[NLA] Implement this immediately!

[PDRNRI@aol.com]

Everyone,

I didn't see the same things in Tom's post as Dougie or Catherine.  It didn't seem to me that Tom was writing out of a resistance to change or to acknowledging the depth of meaning in education.  I got the sense that he was commenting on the gap which exists between research and practice and the difficult burden placed upon practitioners in finding meaning and application in the flood of research currently being produced.

Having been directly involved in NCSALL's effort to bring research to practice for several years,  I agree that it is difficult to expect practitioners to contend with the wealth of information being presented to them (as well as the accountability demands being placed upon them), given the lack of professional development resources available to practitioners.  Incorporating such complex findings into practice takes practice, and adult ed.'s professional development systems (where they exist) struggle to offer any kind of sustained practice and guidance.  
In defense of research - Clearly the need for research into what makes for effective adult education is necessary.  We must continue to theorize and experiment to improve.  Moreover, we can't expect research to always be capable of having an immediate impact on practice.  Researchers can be commended for their efforts at bearing in mind the need to address practice, and if their efforts seem disconnected or difficult to apply (as Tom's letter impies), this only speaks to the fact that there is a missing piece to the puzzle.  In K-12 education, there is a university-based, in-depth preservice professional development system which functions to bring research into practice.   For a whole range of reasons - some having to do with our marginalized status, others having to do with the differing nature of our work - we in adult ed. have no such system.  If we do not address this gap by strengthening our efforts at professional development, there will never be a bridge between adult education research and practice. 
 Without such a bridge, both fields suffer.

David Hayes
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