Intake and Initial Assessment
Not everyone who walks in the front door of your literacy program will end
up as a program participant. Based on your initial conversation, you may
refer the person to a central assessment service in your community (if there
is one), or you may arrange to carry out an initial assessment yourself.
You might also determine right at the start that your agency is not what
the person is looking for and refer him or her to a more appropriate program
or service in your community.
The intake process and initial assessment provide us with the information
we need to make a number of informed decisions:
- Is your program the right one for the learner, given
his or her current skills, stated goal and commitment
to learning?
- Does the learner meet eligibility criteria set out by
the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
(MTCU), your literacy services plan (LSP) or other stakeholder
requirements?
- Do you have the information you need to begin to develop
a training plan?
- Do you need to spend more time setting and/or researching
short and long-term goals?
- Can you meet this learner’s needs based on your program’s
structure, capacity and mission?
Here are some tips to help you get started with initial assessment:
- Work with the prospective student in an area that is
private and comfortable; you should not be interrupted.
- Don’t jump right into the assessment. Take the time to
offer coffee or a cold drink. A bit of small talk can help the learner
relax.
- Clearly explain the process: how long it will take, what
you can or can’t help with, what the student needs to do on
his or her own, what the next steps are. For example, you might identify
at
the outset of the telephone call or interview that
the person is looking for a different type of program than you offer.
- Start with a "fact-gathering" interview (name, address and so on) before moving into skills assessment. Some programs do the interview first and then ask the prospective student to return for the skills assessment. Standard intake/interview forms can be very helpful. We've included a few samples here - please note that the identification questions will give you the information you need to set up a new learner profile in MTCU's Information Management System (IMS).
- Choose the appropriate assessment material based on the information
the learner provided in the interview - for example, if the learner's goal is independence, you might choose an assessment task that includes grocery shopping. Listen to what the prospective student says - often you can get clues as to the level of difficulty you should start with in the skills assessment. Although you may have a standard assessment package or kit, you probably will not use everything in it. Some programs use a "quick screen" tool to help them roughly gauge the prospective student's level; after the quick screen has been administered, you can then choose the appropriate tools to more specifically identify skills knowledge and gaps. We've
included a sample of a quick screen here.
- Explain the purpose of the assessment tasks you select. This
can help reduce "test anxiety" and
show the student how the task relates to his or her goal.
- Be sure to provide
an opportunity for the learner to ask questions.
- Once the prospective student has completed the assessment
activities, review the assessment results with him or her. This
piece is critical. Let the learner
know what skills he or she has and what needs to be worked on. Briefly
discuss the LBS levels in terms the learner can understand.
Provide details and examples.
Focus on the positive.
- Clearly explain the next step(s), e.g. will
the learner have to wait to be matched with a tutor
or can he or she start next week? Or
will he or she be enrolled in a small group or a class.
- If, based on the assessment results, you feel that it is
more appropriate to refer the learner elsewhere, explain
why. Be sure to provide a contact
name and phone number for the other literacy
program or community service. Have
the learner sign a release of information so that you can share
the assessment results.
- Introduce the training plan to
the prospective student. Explain
how you will work together to develop a plan that is individualized,
designed especially for him or her. Talk about
agency expectations with regards to attendance
and progress. If you have agreement forms or other documents,
this is a good time to have the student sign them.
You can find samples of these
documents
in the Exit and Follow-Up module.
NEXT PAGE
|
