No subject

Sun Jan 8 12:31:42 EST 2006

David Hayes asked, "Are we witnessing a dismantling of the AELS?"

This was in response to a message from Christy Guillion of NIFL about
hearings she attended about the TANF and WIA and was really impressed
with the interest expressed by the members of the committee.  She said
that "Senator Wellstone, in particular, seemed interested in how to
improve the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) so that TANF
and WIA programs and funding streams are better coordinated. In his
written statement, Senator Wellstone states "we want to focus on the
intersections between WIA and TANF -- workforce development and welfare
-- and how both of these programs can be made to work better -- together
- to provide meaningful training to workers currently caught in a cycle
of poverty."

My answer to David is that I doubt that Senator Wellstone or other
congressional members of either house think of the AELS as the Adult
Education and Literacy System of the United States of America and
instead think of WIA and its components, including adult education and
literacy provision, as federal "programs and funding streams," just as
Senator Wellstone says.  I believe this results largely because the
adult education and literacy field itself does not have an agreed to
understanding of the AELS and so it is little wonder that policymakers,
who are advised by various special interest groups, like adult
educators, do not think of Title 2 of the WIA as providing partial
federal funding for  an adult education "system", but rather a federal
"program".  

In attempting to overcome this lack of vision and conceptual
shortcoming, I have in the past tried to encourage the field to get
behind and advocate for a coherent vision of the Adult Education and
Literacy System of the United States of America. Following are more
thoughts about this vision an of the AELS. 

What is the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United
States of America?

In earlier postings to the NLA list I have defined the Adult Education
and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States of America as that set
of programs that receive some or all of their funding from the WIA/AEFLA
funds for state grants administered by the U. S. Department of
Education,  Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL). I have also
documented the growth of the AELS from fewer than 400, 000 enrollments
in 1966 to some 2.9 million in FY 2000  (Ron Pugsley, former Director of
DAEL,  in his Thursday Notes for August 8, 2001).

To determine the extent of the AELS as defined above in serving the
needs of adults in the United States for adult education and literacy
programs, I have looked at how many students the two largest volunteer
literacy organizations in the United States have served. Visits to
internet web sites indicate that Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA)
reported that from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001 some 350 LVA programs
served around 65,000 students. This is a drop of some 15 percent from
the FY 98-99 enrollments of 77, 867 students. The Laubach organization
web site reports that it has some 1100 member programs and serves about
150, 000 students annually. This is a drop of about 25, 000, 14
percent,  from earlier reports. 

Combined, the foregoing indicate that the LVA and Laubach organizations
now serve around 215, 000 students annually. This is about 7 percent as
many adult students as the 2.9 million served by the AELS, though it is
not clear how many of the LVA/Laubach programs receive AELS funds and
whose students are therefore included in the AELS total. But even if all
215, 000 adults served by LVA and Laubach are subtracted from the AELS
totals, this still leaves 2, 685, 000 adults served by the AELS outside
these charitable organizations. This is over 12 times as many adults
served in the AELS as in these two largest volunteer literacy
organizations. 

Other major partners in serving adult literacy students are the public
libraries of the United States. In a survey of 1999, the American
Library Association reported that 1,067 libraries completed the survey,
giving a response rate of about 73 percent. Of the libraries responding,
30 percent reported that they provided direct instructional services in
adult literacy and 78 percent of these partnered with either LVA or
Laubach. In a report  on the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
web site, a 1995 study of library literacy programs reports that some
53,000 students were being served in the local programs that were
surveyed in the study. How many of these students would also be included
in the LVA and Laubach data for 1995 is not known. So it is not clear
how many additional adults are provided literacy instruction by our
nation's libraries outside of those included in the LVA and Laubach
totals, and outside those reported in the AELS total.

Other venues for adult literacy education include prisons, businesses,
labor unions, churches, charitable organizations like the Salvation
Army, Young Men's Christian Association, Young Women's Christian
Association, and non-profit organizations such as the Urban League,
Wider Opportunities for Women, etc. Again, how many of these have adult
students who are reported in the LVA, Laubach, AELS, library totals
given above I do not know, nor do I have data on how many adult literacy
students may be being served in these various settings who are not
reported in the foregoing totals. 

