The Test of Adult Basic Education is a frequently used assessment instrument for ABE students. The present TABE (7&8) has five main subtest areas: reading, mathematics computation, applied mathematics, language, and spelling.There are also five main levels that target specific grade ranges: L (Literacy) 0-1.9, E (Easy) 1.6-3.9, M (Medium) 3.6-6.9, D (Difficult) 6.6-8.9, and A (Advanced) 8.6-12.9. A simple and short Locator Test determines the appropriate level of TABE to be administered to the student. ABE students are usually placed in the L, E, M, and D levels. At each level, there are two forms of the test, a pre-test and a posttest. The pre-test is administered for diagnostic purposes, identifying weak areas which the student can remediate. The posttest is administered to show the progress the student has achieved after undergoing remediation.
It is important that adult education teachers understand the various types of scores that can be obtained on a TABE test. Scale scores, the basic scores, are units of a scale that can be applied across all levels of the TABE. They are expressed as numbers with a range from 0 through 999, and they are the most accurate means of evaluating a student's performance on the test. The scale scores provide the basis for deriving various other scores. These include grade equivalent scores, which are intended to indicate achievement levels related to typical educational structures in elementary and secondary schools. They range from .0 through 12, representing the 13 years of school (K through 12) and the 10 months in the traditional school year. They also include percentile ranks, which range from 1 to 99 and indicate the percentage of scale scores in a norm group that fall below a given examinee's scale score. This allows the examinee to see how his/her score compares with the national norm group. The stanine, too, is derived from the scale scores, and it is a standard score related to a scale of nine units, 1 through 9, with a mean of 5. Unit 1 is the lowest level, 9 is the highest level, and 5 is the average level.
The grade equivalent score, although not having much meaning in nongraded programs like adult education, is the most commonly used score with ABE students. This is because grade equivalents are the most easily understood reference points for adult learners, teachers, and counselors. Therefore, grade levels are used for instructional purposes in the ABE classroom, and it is the teacher's goal to help students raise their grade levels. Raising grade levels shows progress and earns literacy completion points for the school. In a later part of this section, examples will be given to show how grade levels can be easily raised with appropriate instruction.
The TABE has two formats, a complete battery that takes approximately three hours to complete and a survey that requires one and a half hours. Both formats provide competency information that can be used to determine the exact remediation needed by students. This competency information shows studentsí TABE results, and it is of prime importance in planning effective instructional lessons for individual students.