I think it's a little early to be overly-concerned about the price.  I 
am concerned that most of the postings this week are about this one point.

I do think that the field needs to develop these assessments, to see 
what these assessments are and what they can give our learners, our 
instructors, our managers, our directors, and our fellow stakeholders, 
particularly given the investment we have made in EFF over the past ten 
years.  To be effective for us, it needs to be a complete system, which 
means (among so many other things) having an assessment component.

The tests are in development, and it's not certain what the 
cost/administration will be once they are up and running, and large 
numbers of programs are using them.
Also, my organization uses performance tests in some classes and 
programs, and objective, pen-and-pencil tests in others, depending on 
the learners, their learning difficulties, the instructional content, 
and what we need from the standardized assessment piece of our learner 
assessments.  So, if we used these tests, we wouldn't necessarily be 
using them for every learner in every program.

Third, if you pre-test each learner, and then post-test each learner 
once or twice a year, that is a $20 or $30 cost/learner at the current 
rate.  Is that too much, to meet federal and state requirements?  And 
thus keep those grants?  I think you'd have to look at how much you are 
spending now, and how much of an increase this represents.  And, as I 
said previously, you would need to consider the value added by these 
assessments over what you are currently using.  I don't know that 
funders would balk at these costs (by which I mean I personally don't 
think they would), if you have a cogent explanation as to why these 
assessments are the best -- or perhaps necessary -- choice to 
demonstrate your learners success in achieving their educational and 
life goals.

Howard D.




elohimsgirl at adelphia.net wrote:


>--

>What do you all feel about the cost?  That sounds expensive to me.  I am interested to hear others' thoughts.

>

>Marlo Thomas Watson

>Director of Adult and Workforce Education

>Northeast Kingdom Learning Services (NEKLS)

>364 Railroad Street, Suite 2

>St. Johnsbury, VT  05819

>

>(802) 748-5624 phone (802) 751-8071 fax

>

>elohimsgirl at adelphia.net

>

>  

>