Charlene,

 

The ideas of a collaborative and tracking are fascinating. But they raise
the question of whether students who enter at low levels of ability make it
through the system. Do you know what percentage of students who start at the
Literacy Council and the Adult Learning Center enroll in your GED program
and obtain GED's? Also, how do you select students for Tracks II and III,
what percentage are in each, and how do they differ in their personal
profiles?

 

Forrest Chisman 

 

From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of Charlene Salazar
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 2:24 PM
To: assessment at nifl.gov
Subject: [Assessment 1595] Re: Assessment Digest, Vol 41, Issue 2 -- Tiered
Instruction

 


Dear All - 

Here at the Del Mar College Department of GED Instruction all students must
be reading at the 7th grade level or higher. We are part of a CO-OP that
implements tiered instruction. The Adult Learning Center focusses on
students reading between the 4th and 6th grade level. The Corpus Christi
Literacy Council focusses on students with a 3rd grade reading level and
below. During our 12 hour mandatory orientation all students are given a
Locater Test (1st day) and TABE Test (2nd day). The two exams contain a
Reading section, Math (math computation/applied math), and Language Arts.
The exams are then given to our test assessor who determines the academic
level each student is functioning at. All students reading at the 7th grade
level or above are allowed to register in our program and the remaining
students are divided among the CO-OP members that can specifically meet
their needs. 

The Del Mar College Department of GED Instruction no longer serves ESL
students. However, we do have some students that at one time were ESL
students and have remained with us over time and are functioning as well or
even better than some of our English speaking students. In fact, several
have transitioned into college level courses at DMC. There is an ESOL
Program at DMC that specifically serves ESOL students and eventually
mainstreams with the rest of the student body. 

Our classes are divided into two tracks; Track II and Track III. Both
classes teach the same material needed for the GED exam, but the Track III
class is taught at a faster pace and students are introduced to college
level material. 

We have developmental labs, expanded academic classes, and a Friday only
math lab which run outside of our usual class schedule(s), which allow
students to get extra instruction. 

Our current pass rate for first time test takers is between 99% and 100% and
our average test scores are among the highest in the United States. 

Last year 72% of our student body transitioned from our GED program and into
college. 

Charlene Salazar

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