The plan is to get the student perspective, find out what assessment is carried out and how the results benefit them. I have students who sat through literacy screening in September and still haven't had the follow up support they need 8 months later. Maybe I work for a particularly bad example, maybe initial assessment is just another hoop to jump through, but why bother collecting the data if you're not going to use it for the benefit of your students?
If I use the Ofsted criteria as a guide, what questions should I be asking the students?
Specialist staff? Who carries out the assessment? Course lecturer, personal tutor, specialist, online, self assessment?
Appropriate time? Start of the course? Interview?
Starting point, learning plan? Is it relevant, are the targets attainable, is it updated regularly?
Screening for literacy/numeracy?
Results, feedback?
What tools already exist for evaluating an initial assessment policy? This one from QIA helps staff to discuss initial assessment; http://excellence.qia.org.uk/media/attachments/108534/Initial-Assessment-Tool-v6.pdf
I'm off to play around with surveymonkey.com
