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Standard D1. Creates and uses formal and informal assessments for the purpose of placing learners at the appropriate instructional level.
Author Title Publishing Information Abstract
Brief Techniques for Authentic Assessment ERIC practice application brief
Online: www.ercacve.org/
Draws from several sources to describe types of authentic assessment (skills taught in context), explain some of the advantages and challenges they present, and highlight some best practices in design and implementation, with specific examples from adult, career, and vocational education.
Burt, M.
Keenan, F.
Adult ESL Learner Assessment: Purposes & Tools

www.ericacve.org
ERIC
386962

This article looks at learner assessment in adult ESOL programs and describes commercially available tests as well as alternative assessment tools. It discusses key issues in assessment and highlights some of the differences between assessment and evaluation.
Fingeret, H. A. It Belongs to Me: A Guide to Portfolio Assessment in Adult Education Programs Literacy South, Durham, NC, 1993 This book is a practical guide for educators searching for alternative means of assessing how students learn as well as realizing the practical application of that learning. "It Belongs to Me" offers techniques that benefit students and instructors alike. It carries the readers through five stages of portfolio assessment which include: choosing, planning, implementing, evaluating, and revising.
Gillespie, M. Learning to Work in a New Land: A Review and Sourcebook for Vocational and Workplace ESL Washington, DC, Center for Applied Linguistics, 1996 This report provides a detailed overview of vocational and workplace ESL instruction in the United States. It reviews existing research and practice, presents program models, details funding strategies, and explains how to set up a workplace ESL program. It also includes examples of classroom activities and tools to use in needs assessment, learner assessment, and program evaluation. (1996) "Gillespie's ability to distill research and present it clearly is evident in this important new work. Public policy committees in adult education, workplace education collaboratives, labor-management coalitions, and labor unions could all benefit from this book." Lenore Balliro, World Education, Boston
Gillespie, M.
Kelly, J.
Many literacies: modules for training adult beginning readers and tutors Center for International Education, Amherst, MA, 1990 This very accessible work summarizes and applies research in modules that provide strategies for teaching reading and writing.
Herta-Marcias, A. "Alternative Assessment: Responses to Commonly Asked Questions" TESOL Journal, Autumn 1995 Pits alternative assessments against the criteria for validity and reliability and declares it can fulfill both. What's more, "The data compiled on individual students provide a clear picture of each student's development through the various work samples and products collected. As an educator looks at this picture, she can determine growth, areas of weakness, and areas of strength."
Journal, All Issues Adventures In Assessment Published by SABES (the System for Adult Basic Education Support)
Online:
www.sabes.org/resources/
adventures/index.htm
Adventures in Assessment is published as an annual volume by SABES and provides a forum for adult literacy practitioners to critically reflect upon a range of issues and experiences pertaining to alternative assessment. It is a staff development journal for authors reflecting on their own experiences and sharing with others, as well as for readers interested in looking at other ways to do assessment in their programs and classrooms. This is available at your local RSC and online at www.sabes.org.
Journal, One Issue Issue Topic: Accountability and Learner Assessment

Field Notes
v10, n3

Online:
www.sabes.org/fn103.htm

This issue contains a dozen articles ranging from statewide issues of creating an accountability system in Massachusetts to assessment with learning disabled learners. It also includes information about Equipped for the Future's take on assessment as well as resources on standardized tests which are used in ABE.
Kerka, S. Techniques for Authentic Assessment

ERIC practice application brief, 1995
Online: www.ericave.org

Draws from several sources to describe types of authentic assessment (skills taught in context), explain some of the advantages and challenges they present, and highlight some best practices in design and implementation, with specific examples from adult, career, and vocational education.
Lytle, Susan; Belzer, Alisa; Schultz, Katherine and Vannozzi, Marie Learner Centered Literacy Assessment: An Evolving Process From Participatory Literacy Education: New Directions for Continuing Education, No 42 Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1989 This article describes the process of developing a set of learner centered assessemnt proceudres within a large, urban literacy agency. It describes the development as well as the implementation and evaluation of an assesment procedure they call the initial planing conference, an array of questions and activities designed to engage adults in self exploration of their literacy practices and abitlities.
Rabinowitz, Stanley and Ananda, Sri Balancing Local Assessment with Statewide Testing: Building a Program That Meets Student Needs http://web.WestEd.org/online_pubs/
kn-01-01.pdf
For the purposes of this article, local assessment refers to a formal set of assessment approaches and tools developed by school districts or individual schools to meet their needs. Developing and implementing a local assessment system requires extensive money, expertise, and time. The article deals with the pros and cons of doing that, the criteria which must be in place in order to make local assessment systems work, and how local assessment fits in with statewide testing. It is K-12 oriented but contain information that could be valuable to adult educators as well.
Read, J. Assessing Vocabulary

