[NLA] Thursday Notes, 7/4/02

[Tilghman, Rose]

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

July 4, 2002				
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Senate Marks Up
Welfare Bill

The Senate Finance Committee approved a welfare reauthorization last week by
a vote of 13-8. The bill, not yet numbered and drafted only as an outline,
provides level funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) block grant, and continues funding TANF supplemental grants and the
contingency fund. The outline does not show a superwaiver proposal. The
Senate bill would require states to have 70 percent of their welfare
recipients engaged in work by FY 2007. Recipients would work 30 hours a
week, as opposed to the 40-hour requirement in the House bill. The Senate
bill broadens activities counted as work to include expanded vocational
education and job search, and time-limited rehabilitative services such as
substance abuse treatment. No date yet for Floor consideration. See
http://finance.senate.gov/press/pr062502.pdf

KY Doing More
With, well...More

Our recent site review in Kentucky turned up something interesting: plenty
of state staff--35 to be exact--working on adult education. The Kentucky
Department for Adult Education and Literacy, part of the Workforce
Development Cabinet, has three divisions. These include the Workforce
Investment, Program Services and Management Services Divisions. The first
two assign specialists to each of six administrative regions in the state,
providing technical assistance and support for workplace literacy and adult
education programs respectively. The management group keeps things running.
This staffing pattern provides plenty of contact praised by local providers
in the state's 120 mostly rural counties. The Cabinet has a unique
partnership with the Council of Postsecondary Education (CPE) for policy
oversight to smooth the transition from adult education to postsecondary.
Adult education enrollments are up 23% over the last two years and GEDs are
up 11% for 2001. Contact <mailto:cheryld.king at mail.state.ky.us> 

Are We Closing 
the Digital Divide?

Folks with less education, those in rural areas, and minority individuals
are gaining computer access, says recent research summarized in the
Washington Post. UCLA researchers found that in 2000, 60.4% of adults
responding who had not completed high school said they used the Internet,
but 64.8% of them said they used it in 2001. Internet use by high school
grads increased from 53.8% to 59.5% in that period. A US Commerce Department
study showed that in 2001 more than half of the total population--and a
similar portion of the rural population--had Internet access. A Pew Research
Center analysis showed that in 2000 Internet access for African-Americans
spiked 13% to 36%, while the number for whites grew 8% to 50%. The divide
still exists when measured by income, according to the Commerce Department
analysis, especially if only home access is counted. UCLA researchers say
there are significant differences in the skill levels of new users and those
already online. See http://www.washingtonpost.com  Click on Technology and
search for "digital divide."

FL Has Email
Newsletter on LD

If your learners have learning disabilities, take a look at Florida's new
email newsletter on the subject for new tips and pointers. Discussion
includes implementing Bridges to Practice, using assistive technology and
addressing learning disabilities of limited English speakers. See
http://www.floridatechnet.org/bridges/newsltr8.pdf

No Shop Talk

No Shop Talk in July! Tune in on August 1.

____________________________________________________________________________
___________________
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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