[AAACE-NLA] cuses of low adult literacy

[Merle Ayres]

I an not so sure of number 3. I think it has to be a big factor. Its fuzzy 
for me. I always had kids not at grade level. Many teacher librarians have 
helped  in getting kids at grade level. College instructors claim the kids 
entering college are not at grade level. I don't think you can speed reading 
up by taking a course or say catch up with your peers if you try harder. 
Wish I had an answer, Years of teaching I could not get readers to catch up 
and be ready for the next grade. I think it may be environment. access to 
books, parental expectations or motivation on the student. I had some 
horrible stories we had kids read that were not culturally familiar with the 
kids and I think it may have hurt them. Its like teaching geography to 
kindergarten kids about China when they don't know the geography of their 
home town.

Merle Ayres
412 8th st. North
Humboldt,Iowa 50548
Tel.1-515-332-4630
Fax 515-332-1738




>From: Andrea Wilder <andreawilder at comcast.net>
>Reply-To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by 
>AAACE<aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
>To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by 
>AAACE<aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
>Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] cuses of low adult literacy
>Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 09:07:10 -0400
>
>Courageous man...
>
>George, I'd distinguish between LEARNING DIFFICULTIES and LEARNING  
>DISABILITIES.
>
>IDEA has a legal definition of LEARNING DISABILITY. (see google)
>
>Sometimes this is helpful, sometimes not.
>
>People with a brain that learns to read DIFFERENTLY   is called a  person 
>with a LEARNING DISABILITY. by the LD community..  This is a  person with a 
>COGNITIVE DISORDER.  In most cases this difference can be  modified by 
>knowledgeable teachers. What is needed is DIAGNOSIS, so the  adult learner 
>and adult teacher  don't just spin their wheels.   DIAGNOSIS  means MONEY.  
>of these people, many have a problem with  MATCHING SOUNDS TO LETTERS.  
>Some have the disability of MATCHING  VISION TO LETTERS, a small number 
>have problems in BOTH AREAS.  WHO  PAYS is a big problem.
>
>A person who is poorly taught may have DIFFICULTY  in reading, but not  a 
>DISABILITY.
>
>(All this may be more than you want to say....)
>
>Tell us how it goes!!!  Also tell us what questions are asked!!!!  This  
>would be useful in advocacy.
>
>Andrea
>
>
>On May 24, 2006, at 2:06 PM, George Demetrion wrote:
>
>>
>>Colleagues,
>>
>>For an upcoming presentation on adult literacy to a civic group, I've  
>>mostly borrowed and amplified on the following five points to identify  
>>major causes of low literacy in the US.  On the last category,  learning 
>>difficulties, I improvised.  My request is twofold:
>>
>>1. Are there areas that I'm missing?
>>2.  Do the areas I have identified sound reasonable?
>>
>>If you prefer please contact me personally at  george.demetrion at lvgh.org,
>>although the topic, I assume is of general interest that may elicit  some 
>>public interest on the list.
>>
>>Thank you very much.
>>
>>George Demetrion
>>_______________________________________________________________________ 
>>____
>>Causes of Low Level English literacy amongst adults
>>1. Increasing standards of what counts as literacy.  Literacy is not  
>>something that can be defined by a static grade level, but is measured  
>>against  the perceived literacy needs of individuals shaped, in part,  by 
>>society and culture.  For basic literacy population the higher end  
>>achievement is high school equivalency achievement.  Also important is  
>>mastering the print-based needs of obtaining and keeping a sustainable  
>>job, understanding and filling out forms of various types, basic math,  
>>capacity to write a basic letter, rudimentary computer-based mastery  and 
>>knowing how to access information from various print sources in  home, 
>>work, community, and commercial environments.  All of these  pertain to 
>>the ESOL population.  The higher end here would be entrance  into college 
>>and obtaining a professional or entry level  administrative position.  A 
>>cause of low literacy is that the ladder  has been raised on what 
>>functional proficiency consists of.
>>
>>2. Increasing immigrant population.  31.4 million immigrants  identified 
>>in 2000 census.  Immigrant groups are at the lowest levels  of English 
>>literacy. This pertains also to immigrants from English  speaking 
>>countries, particularly the Caribbean Islands where those who  sign up for 
>>literacy classes are typically at a much lower literacy  level than US 
>>born adults.
>>
>>3. Student mobility.  About 60% of students in the US make unscheduled  
>>school changes between grades 1 and 12.  The student who moves a lot  is 
>>typically from a lower income family and/or attends an inner city  school. 
>>  In areas of high rent, poor housing and economic hardship,  school 
>>populations changing as much as 100% per year are increasingly  common. 
>>Such mobility creates much instability and is a contributing  cause to 
>>high numbers of inner city students not reading to grade  school level.
>>
>>4. Drop out rates and increasing numbers of students, especially in  the 
>>cities not reading at grade level all the way through their  schooling and 
>>getting further behind and socially passed year after  year.  This would 
>>be bad enough if high school drop outs were ready to  prepare for the GED, 
>>but this is rarely the case.  Most, in fact, lack  the basic literacy and 
>>numeracy skills needed to succeed in a GED  program, and may lack the 
>>basic skills to succeed in a pre-GED  program.  This, in turn, contributes 
>>to the alarming life long gap  between the educationally haves and have 
>>nots, which, in turn, help to  foster generational cycles of low literacy.
>>
>>5. Learning Difficulties.  Undiagnosed learning disabilities, has been  
>>identified as an important cause of adult illiteracy.  Whether one  wants 
>>to stay with the specific notion of learning disabilities, it is  at the 
>>least indisputable that millions of adults have tremendous  learning 
>>difficulties in relation to reading and writing.  For many,  those 
>>difficulties were pervasive throughout their public schooling,  which 
>>acted to keep them back in their learning, and in any event,  impacts on 
>>their ability to learn as adults even if they have enrolled  in an adult 
>>literacy or adult basic education programs.  What we  typically see in 
>>adult literacy, even among the most dedicated  students, is modest 
>>progress, which, except for the most advanced  students is still a far cry 
>>from fluent, independent literacy.  Thus,  one of the causes of adult 
>>illiteracy is the current rate of low  literacy, for whatever reasons, and 
>>the difficulty of moving  substantially beyond current levels of mastery.  
>>One might say that  illiteracy is self-perpetuating even as people can and 
>>do make  progress in ways that matter to them as we have seen in the 
>>case-study  profiles.
>>
>>
>>
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