[AAACE-NLA] In what state agency should ed be located?

[David Rosen]

Colleagues,

For states that have moved adult education from the state's K-12  
agency to the labor and workforce development or higher education  
agency, has this solved the kind of problem Dale Norred describes below?

I am continuing to get offline messages on this topic, and am glad to  
see there are also some postings to the AAACE-NLA discussion list.  I  
hope ohers will weigh in on this very important issue. What are the  
pros and cons of adult education located in the state's K-12 agency?  
In the Labor and Workforce Development agency? In a higher education  
agency?


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

On Mar 28, 2008, at 9:42 AM, Dale Norred wrote:
> In Louisiana ABE and ESL are located in the Dept of Education.  As  
> a parish government providing literacy in the rural
> areas  located along our bayous we provide a much need service as  
> many can't get the public school location.  The public
> school system only offers ABE during the day; therefore doesn't  
> meet the needs of many people.  Unfortunately the money
> stays in the public school setting and we have to rely on other  
> funding for our program. This is difficult as most grant
> making foundations exclude public entities. Our funding comes from  
> faith based organizations, public/private non-profits,
> United Way, CSBG and CDBG entitlement funds.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
> [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org]On Behalf Of
> tsticht at znet.com
> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 1:08 PM
> To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
> Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] In what state agency should ed be located?
>
>
> David: I vote for the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of  
> each
> stae and at the federal level to be in the Department of Education,  
> not
> Department of Labor or Workforce Development, etc. The following  
> note is
> relevant here. Tom Sticht
>
>
> July 16, 2005
>
>
> Moving the Adult Education and Literacy System From the Margins
> to the Mainstream of Education in the United States:
> Grounds For New Hope From the U. S. Senate
>
> Tom Sticht
> International Consultant in Adult Education
>
> The recent Senate Appropriations Committee bill concerning adult  
> education
> contains important information about how the Committee regards the  
> Adult
> Education State Programs administered by the U.S. Department of  
> Education,
> Office of Adult and Vocational Education, Division of Adult  
> Education and
> Literacy. By providing funding for FY2006 at the same level as in  
> FY2005,
> the Committee rejected the Bush administration’s request for more  
> than $375
> million in cuts in the State Grant funds which provide the federal
> government’s support for the Adult Education and Literacy System  
> (AELS) of
> the United States.
>
> Importantly, the bill passed by the Committee redirects the focus  
> of adult
> education and literacy development away from the workforce focus that
> engulfed the AELS when the original Adult Education Act of 1966 was
> incorporated into the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. The  
> Committee’s
> language is direct in challenging this workforce focus for the  
> AELS, and
> states, "The Committee recognizes the diverse population eligible for
> services under this program, ranging from adults striving to  
> complete their
> secondary education to workers requiring better English skills to  
> benefit
> from employer-provided job training and to grandparents desiring  
> the skills
> necessary to help grandchildren to learn to read."
>
> This shows that the Senate Committee understands that the AELS aims to
> provide educational opportunities for adults that will help them  
> achieve
> multiple outcomes. Importantly, the Committee report goes on to  
> say, " The
> Committee  also notes that while some participants cite employment  
> as their
> reason for enrolling in an adult education program, many program
> participants do not establish this as a goal." This directly  
> indicates that
> the Committee understands that the AELS is primarily an education  
> system,
> not a job training and employment program.
>
> The fact that the Committee recognizes that the AELS is an  
> education system
> and not a job training or employment program is further evidenced  
> by the
> Committee’s statement that, "Furthermore, even if employment is a  
> goal,
> increased earnings might not be associated with the career goals of  
> the
> more than one-third of adult education participants currently  
> employed.
> Therefore, the Committee has recommended level funding for this  
> program,
> and urges the Department to consider these facts when assessing  
> program
> performance under the Adult Education program and the  
> appropriateness of
> including this education program under the Administration's  
> initiative to
> identify common measures for job training and employment programs."
>
> In making this statement, the Senate Committee is admonishing the Bush
> administration for evaluating the AELS using "common measures for job
> training and employment programs" and using these inappropriate  
> measures
> for justifying the Draconian cuts in the administration’s request for
> funding for the State Grants in FY2006.
>
> I am especially pleased to find these comments in the Senate  
> Committee’s
> bill because they are consistent with recommendations I made in a  
> March
> 2001 paper entitled "The POWER of Adult Education: Moving the Adult
> Education and Literacy System of the United States From the Margins  
> to the
> Mainstream of Education". In that paper
> (http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/sticht/power/cover.htm) I argued that an
> informational activity needs to be undertaken to let those in  
> positions to
> determine what the AELS should be held accountable for to  
> understand the
> many educational activities and outcomes that the AELS produces. In  
> this
> regard, I suggested that the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) should be
> renamed the Adult Education, Literacy, and Workforce Investment Act
> (AELWIA) to recognize the fact that while the AELS does produce  
> returns to
> investment in terms of workforce development, it goes well beyond  
> that and
> produces many other returns to investment in adult education and  
> literacy.
> In another part of the paper I enumerated various returns to  
> investment
> that result from participating in the AELS such as benefits in health,
> parenting, citizenship, community service, etc.  (and I notice that  
> the
> Senate Committee added benefits in grandparenting!).
>
> In my March 2001 paper I argued that  "Today, the Adult Education and
> Literacy System is positioned to take its place alongside the K-12 and
> Higher Education systems as the third branch of the structure of  
> public
> education in the United States." In our efforts to move the AELS  
> from the
> margins to the mainstream we have had to overcome severe roadblocks,
> including the introduction of the National Reporting System which  
> drove
> hundreds of community based programs and their students out of the  
> AELS,
> and the drastic cuts to the State Grants requested by the Bush
> administration for FY2006 resulting from applying inappropriate  
> measures to
> evaluate the benefits of the AELS.
>
> Now, with this statement from the U. S. Senate Appropriations  
> Committee, the
> adult education and literacy field has received a great boost  
> forward in its
> advocacy for the AELS. Once again the field of adult educators can  
> pick up
> the banner and rally around the cry for moving the Adult Education and
> Literacy System from the margins to the mainstream of education in the
> United States.
>
> And once again, as I did in the March 2001 paper, I call upon the  
> U. S.
> Department of Education to include the Adult Education and Literacy  
> System
> (AELS) as an integral component of any graphic displays of the  
> educational
> structure of the United States that the National Center for Education
> Statistics or any other government agencies provide in reports of the
> status of education in the United States. While this is a small  
> action, it
> is an important symbolic action that can provide recognition for the
> hundreds of thousands of teachers and tutors who daily strive to  
> provide a
> quality educational experience for millions of adult students yearly.
>
> Thanks to the U. S. Senate Appropriations Committee, there is  
> renewed hope
> for the AELS and the millions of adults it serves. The AELS can  
> move from
> the margins to the mainstream of education.
>
> ¡Si, se puede!
>
> Thomas G. Sticht
> International Consultant in Adult Education
> 2062 Valley View Blvd.
> El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
> Tel/Fax: (619) 444-9133
> Email: tsticht at aznet.net
>
>
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David Rosen
DJRosen at theworld.com