You could ask students to share stories about how their new skills have made a difference. Ask them if others have noticed or commented on changes they have seen. Follow up with questions like “how does that make you feel?” You can continue the conversation by asking other questions such as:

• Has coming to this program made a difference in your daily life? How?
• Has this program helped you set new or different goals?
• Has this program helped you see things in a new way? How?
• Has this program helped you make positive changes in your life?
• Do you feel more self-confident now than you did before?
• Do you find that you don’t need as much help from other people as you used to? Are you doing things more on your own?

These questions can provide you with a good sense of the collective impact the program has had on learners. The responses will provide you with both statistical and anecdotal evidence.

Remember, learning achievements include not only skills but attitudes and beliefs. You could ask learners, staff and volunteers about attitudes towards learning. Have they changed since being in the literacy program? Are students more or less motivated than they were? Do they want to continue learning or have they learned what they needed to know?

Staff and volunteers might report that attendance has improved. This is an example of an indicator that could be used for an outcome about attitude. It can be documented from the IMS or attendance records.

You could also seek information from other agencies. You have to be careful here about confidentiality, but you could ask the college instructor if the students you referred were able to keep up in their class. Try to get specifics, though, not just rely on anecdotal evidence. For example, ask the college instructor “of the 10 students we referred to you last year, how many are still in the class?” or “how many required additional help?” or “how many were able to complete assignments on time?” You could also ask how many have moved on to something else and how many were not able to cope.

Learner Exit Interview

North Channel Literacy Council staff conduct an exit interview that supplements the information they collect on the mandatory survey. It also summarizes the learner’s progress, so it incorporates a lot of information on two pages. Again, this is a good example of tracking multiple data on a single document.