Providence Housing Authority

1. Describe the problem or question you are posing, and the thinking or events that have led you to pose the question or problem.

As we examine the evolving program standards for academic content and program performance in adult education in Rhode Island, we realize that our ability to provide these services in a way that facilitates optimal attendance and student participation will influence our attainment of the articulated standards. We also hope to provide information to the state education department useful in the development of a program standard that measures learner satisfaction with adult education programs. The Providence Housing Authority continues to administer an adult education program at its Employment Support Center, located at 673 Academy Avenue in Providence. Two 20-hour per week programs (GED preparation and ESL) are offered, as well as an evening Office Skills Certification program that meets six hours per week and the Family Self Sufficiency Program, through which public and assisted housing residents receive a variety of services on an individual basis working with one of three program case managers. Current enrollments (as of 11/30/99) are as follows:

Note: attendance figures for November include 5 weeks, 11/01 -12/03.

An additional 143 public housing and Section8 residents have active FSS program contracts, outlining five-year plans for obtaining and retaining employment and TANF case closure. These contracts frequently outline completion of GED and ESL programs, which FSS participants attend at PHA programs or at other Providence provider sites.

Last year, the program administrative staff completed a RIDE-supported inquiry project examining motivational levels, both of residents who elect to enroll in our programs and of those who do not. We initiated the practitioner research project in December of 1998. We set out with what we thought was a fairly simple question: What factors influence a student's motivation to enroll in and maintain a certain rate of attendance in GED and ESL classes at the Providence Housing Authority's Employment Support Center?

The groups we focused on were:

Students who maintain a moderate to high attendance rate (at least 65% attendance.)

Students who enrolled but left, or had poor to sporadic attendance (below 65% attendance).

With the assistance of feedback from our RIDE- assigned peer group of researchers, we became more aware of our organizational tendency to use a student's attendance rate to assess individual motivation. Although we maintained our grouping of students in attendance rate categories, we attempted to see this rate of attendance as effected by motivation but not as directly linked as we had assumed when originally formulating of our research question.

Within two months, we completed the surveying of 23 students, which was more time consuming than anticipated. Each survey required at least 30 minutes to be administered. We attribute this to the students' desire to share their own stories and relate why they are or are not in on a particular day. Students' candid remarks and vivid descriptions of their attempts to stay in class generated a rich collection of observations. The open responses and raw data from these surveys were entered into a database that allowed it to be more easily manipulated and analyzed.

Our work last year lead to the following findings:

All students in the program, regardless of rates of attendance, enrolled to advance a personal goal; Employment objectives and a desire to earn a post secondary credential were the most frequently cited factors influencing enrollment; Students with higher rates of attendance indicate that the relationship they develop with the instructor and a feeling of success most account for their rates of program participation; Also cited as reasons for higher attendance were access to computers and the convenience of the scheduling.

2. What do you hope to accomplish as a result of exploring your question or problem?

We hope to provide some information useful in the development of program performance standards, which could include measuring 'learner satisfaction.' We also feel that, since our inquiry project focuses on more clearly articulating the positive influences on student attendance, we will provide information to help programs meet student attendance and retention measures encoded in program standards.

We are interested in beginning where we left off last year by taking a closer look at the two strongly identified ìencouraging factorsî influencing student attendance: the relationship with the teacher and the feeling of success. We hope to further illuminate these particular areas of student response to our program. By more fully understanding the events and responses to them that make some students attend more regularly and/or have a more positive experience, we hope to be able to better reach those of our residents who struggle with attendance and other program engagement issues. Information to be gathered and analyzed will include:

What specific events in the program create a 'feeling of success'?

To what degree do students identify both long term and interim learning and employment goals?

Do the students who express a feeling of success have a more developed system for measuring personal goal attainment?

Are there personal systems for measuring success that can be incorporated into program design?

How do adult learners in this program define success?

What characterizes a 'good' relationship with a teacher for these adult learners?

Do instructors' perceptions of their relationships with their students align with student perceptions?

3. What action do you plan to undertake in order to address your question or problem?

We plan to do the same type of information gathering we did last year, although this yearís survey will be focused on the further refined questions identified in the previous section. Also, in designing a survey instrument, we will keep in mind that last yearís subjects were far more interested in speaking somewhat expansively about their own experiences than in our coded responses. We will attempt to design a survey instrument that captures more of the range of responses but, as was the case last year, our final report will be equally informed by the discussion group results. Once again, our research will focus on 20-35 participants. Qualitative information from program instructors will also be included.

At this time, out intention is to limit the scope of the research to students who opt to attend our 20 hour per week ESL and GED programs. However, we are also administering a US Department of Labor funded welfare to work program which incorporates strong adult basic education components. We are interested in discussing with our research group the relative merits of expanding the sample base to include participants in this program.

4. How will you evaluate the progress of your project?

Updates on the status of the project will be included as part of the Providence Housing Authority's monthly management reporting system. We do not anticipate any difficulty following the timeline included in the previous section. Last year, we were able to measure our progress and refine particular strategies with the valuable input of other providers working on inquiry project research and hope to have the opportunity to work this way in the proposed project. A midpoint interim report will be submitted to RIDE in March.

5. How you will you share the results of your work with colleagues at the program(s) in which you intend to conduct the inquiry?

Findings will be published in the Providence Housing Authority's annual report and will be used to inform future funding applications and presentations at professional conferences. The final report will be presented at any seminar convened for the purpose of sharing practioner findings and will be available to RIDE for Internet or other distribution.

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