[NLA] Are You Being Served?

[Catherine B. King]

Hello Tom:

You say, "Unfortunately, as I looked through the report, I
could find no evidence presented to suggest that
practitioners had thought that the research of the first
five years had helped them improve their practice.  I'm
wondering if any of the NLA list members can cite ways
that they or their program or someone they know has
been helped by the first five years of the NCSALL work.
And if so, in what specific ways."

This is a good question.  However, I am wondering if you are
assuming that, because you can find no evidence in the
report, or that NLA list members find it difficult to "cite," that
therefore, (1) no evidence exists,

(2) that members have not learned, engaged in a dialogue, and
changed their understanding and methods according to
what they have learned and discussed--in the way that most
of us, including you, do when we read, learn and discuss
anything, or

(3) that intelligent people even need to "prove" that this is
happening, and to whom?   Do people keep coming to the
programs and do they think they are being improved?   Do our
students and teachers and researchers have no political credit
here?  Or do we add another burden of paper work to justify the
existence of viable, working programs as they stand?  There
may even be financial abuse at some programs (I have
witnessed this myself), however, those should be worked on at
the individual level--not at the level of policy where one-size-fits-all,
and the "All" is assumed to be inadequate unless "proven."

Also, if someone in a program wants to ignore an important
dialogue with the research, they can just as easily ignore or
fudge remote accounting (statistics, etc.) procedures.  The
point is, I don't think the statement in the report is
unreasonable or inadequate at all:

"Its measurement of success remains the same as well:
Practitioners can cite ways that NCSALL has helped them
to improve practice."  (p.100)

And if there is a gap in the relationship between NCSALL
research and practitioners  (which is reasonable to assume
a wide range of orders here) it's an issue of communications
of research and not necessarily of development and support
of research and reporting.   And THAT is a two-way street that
is not entirely in the hands of any organization, private or
otherwise. Communications and "dissemination" between
resource offices, etc., is a continuing problem in any big
organization.  Underneath it all, I'm not sure it would be so
good for any of us to make a business out of education?

Also, perhaps you could turn your critical questions on the
politicians and policy makers--are they paying any attention
at all to the gap between research and policy?  Is that a
research problem, or a communications problem, or is it
rather a political problem?    Does the gap mean we should
get another raft of politicians, or just find out how many
learned a little bit and how many learned a lot and how exactly
they applied it?  all of this without anecdote, of course.
I'm sure they would like to spend some time filling out that
form, or even being asked those kinds of questions.

I will address your other concern about anecdotes in another
note.

Regards,

Catherine King
Adjunct Instructor
Department of Education
National University
San Diego, CA


----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas Sticht <tsticht at znet.com>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 7:15 PM
Subject: [NLA] Are You Being Served?


> Are You Being Served? *
>
> A new report from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and
> Literacy is available (NCSALL Report No. 23). Entitled "The First Five
> Years," the report summarizes the research projects, major findings, and
> recommendations for the years 1996 - 2001 (copies of the report are
> available at http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu). According to the report,
> total funding for the NCSALL for the first five years was around
> $13,500,000. Funding for the next five years is anticipated to be about
> $16,500,000.
>
> The report says that "The mission of the National Center for the Study of
> Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) is to conduct and disseminate
> research that helps build effective, cost-efficient adult education and
> literacy programs." (p. 3)  Regarding how the NCSALL determines whether or
> not it has achieved these goals, the last page and last sentence of the
> body of the report states that, over the next five years,  "Its
> measurement of success remains the same as well: Practitioners can cite
> ways that NCSALL has helped them to improve practice."  (p.100)
>
> Unfortunately, as I looked through the report, I could find no evidence
> presented to suggest that practitioners had thought that the research of
> the first five years had helped them improve their practice.  I'm
> wondering if any of the NLA list members can cite ways that they or their
> program or someone they know has been helped by the first five years of
> the NCSALL work. And if so, in what specific ways.
>
> I'd also be interested in knowing if NLA list members feel that anecdotal
> reports by practitioners is a suitable way to evaluate the success of our
> only federally funded, national adult education and literacy research
> center in achieving its stated mission of helping to "build effective,
> cost-efficient adult education and literacy programs."
>
> And parenthetically, does anyone recall how the previous national research
> center, the National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL) whose work for five
> years before the NCSALL took the federal R& D center contract must have
> cost over $10,000,000, helped improve their practice and/or the operations
> of the AELS?
>
> All this is to say, I wonder just how we might go about deciding how well
> our national R & D center research funds are serving the needs of the
> field? What do NLA list members think?
>
> Tom Sticht
> * With a nod of thanks to Brit Night on the Public Broadcasting System
(PBS)
>
>
>
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