaycich at literacy.kent.edu From Miriam.Kroeger at azed.gov Wed Nov 21 10:59:58 2007 From: Miriam.Kroeger at azed.gov (Kroeger, Miriam) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:59:58 -0700 Subject: [Assessment 1072] Re: TABE Training In-Reply-To: <475710.80712.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <903920.14027.qm@web35901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <475710.80712.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1C563202F40F27458F337F6B4A3C291D03E24F62@prodmail1.prod.root> OVAE requires that Adult Education programs funded through WIA Title II use "standardized assessment procedures....The procedures must be a standardized test or a standarized poerformance-based assessment with a standardized scoring rubric." (NRS guidelines, pg.22) OVAE is also in the process of "vetting" assessments for approved use in AE programs. With the standarized, reliability and validity requirements, programs have "defaulted" to publishers' tests - thus the overwhelming use of TABE or CASAS. (Other tests that may have previously been used such as ABLE or AMES are no longer published or have not been updated.) We all know that no test is perfect; what we need to know is how to make the best use of the tests that are approved and to not let a test drive the instruction; rather it should help to inform instruction. Given that, do the majority of individuals using the TABE use the resources that are available with it? Someone has suggested that the instructors take the tests. They should at least review them at all the levels. They also need to be aware of the level at which the test items are written. A scale score of 600 on an E level test does not indicate that the student is at an ASE II level. Additionally, the Users Manual for both 7/8 and 9/10 contain item analysis for each question for both the complete and survey. Using these tool appropriately the instructor can get an idea of some of the skills that a student may be weak in. There are even sample lesson plans that demonstrate how a skill could be addressed in instruction. Publishers are not the big bad bogeymen - many of the people who work for them and who develop these materials and resources once worked in the field. They probably get paid more, or heaven forbid - have a full-time job and benefits with a publisher! Perhaps the frustration that many feel is caused by a (seeming?) emphasis on numbers (ed gains) and not enough recognition of the professional judgement of the teacher and student-centered learning. Peace and Blessings to all at this Thanksgiving time -Miriam Kroeger Arizona -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bruce C Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 10:01 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1062] Re: TABE Training Hello Assessment List: Here's the bind we have been in forever: The standardized tests like the TABE tell us little about what is really go on, but they are required, easy to administer, and give us a "score." Other assessments--formal and informal--give lots of information about what is really going on but they take too much time and are not considered "valid and reliable" scores. I would discourage people from using the TABE to analyze students' reading abilities. The TABE is not even a great indicator of reading level or progress, and I think any analysis of students' skill sets based on the TABE is really shaky--no matter what the publishers who make tons of money on the TABE say. It takes a lot more time to do one-on-one assessments where you ask students to read something--silently and/or aloud--note their errors and ask them questions about it. But that is definitely worth analyzing. Also, I think the TABE is a particularly bad standardized test. A few comments: --If students scores high on the TABE, they are pretty much guaranteed to be good readers (and a good test takers) --If students scores low on the TABE: they might be poor readers, they might have been tripped up by this bad test: maybe they needed more time to read well maybe they got nervous, maybe they read and understood every bit of the TABE but picked the wrong answers or maybe something else was wrong--they were tired, distracted by something in their personal lives, hungry, or sick. from Bruce Carmel Turning Point Brooklyn NY ________________________________________________________________________ ____________ Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to miriam.kroeger at azed.gov From jgordon at fortunesociety.org Wed Nov 21 14:41:59 2007 From: jgordon at fortunesociety.org (John Gordon) Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:41:59 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1073] Re: TABE Training In-Reply-To: <1C563202F40F27458F337F6B4A3C291D03E24F62@prodmail1.prod.root> References: <903920.14027.qm@web35901.mail.mud.yahoo.com><475710.80712.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <1C563202F40F27458F337F6B4A3C291D03E24F62@prodmail1.prod.root> Message-ID: <25AB4DBCECBD574F8A8EE92F47848BBDD049D5@mail2.fortunesociety.internal> I think Bruce was right on the money about the TABE. It's hard not to be cynical about the role of the test publishers. I wonder about the role McGraw Hill has played in getting the TABE adopted, why they keep coming out with new versions every couple of years, etc. Much as I like to think that programs are not letting the tests drive instruction, I'm doubtful. The pressures to show testing outcomes are so intense (high stakes testing for the programs!), I assume many programs devote considerable time to preparing students for the TABE and other tests. I would point out that McGraw-Hill now publishes a series of TABE workbooks. So much for not letting the test drive instruction. I have no idea how many programs around the country use them; I'd be interested to know.... john gordon new york -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Kroeger, Miriam Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:00 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1072] Re: TABE Training OVAE requires that Adult Education programs funded through WIA Title II use "standardized assessment procedures....The procedures must be a standardized test or a standarized poerformance-based assessment with a standardized scoring rubric." (NRS guidelines, pg.22) OVAE is also in the process of "vetting" assessments for approved use in AE programs. With the standarized, reliability and validity requirements, programs have "defaulted" to publishers' tests - thus the overwhelming use of TABE or CASAS. (Other tests that may have previously been used such as ABLE or AMES are no longer published or have not been updated.) We all know that no test is perfect; what we need to know is how to make the best use of the tests that are approved and to not let a test drive the instruction; rather it should help to inform instruction. Given that, do the majority of individuals using the TABE use the resources that are available with it? Someone has suggested that the instructors take the tests. They should at least review them at all the levels. They also need to be aware of the level at which the test items are written. A scale score of 600 on an E level test does not indicate that the student is at an ASE II level. Additionally, the Users Manual for both 7/8 and 9/10 contain item analysis for each question for both the complete and survey. Using these tool appropriately the instructor can get an idea of some of the skills that a student may be weak in. There are even sample lesson plans that demonstrate how a skill could be addressed in instruction. Publishers are not the big bad bogeymen - many of the people who work for them and who develop these materials and resources once worked in the field. They probably get paid more, or heaven forbid - have a full-time job and benefits with a publisher! Perhaps the frustration that many feel is caused by a (seeming?) emphasis on numbers (ed gains) and not enough recognition of the professional judgement of the teacher and student-centered learning. Peace and Blessings to all at this Thanksgiving time -Miriam Kroeger Arizona -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bruce C Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 10:01 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1062] Re: TABE Training Hello Assessment List: Here's the bind we have been in forever: The standardized tests like the TABE tell us little about what is really go on, but they are required, easy to administer, and give us a "score." Other assessments--formal and informal--give lots of information about what is really going on but they take too much time and are not considered "valid and reliable" scores. I would discourage people from using the TABE to analyze students' reading abilities. The TABE is not even a great indicator of reading level or progress, and I think any analysis of students' skill sets based on the TABE is really shaky--no matter what the publishers who make tons of money on the TABE say. It takes a lot more time to do one-on-one assessments where you ask students to read something--silently and/or aloud--note their errors and ask them questions about it. But that is definitely worth analyzing. Also, I think the TABE is a particularly bad standardized test. A few comments: --If students scores high on the TABE, they are pretty much guaranteed to be good readers (and a good test takers) --If students scores low on the TABE: they might be poor readers, they might have been tripped up by this bad test: maybe they needed more time to read well maybe they got nervous, maybe they read and understood every bit of the TABE but picked the wrong answers or maybe something else was wrong--they were tired, distracted by something in their personal lives, hungry, or sick. from Bruce Carmel Turning Point Brooklyn NY ________________________________________________________________________ ____________ Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to miriam.kroeger at azed.gov ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to jgordon at fortunesociety.org From VenuT at lacnyc.org Fri Nov 23 15:22:07 2007 From: VenuT at lacnyc.org (Venu Thelakkat) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:22:07 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1074] Re: TABE Training In-Reply-To: <25AB4DBCECBD574F8A8EE92F47848BBDD049D5@mail2.fortunesociety.internal> References: <903920.14027.qm@web35901.mail.mud.yahoo.com><475710.80712.