Guide

Starting Points | Assessment Guide

LNAAT, LLN assessment, Foundation education, Adult literacy, LLN, Adult and community education, Literacy and numeracy skills, Learning Progressions
Published: 30 June 2010

A guide to assessing adults who are operating below the steps described in the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy. 

The primary aim of Starting Points: Assessment Guide is to give tertiary teachers a framework for assessing adults who are beginning to read and write. A must-read and useful starting point for anyone interested in supporting adults who operate below the steps described in the Learning Progressions.

  • The guide has been developed to support Starting Points: Supporting the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy 
  • It provides suggestions for assessing adults who are operating below the steps described in the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy
  • Educators of ESoL learners can also refer to the English Language Partners New Zealand website.
  • An assessment of an adult literacy learner aims to achieve three key goals.
  • They include:
    • identify the learner’s strengths and areas that need to be worked on in order to set appropriate goals and plan instruction;
    • continuously inform instruction, with relevant feedback provided to both the learner and the educator;
    • and study the outcomes of instruction for reporting purposes (to identify the learner’s gains over time and provide information for evaluating adult literacy programmes).
  • When an adult has very low reading and writing skills, any assessments must be fine-grained and specific to determine exactly what the learner’s skills and needs are in order to maximise the effectiveness of future instruction.
  • The Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool also has online Starting Points assessment options.

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