[NLA] building policy vision

[AWilder106@aol.com]

Dear Eileen,

Then given your answer, I would build policy that moved toward teacher 
certification and apprenticeship in the field.  I think this is dependent on 
more money available for programs.  I would do it at the state level.  

This need not be top down policy making and could involve partnerships.  The 
school I worked in for a number of years (not adult lit) became a site for 
teacher training because its own program for teacher training was excellent.  
In the process, the school and two local colleges and the state worked 
together to create a state certification program that took in multiple 
institutional goals, the program was very successful, and students from it 
are hired by schools throughout the country.  I am sure other configurations 
would work well, also.  I and a number of other former teachers were polled 
to find out what experiences in our own teaching lives might lead us to 
specific recommendations for such a certification program.

I wonder what adult educators would think of this as a policy vision.

While it would not address all programs, it might take a significant chunk of 
them off the table and allow people to focus on the programs that wouldn't 
fit into this model.  Going by the anecdotes on the nla, I can't see a vision 
which would meet the needs of all programs unless it is put in hazy, very 
broad language.

So then I would certainly say that my vision (from the sidelines) would 
include skilled teachers and institutional partnerships.  It would also 
include research that looks at the phenomenon of low literacy in adults to 
determine how this comes to be, socially. 

This may be too concrete for what you have in mind.

Andrea