The Even Start Model

Empowering the Student through Goal Setting

Susan Martin, Sandra Hall, Jeanette Bahre
Amesbury Even Start

The North Shore town of Amesbury, Massachusetts is serving as a site of Even Start, a federally funded model addressing the dual issues of parenting and literacy.

The four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education, awarded to the Amesbury Public School system to service 48 target families has two primary goals: supporting adult parenting skills and empowering parents as their children’s first teacher by developing literacy skills.

Amesbury Even Start is based upon a case-management model. Each family entering the program is assigned a Home-Based Visitor and a Family Literacy Specialist. The interrelated nature of the program is emphasized by including the Family Literacy Specialist, the Home-Based Visitor, and the parent in the development of goals for the family in each component: adult education, early childhood education, and parenting family issues. These goals are then used to plan that family’s involvement in Even Start activities.

The program is organized in eight-week service cycles. At the beginning of each cycle, families set short-term and long-term goals for themselves and their children. Then staff collaborate with parents in the selection of activities to attain individual goals. At the end of the eight-week cycle, the staff meet again with the parent to evaluate progress and possibly to reassess and set new goals.

The Adult Literacy Component
The adult literacy component of Even Start is a multi-level program aimed at increasing basic skills, improving self-concepts, reinforcing various uses of literacy, maximizing parent involvement in child-centered learning, and creating awareness of career/employment opportunities.

At the most basic level, the program provides an on-site adult literacy program focusing on attaining functional and GED skills. At another level, parents are learning about child development in order to actively participate in their children’s learning.

We have recently incorporated the use of small groups into our literacy program. These small groups are planned by staff based on the general goals of the adult learners. The parents can “opt” into any one of these groups at the beginning of a cycle if relevant. The groups have helped build a sense of community within the program and many friendly relationships have formed.

For the adult learner who is considered a lower-level ABE student, one-on- one tutoring is provided. When the parent feels he/she is ready, he/she can opt into a smaller group which consists of students with similar literacy levels and social/group interaction skills. We have found that social contact and acceptance of one’s literacy level is one of the first steps many lower level students must take to feel comfortable with themselves and be motivated to attend. Additional adult literacy experiences are personalized and based on the goals parents set for themselves.

Initial Assessment and Measurement of Adult Learner Progress
Even Start is an empowerment model, therefore assessment and measurement of adult learners is not based on their weaknesses; rather, it is based upon their strengths and the wealth of knowledge they bring to our program. Accordingly, our assessment tools are non-traditional and seek to empower and strengthen our parents/adult learners from the moment they come into the program by revealing their ability to take charge and be proud of the lives they are leading.

The emphasis at Even Start is on Family Literacy and the importance of transferring learning from parent to child and visa versa. Therefore, the staff responsible for the initial assessment come from both components of our program. Parent/adult learners who enter the program set goals with, and are initially assessed by, both a Family Literacy Specialist and a Home Based Visitor.

During the intake procedure, the staff informally assess the functional/academic capabilities of the parent/adult learner based on the Amesbury Even Start Goal Sheet (see sample, next page) and on a variety of intake sessions. The Goal Sheet uncovers a variety of assessment information, but at the same time acts as an extremely inviting, unintimidating way to assess initial capabilities, attributes and interests. The Goal Sheet is a visual representation of an eight-week cycle. It is broken up into categories representing program requirements at Even Start, including: adult education, parenting skills, child development and parent/child together time. These categories are then subdivided into short-term and long-term goals columns.

Although simple in description, this Goal Sheet provides the case managers with a wealth of initial assessment information without the use of extensive formalized testing or frequently inaccurate initial self-evaluations. Informal skills assessed include communication skills, such as listening to the description of the Even Start program options, and formulating questions about the adult learner’s individualized Family Literacy Plan. Both verbal and written expression of goals are used in the initial assessment.

The Goal Sheet also provides information on the critical thinking abilities of the parent/adult learner. For example, questions posed may include: What is the difference between short and long term goals? Are the goals realistic?

The Goal Sheet also provides information on decision-making skills such as the following: what program options will be emphasized during the initial eight week cycle? how do eight-week program options lead to long term goals.

The Goal Sheet offers some elements of affective measurement. Parents/Adult learners often express dreams and wishes, combined with “felt” or “real” strengths and weaknesses. This information is extremely important when it comes to cycle evaluations, because it provides the parent/adult learner an opportunity to ethically analyze how they perceive themselves, and whether their perceptions have helped or hindered their progress.

