[NLA] Thursday Notes, 2/14/02

[Tilghman, Rose]

>From the Division of Adult Education and Literacy
Office of Vocational and Adult Education
Editor: Sarah Newcomb
Production: Rose Tilghman

February 14, 2002				
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President's '03
Budget Shifts Early 
Childhood Focus

President Bush's FY 2003 budget request sent to Capitol Hill last week
focuses on investments that the Administration expects to improve children's
reading achievement most effectively. These include Title I and the
President's literacy initiative, Reading First. The goal is to support
reading practices proven effective, so that all children can read at grade
level by the end of third grade. The budget requests $11.35B, up one billion
from FY 2002 levels, for Title I to help raise student achievement in the
nation's most impoverished communities. The Reading First program, initiated
through the No Child Left Behind Act, funds states to support the most
proven reading practices. The budget provides $1B for this program, a $100M
million increase over FY 2002. It also includes $75M for Early Reading
First, the same level as FY 2002, to develop model programs to help children
in high-poverty communities prepare for school. Even Start is funded at
$200M, a reduction of $50M from current levels.

>From Point "ABE"
to College Transition

How can we help adult learners make a smooth transition to postsecondary
programs? The New England ABE-to-College Transition Project can help. The
project prepares GED and Adult/External Diploma Program graduates to enter
and succeed in college. To date, the project has served 267 adults. Of
entrants, 61% completed the 12-14 week transition course. Of completers,
nearly three-fourths entered a postsecondary institution. The project grew
from five to 21 programs this fall with a 2002 grant of $805,420 from the
Nellie Mae Education Foundation which funded the effort last year. Programs
offer instruction in reading, writing, math, and computers as well as
education counseling. Peer mentoring is provided once learners are in
college. Mentors help newcomers get acclimated to college culture and
provide emotional support and guidance. Contact
<mailto:skallenbach at worlded.org> 

Is Learners' Outlook 
Part of Adult Brains?

Brains of learners as well as the rest of us may be hard-wired for negative
or positive outlooks on life says new study in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences reported in the Washington Post. A region of
the brain a few inches behind the bridge of the nose may be the neurological
center that predisposes people to anxiety, irritability, anger and a range
of other unpleasant moods. But take heart. The study's Vanderbilt University
researchers say anxiety is often helpful to detect when you are in danger or
taking too big a risk. The study is part of a broad effort to use imaging
technology to pinpoint brain areas responsible for various emotions. See
http://www.washingtonpost.com and go to Health for February 12.

Resources for 
Disabilities Online

If you're short on strategies for working with learning--and
other--disabilities, try
http://www.childrenshospital.org/ici/icinet/index.html for some new takes on
research to practice by the Institute for Community Inclusion. The Institute
is based at Boston Children's Hospital with additional offices at the
University of Massachusetts, Boston.

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___________________
A Fact Sheet from the Division of Adult Education and Literacy
Office of Vocational and Adult Education
OVAE Homepage http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/

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