A quality adult literacy and basic education program monitors learner progress on an ongoing basis through a variety of participatory assessment procedures.
Learner assessments are an integral part of the program, and instructors make sure that learners are fully aware early in the program of how assessments will take place. Staff use a variety of formal and informal learner assessment methods.
At the beginning of the academic year, instructors conduct intake interviews with learners. During the interview, learners’ prior learning is documented and their instructional and support needs discussed. The instructors also ask about learners’ goals. Later in the semester the instructor and the learner will review the goals together and modify them, if necessary.
Learners write placement tests for English, Math and Computers. Like the Fort Resolution Community Literacy Program, staff also use informal reading inventories, such as the Canadian Adult Reading Assessment (CARA). They like CARA because it helps them to understand how learners read, and lets them design strategies specific to each learner. The Training Centre holds exit examinations in January and June.
Learners are also assessed through project work and oral presentations. More recently, learners have developed the skills to prepare computergenerated presentations. Criteria for projects are clearly spelled out and discussed with learners before they begin. Checklists (from the curricula), observations, self-assessment and group assessments are part of the process.