Fifty percent of the respondents who wanted one person to conduct assessments were from Ontario. Every month, literacy and basic skills (LBS) agencies in Ontario are required to gather and input statistical information into the ministry's electronic information management system. While this system assists the ministry in determining whether programs are achieving goals and objectives, it presents a challenge to the LBS programs, as practitioners spend a great deal of time gathering and inputting information. In fact, the issue of capacity was cited as a recurring barrier with respect to implementing performance measurement in a survey that was conducted by the Ontario Literacy Coalition (2002). This might explain why so many Ontario respondents expressed the desire to assign one person to the role of assessment.
Some colleges and school districts do have a testing or counselling centre where one person is assigned to administer intake assessments. In a few instances, colleges have a person within the adult basic education department (ABE) who is responsible for assessment. A few of the respondents who worked in testing or counselling centres expressed the need for more consultation with ABE instructors in order to ensure individualized instruction, based on the assessment. On the other hand, some of the instructors wanted the assessors in testing or counselling centres to arrange case conferences and to share test results with faculty in the form of teaching and learning strategy recommendations. One respondent stated that "there needs to be more discussion about potential students between the assessment officer and the instructor and/or chair who does the interviewing." This suggests that having one person assigned to assessment doesn't always ensure that instructors and students will receive the information they need to teach and learn. In addition to having an assessment or counselling centre, post secondary institutions also need effective communication channels between assessors and instructors.
Usually, adult basic education practitioners do not have the qualifications to diagnose students at risk of learning disabilities. Consequently, many respondents want the financial resources to access experts to conduct psycho-educational assessments, or they want sufficient resources to contract professionals to determine specific learning requirements and challenges. In summary, programs need the resources to make referrals when specialized assessments are required.