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com><1C563202F40F27458F337F6B4A3C291D03E24F62@prodmail1.prod.root> <25AB4DBCECBD574F8A8EE92F47848BBDD049D5@mail2.fortunesociety.internal> Message-ID: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB85E6FA8@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> I agree with Miriam that test publishers present easy targets for blame. While I am not overly compelled to defend CTB McGraw Hill, I am not sure about the point being made by John and Bruce. Is it that; - The TABE is a bad standardized test and there are others that are better suited to our purposes? Or is it that - All standardized assessments are bad and should not be part of any system for evaluating program or student performance? Or is the argument that - Standardized assessments should only be part of a more comprehensive evaluation system that includes portfolios, performance-based assessments and teacher observations (this, I believe, is part of the argument David made in a similar thread a few weeks ago) Venu Thelakkat Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 803-3370 venut at lacnyc.org www.lacnyc.org -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of John Gordon Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 2:42 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1073] Re: TABE Training I think Bruce was right on the money about the TABE. It's hard not to be cynical about the role of the test publishers. I wonder about the role McGraw Hill has played in getting the TABE adopted, why they keep coming out with new versions every couple of years, etc. Much as I like to think that programs are not letting the tests drive instruction, I'm doubtful. The pressures to show testing outcomes are so intense (high stakes testing for the programs!), I assume many programs devote considerable time to preparing students for the TABE and other tests. I would point out that McGraw-Hill now publishes a series of TABE workbooks. So much for not letting the test drive instruction. I have no idea how many programs around the country use them; I'd be interested to know.... john gordon new york -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Kroeger, Miriam Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:00 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1072] Re: TABE Training OVAE requires that Adult Education programs funded through WIA Title II use "standardized assessment procedures....The procedures must be a standardized test or a standarized poerformance-based assessment with a standardized scoring rubric." (NRS guidelines, pg.22) OVAE is also in the process of "vetting" assessments for approved use in AE programs. With the standarized, reliability and validity requirements, programs have "defaulted" to publishers' tests - thus the overwhelming use of TABE or CASAS. (Other tests that may have previously been used such as ABLE or AMES are no longer published or have not been updated.) We all know that no test is perfect; what we need to know is how to make the best use of the tests that are approved and to not let a test drive the instruction; rather it should help to inform instruction. Given that, do the majority of individuals using the TABE use the resources that are available with it? Someone has suggested that the instructors take the tests. They should at least review them at all the levels. They also need to be aware of the level at which the test items are written. A scale score of 600 on an E level test does not indicate that the student is at an ASE II level. Additionally, the Users Manual for both 7/8 and 9/10 contain item analysis for each question for both the complete and survey. Using these tool appropriately the instructor can get an idea of some of the skills that a student may be weak in. There are even sample lesson plans that demonstrate how a skill could be addressed in instruction. Publishers are not the big bad bogeymen - many of the people who work for them and who develop these materials and resources once worked in the field. They probably get paid more, or heaven forbid - have a full-time job and benefits with a publisher! Perhaps the frustration that many feel is caused by a (seeming?) emphasis on numbers (ed gains) and not enough recognition of the professional judgement of the teacher and student-centered learning. Peace and Blessings to all at this Thanksgiving time -Miriam Kroeger Arizona -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bruce C Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 10:01 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1062] Re: TABE Training Hello Assessment List: Here's the bind we have been in forever: The standardized tests like the TABE tell us little about what is really go on, but they are required, easy to administer, and give us a "score." Other assessments--formal and informal--give lots of information about what is really going on but they take too much time and are not considered "valid and reliable" scores. I would discourage people from using the TABE to analyze students' reading abilities. The TABE is not even a great indicator of reading level or progress, and I think any analysis of students' skill sets based on the TABE is really shaky--no matter what the publishers who make tons of money on the TABE say. It takes a lot more time to do one-on-one assessments where you ask students to read something--silently and/or aloud--note their errors and ask them questions about it. But that is definitely worth analyzing. Also, I think the TABE is a particularly bad standardized test. A few comments: --If students scores high on the TABE, they are pretty much guaranteed to be good readers (and a good test takers) --If students scores low on the TABE: they might be poor readers, they might have been tripped up by this bad test: maybe they needed more time to read well maybe they got nervous, maybe they read and understood every bit of the TABE but picked the wrong answers or maybe something else was wrong--they were tired, distracted by something in their personal lives, hungry, or sick. from Bruce Carmel Turning Point Brooklyn NY ________________________________________________________________________ ____________ Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to miriam.kroeger at azed.gov ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to jgordon at fortunesociety.org ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to venut at lacnyc.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071123/6fc87979/attachment.html From Mdick at lagcc.cuny.edu Wed Nov 28 10:55:16 2007 From: Mdick at lagcc.cuny.edu (Mae Dick) Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:55:16 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1075] Re: TABE Training In-Reply-To: <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB85E6FA8@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> References: <903920.14027.qm@web35901.mail.mud.yahoo.com><475710.80712.