Measuring Literacy Performance Levels for Adults (2005) / Chapter Skim
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7 Recommendations for Future Literacy Assessments
7 Recommendations for Future Literacy Assessments
Pages 182-195
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From page 182... ...
In this chapter, in an effort to be forward looking, we offer suggestions for ways to improve the assessment instrument and expand the literacy skills assessed. Through our own research and analyses of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS)
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From page 183... ...
First, we revisit the issue of the type of inferences that policy makers, media, and the public wanted to make about NALS results when they were released in 1993. There are alternative approaches to test development, such as those used for licensing and certification tests, which produce assessment results that support standards-based inferences.
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From page 184... ...
Standard setting, that is, determinations of the level of proficiency that adults need or should have, would be a natural outgrowth of such an approach, including, if desired, the setting of multiple standards. For instance, performance levels could be established that reflect judgments about the levels of proficiency adults need in order to excel, to function adequately, or simply to get by in this country.
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From page 185... ...
For example, NAAL could be better designed to measure literacy skills that are directly relevant to citizenship. Prose, document, and quantitative literacy items, drawn from civic and politically relevant real-world examples, could be added to the assessment to inform the development of instructional materials for adult education and citizenship preparation classes.
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From page 186... ...
186 MEASURING LITERACY: PERFORMANCE LEVELS FOR ADULTS Similar procedures could be used to provide literacy information for each of the specified contexts. We believe it is worthwhile considering the feasibility of this approach.
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From page 187... ...
We therefore recommend the following: RECOMMENDATION 7-3: The Department of Education should work with relevant domain-specific experts, stakeholders, and practitioners to monitor literacy requirements in at least six contexts: work, health and safety, community and citizenship, home and family, consumer economics, and leisure and recreation. For every administration of the adult literacy assessment, the Department of Education should document changes in the literacy demands in these contexts.
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From page 188... ...
IMPROVING THE ASSESSMENT OF QUANTITATIVE SKILLS The second area in which changes are warranted is the quantitative literacy scale. As described in Chapter 4, analyses of the dimensionality of NALS, conducted by the committee and others (e.g., Reder, 1998a, 1998b)
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From page 189... ...
This emphasis on numeracy skills is reflected in decisions made about the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey, the successor to the International Adult Literacy Survey. In 2002, Statistics Canada and other organizations who work on international literacy assessments reexamined the components of the International Adult Literacy Survey and recommended that the quantitative literacy scale of the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey be replaced by a broader numeracy construct (Murray, 2003)
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From page 190... ...
In line with the demand-side analysis of critical skills discussed in the preceding section, the committee suggests that a reconceptualization of the quantitative literacy scale include an examination of the research into the mathematical and commingled mathematical and reading demands of society as well the aspects that contribute to the complexity of a variety of mathematical tasks. NALS put mathematics on the map by including quantitative literacy, but it would be useful if future assessments of adult literacy were to go further.
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From page 191... ...
We addressed this issue in our letter report to the National Center for Education Statistics issued in June 2003,2 and we repeat our concerns here with the hope that future assessments of adult literacy will allow for expanded and more structured information to be collected about non-English speakers. We recognize that NAAL is intended to be an assessment of English literacy skills only, and we are not suggesting that it should be expanded to assess competence in other languages.
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From page 192... ...
192 MEASURING LITERACY: PERFORMANCE LEVELS FOR ADULTS was used to determine if there was an eligible person in the household to participate in the assessment. If the respondent could not understand the English or Spanish spoken by the interviewer (or vice versa)
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From page 193... ...
RECOMMENDATION 7-5: The Department of Education should seek to expand the information obtained about non-English speakers in future assessments of adult literacy, including, for example, background information about formal education, participation in English language courses, training and work experience in other countries as well as in the United States, and self-reports about use of print materials in languages other than English. Efforts should also be made to be more structured in the collection of background information about individuals who speak languages other than English or Spanish.
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From page 194... ...
194 MEASURING LITERACY: PERFORMANCE LEVELS FOR ADULTS Literacy changes over time as expectations for knowledge and skill levels increase, and it changes with the advent of new mediating technologies. While a signature served as demonstration of literacy at one point, no one would argue that signing one's name would signify being literate today.
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From page 195... ...
These competing goals must be carefully weighed in the design of future assessments. In all cases, however, regardless of whether any of the proposed changes are implemented, the committee recommends that the process of determining performance levels be carried out concurrently with the process of designing the assessment and constructing the items.
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