Flow of the Assessment Process

The following description demonstrates how the assessment process can flow smoothly and also highlights the role of the staff and the volunteer:

When new volunteers enroll with the program, they are worried about knowing “where to start”. They are relieved that the Program Coordinator will do an initial assessment and then provide them with information!

After being matched, the tutor and learner will do regular “check-ups” and complete progress reports. They discuss the reports with the Coordinator and together they review the training plan and decide on what material to use next. When it’s time for the learner to move on, everyone meets once again to discuss how things went and how learning and progress compared to what was set out in the training plan. The learners like to see this “proof” of learning.

Everyone at the Literacy Council seems happy with this process. By conducting the initial assessment, the Coordinator gets to know the learner. That helps her make a good match with a volunteer. The volunteer then establishes a strong working relationship with the learner and can provide valuable ongoing assessment information. Both volunteers and learners like having the training plan to refer to and like to be able to identify indicators of progress.

When it’s time for the learner to move on, everyone gets together to take a look at how closely the learner’s progress and learning matched what was set out in the training plan. They find this gives a nice sense of closure.(40)