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com><1C563202F40F27458F337F6B4A3C291D03E24F62@prodmail1.prod.root> <25AB4DBCECBD574F8A8EE92F47848BBDD049D5@mail2.fortunesociety.internal> <6E8BC13A30982C44BCD32B38FB8F5AB85E6FA8@lac-exch.lacnyc.local> Message-ID: <474D49140200000A001CFA18@mailgate.lagcc.cuny.edu> I think the last point Venu made is correct; standardized tests are essential, but only as one part of an overall assessment. They are easy to adminiister, and afterall, we, as readers, are able to read the TABE test. Eventually, our students should be able to handle them as well. However, I don't believe that it is necessary to generate yet a new test every few years. I have been using the various versions of the McGraw Hill tests for many years now, and each version has its peculiararities. As soon as you figure one version out, there's another one on the scene. They serve a purpose, but we don't need to pay for new sets quite so often. >>> "Venu Thelakkat" 11/23/2007 3:22 PM >>> I agree with Miriam that test publishers present easy targets for blame. While I am not overly compelled to defend CTB McGraw Hill, I am not sure about the point being made by John and Bruce. Is it that; - The TABE is a bad standardized test and there are others that are better suited to our purposes? Or is it that - All standardized assessments are bad and should not be part of any system for evaluating program or student performance? Or is the argument that - Standardized assessments should only be part of a more comprehensive evaluation system that includes portfolios, performance-based assessments and teacher observations (this, I believe, is part of the argument David made in a similar thread a few weeks ago) Venu Thelakkat Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis Literacy Assistance Center 32 Broadway, 10th floor New York, NY 10004 (212) 803-3370 venut at lacnyc.org www.lacnyc.org -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of John Gordon Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 2:42 PM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1073] Re: TABE Training I think Bruce was right on the money about the TABE. It's hard not to be cynical about the role of the test publishers. I wonder about the role McGraw Hill has played in getting the TABE adopted, why they keep coming out with new versions every couple of years, etc. Much as I like to think that programs are not letting the tests drive instruction, I'm doubtful. The pressures to show testing outcomes are so intense (high stakes testing for the programs!), I assume many programs devote considerable time to preparing students for the TABE and other tests. I would point out that McGraw-Hill now publishes a series of TABE workbooks. So much for not letting the test drive instruction. I have no idea how many programs around the country use them; I'd be interested to know.... john gordon new york -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Kroeger, Miriam Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:00 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1072] Re: TABE Training OVAE requires that Adult Education programs funded through WIA Title II use "standardized assessment procedures....The procedures must be a standardized test or a standarized poerformance-based assessment with a standardized scoring rubric." (NRS guidelines, pg.22) OVAE is also in the process of "vetting" assessments for approved use in AE programs. With the standarized, reliability and validity requirements, programs have "defaulted" to publishers' tests - thus the overwhelming use of TABE or CASAS. (Other tests that may have previously been used such as ABLE or AMES are no longer published or have not been updated.) We all know that no test is perfect; what we need to know is how to make the best use of the tests that are approved and to not let a test drive the instruction; rather it should help to inform instruction. Given that, do the majority of individuals using the TABE use the resources that are available with it? Someone has suggested that the instructors take the tests. They should at least review them at all the levels. They also need to be aware of the level at which the test items are written. A scale score of 600 on an E level test does not indicate that the student is at an ASE II level. Additionally, the Users Manual for both 7/8 and 9/10 contain item analysis for each question for both the complete and survey. Using these tool appropriately the instructor can get an idea of some of the skills that a student may be weak in. There are even sample lesson plans that demonstrate how a skill could be addressed in instruction. Publishers are not the big bad bogeymen - many of the people who work for them and who develop these materials and resources once worked in the field. They probably get paid more, or heaven forbid - have a full-time job and benefits with a publisher! Perhaps the frustration that many feel is caused by a (seeming?) emphasis on numbers (ed gains) and not enough recognition of the professional judgement of the teacher and student-centered learning. Peace and Blessings to all at this Thanksgiving time -Miriam Kroeger Arizona -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bruce C Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 10:01 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1062] Re: TABE Training Hello Assessment List: Here's the bind we have been in forever: The standardized tests like the TABE tell us little about what is really go on, but they are required, easy to administer, and give us a "score." Other assessments--formal and informal--give lots of information about what is really going on but they take too much time and are not considered "valid and reliable" scores. I would discourage people from using the TABE to analyze students' reading abilities. The TABE is not even a great indicator of reading level or progress, and I think any analysis of students' skill sets based on the TABE is really shaky--no matter what the publishers who make tons of money on the TABE say. It takes a lot more time to do one-on-one assessments where you ask students to read something--silently and/or aloud--note their errors and ask them questions about it. But that is definitely worth analyzing. Also, I think the TABE is a particularly bad standardized test. A few comments: --If students scores high on the TABE, they are pretty much guaranteed to be good readers (and a good test takers) --If students scores low on the TABE: they might be poor readers, they might have been tripped up by this bad test: maybe they needed more time to read well maybe they got nervous, maybe they read and understood every bit of the TABE but picked the wrong answers or maybe something else was wrong--they were tired, distracted by something in their personal lives, hungry, or sick. from Bruce Carmel Turning Point Brooklyn NY ________________________________________________________________________ ____________ Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/sports;_ylt=At9_qDKvtAbMuh1G1SQtBI7ntAcJ ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to miriam.kroeger at azed.gov ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to jgordon at fortunesociety.org ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to venut at lacnyc.org From bcarmel at rocketmail.com Thu Nov 29 08:19:15 2007 From: bcarmel at rocketmail.com (Bruce C) Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:19:15 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Assessment 1076] Standardized Tests In-Reply-To: <474D49140200000A001CFA18@mailgate.lagcc.cuny.edu> Message-ID: <531830.88478.qm@web37911.mail.mud.yahoo.com> The problem with standardized tests is the claim they make about reading level. All reading happens in a context. My reading level is dependent on my background knowledge (including vocabulary, print conventions, conent knowledge), interest in the subject, purpose for reading, urgency of the task at hand, etc. For example, I could read a complicated "Request for Proposal" for Adult Literacy funding much more successfully than I could read an RFP for community health centers. In the case of the former, I have read similar texts before, I know the jargon and acronyms, and I will push through it because I need the money. Not so for the latter. This is true even if these documents have the same Readability level. Standardized tests ignore the realities of real reading. In real life, I read maps, newspapers, my paycheck, phone books, novels, utility bills, emails, and text messages. My reading level changes depending on the context of each tasks. This is why the National Assesment of Adult Literacy asked people to perform a range of reading tasks and did not give them a standardized test. They wanted to be accurate. Standardized reading tests give me a fair indication of how well a student will do on a standardized test. They may tell me something about the students general reading level, but not nearly as much, and not as accurately, as these tests claim. Standardized tests act as if I can put a "sixth grade" stamp on a student's forward and assume she/he reads everything at the sixth grade level. That just isn't how reading works. Bruce Carmel Turning Point Brooklyn NY > >>> "Venu Thelakkat" 11/23/2007 > 3:22 PM >>> > I agree with Miriam that test publishers present > easy targets for blame. > While I am not overly compelled to defend CTB McGraw > Hill, I am not sure > about the point being made by John and Bruce. Is it > that; > > - The TABE is a bad standardized test and there are > others that are > better suited to our purposes? Or is it that > > - All standardized assessments are bad and should > not be part of any > system for evaluating program or student > performance? Or is the > argument that > > - Standardized assessments should only be part of a > more comprehensive > evaluation system that includes portfolios, > performance-based > assessments and teacher observations (this, I > believe, is part of the > argument David made in a similar thread a few weeks > ago) > > > > > > Venu Thelakkat > > Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis > > Literacy Assistance Center > > 32 Broadway, 10th floor > > New York, NY 10004 > > (212) 803-3370 > > venut at lacnyc.org > > www.lacnyc.org > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of John Gordon > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 2:42 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1073] Re: TABE Training > > > > I think Bruce was right on the money about the TABE. > It's hard not to be > > cynical about the role of the test publishers. I > wonder about the role > > McGraw Hill has played in getting the TABE adopted, > why they keep