[NLA] Reauthorization of WIA and Homeland Security

[Chris Francisco]

I completely agree with this thinking.  Thank you for publicly sharing this 
position and direction for the enterprise.

Peace,

Chris Francisco

At 10:31 AM 10/7/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>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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