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e*Literacy

Volume 2, Issue 5 August 1, 2002

Message from Sandra Baxter, Interim Executive Director

This has been a busy summer at the National Institute for Literacy. As you will see in this edition of e*Literacy, the Institute has been moving forward on many fronts, beginning new activities in some projects and seeing exciting progress in others. Through Equipped for the Future, Bridges to Practice, LINCS, America's Literacy Directory, and its policy work, the Institute continues to provide the adult literacy community with leadership at the national level as well as services and products to support state and local literacy services. The Institute's work in adult literacy also is strengthened by the Partnership for Reading, a collaborative effort led by the Institute to improve reading instruction for adults, youth, and children by making scientifically based reading research widely available.

This fall, the Institute is planning to celebrate its 10th anniversary with a special event to recognize all we have accomplished during our first 10 years and highlight issues that will be important to the literacy field in the coming decade. Once our plans are complete, I will share this information with you in the hope that you can join us.

One issue that figures prominently in the near future is the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) sometime during 2003. WIA establishes the federal role in adult education through the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute. To provide Congress the information it needs to shape this important legislation, the Department's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) is conducting "listening sessions" around the country to collect input from the field, including two sessions scheduled during August. Institute staff are joining OVAE staff in conducting these sessions.

As we move forward, the Institute will continue supporting the development of high-quality state, regional, and national literacy services to ensure that all Americans can develop the basic skills necessary for success in the workplace, family, and community in the 21st century. This issue of e*Literacy brings you up to date on the Institute's latest activities and renews our commitment to keeping your informed about the Institute's activities, important developments at the federal level, and other useful information.

CONTENTS

Information Available on Adult Education and Family Literacy Act Reauthorization; OVAE Hosts Discussions at CEA, NAULC Meetings

Sometime in 2003, Congress is scheduled to reauthorize the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), which is designed to help adults become literate and obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for employment and self-sufficiency, obtain the educational skills necessary to become full partners in the educational process of their children, and complete secondary school education. To find out more information about the AEFLA and track the reauthorization process, visit /lincs/collections/policy/wia.html.

To prepare for reauthorization, OVAE is continuing to hold "listening sessions" - with help from Institute staff facilitators - for the general public and adult practitioners across the country, including two this month. The sessions address issues likely to arise during reauthorization, such as accountability for student performance, professional development, funding mechanisms for adult education programs, student transitions, and expanding the capacity of the delivery system. The first August session will be held at the National Alliance of Urban Literacy Coalitions meeting at the Royal St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Friday, August 2. The second session will be held at the Correctional Education Association conference at the Portland Hilton Hotel from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 11. Attendance is on a first-come, space-available basis. Additional information is available at http://www.naulc.org or at http://www.ceanational.org

Institute Supports PA Public Awareness Effort with America's Literacy Directory

The Institute is working closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to support a statewide public awareness campaign on literacy and adult basic education. America's Literacy Directory (ALD) and the Institute's toll-free telephone hotline will be used to answer campaign phone calls, saving Pennsylvania from having to spend campaign funds to set up a separate hotline. At the same time, the state will ensure that all Pennsylvania program information in the ALD is current.

The Institute welcomes the opportunity to work with other states on similar projects. The ALD project is entering a new phase emphasizing stronger partnerships with state and local literacy agencies like the relationship with Pennsylvania. The Institute hopes partnerships will increase the program information available in the Directory without burdening states or local programs. A recent meeting with state representatives reviewed ways the ALD can do a better job of sharing and transferring program data with state and local directories. Better coordination means avoiding new administrative requirements, allowing programs to update directory information with the assurance that it would be updated automatically in all other directories.

Contact Jaleh Behroozi at jbehroozi@nifl.gov to discuss state partnerships. To add a local literacy provider to the ALD, or to get additional information on the directory, please visit http://www.literacydirectory.org.

Institute Launches Pilot EFF Reading Project

In an effort to strengthen reading instruction in those family literacy programs that use Equipped for the Future (EFF), the National Institute for Literacy launched on July 31,the pilot phase of the EFF Reading Project. In partnership with the National Center for Family Literacy, the Institute, through the EFF National Center, is developing a training model and materials to integrate scientifically based reading instruction into the EFF approach to teaching and learning. The EFF Reading Project is funded by the Partnership for Reading.

