[AAACE-NLA] Does the AELS have an end point?

Wed Mar 15 08:49:27 EST 2006

Forty percent of New Hampshire's adult education students are served through
CBO's in programs that range from basic literacy through GED preparation.
Art Ellison

-----Original Message-----
From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of
Marcia.Hess at state.sd.us
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 5:50 PM
To: sfallsliteracy at yahoo.com; aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Does the AELS have an end point?

Point of Clarification: Adult Education in South Dakota does not exclude
CBO's.  Fifty percent of our Adult Ed providers are CBO's.

-----Original Message-----
From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Nancy Hansen
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 12:25 PM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Cc: David Rosen; Art LaChance
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Does the AELS have an end point?

Good day everyone:

Good points here, Art.  You wrote that in Georgia:

<< ... There is no provision for lower level students. Additionally, the
upper level applicants, identified via official assessment instruments, must
also be within 12 months of reaching GED completion. This is also under the
auspices of federal
oversight as the funding utilized for the new concept is federal adult
literacy funding. And yes - I/we are exceptionally confused as to how such
a dramatic change can occur in direct violation of everything that we as a
national unit have developed in the last 20+ years ?? >>

So what in the world happened to the "federal oversight" that allowed this
to happen in your state when your literacy program for low level literacy
students had been successful at the job it does, for the long-term ???  Who
was literally "asleep at the wheel"?

In a situation like you described it is true:  The beginning learners (also
well-described in David Rosen's email yesterday) are being excluded.  If the
focus becomes tying the little AELS wagon to the community college entities
nationwide, there will be many more.  A word of caution.  How many states
are structured as it is in South Dakota?  Community colleges are nigh unto
non-existant in this state.  How many other states are there like ours?

So in states where this is true, what does that mean for CBO's like ours?
Less funding than ever?  CBO's are already excluded from the AELS, so this
plan would add insult to injury.

Our agency has consciously made the choice to stay independent of the larger
entities here so that our learners with "low level literacy" needs are
served and don't lose their identity along the way. I have probably 1% of my
population who see college as a possibility for them as a very long-range
goal.  They are realists in many cases. Besides - they have more immediate
needs they want to have met.

Instead of preparing for college, here's a few examples of what our adult
readers have as simple wants and desires - goals and objectives to learn or
improve their reading skills:

* to be able to be a productive employee without shame when it comes to
written paperwork; 

* to read an obituary from start to finish, knowing how to pronounce all the
words and know the meaning of those words; 

* to be able to read the adult learner newspaper "News for You" published by
New Reader Press and truly understand the article about world affairs; 

* or to write follow-up notes to the supervisor of those she is training on
her job as training officer and express their further training needs,
without the note being filled with mis-spellings.  (This employee was
pleased she has learned how to correctly pronounce a co-workers name.  As an
ESOL employee, she called "Doug" by the mis-pronounciation "dawg" ... which
sounded very close to meaning that 4-legged variety ... which brought
co-worker chuckles she took to be redicule.)

Not one of these adults has expressed interest in going to college.

In addition to detailing the needs of adults David Rosen has experienced, he
wrote:

<< In short, in my way of thinking adult education is a "lifelong"  
> activity that the AELS supports. It does not have an end point. What do
others
> think? >>

Lifelong learners is who our people are.  And we are going to exclude them
are we?  I certainly hope not.  The elusive 'end point' will never come as
long as adults like the above folks and the ones in David's email exist and
ask for help, in my wee opinion.

Nancy Hansen

Executive Director

Sioux Falls Area Literacy Council

Sioux Falls, SD

Art LaChance <ruhtratgillrnctr at ellijay.com> wrote:

Morning All,

I need to remind you that the "either/or" concept of AELS mentioned by Tom
and Catherine IS already here. I know first hand of three separate
community programs including ours, plus several others throughout the state
that have had their entire service delivery system changed to ONLY serve the
upper levels. In our case it resulted in a parting of the ways and back to
"Privatization" as the state legislature terms it. Part of the new
qualification process is that the potential student must indicate a desire
to move on into college or tech school classes. There is no provision for
lower level students. Additionally, the upper level applicants, identified
via official assessment instruments, must also be within 12 months of
reaching GED completion. This is also under the auspices of federal
oversight as the funding utilized for the new concept is federal adult
literacy funding. And yes - I/we are exceptionally confused as to how such
a dramatic change can occur in direct violation of everything that we as a
national unit have developed in the last 20+ years ??

art

Art LaChance
Gilmer Learning Center
Ellijay, GA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Catherine B. King" 
To: "National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE"

Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 9:13 AM
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Does the AELS have an end point?

