Marie, others,

I first taught at a school run by teachers--there was a head, but  
there were curriculum outlines, deeply humanistic, which we followed.As 
teachers  we were evaluated by how we demonstrated mastery of this 
curriculum, which we had made up.  Meaning, really, that we were 
evaluated through our students and the topics  we had covered as they 
reflected broad curriculum outlines.  Everyone was happy, students, 
teachers, parents, he school.  (true story)  Each fall we gave the kids 
a spelling test to see  where we should start working.  Each spring the 
children took a standardized test to see how  our school ranked against 
others.

(At one point I worked (didn't teach) at an immense city school.  i 
managed book buying.  One teacher got for a second year in a row the 
first volume of a volume of two books.  She didn't protest that the 
kids would be taught the same material for two years in a row....)

So at the first school we had a dual system, assessment for us, 
assessment for the  school.

Now it seems to me, but I can be wrong about this, that when we talk 
about assessment we don't talk about the value of what we are 
teaching--is it good or not?

Take the TABE.  It functions  kind of like an index, like say taking 
one's temperature.  98.6 is just an index.  No one pretends that the 
TABE materials are earth shaking, having read them, for a point of 
interest they are dreadful.

If I were coming into class I would want to read materials that were 
important to me. (This may be another topic.)

At what point to we pay attention to TEXT?  What  the words on the page 
are telling us?  Who wrote the words, anyway?  And all that.  is this 
where we talk CRITICAL LITERACY?  Is this where standards come in?

Adult literacy is really different from kid lit..  Adults want to 
master what is  important for their lives.

I may have missed, mislaid, some large piece of knowledge which Marie 
and others have gone over already, or what i am asking may not be 
pertinent at all, so please bear with me.

Thanks.

Andrea


On Mar 18, 2006, at 9:38 PM, Andrea Wilder wrote:


> David,

>

> As a  believer  in performance based assessment, I am wondering  how

> this might work with your computer modules.

>

> Andrea

>

>

> On Mar 15, 2006, at 9:07 AM, PATRICIA HANDY wrote:

>

>> David and All,

>> As a practitioner for 27 years, now responsible for training new

>> staff, I applaud your suggestions. I would not be appauding if you had

>> proposed a rigid "this curriculum fits all" plan, but as to providing

>> standardized resources from which each teacher or learner could

>> customize a learning plan, YES! YES!

>>

>>

>> Pat Handy

>> 410-749-3217

>> Coordinator, Wicomico County Adult Learning Center

>> Philmore Commons, Salisbury

>>

>> Confidentiality Note:

>> This message may contain confidential information intended only for

>> the use of the person named above and may contain communication

>> protected by law.  If you have received this message in error, you are

>> hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying or other

>> use of this message is prohibited and you are requested to notify the

>> sender immediately at his/her electronic mail.

>>>>> djrosen at comcast.net 03/14/06 11:05 PM >>>

>> Assessment Colleagues,

>>

>> Marie wrote:

>>> What do we need?  National standards?  Is that the most important

>>> thing that will help combat these issues?

>>>

>>> A different way to capture learning?  What would that look like?

>>> Remember that the needs of the funder and public are quite

>>> different than the needs of the teacher and student * and both are

>>> legitimate needs.

>>>

>>> What are your thoughts on these issues?

>>

>> Ignore for the moment the current political political realities, and

>> consider just the merits and faults, not the practicalities, of what

>> I propose, a national System of Adult Education and Literacy which

>> has three aligned components: National Curriculum Standards, (Free)

>> National Curricula, and Standardized Assessments.  Such a system

>> could have other components, but for now, I suggest we look at these

>> three.

>>

>> 1. Sets of national curriculum standards for: a) adult ESL/ESOL/ELL,

>> b) ABE (including adult basic education) c) ASE (adult secondary

>> education/GED/EDP/ADP) and d) Transition to College programs ,

>> developed through a process which is widely respected by the field.

>> (Some would argue that we already have that in Equipped for the

>> Future.)

>>

>> 2. National curricula developed based on those standards and

>> available for states to adopt (or adapt) as they choose.  The

>> curricula need to be comprehensive, modularized, available in generic

>> as well as work-contextualized units, in English but also bilingual

>> in Spanish and possibly other languages.  It needs to be available

>> free online in units that teachers could download and use in their

>> classrooms, that tutors could use with their one-one-one or small

>> group instruction, and in self-instructional formats that adult

>> learners could use directly online.  (Yes I know how big a task all

>> this is.)

>>

>> 3. Standardized assessments developed against the national curriculum

>> standards (tests, but also performance-based, direct assessments)

>> which have a high degree of validity for measuring the national

>> standards.

>>

>> Some might think that what I propose is too top-down.  I would argue

>> that it could be very bottom-up if the field -- and adult learner

>> leaders -- are/have been/will be well-represented in setting the

>> standards, and if the modules can be be selected to meet specific

>> learner goals and contexts as well as to the standards.  A national

>> curriculum could be made up of a database of thousands of units of

>> instruction (modules, learning objects) which could be very easily

>> found and in minutes organized/reorganized to fit learners' goals and

>> contexts.  An adult learner or a group who need to improve their

>> reading skills and who are interested in the context of parenting

>> could easily access standards-based modules on parenting issues with

>> reading materials at the right level(s).  A teacher whose students

>> worked in health care and who needed to improve their math skills

>> could quickly find and download materials/lessons for using numeracy

>> in health care settings. A student who wanted to learn online and who

>> wanted a job in environmental cleanup work could access standards-

>> based basic skills/occupational education lessons in this area,

>> accompanied by an online career coach and and online tutor.  These

>> examples just hint at the complexity and sophistication of what I

>> propose, and will have some shaking their heads at the cost.  But,

>> consider that if this is a national curriculum, the costs of

>> developing such modules have the benefits of scale, that those

>> curricula could be widely used -- and freely available.  (Sorry

>> publishers, this could eat into your profits.)

>>

>> There is more, but I'll stop with this.

>>

>> Okay, let the questions and brickbats fly.

>>

>> David J. Rosen

>> djrosen at comcast.net

>>

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