[AAACE-NLA] NIFL: Teach the Parent, Reach the Child

Tue Feb 3 11:48:23 EST 2004

For what is worth, we have a Spanish GED program for migrant workers/families. The people that enroll have anywhere from 4th grade to 11th grade education in Mexico. We do not give them an entry level assesment. We let them start when they come and let the teachers figure out how they are performing. After several weeks, or months, we give them the GED assesment that is in the GED textbook. The teacher decides when it is appropriate to assess them. The assesment is done very informally to give the teacher and student feedback of how they will do in the actual test. I have been and continue to be a passionate hater of the TABE. 

Anyways, the point is that our program has a very high retention and completion rate and the students don't face intimidating barriers when they come in. The person with the least education that got her GED had a 4th grade education. 

Andres

In a message dated 2/3/2004 9:10:43 AM Eastern Standard Time, arthur at ellijay.com writes:

> 
> Thanks Elsa,
> 
> As part of a practitioner inquiry project several years ago with UGA I
> interviewed 20 adult literacy students.  Some were mandated attendance via
> Dept of Labor and most were voluntary.  As the participants were randomly
> selected over a four week period from all areas of this program they covered
> all literacy levels.  My interest was to see how many adult students had
> experienced a head injury as a child that may have led to decline in early
> school performance.  What I found was minimal head injury - but what emerged
> from the taped interviews was 100% of them had experienced a strong negative
> emotional experience in the early grade levels that apparently had strong
> effect on school performance.  Most surprising was that almost all of the
> situations reported by the students related directly to initial program
> entry TABE assessment.  Meaning that the students initial TABE assessment
> grade level scores related to the emotional impact time factor experienced
> by that student to within a year or two.  My assumption at that time which
> has been reinforced throughout the years via consistent investigation is
> that children in particular home and school environments who must deal with
> issues such as: divorce of parents, death of close relatives, abusive
> parents or siblings, strong negative influence from peers and teachers at
> school, etc etc and were/are unable to resolve the influence because they
> lacked the opportunity for understanding, become/became disconnected from
> the classroom and were unable to keep up with the progress of curriculum.
> They miss the salient points and fall farther and farther behind ultimately
> showing up as a "failure" either in one or two subject areas or the entire
> curriculum within, say three years.  By this time the emotional experience
> is covered up and no causal factor can be easily identified.  I believe in
> critical cases the immediate response to such situations may show up as a
> chain of behavioral influence tied directly to the fight/flight response
> which fits neatly in the diagnosis of ADD, ADHD, LD.  And most certainly
> such behaviors will show up as anomalies in brain function due to the fact
> that they are internally generated and create their own set of chemical
> responses there.
> I know beyond a shadow that there are certain conditions brought on by
> genetic factors that will lead to like conditions because I have worked
> intimately with those folks in a rehabilitation environment but I personally
> believe that the above is more likely the most common situation than not.
> 
> Art
> 
> 
> Art LaChance
> Gilmer Learning Center
> Ellijay, GA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Elsa Auerbach" <elsa.auerbach at umb.edu>
> To: <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 7:48 PM
> Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] NIFL: Teach the Parent, Reach the Child
> 
> 
> > Yes, there was a Harvard study that Catherine Snow & Laurie Hemphill were
> > involved in (in the early nineties -- sorry I don't have a reference
> handy)
> > that showed that up to grade three, various home factors (NOT just parents
> > being involved with homework) made a difference in children's acquisition
> of
> > literacy, but after grade three/four, the literacy environment of the
> > classroom overrode (trumped) home factors.  Obviously this is grossly
> > oversimplified but it's worth looking at for those who are interested. The
> > part that I found most interesting at the time was that the parental
> factors
> > included things like the extent to which the parents took care of their
> own
> > needs, parental outings, etc.  It was a range of factors rather than
> single
> > factors like parents reading to kids or parents helping with homework.
> >
> > Elsa Auerbach
> > On 2/2/04 11:36 AM, "AWilder106 at aol.com" <AWilder106 at aol.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Art, Margery,
> > >
> > > I'm really confused, here.
> > >
> > > When I was a school teacher I did not want parents involved in homework,
> in
> > > teaching their children.  If I were  working with the child I wanted to
> know I
> > > was working with the child, not a parental overlay.  I also made home
> visits
> > > to families if they couldn't come to school for conferences, we talked
> about
> > > parental values, what they wanted for their children, my role in their
> > > children's lives.
> > >
> > > Now that I'm in adult literacy, and read about mother's level of
> education
> > > reflected in child's progress in school I am baffled.  I can accept it,
> but it
> > > looks to me  that the school (or program) has no effect on the child,
> child is
> > > just passed through the system.
> > >
> > > Is there anything between theory and practice that shows parental
> effects on
> > > child literacy as the child grows?  As  parental literacy increases?  I
> know
> > > of one study, but there needs to be a stronger linkage.
> > >
> > > I apologize ahead of time, because I know I am only seeing a piece of
> the
> > > puzzle, but Art's experience resonated with my own experience, and I'd
> sure
> > > like to hear from others.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Andrea
> > > _______________________________________________
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go here: www.geocities.com/andresmuro/art.html