ANI Administrative Background Survey (Pre)

Adult Numeracy Instruction

Program Administrator Background Survey—Continued

Participant Code:			Date:
Program Name (if applicable):

To learn something about your background, we would appreciate your answers to the following questions. All answers are confidential.

Background Knowledge and Experience

1. Which best describes you current role(s) in your program? (check all that apply)

Program Director

Assistant Program Director

Teacher

Department Head/Coordinator

Counselor

Professional Developer

Other (Specify) ______________________

For the next four questions, include any part-time and full-time teaching assignments and part-time and full-time administrative assignments.

2. Counting this year, how many years have you worked as a program administrator at the adult level?

   1–5

   6–10

   11–20

   21–30

   more than 30

3. Counting this year, how many years have you worked as a teacher, at the adult, elementary, or secondary level?

   None

   1–5

   6–10

   11–20

   21–30

   more than 30

4. Counting this year, how many years have you worked as a teacher, at the adult level?

   None

   1–5

   6–10

   11–20

   21–30

   more than 30

5. Counting this year, how many years have you worked as a math teacher, at the adult, elementary, or secondary level?

None

1–5

6–10

11–20

21–30

more than 30

6. How comfortable are you with your level of knowledge about teaching the following math topics:

   	Not comfortable	Somewhat comfortable	Very comfortable
   Number and Operation Sense
   Patterns, Functions, and Algebra
   Geometry and Measurement
   Data, Statistics, and Probability

7. How prepared do you feel to support teachers (e.g., providing resources, coaching, demonstrating lessons) in their use of the following teaching strategies?

	Not comfortable	Somewhat comfortable	Very comfortable
Letting students lead the discussion and share their own strategies.
Facilitating groups so that students are comfortable talking to each other.
Differentiating instruction in a class in which each student is working independently at her or his own pace.
Assigning writing activities in a math class.
Teaching algebra concepts to someone who does not know her or his times tables.
Teaching data and graphs to someone who does not know her or his whole number concepts.
Teaching geometry and algebra concepts together.
Having students work out answers together.

8. Indicate the types of professional activities in which you participated during the last year. Mark all that apply and indicate the total number of estimated hours for each.

	Estimated Hours
Coaching or mentoring by another teacher.
Coaching or mentoring by a specialist, administrator or expert (not a peer).
Participation in a training program or institute lasting more than one day in total time.
Completion of a college course related to my administrator role.
Completion of an online or self-paced course or program.
Participation in a training program directly related to teaching adults.
Participation in a training program directly related to teaching math to adults.

Current Adult Education Program

9. Which levels of adult education does your program offer? (Mark all that apply.)

Beginning ABE Literacy (NRS Level 1) or Beginning Basic Education (NRS Level 2)

Low Intermediate Basic Education (NRS Level 3)

High Intermediate Basic Education/Pre-GED (NRS Levels 3 and 4)

Low Adult Secondary Education/GED (NRS Level 5)

High Adult Secondary Education/Bridge to College (NRS Level 6)

Mixed Levels (specify)

Other (Specify) ________________________

10. Which one of the following best describes the setting/sponsorship of your program?

Community college

School district or city program (LEA)

Community-based organization (CBO)

Corrections

Workplace

Family literacy program

Other (Specify) ________________________

11. How many of the math teachers in your program …?

    Teach Math exclusively
    Teach Math and other subjects

12. Which of the following best describes the math classes in your program?

Open-entry, open-exit

Managed enrollment

Both

Other (Please describe) __________________

13. What is the average age of students in your program?

Primarily under 25

Primarily 25 or over

14. About what percent of students in your program are non-native English speakers?

    0%

    1–10%

    11–25%

    26–50%

    51–75%

    76–100%

15. About what percent of students in your program have been diagnosed with a learning disability?

    0%

    1–10%

    11–25%

    26–50%

    51–75%

    76–100%

16. In addition to those in Question 16, what percent of your students do you suspect have a learning disability?

    0%

    1–10%

    11–25%

    26–50%

    51–75%

    76–100%

17. What percentage of students in your program take a math class?

0%

1–10%

11–25%

26–50%

51–75%

76–100%

Instructional Practices

18. How often do you think teachers should do the following in their math classes? (For each item, please mark the box that applies.)

	Never or rarely	Sometimes	Frequently
Ask students to use text books to learn about math concepts.
Have students write about the math they are learning.
Give a lecture or presentation about a math concept.
Have students complete worksheets.
Assign homework.
Review homework with students.
Have whole class discussions.
Have students give presentations.
Have students decide how to solve problems or explore concepts on their own or in groups.
Have students create their own problems to solve.
Integrate math with other subjects.
Conduct a pre-assessment to determine what students already know.