Parenting and child development goals are also assessed during the initial intake procedure. Information is collected formally through the use of the Parent/Child interaction forms which attempt to uncover issues which may require future support (see sample at the end of this section).

Intake Utilizes Many Formats
The intake process allows a variety of information to be gathered in a number of ways: discussion sessions, informal goal-setting sessions, formalized questionnaires, and a formalized adult assessment tool — the California Adult Student Assessment System, CASAS. All Even Start Programs nationwide utilize CASAS, a measure of functional reading ability.

[Editor’s Note: CASAS is “a comprehensive educational assessment system designed to measure competency-based curriculum for all levels of Adult Basic Education and English as a Second Language, including a pre-vocational curriculum,” according to the CASAS Overview. According to its developers, it measures functional basic skills in reading, math, and listening comprehension, and utilizes authentic assessment or applied performance measures on oral proficiency, writing skills, pre-employment and work maturity competence, and critical thinking skills.]

Competencies include the ability to read a newspaper advertisement, to use a telephone directory, or to read the instructions on a bottle of medicine, etc. Results are integrated into the adult learner’s individualized Family Literacy Plan (see sample at end of this section).

The initial assessment is a key component of the intake procedure, and takes roughly four hours to complete. Orientation and program description sessions run approximately one hour. The CASAS can take anywhere from thirty to sixty minutes to complete. (There is no time limit.) The questionnaires and goal-setting sessions usually take about one hour to complete. Goals can be analyzed, changed or continued, based on what the adult learner wants to do. The CASAS is administered every six months; each level has a pre- and post test.

At the end of each cycle, the individual accounts of each session are attached to that cycle’s goals worksheet. The Evaluation Form contains basic information about what went on in each session: the goal of the activity, what materials were used, who led the session, and an opportunity for the parent/adult learner to discuss what he/she learned and how he/she may transfer some idea, attitude or skill to his/her children. This allows reflection on past goals and related implementation. Changes in adult learner goals are presently ascertained by evaluating the last cycle, e.g. were the goals realistic? New goals are acknowledged on the succeeding 8-weekcycle Goal Sheet.

Measurement: the Portfolio, the Goal Sheet, and More
Parents/adult learners choose their own Even Start programming; when a parent/adult learner decides their goals, chooses what programming will support that goal, and evaluates their progress during the cycle, they are more likely to be taking charge of their own learning.

An adult learner portfolio is created at initial placement. The folder eventually includes writing samples, math work, and other content area activities. The samples are compared from time to time, and at the end of every 8-week cycle, for differences in quality. Markers are being developed to measure changes in attitudes toward education in general. These markers will help track behavioral changes — such as reading for pleasure, or writing a note to a child’s teacher, or choosing one shopping center over another — from applying skills learned in the program. These important behavioral changes are often lost in traditional assessment and evaluation.

The Goal Sheet at Even Start is a multi-level tool. Used appropriately, it empowers the learner by allowing expression and realization of very specific short-term and long-term goals. The system is used in self-assessment as an adult learner builds on the information he/she reflects upon, and as the work is continuously defined and re-defined for the future. Responsibility for the success of the student’s program is squarely placed upon the adult learner. There is also ample opportunity for constructive critical feedback about our program which we value and incorporate into our work.

To strengthen the evaluation, staff observations and participant interviews at the end of each 8-week program cycle also help to determine participants’ progress in meeting their literacy goals. Two times per month, families will be asked to complete a short activity evaluation to determine if project activities are meeting their needs and are relevant to their goals/plans, enjoyment, issues critical to them, and their relationship with their child or children.

From the process of on-going assessment by parents at our center has come the stated need for development of skills leading toward employment, so that parents can become, or can continue to be, adequate providers for their chil-dren’s physical as well as emotional needs.

With this in mind, Even Start has initiated the development of a “Next Steps” program for those parents who may be moving on to a certification program, vocational training, or some other form of continuing education. New legislation for all Even Start programs requires that service be continued for parents/adult learners even if their children no longer fall between the ages of birth to seven years. We have envisioned that when this does occur, many of the continuing parents/adult learners will be in need of academic and counseling support to help them make the transition into their next steps.

Originally published in Adventures in Assessment, Volume 4 (April 1993),
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.