[NLA] 1999-2000 OVAE Report

[Chris Francisco]

Thank you for this post.  Student Centered programs understand this.  I 
would love to hear more on this discussion.  I would like to learn from my 
colleagues how they create, nurture and improve their "student centeredness."

peace,

chris francisco

At 08:04 PM 6/13/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>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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