College Postsecondary
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
To identify what adults need to know and be able to do in order to successfully transition from Academic Upgrading to college postsecondary programming.
A team of consultants was contracted to develop a questionnaire for college postsecondary faculty, with additional input from the CSC Advisory Group and the CSC Executive Director. The interviewees selected for the survey represented the three main destinations of Academic Upgrading students: Health Sciences, Business and Technology. Twelve interviews were conducted in person or by phone. The consultants also conducted a literature review to supplement their own Essential Skills background, gather data for the development of the survey and identify possible issues that might arise in the interview process.
The questionnaire was “exploratory” in nature, designed to get a general overview of faculty understanding of and support for all nine Essential Skills, and to identify key tasks and core skills that help students make the successful transition to postsecondary. The questionnaire focused on Reading Text, Document Use and Numeracy since these are the Essential Skills that will be formally assessed to demonstrate skill attainment in LBS and Academic Upgrading programs. Interviewees were also asked to rank types of texts according to their importance using a 5 point scale.
Time constraints allowed for a small but sufficient sample that would provide critical insight into the role of Essential Skills in postsecondary programming. Time constraints also prevented a formal field test of the questionnaire.
By shining the spotlight on the kinds of tasks students perform in postsecondary programming, the survey results clearly link student success in postsecondary to Essential Skills.