When a student comes to an adult ed program, it's usually "to learn English," or "to learn to read." It can take a lot of probing to elicit more specific reasons from students: Where/when do you need to speak English, or to speak it better, with whom? What do you do now? Is that working? So goal-setting can and should be an important part of an intake interview, and, as was mentioned, an ongoing component of a classroom situation to track progress and benchmarks, especially since students can plateau and take a long time to "progress." I like the question about whether specific goals are related to better retention, or the sense of community in the classsroom, extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation, "tangible" progress etc. There would be lots of ways, perhaps, to obtain data on these elements.
Thanks for the discussion. I think it ranges far wider than just ESOL students to the differentiated classroom in general, as well as questions of attrition/retention, which, as has been pointed out, can be systemic, and not program-related at all, but to the multiple barriers adults face.
Bonnie Odiorne, Director, Writing Center, Post University


----- Original Message ----
From: Marie Cora <marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>
To: Assessment at nifl.gov
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 8:45:54 AM
Subject: [Assessment 753] Using Student Goals as Data


Hi everyone,
 
Wow, what a super discussion!  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
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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