[NLA] Implement this immediately!

[Catherine King]

In his note, Tom says:

"Just remember to also keep track of how 
many adults move upwards on the six levels 
of the National Reporting System in ESOL, 
ABE, and ASE programs and how many go 
on to read more to their children, get off of 
welfare, get new jobs or advance in old jobs, 
earn more money, pay taxes and return more
to the government than the government spent 
on their education (the latter shouldn't be 
difficult at all!)."

Sarcasm aside, and though taxes are an 
important issue and are probably served by 
most adult education, to leave it at that makes 
the U.S. Government sound like merely a 
business enterprise.  

But the last time I looked the U.S. Government 
was also about "commonwealth" and about 
serving its citizens whether it gets something 
back sometimes or not.     And if its citizens want 
a better education, then it serves us all to make 
sure we all have that opportunity, especially
if the U.S. Government is not to fall to ignorant
but powerful factions at some time in the future.  

Like heading off terrorism, early preventive measures
don't have much pizzazz.   But those teachers, funders,
and administrators with vision can see that it is 
working.  

Tom is right that getting more taxes is a part of the 
picture, but fails to see that the economy rests in the 
larger notions that the "new" R & D addresses, e.g., 
Jack Mezirow's work.   A person's education
guides their lives, which has  profound economic  
implications, but education is not merely about 
finance. 

Just as a person who is guided only by "the bottom
line" is at the very least shallow and greedy, so too
is the Unites States shallow and greedy to view the
monetary return as the only benefit educated adults 
return to our country.          

We are talking about self-understanding here, and
perhaps we (government funders, teachers, etc.) need 
to understand ourselves as more than what Tom's note 
implies--taxpayers and counters of beans.  

Though there will be problems with considerations of 
the research and development he speaks of, scientists 
have never shied away from complex problems before, 
and I doubt we will start now.

Regards,

Catherine King

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Thomas Sticht <tsticht at aznet.net>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Cc: <tsticht at aznet.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2001 1:37 PM
Subject: [NLA] Implement this immediately!


> Research Note October 23, 2001
> Tom Sticht
> 
> Practitioners should implement this right away! 
> 
> I recently received reports from the National Center for Adult Learning
> and Literacy (NCSALL) and the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL)
> that caused me to realize that R & D is rapidly equipping adult literacy
> educators to improve the future of adult literacy education in the
> United States. 
> 
> For instance, from NCSALL there are reports about Adult Multiple
> Intelligences (AMI) research. This research identifies eight
> "intelligences": linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial-visual,
> bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and
> naturalist. The report I looked at says, "MI validates good practice and
> expands the capacity of teachers to bring out the best in their
> students." While I couldn't find any  direct evidence to support these
> claims, the information is out there for practitioners to use. 
> 
> But hold on, don't move forward with your AMI reforms too quickly.
> Another recent NCSALL report says it has a new developmental dimension 
> of adult learning and meaning-making, and that "practitioners can also
> benefit by remaining alert to the ways that learners' meaning systems
> might also transform over the course of a program." That is, teachers
> need to be aware of adult's "ways of knowing" as they change from
> Instrumental, to Socializing to Self-Authoring ways of knowing and
> meaning making. Again, I looked for evidence that practitioners actually
> can benefit from knowing about this research but I probably didn't look
> long enough because I didn't find any. Nonetheless the information is
> there for the taking, too. 
> 
> With three new dimensions of meaning-making to be on the alert for, and
> eight intelligences that might interact in some complex way with these
> new "ways of knowing," teachers now have the opportunity of  keeping up
> with the possibility of 8 times 3 equals 24 new dimensions of change
> that their students may be undergoing.   
> 
> NCSALL reports also suggest that practitioners conduct a "force-field"
> analysis to create teaching approaches that will enhance an adult
> learner's motivation and participation. The latter may also be
> influenced by whether one designs instruction that is
> life-contextualized not life-decontextualized and dialogic not
> monologic.
> 
> But that is not all. From the NIFL comes the Equipped for the Future
> "reform effort" that has four purposes, three life roles and seventeen
> standards that teachers need to keep track of with each student while
> they are presumably also tracking the 24 interactions of "ways of
> knowing" and "multiple intelligences," conducting "force-field
> analyses," and seeking to be life-contextualized and dialogic. 
> 
> NIFL has also produced a 218 page volume on what the science of thinking
> and learning has to offer adult education with 18 multi-page, stand
> alone "fact sheets" that present some discrete ideas from cognitive
> science and then offers some teaching tips for each of the 18 "fact
> sheets". 
> 
> So the NIFL reports give practitioners four purposes, three life roles,
> 17 standards, and 18 fact sheets giving over 3,600 possible combinations
> that can then be tracked and monitored along with 24 more from NCSALL
> providing a cornucopia of over  88,000 combinations teachers can use
> while designing instruction and teaching! 
> 
> Of course these new findings interact with those old stalwarts, the
> "learning styles," including auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners
> and field-dependent and independent learners (just six combinations). So
> teachers need to keep these in mind and plan instruction accordingly,
> too.  
> 
> With all these 6 times 88,000+ equals over 528,000+ new dimensions of
> learning and teaching available, adult literacy educators can certainly
> get  equipped for the future of adult literacy education. Just remember
> to also keep track of how many adults move upwards on the six levels of
> the National Reporting System in ESOL, ABE, and ASE programs and how
> many go on to read more to their children, get off of welfare, get new
> jobs or advance in old jobs, earn more money, pay taxes and return more
> to the government than the government spent on their education (the
> latter shouldn't be difficult at all!). 
> 
> Special Alert For Practitioners! All this information is already out
> there and if you are going to use it you'd better hurry up. I just
> attended two meetings where lots more future R & D for adult literacy
> education was being planned. You'll want to get the present new
> information into practice before the future new information comes along
> and possibly invalidates what the old  information that's new today
> says. And don't worry about whether there is any convincing evidence
> that any of this old or new information actually improves your teaching
> and/or your instructional program.  Just implement it immediately!
> 
> (PS. If you can show you're using technology while implementing all this
> new/old/new R & D information, that's even better!). 
> 
> (PPS. Though it is missing from NIFL's 218 page report on thinking and
> learning, cognitive science provides a two-step, problem-solving
> algorithm for solving your program's problems using the new/old/new R &
> D findings:
> Step 1. Identify your problem.
> Step 2. Solve it!
> You can repeat this process as often as needed. Works every time!)
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