At the present time, the "600 pound gorilla" of adult education and
literacy provision in the United States appears to be the AELS as I have
defined it above. With the federal funds as a start, the various states
now put in over a billion dollars or so additional funds into the AELS.
With the National Reporting System now in place, the AELS is by far and
away the largest adult education and literacy delivery system in the U.
S. that is systematized by a body of state and federal laws and
regulations and the means for collecting and providing accountability
data to the taxpayers whose dollars support the AELS as the third major
component of publicly supported education in the United States today.

Unfortunately, though the data given above, and the history of the rise
of the AELS in the United States supports the recognition of the AELS as
the publicly supported adult lifelong learning system that it is, there
is little recognition by policymakers and others, including many of
those working in adult literacy education,  that this system is actually
here today. 

In fact, we have seen other arguments on the NLA list that the AELS
should not be construed so "narrowly" as I have defined it above [even
though it apparently serves over 85-90 percent of those adults
identifiable as receiving adult education and literacy services today] 
and that the "system" should include all those working in adult literacy
education no matter where they are or how they are funded or how loosely
organized and unaccountable they are. The goal of those making these
arguments is to be totally inclusive of anyone teaching adult literacy. 

I have not found these arguments convincing because it is not
simultaneously possible to have a "system" while the components are "not
systematized" in any way other than they all say they are teaching adult
literacy. They do not share any rules, regulations, standards, methods
of accountability, or reporting requirements showing how as a component
of a system they are contributing to the outcomes and objectives of the
system, they do not share any conception of who is or is not to be
considered a professional (an idea in itself which fosters
non-inclusiveness by separating the non-professionals from the
professionals), and at least at the present time all those operating
outside of the present AELS as I have defined it seem to reach an
unknown number of adults or if they are the groups identified above they
reach only a small percentage of adults compared to those served by the
AELS. 

Furthermore, at the present time the WIA/AEFLA permits any organization
that wants to work within the rules and regulations of the AELS and
receive taxpayers money to do so. It is simply the case that if one
wants to be a part of the AELS one has to agree to work as a component
in that large system of components in the manner of that system and
towards the ends of that system. This does not mean that any member of
the system cannot question and try to change the system. There are
provisions in the AELS for that to happen at local,  state and federal
levels.  But it does mean that to be a part of the federally and state
funded AELS as I have defined it, one has to agree to operate according
to the rules and regulations as defined by the total membership of the
AELS. 

Note that there is nothing in this idea that prevents any individuals,
organizations or groups of organizations from seeking funding from the
federal or state levels to support the types of adult education and
literacy programs that they want to offer. Nor does it prevent them from
seeking funding from any foundations. It just prevents them from being
funded through the AELS if they do not decide to operate according to
the systematizing features of the AELS. 

Recently, because of the powerful roles that President John F. Kennedy
and Senator Edward Kennedy have played in originating (JFK) and
supporting (EK) the AELS, I have asked for discussion on the NLA list
about the idea of pulling the AELS out of the WIA legislation and
instead funding it in separate legislation as the Kennedy Adult
Education and Literacy System of the United States of America Act. This
would have the benefit of making policymakers and others aware of the
existence of the AELS as an educational system, not just another federal
program, and it would recognize the unique contributions of the Kennedy
family in the formation of the AELS (I understand that Congressman
Joseph Kennedy is a strong supporter of adult education, too). 

