[NLA] Discussion: AELS and Higher Ed

[David J. Rosen]

Colleagues,

The correct URL for America' Literacy Directory is

	http://www.literacydirectory.org/

David J. Rosen
NLA List Moderator

David J. Rosen wrote:
> Nancy Hansen and other NLA Colleagues,
> 
> Nancy wrote in response to my statement about Massachusetts that:
> 
>     ...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?
> 
> I have written -- from my point of view, of course -- how this happened 
> in Massachusetts.  You'll find my writings at:
> 
>     http://www.alri.org/advocacydocs.html#MApubpolhistory
> and
> 
>     http://www.alri.org/present/nyacce.htm
> 
> And you'll see that when we started our advocacy work in the early-mid 
> 1980's we weren't talking to open ears. (Others are also writing now 
> about the development of the Massachusetts adult education and literacy 
> system, and about how advocacy helped to bring this about.)
> 
> You'll find information about how some other states have been doing 
> adult literacy advocacy at:
> 
>     http://www.alri.org/advocacydocs.html
> 
> I have replies to your specific questions, too:
> 
> I don't think an individual program can bring about the needed changes 
> in a state. Usually when adult literacy advocacy has succeeded it has 
> been because a group of committed individuals -- perhaps a half-dozen to 
> a couple dozen -- from several different kinds of programs (volunteer, 
> public school, CBO, community college, organized labor and other kinds) 
> have come together to fight for change -- and have stayed in for the 
> long haul, a decade or more, year after year, holding tight to their 
> goals -- together -- (as my friend and colleague Phil Rabinowitz has 
> written, like bulldogs) and never letting go.
> 
> I don't know who "the field" is in South Dakota. A quick search on 
> America's Literacy Directory
> 
>     http://www.americasliteracydirectory.org
> 
> 
> produced 18 adult literacy (reading and writing) programs within a 
> hundred miles of Sioux Falls (several of them are in Minnesota.)  Many, 
> I noticed, are literacy councils. Perhaps that's a good place to start 
> to build a state coalition.  In any case, meeting regularly, 
> face-to-face,  is necessary to build understanding and trust, and to 
> forge an agenda together.
> 
> These are important questions, Nancy.  I wonder if others on the NLA 
> list would like to chime in -- drawing on experience from advocacy in 
> their states.  Pennsylvania?  New Jersey? Ohio? Others?
> 
> David J. Rosen
> <DJRosen at theworld.com>

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