coming > > out with new versions every couple of years, etc. > > > > Much as I like to think that programs are not > letting the tests drive > > instruction, I'm doubtful. The pressures to show > testing outcomes are > > so intense (high stakes testing for the programs!), > I assume many > > programs devote considerable time to preparing > students for the TABE and > > other tests. I would point out that McGraw-Hill now > publishes a series > > of TABE workbooks. So much for not letting the test > drive instruction. I > > have no idea how many programs around the country > use them; I'd be > > interested to know.... > > > > john gordon > > new york > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > > On Behalf Of Kroeger, Miriam > > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:00 AM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1072] Re: TABE Training > > > > OVAE requires that Adult Education programs funded > through WIA Title II > > use "standardized assessment procedures....The > procedures must be a > > standardized test or a standarized > poerformance-based assessment with a > > standardized scoring rubric." (NRS guidelines, > pg.22) OVAE is also in > > the process of "vetting" assessments for approved > use in AE programs. > > With the standarized, reliability and validity > requirements, programs > > have "defaulted" to publishers' tests - thus the > overwhelming use of > > TABE or CASAS. (Other tests that may have > previously been used such as > > ABLE or AMES are no longer published or have not > been updated.) > > > > We all know that no test is perfect; what we need to > know is how to make > > the best use of the tests that are approved and to > not let a test drive > > the instruction; rather it should help to inform > instruction. Given > > that, do the majority of individuals using the TABE > use the resources > > that are available with it? Someone has suggested > that the instructors > > take the tests. They should at least review them at > all the levels. > > They also need to be aware of the level at which the > test items are > > written. A scale score of 600 on an E level test > does not indicate that > > the student is at an ASE II level. > > > > Additionally, the Users Manual for both 7/8 and 9/10 > contain item > > analysis for each question for both the complete and > survey. Using > > these tool appropriately the instructor can get an > idea of some of the > > skills that a student may be weak in. There are > even sample lesson > > === message truncated === ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs From dlwann at comcast.net Thu Nov 29 14:22:15 2007 From: dlwann at comcast.net (Dan Wann) Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:22:15 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1077] Re: Standardized Tests In-Reply-To: <531830.88478.qm@web37911.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <474D49140200000A001CFA18@mailgate.lagcc.cuny.edu> <531830.88478.qm@web37911.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <01ef01c832bd$272086f0$0300a8c0@D28ZY081> >From what I understand the use of grade level equivalency scores are given because of the need to report by that standard. I have read TABE materials that states that GE is too broad of a term to mean much and that the scale score is much more meaningful in understanding student performance. I know that CASAS scale scores are much more meaningful than the GE but the GE is made available when funding sources require grade level equivalency reporting. Both CASAS and BEST do test students' reading ability in life and work contexts and I would disagree with some of what Bruce has written below. Further, as a test of basic reading skills these tests are constructed so that extensive and selective background knowledge is not necessary. The test items on both of these tests seem to test reading within a context that is known by a majority of people who function in society at various levels and are not designed to test at a post-secondary level. If you examine the CASAS and BEST tests you see questions based on paycheck stubs, bus schedules, work memos, employee handbooks, medicine labels and narratives. In my opinion standard testing is a necessary but not sufficient tool to use for assessing student skill level or proficiency. While I do not use TABE because of the orientation of the test to an academic setting, I would not say it is a bad test. The question is does the test do what it says it will do. I think that CASAS and BEST do what is mentioned below by testing adult students' ability to read a variety of documents in a variety of settings. The scaled scores given and the indicators of levels are not grade level dependent and can be explained just as an SAT or CAT score can be explained independent of Grade Level. Educators must choose a test that correlates to the curriculum and instruction if the test is to be of value, but I would not say that a test is bad because it tests one thing and I teach another. Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant Adult ESL and Development Education Teacher -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bruce C Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 8:19 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1076] Standardized Tests The problem with standardized tests is the claim they make about reading level. All reading happens in a context. My reading level is dependent on my background knowledge (including vocabulary, print conventions, conent knowledge), interest in the subject, purpose for reading, urgency of the task at hand, etc. For example, I could read a complicated "Request for Proposal" for Adult Literacy funding much more successfully than I could read an RFP for community health centers. In the case of the former, I have read similar texts before, I know the jargon and acronyms, and I will push through it because I need the money. Not so for the latter. This is true even if these documents have the same Readability level. Standardized tests ignore the realities of real reading. In real life, I read maps, newspapers, my paycheck, phone books, novels, utility bills, emails, and text messages. My reading level changes depending on the context of each tasks. This is why the National Assesment of Adult Literacy asked people to perform a range of reading tasks and did not give them a standardized test. They wanted to be accurate. Standardized reading tests give me a fair indication of how well a student will do on a standardized test. They may tell me something about the students general reading level, but not nearly as much, and not as accurately, as these tests claim. Standardized tests act as if I can put a "sixth grade" stamp on a student's forward and assume she/he reads everything at the sixth grade level. That just isn't how reading works. Bruce Carmel Turning Point Brooklyn NY > >>> "Venu Thelakkat" 11/23/2007 > 3:22 PM >>> > I agree with Miriam that test publishers present > easy targets for blame. > While I am not overly compelled to defend CTB McGraw > Hill, I am not sure > about the point being made by John and Bruce. Is it > that; > > - The TABE is a bad standardized test and there are > others that are > better suited to our purposes? Or is it that > > - All standardized assessments are bad and should > not be part of any > system for evaluating program or student > performance? Or is the > argument that > > - Standardized assessments should only be part of a > more comprehensive > evaluation system that includes portfolios, > performance-based > assessments and teacher observations (this, I > believe, is part of the > argument David made in a similar thread a few weeks > ago) > > > > > > Venu Thelakkat > > Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis > > Literacy Assistance Center > > 32 Broadway, 10th floor > > New York, NY 10004 > > (212) 803-3370 > > venut at lacnyc.org > > www.lacnyc.org > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of John Gordon > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 2:42 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1073] Re: TABE Training > > > > I think Bruce was right on the money about the TABE. > It's hard not to be > > cynical about the role of the test publishers. I > wonder about the role > > McGraw Hill has played in getting the TABE adopted, > why they keep coming > > out with new versions every couple of years, etc. > > > > Much as I like to think that programs are not > letting the tests drive > > instruction, I'm doubtful. The pressures to show > testing outcomes are > > so intense (high stakes testing for the programs!), > I assume many > > programs devote considerable time to preparing > students for the TABE and > > other tests. I would point out that McGraw-Hill now > publishes a series > > of TABE workbooks. So much for not letting the test > drive instruction. I > > have no idea how many programs around the country > use them; I'd be > > interested to know.... > > > > john gordon > > new york > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > > On Behalf Of Kroeger, Miriam > > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:00 AM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1072] Re: TABE Training > > > > OVAE requires that Adult Education programs funded > through WIA Title II > > use "standardized assessment procedures....The > procedures must be a > > standardized test or a standarized > poerformance-based assessment with a > > standardized scoring rubric." (NRS guidelines, > pg.22) OVAE is also in > > the process of "vetting" assessments for approved > use in AE programs. > > With the standarized, reliability and validity > requirements, programs > > have "defaulted" to publishers' tests - thus the > overwhelming use of > > TABE or CASAS. (Other tests that may have > previously been used such as > > ABLE or AMES are no longer published or have not > been updated.) > > > > We all know that no test is perfect; what we need to > know is how to make > > the best use of the tests that are approved and to > not let a test drive > > the instruction; rather it should help to inform > instruction. Given > > that, do the majority of individuals using the TABE > use the resources > > that are available with it? Someone has suggested > that the instructors > > take the tests. They should at least review them at > all the levels. > > They also need to be aware of the level at which the > test items are > > written. A scale score of 600 on an E level test > does not indicate that > > the student is at an ASE II level. > > > > Additionally, the Users Manual for both 7/8 and 9/10 > contain item > > analysis for each question for both the complete and > survey. Using > > these tool appropriately the instructor can get an > idea of some of the > > skills that a student may be weak in. There are > even sample lesson > > === message truncated === ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to dlwann at comcast.net From bcarmel at rocketmail.com Mon Dec 3 12:40:36 2007 From: bcarmel at rocketmail.com (Bruce C) Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 09:40:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Assessment 1078] Re: Standardized Tests In-Reply-To: <01ef01c832bd$272086f0$0300a8c0@D28ZY081> Message-ID: <266245.4674.qm@web37901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Re TABE and CASAS: Yes it is true that some standardized tests pay lip service to "real life contexts." In NY we use the TABE, so that is the test with which I am most familiar. There is a big, big difference between looking at the basic line drawings that represent real-life materials and looking at real paychecks, newspapers, bus schedules, etc. When highly literate people look at the line drawing that is supposed to be an excerpt from a book's index, we know that this is a representation of a column on a page at the back of a book. People with limited literacy may not be able to do this. They may see a box with some words in it. They may not know what it is. Therefore, cannot answer the questions--not because they cannot read but because they got tripped up by the complicated task that the test-writers forgot about. If the students would have been asked the same questions about a real index in a real book, some would do better. Yes, it tests literacy skills to ask someone to take a standardized test. It tests their ability to take a specific standardized test. This says something about their abililty to read. It does not tell us how well they can perform the real-life literacy tasks that matter most to students. Bruce Carmel Dan Wann wrote: >From what I understand the use of grade level equivalency scores are given because of the need to report by that standard. I have read TABE materials that states that GE is too broad of a term to mean much and that the scale score is much more meaningful in understanding student performance. I know that CASAS scale scores are much more meaningful than the GE but the GE is made available when funding sources require grade level equivalency reporting. Both CASAS and BEST do test students' reading ability in life and work contexts and I would disagree with some of what Bruce has written below. Further, as a test of basic reading skills these tests are constructed so that extensive and selective background knowledge is not necessary. The test items on both of these tests seem to test reading within a context that is known by a majority of people who function in society at various levels and are not designed to test at a post-secondary level. If you examine the CASAS and BEST tests you see questions based on paycheck stubs, bus schedules, work memos, employee handbooks, medicine labels and narratives. In my opinion standard testing is a necessary but not sufficient tool to use for assessing student skill level or proficiency. While I do not use TABE because of the orientation of the test to an academic setting, I would not say it is a bad test. The question is does the test do what it says it will do. I think that CASAS and BEST do what is mentioned below by testing adult students' ability to read a variety of documents in a variety of settings. The scaled scores given and the indicators of levels are not grade level dependent and can be explained just as an SAT or CAT score can be explained independent of Grade Level. Educators must choose a test that correlates to the curriculum and instruction if the test is to be of value, but I would not say that a test is bad because it tests one thing and I teach another. Dan Wann Professional Development Consultant Adult ESL and Development Education Teacher -----Original Message----- From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bruce C Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 8:19 AM To: The Assessment Discussion List Subject: [Assessment 1076] Standardized Tests The problem with standardized tests is the claim they make about reading level. All reading happens in a context. My reading level is dependent on my background knowledge (including vocabulary, print conventions, conent knowledge), interest in the subject, purpose for reading, urgency of the task at hand, etc. For example, I could read a complicated "Request for Proposal" for Adult Literacy funding much more successfully than I could read an RFP for community health centers. In the case of the former, I have read similar texts before, I know the jargon and acronyms, and I will push through it because I need the money. Not so for the latter. This is true even if these documents have the same Readability level. Standardized tests ignore the realities of real reading. In real life, I read maps, newspapers, my paycheck, phone books, novels, utility bills, emails, and text messages. My reading level changes depending on the context of each tasks. This is why the National Assesment of Adult Literacy asked people to perform a range of reading tasks and did not give them a standardized test. They wanted to be accurate. Standardized reading tests give me a fair indication of how well a student will do on a standardized test. They may tell me something about the students general reading level, but not nearly as much, and not as accurately, as these tests claim. Standardized tests act as if I can put a "sixth grade" stamp on a student's forward and assume she/he reads everything at the sixth grade level. That just isn't how reading works. Bruce Carmel Turning Point Brooklyn NY > >>> "Venu Thelakkat" 11/23/2007 > 3:22 PM >>> > I agree with Miriam that test publishers present > easy targets for blame. > While I am not overly compelled to defend CTB McGraw > Hill, I am not sure > about the point being made by John and Bruce. Is it > that; > > - The TABE is a bad standardized test and there are > others that are > better suited to our purposes? Or is it that > > - All standardized assessments are bad and should > not be part of any > system for evaluating program or student > performance? Or is the > argument that > > - Standardized assessments should only be part of a > more comprehensive > evaluation system that includes portfolios, > performance-based > assessments and teacher observations (this, I > believe, is part of the > argument David made in a similar thread a few weeks > ago) > > > > > > Venu Thelakkat > > Director of ASISTS/Data Analysis > > Literacy Assistance Center > > 32 Broadway, 10th floor > > New York, NY 10004 > > (212) 803-3370 > > venut at lacnyc.org > > www.lacnyc.org > > -----Original Message----- > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > On Behalf Of John Gordon > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 2:42 PM > To: The Assessment Discussion List > Subject: [Assessment 1073] Re: TABE Training > > > > I think Bruce was right on the money about the TABE. > It's hard not to be > > cynical about the role of the test publishers. I > wonder about the role > > McGraw Hill has played in getting the TABE adopted, > why they keep coming > > out with new versions every couple of years, etc. > > > > Much as I like to think that programs are not > letting the tests drive > > instruction, I'm doubtful. The pressures to show > testing outcomes are > > so intense (high stakes testing for the programs!), > I assume many > > programs devote considerable time to preparing > students for the TABE and > > other tests. I would point out that McGraw-Hill now > publishes a series > > of TABE workbooks. So much for not letting the test > drive instruction. I > > have no idea how many programs around the country > use them; I'd be > > interested to know.... > > > > john gordon > > new york > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov > [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] > > On Behalf Of Kroeger, Miriam > > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:00 