Hi,

In Massachusetts we just developed a goals cube in Cognos, our third party
reporting tool. This cube allows teachers/directors to look at class level
data as well as site level data so teachers can review the goals set by
their students and incorporate the goals into the curriculum. Teachers have
requested this information to help them better meet the needs of their
students. 

Donna Cornellier


-----Original Message-----
From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:46 AM
To: Assessment at nifl.gov
Subject: [Assessment 753] Using Student Goals as Data

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
  So rich and full of great ideas,
interesting comments, excellent questions, and thoughtful challenges.  I
usually contribute more myself but I'm just reading and soaking it in at
this point.  I am cutting and pasting the discussion into a user-friendly
document, which I will make available once our Guest Panel concludes
tomorrow.  
 
We are really covering a lot of ground here!  Just curious (because it is a
focus on mine within the realm of accountability):  a number of folks have
discussed issues of retention and the types of strategies that they employ
in their programming, but I don't think that anyone has mentioned if they
use student-stated goals to track retention, trends in learning or program
offerings, etc.  Perhaps the use of student goals is more easily applicable
at the classroom/teaching level (not sure!), but I just wanted to know if
anyone out there makes programmatic decisions based in part on the reasons
why students come to your programs.  I am not referring to learning gains
(reading, writing, math, ESOL, etc), but rather to students' ultimate
purposes for attending, like getting a better job, helping kids with
homework, buying a home, becoming a citizen, etc. 
 
Thoughts on this?
 
Thanks!
 
Marie
 
Marie Cora
 <mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> 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/