Key Points to Note:

• The guide has been developed to support Starting Points: Supporting the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy (Tertiary Education Commission, 2008).
• It provides suggestions for assessing adults who are operating below the steps described in the Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy (Tertiary Education Commission, 2008).
• Educators of ESoL learners can also refer to the English Language Partners New Zealand website: www.englishlanguage.org.nz
• 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. https://assess.literacyandnumeracyforadults.com