No subject

part of the AELS as that acronym has been defined earlier by me. From my
point of view, they are also not a "system," which my Oxford American
Dictionary defines as "A set of connected things or parts that form a
whole or work together" and goes on to talk about a system as a set of
rules or principles or practices forming a particular philosophy or form
of government, etc.I don’t view the array of six sectors discussed in the
Leading From the Middle report as meeting the idea of a system as "a set
of connected things" and they don’t appear to me to work together by the
same rules, regulations, etc.

Deborah also said: "Howver, Tom has a point regarding confusion.  For my
part, I shall use the terms  "AELS" adding the adjectives "WIA-funded"
when speaking of only WIA programs, and just the vague term "system" when
talking with colleagues  about lifelong learning programs when I mean all
providers (direct and  in-direct), which is most of the time. When I read
"AELS" in Tom's posts,  I'll assume he means WIA-funded, as he certainly
has a right to define his own terms in his own offerings."

My response: I do not use the AELS to mean "WIA-funded", instead that is
how the NCSALL report on Five Years defined the AELS and that includes
both WIA Title 1 and Title 2 programs. Note that the NCSALL use of the
AELS is also different from how CAAL used the AELS to refer to six sectors
of government programs that include some adult education and literacy
provision.

It was to prevent this sort of confusion that I requested that the name
and acronym Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) be restricted to
the use that I originally created them for. If NCSALL, CAAL, Deborah or
any one else wishes to refer to WIA-funded adult education and literacy
programs or the six sectors of adult education or any other programs or
entities as some sort of adult educational and literacy development
system, then they should come up with different names and acronyms to
avoid confusion with the AELS.

The intellectual products consisting of the name and acronym  "Adult
Education and Literacy System (AELS)" have an earlier creation, a
provenance if you will, including a history, however brief. They have been
carefully and unambiguously defined, a four hundred year historical survey
of the rise of the AELS as earlier defined has been published in a
professional book by Jossey-Bass, in 2002 adult education and literacy
organizations in seven states celebrated 35 years of the existence of the
AELS as I originally defined it, and there are several reports that
discuss the AELS as I originally defined it available on the web and the
ERIC system. Given all this, it is not clear to me why NCSALL and CAAL
authors/editors, all of whom were aware of the earlier use of the AELS
terminology and acronym,  chose to simply ignore the prior definition of
the AELS and to each define it differently.

Given the confusion introduced by these two organizations, I regret that
Deborah seems intent upon adding to it  and  I reiterate my earlier
suggestion that to avoid confusion, it seems to me that for policy and
advocacy purposes the name and acronym Adult Education and Literacy System
(AELS) should be used the way they were originally intended and have been
used to refer to those programs systematized by and funded wholly or in
part through the WIA Title 2 Adult Education and Family Literacy Act state
grants program.

I also reiterate my earlier statement that the WIA Title 2 Adult Education
and Family Literacy Act should be pulled out of the WIA and that a
separate act called the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) Act of
2003 should be passed. This would encourage the perspective of the AELS as
a unique, national educational system comprised of a joint local, state
and federal partnership with objectives inclusive of but broader than
simply workforce preparation.


Tom Sticht




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