Technical College System of Georgia Office of Adult Education

As required by the National Reporting System for Adult Education

Before Watching this Presentation

 FY15 OAE Adult Learner Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual  Appendix A – EFL Descriptors  Appendix B - GALIS, Goal, and EFL Matrix AP, page 2 2

Objectives

 Introduction and Overview  General Assessment Requirements  Guidelines for BEST Literacy, BEST Plus, GAIN, TABE, and TABE CLAS-E Assessments 3

Introduction to the Assessment Policy Manual

AP, pages 3-5 4

Why an Assessment Policy?

 Federal requirement: Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL)  National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS) Guidelines AP, pages 3-4 5

Purposes and Uses of Assessments

 Student placement  Develop rapport with student  Analysis of diagnostic information  Identify instructional strategies  Establish student goals  Monitor student progress  Certify skill level and program completion AP, page 4 6

Assessments – ESL and EL/Civics

AP, page 6 7

Assessments – ABE/ASE

AP, page 6 8

Use of Informal Assessments

 Guide Instruction  Monitor Learning  Types of Assessments   Teacher-made tests Unit tests   Portfolios Performance assessments  Observations AP, page 4 9

Management Information System



GALIS (Georgia Adult Learners Information System)

 Store student records   Record assessment scale scores Track student progress   Generate reports Document special accommodations  Document training 10

AP, page 6-10

General Assessment Requirements

11

Students to be Assessed

AP, page 6 12

Maintaining Assessment Records

Assessment Documentation

BEST Literacy Test book and scoring sheet

BEST Plus GAIN TABE TABE CLAS-E

Score report Score report Answer sheet and score report Answer book, writing folio, score report AP, page 6 13

Pre-testing Students

 ALL students must be assessed within the first 12 hours of attendance  The lowest test level determines placement of the student AP, page 7 14

Post-testing Students

 All students who meet the minimum hours of instruction for each assessment must be post-tested  These timeframes vary from assessment to assessment AP, page 7 15

GALIS enforces the following post-testing timeframes:

Assessment BEST Literacy BEST Plus GAIN TABE TABE CLAS-E Timeframe After 60 hours of instruction After 60 hours of instruction After 60 hours of instruction After 40 hours of instruction (ABE) After 30 hours of instruction (ASE) After 60 hours of instruction

AP, page 7 16

Training Requirements

 Local providers ensure test administrators receive proper training each fiscal year  OAE provides training for:  Assessment Policies and NRS  General guidelines for assessments  BEST Plus and BEST Literacy  All training documented in GALIS AP, pages 8-9 17

Training Guidelines

BEST Literacy BEST Plus GAIN TABE and TABE CLAS-E CAL recommends studying the test administration manual and 3-4 practice administrations CAL requires a one-day training with a certified trainer and 20 practice administrations Wonderlic requires completion of training and certification before permission to test CTB recommends that test administrators be trained before administering the test AP, page 8-9 18

Pre-testing Accommodations

 Low literacy level  Lack of English proficiency  Attempts to assess must be documented in student records and GALIS AP, page 6 19

Baseline Scores

BEST Literacy

Enter form attempted/scale score of 0

BEST Plus

Enter form attempted/scale score of 88

GAIN: English GAIN: Math

TABE 9&10: Level L, Reading

Enter form attempted/scale score of 200 Enter form attempted/scale score of 200 Enter form attempted/scale score of 160

TABE 9&10: Level L, Math

Enter form attempted/scale score of 180 TABE CLAS-E: Listening/Speaking Enter form attempted/scale score of 230

TABE CLAS-E: Reading/Writing

Enter form attempted/scale score of 225 AP, page 6 20

Accommodations for Disabilities

 Accommodations must be requested  Student must submit documentation of disability  Doctor’s Report  Certified Diagnostic Assessment  Individual Education Plan (IEP)  Other clinical records AP, page 9-10 21

Forms of Accommodations

 May include, but not limited to:  Flexible scheduling and setting  Flexible presentation and responding  Assistive devices  Each assessment provides guidance on acceptable accommodations AP, pages 9-10 22

Guidelines for Each Assessment

AP, pages 11-25 23

BEST Literacy

 Used with:  English as a Second Language (ESL)  English Literacy/Civics  Reading and writing skills test  Administered individually or in groups  Print-based test with three forms – B, C, D AP, pages 11 - 13 24

BEST Literacy Pre-test

 Pre-test within first 12 hours of instruction  Pre-test not valid for placement into Advanced ESL Level (ESL6) AP, page 11-13 25

BEST Literacy – Post-test

 Post-test after a minimum of 60 hours of instruction  Students pre-tested with BEST Literacy must be post-tested with BEST Literacy AP, page 12 26

BEST Plus

 Used with:  English as a second language (ESL)  English Literacy/Civics  Tests Listening Comprehension, Language Complexity, and Communication  Administered individually  Computer-adaptive or print-based version forms: A, B, C AP, page 14 27

BEST Plus Pre-test

 Pre-test within first 12 hours of instruction  Pre-test not valid for students who score ESL X (scale scores of 541 and above) AP, page 14 28

