I am employed by our county school system as a part-time teacher for the daytime adult education class. The class meets twice a week for three hour periods. I am paid for six hours of instruction and two hours of prep time. There are no benefits nor consideration given for work done beyond those hours. Occasionally, I am able to attend a workshop for which mileage and registration expenses are reimbursed. We are a small, rural county with limited resources.

Due to the generosity and interest in community of a local furniture factory, we have a place in which to meet. The factory has two rooms for the purpose of training employees. We use the smaller room (about 11' x 15') on a regular basis and occasionally are able to utilize the larger room for private conversations or testing. Our classroom setting consists of two 8' tables in the center of the room and five desks with Apple IIe computers. One wall with a door is common to the factory; as a result, noise can be an inhibiting factor. The other door to our class adjoins the larger training room. This room is sometimes used for employee training while we are meeting, so again noise can be a disruption. Freedom of movement can also be limited since one has to walk through this room to exit the building or to use the restrooms. Since our classroom is used by others, I carry all confidential records as well as many of the materials used in class to and from each session.

The county maintains an open enrollment policy for adult education classes. As only one day class is offered, the student body is quite diverse. Nine students are currently enrolled: one male alternative education student from the high school, one female English as a Second Language (ESL - Spanish) student, two females working toward the General Educational Development (GED) exam, and five Adult Basic Education (ABE) students (one male, four females). The majority of the students originally came to the class at the recommendation of various agencies, i.e. welfare or child health. This year, I have a volunteer who tries to come in for one hour per week. Some weeks, she comes for longer periods; some weeks, she is not able to come at all. I appreciate her willingness to help as it enables me to talk with students in private if the larger training room is available. There are no other adult educators on site. Our program administrator is a full-time elementary teacher; adult education is just one of her many responsibilities.

Entry Assessment

Each student is evaluated upon registration. Entry assessment involves both formal (standardized placement) and informal methods (questionnaires, interview, and a writing sample). I place no time constraints upon students during this testing, which is done primarily for the following reasons:
1. To obtain a placement level at student entry.
2. To obtain a beginning and ending level for state reporting.
3. To measure progress (to monitor areas of weakness or strength).
4. To overcome fear of testing.
5. To build confidence.
6. To familiarize students with a testing format which ultimately will be used for the GED.

Formal Assessment

Once placement testing has been completed, the Test for Adult Basic Education (TABE) or Practice GED is used for formal assessment. During testing, I usually look over homework or plan the next class session while observing students and their interaction with the testing instrument. Although these tests do yield results and are beneficial for placing students in appropriate materials, testing does take away from available instruction time or independent work. In order to do either of these formal assessments, two class periods are devoted almost entirely to testing. As we meet twice a week, I try to schedule testing for class periods in two separate weeks in order that testing does not become the sole focus for an entire class week.

Although I normally test an entire class at one time, most student feedback is done in private. I use this one-on-one time to encourage a student to keep trying in areas of weakness as well as to affirm progress. These conversations are often a reality check for students. Formal assessment provides a tool for me to illustrate the amount of material yet to be mastered and to encourage a student not to "throw in the towel". My goal is for the student to view me and the formal assessment as an instrument of encouragement and motivation rather than a voice of doom.

I spend 5-10 minutes sharing general information with the entire class. It takes me approximately 15 minutes to score a complete TABE and another 19 minutes to record and convert scores for GED comparison. I evaluate each test looking for patterns of error as well as mastery in order to share this information with each student. Depending on the ability of the student, it may take me 20-30 minutes to analyze a test battery. Scoring and analyzing is all done on my personal time at home. I then spend another 15 minutes per student reviewing individual results. This is done during the time students are working independently.

Informal Assessment

Informal assessment is conducted through observation and is prompted by the formal assessment process. Questions which may be on my mind would include:

Many times informal assessment yields information which has little to do with formal instruction, but rather reveals information about the personal life of the student. This information is important as it may have an impact on testing or may be impacting current class work. Adult learners do not check their personal lives at the door of the classroom! Personal situations can and do impact student performance.