AM > > To: The Assessment Discussion List > > Subject: [Assessment 1072] Re: TABE Training > > > > OVAE requires that Adult Education programs funded > through WIA Title II > > use "standardized assessment procedures....The > procedures must be a > > standardized test or a standarized > poerformance-based assessment with a > > standardized scoring rubric." (NRS guidelines, > pg.22) OVAE is also in > > the process of "vetting" assessments for approved > use in AE programs. > > With the standarized, reliability and validity > requirements, programs > > have "defaulted" to publishers' tests - thus the > overwhelming use of > > TABE or CASAS. (Other tests that may have > previously been used such as > > ABLE or AMES are no longer published or have not > been updated.) > > > > We all know that no test is perfect; what we need to > know is how to make > > the best use of the tests that are approved and to > not let a test drive > > the instruction; rather it should help to inform > instruction. Given > > that, do the majority of individuals using the TABE > use the resources > > that are available with it? Someone has suggested > that the instructors > > take the tests. They should at least review them at > all the levels. > > They also need to be aware of the level at which the > test items are > > written. A scale score of 600 on an E level test > does not indicate that > > the student is at an ASE II level. > > > > Additionally, the Users Manual for both 7/8 and 9/10 > contain item > > analysis for each question for both the complete and > survey. Using > > these tool appropriately the instructor can get an > idea of some of the > > skills that a student may be weak in. There are > even sample lesson > > === message truncated === ____________________________________________________________________________ ________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to dlwann at comcast.net ------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Assessment mailing list Assessment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment Email delivered to bcarmel at rocketmail.com --------------------------------- Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071203/aabf6288/attachment.html From marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com Thu Dec 6 09:19:38 2007 From: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com (Marie Cora) Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 09:19:38 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1079] New FOB on LD Message-ID: <019801c83813$09be4e20$0202a8c0@LITNOW> Colleagues, Some of you may be interested in the following, from Focus on Basics Editor, Barb Garner. Marie Cora Assessment Discussion List Moderator ********************** Learning disabilities is the topic of a new issue of "Focus on Basics", now available at www.ncsall.net (click on "Focus on Basics" near the top of the right column on the homepage). Articles range from neurology and dyslexia to legal issues related to serving students with learning disabilities, to best practices shared by skilled teachers, to three states' approaches to serving students with learning disabilities, to addressing the needs of ESOL learners, to technology, to transitions to college, to changing practice at the program and classroom level: there's something for everyone. Read on! Barb Garner, Editor From tsticht at znet.com Mon Dec 10 12:18:53 2007 From: tsticht at znet.com (tsticht at znet.com) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:18:53 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 1080] New Year's Conga Line for Literacy Message-ID: <1197307133.475d74fdb4a51@webmail.znet.net> December 10, 2007 A New Year's Conga Line for Adult Literacy Education Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Many readers may recall the "conga line" dance that has been in and out of widespread popularity several times since the 1930s, and often shows up on New Year's Eve. It is probably less well known that there is a relationship of the conga to adult literacy education. One, Two, Three, la Conga! .One, Two, Three, la Conga! During World War II many entertainers used their special talents and fame to support the war effort through the selling of war bonds or in encouraging men to enlist in the military services. One such entertainer was the great Cuban musician and band leader, Xavier Cugat. According to one report, Cugat recorded a song in 1941 about the need for Americans to support President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the war effort. Entitled, "Viva Roosevelt!" Cugat, the primary popularizer of the conga line dance, wrote: "Viva Roosevelt! Viva Roosevelt! Oh what a se?or! Ladies and Gents, get in the conga line of defense Come on and follow this leader, give him a vote of confidence." One, Two, Three, la Conga! One, Two, Three, la Conga! One of those who got "in the conga line of defense" was another Cuban musician, Desi Arnaz, who was to go on and become internationally famous in movies and as the real life and TV husband, Ricky Ricardo, of Lucile Ball in the wildly successful TV series, I Love Lucy. While living in New York, Arnaz was drafted in May of 1943. But he suffered a torn knee cartilage, so he was assigned as a "limited service" soldier to a special camp where illiterate enlisted men were sent upon entry into the Army. In this camp, Desi Arnaz joined with thousands of other teachers in the camps for illiterates and worked as an adult educator teaching illiterate soldiers how to read and write. As a literacy teacher, he was part of a long "conga line of literacy educators" who worked to make soldiers literate in World War II. One, Two, Three, la Conga! One, Two, Three, la Conga! Right across from New York, in New Jersey, another soldier, Private Arthur Neuman joined in the conga line of adult literacy teachers when he was also assigned to teach illiterate soldiers and non-English speaking soldiers to read and write in the Army's Special Training Unit in Atlantic City. In a 1998 MA thesis by Marston Mischlich, he tells about the work of Private Neumann and said, "Not only did this educational training add value to the soldiers for their units, it also built their self-esteem." He gives an example of how important the Special Training Unit?s efforts were in a short letter one of the soldier student's mother which showed how important the schooling was to families of the soldiers: "Dear Son George: Mother was so proud to get your letter, to think you could write a letter yourself. I will always keep it as a remembrance. God bless the man that taught you. It means so much to me to hear directly from you."" One, Two, Three, la Conga! One, Two, Three, la Conga! In Nebraska, the middle of the nation at the time, Otis Mattox, who had been a high school teacher, got into the conga line of Army literacy teachers during World War II. In a note on the internet he wrote about his work as an adult literacy teacher and said, "What had happened in early 1942, with all this rush to get men in a hurry and into training, along about June or July 1942, they realized all of a sudden, that they [the army] had about a quarter of a million people that they considered functionally illiterate. They couldn't read a Military order or they couldn't read at all, or they couldn't write. It looked like it would be a tremendous loss to throw a quarter of a million people out. . . They needed some instructors or teachers. So I was sent down along with some other people. We were trying to lift them up to about the third, fourth, or fifth grade level educationally, so that they could function with some simple math, [so that] they could understand orders if they were written fairly simply." Later, when it was discovered that Maddox and some others were not limited service soldiers, they were reassigned to the infantry and sent off to the European theatre. One, Two, Three, la Conga! One, Two, Three, la Conga! Though statistics are difficult to come by, I estimate from reports that by April 1944 the "conga line of defense" made-up of adult literacy instructors included some 5, 291 personnel. Of these, around 641 were officers, 4,557 were enlisted men, and there were some 87 civilians. More than 1200 of these teachers in the conga line of adult literacy teachers were African-Americans. The efforts of all these teachers helped raise the literacy skills of over a quarter million soldiers and contributed to victory for freedom and democracy during World War II. Today, the conga line of literacy teachers includes hundreds of thousands of men and women working around the world to light the lamp of literacy for tens of millions of adult learners. The work goes on, and slowly but surely the lamp of literacy is being illuminated in all the nations of the world. And the beat of the conga drum goes on This New Year's Eve, put on your hat, toot your horn, form a line, put your hands on the hips of the person in front of you and do la conga for literacy! One, Two, Three for Literacy! One, Two, Three, for Literacy! Happy New Year 2008 to All!! [G'night, Ricky. G'night, Lucy. ] Thomas G. Sticht. International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net From MMaralit at NIFL.gov Tue Dec 11 10:14:38 2007 From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:14:38 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1081] January 11 Webcast: