Content Details
ED465868 - Documenting Outcomes for Learners and Their Communities: A Report on a NCSALL Action Research Project. NCSALL Reports
- Category
- Executive Agency Publications
- Collection
- Education Reports from ERIC
- SuDoc Class Number
- ED 1.615:
- Date Issued
- March 1, 2002
- Author
- Bingman, Mary Beth
- Source Institution
- National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, Boston, MA
- Sponsoring Agency
- National Inst. on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning (ED/OERI), Washington, DC
- Publication Type
- Reports - Research
- Subject
- Action Research, Adult Basic Education, Adult Students, Data Collection, Documentation, Educational Assessment, Educational Research, Identification, Outcomes of Education, Professional Development, Program Development, Program Effectiveness, Program Evaluation, Self Evaluation (Groups), Self Evaluation (Individuals), Self Management, Student Development, Student Educational Objectives, Student Participation, Student Responsibility
- Identifiers
- Kentucky, Outcome Oriented Evaluation, Tennessee, Virginia
- Abstract
- Action research focused on developing approaches local programs can use to document outcomes of student participation in adult basic education (ABE) programs. Teams of teachers and administrators from three ABE programs examined current documentation practices, were introduced to approaches to documentaion, and developed documentation processes using a cycle of planning, implementation, and evaluation. Documentation efforts focused on aspects of students' lives which the program or students identified as areas that they hoped to change. The Virginia team established a process to help students identify changes they hoped to make and document goal and outcome achievement. The Tennessee team documented outputs and outcomes as part of their focus on the Equipped for the Future framework standard called Take Responsibility for Learning. In the Kentucky program, students used calendars to document activities that supported their children's education. Teams, programs, and students found these documentation efforts useful tools for instructional planning and for learner and project assessment. Researchers reported the following: (1) that local ABE programs can develop documentation processes useful for planning and assessing their work; such factors as limited paid time for teachers typical of adult education make participation in action research difficult; and action research is effective for professional and program development in ABE. (Appendixes include 30 references; participant list and sample documents.).