To Larry Condelli:

Sandy Strunk posted a message to the NIFL-PLI list  on May 10, 2004 
from Larry Condelli, Managing Director in the Education and Human 
Development Division of the American Institues for Research, leader of 
the adult education team, and project director for the National 
Reporting System,  in which Larry  asks:

	"What data do you need that NRS does not collect?"

The context of this and other questions in that message was using data 
for program improvement.

I have recently been asked by a practitioner -- and not for the first 
time -- if there are valid and reliable assessments for measuring 
computer literacy -- that is,  basic computer competence and comfort.  
These are skills needed to use computer-assisted instruction, to word 
process writing and to search for information on a CD or on the Web.

My understanding -- Larry please correct me I am wrong -- is that 
computer literacy is not an area which is ow measured through the NRS.  
If it were, I am not sure we have valid, reliable, standardized 
assessments.  Do we?

Yet, I would argue that these skills are now as important to adult 
learners as reading, writing and numeracy.  They are required for many 
jobs, and for participation in computer-based distance learning. Many 
programs offer these skills because students have asked to learn them.  
Programs, students, and employers wonder how programs are doing in 
helping students learn these skills.

Can the NRS include these skills?

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net


On Monday, May 10, 2004, at 10:59  AM, Sandy Strunk wrote:


>

> What data do you need that NRS does not collect?