Hello Kim,
 
In response to the posting about learner participation in program improvement I’d like to share our experiences.  For the past eight years we’ve used the Baldrige Criteria as our framework for accountability and program improvement.  It is a very customer  (student) driven approach to program improvement.  We take a very practical approach to involving student participation in program improvement.  We want to satisfy our students and the best way to do that is to help them reach their goals in the shortest time possible.   In order to accomplish that goal we have to know what students need and require.  For us program improvement comes about as a result of knowing and understanding student needs and requirements. We have learned that providing students with multiple opportunities to give input to the program encourages and increases their participation.  This gathering of information keeps us focused on our purpose and the reason for delivering adult education services.
 
Building and maintaining a relationship with our students is the first step toward involving them in participation in program improvement.   We have developed several listening and learning methods which provides opportunities for students to give feedback to the program.  For example, System 7  Retention and Success is a student management system  designed to determine student requirements and expectations.  System 7 follows students from their first contact with the program until they complete their goals and leave the program.  Throughout this process all students are involved in feedback with teachers and senior leaders using several feedback mechanisms.  In the classrooms teachers and students use Plus/Delta  (quality tool to gather feedback-- It gives students the opportunity to share what went well (plus) about an activity and what they would change (Delta) to improve the activity).    On the program level students are involved in the student success and retention team which targets improvements within the program.  This team provides recommendations to the senior leadership team on what works and changes that could be made on services or potential services the program may offer.  We also survey students to determine their satisfaction with current services, provide opportunities for students to participate in focus groups that cover a variety of issues, have a complaint system in place that is easy for students to access, and all programs and services are evaluated by students.  
 
Our program’s ability to provide services that meet learner needs is directly related to the feedback that we get from students.  This approach has given us the knowledge to provide programs that meet our students’ needs and kept us from developing services and programs that may have been useful, but did not directly meet our students’ requirements. 

We teach our students to use quality tools within the classroom so that they learn to take responsibility for their own learning and learn how to plan to reach their goals, monitor their progress, and adjust their plan if needed.  This promotes learner involvement in their own learning process and provides them useful tools to use inside the classroom and outside the classroom.  It also empowers them to express their opinions and recognize that their opinions and ideas are useful in making change and in improving program services.  It is the student’s feedback that has directed our program’s improvement.  This can be seen through our increased retention, level gains, literacy students progressing through the program to achieve a GED, and the overall increase in GEDS.  
 
Jane Knight
--
AE Specialist 
Knox County Adult Education 
Knoxville, TN 37917 
(865)594-3673

-------------- Original message -------------- 


> Hi, folks. 

> 

> Last week I asked you about your thoughts on involving learners as part of 

> the program improvement team. I've been talking about this over the last 

> several days with co-workers and other colleagues interested in pi. One 

> co-worker noted that it's most important for the learner/customer 

> experience to be valued as part of the whole program improvement 

> process. And that if the learner was to participate as part of a program 

> improvement team, that the program supervisors/directors should first be 

> very clear about the overall program issues and goals and make them 

> transparent. 

> 

> In thinking about this same issue, another colleague shared these thoughts: 

> "Program improvement efforts might very well benefit from students' 

> involvement and vice versa. I don't know. Until now, I've seen students as 

> primary beneficiaries of program improvement efforts but not as 

> participants in the process. I think a student's main responsibility is to 

> learn. If being involved as part of a program improvement team helps 

> support that, then I think it's a good idea. (Whether it's practical or 

> not.) However, I think it's a good idea only if the student's involvement 

> is integral to their learning plans/goals. As a student or a teacher, with 

> the motivation, I would see my work on the program improvement team and in 

> the classroom as one, or as relative parts contributing to a coherent 

> whole. It's critical for learners to be involved in their own learning 

> processes but not in their program's improvement process." 

> 

> I look forward to your thoughts on this... 

> 

> Regards, 

> Kim 

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