Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

The information collected at intake can provide the literacy practitioner, the volunteer tutor and the learner with a snapshot of the learner’s skills, knowledge, aptitude and goals. The intake process should help the learner answer, or at least start to think about, these questions:

• What are my goals?
• What skills, knowledge and abilities do I already have?
• What do I need to learn and do to achieve my goals?

So just what information should you be gathering at intake? Here are the basics – and remember, you will use this information to enter student data in the Information Management System (IMS) and when developing the student’s training plan. The learner will be able to provide some of the information easily (e.g. personal information); other information will be determined as you proceed with the assessment (e.g. current literacy level). If the student asks why you need certain information, you should be able to explain how it will help you develop the training plan or other reasons you need it. You may or may not be able to gather all of this information at an initial interview; depending on a number of factors, it could take a few sessions to complete the list.

You will want to gather:

• Personal data (name, telephone number(s), address, e-mail, etc.)
• Source of Income
• Language(s) spoken (currently and as a child)
• Learning styles and preferences (Note: some agencies will include learning styles screening in the initial assessment while others wait until the learner is enrolled.)
• Current literacy level
• Learning goal(s)
• Previous education and/or training (last year attended, last grade completed, feelings about school)
• Employment history (type of work done, specific skills or knowledge used, general feelings about employment)
• Transferable skills, i.e. the skills acquired in one situation that can apply to a variety of other situations (e.g. time management, problem solving)
• Vision or hearing problems
• Medical concerns that may impact learning (e.g. bad back so can’t sit for extended periods of time or prescription medication that might have side effects)
• Means of transportation (will you need to provide training supports?)
• Student’s preferences as to scheduling, location, setting (depending on what your program can offer)
• Other supports needed (daycare, etc.)
• Allergies, special needs
• Volunteer work
• Other interests

top of page

Questions for Reflection

1. What information do you find most valuable to collect during the initial assessment and why?
2. What information tends to be the hardest to collect during initial assessment and why? Are there strategies you could use to gather this information more easily?
3. How could you improve the way your program conducts initial assessment so that you still gather important information without overwhelming students or making them feel uncomfortable?
4. How can you make collecting information part of your skills assessment?

top of page

Designed and hosted by in collaboration with CLO