[NLA] NIFL Board nominees

[DEBBYDAM@aol.com]

Below is a letter being adapted by NYC programs who want to weigh in on the 
lack of adult educators among Bush's nominees.  Please feel free to use this 
letter in any way you wish, changing, editing, adding, etc.  The letter is 
followed by some statistics compiled by LAC that you may want to weave into 
your arguments.  In writing this letter, I tried to be mindful of the Bush 
priorities folks on the list have observed, including family literacy and 
immigrant ESOL classes.  For addresses for those at the top of the list, go 
to NIFL's web site at www.nifl.gov.  Those who think the letter should go 
elsewhere should post addresses of others in government who can be helpful.


To:            PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Honorable Roderick Paige, Secretary,U.S. Department of Education 
Honorable Elaine Chao, Secretary,U.S. Department of Labor  
Honorable Thomas Thompson,Secretary, U.S. Department of Health & Human 
Services  
And Other Members of theInteragency Management Group
 
          Weare writing with regard to nominations for the Board of the 
National Institutefor Literacy (NIFL).  While weappreciate the inclusion of 
literacy experts and nationally recognizedresearchers on reading among the 
nominees, we are concerned that no one withparticular expertise in adult 
literacy appears on the list.  In order to effectively advance NIFL’smission, 
we feel that its Board mustinclude individuals who have experience and 
expertise in adult, family andworkplace literacy.
   
The intent and language of the legislationthat created the NIFL, including 
the authorization for an Advisory Board, isclearly focused on adult and 
family literacy.  There are many respected researchers, policy makers, 
practitioners, andsuccessful adult students whose presence on the Board would 
ensure that NIFL’swork continues to reflect its purpose and the findings of 
research and practicein our field.   The current list ofnominees, many of 
whom we would be happy to have as advisers, needs the balanceof those who 
have devoted their professional lives to ensuring that Americanscontinue to 
have the opportunity to learn, regardless of age.  
          While adult educators have much tolearn from and share with those 
who understand how children learn to read,write and compute, we work with a 
population challenged in ways that childrenare not.  Adult literacy students 
mustfind the time to study and attend classes while fulfilling the demands of 
work,family, religious and community obligations. Many of those who come to 
ourprograms left school early to begin working, due to family hardships; 
othershad undiagnosed learning disabilities that hindered their progress.  
Still others are immigrants to ourcountry who did not have the opportunities 
for schooling that are available inthe United States.  In fact, themajority 
of those who attend adult education programs funded through Title IIof the 
Workforce Investment Act are enrolled in English for Speakers of 
OtherLanguages (ESOL) classes.  They come toour programs after long days in 
garment factories, hotels, or othermanufacturing and service jobs.  MostESOL 
classes have long waiting lists, due to the desires of thousandsimmigrants to 
learn English and gain citizenship.  It is the adult literacy system that is 
charged with providingthe means to help new Americans achieve these goals.  
Whether native born or immigrant, alladults who seek literacy are professing 
their belief in the American Dream, andacting on that belief by fitting 
education into their hard and busy lives.  They deserve to have their 
interests- aslearners who are also workers, parents and community 
members-represented onNIFL’s Board.
          The field of adult literacy is rich inrespected institutions, 
careful research, dedicated teachers and determined,persistent students.  The 
undersignedbelong to or are familiar with key professional organizations in 
the field thatcan suggest nominees to balance the proposed slate with 
professionals from ourfield.  It is critical that the onlyfederal agency 
dedicated exclusively to the needs of adults who seek to improvetheir 
literacy have a Board that includes researchers, 
practitioners,administrators, and learners intimately familiar with adult 
literacy issues.  Our institutions, like the learners weserve, have issues 
and constraints unique to adult education.  For example, the amount of public 
fundingallocated per adult student is less than 10% of that provided for K-12 
learnersannually.  Helping adult learners, whocome to school voluntarily and 
with the pressures of adult responsibilities, topersist as learners is a 
challenge unique to adult education, as is thecreation of curriculum that 
reflects and supports adults as workers, parents,and citizens.       
 
          If ever there was a time wheneducators could afford to be concerned 
only with the needs of those aged 16 orbelow, that time is surely past.  
Mostbusinessmen will attest that in order to remain competitive, our 
industriesneed workers who are lifelong learners.  Adult literacy is the 
first rung on the ladder of lifelonglearning for those who did not learn to 
read and write as children, and it isthe foundation of the critical skills 
needed for democratic participation.  
 
Perhaps most importantly, parent literacy andeducation level is the single 
strongest predictor of educational success amongchildren.  In this sense, 
every missedopportunity to provide expert direction to adult literacy has the 
unfortunateresult of undermining the efforts of our K-12 schools.  
Conversely, listening to the experts whowork with adult learners, and to 
adult learners themselves, pays off in theworkplace, the home, the community 
and the K-12 classroom.  
 
We ask that the NIFL Board reflect theimportance of adult literacy education 
specifically, by giving adult educationresearchers, practitioners and 
students a voice in the future of the NIFL.  Only this kind of inclusion will 
preserveNIFL’s unique mission of supporting access to quality literacy 
education acrossthe lifespan.
 
 
Sincerely, 
Waitinglist numbers  for ESL (which should indicate need):
Compiled for a Senate hearing in March, 96:
California 4000
Colorado 3000
Florida 200 (for ESL)
Illinois 1846
Massachusetts 15000
New Jersey 829 (ESL)
New York (they reported 1100, but a 99 count by me in NYC for all services
came up with
an estimate of 11000)
Pennsylvania 500
Virginia 500
Washington 3000 (ESL)

>From the NAEPDC web site:

The Relationship with LiteracynAmerican businesses lose more than $60
billion in productivity each year due to employees' lack of basic skills

U.S experts on workplace literacy have estimated the direct and indirect
costs of illiteracy on the American Economy to be $225 billion a year in
lost productivity.

Approximately 20 percent of American workers are limited by low literacy
levels and 75 percent of unemployed adults have reading and writing
difficulties.

The number of companies reporting skilled worker shortages almost doubled
between 1995 and 1998, from 27% to more than 47%.

Elementary teachers reported: -90% of children showed gains in overall
school performance -2 out of 3 children talked more positively about school
and learning -60% were reading more books  when parents participated in
family literacy programs.

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