Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Judith Stein
Committee Member
Sidi M. Lakhdar
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic achievement, accountability, adult education, adult ESL learners, adult students, checklists, district support staff, English as a Second Language, ESL, ESOL, funding, Florida, Florida Department of Education, interrupted time series study, legislation, Lindsey Hopkins Technical Education Center, literacy completion points, LCPs, Miami-Dade County, performance based funding, portfolios, program funding, staff development, standardized instruments, state mandated checklists, student achievement, student progression, teacher support, vocational technical institute, workforce education initiatives
Abstract
Legislation passed in 1998 reshaped the adult education system in Florida. A greater accountability for adult education was established. Due to this legislation, adult education’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program changed to performance based funding. Program funding was provided according to student mastery of Literacy Completion Points (LCPs). These LCPs reflected student achievement of academic competencies by way of standardized instruments, checklists, or portfolios. Funding was determined by the LCPs of student progression from one level to the next. The adult center in this study elected to use the state mandated checklist system to measure student achievement (Florida Department of Education, n.d.).
This dissertation described a staff development program to improve the performance on the state mandated checklists of ESOL adult students enrolled in the evening ESOL classes at a vocational technical institute in Miami-Dade County. It was an interrupted time series study.
Planned solution strategies included infusing the staff with strategies specifically geared to the adult ESL learner to improve the overall quality of student academic achievement. The intervention model involved teachers and district support staff.
The intended outcome of this study was an increase in LCPs generated by students moving from one ESOL level to the next. A student completing 100% of the state mandated objectives on the state’s checklist generates an LCP. The intended outcome was to raise the number of LCPs generated during the evening ESOL classes at Lindsey Hopkins Technical Education Center from 7% to 20%. The last semester of intervention demonstrated an outcome of 26.67%. The future mission is to continue to systematically progress the students while simultaneously increase funding.