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e*Literacy

Volume 2, Issue 4 April 1, 2002

Welcome to e*literacy, a monthly electronic newsletter with the latest news from the National Institute for Literacy.

CONTENTS

National Urban League, EFF Begin Joint Curriculum Project

Representatives of the Equipped for the Future (EFF) National Center and National Urban League (NUL) will meet April 3 to begin developing a curriculum framework to help community-based and non-profit providers of adult literacy, training, and education services improve their education and accountability systems. Stronger systems are expected to help the organizations qualify for federal dollars and other funding sources.

The curriculum framework, based on the EFF Quality Model and the NUL Quality Improvement initiative, will become the core of a new LINCS Special Collection on Program Management/Program Improvement. The Equipped for the Future Quality Model, published this year as Results that Matter: An EFF Approach to Program Quality using Equipped for the Future, lays out program practices that are an important part of implementing EFF and the outcomes expected as a result of using EFF.

NUL affiliates in Columbus, Atlanta, and Charlotte are working on this project with EFF National Center staff and will pilot the first draft of the curriculum framework. Based on their feedback, the framework will be revised and piloted with a wider community-based organization pilot group next year.

For more information contact Lisa Levinson of the EFF National Center at LisaL595@aol.com or Janet Zobel of the National Urban League at jzobel@nul.org.

Academy Trains 11 State Teams on Welfare Clients and Learning Disabilities

The 2002 Bridges to Practice Seattle Academy focused on training teams of trainers from 11 states to understand how to address learning disabilities in the welfare population. The Academy took place March 11-15 under the direction of Beth Blanchard from the Seattle-King County Workforce Development Council. The teams of trainers were made up of at least one person from a Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, plus others from agencies that collaborate with TANF programs to provide services. The teams are expected to share their knowledge with frontline staff who work directly with TANF clients.

State TANF program directors pledged to support the training teams as they begin training local staff. They also agreed to participate in a national evaluation study about the incidence of learning disabilities in the TANF population sponsored by NIFL and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The four state teams that attended the 2001 Seattle Academy assisted in this year's training and discussed the systemic changes that have led to the successful identification of TANF clients with learning disabilities and the improvement of services for them. The fact that positive changes took place, coupled with successful efforts to collect information about TANF clients, helped persuade NIFL and HHS to increase funding for the 2002 Seattle Academy, permitting a larger number of states to participate.

The 2001 training teams who assisted with the 2002 training and will offer mentoring to the new teams include:

The new teams include:

For more information, contact June Crawford or visit Bridges to Practice

First Bridges to Practice Master Trainer Certified

Beth Blanchard of the Seattle-King County Workforce Development Council became the first certified Master Trainer in NIFL's Bridges to Practice program. Beth worked with the Bridges to Practice program for almost five years and has trained hundreds of people. She is the current coordinator and lead trainer for the Seattle Academy, and she has mentored other trainers as a part of this responsibility.

To be certified by NIFL as a master trainer in Bridges to Practice, an individual must complete a 3-stage process that involves developing knowledge of learning disabilities, training other people, and supervising trainers.

For more information, contact June Crawford.

Summer Bridges to Practice Learning Disabilities Training Offered
NIFL is sponsoring Bridges to Practice training June 24-28 at the 2002 Maine Adult Education Summer Institute for staff who work in agencies or community organizations that provide education, job training, vocational counseling, and other social services to adult clients. The training will be held at the University of Maine-Orono, where participants may stay in campus housing, if desired. Training materials will be provided by NIFL.

The first two days of training will be conducted by Patti White of Arkansas and Ashley Hager of Massachusetts and will cover the information from Books 1 and 2 of the Bridges to Practice program, including characteristics of learning disabilities; learning disabilities-related law; and screening and diagnosis. Additional information will be included about the diagnosis of learning disabilities and the impact on service programs.