19. Below are some statements that represent approaches to teaching. If you were teaching math, indicate how often the statement would be true of you in your math teaching by marking the appropriate box.

	Never or rarely	Sometimes	Frequently
I would use math investigations or problem-solving with tools, hands-on materials, or documents (like graphs) to explore new concepts.
I would provide opportunities for my students to work in small groups.
I would encourage students to use different ways of expressing their mathematical thinking (such as drawing or writing about it).
I would follow the sequence in the workbooks for those students preparing for the GED.
I would encourage lots of writing about math.
I would introduce new math content through a formal presentation.
I would introduce new math content with open-ended explorations.
I would give students time to work through frustrating problems.

Support for Teaching

20. For the items below, please indicate what kind of support you (or others) provide for your teachers. In the second column, indicate what kind of support you would like to provide in the future.

		Currently is provided on a regular basis	Would like to provide more
Assistance in planning and developing lessons
Demonstration lessons
Classroom observations and feedback
Professional development sessions
Materials or other resources for use in the classroom
Coaching on specific instructional strategies
Dialogue among teachers about effective practices
Suggestions about how to teach underperforming students
Other (Specify):

21. Below are some sources that frequently influence teachers' decisions about what to teach. Please indicate how influential you think each source is for teachers to decide what to teach in your program.

    	Little or no influence	Some influence	Strong influence
    Their students’ real life math demands
    The GED test
    The math workbooks/textbooks my program uses
    The testing program (TABE, CASAS) in my state/district
    My state’s ABE math standards

22. Below are some statements that represent approaches to and beliefs about teaching math. Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each statement about teaching math to adult learners.

	Disagree strongly	Disagree	Agree	Agree strongly
Students must master whole numbers, fractions, and decimals before they tackle math content such as Algebra and data analysis and statistics.
It is difficult to find real-life applications of Algebra that are meaningful to students’ lives.
Drill and practice are the most effective ways to learn math.
Students need to master fractions to pass the GED.
The sequence of most GED and basic math workbooks is appropriate for teaching mathematics to adults.
Comprehensive coverage of many topics is important, even if it means sacrificing in-depth study.
Teachers should teach data analysis at the same time they teach basic math.
Because of time, teachers should focus on teaching math procedures rather than the concepts.
Teachers should begin to teach algebraic topics even to those who have not mastered the times tables.
Teachers should be encouraged to have students at different levels work together.

Upcoming Professional Development

23. What are your expectations for this professional development?

    	Yes	No
    Help program teams to develop good teaching plans
    Provide information on what we need to do to improve our program
    Engage administrators in thinking about math instruction
    Focus more attention on math instruction in adult education programs
    Provide opportunities for teachers and administrators to discuss together issues of math instruction

24. Which of the following do you expect/hope to be accomplished by your and teachers’ participation in ANI?

		Not at all	Somewhat	A lot
Improve my math content knowledge in general
Improve my knowledge of Number Operation Sense
Improve my knowledge of Patterns, Functions and Algebra
Improve my knowledge of Geometry and Measurement
Improve my knowledge of Data, Statistics, and Probability
Increase teachers’ ability to prepare students to pass the GED and meet their other goals
Improve teachers’ ability to increase learner engagement with math in my program’s classrooms
Have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction in my program
Provide training for teaching adults with special needs
Include instruction in the use of formative assessment to inform classroom practices
Other (Specify):

25. What do you expect will be the primary professional or personal benefit of the ANI?

Your Background

The following questions are optional. You may choose not to answer any of them.

26. What is your ethnicity?

 Hispanic/Latino (A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.)

 Not Hispanic/Latino

27. What is your race? (Choose one or more)

• American Indian or Alaska Native

 Asian

 Black or African American

 Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

 White

28. What is your gender?

 Female

 Male

29. What is the highest academic degree you hold?

 High-school diploma

 Associate’s degree/vocational certification

 Bachelor’s degree

 Master’s degree

 Education specialist or professional diploma based on at least one year’s work past

 Doctorate

 Professional degree (e.g., M.D., LL.B., J.D., D.D.S.)

Thank you for completing this survey.

This instrument has been adapted from a survey used in the TIAN – Teachers Investigating Adult Numeracy – Project at the Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee and TERC © 2006-2007. TIAN is partially funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-0455610. UT and TERC have provided consent for MPR to adapt the survey for the ANI field test.

Paperwork Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1830-XXXX. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 20 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed and complete and review the information collection. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202-4537. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: U.S. Department of Education, _____________________Division, _________________ Unit, 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., PCP Room _________, Washington D.C. 20202-2800.

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