[Bestplus] BEST Plus training questions

[Fischer, Janet]

Hello, everyone! It looks like our BEST Plus trainings are off to a
great start! Participants in the two trainings we hosted last week seem
to be very motivated to work with the BEST Plus, and have shared many
positive comments about the test as well as the training!
 
Some questions have come up during the 2 trainings that I would like to
put forth so that Jane can answer and/or pass along to CAL. I'll try to
group them by "topic":
 
Test Administration Questions:
1.	In the warm-up question, "Do you work?", if the administrator
hits the wrong key by accident, is there a way to go back or restart the
test? Should the administrator hit "quit" and then restart the
administration?
2.	What should the administrator do if the program "freezes" in the
middle of an administration? Also, what happens if there is an unusual
circumstance, like a fire drill, or loss of electricity? Should you try
to resume where you left off (assuming the program returns to the same
place it left off)? Restart the administration? Reschedule for another
day?
 
Software Management Questions:
1.	Does a post-test (or mid-year test) need to be administered on
the same PC (or laptop) as the pre-test (in order for the questions not
to be repeated in the post-tests)?
2.	Does the software show where - and how much - gain a student
makes from a pre-test to a post-test? In other words, does the software
compare a particular learner's scores from one test administration to
another?
 
Policy Questions:
1.	Since a program can test a student on BEST Plus at intake or
registration, and have it count for both placement and pre-testing, is
there a time limit that that test result can be used as the pre-test
assessment in SMARTT? (Because of waitlists, how long can the pre-test
score be valid?)
2.	Will the Career Centers be using the BEST Plus? What if a
trained administrator works in both an ABE program and the Career
Center? Can s/he test clients at the Career Center? Or will all testing
for BEST Plus be done at the program? 
 
Trainings and Trainers' Manual (reflection/comments):
            - It seems that there have been many on-going changes to the
Trainers' Manual, the CAL Powerpoint, and the participants' TAGs. For
example, in the TAGs, the "jigsaw" activity is now called a "Cooperative
Reading Activity." It seems like changes will be made quite often as
more and more states, and more and more people receive training in the
BEST Plus. Does CAL have a special website page, or listserv, where they
announce these sometimes small, but important, changes for trainers? Can
we suggest this to CAL? It might be a good way for them to keep all of
the trainers up-to-date on the changes!
 
Regards, Janet
 
 
Janet S. Fischer
Associate Coordinator
Northeast SABES (System for Adult Basic Education Support)
Northern Essex Community College
45 Franklin Street, Lawrence, MA 01840
Tel: (978) 738-7307,  Fax: (978) 738-7115
jfischer at necc.mass.edu <mailto:jfischer at necc.mass.edu>  
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/bestplus/attachments/20040511/2df90201/attachment.htm