To date there has been no discussion of this proposal.
_______________________________________________
NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
http://literacytent.org

------_=_NextPart_001_01C1FDC4.30633570
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Diso-8859-1">
<META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version =
5.5.2654.45">
<TITLE>RE: [NLA] WIA and TANF</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>I appears that David Hayes and possibly Tom Sticht =
viewed my posting about the hearing conducted by Senator Wellstone as =
further erosion of the adult education system.&nbsp; I think that view =
misses the point.&nbsp; Senator Wellstone's hearing was not focused on =
adult education -- the focus was on how to better align TANF and WIA so =
that low-skill TANF clients could better access education and training =
in order to lift them out of poverty and into a career path with =
opportunities for advancement and further training.&nbsp; Senator =
Wellstone seemed very concerned that many states have interpreted WIA =
as a strict &quot;work first&quot; program.&nbsp; I have also heard =
this concern from many in the adult education field.&nbsp; Throughout =
the hearing yesterday, the testimony and comments from Senator =
Wellstone and other Senators SUPPORTED the concept of allowing TANF =
clients to obtain education and training rather than being forced into =
the workplace without proper skills and training.&nbsp; This is exactly =
the type of support the adult education field should be seeking as the =
Congress continues to work toward reauthorizing the TANF program, =
especially since the House has just passed a bill that would limit =
access to education and training options for TANF clients.</FONT></P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>The following is an brief news item from today's =
Congress Daily AM (a member of the National Journal publication =
series).&nbsp; This is reprinted with permission from National =
Journal.</FONT></P>

May 17, 2002
 House Approves GOP Welfare Bill 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A divided House Thursday =
approved Republican welfare legislation that would press more single =
mothers to work and provide hundreds of millions of dollars to promote =
marriage and sexual abstinence.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The 229-197 vote, along =
party lines, came after a partisan House debate over changes in the =
landmark 1996 welfare overhaul, the Associated Press reported. =

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Earlier in the day, the =
House rejected a Democratic plan for renewing the welfare law on a =
222-198 vote. That bill would have provided billions more for child =
care, opened aid to legal immigrants and let states put welfare mothers =
in education and training programs.

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Democrats are now looking to =
the Senate, where moderates from both parties are working on compromise =
legislation.</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>This bill will now move to the Senate for =
consideration where members like Senator Wellstone will continue to ask =
questions about how to best provide education and training options for =
TANF clients.</FONT></P>

Christy Gullion
 Associate Director for Federal Policy
 National Institute for Literacy
 1775 I Street, NW, Suite 730
 Washington, DC&nbsp; 20006-2417
 ph. (202) 233-2033 
 fax (202) 233-2050

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>From: Thomas Sticht [<A =
HREF=3D"mailto:tsticht at aznet.net">mailto:tsticht at aznet.net</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2002 8:34 PM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>To: nla at lists.literacytent.org</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>Cc: tsticht at aznet.net</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>Subject: [NLA] In support of a separate AELS Act for =
the USA</FONT>
</P>
<BR>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>From Tom Sticht</FONT>
</P>

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>David Hayes asked, &quot;Are we witnessing a =
dismantling of the AELS?&quot;</FONT>
</P>

This was in response to a message from Christy =
Guillion of NIFL about
 hearings she attended about the TANF and WIA and was =
really impressed
 with the interest expressed by the members of the =
committee.&nbsp; She said
 that &quot;Senator Wellstone, in particular, seemed =
interested in how to
 improve the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) so that =
TANF
 and WIA programs and funding streams are better =
coordinated. In his
 written statement, Senator Wellstone states &quot;we =
want to focus on the
 intersections between WIA and TANF -- workforce =
development and welfare
 -- and how both of these programs can be made to =
work better -- together
 - to provide meaningful training to workers =
currently caught in a cycle
 of poverty.&quot;

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>My answer to David is that I doubt that Senator =
Wellstone or other</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>congressional members of either house think of the =
AELS as the Adult</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>Education and Literacy System of the United States =
of America and</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>instead think of WIA and its components, including =
adult education and</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>literacy provision, as federal &quot;programs and =
funding streams,&quot; just as</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>Senator Wellstone says.&nbsp; I believe this results =
largely because the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>adult education and literacy field itself does not =
have an agreed to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>understanding of the AELS and so it is little wonder =
that policymakers,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>who are advised by various special interest groups, =
like adult</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>educators, do not think of Title 2 of the WIA as =
providing partial</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>federal funding for&nbsp; an adult education =
&quot;system&quot;, but rather a federal</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>&quot;program&quot;.&nbsp; </FONT>
</P>

In attempting to overcome this lack of vision and =
conceptual
 shortcoming, I have in the past tried to encourage =
the field to get
 behind and advocate for a coherent vision of the =
Adult Education and
 Literacy System of the United States of America. =
Following are more
 thoughts about this vision an of the AELS.

