Get Set Learn - Everything You Need to Run a Family Literacy Program

Section C – Evaluation and Communication Tools

This section of the manual includes the premise behind evaluation as well as all the evaluations used in Get Set Learn. This section includes:

Assessment versus Evaluation

This is the basis for our approach to assessment and evaluation:

Assessment

Identification or determination of present skill levels and knowledge
Key question is “what is?”

Evaluation

Learning progress or gains from intervention or training in 3 areas of knowledge, skills, and attitudes or abilities
Key question is “What has changed?”

There are four types of assessments and evaluations done with the parents in the program.

Initial telephone screening (assessment)
Parent Mid-point evaluation (evaluation)
Parent Final Evaluation (evaluation)
Parent Ongoing Comment : What did I learn today? (assessment)

No formal assessment of literacy skill levels is done by the facilitator but an intake or screening is done initially (Appendix 1). At the end of the course, the facilitator completes the “Parent Evaluation Form” located in the Appendices (Appendix 9). This sheet is not shared with the parent but at the end of the 8 week program, the parents are all evaluated as to whether or not they have the skills listed on the form. These “Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes” are included as skills that may have been developed in the parents because of their participation in GSL classes. It is just a matter of whether or not the parents have acquired those skills. The information is recorded on an aggregate sheet of parent functional literacy levels.

Assessments are based on these three questions, taken from Designing Down, Assessing Up (Barber, 2001). See the individual assessments located in the appendices (Appendices 2 , 3 and 4) for more information.