Performance Assessments for Adult Education

In the United States, the nomenclature of adult education includes adult literacy, adult secondary education, and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) services provided to undereducated and limited English proficient adults. Those receiving adult education services have diverse reasons for seeking additional education. With the passage of the WIA, the assessment of adult education students became mandatory-regardless of their reasons for seeking services. The law does allow the states and local programs flexibility in selecting the most appropriate assessment for the student. The purpose of the NRC's workshop was to explore issues related to efforts to measure learning gains in adult basic education programs, with a focus on performance-based assessments.Table of ContentsFront Matter1 Introduction2 Background3 Assessment and Test Design4 Quality Standards for Performance Assessments5 Developing Performance Assessments for the National ReportingSystem6 Challenges in Adult Education7 Options and StrategiesReferencesAppendix A: Workshop AgendaAppendix B: Workshop ParticipantsAppendix C: Adult Education and Family Literacy Act FY 2001Appropriation for State Grants