Search . . D'Amico then visited the recommended sites. The Adult Education program at HCLC, a program of the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, has designed performance standards and used outcomes data to improve learner achievements. Their work represents one model for accountability that leads to continuous improvement. At the beginning of each semester, students work with teachers to define their short and long-term goals.
Teachers meet with students every three months to evaluate progress and refine goals accordingly.
Work done at home or in class, or evidence of achievement from other sources, is kept in the student portfolio. Over time, staff noticed that student goals were similar and fell into predictable categories. Working together, HCLC instructors took the list of common goals and divided it according to their expectations for each level of instruction, combining similar goals into general categories. The goals for each level became performance standards for promotion to the next level. Analysis of outcomes according to these standards has produced changes in instruction that have, in turn, improved learner and program achievements.