Thus, I find that even when conducting formal assessment, informal assessment plays a very real role. Although formal assessment yields concrete results, it is informal assessment which connects me to the student. It is informal assessment which focuses on the students as individuals: their needs, goals, and personalities. It informs me of students' needs and attitudes rather than their abilities alone. Without observation I would never have considered giving a student scratch paper for use during the language portion of the TABE. As a practitioner, I must be alert to student "vibes" in order to be an encourager as well as a facilitator of their learning. I believe it is my role of encourager which drives much of the informal assessment I do within the classroom setting.

During class, I frequently find I am "dual tracking." While working on a group lesson, I will be watching and listening for indicators which reflect involvement and understanding on the part of the students. This ongoing observation is so much a part of what I do that I think much of it is done on a subconscious level—until I notice someone is not "with me." At this point, dual tracking kicks in. Although I continue with the lesson at hand, one part of my mind is analyzing the students' responses. This exploration can trigger a conscious response on my part and sometimes the focus of the lesson will change due to the attitudes/needs of the students at the moment.

This type of informal assessment helps me stay tuned to the students. If I am not responsive to my students, they have trouble being responsive to me. If they feel they have ownership in the class and its activities, they are more likely to stay involved. As a result, class retention is improved. A classroom driven by student needs must have flexibility on the part of the teacher. Teaching and student learning are interrelated.

Time spent "doing" informal assessment is hard to determine. Yes, I can say I spend 10 minutes on an informal intake of a student or I spend 3 minutes informally going over a homework assignment. But calculating time doing informal assessment when one is "dual tracking" is difficult. In addition, there is time spent outside of the classroom. Teacher reflection—on individuals, class situations, questions, etc.—when removed from the actual class environment is another means of facilitating learning in a class or an individual. Is this not also assessment? How does one begin to calculate this time?!

Personal Impact

Informal assessment facilitates student learning but also provides personal satisfaction. Although I derive satisfaction from teaching, the class is for the students. I can not allow my agenda to be so rigid that I lose sight of the needs and desires of my students. Although I am usually not troubled by this, I found during a case study for this project that this was actually happening. In my effort to track time for the purposes of the study, my focus had shifted from the students to the study. This had a definite negative impact on me! Data collection had become the focus rather than the student(s). This was a reality check for me and the refocus was good. In the future, anytime the process begins to supersede the individual, warning lights should go off.

As a result of doing data collection for this study, I have had to re-examine my classroom priorities. I have learned that I spend more time thinking about why something did not work than I do analyzing what made this a good class day or why a particular student was so "in tune". At other times, I've had new insights—even a Ablinding flash of the obvious!@ I have gained new ideas from my peers and the reading we have done throughout the project.

The project has raised new questions as well as brought old questions to mind. Just as students ask questions to learn, so must adult practitioners—if we are truly lifelong learners. It is my hope that the questions and concerns raised as a result of this study will be considered and reviewed in order that we can better meet the needs of both practitioners and students. Some of the questions I am left with include:

1. How might the Student Teacher Evaluative Planning Sessions (STEPS) be changed to make it more applicable to my group? Should another instrument take its place?
2. Is there a standardized test which would yield valid results but take less time than the TABE? Should guidelines be written for administration of the TABE so that all practitioners are giving the instrument the same way? Or does that impact the student in a negative way?
3. Limited funds force teachers to copy material which infringes on copyright laws; how else do we get enough material into the hands of the students?
4. Is there a difference in the way part-time and full-time practitioners view assessment?
5. Is the focus of the practitioner different if the student is voluntary or involuntary?
6. Is the assessment focus different due to mandated requirements imposed by the employing body?
7. How does the make up of the class impact the type or frequency of formal assessment?
8. How can teacher observation be standardized for state reporting? Should it be?
9. Does the adult education program stand on its own merit or is it a "P.S." to the local school system where space and budget issues may result in adult education receiving what is left over?
10. What will it take for state agencies and legislators to accept the fact that it is not realistic to expect the average ABE student to be ready for GED testing in 90 days?

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Education: (Circle highest grade completed) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12