[NLA] In support of a separate AELS Act for the USA

[Thomas Sticht]

>From Tom Sticht

David Hayes asked, "Are we witnessing a dismantling of the AELS?"

This was in response to a message from Christy Guillion of NIFL about
hearings she attended about the TANF and WIA and was really impressed
with the interest expressed by the members of the committee.  She said
that "Senator Wellstone, in particular, seemed interested in how to
improve the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) so that TANF
and WIA programs and funding streams are better coordinated. In his
written statement, Senator Wellstone states "we want to focus on the
intersections between WIA and TANF -- workforce development and welfare
-- and how both of these programs can be made to work better -- together
– to provide meaningful training to workers currently caught in a cycle
of poverty."

My answer to David is that I doubt that Senator Wellstone or other
congressional members of either house think of the AELS as the Adult
Education and Literacy System of the United States of America and
instead think of WIA and its components, including adult education and
literacy provision, as federal "programs and funding streams," just as
Senator Wellstone says.  I believe this results largely because the
adult education and literacy field itself does not have an agreed to
understanding of the AELS and so it is little wonder that policymakers,
who are advised by various special interest groups, like adult
educators, do not think of Title 2 of the WIA as providing partial
federal funding for  an adult education "system", but rather a federal
"program".  

In attempting to overcome this lack of vision and conceptual
shortcoming, I have in the past tried to encourage the field to get
behind and advocate for a coherent vision of the Adult Education and
Literacy System of the United States of America. Following are more
thoughts about this vision an of the AELS. 

What is the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United
States of America?

In earlier postings to the NLA list I have defined the Adult Education
and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States of America as that set
of programs that receive some or all of their funding from the WIA/AEFLA
funds for state grants administered by the U. S. Department of
Education,  Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL). I have also
documented the growth of the AELS from fewer than 400, 000 enrollments
in 1966 to some 2.9 million in FY 2000  (Ron Pugsley, former Director of
DAEL,  in his Thursday Notes for August 8, 2001).
 
To determine the extent of the AELS as defined above in serving the
needs of adults in the United States for adult education and literacy
programs, I have looked at how many students the two largest volunteer
literacy organizations in the United States have served. Visits to
internet web sites indicate that Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA)
reported that from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001 some 350 LVA programs
served around 65,000 students. This is a drop of some 15 percent from
the FY 98-99 enrollments of 77, 867 students. The Laubach organization
web site reports that it has some 1100 member programs and serves about
150, 000 students annually. This is a drop of about 25, 000, 14
percent,  from earlier reports. 

Combined, the foregoing indicate that the LVA and Laubach organizations
now serve around 215, 000 students annually. This is about 7 percent as
many adult students as the 2.9 million served by the AELS, though it is
not clear how many of the LVA/Laubach programs receive AELS funds and
whose students are therefore included in the AELS total. But even if all
215, 000 adults served by LVA and Laubach are subtracted from the AELS
totals, this still leaves 2, 685, 000 adults served by the AELS outside
these charitable organizations. This is over 12 times as many adults
served in the AELS as in these two largest volunteer literacy
organizations. 

Other major partners in serving adult literacy students are the public
libraries of the United States. In a survey of 1999, the American
Library Association reported that 1,067 libraries completed the survey,
giving a response rate of about 73 percent. Of the libraries responding,
30 percent reported that they provided direct instructional services in
adult literacy and 78 percent of these partnered with either LVA or
Laubach. In a report  on the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
web site, a 1995 study of library literacy programs reports that some
53,000 students were being served in the local programs that were
surveyed in the study. How many of these students would also be included
in the LVA and Laubach data for 1995 is not known. So it is not clear
how many additional adults are provided literacy instruction by our
nation’s libraries outside of those included in the LVA and Laubach
totals, and outside those reported in the AELS total.

Other venues for adult literacy education include prisons, businesses,
labor unions, churches, charitable organizations like the Salvation
Army, Young Men’s Christian Association, Young Women’s Christian
Association, and non-profit organizations such as the Urban League,
Wider Opportunities for Women, etc. Again, how many of these have adult
students who are reported in the LVA, Laubach, AELS, library totals
given above I do not know, nor do I have data on how many adult literacy
students may be being served in these various settings who are not
reported in the foregoing totals. 

At the present time, the "600 pound gorilla" of adult education and
literacy provision in the United States appears to be the AELS as I have
defined it above. With the federal funds as a start, the various states
now put in over a billion dollars or so additional funds into the AELS.
With the National Reporting System now in place, the AELS is by far and
away the largest adult education and literacy delivery system in the U.
S. that is systematized by a body of state and federal laws and
regulations and the means for collecting and providing accountability
data to the taxpayers whose dollars support the AELS as the third major
component of publicly supported education in the United States today.

Unfortunately, though the data given above, and the history of the rise
of the AELS in the United States supports the recognition of the AELS as
the publicly supported adult lifelong learning system that it is, there
is little recognition by policymakers and others, including many of
those working in adult literacy education,  that this system is actually
here today. 

In fact, we have seen other arguments on the NLA list that the AELS
should not be construed so "narrowly" as I have defined it above [even
though it apparently serves over 85-90 percent of those adults
identifiable as receiving adult education and literacy services today] 
and that the "system" should include all those working in adult literacy
education no matter where they are or how they are funded or how loosely
organized and unaccountable they are. The goal of those making these
arguments is to be totally inclusive of anyone teaching adult literacy. 

I have not found these arguments convincing because it is not
simultaneously possible to have a "system" while the components are "not
systematized" in any way other than they all say they are teaching adult
literacy. They do not share any rules, regulations, standards, methods
of accountability, or reporting requirements showing how as a component
of a system they are contributing to the outcomes and objectives of the
system, they do not share any conception of who is or is not to be
considered a professional (an idea in itself which fosters
non-inclusiveness by separating the non-professionals from the
professionals), and at least at the present time all those operating
outside of the present AELS as I have defined it seem to reach an
unknown number of adults or if they are the groups identified above they
reach only a small percentage of adults compared to those served by the
AELS. 

Furthermore, at the present time the WIA/AEFLA permits any organization
that wants to work within the rules and regulations of the AELS and
receive taxpayers money to do so. It is simply the case that if one
wants to be a part of the AELS one has to agree to work as a component
in that large system of components in the manner of that system and
towards the ends of that system. This does not mean that any member of
the system cannot question and try to change the system. There are
provisions in the AELS for that to happen at local,  state and federal
levels.  But it does mean that to be a part of the federally and state
funded AELS as I have defined it, one has to agree to operate according
to the rules and regulations as defined by the total membership of the
AELS. 

Note that there is nothing in this idea that prevents any individuals,
organizations or groups of organizations from seeking funding from the
federal or state levels to support the types of adult education and
literacy programs that they want to offer. Nor does it prevent them from
seeking funding from any foundations. It just prevents them from being
funded through the AELS if they do not decide to operate according to
the systematizing features of the AELS. 

Recently, because of the powerful roles that President John F. Kennedy
and Senator Edward Kennedy have played in originating (JFK) and
supporting (EK) the AELS, I have asked for discussion on the NLA list
about the idea of pulling the AELS out of the WIA legislation and
instead funding it in separate legislation as the Kennedy Adult
Education and Literacy System of the United States of America Act. This
would have the benefit of making policymakers and others aware of the
existence of the AELS as an educational system, not just another federal
program, and it would recognize the unique contributions of the Kennedy
family in the formation of the AELS (I understand that Congressman
Joseph Kennedy is a strong supporter of adult education, too). 

To date there has been no discussion of this proposal.
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