[NLA] Discussion: AELS and Higher Ed

Thu Dec 5 17:56:21 EST 2002

David,

Debbie Yoho asked for an opinion regarding AELS being "better-off" with "higher ed" to which you wrote the response shown below.  I agree with your list of opinions in every detail.  A couple additional comments to add to your numbered items.  Thanks so much for writing this pointed reply!

1) Montanta made a point about rural states.  I also live where transportation coupled with distance is a barrier for needy students.  I concur that higher ed would limit the number of eligible adults.  Also:  It's _hard_ to adequately serve those with literacy-level needs in small communities where their confidentiality could so easily be compromised.  What would they feel like if they wanted so desperately to "feel a part of" an educational environment and the _other_ students were there to get credits for a college degree?

2) How broad is the community college environment and funding base nationwide?  Three different representatives in three different states (including myself) have now responded on this thread, all saying community colleges aren't in those states. I scoured our state ed information and found only one community college in the whole state. We have the tech college structure, but no community colleges.

David's comment:

<< "...My point is that the state agency responsible for adult education and 
literacy must demonstrate a commitment to provide the best services ...>>

I believe you have struck upon the essence of the problem.  Where there is NOT commitment to the mission and services of all the different varieties of literacy providers and programs, that is where funding is lacking - where the level of the playing field isn't fair and where the _best_ programs possible for everyone is not offered due to lack of appropriate funding.

Other points: 

Debbie suggested we all start "thinking out of the box."  Then went on to say:

<<" I recognize such
thinking seems unlikely to be initiated by the current administration.   
But those of us who live and breathe adult ed and literacy can surely 
apply ourselves to a little dreaming.  What about George's idea of mandating 
GED prep to K-12, and the community-based small fries to do literacy work
alongside higher ed?  I'm just trying to figure out how each segment of 
the fragmented AELS can be freed to do what each does best.  Perhaps some 
kind of system that fosters specialization would be an improvement." .... >>

<< ".... why can't legislation be crafted to insure a competitive 
process and that a wide range of providers is eligible for the funding, even 
though it flows through higher ed?" >>

Dreaming caused some of us to fall into a quicksand pit called the Dept of Labor a couple years ago - a brand of "specialization" I feared would demolish our state support.  And I was right.  It didn't help our community-based literacy programs at all.  Federal funding for our state is now dissseminated through the DoL. Their "crafted eligibility"  of an application process meant that this local program lost total eligiblility for *any* federal $$.  

Our literacy program is *not* a workplace literacy program.  It would make sense to me that the DoL is interested in supporting work training opportunities, which we aren't.  (A point David Rosen made in his #3 regarfding higher ed also).

Also, related to work training, there's been prior conversation on the NLA about standardized testing vs accountability that tracks and measures the adult learners' gains in life skills rather than grade level.  This change of standards was part of the DoL "crafted eligibility".  And I do believe community colleges would focus on grade level as well.

I just cannot believe that "higher ed" would be any better at coming up with standards that would meet the needs of literacy-level students -- The people who aren't going to affect the community college/tech school "bottom-line"  profit-wise are also going to be less of a focus for finding dollars to serve them, _I_ believe. 

Typical adult learners served here in this literacy program wouldn't be able to afford higher education's tuition fees.  The desire to learn will never be a higher priority than putting bread on the table for the family behind (and with) the adult learner.

In conclusion, David Rosen wrote and _I_ would like to conclude this post with a question regarding this concluding paragraph:

<<...Sustained pressure from the adult education and literacy field demanded, and has supported, this kind of leadership from the Department of Education. In states where the State Education Department does not show this kind of leadership the field can rise up and change this.>>

The question?  How??  If the ears (in states where the DoE isn't "showing [such] leadership") are closed to our individual program's questioning and refusal to play their games doesn't work, what _will_ work?  Who exactly is "the field" and where are they when they are needed in places like this state?  Anybody have answers?  

Our little midwest program and its adult literacy students _should_ be important to the AELS.  It isn't.  They aren't.  We don't count - not in our state numbers, not in the AELS.  Guess we aren't a big enough gorilla - guess we will just continue to be a pesky, little monkey on their ever lovin' backs.

Nancy Hansen

Sioux Falls Area Literacy Council

sfallsliteracy at yahoo.com

(605) 332-BOOK

"David J. Rosen" <DJRosen at theworld.com> wrote:NLA Colleagues,

Debbie Yoho wrote:

>So I put it to the list: What do y'all think? Would those of us who 
>are not already working alongside higher ed be better off if the AELS 
> >money flowed through them, instead of K-12?

I have worked in adult education and literacy for a community college 
and/or a university since 1986, but I would answer Debbie's question 
with an emphatic "no." Here are my reasons:

1. If public adult education and literacy funding is administered by 
state higher education, in all the cases I am familiar with, the funds 
go exclusively to higher education institutions, usually to community 
colleges. This means that community-based organizations, public 
schools, volunteer organizations, faith-based organizations, and 
union-sponsored programs, among others, may not be eligible for funds. 
And this may mean that only people who are able or willing to go to a 
campus or a campus-sponsored agency can get adult education and literacy 
services. That may leave out a lot of folks.

2. Sometimes this means that the funds are not awarded competitively, 
that they are distributed to campuses in a state system as an 
entitlement, so the best programs may not be funded.

3. Sometimes this means that adult education and literacy is focused on 
only work-related basic skills when, for example, community colleges 
only see adult basic education as part of a workforce development 
commitment.

4. When push comes to shove in a state budget process, and higher 
education leadership must decide which line items to fight for, they may 
fight harder for services for enrolled college students. Higher 
education is not likely to put the needs of "pre-college" before 
enrolled college students. This means that at times of budget cutbacks 
-- now, for example -- higher education may not be a vigorous advocate 
for adult education and literacy services.

I do not want to be misunderstood, however, as arguing against funding 
community college or other higher education institutions as providers of 
adult education and literacy services. Some of the best programs are 
located in these institutions, just as some of the best are located in 
CBO's, public schools, faith-based organizations, and volunteer 
organizations. Campus-based programs also offer adult education and 
literacy students the motivation to go on to higher education, an 
important added value.

My point is that the state agency responsible for adult education and 
literacy must demonstrate a commitment to provide the best services, to 
a wide range of provider agencies, to an open and competitive grant 
process, and to reaching a broad range of individuals with a wide 
variety of learning goals.

In my state, the only organization which has shown commitment to a broad 
range of adult students' goals and kinds of adult education and literacy 
providers is the State Department of Education. Its mission is basic 
skills, through the high school level for children -- AND adults. It 
funds adult education and literacy programs in higher education, 
community-based agencies, public schools, volunteer agencies, labor and 
workplace organizations and faith-based programs, among others. But 
this was not always the case. Sustained pressure from the adult 
education and literacy field demanded, and has supported, this kind of 
leadership from the Department of Education. In states where the State 
Education Department does not show this kind of leadership the field can 
rise up and change this.

David J. Rosen
DJRosen at theworld.com

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