Reading Assessment Part 2 Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B180C5088@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov> ** SAVE THE DATE: Reading Assessment Webcast, Part 2 ** >From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults Part 2: Specific Instructional Strategies for Fluency and Vocabulary WHEN: Friday, January 11, 2008 TIME: 1:30 PM - 2:45 PM Eastern Time 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM Central Time 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM Mountain Time 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Pacific Time Please join us on Friday, January 11, 2008 for Part 2 of "From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults" webcast. This follow-up webcast will focus on specific instructional strategies for two other components of reading, fluency and vocabulary. The presenters will show how all four components provide a natural framework for assessing adult students' reading ability, and how assessment results can lead seamlessly to a program of instruction to improve students' reading. For more information, please go to: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/assesspractice2/webcast0111.html (Registration will be available by January 3, 2008.) This seventy-minute webcast is a part two for the webcast presented on September 28, 2007: From Assessment to Practice-Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults . The main purpose of the first webcast was to present a compelling rationale for the use of research-based principles for adult reading instruction. The presenters used two components of reading, word analysis and comprehension, as examples to illustrate research-based practices, focusing on specific instructional strategies derived from the research. For more information, please contact info at nifl.gov or call 202-233-2025 or visit us online at: http://www.nifl.gov/. Thanks, Jo Maralit mmaralit at nifl.gov -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071211/bde80783/attachment.html From gspangenberg at caalusa.org Fri Dec 14 07:16:57 2007 From: gspangenberg at caalusa.org (Gail Spangenberg) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:16:57 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1082] CAAL Releases New Commission Papers Message-ID: NEWS RELEASE (December 14, NYC) -- Two new papers prepared for the National Commission on Adult Literacy were released today by the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy: THE FISCAL CONSEQUENCES OF ADULT EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT (66 pages) was prepared for the Commission?s December 4th meeting by a team of researchers from the Center for Labor Management Studies of Northeastern University, under the leadership of Commissioner Andrew Sum. The report studies the earnings of adults according to their level of education achievement in terms of the impact those earnings have on the fiscal affairs of the states and the lives of individuals. Appendix E of the report gives estimates of annual net fiscal contributions of adults by education attainment level for the 13 largest states. The report findings have major implications for the purposes and conduct of the nation?s adult education and literacy enterprise at all levels of service. The report should also be of high interest to state and federal polilcymakers and planners, as well as the business community. CHALLENGES IN ASSESSING FOR POSTSECONDARY READINESS (26 pages) was also prepared for the Commission's December 4th meeting. This Policy Brief was written by Daryl F. Mellard and Gretchen Anderson of the Division of Adult Studies, Center for Research on Learning, University of Kansas. It examines the major assessments in use today to measure adult learning gains and determine student placements ? e.g., BEST, CASAS, TABE, COMPASS, ASSET, and ACCUPLACER in terms of their uses and how they well they align with postsecondary education entry requirements. Special attention is given to the GED. The authors identify several problems and challenges as well as recommendations to resolve them. The two papers are available in PDF from the Publication page of the websites of the Commission and of CAAL: www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org or www.caalusa.org. Both publications are also available in bound form from CAAL (contact bheitner at caalusa.org for ordering instructions The work of the National Commission on Adult Literacy is funded by the Dollar General Corporation, The Mc-Graw-HIll Companies, Harold W. McGraw, Jr., the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and individual donors. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071214/ad61f18a/attachment.html From mcnutt at utk.edu Fri Dec 14 13:23:41 2007 From: mcnutt at utk.edu (McNutt Jr, William R) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:23:41 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1083] Position Announcement Message-ID: <0913EC48F2B05C4FBE4878BAFCABBFEC015BCCA1@KFSVS2.utk.tennessee.edu> The Center for Literacy Studies, located within the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, is seeking an onsite Director to begin Spring, 2008. The mission of the Center for Literacy Studies is to support and advance literacy education across the lifespan. The Center conducts research, professional development, program evaluation and other work within family, community, and workplace literacy contexts. The Director oversees the work of the Center, raises funds through grants and contracts, writes grant proposals and develops budgets, approves expenditures of funds, and negotiates subcontracts. The Director also hires and discharges personnel, acts as principal investigator for grants, provides direct project oversight for some grants, and oversees a staff of thirty to assure project work is conducted in accordance with contractual agreements with outside funders A full copy of the position announcement and initial contact instructions can be found at http://www.cls.utk.edu/director.htm . Thank you, Bill McNutt Technology Coordinator, UT Center for Literacy Studies From MMaralit at NIFL.gov Mon Dec 17 09:59:06 2007 From: MMaralit at NIFL.gov (Maralit, Mary Jo) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:59:06 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1084] January 11 Webcast: Register Now References: <0122B345-3693-4B80-99C2-AE93BDC64E31@comcast.net> <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B15382EB7@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov> Message-ID: <4062487BDB6029428A763CAEF4E1FE5B180C50F1@wdcrobe2m03.ed.gov> ** REGISTRATION OPEN FOR Reading Assessment Webcast, Part 2 ** >From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults Part 2: Specific Instructional Strategies for Fluency and Vocabulary WHEN: Friday, January 11, 2008 TIME: 1:30 PM - 2:45 PM Eastern Time 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM Central Time 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM Mountain Time 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Pacific Time Please join us for Part 2 of "From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults" webcast. This follow-up webcast will focus on specific instructional strategies for two other components of reading, fluency and vocabulary. The presenters will show how all four components provide a natural framework for assessing adult students' reading ability, and how assessment results can lead seamlessly to a program of instruction to improve students' reading. REGISTRATION NOW OPEN To register and for more information, please go to: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/assesspractice2/webcast0111.html Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email and a reminder email before the event. This seventy-minute webcast is a part two for the webcast presented on September 28, 2007: From Assessment to Practice-Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults . The main purpose of the first webcast was to present a compelling rationale for the use of research-based principles for adult reading instruction. The presenters used two components of reading, word analysis and comprehension, as examples to illustrate research-based practices, focusing on specific instructional strategies derived from the research. For more information, please contact info at nifl.gov or call 202-233-2025 or visit us online at: http://www.nifl.gov/. Thanks, Jo Maralit mmaralit at nifl.gov From aprilrvalois at yahoo.com Mon Dec 17 12:40:35 2007 From: aprilrvalois at yahoo.com (April Valois) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:40:35 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Assessment 1085] Assessment of ESL individuals Message-ID: <207267.94006.qm@web34808.