The third and fourth days of training will be conducted with participants divided into community agencies and adult education and literacy providers. The community agencies group will receive intensive training about the legal requirements around learning disabilities and the need to provide services. Beth Blanchard will lead the training, assisted by members of the TANF training teams. The second group will receive training on curriculum and teaching strategies from Books 3 and 4 of Bridges to Practice in sessions conducted by Maine's Bridges to Practice training team, under the direction of Evelyn Beaulieu.

For those who wish to become part of a state training team, a fifth day of training will be provided to cover training techniques and more in-depth information about the certification process.

For further information about housing, meals, and registration costs, contact Evelyn Beaulieu or 207-581-2498.

LINCS Features

The video presentation of the March 15 web cast of "Adult and Family Literacy: A Research Funding Opportunity Current Research and Future Directions" is available on the NIFL site. Information about how to apply for a research grant in adult and family literacy is here. Letters of intent must be received by April 15, 2002.

LINCSearchTo find quick access to hundreds of hand-picked, annotated resources developed by literacy experts and practitioners, use the LINCS material search. Resources include:

Searches may be initiated by title, subject, type of material, student skill level, and audience. More than 7,800 full-text, multimedia web sites are evaluated and cataloged in the LINCS cyber-collection. Materials are contributed by LINCS state partner organizations, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education, and many other state and national organizations.

To learn more about LINCS contact, Jaleh Behroozi Soroui (jbehroozi@nifl.gov), National LINCS Director.

New Publications

State Policy Update: State Correctional Education Programs - This report provides background on the criminal justice system, summarizes the funding sources, correctional philosophy, and laws affecting state correctional education programs, and describes the adult prison population today. In addition, the Update reviews the various components of correctional education, discusses the outcomes of education for inmates, and highlights correctional education initiatives in three states-Maryland, Ohio, and Texas. Available online in PDF or HTML format on the Policy Update webpage. Copies can also be ordered by calling toll-free (800) 228-8813. To receive publications in the mail, join the Institute's mailing list.

Higher Skills, Bottom-Line Results - Developed jointly with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Center for Workforce Preparation and Verizon, this report and accompanying PowerPoint slides describe why a workforce with strong basic skills matters to business and how workplace literacy skills can be improved. Available online or by calling the Center for Workforce Preparation at 202-463-5525.

Legislative Update

107th Session - Members of Congress are currently in their home districts/states for a two-week spring recess. They will resume their work the week of April 8. At that time, the House Education and the Workforce Committee plans to take up issues related to the President's proposal for welfare reform, the Corporation for National Service, and financial management at the US Department of Education. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee plans to discuss issues related to the Institute for Museum and Library Services and various health-related issues.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education will hear testimony from Education Secretary Rod Paige on April 10. The Secretary is expected to address funding issues for FY '03.

Welfare Reform - President Bush recently released his proposal to reauthorize welfare. In that proposal, the President suggests a three-pronged effort to get more welfare recipients to work. First, the President proposes to increase the amount of time recipients must spend in approved work activities each week from 30 hours up to 40 hours, and the time allowed for core activities would rise from 20 hours to 24 hours per week. Second, the President proposes removing vocational training and job search/job readiness from the list of core activities. This would leave regular work, subsidized work, on-the-job training, and unpaid work or community service as the only ways to meet the core requirement. Finally, the President proposes to require states to increase the percentage of recipients meeting work requirements from 50 percent to 70 percent. Learn more about the President's welfare proposal.

Institute Staff and Partners on the Road

Upcoming presentations by Institute staff are listed below.

April

May

Calendar





E*literacy is published monthly by the National Institute for Literacy. The National Institute for Literacy is an independent federal organization leading the national effort toward a fully literate nation in the 21st century. The Institute's mission is to improve the national adult and family literacy system by building capacity and improving quality through strategic public-private partnerships at the state, regional, and national level.

Editor: Lynn Reddy (lreddy@nifl.gov)

For more information, contact:
National Institute for Literacy
1775 I Street, NW
Suite 730
Washington, DC 20006-2417
202-233-2025