NLA Discussion: What is the Right Program Size?

[Sherry Royce]

David:

How rigid are we getting?  I thought improvement in the quality of adult
education offerings and, as a result, the quality of learner's lives as
workers, parents and citizens (and incidentally lifelong learners) was what
adult literacy , ESOL, and basic skills was all about.

Let's get away from this industrial age mentality and into the information
era where very little is limited by size except in terms of our imagination.

Sherry Royce
1938 Crooked Oak Drive
Lancaster, PA 17601
Voice: 717.569.1663    Fax: 717.560.9903
sjroyce at earthlink.net


-----Original Message-----
From: nla-approval at world.std.com [mailto:nla-approval at world.std.com]On
Behalf Of David J Rosen
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 1999 7:31 PM
To: nla at world.std.com
Subject: NLA Discussion: What is the Right Program Size?


NLA Colleagues,

What do you think is the right size for an adult literacy, basic
education, secondary education or ESOL program?  Can a program be too
small?  Can it be too big?  Should public and private funders also be
thinking about this, and should they only support programs of at least a
certain minimum size?  Should they refuse to fund a program which is too
big?  And as you think about this size question, do you think every
program should provide a certain minimum number of levels of education, or
all levels? (e.g. all six/twelve levels as defined by the NRS?)

Should every program provide certain basic support services?  What are
they?  Should every program.....what else?

Should we encourage programs to develop tight collaborative agreements to
provide minimum levels and kinds of services?  Are collaborative
arrangements as good as/better than/ not as good as/just different from
having one large program provide all levels and kinds of services?

Are there some good reasons why we should not set some minimum size or
maximum size?

Have any state, federal or private funders wrestled with these questions?
If so what is their thinking about this?

Let's hear everyone's perspectives -- what do *you* think?

David J. Rosen
NLA List Moderator