[NLA] follow-up to a proposal to "save" the NIFL

[Gail Spangenberg]

Again, I would like to associate myself with Tom's remarks.

I see what Andy has proposed as ill-advised, ill-timed, and divisive 
and I hope it does not go forward.  Not only do I think this battle 
is inappropriate, but I don't think it can be won.  Even if it could 
be, it might well trigger a domino effect that could be the undoing 
of NIFL and do irreparable damage to the adult literacy field.  To 
win a battle where nothing is left standing would no victory at all. 
I would also note that hardly anyone with whom I speak off this 
listserv favors this action.

I see nothing wrong with NIFL embracing literacy for kids -- as long 
as a strong adult focus is clearly and visibly maintained, staffed, 
and funded.  I say this as one of the people who was instrumental in 
creating the National Literacy Act of 1991 and the National Institute 
for Literacy.  Moreover, it's my sense that Sandra Baxter is working 
very hard to protect and develop the adult activities of NIFL.  I 
can't help wondering how Sandra and the superb NIFL adult literacy 
staff must be feeling right now as they follow and try to survive 
this current storm.  I think we owe them better.

As a field, I think we accomplish more by using our meager and 
overstrained resources to coalesce around key legislative funding 
issues and reauthorizations, and finding constructive ways to work 
with the incoming NIFL board and our friends at DAEL, so that current 
and future funding for adult literacy does not further evaporate, and 
along with it the entire NIFL enterprise and other things we have 
worked so hard for and value highly.

Gail Spangenberg
President
Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
1221 Avenue of the Americas - 50th Fl
New York, NY 10020
212-512-2362, fax 212-512-2610

>Andy has painted a pretty dreary scenario for what might happen to the
>NIFL  in the future if the new Director and Board are not from the adult
>literacy field. But I think his concerns, while serious, are not totally
>necessarily disasterous for the NIFL. After all, when Andy took over the
>NIFL as Director, he had no experience working in the adult literacy
>field. He was a staffer for Congress and worked on the Even Start and
>other education legislation as a policy person and picked up his
>information in discussions with adult educators and learners.
>Interestingly, before that his Ph D was in child development, not adult
>education.
>
>Also, top members of the present NIFL staff whom Andy has indicated he
>admires and has a lot of faith in were not adult educators either before
>assuming their NIFL positions. Sandra Baxter's Ph D is in administration
>and social policy and before coming to the NIFL she worked for the U. S.
>General Accounting Office as an evaluator in K-12 education. When she
>started working at NIFL it was as the Director of the Partnership for
>Reading, with an emphasis on children, youth and adults. As Interim
>Director, she now oversees all the NIFL's activities for children, youth
>and adults. Christy Guillion's prior experience before coming to NIFL was
>as a staffer for Congress and earlier she was a 3rd grade teacher. Before
>Christy took over policy for NIFL, Alice Johnson had that position and
>she, too, did not have an adult literacy education background, though I
>believe she had done some tutoring. Like Andy and Christy, Alice was a
>staffer for Congress before joining the NIFL.
>
>What all this suggests to me is that even if a new Director of NIFL does
>not have an adult educator's background, that person can learn a lot about
>adult literacy education by conferring with NIFL staff who have lots of
>experience, with folks at OVAE/DAEL,  and with members of the adult
>literacy education field who will share information with NIFL leadership
>and staff. This type of educational activity can also be accomplished with
>the new NIFL Board.
>
>So while I have earlier stated my concerns that the Board had no
>specialist in adult literacy education, and I share concerns that adult
>literacy education may play a lessor role in the NIFL's future, I don't
>think the change in key players necessarily spells disaster for the field
>at NIFL. What this means is that all of us will have to see to it that the
>new Director and Board are brought up to date as quickly as possible on
>the way we view the field of adult education and literacy development. I'm
>sure ProLiteracy Worldwide will make its views known, and I have already
>started my educational process by sending papers to future Board members.
>Others may want to do this, too.
>
>Tom Sticht
>tsticht at aznet.net
>
>
>
>
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