Assessment colleagues,

Here's a follow-up to the discussion on distance learning  
assessment.  I have a question about the changes to the NRS  
guidelines for distance education learners. ( http://www.nrsweb.org.   
Look under What's New.)

Item 3: "For NRS reporting, states can count a student only once, as  
either a distance education student or traditional classroom learner."

Presumably that means the student can be counted only once annually,  
and that the program needs to decide if the student is _primarily_ a  
distance learning student or _primarily_ a face-to-face (classroom or  
tutorial) student. Presumably this gives programs and students the  
freedom to offer distance learning options and face-to-face options  
to the same student within the year, that a face-to-face student  
could also have supplemental online learning.  Presumably, the intent  
of this is to avoid double-counting the same person, not to restrict  
how students access learning (whether distance learning or face-to- 
face or both).

Donna Cornellier, or Larry Condelli, are my presumptions correct?

Thanks,

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net


On Jul 11, 2007, at 4:08 PM, Cornellier, Donna wrote:


> Hi Marie,

>

> I've attached the new NRS Guidelines for Distance Learning that  

> were sent out to State Directors on June 6, 2007 with a memo from  

> Cheryl Keenan.  The distance education policy includes a definition  

> of distance learners, guidance on how to measure contact hours for  

> the learners, and describes assessment and reporting requirements  

> which are summarized in the memo.  It will be an interesting  

> discussion around how states implement these policies, and you have  

> posed some great questions below.

>

> Thanks,

> Donna Cornellier

> Massachusetts NRS Trainer

>

>

> From: Marie Cora [mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com]

> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM

> To: Assessment at nifl.gov

> Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion

>

> Hi everyone,

>

>

>

> It’s very quiet out there!  I’ve had many new subscribers join our  

> List, so I know this is of interest to you all.   I know you have  

> questions and I know you have experiences to share.  Please post  

> them now!

>

>

>

> Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has  

> already been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests  

> Shannon and Jennifer:

>

>

>

> Post-testing:  How is this done?  How do you get that important  

> follow-up measure from students?  I have experience in DL within  

> professional development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) – and I  

> know how difficult follow-up is with the professional population.   

> The same goes for regular classroom-based programs – getting full  

> test scores can be really hard.  So I am extremely interested in  

> hearing from folks about the strategies and methods they use to get  

> DL students to complete the full cycle including the post-test.

>

>

>

> Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in  

> this regard?  Can you use formative assessment and other types of  

> measures to help demonstrate achievement?

>

>

>

> Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are  

> you able to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels  

> of funding; timing; some F2F (“face-to-face”)/no F2F; staffing; etc)?

>

>

>

> 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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David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net