[NLA] Thursday Notes, 3/21/02

[Tilghman, Rose]

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

March 21, 2002				
___________________________________


Assistant Secretary 
To Testify on 
Workforce Transition

Assistant Secretary Carol D'Amico is slated to testify at House FY '03
appropriations hearings based on the theme The High School and Transition
into the Workforce April 25. In a groundbreaking step, also testifying with
her will be the Assistant Secretaries representing the Offices of Elementary
and Secondary Education, Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, and
Postsecondary Education as well as Education Research and Improvement.
Following her appearance, Dr. D'Amico's testimony will be posted on our new
website at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/AdultEd/index.html

DOL Policy to Revise 
Performance Targets

States can revise agreed upon performance levels during the year in which
they apply under certain conditions, according to a new policy set by the US
Department of Labor. Under the new policy, a Governor may request a revision
in one or more agreed upon performance levels at any time before the end of
the program year for which the revised levels would apply. Unanticipated
circumstances that could support such a change include changes in economic
conditions, participant characteristics, and service delivery design. The
rigorous review process for requests is outlined at http://www.doleta.gov
OVAE is working on a similar policy for current-year revisions.  

Language Assistance
Beneficial, Expensive

The Office of Management and Budget's new report on the cost-benefit of
language assistance for limited English-speaking persons (LEPs) says that
assistance does expand access to programs for these individuals--but it can
be expensive. Language assistance can help make the distribution of
government services to LEPs more effective, especially in public health and
safety programs, the report says. It recommends an emphasis on assistance
for Spanish-speakers, the majority of LEPs. Clear federal standards for
providing services are key to cost control, the report indicates. See
http://www.omb.gov/inforeg/regpol.html  Scroll down to Report to Congress.

Do Adults Have
To Get Old?

Recent research shows that degeneration once thought to be inevitable in
"old age" may not be so inevitable after all. There's evidence that many of
aging's negative consequences actually may be the result of poor choices we
made earlier in life, not the result of disease. So there's hope to control
them. One thing to do, according to a Newsweek recap of research--is learn!
Education has been shown to protect against cognitive decline in people
under 65 and may stave off mental decline even later. See
http://www.msnbc.com/news/621399.asp


____________________________________________________________________________
___________________
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/

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/nla-nifl-archive/attachments/20020318/8654d8c0/attachment.htm