Hi, 

Shifts in ESOL population can also be attributed to change in employment
opportunities and contraction in the availability of affordable housing.
Massachusetts is suffering like many places in the country with a dearth
of affordable housing. Rents have increased exponentially and the city
where my program is located has increased enforcement on the number of
people who can legally live in an apartment building.  People then shift
to another low rent area.  Then they try to return to school.  I only
see this issue increasing as little is being done outside of community
organizations to address this issue.

Toni

 

Toni F. Borge

Adult Education & Transitions Program Director

Bunker Hill Community College

Chelsea Campus

175 Hawthorne Street

Chelsea, MA  02150

Phone: 617-228-2108   *  Fax:617-228-2106

E-mail: tborge at bhcc.mass.edu

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that
matter." Martin Luther King Jr.

________________________________

From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Monti, Suzi
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 6:59 PM
To: The Assessment Discussion List
Subject: [Assessment 738] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement

 

I would like to add a few comments on retention and ESOL students. 

 

We have recently heard a lot about "stopping out" and I think that can
pertain to ESOL learners for many of the same reasons as ASE/GED
learners - with the addition of issues such as stages of acculturation
and/or home country responsibilities which may cause ESOL learners to
withdraw for weeks or months and then possibly return.

 

I would also like to raise the issue of the mobility of the ESOL
population. We see migration reports on immigrants and settlement trends
and I often wonder how much of a difference in retention these trends
makes when comparing ASE/GED retention rates with ESOL. 

 

I think of the "stopover" trend we see sometimes in ESOL here in
Baltimore, MD where non-native speakers will enter and only temporarily
reside her before moving to an intended more perm ant location. This
obviously has great impact on retention. When comparing ESOL programs
statewide or nationwide, the "stopover" trend may negatively impact the
retention rates of certain programs.

 

Another thing we see is "shift" or movement around the beltway (as we
call it). We have major ESOL class sites at locations along the
Baltimore beltway that roughly encircles the city and we see contraction
and expansion at these sites based the movement of the ESOL population.
We will see that a site may suddenly have low retention across ALL six
or seven ESOL classes offered - even the classes with
veteran/experienced teachers with a great track record of retention. In
some cases, the same teacher is also teaching at another site and
his/her class there is doing well at that site. Both of these things
show that attrition is not likely a result of instructional issues. 

 

When we see this contraction of a site with mid-semester attrition, we
can sometimes predict that at another site we will experience a boom in
registration the next semester. It depends on if it is more "stopover"
(with learners leaving the area entirely) or just "shift" (learners
relocating within the area). If it is the latter, learners who leave one
site mid-semester will turn up to register the next semester at another
site. 

 

Suzi Monti 

ESOL Curriculum Developer and Instructional Specialist 
The Community College of Baltimore County 
Center for Adult and Family Literacy 
7200 Sollers Point Road E102
Baltimore, MD 21222 

(410) 285-9476   


-----Original Message-----
From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov]On
Behalf Of Condelli, Larry
Sent: Tuesday April 17, 2007 5:31 PM
To: The Assessment Discussion List
Subject: [Assessment 735] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement

	Hi Ella,

	 

	Disaggregating by class can be very effective to understanding
of what is going on.

	 

	I wanted to comment on your last remark about tracking
consistency of attendance.

	 

	Attendance and persistence are a very popular topics these days
and most data systems allow for tracking of student attendance and
persistence patterns.  One thing you might consider looking at learners
who "stop out" -- have sporadic attendance patterns, attending for a
while and coming back later. Another measure is the percent of time
possible that learners attend.  You compute this by dividing the
attended hours by total possible (e.g., learner attends 8 hours a week
for a class scheduled 10 hours a week=80%).  Some research I did on ESL
students showed that those who attended a higher proportion of possible
time learned more, independent of total hours.  I think this is so
because this measure reflects student motivation to attend.

	 

	Identifying and studying "stop out" learners might tell you a
lot about why these type of students don't attend more regularly and can
inform you of needs, which could help in designing classes and programs
for them.

	 

	
________________________________


	From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of EllaBogard at cs.com
	Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 4:47 PM
	To: assessment at nifl.gov
	Subject: [Assessment 732] Re: Using Data for Program Improvement

	Dear Collegues:
	
	Here at Franklinton Learning Center, we use data everyday in our
program to help us track and improve the end results coming out of our
program. We use enrollment data to check the reach of our program,
average hours attended data to check the depth of engagement of
students, and numbers of students throught he door versus number
completeing enrollment to help us improve retention in the crucial
orientation period of classes.
	
	We have a program called ABLELink here in Ohio that has made it
very easy to track some areas. It has also allowedus to compare
statistics from one year to another so we know how we are doing in
comparison to previous years. By tracking information collected on
attendance, educational gain, hours of engagement and accomplishments,
we have been able to improve all of these efforts. 
	
	Tracking and constantly checking this data is what has made it
possible to improve. We can easily pull up reports on testing, who has
tested, progress made, who hasn't tested, attendance, etc. We can
organize that information by class, by teacher, by program, or by site,
which allows us to compare effectiveness of programs and staff and
assign responsibility for improvement where needed.
	
	I would like to be able to track consistency of attendance over
time not just total hours attended. I think this might give a better
picture of the progress to be expected than the total time attended
does. I would also like to understand more about how I can use all of
the ABLELink data collected to improve my programs overall
effectiveness.
	
	Respectfully submitted by,
	Ella Bogard
	
	Ella Bogard, Executive Director
	Franklinton Learning Center
	1003 West Town Street
	Columbus, Ohio 43222-1438
	
	Phone: (614) 221-9151
	Fax: (614) 221-9131

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