One policy specified the maximum amount of time that LBS sponsored learners were allowed to participate in the program.

The expectations for progress in the LBS college program are very much influenced by the anticipated demands at the post secondary level where the learner will have to contend with heavy program content and strict deadlines. While policies clearly emphasize the importance of learner progress, practitioners recognize the special conditions that make it hard to define what realistic progress actually is. What is realistic for one learner in LBS Level 5, for example, may not be realistic for another. What constitutes reasonable progress for a learner whose goal is academic may not be realistic for a learner whose goal is employment. Practitioners themselves do not always see learners’ abilities and efforts to learn in quite the same way, “Teachers have different tolerances for target dates and keeping learners on track. This contributes to a general lack of consistency.”

Length of time to complete a level

Practitioners were asked to speculate on the amount of time it should take a learner to complete one LBS level. Practitioners provided a wide range of responses – anywhere from 1 month to no limit for one level of communications. Most responses (11 out of 17) were in the 4 to 8 month range. The responses for math were similar. 9 out of 19 practitioners felt that it should take 4 to 8 months to complete one level of math.

Many practitioners were clearly uncomfortable answering this question. Some questioned why it needed to be answered at all. Others felt there were just too many factors that needed to be considered. One such factor was the entry level of the learner. Practitioners felt that a learner who begins at a lower level needs more time for completing it.