[NLA] Research in Adult Literacy Education

[AWilder106@aol.com]

(continued)

Dear Nancy,

Response to more of your points.

1)  You are angry that fed requirements are not covered by money to implement 
them, for example, adult learners who need educational/psychological 
evaluations before they can get learning accommodations.

I know something about this, having tracked down a licensed psychologist at a 
New York City hospital who can do evaluations for $900+.  This is down from 
another evaluator in another hospital who would have charged $2000.

Additional concern of mine--who would have the training to implement the 
teaching/learning guidelines for this student especially if this is a 
volunteer organization?  Big problem.

2)  "Field evaluators" (as in going out to South Dakota PLUS adult literacy 
experience)  intrinsically would have more knowledge than people (no matter 
their academic/government level) who have not done this work.  This points to 
a simple powerful fact, "been there done that" supports the validity of 
evaluation using a field work methodology.  

3)  There are certainly enough academics hanging around the field to give 
academic validity to an evaluation of this sort; some have really good track 
records and are decent people, too.

(I asked a neuroscience conference organizer recently how she accounted for 
the feeling of happiness that suffused the sessions, AND the high level 
discussions--"We only invite kind people to present."  (Conference included 
Marion Diamond and others of like ilk.)

4)  I don't think you would object to evaluators sharing with you 
information, for example, that could better help you students learn--and this 
would be from the outside.  

5)  Your prescreening interview, as well as your registration and assessment 
appointment where you ask what they want to learn, etc., might be a useful 
technique for other programs in situations like yours to use. ( This suggests 
pooling resources from a number of programs--techniques, tricks of the trade, 
whatever.)

6)  Federal money for evaluation?  Can't answer that, others on the list will 
have knowledge of the best places to write to for federal grants.  In numbers 
there is power--that's "numbers" as in money and committed people, more 
pooled resources.

Thanks for laying it out on the line.

Andrea

    

        

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