[Fwd: Re: [NLA] Evidence-based practice in Adult Literacy Edu cation]

[Awilderast@aol.com]

Heide and others,

I suggest that the key questions are still:

1)  What are the best ways to teach adults to read and write better?

2)  How do we measure this?

I think that unless we attend to these we are not attending to anything, and 
yes, I really think that.  When a storm comes along you want a roof over your 
head, and we are in a storm and we need a roof.

I think that all our other questions are spin-offs of these questions or 
paths to these questions.  Of course there are assumptions built into these 
questions, but often we spend time hassling over the assumptions without 
seeing these as our essential questions.  I know that some will say, "Well, 
unless we pay attention to the assumptions, we aren't paying attention to the 
questions," but we really get driven off course frequently on this list by 
tangents.

How adults learn to read and write better is CENTRAL to policy formulation, 
and that is what we are talking about here.  This is our roof.

I have often felt split on this list because we seem to separate policy 
formulation from reading and writing.  We say, give us more money, but we 
don't say "We know how to do this, and this is what we will be using the 
money for."

If I were using a graphic organizer, I would put these two questions in the 
CENTER  of a piece of paper, with a circle around them, and lines going off 
in all directions with the assumptions, additional questions, that lead from 
or go to the central two questions.

Andrea
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