[NLA] Are we doing better than we think?

[Thomas Sticht]

Art LaChance said in a recent message:  "When you look critically at the
NRS data that was collected - nationwide – adult lit only saw about 10% of
the target population or that population who should 'need us'."

I think this is approximately true only if we refer to the data for the
Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) as I have defined it, that is,
as the set of programs funded by and operated in accordance with the
regulations of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Title 2: The Adult
Education and Family Literacy Act. We actually do not know how many others
might be being served in non-AELS programs. Further, it is not even clear
just how many adults may "need us." Funds for the AELS are distributed on
the basis of the numbers of non-high school graduates in a state. But just
how to determine that number is not always clear, and it leaves out the
adults with high school diplomas but "poor" skills. And we do not have a
good fix on how to determine how many adults have "poor" skills, either,
witness the debate about the validity of the National Adult Literacy
Survey (NALS). At the present time, we are unable to say with any
certainty just what the scale of need is for the services of the AELS or
other providers.

Art goes on to say, "Out of that 10%, only about 20% of them were actually
served successfully in terms of upping a level or two.  So overall they,
the fed legislature, only sees us as 'effective' for what - 2% of the
target population ???"

I do not know where Art got those figures on those "served successfully in
terms of upping a level or two." But in lots of studies I have compiled
(see Adult Literacy in the United States by Sticht & Armstrong at the
www.nald.ca full text documents pages) for both AELS and non-AELS
programs, average improvements have ranged from 5 to 15 "months" using
standardized tests like the TABE, ABLE, CASAS, TALS, etc. with just around
50 to 150 hours or so between pre-and post-tests. This is much less time
that the amount of time for measuring gains in the public schools. The
fact that average improvements are what they are suggest that around half
of those studied are making that much gain, though this could vary some
depending upon numbers of extreme scores at the high end tht would pull
the average above the median.

The only NRS-type report I have seen reported that 41 percent of states
exceeded or met their performance targets for learning – but I do not know
what percentage of those making gains of one or more levels that comes to.

Art refers to actions by legislators in cutting adult education and
literacy funds and says: "What would you do in their place if decreasing
taxes and government spending was your primary platform ?   Especially
when the precursor to the funded program, the local volunteer based
programs, had almost the same outcome as the funded version ?"

Again, I do not know where Art got his data on volunteer versus funded
programs, and I do know that such data are difficult to come by. But the
National Evaluation of Adult Education Programs: Executive Summary (Young,
et al., 1995, U. S. Department of Education) identified some factors
influencing learning gains. For ESL programs the report said that "Clients
attending high-cost programs (i.e., greater than $4.57 per hour of
instruction) do better than students attending average-cost programs, and
students in average-cost programs do better than those in low-cost
programs." (p. 26).

For ABE, the report said: "ABE clients in programs having at least one
full-time administrator and one full-time member on the instructional
staff score significantly higher on the TABE posttest than ABE clients in
programs that did not."

For ASE, the report states the same as for ESL: "Clients attending
high-cost programs (i.e., greater than $4.57 per hour of instruction) do
better than students attending average-cost programs, and students in
average-cost programs do better than those in low-cost programs." (p. 26).

The report also stated that : "Overall, about 34 percent of ESL and ABE
clients were advanced at least one instructional level by their program
during the study’s 18-month tracking period. Because ASE is the highest
instructional level, these clients could not advance." (p. 28)

These are very limited data, but they are suggestive of somewhat more
positive outcomes in learning than Art has expressed. Perhaps the NRS will
provide better data in the future  and perhaps some new data are already
available to some people, including Art. I have not seen any.

Possibly new data will show that we are doing better than we think we are.

Some Resources for Advocacy

There are other data that the field can muster to better advocate for the
AELS and non-AELS programs. I have posted some reports on the Canadian web
site for the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD). Following are some
reports and their web sites that can be accessed and downloaded for use in
developing advocacy materials that illustrate the many positive benefits
that adult education and literacy provision may produce.

Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant  (1997)
http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/context/cover.htm
This report shows how to integrate basic skills education with work
training and parenting. This illustrates that one can get "double duty
dollars" by teaching both vocational/parenting and basic skills at the
same time. It shows that this type of workforce education may result in
the same amount of gain in general literacy as do general literacy
programs, but much more gain in work-related literacy than do general
literacy programs.

Adult Basic Education: Strategies to Increase Returns on Investment (ROI) 
(1999) http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/roi/front.htm
This emphasizes intergenerational benefits to adult literacy education and
the benefits of functional context education for getting more "bang for
the buck" in times of deficit government spending.

The Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the United States,
Moving From the Margins to the Mainstream of Education  (2000)
http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/sticht/AELSinUS/cover.htm
This provides data about the AELS and why it should be better supported.

The Power of Adult Education: Moving the Adult Education and Literacy
System of the United States From the Margins to the Mainstream of
Education  (2001)
http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/sticht/power/cover.htm
This is a brief 4 page advocacy pamphlet.

Tom Sticht