[NLA] "breaking news"

Fri Jun 14 18:50:41 EDT 2002

NLA Listserv Commentors and Observers (Lurkers):

I've had a couple really hectic days and really feel as though there has
been great conversation flowing over several different threads here.  Some
of which I "packed off" to home in a manilla envelope last evening, hoping
I'd have energy to read thoroughly and respond to today.  But today was
another one of those "run as fast as I can days" we all have.

Before this week ends and I head to the post office and bank, I wanted to
jot a quick note .  The "breaking news" thread began when Tom Sticht
reported statistical data affecting the AELS.  The "conversation" has
related to the drop in numbers of students nationwide and specifically in
California, assessment, testing, quality and accountability, further
research, accreditation of programming/literacy programs and standards etc
etc.  *My* input was about "testing".  I will "write more later" regarding
that, but something occurred this morning I wanted to relate back to the
adult learner some of us teach literacy skills.

WE ALL HEAL IN DIFFERENT WAYS

As we "study" the issues related to number-crunching, might we all please
remember that the "number" is a human being.  That number is a man or woman
with a family multiplied times thousands to come up with the statistics Tom
reported.  It is the humanity we plan and proceed for.  The non-reading
people bring with them their ideas, their desires, their needs and their
hurts as well.

I believe that testing a Literacy Level I student causes un-necessary hurt.
All of us heal our emotional, physical, psychological wounds in different
ways.  When a human lives with the fact that s/he can't read, s/he hurts.
There is an open wound.

This is the story:  I live in the Midwest where neighborhoods are like
extended families (sort of like my JOB where I have a Literacy Family.)  I
woke to a sunshiny day this morning.  The sun gleamed across the front of
the two-story house across the street in my neighborhood.  The house is the
residence where a whole lot of sorrow over a 19-year old son's passing is
happening.  The sun shone on the flag at half-mast, bright red flowers from
the Wednesday funeral mass perched at the edge of the step and on the green,
green grass of summer, but not on The Man in the driveway, bent over the
little, cherry red Mustang of the 19-year old son, washing it for the second
time in three days.

His son loved that car.  He toiled and troubled over it.  The Man didn't
understand.  He thought The Son shouldn't spend so much time with the car
that always gleamed in its parking space in front of my house.   But The Man
was tolerant.  He just repeatedly grumbled to Me The Neighbor who also has
one son and three daughters.  "That D--m car," he'd say to me.

Yet this morning, The Man, with the sun on the half-mast flag, was healing
his wounds of death by polishing the car that will NEVER be driven by The
Son again.  The Man was honoring his only son whom he'd buried two days ago.
He rubbed and rubbed its finish and stood back to look, wringing the wet
cloth while he assured there was not a spot remaining on the back bumper of
the cherry red Mustang, shining in the early morning hour as the sun began
to shift and include the shiny red car in its glow.

I sorrowed for The Man who is healing and thought of my adult learners this
morning, as I sipped my morning coffee, standing before my open kitchen
window, watching The Man in his deep pain.

You see adult learners who never learned to read are in sorrow, too.  They
have lost so many wonderful years of experiences that we can never replace
for them.  They *wanted* to be able to read to their children.  They
*wanted* to be independent so they could pay their own bills.  They *wanted*
to read the birthday card the wife received from their sister.  They
*wanted* so **many** things that you and I take for granted.  But instead?
They sorrowed over the death of opportunity.

And here they are, folks, at my literacy council doorway.  Their pain is
deep and My Job is to make that entry into the World of Words as painless as
possible so that the sun will shine in their front yards for the years to
come.  I can't fix their past hurt.  I can't turn back their clock.  But I
*can* make their registration as comfortable an experience as possible so
the doors to education *fly* open rather than close again.  In my personal
view, we practitioners are healing the hurt of the non-reading adult in our
care.

Nancy Hansen
Sioux Falls Area Literacy Council
South Dakota
----- Original Message -----
From: "Art LaChance" <arthur at ellijay.com>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 7:41 PM
Subject: Re: [NLA] "breaking news"

Sandy,

Hmmm I think my first question would be focused on where the bulk of your
students are academically located.  It appears that your program may be
centered in the GED preparation range.  And if that's true then I would
agree with your statements here.  GED prep students normally don't have a
whole lot of problem with the 'testing' regimen.  And if your interview
processes from which you gathered your program improvement data involved
mostly those students then I would think again that your program is centered
in the GED prep range and not in the 0-8th skill building ranges, for which
the majority of funding is dedicated.  That may be an indicator for the
reduction in your funding. ??

Art

SanStr at aol.com wrote:

> Art, Debbie, and all,
> I must confess, as a "ground level" person for the last seventeen years,
I'm disturbed by a few things that have surfaced in this discussion.
>
> First of all, I have yet to have a student leave our program because of
initial testing and the subsequent discussion related to his/her progress
and/or skill levels. In my experience, students want regular feedback on
their learning and are quite capable of putting standardized test scores
into perspective, especially when they're presented as just a piece of the
assessment puzzle. During the student orientation process, for example, I
think it's important to tell learners what we know about the relationship
between intensity of participation and learning gains. I think it's also
important to talk about what standardized test score don't tell us about
learner progress and skills. Adult learners tend to respond very positively
to data as a basis for their decision-making. In my opinion, self-esteem
grows out of persistent struggle and the resulting achievement. As an adult
learner, myself, I know I feel best about those things in my life I've
worked hardest to achieve.
>
> Customer satisfaction is also an important indicator of program quality.
In fact, it's an outcome measure in Title I and, as a result, we've begun
collecting this data from our learners for the first time. This year we
learned that our learners are especially frustrated with not having enough
texts for them to take home or keep (testing issues never even came up as an
issue). We're not going to solve our resources problem overnight, but our
program improvement team is working on ways to increase the resources
available to our learners next year. We believe it will enhance the quality
of our services.
>
> I have complete confidence in the performance data I reported to
Pennsylvania's Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education last year. In
fact, Pennsylvania gets its GED attainment data by running our state level
student database against the state level GED database and then issues
program performance numbers from the data match. My local data is so strong
that I appealed the numbers I received from the state-level data match
(there was a time lag that resulted in a 16% difference in our figures) and
succeeded in getting my performance data changed.
>
> As a local program director, I take ownership of my data very seriously
and strive constantly to improve our ability to capture the quality of the
services we offer. Yes, there are always opportunities for subjective
decision-making and error. One of the ways we deal with this is to make the
data available to everyone in the program on a regular basis and to make
performance improvement a team endeavor. Last year, my program improvement
team increased our enrollment by 16% in our two-county area. It wasn't easy,
but we did it. This year, we're trying to hit a 50% pre/post rate (up from
42% last year). At the end of April, we were at 48%, so as the year draws to
a close, we're all working frantically to catch those learners with 50 or
more hours that we haven't seen for post-testing (Pizza and Post-test Night
was NOT, by the way, a great strategy).
>
> I will agree wholeheartedly that standardized test scores alone, and the
National Reporting System, do not begin to capture the quality of the
services we offer, but that doesn't mean this information isn't valuable.
This year, for the first time, our program is preparing a "Report to Our
Community." In this report we will offer our data on enrollment, retention,
pre/post rate, learning gains, GED attainment, and customer satisfaction
along side of testimonials from our leaners. We're proud of our data and we
want to share it with our community and our learners.
>
> Given available resources, I think it is possible to derive a valid
picture of the AELS system. The NRS Framework may not be enough, but I see
no reason to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
>
> Sandy Strunk
> Supervisor of Adult and Family Literacy Education
> Lancaster Lebanon IU 13
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