Colleagues,
 
The following email is cross-posted from the NLA Discussion List.  Below
George Demetrion is requesting information on the New Readers Press
Voyager series, and if this might work in conjunction with, for example,
the DAR.
 
Any thoughts or ideas?  Has anyone used the Voyager series?  What do you
think?
 
What about mixing and matching tools?  Does anyone do this without
affecting the integrity of the tools or getting into the syndrome of
"test overkill"?
 
Thanks! and looking forward to your replies,
 
Marie Cora
Assessment Discussion List Moderator
 
**********
 
Colleagues,
 
Next fall our program will be implementing the New Readers Press Voyager
series.  This includes a placement assessment that looks like it could
also be used as a pre and post test, similar, perhaps to the LVA created
Read Test.  Currently, in addition to the CASAS pre and post we have
used the DAR for a few years.  In many respects the Voyager Placement is
similar to the DAR, though it has two advantages over it:  the reading
passages are more authentic to adult experience and comprehension
questions are built in even at the lowest levels.
 

>From a purely program perspective I can see several advantages of using

the Voyager over the DAR; as the basis to place students in the
respective groups, to better tie assessment and instruction; the adult
themes of the reading passages, and the emphasis on comprehension at all
levels.  It is a better indicator of our balanced or integrative
approach to literacy whereas the DAR, originated by Jean Chall, is much
more geared to word identification and word meaning
 
Ideally, one could use both.  Practically speaking it would be overkill
whether at intake or at some other time, considering also that our
students take the pre and post CASAS on an annual basis.
 
Here's the question, which, perhaps Marie might also place on the
assessment list--what would be lost and gained by doing so?
 
My take is that what is lost is a well respected assessment in the DAR
that might garner a certain level of public credibility that a
curriculum-based placement test, not designed for a pre and post, but
which could easily fit within such a use.  The gain is a more
authentic-based assessment  based on the curriculum in use.
 
If we were not using CASAS or some other widely recognized assessment I
would be more reluctant to pull the DAR out, which has served us well,
notwithstanding its perhaps overemphasis on phonemic analysis and word
identification.  However, since we do have CASAS, also an assessment at
best only partially tied to our curriculum focus I am inclined to make
the shift, though I am very much seeking the collective wisdom of the
field.
 
I would say, write to me of line, except I think he issue is important
and relevant enough for list-based discusion.
 
George Demetrion
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