Cambridge UP
ISBN: 0-521-62741-9

A framework that expands the traditional concept of a vocabulary test to cover a range of procedures for assessing the vocabulary knowledge of ESOL learners. Includes a review of research; case studies of several well-known vocab measures, with critical evaluation of each; discussion of new directions. NOTE: This is one volume of several in a the Cambridge Language Assessment Series.
Schneider, M.
Clark, M.
Dimensions of Change: An Authentic Assessment Guidebook Adult Basic and Literacy Educatiors, Seattle, 1993 Dimensions of Change is the result of a project -- "Integrated Assessment: Being Accountable to Students and Teachers" -- conducted by practitioners in Washington state. It lays down a theoretical base for authentic assessment, provides classroom stories to make the theory concrete, and includes an interactive guide to developing your own assessment system. The appendices contain a large number of assessment tools and a bibliography. The teachers' edition is spiral bound to make it easier to lay flat for copying. This edition includes permission to copy the assessment tools contained in the appendices.
Schneider, M.
Fingeret, H.A.
McGrail, L.
Phenomenal changes: stories of participants in the Portfolio Project Literacy South, Greenboro, NC, 1996 This book is the story of Literacy South's three year portfolio assessment project. "Phenomenal Changes" tells the story of the project in the words of the participants and explores outcomes, including some unexpected ones. This publication gives valuable insights into the richness of learning that can arise when teachers have an opportunity to reflect deeply about their work.
Schwarz, R.
Burt, M.
ESL Instruction for Learning Disabled Adults

www.ericacve.org
ERIC 379966

This article discusses identification of LD in the ESL population, issues around assessment of LD and the use of standardized tests with non- English speakers, as well as instructional methods and materials.

Smolen, L.
Newman, C.
Wathen, T.
Lee, D.

"Developing Student Self-Assessment Strategies" TESOL Journal, Autumn 1995 A very practical glimpse, thorough while brief, into the advantages of including learners in assessment design, execution, and interpretation. Good ideas about portfolio design, collected "showcase" work, and planning ahead for assessment success.
Sticht, T. Testing and Assessment in ABE and ESL San Diego: Applied Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences, Inc., 1990 NO ANNOTATION
Taylor, D. Learning Denied Portsmouth, NH: Meinemann, 1991 A powerful book. Denny Taylor's conclusions confirm many teachers' doubts about America's mania for standardized tests, and serve as a signal to teachers and administrators that a reliance on test results can be more than misleading; it can be a hazard to the child. Although focused on K-12, this book also has much which can be applied in our work in adult education.
Van Duzer, C.H.
Berdan, R.
Perspectives on Assessment in Adult ESOL Instruction Annual Review of Adult Learning and Literacy, Volume 1.
Jossey-Bass, 2000
A very thorough overview of the main standardized tests being used in programs, the challenges of assessing learners under WIA requirements, and not by any means limited to ESOL. The authors argue that imposing assessment testing on the field cannot have constructive results without substantive changes first occurring in the field. Even includes ordering information for most of the standardized tests commonly used in programs.
Vella, J.
Berardinelli, P.
Burrow, J.
"How Do They Know They Know?": Evaluating Adult Learning

Jossey-Bass, San Fransisco, CA, 1997
Ordering info available at
www.wiley.com/Corporate/Website/
Objects/Products/
0,9049,105004,00.htm

The book provides educators and trainers with a practical tool for determining the effectiveness of the teaching and learning that takes place in their classrooms. Describing evaluation as a process of accountability, the authors take readers step by step through their approach, which connects evaluation to program planning and engages learners as partners throughout.
Video/Kit Working with Adults with Learning Disabilities: A KET Professional Development Video Package
For Ordering information:
http://www.ket.org
This is a 90 minute video with print supplement. Program 7 deals with "Assessment Instruments for Use with the Learning Disabled Population" It is available at the Central RSC library.
ZIP Got a great resource to suggest? Does one of our resources cover additional standards? All additions, suggestions, and queries are welcome! Please contact Carey Reid at creid@worlded.org

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