[AAACE-NLA] Basic adult literacy education questions for which we do not yet have answers

Mon Nov 16 17:29:17 EST 2009

If I could comment on early elementary experience I thing Art has a good point. We are too hung up on scores or benchmarks at the early stages. So what if some kids are not on level with others. We immediately then in education act as sorting agencies classifying kids then they feel they are behind which causes so much other problems. They may be good at drawing airplanes in detail and be behind in reading level. Which leaves me to believe who is fooling who.

Friend to Fossils
Merle Ayres
412 8th St. North
Humboldt, Iowa 50548
515-332-4630

> Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:38:20 -0500
> From: ruhtra.glc at ellijay.com
> To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
> Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Basic adult literacy education questions for which we do not yet have answers
> 
> My experience tells me that any system with a purpose of serving adults 
> in a literacy format needs to take Archie's words here quite seriously. 
> 
> "Adults with reading problems have been injured inside by what people 
> have said to them about their literacy problems when they were young. 
> These are things we never forget and carry these feelings with us the 
> rest of our lives. We don't have a sense of belonging that we should. "
> 
> If there is not a provision for counseling the prospective student out 
> of this mode as quickly as possible they most probably will not 
> continue.  This is especially true if the program is set up to mimic the 
> public education system in mandated attendance "class"  time and 
> progress with impersonal teachers/counselors etc.  
> Any time we put adults back into a 'learning' situation that is similar 
> to the one they failed in as children we are simply encouraging the 
> overpowering negative emotional response to return to life again and the 
> problem is over for that student, once again.  After another try or two 
> - they are gone.
> My suggestion is that we strongly consider development of a 
> student-centered system and then play the numbers game secondarily. 
> 
> Art
> 
> 
> Art LaChance
> Gilmer Learning Center
> 30 Southside Church St
> Ellijay, GA 30540
> 
> 
> 
> John Comings wrote:
> > Interesting comments, all of which I agree with. However, no one spoke 
> > to the question I asked.
> >  
> > Again, more money does allow us to serve more people, but to serve 
> > them as we are doing now with existing funds.  If we raise the amount 
> > of money we spend on each student, which we could do by serving fewer 
> > or by getting more money and serving the same number, we do seem 
> > to produce better outcomes as measured by the NRS. We know this from 
> > our existing data, which is limited and weak, but we are stuck with it.
> >  
> > Even with this information, there does seem to be a "time-on-task" 
> > limit that spending more money on each student comes up against. This 
> > argues, to me, that we should be experimenting with other ways of 
> > providing services. Technology is an obvious possibility and linking 
> > instruction more directly to specific outcomes highly valued by our 
> > students might be another. I don't really have the answer to this 
> > question.
> >  
> > One way to think about this is to do a thought experiment. Here it is. 
> > A potential student, someone who has low English, literacy, and/or 
> > math skills or who does not have a high school diploma decides they 
> > want to make a change in their life. What would an adult education and 
> > literacy system look like that would be really good at helping that 
> > person?
> >  
> > I think this system would allow that person to start learning 
> > immediately. It would have a set of learning modes -- online, general 
> > classes, classes focused on specific problems like spelling or 
> > algebra, one-on-one tutoring, and informal learning groups. It would 
> > also have counseling that helps students plan what they need to learn 
> > and how they can best learn it, along with how they are going to spend 
> > enough time-on-task to reach their goals. It would be connected 
> > directly to job training and community colleges, as well as social 
> > services.
> >  
> > What else would this system have? And, my question, how could we 
> > provide these services in such a way that students could spend at 
> > least 250 to 300 hours a year learning?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -- 
> > John P. Comings
> > 25 Central Street
> > Auburndale MA 02466
> > 1.617.335.9839
> > john.comings at gmail.com <mailto:john.comings at gmail.com>
> > http://john.comings.googlepages.com
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