Colleagues,

As International Literacy Day -- September 8th -- approaches, I would  
like to welcome our guest, Janet Looney, from the Organisation for  
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),  who will be with us  
through Thursday to discuss the OECD formative assessment project.   
Janet lives in Paris, in a time zone that is 6-9 hours ahead of those  
of us in North America, so there might be some delays in her  
responses to questions posted in the afternoon or evening. Do please  
post your questions to Janet as soon as you wish, remembering that  
this is only a three-day discussion, so don't wait!

To begin, Janet, here are some questions that I anticipate some of  
our subscribers may have

1. What is OECD and what does it do?
2. How does OECD's work include or affect what happens in the U.S.?
3. What is "formative assessment" and why is OECD interested in this?
4. Why has OECD embarked on a study addressing formative assessment  
for adult basic skill learners?

I should say, Special Topics discussion subscribers , that I have  
some knowledge of the project that Janet will be describing, that I  
am one of the researchers for the formative assessment case studies  
in Flanders, in Belgium.

Thanks so much for being with us, Janet.

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net