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Hello All-- I am a second year graduate student in a school psychology (CAGS) program in Rhode Island. I am currently taking a cognitive assessment course, and was wondering if I could get some feedback regarding precautions in assessing cognitive ability of ESL individuals. Also, if anyone could suggest specific assessment tools that address this issue it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, April Valois Rhode Island College Second Year Graduate Student in Counseling/School Psychology aprilrvalois at yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping From kbeall at onlyinternet.net Mon Dec 17 15:09:16 2007 From: kbeall at onlyinternet.net (Kaye Beall) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:09:16 -0500 Subject: [Assessment 1086] New issue of Focus on Basics published by World Education Message-ID: <002301c840e8$b3737de0$030ba8c0@D14J7YD1> The new issue of "Focus on Basics" is now available at www.worlded.org. Published by World Education, the theme is Learning Disabilities. Articles include: - An update on the neurobiology of dyslexia - A look at legal issues related to LD and what they mean for programs - The evolution of an ABE teacher and her practice, a program and its practices, and states and their policies, all as they relate to learning disabilities - ESOL and LD, theory and practice - Assistive technology - Transitioning students with learning disabilities to college Soon you'll be able to discuss the articles with the authors and your colleagues on this list. Watch for notices soon. Regards, Barb Garner Editor -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/attachments/20071217/d75384f5/attachment.html From tsticht at znet.com Mon Dec 17 16:24:29 2007 From: tsticht at znet.com (tsticht at znet.com) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:24:29 -0800 Subject: [Assessment 1087] Puzzles From Adult Literacy Research Message-ID: <1197926669.4766e90dc4e25@webmail.znet.net> December 17, 2007 Some Puzzling Findings From and For Adult Literacy Research Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education Over the years I have found research studies of adult literacy that seem to raise more questions about adult literacy than they answer. Here are some findings from studies of adult literacy from national surveys using literacy tests that I have found puzzling. Workforce Literacy A number of analyses of standardized and normed literacy test scores has taken place since World War I when the first mass mental testing of adults took place up to the present with both national and international assessments of adult literacy. Across all this time and testing it has repeatedly been found that literacy level is positively related to occupational status and higher income. There are, however, some interesting deviations from these generalities and some data that suggest complications in interpreting these types of studies. Just how does measured literacy ability affect adult workers in their daily lives at work? Literacy and Occupation. In what occupations do the least literate adults work? It turns out that 53 percent of adults who score at the lowest level of literacy, Below Basic, on the Prose test of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) occupy "white collar" occupations. This is perhaps contrary to what might be the stereotype of low literate adults working in farming, construction, manufacturing, maintenance and other jobs frequently thought of as "blue collar" jobs. Indeed, on the NAAL survey, the percentage of Below Basic adults working in Management, Business, and Financial occupations was the same (3 percent) as those working in Farming, Fishing, and Forestry. There were four times the percentage of Below Basic adults working in Office and Administrative Support occupations (8 percent), which might be considered as "literacy oriented" jobs, as in Installation, Maintenance, and Repair occupations (2 percent) in 2003. The greatest percentage of Below Basic adults worked in Service occupations (30 percent), as did 16 percent of adults with Intermediate and 10 percent with Proficient levels of Prose literacy. Of course, the category of "Service" occupations is quite broad and could include some very low literacy demanding jobs as well as some very high literacy demanding jobs. Whatever the case, almost a third of the Below Basic adults have found jobs within this occupational category which is generally thought of as one of the fastest growing categories of work. Literacy and Income. As a general trend, weekly earnings rise as one's literacy skills increase. However, a high literacy level does not guarantee higher income. In 2003 some14 percent of adults with Proficient literacy on the Prose scale earned less than $500 a week, or about $26,000 per year. On the other hand, low literacy does not necessarily lead to a low income. Over 35 percent of adults scoring Below Basic on the Prose scale of the NAAL earned over $500 a week, and almost one in five earned $650 or more per week ($33,800 per year). Literacy and Job Opportunities. Apparently, even though adults may score poorly on literacy tests like the NAAL, most do not think of their reading skills as limiting their job opportunities very much. For adults scoring at the lowest level of literacy, Below Basic, on the NAAL Prose scale, 40 percent said they thought their reading skills limited their job opportunities "not at all," 36 percent thought their reading skills might limit their job opportunities "some or a little," and only 25 percent thought their reading skills limited them "a lot." Aside from research in the military, I have found no research that looks at how well workers having different literacy abilities actually perform critical job tasks in various jobs within different occupational groups. Family Literacy: Race, Ethnicity, Mothers, and the Intergenerational Transfer of Literacy Here are some disturbing data that I have observed over a 25 year period. First, in 1980 the Department of Defense re-normed the ten tests comprising the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) which all applicants for military service have to take. The data for young adults 18 to 27 years old showed the performance on the Armed forces Qualification Test (AFQT), a subset of the ASVAB tests, as a function of the person's mother's education level. The data broken out by race or ethnic group showed that as the mother's education level increased from 0-8 years to 9-11 years, high school graduate, some college, and college graduate and beyond, the young adults' AFQT scores increased for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. However, at all levels of the mother's education, Whites scored better than Hispanics who scored better than Blacks. Further, the adult children of Black mothers with college graduation or beyond education scored on the AFQT like the Hispanic young adults whose mother's had between high school and some college education, and White young adults whose mother's had between 9-11 and high school graduation education. The young Hispanic adults whose mother's had college graduation or plus education scored like the young White adults whose mother's had a high school education. Five years later, in 1985, the Young Adult Literacy Survey of 21 to 25 year olds showed similar trends. As the young adults' mother's education increased from less than high school, to high school graduate, to beyond high school education, test scores on the literacy survey increased for Whites, Hispanics and Blacks. However, at all levels of education Whites scored higher than Hispanics, who scored higher than Blacks. Blacks whose mothers had more than high school education scored just a little above Hispanics whose mothers had less than high school education and well below Whites whose mothers had less than high school education. Hispanics whose mothers had more than high school education scored like Whites whose mothers had a high school education. I have not found more recent data showing the intergenerational transfer of literacy from mothers to their adult children as a function of race or ethnicity. But it is interesting to me that on both the ASVAB and YALS (which was the predecessor to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy-NAAL) as mother's education increased, there was an increase across generations that raised the literacy scores of the mother's adult children. Why these intergenerational transfer effects of increased mother's education occur is not clear to me. Why should the intergenerational transfer of literacy from mothers who have completed a four year college degree exceed that of mothers who have only a high school education, while the latter transfer more than mothers with less than a high school education? Why should the differences between races and ethnic groups be maintained in the intergenerational transfer effect? I have found little research that directly examines these relationships among race, ethnicity, mother's education and the intergenerational transfer of literacy. Investments in adult literacy education frequently point to the effects of such investments on children's and workforce development. There is, however, a dearth of research that provides detailed understandings of what effects these investments in adult literacy education actually have on both children's literacy development and on the job opportunities and job productivity of adults in the workforce. Presently, there is no national center for research on adult literacy education that could pursue a concerted body of research to provide an understanding of these critical relationships of adult literacy and the literacy development of our nation's children and workforce. This seems a serious omission in the research program of the federal government's Institute for Education Sciences in the Department of Education. Thomas G. Sticht. International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net