[NLA] Reauthorization of WIA and Homeland Security

[Thomas Sticht]

Research Note                 September 7, 2002

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

Homeland Security Part 2: Renaming the Workforce Investment Act of 1998
the Adult Education, Literacy and Workforce Investment Act.

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, which includes Title 2: The
Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) is coming up for
reauthorization. It seems to me that given the present situation in which
federal and state governments find themselves facing deep budget deficits,
the WIA/AEFLA should be renamed the Adult Education, Literacy and
Workforce Investment Act and the policy emphasis should be changed to
emphasize the priority of adult education and literacy development by
showing how these educational activities  contribute to multiple returns
to investments, including but not limited to workforce development.

Placing education  and literacy development before workforce investment
provides the basis for a policy of lifelong learning for our nation’s
under served and under educated adults that recognizes the value of adult
education and literacy development across the life span for a number of
purposes: personal, spiritual, health, family development, and so forth,
and it helps frame more clearly just how adult education and literacy
development providers can help our nation meet both our needs for
workforce development for economic growth and our social and defense needs
for homeland security.

Following is an illustration of how adult educators can work to improve
both adult’s basic skills (reading and mathematics) and contribute to
their workforce development  through the teaching of knowledge useful in
homeland security job training.

TEACHERS, BOOKS, COMPUTERS, AND PEERS:Teaching Reading and Mathematics in
the Content Areas  of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Warfare

>From February of 1983 through September 1986 I directed a team that
developed on-duty reading and mathematics education programs for the U. S.
Navy. The development team took an integrated communications technology
approach and taught in a classroom that integrated the use of teachers,
books, computers, and peer instruction. In addition, a functional context
education (FCE) approach was followed in which Navy personnel with basic
skills in the 5th to 9th grade levels range were taught reading and
mathematics skills using important content knowledge for progression from
entry level worker to supervisory levels of rank .

One body of knowledge concerned the control of damage under nuclear,
biological, or chemical (NBC) warfare. This material was written at a high
level, 10th through 16th grade levels using estimates made with a
readability formula. Following is a brief sample:

Quote: "Specific NBC countermeasure equipment is part of each
ship’s or station’s allowance. The equipment assigned to ships for
the purpose of personnel protection against contamination include:
.
The detection of nuclear radiation is of paramount importance to you
because serious injury or death can result from exposure to these
invisible rays and particles
.(decontamination materials include:
high test hypochlorite  (HTH) 
 a high test calcium hypochlorite

"Unquote

By developing a 45 hour reading program using these materials matched to
the functional contexts of the Navy personnel’s career advancement, we
were able to show gains in job knowledge and job-related reading skills 
across a wide range of general reading levels (3rd to 12th grade reading
on the Gates-MacGinitie reading tests) while demonstrating that a general
reading program did not produce such improvements in work related
knowledge and reading. We also demonstrated improvements in general
reading on the G-M reading tests.

Other programs of this nature indicate that adult educators can get
"double duty dollars" for their educational funds by teaching the basic
literacy and numeracy skills in the functional contexts of health for
older adults, parenting for family education and literacy development, and
job skills for workforce development.

Getting "double duty dollars" for adult education and literacy development
funds in a time of deficit spending provides a strong policy position for
rewriting the WIA to place Adult Education and Literacy Development first
and uppermost, as suggested above, when the WIA is considered for
reauthorization.

References: Sticht, T. et al. (1986, February). Teachers, books,
computers, and peers: integrated communications technologies for adult
literacy development. Monterey, CA: U. S. Naval Postgraduate School;
Sticht, T. (1997). Functional context education: Workshop resource
notebook. Available online at www.nald.ca under full text documents
searched by S for my last name.



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