Bonnita and colleagues from around the nation: 

Greetings from Texas LEARNS, the State Adult Education
and Family Literacy office in Texas!

Regarding the message below as to the ESL levels
offered in Texas and to clarify:

The Adult Education and Family Literacy programs in
Texas, funded by AEFLA and State funds follow the NRS
level guidelines.  That is, Texas offers Six Levels of
ESL and Six Levels of ABE/GED.  In our state there is
no level called "Pre-GED."  As a function of local
program management, the levels may be offered under
different names.

The assessments used in Texas for these publicly
funded programs are the BEST Literacy, BEST Oral,BEST
Plus, and TABE.  There is no informal oral assessment,
since the BEST takes care of that.  No other
assessments are used for reporting purposes in the
state.  Some programs (but definitely not most) use
other assessments locally (particularly teacher
generated and portfolio based) in addition to the
state mandated tests.  However, only scores from the
tests mentioned above are entered into the state
reporting system.

While the attrition rate is high, in Texas, at this
time, 51% of ESL Beginning Literacy and ESL Beginning
students progress to the next level, while 61% of
those entering as ESL Intermediate Low complete and
move to the next level. 

The four levels Mr. Clark refers to in his message are
true for his college ESL program but are not a true
reflection of the levels offered through the Adult
Education/ESL programs in Texas.

For any additional information regarding AEFLA funded
ESL programs in Texas, please do not hesitate to
contact me. 

Federico Salas-Isnardi
Assistant State Director
Texas LEARNS - State Adult Education and Family
Literacy Program
(713) 696-0719
fsalas at hcde-texas.org
 



--- "Melvin Dr. Clark" <drclark at southtexascollege.edu>
wrote:


> RE: ESL Adult Levels: TEXAS 

> We offer four levels--0=preliterate, 1=low,

> 2=intermediate, 3=high, 4=pre-GED. These are

> determined by state-approved assessment plus an

> informal oral assessment which is particularly

> effective in determining the lower levels of

> students. We found that a preliterate level was

> necessary which some states may find a bit odd.

> Student enrollment numbers are higher for level one

> than any other. The attrition rate is extremely

> high, therefore many never make it to level 2 and

> beyond unfortunately. For those that do, however,

> this leveling system has been very effective. 

> Furthermore, we find that we have a wide range of

> ability levels in the same class due to limitation

> of funding and facilities, etc. Thus the need for

> "multilevel teaching" is paramount to success for

> our students. I have put together a publication for

> the State which is still available entitled

> Multilevel ESL Handbook which goes into extensive

> detail on our program and components. 

> I hope this helps, at least to get the dialogue

> started. I realize that this email is not an indepth

> reply but am happy to respond in other formats with

> more detail. Sincerely for Adult Ed/ESL, Dr. Clark

> von Heller

>  

> 

> ________________________________

> 

> From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov on

> behalf of Bonnita Solberg

> Sent: Fri 11/17/2006 8:59 AM

> To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development

> Discussion List

> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 647] Request for

> Information

> 

> 

> 

> 

> Dear Colleagues:

> 

> The Oakland Adult and Career Education program is

> conducting a self study on Best Practices.  We have

> personally interviewed several of our teachers as

> well

> as representatives of other districts within

> California.  I volunteered to ask for information

> from

> programs outside the state of California.  We are

> especially interested in obtaining hard copies of

> assessments and level standards.  Here is the list

> of

> questions that can be answered by email on this

> list,

> and which may stimulate some dialogue.

> 

> School District/Program:           Contact Person:

>  

>  Position:                email address:            

> 

>          Phone:             

>  

>   Address:

> 

>  I.  LEVEL STANDARDS:  What ESL level standards are

>  used in your program?  Are they state supplied,

>  program generated, or a combination of both?

> 

>  II.  STUDENT ASSESSMENTS:  What are the student

> assessment systems/tools your program uses, other

> than

> CASAS?  How are they used in measuring student

> progress?

> 

>  III.  EXIT ASSESSMENTS:  What are the level exit

> assessments your program uses?  How and when are

> students promoted?  What was the development process

> and timeline?

> 

>  Please send hard copies of the above to : 

>                   Bonnita Solberg, Teacher on

> Special

> Assignment

>                   % Oakland Adult Career & Education

> Program

>                   Neighborhood Centers

>                   750 International Blvd.

>                   Oakland, CA  94607

> 

>  Thanks for sharing!    Bonnita

> 

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

> National Institute for Literacy

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> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,

> please go to

>

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> 

> Professional Development section of the Adult

> Literacy Education Wiki

>

http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development

> 

> 

> >

----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list

> ProfessionalDevelopment at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings,

> please go to

>

http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment

> 

> Professional Development section of the Adult

> Literacy Education Wiki 

>

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