The Literacy Materials Bulletin - Issue number 18 - Fall 1998

he Bulletin 17 evaluation resulted in 32 responses. Although this was only a small sampling, the responses will be valuable in helping the Literacy Materials Committee decide which materials to field test and how to write reviews. Only three of the responses were directly from FirstClass, but the posting of the evaluation on FirstClass resulted in a few people who were not aware of the Bulletin finding out about its existence. There is an exterior evaluation of the Literacy Materials Bulletin that is just beginning. We would appreciate your filling out and sending in the enclosed form.

Most of the respondents (27) said they used the Bulletin to help choose what books to order and two said they sometimes used it to help them choose books. Six people said they borrowed books from Literacy BC that were reviewed in the Bulletin and six said they sometimes borrowed books that were mentioned. There were six aspects that respondents were asked to indicate if they found useful. All but one person felt the general discussion of materials was useful. Then in order of popularity the elements were: sample pages, ordering information, suggestions for using the materials with learners, students comments about the material and the Bulletin’s Board. The Bulletin’s Board garnered 17 acknowledgements. Several people commented that the suggestions for how to use the materials were particularly helpful and others commented on the students’ comments as “particularly useful in determining whether or not to use a particular book.”

Generally those who returned questionnaires felt the Literacy Materials Bulletin reviews were accurate and contained enough information. One person commented that “I particularly appreciate those that go into detail about the contents and suggest different ways to use it/them....the reviews that discuss the pros and cons of the material in question.” Although the consensus seemed to be that the Bulletin included the kind of material that readers wanted, there were suggestions for fundamental level math software and materials, software, particularly on phonemic awareness, the internet, listening materials and taped books, how-to videos and interactive teaching aids. One respondent felt the reviews of materials from small publishers were particularly valuable as they don’t necessarily have access to that information.

The positive comments about the effectiveness of the layout and usefulness of the Literacy Materials Bulletin were extremely encouraging for all the members of the Committee. It has been a pleasure to work on the Bulletin and to chair the Committee for the last three years.

Helen Thomas

Please take the time to fill in the enclosed evaluation.