In addition to sharing the results of the assessment, educators provide a description of the program the students will be placed in, the type of instruction they will receive, expectations, and the roles and responsibilities of the instructor and student. Only 42 percent of the respondents provide the students with their actual assessment score. One respondent commented that "the assessment scores are shared with some individuals at the discretion of the assessor."
Figure 5. Type of information provided to student after initial assessment.
| Types of Information | Number of Respondents (N=388) |
Percentage |
| Assessment scores | 170 | 44 |
| Literacy, numeracy, or essential skill or basic education level | 219 | 56 |
| Description of assessment results | 287 | 74 |
| Description of instruction they will receive | 310 | 80 |
| Description of program they will be placed in | 316 | 81 |
| Program expectations | 266 | 69 |
| Role and responsibilities of instructor and student | 291 | 75 |
| Learning contract | 115 | 30 |
| Training plan | 203 | 52 |
A total of 12 people skipped this question.
In an ideal world, adult educators would have secure employment and benefits, along with paid access to professional development opportunities, consultants, and resources. Moreover, they would be able to network with colleagues and would have opportunities to share their beliefs and ideas about assessment. However, the world of adult literacy educators is less than ideal, making it quite challenging to engage in best practices with respect to student assessment.
The findings indicate that time is both the highest-ranked support and highest-ranked constraint, with 45 percent of the respondents reporting that they receive time to engage in professional development and 33 percent reporting that they do not have time to administer, interpret, report, and/or follow up assessments.