[AAACE-NLA] FW: Toward Theory-Driven R & D

[Daphne Greenberg]

I would love to join in a fight to urge for funding for an RD center that focuses on adult literacy. In my ideal vision, the RD center would be adequately funded so that it would include very rigorous quantitative and qualitative research (mixed methods) on all aspects of adult literacy with a focus on widespread dissemination of findings.
Daphne

Daphne Greenberg
Assistant Professor
Educational Psych. & Special Ed.
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3979
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3979
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu

Daphne Greenberg
Associate Director
Center for the Study of Adult Literacy
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3977
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3977
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu
>>> DJRosen at theworld.com 06/21/06 9:45 PM >>>
Tom and others,

On Jun 21, 2006, at 7:44 PM, Tom Sticht wrote:

>> Question #3: In your opinion, why has the federal government decided
>> to not fund a national center for research on adult education and
>> literacy beyond 2007?

I replied:

> It was a Congressional mistake, and I think the funding pretty much  
> ends in
> 2006.  Our national research center "got rolled over with the oats"  
> when all
> the research centers were reorganized.  But that this mistake  
> hasn't yet
> been corrected is an indication that we haven't made adult literacy
> education matter enough to Congress. Either the loss has not yet  
> sunk in for
> practitioners, or they don't value research enough, or they don't  
> mind all
> that much that adult literacy doesn't matter to Congress.  I, for  
> one, am
> very concerned about this, and am glad that the National Coalition for
> Literacy has made a national adult literacy research center a  
> priority.   I would
> like to see every practitioner and adult learner who meets with a  
> federal
> legislator have this as a top concern on their ask list -- right  
> after increased
> funding for student services.

Tom replied:

> I have long been an advocate for a greatly expanded role for R
> & D in the adult literacy education field. I have noted that the  
> U.S. Army,
> Navy, and Air Force all maintain human resources research labs that  
> are
> funded at some $100 million or more to improve training and  
> education, among
> other things, in just the Services. One would think that the R & D  
> for adult
> education for the entire nation should at least match that of one  
> of the
> military services. But that is just wishful thinking, I guess.

Advocacy begins with wishful thinking, and with high expectations.   
Tom, you have high expectations for our federally-funded national  
adult literacy agencies, and for Congress.  So do I.  Recently, in a  
message here about adult learner self-efficacy, I suggested that as  
practitioners we need to improve our self-efficacy.  We showed last  
year that we can organize ourselves, that we could get Congress to  
hear us, and turn around a wrong-headed decision to cut adult  
literacy education funding.  And we could turn Congress around on the  
absurd elimination of funding for a national  adult literacy research  
center. Let's take this disaster, too, and turn it around.  No, let's  
follow Tom's lead and act on _higher_ expectations.   Let's begin by  
asking Congress to double the funding for an adult literacy research  
center beginning in FY 08 and to maintain funding for NCSALL in the  
meantime.

Are Tom Sticht and I the only people on this list who care about R &  
D for adult literacy education? If there are others who care, let's  
hear about it.  And let's raise the priority of this issue in our  
advocacy work.

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



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