This email is cross-posted for your interest.
 
Marie Cora
Assessment Discussion List Moderator
 
**********
 
-----Original Message-----
From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of
andresmuro at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:23 PM
To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] level movement
 
Daphnee:

I think that the USDE and WIA-NRS look at a minimum of 66% that will
complete a level. Supposedly a program has to base test 90% of students
who enroll in program within the first week of instruction. Of those
that have a base test they expect that 66% show progress. In other
words, 66% should be able to go from one of the levels to the next one.
WIA-NRS has a bunch of levels. for example, the have beginning literacy
ESL, beginning ESL, Intermediate ESL, Advanced ESL. They also have
beginning literacy, intermediate literacy, advanced, and GED. May be I
have the names of the level wrong, but it is something like that. So, if
a student starts at beginning literacy ESL, s/he has several levels to
move through to get to GED. While there are few students getting to the
GED level, WIA-NRS allows ABE programs to show higher success rates than
before. However, the number of GED completers over the total number of
students in ABE has gone down. ABE programs are only evaluated on the %
of students that show progress in the TABE, BEST, etc. So, if students
use language to access health care, enroll in college, help their kids
with homework, build computers, publish stories, etc all that is
irrelevant. The only thing that matters is if students  show progress in
the BEST or TABE. In fact, if a students is enrolled in a beginning ESL
class and the student decides to go  take the GED on her own, that would
not be considered progress based on WIA-NRS unless the student declares
beforehand that GED is a goal. So, teachers are under pressure to have
the students show progress in these tests and nothing else matters.

I run a GED program with high completion rates. it is not a WIA-NRS ABE
program. So, we don't have to pretest,  and assess the students every
five weeks. We are under no pressure to show intermediate outcomes
outside from GED completion. In addition to GED instruction we discuss
health literacy, nutrition, legal issues, etc. We have very high GED
completion numbers. Our students also publish stories. We had an ABE-
grant. We could only measure success rates from one level to the next.
It was an insane bureaucracy. We don't have the ABE program anymore. 

Andres
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Daphne Greenberg <ALCDGG at langate.gsu.edu>
To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 8:49 am
Subject: [AAACE-NLA] level movement
Forgive my cross posting to a few electronic lists, but I received the
following 






question, and I am hoping that someone has good advice that I can share
with the 






person who asked me.













If you were to review a program's "graduation" or "completion" rates
from one 






level to the next (for example from ESL to ABE or ASE/GED or ABE to
ASE/GED) 






what would you consider a  "good" rate?













Thanks,






Daphne Greenberg






Georgia State University













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