[AAACE-NLA] NAAL and the States' Responses

[David Rosen]

AAACE-NLA Colleagues,

On Jan 6, 2006, Tom Sticht wrote:

>  "The believability of the NAAL results would be enhanced had the  
> U. S.
> Department of Education announced it was going to reinstate the 65  
> percent
> cut in funding that it had made in the adult education budget for  
> 2006. But
> no funding was forthcoming in 1993 when the NALS results lead to  
> newspaper
> articles saying that half the U. S. population of adults were  
> functionally
> illiterate, and I don’t think we should count on seeing very much of a
> response from the federal government with the announcement of the  
> results
> of the NAAL. So far all I have read about is that the NAAL adds  
> research
> support to the President’s high school initiative  and the U. S.  
> Department
> of Education and other government agencies are going to coordinate  
> their
> adult education and training better. Now that’s a big help!"

We should not count on the federal government to increase funds,  
although we should not assume that Congress will react to the NAAL in  
the same way the Administration has.  Bob Bickerton has urged us, as  
a field,  to craft a response and get our view out there, not accept  
the Administration's view of what needs to be done.  That *is* what  
we need to do.

What can we expect from the Administration?  in early February, the  
Administration budget will be released. This year, because of the  
effective responses from the field to the proposed administration  
cuts last year, and because of the NAAL results, we may not see a  
huge proposed cut.  It is also possible that we will.  We need to be  
ready for both possibilities, or something in between.   We must also  
keep in mind that we should advocate for the funds that are actually  
needed.  It is not impossible that we will go to Congress with a  
request for a significant increase.  All this should be clearer in a  
month or so.

Perhaps the most promising arena for response to the need for adult  
literacy education, and the most important audience for the NAAL is  
state government -- governors and legislators.  This is where,  
ultimately, we will see the most important increases.  This is not to  
say that we should ignore the important federal role, but we should  
put more effort -- in every state -- to increasing the state  
commitment.  This requires even better organization at the state level.

Here's a list of eight questions for your state public policy  
organizers to think about and act on:

1.  If the NAAL data are already available for your state, has your  
state public policy advocacy committee formed a response?  (the  
National Coalition for Literacy talking points at are a good start.  
http://www.national-coalition-literacy.org/naal.html -- be sure to  
look at the Fact Sheet, too.) If the NAAL data are not available for  
your state, there will be synthetic state data available in a few  
months, so it would be good to prepare for that.)
2. Has your state public policy committee sent out a response to the  
NAAL results to all the programs in your state?
3. Have you tried to get that response to the statewide media (press  
-- articles, letters to the editor, op ed pieces, editorials; and  
radio and TV)?
4. Have you asked (helped) programs to get their responses to their  
local media?
5. Regardless of the NAAL data -- has your state adult literacy  
public policy committee produced a fact sheet on the need (or demand)  
for services in your state?  Has it produced a set of talking points  
for legislators and the media? Has it decided on what to ask for from  
the state legislature for the coming year? if not, *now* is the time.
6. Has your state adult literacy public policy committee organized a  
February or March "meet and greet" campaign where state (and federal)  
legislators are invited to meet students at programs or in  
legislators' offices?
7. Have you cultivated legislative champions in each branch of your  
state legislature?
8. Has your public policy committee reached out to other stakeholders  
(housing advocates, early care education advocates, labor and  
business, health educators, and others) to support its request for  
increased state funds -- and to support theirs for related services  
like childcare and health insurance which are essential to adult  
learners.

A Massachusetts public policy advocacy colleague used to point out  
that the model for adult literacy advocates needs to be the bulldog,  
never letting go, year after year.

Of course, if you do not yet have a state public policy organizing  
committee, now would be the time to organize one.  If you want to  
know more about that, let me know.

Do others have ideas about what state adult literacy public policy  
organizing committees should be doing now?

David J. Rosen
Adult Literacy Advocate
DJRosen at theworld.com