> Hello George, Tom, and all:
>
> Must we see the adult education system in the United States as an
either/or?
> (either second-change/OR long-term quality-of-life, etc./OR remedial, OR
> college-bridging, etc., etc.)
>
> It seems to me that Tom is speaking of the larger view of adult education,
> the end run of which is a continuous self-directed improvement of life by
> the adult, and the constant availability of community educational
resources
> to foster that improvement.
>
> Again, such fostering is rooted in and consciously justified in its
> democratic/republican political environment--and this because of what a
> democratic/republican political environment IS--By-For-Of THE PEOPLE.
>
> When understood in this way, all issues of remediation, second-chance,
> work-family skills, college-bridging, etc., are not eliminated in an
> either/or situation, but rather they all fall under/within the more
vibrant
> and comprehensive goal of fostering education of THE PEOPLE, who are the
> only ones who can continually qualify the democracy/republic, by
definition.
>
> Tom is right to raise this issue, but wrong to put it in an either/or
> context. And I think we all know by now that the telescoped view of AE
that
> our policymakers seem to have (seeing it as only remedial, or as work
> skills, etc., or as eliminating any of these notions) only gets our necks
on
> the funding block, ready to be chopped.
>
> The argument for the comprehensive long-term educational view is correct,
> and it has to include all of the "practical" issues, but must be derived
> from the overall comprehension on the part of our policymakers:
>
> That the ideas that are ensconced in our Constitution and the very idea of
> democracies and republics are joined-at-the-hip with Education of THE
> PEOPLE. And that means Adult Education--as long-term and as inseparable
> from any developmental movements in all communities in the republic.
>
> Regards,
>
> Catherine King
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Rosen" 
> To: "National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE"
> 
> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 5:57 AM
> Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Does the AELS have an end point?
>
>
> > Hello Tom,
> >
> > On Mar 13, 2006, at 6:52 PM, tsticht at znet.com wrote:
> >
> >> But this talk of "the end point" of adult education seems to me to
> >> present a
> >> vision of the AELS that does not adequately address the AELS as a
> >> bona fide
> >> ADULT EDUCATION SYSTEM, not as a second chance, remedial K-12
> >> system for
> >> adults. To my way of thinking, there is no "end point" for the
> >> AELS. When
> >> adults whose educational achievements are such that they need
> >> assistance
> >> with some sort of learning, such as those seeking help with
> >> understanding
> >> health-related materials and instructions, the AELS is there to
> >> help them
> >> out. When parents need help in learning skills and knowledge that
> >> will help
> >> them raise their children better, the AELS is there to help them
> >> out. When
> >> older people want to learn to read better to understand religious
> >> or other
> >> spiritual materials, the AELS is there to help them out. When a
> >> community
> >> of adults want to learn more about how they can get their local
> >> government
> >> to take actions that will improve their lives, the AELS is there to
> >> help
> >> them out.
> >>
> >> In short, in my way of thinking adult education is a "lifelong"
> >> activity
> >> that the AELS supports. It does not have an end point. What do others
> >> think?
> >
> > I agree that the AELS should support all of purposes you have listed,
> > for those who lack basic skills. For those who have skills at the
> > college level, however, community colleges should be (and sometimes
> > are) there to help them out through continuing education and lifelong
> > learning. Both the AELS and the community colleges (since people
> > with college level skills still often need parenting skills, re-
> > training skills, help with technical reading and writing of various
> > kinds, etc.) should be able to address lifelong learning needs. They
> > should be able to do it with both face-to-face and online options of
> > varying lengths, not only through courses.
> >
> > When I used the term "end point" for the AELS, I assumed that given
> > limited public resources, we would not see a system of Adult
> > Education and Literacy like they have in Sweden, where the government
> > pays for resources for adults to study anything they wish (in a study
> > circle, for example) and where a third of the country at any time
> > participates in adult education. I admire the Swedish system which
> > apparently borrowed the study circle from the 19th Century American
> > Chautauqua movement, but Tom, it is too visionary a hope for me that
> > we would adopt such a radical, back to our roots, model. ; ^ )
> >
> >
> > * See Study Circles: history & Resources http://www.context.org/ICLIB/
> > IC33/Andrews.htm
> >
> > David J. Rosen
> > Adult Literacy Advocate
> > DJRosen at theworld.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > AAACE-NLA mailing list: AAACE-NLA at lists.literacytent.org
> > http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/aaace-nla
> > LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
> > http://literacytent.org
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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