NIFL Assessment Colleagues,

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) published in April a  
short set of recommendations , "Updating WIA Title II to Help More  
Adult Education Students Gain Post-secondary Credentials and Move up  
to Better Jobs".

http://clasp.org/publications/wia_titleii_rec.pdf

Among these is the recommendation that the NRS should allow "ability  
to benefit" tests to be used to demonstrate adult learner outcomes.

"5) Reduce the barriers to post-secondary transition by aligning  
assessments. Currently students
in workforce bridge or post-secondary transition activities must take  
two sets of tests both
upon entering and exiting a program: the basic skills test used by  
the college to determine
readiness for college coursework, remediation needs, and “ability to  
benefit” for federal
student aid purposes and the basic skills test used by the adult  
education provider (tests
approved by the U.S. Department of Education for adult education  
performance
accountability purposes). In both cases, the lists of tests are  
intended for use with adults who
lack a high school diploma or GED, but most of the ability to benefit  
tests are not on the list
of approved assessments for Title II accountability use. These two  
sets of different
assessments impose a burden of multiple testing on students and  
providers and make it more
difficult for adult education providers and colleges to work together  
to prepare adult
education students for college without the need for further  
remediation. We suggest that
Congress ask the Secretary to convene a group of testing experts and  
adult education
practitioners to work to align these two lists of approved  
assessments to the greatest extent
possible, and to allow at least some of the ability to benefit  
assessments, or “crosswalks”
between them and adult education tests, to be used for accountability  
purposes under the
adult education National Reporting System for students in workforce  
bridge programs or
post-secondary transition activities.  "

Would it be a good idea for the NRS to add to its list of approved  
assessments for Title II Accountability "ability to benefit tests"  
used by colleges to place students in regular or developmental  
courses (e.g. Compass, Accuplacer, and others)? Why or why not?


David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net