[AAACE-NLA] Tightening up, the loss of leeway, and stripping away quality

[gdemetrion@msn.com]

Thank you David for our poignant analysis.  For those of us working with adults at very basic reading levels, what you say holds in triplicate.

Thank you for citing Merrifield's excellent report, which served as a powerful echo in Conflicting Paradigms.

May I recommend that whenever Contested Ground is cited, that my 2000 review, REFLECTING ON CULTURE WARS IN ADULT LITERACY EDUCATION: EXPLORING CRITICAL ISSUES IN
"CONTESTED GROUND is cited with it:

http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/cultrwar/cover.htm

Thanks,

George Demetrion

----- Original Message -----
From: David Rosen
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 9:22 AM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Subject: [AAACE-NLA] Tightening up, the loss of leeway,and stripping away quality

Colleagues,

I have been thinking about leeway, a word used often now by adult   
education practitioners. Leeway is the  amount of freedom available   
to act or move. In its original context, to keep a ship on course, a   
navigator adjusts for leeway, or drift leeward. In common use, leeway   
means wiggle room, space to accommodate for changes that occur,   
enough slack so that a tight rope doesn't break.  Leeway is what   
teachers and program administrators tell me they no longer have.

Why is this?  Broadly speaking, it is because of public funding   
accountability rules and compliance regulations.  Every state has   
tightened accountability brought about by the National Reporting   
System through Title II of the Workforce Investment Act. To continue   
with nautical metaphors, each year accountability is being   
systematically "ratcheted up" (tightened with a ratchet, a mechanical   
device, that only allows one-way movement).  Some states have also   
added to federal regulations their _own_ additional rules,   
requirements and interpretations.

Several years ago, in her important paper on accountability,   
"Contested Ground: Performance Accountability" ( http://  
www.ncsall.net/?id=656 ) Juliet Merrifield argued that  we need   
mutual accountability, that legislators and funders must also be   
accountable to programs and students.  And while some funders would   
agree that this is important, I do not see mechanisms for this kind   
of accountability to occur.
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