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>What is the Adult Education and Literacy System =
(AELS) of the United</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>States of America?</FONT>
</P>

In earlier postings to the NLA list I have defined =
the Adult Education
 and Literacy System (AELS) of the United States of =
America as that set
 of programs that receive some or all of their =
funding from the WIA/AEFLA
 funds for state grants administered by the U. S. =
Department of
 Education,&nbsp; Division of Adult Education and =
Literacy (DAEL). I have also
 documented the growth of the AELS from fewer than =
400, 000 enrollments
 in 1966 to some 2.9 million in FY 2000&nbsp; (Ron =
Pugsley, former Director of
 DAEL,&nbsp; in his Thursday Notes for August 8, =
2001).
 &nbsp;
 To determine the extent of the AELS as defined above =
in serving the
 needs of adults in the United States for adult =
education and literacy
 programs, I have looked at how many students the two =
largest volunteer
 literacy organizations in the United States have =
served. Visits to
 internet web sites indicate that Literacy Volunteers =
of America (LVA)
 reported that from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001 =
some 350 LVA programs
 served around 65,000 students. This is a drop of =
some 15 percent from
 the FY 98-99 enrollments of 77, 867 students. The =
Laubach organization
 web site reports that it has some 1100 member =
programs and serves about
 150, 000 students annually. This is a drop of about =
25, 000, 14
 percent,&nbsp; from earlier reports.

Combined, the foregoing indicate that the LVA and =
Laubach organizations
 now serve around 215, 000 students annually. This is =
about 7 percent as
 many adult students as the 2.9 million served by the =
AELS, though it is
 not clear how many of the LVA/Laubach programs =
receive AELS funds and
 whose students are therefore included in the AELS =
total. But even if all
 215, 000 adults served by LVA and Laubach are =
subtracted from the AELS
 totals, this still leaves 2, 685, 000 adults served =
by the AELS outside
 these charitable organizations. This is over 12 =
times as many adults
 served in the AELS as in these two largest volunteer =
literacy
 organizations.

Other major partners in serving adult literacy =
students are the public
 libraries of the United States. In a survey of 1999, =
the American
 Library Association reported that 1,067 libraries =
completed the survey,
 giving a response rate of about 73 percent. Of the =
libraries responding,
 30 percent reported that they provided direct =
instructional services in
 adult literacy and 78 percent of these partnered =
with either LVA or
 Laubach. In a report&nbsp; on the Council for =
Advancement of Adult Literacy
 web site, a 1995 study of library literacy programs =
reports that some
 53,000 students were being served in the local =
programs that were
 surveyed in the study. How many of these students =
would also be included
 in the LVA and Laubach data for 1995 is not known. =
So it is not clear
 how many additional adults are provided literacy =
instruction by our
 nation's libraries outside of those included in the =
LVA and Laubach
 totals, and outside those reported in the AELS =
total.

Other venues for adult literacy education include =
prisons, businesses,
 labor unions, churches, charitable organizations =
like the Salvation
 Army, Young Men's Christian Association, Young =
Women's Christian
 Association, and non-profit organizations such as =
the Urban League,
 Wider Opportunities for Women, etc. Again, how many =
of these have adult
 students who are reported in the LVA, Laubach, AELS, =
library totals
 given above I do not know, nor do I have data on how =
many adult literacy
 students may be being served in these various =
settings who are not
 reported in the foregoing totals.

At the present time, the &quot;600 pound =
gorilla&quot; of adult education and
 literacy provision in the United States appears to =
be the AELS as I have
 defined it above. With the federal funds as a start, =
the various states
 now put in over a billion dollars or so additional =
funds into the AELS.
 With the National Reporting System now in place, the =
AELS is by far and
 away the largest adult education and literacy =
delivery system in the U.
 S. that is systematized by a body of state and =
federal laws and
 regulations and the means for collecting and =
providing accountability
 data to the taxpayers whose dollars support the AELS =
as the third major
 component of publicly supported education in the =
United States today.

