David and All,
 
David says, The term ¨formative assessment" may not be familiar to many of  
us working in adult literacy education in the United States. Well, if many of 
us  do not know the term, "formative assessment," many of us have missed the  
boat!
 
I am not in the classroom now, but I am an evaluator, and I find that  
formative assessment is more important to the programs that I work with than  
summative assessment. Formative assessment is, after all, technical assistance,  if 
done correctly, i.e., data collection with feedback, the purpose of which is  
program improvement. 
 
In the past year, I made 4 trips of two days each to my programs, during  
which I spent a lot of time observing, some time interviewing, less time  
writing, and no time judging. What seems to help most is the time we spend  
reflecting, reviewing and discussing what is working and what is not.
 
Each time I return to the program, I expect to see changes in accordance  
with our discussion and conclusions from the previous visit.  Generally, it  
happens.
 
What a shame it would be if I waited for summative evaluation to note the  
need for change and growth.  And what a waste.
 
David, you always throw out the best questions.  This may not be the  best 
answer, but I had to put in my 2 cents worth.
 
Meta Potts
FOCUS on Literacy
Glen Allen, VA
 
 
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