Research

Survey of Assessment Practices in Adult Education Programs in Illinois

During Spring 2007, a study was conducted to collect information from adult education program administrators regarding current assessment practices in adult education programs in Illinois. Read the executive summary (pdf).

A complete literature review was completed and an annotated bibliography was created. Research from the past ten years is included in the report. The following subtopics were identified in the bibliography: general assessment, glossaries, national forces, National Literacy Assessment Results, standardized testing, alternative assessment, using data for program improvement and NRS. Included with the bibliography is a listing of 31 key research reports and studies.
Download the bibliography (pdf).

Read comments (pdf) made by program administrators who attended sessions about the study during the August 2007 Administrators Meeting.

Issues and trends

Read the news from National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL).

Get ideas from the Adult Literacy Action (ALA) Web site. Don't miss the ALA Resources section for ideas on beginning and administering an adult education program and the ALA Services section contains tutor related topics.


Research Article Summaries

Why Students Drop Out
By: Amy M. Azzam

After asking high school drop outs (ages 16-25) why they did not finish, they reported the following reasons:

  • Bored with school
  • Missed too many days and could not catch up
  • Spent time with people who were not interested in school
  • Had too much freedom and not enough rules in their lives
  • They were failing
  • Personal reasons (need to get a job or take care of family members)
  • Earlier school had poorly prepared them for high school

Out of those interviewed, 71% said their parents were not actively involved in their schooling. They then gave five suggestions that schools can do to improve students' chances of completing school:

  1. Make school more engaging with real-world, experiential learning. Students want to see the connection between work and school.
  2. Improve instructional support for struggling learners. Students need better teachers, smaller classes, more individualized instruction, more tutoring, and extra time with teachers.
  3. Improve school climate with more supervision and classroom discipline.
  4. Ensure that students have a close relationship with at least one adult in the building. Students want to be able to approach an adult they feel comfortable communicating with.
  5. Improve communication between parents and schools.

One final suggestion mentioned in the article is to develop a district-wide early warning system for tracking absenteeism. When those students are identified, schools need to provide more support for them.

Read the article in full (pdf)



 

© Illinois State University • An equal opportunity/affirmative action university encouraging diversity. • Privacy Statement • Contact Us

Site design by Institutional Web Support Services, © 2007. Designer: Brian Huonker and/or Jacob DeGeal. Information Architecture: Julie Prianos and Alex Skorpinski. Programming: Binoy Edathiparambil and/or Punit Vora