Unfortunately, though the data given above, and the =
history of the rise
 of the AELS in the United States supports the =
recognition of the AELS as
 the publicly supported adult lifelong learning =
system that it is, there
 is little recognition by policymakers and others, =
including many of
 those working in adult literacy education,&nbsp; =
that this system is actually
 here today.

In fact, we have seen other arguments on the NLA list =
that the AELS
 should not be construed so &quot;narrowly&quot; as I =
have defined it above [even
 though it apparently serves over 85-90 percent of =
those adults
 identifiable as receiving adult education and =
literacy services today] 
 and that the &quot;system&quot; should include all =
those working in adult literacy
 education no matter where they are or how they are =
funded or how loosely
 organized and unaccountable they are. The goal of =
those making these
 arguments is to be totally inclusive of anyone =
teaching adult literacy.

I have not found these arguments convincing because =
it is not
 simultaneously possible to have a &quot;system&quot; =
while the components are &quot;not
 systematized&quot; in any way other than they all =
say they are teaching adult
 literacy. They do not share any rules, regulations, =
standards, methods
 of accountability, or reporting requirements showing =
how as a component
 of a system they are contributing to the outcomes =
and objectives of the
 system, they do not share any conception of who is =
or is not to be
 considered a professional (an idea in itself which =
fosters
 non-inclusiveness by separating the =
non-professionals from the
 professionals), and at least at the present time all =
those operating
 outside of the present AELS as I have defined it =
seem to reach an
 unknown number of adults or if they are the groups =
identified above they
 reach only a small percentage of adults compared to =
those served by the
 AELS.

Furthermore, at the present time the WIA/AEFLA =
permits any organization
 that wants to work within the rules and regulations =
of the AELS and
 receive taxpayers money to do so. It is simply the =
case that if one
 wants to be a part of the AELS one has to agree to =
work as a component
 in that large system of components in the manner of =
that system and
 towards the ends of that system. This does not mean =
that any member of
 the system cannot question and try to change the =
system. There are
 provisions in the AELS for that to happen at =
local,&nbsp; state and federal
 levels.&nbsp; But it does mean that to be a part of =
the federally and state
 funded AELS as I have defined it, one has to agree =
to operate according
 to the rules and regulations as defined by the total =
membership of the
 AELS.

Note that there is nothing in this idea that prevents =
any individuals,
 organizations or groups of organizations from =
seeking funding from the
 federal or state levels to support the types of =
adult education and
 literacy programs that they want to offer. Nor does =
it prevent them from
 seeking funding from any foundations. It just =
prevents them from being
 funded through the AELS if they do not decide to =
operate according to
 the systematizing features of the AELS.

Recently, because of the powerful roles that =
President John F. Kennedy
 and Senator Edward Kennedy have played in =
originating (JFK) and
 supporting (EK) the AELS, I have asked for =
discussion on the NLA list
 about the idea of pulling the AELS out of the WIA =
legislation and
 instead funding it in separate legislation as the =
Kennedy Adult
 Education and Literacy System of the United States =
of America Act. This
 would have the benefit of making policymakers and =
others aware of the
 existence of the AELS as an educational system, not =
just another federal
 program, and it would recognize the unique =
contributions of the Kennedy
 family in the formation of the AELS (I understand =
that Congressman
 Joseph Kennedy is a strong supporter of adult =
education, too).

<P><FONT SIZE=3D2>To date there has been no discussion of this =
proposal.</FONT>
<BR><FONT =
SIZE=3D2>_______________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2><A =
HREF=3D"http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla" =
TARGET=3D"_blank">http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla</A>=
</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2>LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and =
goodies for literacy</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=3D2><A HREF=3D"http://literacytent.org" =
TARGET=3D"_blank">http://literacytent.org</A></FONT>
</P>

</BODY>
</HTML>
------_=_NextPart_001_01C1FDC4.30633570--