This raises the question, What is the point of engaging in professional development on assessment if one does not have the time to utilize what he/she has learned?" Professional development is effective only when practitioners have the time to practice, dialogue, and reflect upon their new knowledge. Simply put, until the issue of capacity is addressed, professional development on assessment will not lead to more effective practice. The words of one respondent sum up the dilemma: "The Ministry expects us to do it (assess), but never provides enough funding." Funders need to ensure that educators have the capacity to respond to what is learned through professional development.

One woman commented on the "huge time factor involved in planning appropriate ongoing and exit assessments." This, coupled with the fact that many students leave midway through the program, without providing notice, makes it difficult to use assessments to monitor progress. It is also challenging to make assessment a priority when there are so many competing responsibilities, duties, and pressures that consume and impinge upon an educator's time. The following statement, from the director of an adult basic education program in a small rural college, represents the multi-faceted roles of many practitioners who work in rural, urban, and remote locations.

I feel that my initial assessments are good but since I am responsible for every aspect of the program from administration, assessment, training, tutor training, matching, goal setting, plans, information and referral, etc., I find that my ongoing and exit assessments are therefore sometimes lacking.

The issue of access surfaced as the second highest ranked support and constraint. A constraint. A high percentage of the respondents have access to expertise or resource people (43 percent); access to journals, articles, and reports on assessment (42 percent); and access to literature accompanying assessment tools (30 percent). On the other hand, obstacles to effective assessment practice included isolated working conditions (27 percent) and access to resources (20 percent). Living in a geographically isolated community means that access to colleagues, professional development, support, and assessment tools is limited.