Assessing skills of adult learners in 2011: profiling skills and learning using the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool

This is an initial statistical report on the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool in terms of the extent of its use in 2011, the first full year of implementation, the reading and numeracy profiles of learners when first assessed, and the extent to which learners can be seen to have increased their reading and numeracy skills over the course of the 2011 year. This online tool is designed to provide robust and reliable information on the reading, writing, and numeracy skills of adults. The primary purpose of the tool is to support educators and learners in their teaching and learning of reading, writing and numeracy. It is designed to allow learners to track their progress over time and enables educators and organisations to report on the progress made by groups or cohorts of learners. The tool was developed by a three-party consortium, led by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) with the assistance of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and information technology company Fronde, under direction from the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC). It was implemented on a voluntary basis in 2010, and has been mandatory for all TEC-funded literacy and numeracy provision from 2011, including courses with embedded literacy and numeracy. It has also been adopted in other contexts, such as the delivery of literacy and numeracy programs within prisons.

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