Good morning, afternoon, and evening to you all.
 
Please join the National Institute for Literacy Assessment Discussion
List for a Guest Discussion on 
 
"Countable Outcomes:  Making Student Goals the Center of the
Accountability System"
 
Date:  December 5 through 9, 2005
 
Guests:  Massachusetts Statewide Trainers and Regional Contacts  
 
Countable Outcomes Statewide Trainers:
 
Jim Ayers, Center for New Americans, Northampton
Patti Ball, SABES Northeast
Julie Crowley, Mount Wachusett Community College/Devens Learning Center
John Fontes, Attleboro Public Schools ABE Program
Michele Forlizzi, Consultant, SABES Northeast
Tom Hoye, Taunton Public School/Bristol Community College
Terry Miller, Northern Berkshire ABE Program/Massachusetts College of
Liberal Arts
Kevin O'Connor, Framingham Adult ESL PLUS
Molly Root, Julie's Family Learning Program, South Boston
 
Regional Contacts:
(SABES stands for System for Adult Basic Education Support and is the
professional development system for ABE in the state of Massachusetts)
 
Carol Bower, SABES Northeast
Sally Gabb, SABES Southeast
Cathy Gannon, SABES Central
Dori McCormack, SABES West
John Zhang, SABES Boston
 
Definition:
 
The following is a definition of Countable Outcomes, taken from the
Assessment Glossary section of the ALEWiki
(http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Assessment_Glossary):
 
Countable Outcomes (from Adult and Community Learning Services,
Massachusetts DOE: http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/)
Results that can be quantified; all measures of student outcomes except
learning gains, including executive function skills, and
affective-related measures. Learning gains are gains in speaking,
listening, reading, writing, and numeracy. Executive function skills
include problem-solving, critical thinking, and metacognition.
Affective-related measures include self-esteem, self confidence, and
interpersonal communication. Examples of Countable Outcomes include:
number of people who get jobs, number of people who register to vote,
number of people who achieve a GED.
 
Background: 
 
For the past 5 years, Massachusetts has been working to make
student-identified goals the central focus of its statewide
accountability system.  These outcomes are the achievement of the goals
that students set and meet in their work with ABE and ESOL Programs.
These goals are countable (as noted in the definition above) as opposed
to measurable (for example, as with tests such as TABE or BEST Plus).
The Massachusetts accountability system does include focus on measuring
learning gains as required by the NRS, but it also focuses on helping
students to identify and pursue the reasons for which they come to
programs, and requires this work of programs in its state policy.
 
The team of practitioners who work on the statewide level help the
larger field understand what is required of programs in terms of policy,
and help them to develop processes for successfully carrying out the
Countable Outcomes policy. 
 
Suggested Preparations for the Discussion:
 
At the SABES website, http://www.sabes.org/assessment/outcomes.htm, see
the Countable Outcomes Chart, and Definitions and Required
Documentation.  Also at that page, you will see reports by 3 programs of
their work on Countable Outcomes.  
 
I hope to provide you all with another resource that outlines the
development history of Countable Outcomes and focus on student goals
within the state of Massachusetts once we are closer to our discussion
date.  
 
Please join us!
 
marie cora
Moderator, The National Institute for Literacy Assessment Discussion
List, and 
Coordinator/Developer LINCS Assessment Special Collection at 
http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/
 
 
marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com