[AAACE-NLA]Confronting the issues directly

Mon May 12 14:59:28 EDT 2003

I have an idea.  How about inviting Bob Sweet, former Board chair and
founder of the Right to Read Foundation, as a guest on this list?  I would
like to hear directly from him about the issues we have been discussing,
and heaven knows he needs to hear from us.  

On the other hand, perhaps this would give a platform to those we disagree
with?  I for one do not fear that, if the groundrules could create a frank
but polite, professional exchange of views.  

On second thought, why should he accept such an invitation?  Would he see
it as stepping into the lion's den?  If he is sincerely convinced he has
the solution to literacy needs, he should not hesitate to step forward.

My purpose for suggesting this is a real hope that somehow we can find
common ground.  Okay, okay, call me Pollyanna......

Deborah W. Yoho
Co-moderator, NIFL-Health Listserv
President, SC Adult Literacy Educators
Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council
2728 Devine Street,  Columbia, SC  29205
803-765-2555   Fax  803-779-8417   dwyoho at earthlink.net

> [Original Message]
> From: Eileen Eckert <eileeneckert at hotmail.com>
> To: <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
> Date: 5/10/2003 2:42:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA]HOUSE PASSES H.R. 1261
>
> Considering the anti-democratic nature of recent developments around
NIFL, I 
> have to wonder if $30,000 more is good news. Will it be used to pay for 
> electronic surveillance and censorship, or to add to the salary of a NIFL 
> director whose mission is to control discourse and intimidate anyone who 
> does not agree with him? More money, if used for the activities this 
> administration promotes, is not necessarily a good thing.
>
> And if the situation gets to where states are only allowed to do phonics 
> instruction (that's what they mean by scientific or research-based
reading 
> instruction) with federal money, and federal funding drives state 
> activities, then pursuing the goal of $1 billion for state grants is
asking 
> for more money to limit effectiveness to those whose reading difficulty 
> coincides with the prescribed cure. Maybe I'm being alarmist, but I think 
> it's important to push back on the definitions and challenge the
undermining 
> of democracy in the name of "rights" to read, "scientific" instruction, 
> "research" based reading instruction, etc. The rhetoric is the opposite
of 
> the reality when it comes to Bush administration activities, and I don't 
> think we do adult learners any service by ignoring that in favor of just 
> pushing for more money.
>
> Eileen
>
> From: Thomas Sticht <tsticht at znet.com>
> Reply-To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
> To: <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
> Subject: [AAACE-NLA]HOUSE PASSES H.R. 1261
> Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 11:29:46 -0700 (PDT)
>
>
> As David Rosen has noted, the House of Representatives has passed HR 1261
> and sent it on to the Senate. For me, the good news is that the House
> revised the Workforce Investment Act and renamed it the "Workforce
> Reinvestment and Adult Education Act of 2003.’’ This places Adult
> Education on more of a par with workforce development, although I would
> have been happier with the title the "Adult Education and Workforce
> Reinvestment Act of 2003." But I'm willing to take the present title as a
> small recovery of the importance of the  original Adult Education Act of
> 1966 with attention to the education of adults not only to improve their
> opportunities in the workforce, but also for purposes of general education
> for a wide array of needs beyond employment.
>
> Another piece of good news is that the House supported the continued
> existence of the NIFL in the new act in what is called by the short title
> of the "National Institute for Literacy Establishment Act." The purpose of
> the new NIFL has, on the one hand, been narrowed to focus on reading and
> its legislated purpose is to "provide national leadership in promoting
> reading research, reading instruction, and professional development in
> reading based on scientifically based research."
>
> On the other hand, the new legislation has broadened the NIFL's scope
> beyond a focus on adult literacy to consider reading achievement across
> the life span and its purpose includes "disseminating widely information
> on scientifically based reading research pertaining to children, youth,
> and adults."
>
> The final good news that I find in the new act is that it includes a bit
> more funding (about $30 thousand) for the NIFL than requested by the Bush
> Administration.
>
> The major bad news as far as I am concerned is that the House did not
> provide more funding for the state grants beyond the $584.3 million that
> the Bush Administration requested. This is well below the $1 billion goal
> that the National Literacy Summit has set for the state grants. However,
> the Summit document set the year 2010 as the year for achieving $1 billion
> for the state grants, so there is still time to work to achieve that goal.
> While I personally think that the goal of $1 billion for the state grants
> is way too low to make much of a meaningful impact on the adult education
> and literacy system of the United States, either now or by 2010, I think
> that it is better to have $1 billion than $584.3 million.
>
> I understand that many advocates have their particular concerns and wish
> to advocate for them. As for me,  I think the primary advocacy efforts
> should be aimed at advancing the National Literacy Summit's goal of
> getting the Senate to increase the appropriations for the state grants
> program for the Adult Education and Literacy System of the United States.
>
> Tom Sticht
> Tsticht at aznet.net
>
>
>
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