[AAACE-NLA] Delusion of Accountability in Adult Education

[AndresMuro at aol.com]

Barbara:

Go to www.nifl.gov

On the top left hand side you'll see a hyperlink that says LINCS. Click on it. You'll be directed to the LINCS site. Towards the top you'll see some hyperlinks. Click on the one that says discussions. You'll open the page to all the nifl discussion groups. You can subscribe to any of them including the assessment group.

If you can't find it, please let me know. I didn't post the URL because it is very long.

Andres


In a message dated 5/27/2004 10:58:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time, barguedas at sfccnm.edu writes:

> 
> You mention an assessment list.  Can you provide the email address for that list?  I am interested in pursuing the assessment topic.  Thank you.
> Barbara Arguedas
> Santa Fe Community College
> Santa Fe, NM
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
> [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org]On Behalf Of Debbie
> Yoho
> Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 8:46 AM
> To: aaace-nla
> Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Delusion of Accountability in Adult Education
> 
> 
> Andrea, your most recent points on this thread are well taken.  I hesitate
> to go further into the issue of what the TABE, or any test, does or does
> not do because I think that belongs on the assessment list, where the topic
> has been extensively discussed already several times.  But I do have a
> question:  do you think that it is even POSSIBLE to create an
> accountability system, using standardized testing as the instrument, when
> the data mujst be comparable across such a far flung and diverse system?
> 
> I notice that the same problem is currently a huge issue in the K-12 arena,
> because No Child Left Behind also rests on standardized tests and
> erroneously assumes that the "progress" of one school district can be
> compared to another solely through test score results.
> 
> My notion of a system based on "consumer" supply and demand is just an
> attempt to think out of the box about accountability without using testing
> as the instrument. I don't even have much passion for the idea, except that
> somewhere, we all agree, the learner should have something to add to the
> issue.   By the way, I am not opposed to testing per se. We couldn't do our
> jobs without it.   I am opposed to using it as a basis for accountability,
> and I have grave misgivings about the conclusions often drawn from test
> scores about learner "progress", potential, or ability.  But I readily
> agree that if Learner A scores substantially higher on the TABE than
> Learner Z, then Learner Z will function more proficiently across all or
> most of the many parameters of literacy.  And I agree that if Learner A
> scores higher when pre and post scores are compared, there has been
> "progress". I also agree that testing can be diagnostic, although the TABE
> certainly is not.   But I don't believe the teacher can "claim"
> responsibility for either an increase or a decrease in test scores.  There
> are too many variables determining learner progress that teachers cannot
> control.  Hence my concern that this type of "scientific" analysis is, in
> Tom Sticht's language, "delusional".
> 
> Incidentally, I think any true scientist would laugh at the NRS as a
> legitimate process.  The first rule of basic research is to control the
> variables.  There also needs to be an hypothesis.  What assumptions does
> the NRS test?  None that make sense to me.
> 
> In short, teaching is an art, and only vaguely a science.
> 
> Best, Debbie
> 
> Deborah W. Yoho
> Co-moderator, NIFL-Health Listserv
> Past President, SC Adult Literacy Educators
> Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council
> 2728 Devine Street,  Columbia, SC  29205
> 803-765-2555   Fax  803-779-8417   dwyoho at earthlink.net
> 
> 
> 
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