MessageWe tutor adults. No children.
Almost all our students are at Begining Literacy to High Intermediate ABE
level. Almost no high or even low adult secondary. At the secondary level we
only get the students that can't (or won't) tolerate study in a regular ABE
classroom. ESL instruction is done by a different organization, with paid
teachers.

We net 20 to 25 students with more than 12 hours of study each year. We are
so small that sometimes an entire FFL will have only one student in it. When
that happens the only question is, "How many advanced a level: 0 or 100%?"

We deal with students on a highly individualized basis. One may need to
learn to read again after having a stroke or a fever. Another may have
taught himself to sight read at a very high level, but neglected to teach
himself any spelling or writing skills. A high school graduate may not have
learned even his ABCs, for whatever reason. One or two students a year might
have an employment or higher education goal. (Then WV can't verify it, if
the student works or studies out of state.)  I can safely say that no two
students have been alike in the nearly ten years that I have been here.

I genuinely *like* statistics and know they can be very useful, and don't
mind gathering data to be put in a bigger pool if what comes back is
helpful. However, if a level has only 3 students, is the data even
"statistically significant" if just 2 of them are available for both pre and
post assessment? 2 of 4?

Some things are better seen by microscopes and others by telescopes. Right
now neither NRS nor CASAS seems especially useful at a local level. Maybe
all I need is to find out how to focus them. Maybe they should be just
trashed. They may cost more to use than they return in terms of time and
money and *stress*, on us and especially on our students.

I'm from West Virginia, not Missouri, but, "Show me!" (Please.)

Mary G. Beheler
Tri-State Literacy
455 Ninth Street
Huntington, WV 25701
304 528-5700, ext 156
  -----Original Message-----
  From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On
Behalf Of Marie Cora
  Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 1:29 PM
  To: Assessment at nifl.gov
  Subject: [Assessment 714] Just joining us? Here's what you need to know...


  Hi folks,

  A number of subscribers have just joined us and so I would like to give
them the necessary info for joining our discussion.  Please post your
questions and share your experiences now!

  View the archives at:
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/assessment/2007/date.html to get up to date
with the current conversation.

  See suggested resources at:
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07program_impr.html
(Scroll to the bottom!!)
  See more resources at:
  For the 3 power points from New York State/LAC, click on these links:

  http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/ReportCardRubric.ppt

  http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/RollingOutReportCard.ppt

  http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/list_docs/DevelopingDisseminatingRep
ortCards.ppt

  Here are your prompts:  add your voice!:

  * Do you use data in your program? What type? How? What have been the
results?


  * What information (data) would you like to track and why?


  * What data would you like to learn how to use?


  Thanks!!

  Marie Cora



  Marie Cora
  marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com
  NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator
  http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment
  Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection
  http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/

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