[NLA] "Leading from the Middle" report

[Debbie Yoho]

Fay's question about graduate programs--whether they are preparation for 
"adult ed" or "adult basic ed", prompts me to offer the following:

I finally just finished a careful reading of the report from the Council
for the Advancement of Adult Literacy called "Leading from the Middle:  The
State Role in Adult Education and Literacy" written by Forrest Chisholm
with an intro by Gail Spanenberg.  The 37-page report was mentioned on this
list in August and can be downloaded from the CAAL website,
www.caalusa.org. 

This report has had a profound effect on much of my thinking about
advocacy.  In fact, I think its findings and suggestions are so important,
I am in the process of writing an executive summary of it to distribute to
my Board of Directors.  (In case anyone would like a copy of that summary,
email me privately in January--I haven't done it yet!)

The issue of "what do we mean by adult ed"? and just exactly how we should
define the AELS is addressed, which connects the report to Fay's comment.  

I am surprised that so far as I can recall there has been little comment
here about the report.  It is worth careful study and full discussion, and
this is the place to do it.  The report convinced me that our primary need
in advocacy is leadership, and the last section, which proposes how to go
about developing that leadership, will, I hope, become a foundation to
position my Board for advocacy at both the state and local levels.  For the
first time, I have a clear vision of what we can and cannot do from where
our perspective.  

I urge everyone on this list who has not done so to take the time to study
"Leading from the Middle".

Deborah W. Yoho
Co-moderator, NIFL-Health Listserv
President, SC Adult Literacy Educators
Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council
2728 Devine Street,  Columbia, SC  29205
803-765-2555   Fax  803-779-8417   dwyoho at earthlink.net



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