[AAACE-NLA] Re: aaace-nla New Orleans

[tsticht@znet.com]

AAACE-NLA Colleagues:

First, I want to express gratitude and congratulations to John Comings for
getting a Letter to the Editor published in the New York Times regarding
the importance of basic skills education in the revival of New Orleans.
This is a much needed form of advocacy for adult basic skills education.
Thanks a lot John!

Second, I want to express my great relief in hearing from Lou Johnson. Hi
Lou! I worried about you and other colleagues in the New Orleans area whom
I met last year when I spoke in that great town. I was glad to hear that,
as always, you are thinking ahead to what action can be taken to help the
people of New Orleans with basic skills needs move forward.

At the present time, under the circumstances of recovering from a disaster,
many adults in New Orleans will need to be retrained for well paying jobs
and they will need to do this quickly. In this case, it is most
advantageous to integrate basic skills education with vocational education
or on-the-job training and education. Approaches in which adults are asked
to first raise their basic skills to some predetermined level to qualify
for vocational/job training should be avoided. They take too long, they add
basic skills training as a front end to vocational/job training and they can
be frustrating for adults who have immediate needs for work.

New Orleans needs a massive application of Functional Context Education
(FCE) in which there is extensive partnerships among employers, unions,
vocational/job trainers, and basic skills educators. Vocational and basic
skills educators need to examine both their vocational and their basic
skills programs to find out how both may be redesigned to integrate basic
skills with vocational/job training so that both can be accomplished as
quickly as possible while still maintaining education and industry
standards for working in a given field.

An FCE Task Force, properly funded with education, labor,  and FEMA funds
should be established as soon as possible. Plans for and actions for staff
development in the area of FCE program development should be accomplished
immediately.

The National Institute for Literacy, Department of Education, and Department
of Labor are planning and funding activities in workforce development and
they should quickly be contacted to plan a massive basic skills and
vocational/job training skills master plan for New Orleans and surrounding
areas. The National Center for Adult Learning and Literacy might be
considered for keeping track of what is done and evaluating the
intergovernmental activities at federal, state, and local levels.

This is the time to move on Lou’s forward looking action to revive the
workforce of New Orleans.

My best wishes to you, Lou,  and to all my other friends in adult literacy
work in New Orleans. This can be done!

Tom Sticht