[NLA] 1999-2000 OVAE Report

[Art LaChance]

Andrea,

It's just not that difficult to sit a student down and talk to them to
find out what they need to know in non-threatening terms and
conditions.  They can read one sentence off the front page of a
newspaper and an experienced tutor can tell what neeeds to be
remediated.  Math is somewhat different to approach but still not that
difficult. If they have a checking account they can probably add and
subtract, etc.  One does not 'need' a full length TABE standardized
assessment rigor to add to the already uncomfortable situation the
student faces.

We need desperately to realize the mental conditions that preclude the
first time a student seeks help towards improving reading, math, and
even prepration for the GED.  Even those who may read at a level that
might indicate they could take the GED right now need preparation time
via non-threatening conditions prior to exposure to the real thing.
The real difficulty arose at the point where 'testing' became mandatory
in terms of demonstrating program effectiveness and student
demographics.  The 'personal' touch that had become part and parcel of
adult literacy services was suddenly preempted by the absolutes of
"TEST".  And test we did.  Mainly because our future was contained in
the data that dictated our future funding.  Then the 'personalized'
programs became somewhat mechanical.  Group indoctrination, group
testing, no debrief to speak of, and fairly regular and consistent
'testing'.  What we did in fact, not fiction, was to reinsert that
already anxiety ridden student right smack dab in the middle of the
emotional condition that had been generated during their 10 years of k12
and had eventually led to them dropping out.  I find very very few folks
that dropped out of school because they were carrying straight A's and
got pregnant, or had to go to work to support the family.  The
difference is quite obvious in the first ten minutes.  I have been
tricked a few times but not to the extent that would tell us to change
the methods of analysis that were built from 20 years or so of program
development.

And as Eileen has referenced in a current post here, I find it very
unsettling that the policy makers and decision makers absolutely refused
to regard the practitioner input as valid information re: who is the
adult student and what do they need.


art



Awilderast at aol.com wrote:

> Art,
>
> Thanks.
>
> OK, what you did before worked.  What did you do before?
>
> Andrea
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