[NLA] Research in Adult Education & Literacy, serious research, validatio...

[LitNetJose@aol.com]

Yikes!  If I listen too hard to what I am reading here, I imagine that I will 
get to where I don't know the questions to ask, much less, the supposedly 
elusive answers.  

The questions that Andres poses, are as follows:

"Should we validate our field through hard scientific research, or argue that 
there are other ways to validate our work?"

Well, for years and years, many of us have discussed the need to educate 
legislators and other potential supporters about the various ways in which 
our services help people.  Some of those progress areas are not measureable.  
And, unfortunately, it appears, that we have failed to educate the 
legislators and others and are now on this track of generating hard data 
related to literacy advancement.  The two do not match...or we would have 
done it a long time ago...and would not be having this discussion.  

"Should we strive to recognize the work of our teachers and students and 
validate their opinions, or shall we consider them invalid because they do 
not fall in the category of hard, scientific reasoning?"

Maybe I have come into this discussion too late.  The field is what the field 
is.  If we are honest with ourselves, we will make some admissions about our 
work:

1.  If we pursue hard science and hard numbers and such, it is because we 
know that our funding is becoming more and more tied to such data.  Teachers 
teach.  Everything else is a distraction.

2.  Real teachers care about assessing student goals and learning needs and 
are dedicated to prescribing strategies for dealing with student needs for 
successful learning...which will result in the student functioning better in 
today's society.  As a result of goal setting, successful coping with 
learning challenges, and other effective teaching, there will be positive 
outcomes, some measureable and some not.  

Real teachers do not care about responding to the funding source, even though 
they know they have to and try to. 

3.  I don't understand how "recognizing the work of our teachers and students 
and [validating] their opinions" results in their work becoming valid.  I 
don't know what that means.

Our newest students apparently know better than we do.  They will tell you 
that their lives have been changed by the services.  Are we, as the teaching 
agents of our field, so above it all, on a basic human, student, and teacher 
level, that these testimonials are not validation enough?  Is the customer no 
longer right?  

The problem is, the customer is no longer the student.  The customer is the 
funding source, and the government, and whomever is responsible for the 
careless "welfare to work" smallmindness that hurt are nation's most 
dedicated heads of households who needed help the most and responded to our 
whims...and U.S. businesses...that don't care if people can read and write 
and that their families do better, as long as the workers are productive and 
competitive.

The average student and teacher is not seriously awaiting the field's 
recognition and validation. I wouldn't and don't.

I am appreciative of the discussion on serious research, and the points that 
are being made in favor of teachers, students, and in proving that we are 
doing what we say we are doing, and using materials and methodologies that 
are somewhat proven to be successful sometimes at helping some people 
whenever!!!...and I apologize if I sound annoyed, but...it just sometimes 
seems healthy to remember how much our national educational leadership keeps 
us all dancing and jumping through hoops.

I am still trying to get over email which is indicating that our funds are 
going to be diverted elsewhere and that, by some invisible evolution, there 
are people out there who are revising, in word and action, the intent of the 
National Literacy Act and the function of the National Institutute for 
Literacy.  So,  yeah, I'm changing the subject.

You may now continue with your regular programming!

Kathleen...thank you for your very down-to-earth, clear and easy to 
understand summary of the discussion.

Jose Cruz
Network Director
California Literacy
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