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Getting Started: (Advice for New Adult and Family Literacy Programs)
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FREE Things
to Send For...
"I
so appreciate this service. TCALL is a pot of gold at the rainbow's
end. I think the service that they provide is incredible. The timeliness
and accuracy are tops! Please keep up the good work."
Claire Anderson
GED Teacher
Paris Junior College Adult Education
Why Do We Do This?
...to prepare adults for the role of parent/
family member...
Family Literacy:
A Strategy for Educational Improvement. NGA Center for Best Practices
(November 2002). Washington, DC: National Governor's Association. Incorporating
family literacy into educational programs for children and adults results
in a flexible and comprehensive strategy that can improve educational
outcomes. This Issue Brief describes the benefits of and innovative state
approaches to family literacy. Those strategies include: encouraging state
agencies to collaborate as they plan family literacy services; making
family literacy an allowable use of existing education funds; and authorizing
specific funds for family literacy.
Family Literacy
Forum, Volume 2, Number 1. Ullman, Claudia, Editor (Spring 2003).
San Diego, CA: National Even Start Association. This is the second issue
of NESA's national, peer- reviewed journal, providing a forum for scholarship
regarding the literacy development of families in home, community, and
school-based settings. This issue's articles include: "Parents and
Children Working Together: A Paradigm for Inclusive Reading Assistance"
by Maria A. Ceprano; "Adult Education Theory and Family Literacy
Practice" by Arthur M. Langer; "More than a Mention: Cultural
Responsiveness in Family Literacy" by Ralf St. Clair and Cheryl Heitzman;
"Using Evaluation Data to Document the Value of Even Start Family
Literacy Programs" by Chia-Yin Chen, Don F. Seaman, and Yvette D.
Perry; and "Go Gently on Family Literacy" by Ray McDermott.
FREE sample issues available from TCALL in TEXAS ONLY.
...to
prepare adults
for the role of citizen/ community member...
The Change Agent
Issue 9: Looking In, Looking Out: Reflections on Adult Basic Education.
Horchler, Marie, Editor (1999). Boston, MA: New England Literacy Resource
Center. The mission of The Change Agent is to provide, in the form of
a low cost newspaper, news, issues, ideas and other teaching resources
that inspire and enable adult educators and learners to make civic participation
and social justice related concerns part of their teaching and learning".
This sample issue includes articles such as: Bringing Community Into the
Curriculum; Community Building: One Tutor at a Time; and Is Education
a Right? as well as poetry and many student exercises. Other issues and
subscription information are available online at: http://www.nelrc.org/changeagent/.
For example, the March 2003 issue theme is "Language and Power."
People and Politics:
A Civic Literacy Curriculum. Hager, Ashley (no date). Boston, MA:
New England Literacy Resource Center. Students learn how to identify the
issues most important to them, ask the right questions, select a candidate
whose platform reflects their own concerns, and write to decision makers.
Printed Materials (11 pages): FREE copies available (323 Hag).
Pick Your Candidate.
Tasker, Debbie (1995). Concord, NH: New Hampshire Department of Education,
Bureau of Adult Education. 25-page manual is intended to help adult students
sort through issues in preparation for deciding which candidates they
will support in an upcoming election. Topics include: registering to vote;
campaign news coverage and advertising; campaign speeches; campaign promises;
negative campaigning; use of "buzzwords"; opinion polls; meeting
a candidate; considering issues; choosing your favorite candidate; and
helping your candidate. Discussion questions encourage critical thinking.
Students can do the reading and writing activities independently or in
groups. Materials may be duplicated for classroom use.
...to
prepare adults for the role of worker
and promote their economic independence...
Employability Skills:
An Update. Overtoom, Christine (2000). Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse
on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education. What skills do employers want?
How do these skills match those that youth and adults are developing through
their school and work experiences? How can education and training programs
prepare individuals to enter a rapidly changing workplace? These and other
questions are examined in this ERIC Digest that explores skills currently
needed for employment.
An Introduction
to ESL in the Workplace. Crocker, Judith, Sherman, Renee, Dlott, Michael
and Tibbetts, John (June 2002). Washington, DC: Pelavin Research Center,
American Institutes for Research. This two-session train-the-trainer workshop
module uses a series of activities, handouts, and transparencies to identify
the unique characteristics of workplace ESL and examine the various stages
of planning, implementing, and evaluating workplace ESL programs. The
module also includes a readiness guide for programs to complete before
starting a Workplace ESL program. FREE copies available IN TEXAS ONLY.
Also available online in pdf format at http://www.pro-net2000.org/CM/showtraining.asp
- scroll down page to find title.
Preparing Limited
English Proficient Persons for the Workplace. Wonacott, Michael E.
(2000). Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational
Education. Limited English proficient (LEP) individuals come from a variety
of social, economic, and educational backgrounds; and the literacy levels
of LEP persons are equally diverse. Likewise, an LEP person's oral proficiency
in English should not be confused with English- or native- language literacy
- that is, the ability to read and write. This ERIC Digest describes cultural
considerations and effective approaches for LEP individuals' work force
development, including the impact of recent training legislation.
