The Education Goals Assessment Packet

Martha Germanowski

T he Step-by-Step Adult Learner Program in Amesbury and Haverhill Massachusetts is I grant-funded program for homeless adults. The learners, men and women age 16-65, range in skills from new readers to high school graduates. They come to the program primarily from two local transitional housing programs: Link House, a live-in program for men with a history of substance abuse, and Transitional Housing for Women, a battered women's shelter.

Identifying the Need

In late 1990, after six months of teaching Step-by-Step classes, I identified three needs to address in order to make my work more effective: 1) I needed a more systematic way to learn about the interests and goals of my adult learners; 2) I needed to develop individualized education plans (IEPs) for each student; and 3) I needed an efficient way to record the on-going progress of each student. I was not content with our program's brief interview and standardized testing as the source from which to design class materials and evaluate progress. Those methods were I convenient but severely limited. I wanted a model that measured progress in a way that both teacher and student would understand and find relevant.

Developing the Packet

Through a series of workshops on evaluation and assessment sponsored by SABES, I began to investigate various intake and assessment models used in other Massachusetts adult basic education programs ( in particular the goals list developed at the Read!Write! Now program and published in Marilyn Gillespie's book, Many Literacies: Modules for Training Beginning Readers and Tutors ) . Then, using information provided at Step-by-Step intake interviews, I compiled a list of students' interests and gools. This list included, "getting my GED," "passing a learner's permit test, " "reading to my children, " "using cooking meausres, " and "filling out a job application. " To this list I added the types of materials that had been used and requested by learners over the fIrst six months of my class. English, math and life skills tasks from multi-level ABE workbooks such as Essential Math for Life (Contemporary Books), Let's Work It Out: Topics for Parents (New Readers Press), Master Your Money ( Janus Books), and Life Skills Reading (Scott Foresman and Co. ) were combined with the original list. Eventually this list was to be integrated with two other models and modified to fit our program's particular needs.

Learner Input

Before devising the final goals list for classroom use, two groups of about five learners each, were given the "Goals List" from Many Literacies and the "Life Skills Questionnaire" from Essential Mathematics for Life (Scott Foresman and Co. ) with one modification: the column heading like to know more" was added. Students were asked to report their feelings about the checklists. They responded that both lists had interesting items and things they had not thought of. Some learners felt that the "Life Skills Questionnaire" was too long, while others liked the variety. Most felt that the "Goals List" explanation was unclear, but, all agreed that the print was easier to read on the "Goals List" than on the "Life-Skills Questionnaire. "
Midway through this investigation with learners, I applied toSABES for a mini-grant to continue this assessment work in greater detail.

A review of by Step-by-Step teachers of the information lead to the conclusion that a checklist could create more diverse and complete responses than a traditional intake form. The teachers believed that several factors should be carefully attended to when designing the checklist: Variety, clarity and format are important to create interest and involvement in the survey and to assure that learners understand the form it. Checklists should include a means of acknowledging improvement, advancement or completion. Students should be given options to identify and choose academic goals as well as life skills. Language in the checklist should affIrm adult learners' prior knowledge, be sensitive to varying interest levels, and avoid negative attitudes.

Based on these conclusions, the decision was made to create a checklist of interest areas from all student and class input and from collected published material. The checklist would-be printed clearly and spaced for easy reading;

-group goals according to interest areas and arrange them in order from the simplest to the most complex when applicable;

-list life skills and academic skills separately;

-provide a place for noting completions of
tasks;

-record student goals;

-create a daily record of work toward goals started, work in progress and work completed;

-include academic skills (math, English, GED, etc.)

-be worded survey in a positive manner.

A daily log was designed as a way to have a record of on-going progress. It included: goals for the day, subjects studied, learner comments and teacher comments and a plan for the next time.

Our first Assessment Packet contained these elements:

-a daily log;
-a list of education goals with space to note the date each goal is achieved;
-a six page checklist;
-a signed contract as required by our agency.

This version of the Education Goals Assessment Packet was used in my classroom from January to March, 1991 and distributed at SABES staff de- velopment meetings throughout the state.

Revisions

In April a major revision was made. Classroom use had shown that students rarely went back to the checklist to mark completions even when reminded. So, the checklist was revised to say "Does this subject remind you of anything else that interests you?" in order to encourage more information at intake. The "date goals achieved" on the education goals sheet was dropped and a monthly review replaced it. Along with the daily log, the monthly review became an update on what had been learned for student and teacher to observe. The review included re-reading the checklist and goals list, reviewing goals, if desired, and listing advancements made in and out of class.

At present, no further changes to the Education Goals Assessment Packet have been made. However, specific academic checklists for GED Math have been added for students who are doing that preparation. Writing and English language checklists are being developed.

Results

Before I began using the Education Goals Assessment Packet, I had to depend on time consuming record keeping of students I work and progress, and intake forms and brief conversations as the only means of appraising students ' interests and gools. In addition, students were minimally involved in planning and goal-setting.

Now that the Packet is in use, many changes have occurred in the classroom. The most immediate change is that, with learners keeping their own record, there is much more time for me to give individual attention. Through the Assessment Packet, students have a more complete picture of their class- work and progress. After discussing their choices with the teachers, students can now write their own goals which become the basis for their individualized education plans. These choices give students options, increasing the likelihood that theirs will be a positive learning experience. The daily log is a continual reminder of progress made over short and long periods. It has become a record for group work as well as class development. It is also a document of our cuniculum in process, a "retroactive syllabus.

The Education Goals Assessment Packet has been distributed to the Massachusetts Homeless Education Network, Literacy Volunteers ofMassachusetts tutors, and presented to adult educators from Massachusetts at SABES meetings and at the Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts Annual Conference.

Some programs have modified it to fit their learners ' capabilities. Other programs have used it as is. Overall, the Packet has been an empowering tool for learners as well as teachers. It stimulates adult learners to recognize past achievements and present possibilities. The daily log is a simple visual record of learner progress that the student, teacher or tutor can easily understand.

Reference/Note

1 Gillespie, Marilyn, Many Literacies: Modules forTraining Adult Beginning Readers and Tutors (Amherst: Center for International Educaiton, 1990)

2 They were first changed to say, "I know this, I know some of this, I would like to know more now/later, not interested now. " But, before being distributed, the headings were changed to say; "I know/do this, I would like to know more now/later, I understand this and I am ready for the next step."

Originally published in Adventures in Assessment, Volume 1 (November 1991),
SABES/World Education, Boston, MA, Copyright 2003.

Funding support for the publication of this document on the Web provided in part by the Ohio State Literacy Resource Center as part of the LINCS Assessment Special Collection.