Making Sense of REEP

Luanne Teller
Stoughton ABE Program at Massaoit Community College

I was prepared to be annoyed. That's right: just what I needed --another acronym to add to my list! Another mandate to add to my list! A beautiful summer day lost to training. Just what I needed. Boy, was I prepared to be annoyed.

Imagine my dismay. I like REEP. I have embraced REEP. REEP is making my program better. Imagine!

When we first learned that new assessment policies were coming, we were in just our second year of funding. As a new program, we struggled with finding "reliable" and "valid" assessment tools. We had great intake tools, and we were meeting all of DOE's reporting requirements, but we sensed we could do better.

During this time, we received a curriculum grant which we used to develop thematic units. We wanted to move away from standardized testing towards performance-based assessments. Our staff, experienced with student portfolio work, believed that performance-based assessments would allow us to more accurately assess student levels, enhance instructor feedback, and better track student progress. As we proceeded, we remained sensitive to concerns about objectivity, continuity over time and different instructors, and the amount of staff time required to evaluate work and prepare feedback for students.

We held many staff meetings, attended workshops, and conducted research. The task of assembling a comprehensive list of competencies was not nearly as daunting as the challenge of somehow converting or "crosswalking" it to an SPL (Student Performance Level) number that was "useable" for DOE reporting purposes. It has always been my management style to make data-driven decisions. I prefer to plan for program improvement based on what I "know I know" instead of what I "think I know," and what I knew for sure was that there had to be a better way.

Thank goodness for the work that ACLS, SABES, and the PAWG (Performance Accountability Work Group) did to facilitate our understanding about this necessary response to NRS and federal mandates. Over the course of the previous year, the workshops on Standardized Assessments, the PAWG updates, NRS Requirements, and Using Data for Program Improvement were immeasurably helpful in preparing for what lay ahead -- and more importantly -- slowly but surely bringing my staff up to speed. Thankfully, we were able to immediately skip right over the
"reactionary mode" phase directly into "implementation mode." We felt
adequately prepared and informed, and we fully understood this was a policy that was going to have to be followed. So, we decided to make the best of it. (Yes, my staff is beginning to be known as the "lemonade" squad.)

Ultimately, we have found REEP to be efficient, minimally intrusive to instructional time, and more reliable and consistent than other tools we had used. In fact, the information we are able to glean from student papers is well worth the time required to administer and score the tests. It frees us from trying to convert performance-based assessments to an SPL number, while providing detailed feedback on students' strengths and weaknesses.

We have begun placing students in "writing workshops" according to their REEP scores. This enables instructors to focus on more targeted instruction and also helps solve the "leveling" problem for students whose oral skills are significantly higher or lower than their reading/writing abilities. Most students have responded with enthusiasm, and feel like it's a "special" opportunity to be in these writing workshops/seminars.

Here is what we have learned from our first two rounds of REEP testing:

• We were somewhat surprised at the amount of commonality across papers. We are able to identify several areas of common writing errors which is helpful to classroom instruction.

• It seems obvious, but it bears repeating that some of our students are very gifted writers -- a talent which has little to do with their ability to communicate in English. Even some of our most beginning writers are able to show "voice" and tremendous "spirit" in their writing.

• We value the level of scoring objectivity that comes from not having previously worked with the students. For example, scorers were not able to understand one student's writing about surgery
  on her hand. After the test was scored, we shared it with the
  instructor who was immediately able to derive the meaning because she knew the student had just had hand surgery. We feel the "disconnect" between the scorers and the students provides more reliable information.

• We have learned to be very specific in explaining to students how their work is scored and kept. In our post September 11th world, many of our students were cautious about replying to the prompt, "Write one bad thing about your life here." Students were afraid that we would "turn their papers over to the government." It's easy to understand why they would be reluctant to write anything bad about America. While I initially supported the idea of using "regional scorers," I now feel we need to be sensitive to these very valid concerns. How might writing be impacted if students felt that "outsiders" would have access to their papers?

• It really is important to "recalibrate" each time we administer the assessment. We find the anchor papers especially helpful in this process.

Some of our concerns/questions about the REEP include:

• We wish the rubric were more specific with greater detail for each level.

• Overall, we have found the REEP to be an accurate reflection of student abilities and levels, however there is the "on any given day" aspect that applies to any standardized test. We were recently surprised to see one of our more advanced students score significantly lower on his second REEP test than on his first, only to later learn that there were extenuating circumstances. There is nothing we can do about this: we can't retest and the score must stand. We can only hope that his third assessment will be more reflective of his true abilities.

• The use of REEP as the official assessment in higher ESOL levels has given some students the impression that we -- as a system -- value writing more than oral communication. This is the exact opposite of what the majority of our higher level ESOL students want, which is to concentrate on pronunciation and speech.

• At our REEP training, we were told that a typical learner gain is .4 each year. If this is accurate, then it may be much more difficult to show learner gain based on federal SPL levels.

• In fact, after just two administrations of the REEP, we are somewhat surprised by the relatively small gains that students show, especially in the higher levels. It seems much harder to progress from a REEP level 5 to a level 6, than from a REEP level 1 to a level 2. Our Site Coordinator, an ESOL specialist, estimates that the year-end assessments will show greater gain. Students learning new material will require more practice before becoming confident enough to take new risks in their writing. I'm told that a little more time and a little more practice will work wonders.

Here is what we plan to do next:

• We are keenly aware of pending fiscal constraints, but how we would love another curriculum grant! While some have voiced concerns about the time required to implement the new assessments, we feel more acutely the lack of planning time to develop a strategy in response to what the assessments tell us.

• We would like to analyze and review the competencies/benchmarks established within our curriculum units and align them more closely with the REEP rubric levels. Since we are electing to work with students in writing groups based on their REEP levels, it will help instructors target instruction based on student portfolio and assessment writing. Of equal value, it will also provide students with clear information on their progress, including what they still need to master in order to move to the next level. We had begun work on these checklists, but found it difficult to convert them into SPLs. With the new assessment policies, we are free to develop them in a way that meets our instructional and student learning needs without concern for how they could be used for reporting purposes.

When asked to write about our experiences with the REEP Writing Assessment, I was quick to reply that on most days, we feel like we have more questions than answers, and that we are an ever-evolving work in progress. I am thankful for a dedicated staff that embraces new ideas, and always looks to how they can better serve our students. Our Community Partnership remains steadfast in their support and encouragement in response to our changing needs. I am grateful for the help of my peers and never cease to be amazed by the level of support among ABE
practitioners. Last, but not least, we are always open to new ideas. We are eager to hear from other programs, and hope you will share your experiences with us!

Luanne Teller is the Director of the Stoughton ABE Program at Massasoit Community College. See overview of How This Program is Handling BEST/REEP Requirements.

Originally published in Adventures in Assessment, Volume 15 (Spring 2003),
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.