Many workforce development agencies provide some sort of assessment to measure their customer’s reading and math skills. In most cases, this is done to determine the need for basic skills assistance or to qualify the customer for other services. Many of you have probably already witnessed that using the word “test” often raises the anxiety level of a person just by its mentioning. The following are a few tips you can use to explain the need for this type of assessment without having your customer exit out through the back door before they’ve even started.
You should always:
- Clearly explain the reason why you’re giving the assessment (don’t call it a test). There is often a fear of failure associated with tests. Spell it out in simple terms, but more importantly, let your customers know that the purpose of the assessment is to qualify them for services NOT to screen them out.
- If your customer was referred by another agency, always check to see if similar tests were given somewhere else. There is no reason to re-administer an assessment if current results from an acceptable tool already exist.
- Know how to provide testing accommodations if they are requested. A word of caution…make sure if you make any alterations to the assessment yourself, you don’t invalidate the results. For example, if you have a customer that is unable to read the assessment due to a visual impairment, it may be okay to read the math portion of the assessment, but certainly not okay to read the reading portion.
You should be able to find helpful testing accommodation suggestions for most assessments on the publisher’s website. For the CASAS or the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System, you can call (800) 255-1036 or visit: http://snipurl.com/2tpyh.
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