Dear Colleagues,

Thanks so much to John Comings for being with us this week to discuss
Persistence.  I am very much looking forward to hearing what strategies
folks use out there to try and tackle this issue with their students.  

I actually have two questions for you (and list subscribers):  I am
interested in hearing you elaborate a bit on the impact of having the
student set his or her own goals, and how best to help them to do that.
It's quite easy to set a student's goal for her/him - but not so easy to
get a student to determine a goal for her/himself.  What are some of the
things that folks do around this issue?

Second, I heard you speak at a conference last fall in which you noted
that part of what could be helpful in persistence, is to acknowledge
that the student might not persist.  In other words, why not explore
with the student the reality that if they do "stop out", this doesn't
have to mean "quit".  I found this fascinating and at the same time,
completely logical.  This appears to be part of what you intend in your
third area of research based on what I've read.  

Thank you again for your time this week and for the discussion.

Marie Cora
NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator
marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com


-----Original Message-----
From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Rosen
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 7:37 AM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 89] Re: Persistence Discussion

Dear Colleagues,

Today we begin a discussion about the studies which Dr. John Comings  
and others at the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and  
Literacy have done on persistence.  The discussion will continue  
through Tuesday next week, July 18th.

Please post your questions and comments to John beginning now.

In John's message below he describes two publications which may be of  
interest.  Each has a short executive summary.   There is also a 30- 
minute video panel discussion about the study, with John and two  
practitioners, streamed at:

http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/persistence/persistence_cast.html

You may need to cut and paste the whole web address in your browser,  
or you could try this shorter version:

http://tinyurl.com/s6tcu

Macintosh users will need to select the Quicktime format for viewing  
the presentation, and there are still some bugs to be worked out of  
the Mac streamed version.

David J. Rosen
Special Topics Discussion List Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net

On Jul 5, 2006, at 4:33 PM, David Rosen wrote:


> Special Topics List Discussion Colleagues,

>

> John Comings, Director of the National Center for the Study of Adult

> Learning and Literacy, will join us on July 10th to discuss the

> persistence study he has done. John has written an introduction,

> below, and included links to reports of the first two phases of the

> study. I hope you can read these before July 10th.  You are welcome

> to submit questions, ideas and comments for John beginning now, but

> these will not be posted until July 10th.

>

> i am looking forward to your joining in on this important discussion.

>

> David J. Rosen

> Special Topics Discussion List Moderator

> djrosen at comcast.net

> --------------

>

> When a group of us at World Education were preparing to write the

> proposal for the funds that have supported NCSALL, we surveyed

> practitioners and policy makers around the country to help us design

> our research agenda. Almost 500 people participated in the survey. We

> asked the survey participants to send us the questions that they

> wanted answered to help them improve practice in ABE, ESOL, and GED

> programs. One question was at the top of the list for teachers and

> second on everyone else's list. One teacher phrased it this way,

> "Just when they begin to make progress, many students leave the

> program.   How can I keep those students long enough that they can

> meet their educational goals?"

>

> That question formed the basis of a three-phase study of persistence.

> The first two phases are complete.  The first phase surveyed the

> literature, interviewed 150 students in the six New England states,

> and identified ways that programs were trying to support the

> persistence of their students. The report of that first phase can be

> found at:

>

> <http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/report12.pdf>

>

> In the second phase, 9 library literacy programs were provided with

> funds to implement interventions that might help improve persistence,

> and our study team observed the programs and interviewed their staff

> and students. We also followed a cohort of 180 students for 14

> months.  The report of that second phase can be found at:

>

> <http://www.mdrc.org/publications/401/overview.html>

>

> We are prepared to implement the third phase, but NCSALL no longer

> has funding to begin a new research project. This next phase would

> test three interventions. One would add persistence supports to

> existing classroom programs, one would use a wide range of modes of

> learning (in programs and through self study on-line and in other

> ways) that more closely match the way adults manage their learning,

> and the third would combine these two approaches. I believe the third

> approach is a promising way to solve the persistence problem, as well

> as it can be solved.

>

> I'm looking forward to your questions, but I would also be interested

> in practical ideas of how to build support to persistence and how to

> expand opportunities for learning.

>

> John Comings, NCSALL Director

> National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy

> Harvard Graduate School of Education

> 7 Appian Way

> Cambridge MA 02138

> (617) 496-0516, voice

> (617) 495-4811, fax

> (617) 335-9839, mobile

> john_comings at harvard.edu

> http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu

>

>

>

>

>

>

> -------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Special Topics mailing list

> SpecialTopics at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to  

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/SpecialTopics


David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net



-------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Special Topics mailing list
SpecialTopics at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/SpecialTopics