Why do we have to make our students take standardized assessment tests? We know what they need to learn, and we know how to teach. It's just extra work, and the students don't want to take the tests anyway. Many teachers and program directors see this as just one more thing we have to do.

There will never be one standardized test that can measure all that our students have learned, but having more than one way to measure progress is in the best interest of students, teachers, and programs. In-house assessments, portfolio assessments, and curriculum reviews are among the many other ways of measuring progress.

Developing alternative assessments is not an easy task, and the teachers here at the Jackson Mann Community Center have not wanted to take this on either, but we have had the benefit of being involved in a national project called the "What Works Literacy Partnership" sponsored by Literacy Partners Inc. in New York and funded by the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Fund. Through this project, there are 12 programs from around the country that get together on a regular basis to learn about assessment and program evaluation and how we can use it to benefit our programs.

We at Jackson Mann are learning that we can look at assessment as just another thing we have to do or as something we can learn from. It does take time; it does cost money; it does take training; and we have learned that we have a lot to learn. The biggest thing we've learned is that we can look at data collection as something that goes into a black hole that we give to the state because we have to or we can use it to make our program better.

It all starts with asking questions. What do we want to know about our programs? One teacher gave an excellent example of this. She noticed that in the program there seemed to be a certain group of students who were not making progress. These were ESOL students who had reached an oral proficiency level of English but were not making progress in reading or in writing. We wondered if there were other students in the program who fell into this category. We realized through looking at data we had obtained from the BEST test, that the teacher's instincts were correct, that these were not the only students in that situation. The data backed up her intuition. Since this was a new funding year, we were able to create a class for these students.

Through this process, we have discovered that we have mixed feelings about standardized tests. The scores from standardized tests, while helpful, do not always reflect what skills a student really has. This is one of the reasons we resist using them. Few adults function in the world and come back with a GLE (grade level equivalent) of 1.3 on the TABE. There are many reasons why our students may not do well on a standardized test. They have never even seen one before. They are often nervous. Sometimes the proctor is not skilled in giving the test. However, even given all this, we know that our students need to learn how to take these kinds of tests because they may need to take them to get into further training or higher education.

We have recognized that assess-ment of many different kinds, including tests, can be helpful to us as a program. There are many programs in Massachusetts and around the country that have developed wonderful assessment measures, and have found that using them can only make their program better. It's only a change in perception.

Shelley Bourgeois is a teacher and the director of the Jackson Mann Community Center, and participated in the What Works Literacy Partnership.