[AAACE-NLA] Federal challenges to adult literacy advocacy

[Bickerton, Robert P]

Fran, et al,

I'm unclear on what you mean by "Despite this, the funding allocations are
not high."  Are you referring to the total appropriation for WIA Title II,
to the amount set aside for EL/Civics, and/or to the amount spent on ESOL
using the AEFLA basic state grants allocations to states?  

I don't believe current data collection enables us to answer the question of
how much funding is spent on ESOL vs. ABE/literacy and ASE (adult secondary
education);  in general, the data set collects participation and expenditure
data separately and no linkages are established between them.  [Please note
that attempting to establish that link at adult learning centers that do
both ABE/ASE and ESOL would drive them absolutely crazy;  i.e., tracing the
costs of teachers is easy, but how would they allocate all other costs?]  I
believe, however, that the 42.1% share of adults served is as good a proxy
as you'll get for dollars expended.  In Massachusetts we go a bit further by
assigned a cost to each (planned) student instructional hour, so the fact
that our ESOL classes have slightly higher levels of instructional intensity
means that they are receiving somewhat more than their 55% to 60% share of
our total student population would suggest.  

Back to your point, re, "funding allocations are not high."  If you were
referring to the size of the EL/Civics appropriation, this would be
misleading since we're spending such large sums from our federal basic state
grants and from our state ABE appropriations as well -- over 60% in
Massachusetts as I pointed out above.  This is why I and many of my
colleagues object to such set-asides -- states figure out what they need to
attend to and do so with greater flexibility and responsiveness without
set-asides.

take care,
bob bickerton, MA director of adult ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Frances Keenan [mailto:fkeenan at pbs.org]
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 4:18 PM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Subject: RE: [AAACE-NLA] Federal challenges to adult literacy advocacy


Where does ESL fit in with the perception challenge? According to 2002
enrollment figures obtained from ED/OVAE/DAEL, 42.1% of adult ed
enrollment nationwide is attributed to adult ESL learners. For these
learners, the standard measures of literacy do not even apply. And in
the case of ESL, recruitment is not usually an issue;the demand for
services is very high. And ESL learners do stay in class to a greater
degree than other adult learners. Despite this, the funding allocations
are not high. In fact, I have never seen any data that ties the amount
of spending to the % of total enrollment. Or to the motivation of adult
learners.

Fran Keenan



-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Sticht [mailto:tsticht at znet.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 1:01 PM
To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: [AAACE-NLA] Federal challenges to adult literacy advocacy


  Both Kathleen and Art make good points. But there still remains the
  problem that the field seems to face some major problems of perception
  that challenge its ability to recruit students and to get support from
the
  federal government to provide services.

  First, although the federal government claims that some 40 to 90
million
  adults lack adequate literacy skills based on NALS data, the vast
  majority, over 95 percent of adults think they read well or very well.
So
  here is the challenge for recruitment: how do we get people to sign up
for
  programs to improve their literacy skills if they don't think they
have a
  literacy skills problem?

  The second perception problem is, how do we get increased federal
support
  for the Adult Education and Literacy System, i.e., the programs
supported
  by the State Grants of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act
when
  people responsible for those grants in both the Executive and
Legislative
  branches of the federal government think (perceive) that the AELS is
not
  up to the task of adult literacy education?

  The issue is, what strategy or strategies for advocacy for adult
literacy
  education do we formulate and put into action to overcome these
perception
  problems?

  Tom Sticht


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