Literacy Links

Professional Development: New Directions for Texas

What's New with LINCS
and National Institute for Literacy?

In late October, the Texas Association of Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE) Eastern Region hosted a statewide meeting of adult education program administrators in Galveston. An update on NIFL's Equipped for the Future (EFF) initiative was presented by Brenda Bell, Associate Director of Tennessee's Center for Literacy Studies (CLS) and Co-Manager of the EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance, located at CLS. Housed in the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, CLS is the Southern LINCS hub, coordinating NIFL initiatives with consortium of 14 southern state partners, including TCALL as the Texas representative.

Ms. Bell described the ESOL version of the EFF/National Retail Federation curriculum that prepares adults for work in sales and service. The curriculum was piloted last year at four Texas sites: Southwest Texas Junior College (Uvalde), Laredo Community College, San Marcos Community Action, and Region 1 (McAllen). The final pilot project report and the curriculum itself will be made available through TCALL's Clearinghouse in the near future.

The presentation also gave an overview of the status of the EFF initiative nationwide and described professional development opportunities available through the EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance. Texas practitioners were interested to know more about the EFF Work Readiness Credential, which is in development in partnership with New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Washington. State leaders from TALAE and Texas LEARNS also discussed with Ms. Bell her suggestions for helping Texas develop an EFF implementation plan.