Learning In and
For Participation in Work and Society: How Adults Learn Conference Proceedings.
Greeno, James G. et al (September 1999). Washington, DC: US DOE Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development. This paper resulted from a conference
held in April 1998 to identify barriers preventing certain groups of adults
from participating in lifelong learning opportunities and to explore policies
and practices that better enable such adults to learn. The authors of
this paper focused on learning in the workplace: how it happens; ramifications
for policy, practice, and further research; and implications for understanding
learning in all settings. FREE copies available IN TEXAS ONLY. Conference
proceedings are also available online at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/HowAdultsLearn/
- scroll down page to find title.
Workplace Literacy
Programs for Nonnative English Speakers. Isserlis, Janet (October
1991). Washington, DC: National Center for ESL Literacy Education. Workplace-based
educational programs are not new. Recent perceptions of a national literacy
crisis and the need for a competitive workforce, however, have resulted
in the development of new programs across the country, many of which provide
literacy and language training for nonnative English speakers. This ERIC
Digest discusses reasons for initiating workplace programs and types/essential
features of these programs.
Welfare Reform:
Assessing the Effectiveness of Various Welfare-to-Work Approaches.
United States General Accounting Office (1999). Washington, DC: United
States General Accounting Office. Research report on effectiveness of
different welfare-to-work approaches, comparing rapid-employment approach
with education-based W-T-W approach, and their relative cost. Also reports
on relationship of mother's educational attainment with children's development
& educational attainment. This was a GAO Report to Congressional Committees
published in September, 1999.
Welfare to Work:
Considerations for Adult and Vocational Education Programs. Imel,
Susan (2000). Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and
Vocational Education. In 1996, federal legislation ushered in a new era
of welfare reform that emphasizes economic self-sufficiency through a
"work-first" approach designed to move welfare recipients into
the workforce as quickly as possible. Education and training for welfare
recipients now consists primarily of short-term training programs, with
limited further training available once someone has found a job. The work-first
philosophy has created chal-lenges for adult and vocational educators.
This ERIC Digest presents some considerations for developing welfare-to-work
programs and characteristics of successful programs. Recommendations for
program development based on the literature conclude the Digest.
Windows of Opportunity:
Strategies to Support Families Receiving Welfare and Other Low-Income
Families in the Next Stage of Welfare Reform. Sweeney, Eileen, et
al (January 2000). Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
"In every state, the delivery of welfare services has been altered
under TANF to emphasize work, primarily through a 'work first' approach
that seeks to move parents as quickly as possible into the labor force.
... [Yet] Recent research shows most parents leaving welfare for work
earn too little to support their families." This report addresses
TANF rules that have given states more flexibility since the initial welfare
reform legislation. The authors give several examples of changes is state
policies that "make it more feasible for single parents who are caring
for children to participate in [education or training] activities by reducing
or eliminating additional work requirements." FREE copies available
IN TEXAS ONLY. Also available online at http://www.cbpp.org/1-12-00wel.htm
— scroll down page to find title.
...to
help new speakers of English
learn the skills they need to succeed...
Adult English Language
Instruction in the 21st Century. National Center for ESL Literacy
Education (2002). Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. English
language learners make up a significant segment of the adult education
population in the U.S. In program year 2001-02, 42% of the participants
in state administered adult education programs were enrolled in English
as a second language (ESL) classes. This percentage does not include
adult English learners who are being served in other segments of the
system. To meet the large demand for English language instruction, existing
adult education programs are expanding, and new ones are being established.
Who are these English learners? Where do they come from? What kind of
instruction is being/should be provided to them? This document provides
an overview of the field of adult ESL instruction in the U.S. today.
First, it places adult ESL in the broader context of the U.S. education
system, and then it describes trends and issues in the areas of program
design and instructional practice, assessment, teacher training and
professional development, integration of research and practice, and
technology. Also available online in pdf format at: http://www.cal.org/resources/pubs/21cent.html.
Spanish language version (La enseñanza del
idioma inglés para los adultos en el siglo XXI) is a separate
title also available online. Both are available in hard copy from the
Clearinghouse IN TEXAS ONLY.
...to
meet the literacy needs of special populations...
Bringing Family
Literacy to Incarcerrated Settings: A Instructional Guide. Hudson
River Center for Program Development, Inc. (2001). Glenmont, NY: New York
State Education Department Office of Workforce Preparedness and Continuing
Education. Created to assist anyone interested in implementing a family
literacy project within an incarcerated setting, this guide includes a
description of various program designs, assessment strategies, comments
from parents who have benefited, and a blueprint for implementation. Resources
and sample forms are provided. FREE copies available IN TEXAS ONLY. Also
available online at http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/hudson/bringing/cover.htm.
 
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