BEST Plus – Post-test

 Post-test after a minimum of 60 hours of instruction  Students pre-tested with BEST Plus must be post-tested with BEST Plus AP, page 14-15 29

TABE CLAS-E

 Used with:  English as a second language (ESL)  English Literacy/Civics  Tests Listening , Speaking, Reading, and Writing  Administered individually or in a group  Pencil/Paper test administration  Two forms (A, B) and Four levels (1, 2, 3, and 4) AP, page 23 30

TABE CLAS-E Pre-test

 Pre-test within first 12 hours of instruction  Must administer a minimum of two skill area tests in a particular combination: Listening/Speaking or Reading/Writing AP, page 23 31

TABE CLAS-E Post-test

 Post-test after a minimum of 60 hours of instruction  Students pre-tested with CLAS-E must be post-tested with CLAS-E.

AP, page 23-24 32

Transitioning from ESL to ABE

 Administer GAIN English or TABE Reading and/or TABE Language  Assess in math only if student has a math improvement goal  If ABE assessment is administered after an ESL assessment, the student is reported as ESL for the fiscal year 33

GAIN

 Used with:  Adult Basic Education (ABE)  Adult Secondary Education (ASE)  Two subtests – English and Math  Administered individually or in groups  Online or paper administration  Two forms – A & B AP, page 17 34

GAIN – Pre-test

 Pre-test within first 12 hours of instruction  Two subtests: English and Math  Lowest score is used to determine placement in a level  Enter combined scores into GALIS AP, page 17 35

GAIN – Post-test

 Post-test after a minimum of 60 hours of instruction  Students pre-tested with GAIN must be post-tested with GAIN.

 Progress Testing is not allowed by local programs funded by OAE AP, page 17-18 36

TABE

 Used with:  Adult Basic Education (ABE)  Adult Secondary Education (ASE)  Tests silent reading comprehension, math computation, applied math and language  Administered individually or groups  Two forms – 9 & 10; five levels – L, E, M, D, A  Complete Battery or Survey AP, page 20 37

TABE – Pre-test

 Pre-test within first 12 hours of instruction  Administer TABE Locator to determine pre-test level(s) AP, page 20 38

TABE – Post-test

 Adult Basic Education (ABE) students may be post-tested after a minimum of 40 hours of instruction  Beginning ABE Literacy (ABE 1)  Beginning Basic Education (ABE 2)  Low Intermediate Basic Education (ABE 3)  High Intermediate Basic Education (ABE 4) AP, page 20 39

TABE – Post-test

 Adult Secondary Education (ASE) students may be post-tested after a minimum of 30 hours of instruction  Low Adult Secondary Education (ASE 1)  High Adult Secondary Education (ASE 2) AP, pages 20-21 40

TABE – Post-test

 Post-testing requires that a different form (9&10) or level (L, E, M, D, A) must be used.

 Same level (L, E, M, D, A) use alternate form (9&10)  Student pre-tests using 9E, post-test using 10E  Same form (9&10) use a higher level (L, E, M, D, A)  Student pre-tests using form 9M, post-test must be 9D or 9A.

 Students pre-tested with TABE must be post-tested with TABE AP, page 20-21 41

Assessment FAQ’s

 BEST Literacy – page 13  BEST Plus – page 16  GAIN – page 19  TABE – page 22  TABE CLAS-E – page 25 42

Quality Control – Local Programs

 Enter student data in GALIS by the 10 th the following month of  Enter attendance data weekly  Local units conduct on-going data integrity checks  File review and data comparison  Assessment report analysis AP, pages 26-27 43

Quality Control – System Office

 OAE provides GALIS training sessions  Helpdesk and state staff provide technical assistance  State staff provide off-site monitoring of data AP, pages 26-27 44

Test Security

 Handling test materials  Must be inventoried and kept in locked storage  Must not be copied or reproduced  Must not be used for instruction  Must report missing/damaged items to Program Administrator AP, page 27-28 45

Test Security



Examinee protocol

 Must not be assisted with tests  Answers must not be tampered with  May not leave test site with testing materials 

Test Administrator

 Must not participate in any activity resulting in inaccurate measurement or reporting of scores 

Testing Violations - Notify Program Admin.

AP, page 28 46

Technical Assistance Team

Office of Adult Education Instructional Services Director Bobby Creech [email protected]

404-679-1641

Central/Southeast Georgia Grant Program Support Coordinator Felicia Phelps [email protected]

478-329-4720 Metro Atlanta/North Georgia Grant Program Support Coordinator Charita Boles [email protected]

404-679-1628 Metro Atlanta/West Georgia Grant Program Support Coordinator Leatricia Williams [email protected]

404-679-5234 Instructional Services Technical Coordinator Kimberlee Bryant [email protected]

404-248-1060 South/Southwest Georgia Grant Program Support Coordinator Steve Pearce [email protected]

404-679-0511 GALIS Helpdesk Data Management Assistant Davida Shelton [email protected]

404-327-6907 47