[AAACE-NLA]Opposing proposed changes to ERIC

[David J. Rosen]

Tom (Sticht),

I agree that some of the changes proposed for the "new ERIC" may be 
positive.  However, I am concerned that in eliminating the 
clearinghouses, with their individual focuses, will mean a loss of 
attention on adult education. Coupled with what I see as efforts by the 
Administration and the House of Representatives to change the focus of 
the National Institute for Literacy to focus on children's reading, and 
to change the structure of the OERI, eliminating a national research 
centers whose focus in adult literacy education, these three changes, 
not to mention the other objectionable sections of H. 1261, would -- as 
Gail Spangenberg points out,  "set the field back decades."  I see this 
part of ERIC reform as movement further away from an adult education and 
Literacy system, an idea which you so rightly have championed.

David J. Rosen

Thomas Sticht wrote:

>When I read the new statement of work for the ERIC system I did not see
>that the system is being done away with. Instead, the functions of 16
>clearning houses are being consolidated into a central site because of the
>advances in technology made since ERIC was initiated in the mid-1960s.
>
>A considerable benefit of the new system will be the ability to download
>full text documents, which one cannot do under the present system.Also,
>there will be links to various journals, publishers, and others that will
>permit full text documents to be downloaded.
>
>There will still be peer-reviewed screeing of documents and content
>experts  will work on this activity. There will be maintenance of all past
>documents and many may be converted to full text documents for
>downloading, otherwise they will continue to be available as now. So the
>database of the last fourty years will not disappear. It should become
>even easier to access if all goes as the statement of work suggests. 
>Special publications such as ERIC briefs etc may be resumed as the work of
>the continuous improvement component of the new contract gets going. So
>from my reading of the statement of work I did not see a lot to be
>concerned about. Just better use of newer technology seems to moving ERIC
>in a new direction.
>Tom Sticht
>
>
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