The goal of the EFF Reading project is to enhance the quality and results of instruction so parents can:

State-sponsored family literacy and Even Start programs in Delaware, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and with five Family and Child Education (FACE) programs sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs are participating in the pilot phase of the project. For more information on the EFF Reading Project, please contact Sondra Stein, EFF National Director, at sstein@nifl.gov.

LINCS Launches Multimedia Center, Begins Evaluation

The Institute also will officially launch the LINCS Multimedia Center later this month. In addition to providing audio and video resources covering activities such as Bridges training sessions, the Center will provide live webcasting of events. This center, coupled with the LINCS Learning Disabilities Special Collection Page (http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/) and the soon-to-be released LINCS Training CD, serves as a strong network for LINCS information.

As part of prelude to a yearlong evaluation of the LINCS initiative, the LINCS Regional Technology Centers will be conducting 10 focus groups within the next two months to evaluate different features on national and regional LINCS sites as well as LINCS Special Collections. The recommendations of the focus groups will be used by the LINCS staff in enhancing the content as well as organization of the sites.

As always, you can get updated news on LINCS through LINCS News Flashes. This weekly service provides the latest literacy news worldwide, and can be found at /lincs/whats_new/flash_1_2000.html.

Partnership for Reading Adult Reading Web Site and Others Launched

Following more than a year of development, the Institute launched a series of informational Internet sites funded by the Partnership for Reading and designed to provide information on scientifically based reading instruction for adults, adolescents, and children.

A Web tool presenting information about teaching reading to adults is the centerpiece of the site for adult educators. The information is derived from research with adult readers and supplemented by suggestions based on elementary and secondary-level research. The site can be found at /partnershipforreading/adult_reading/adult_reading.html. A companion print document also is in the publication process.

Another element of the Partnership's Internet-based information portfolio, /partnershipforreading/adolescent, addresses adolescent literacy. The site includes a description of workshops held earlier this year to help develop specific recommendations for a research program for adolescent literacy. The workshops drew on the knowledge and experiences of researchers and practitioners who work with adolescents. A paper synthesizing recent research on adolescent literacy also is available on the site. This work is part of a collaborative effort between the Institute and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

The umbrella web site for all Partnership information can be found at /partnershipforreading. This site provides research findings, downloadable documents, online discussions, and a glossary of terms, all relating to scientifically based reading research.

Institute Funds VALUE Database Project

The Institute recently provided a grant to Voice for Adult Literacy United for Education (VALUE) organization to help develop a national database of adult learners who can offer advice to current and prospective adult learners, act as adult education information specialists in their communities, and serve as spokespersons on adult literacy and lifelong learning. The database will be available through LINCS and through America's Literacy Directory. For more information, contact Carolyn Staley at cstaley@nifl.gov

Bridges to Practice Program Continues Training on Learning Disabilities

The Institute recently completed two highly successful training sessions to improve education and other services for adults with learning disabilities. In Maine, the Institute trained staff who work in agencies or community organizations that provide education, job training, vocational counseling, and other social services to adult clients, including those who receive Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Training covered the information from Books 1 and 2 of the Bridges to Practice program, including characteristics of learning disabilities; learning disabilities-related law; screening and diagnosis; and the impact of diagnosis on service programs. In addition, adult educators received 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. Attendees from agencies that serve TANF clients received intensive training led by Beth Blanchard about legal requirements associated with services for those with learning disabilities.

In Texas, teams of adult educators received similar training, coordinated by Phil Burger of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and Amelia Gilley of the Literacy Council of Tyler. Educators from the TEA as well as representatives of other state agencies responsible for job training, welfare, and social services attended the training. A second week of training will take place in the Fall when educators will receive additional training in curriculum and teaching strategies. Once trained, the teams will work with adult educators across the state.

Special thanks to training organizer Beth Blanchard and trainers Patti White, Ashley Hager, Christine Bishop, Evelyn Beaulieu, Shannon Cox, and Faye Olsen in Maine, and Jeff Fantine, Mary Lou Belisle, and Amelia Gilley in Texas.

For more information on Bridges to Practice or learning disabilities, contact June Crawford at jcrawford@nifl.gov.

Health Literacy a Focus of HHS National Leadership Summit

As part of a recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) summit on eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health, Carolyn Staley, Institute's Deputy Director, led a panel discussion on literacy and its impact on health. The purpose of the session was to raise public awareness around those individuals, families, and communities with the greatest health burdens whose low literacy skills often affect their access to appropriate information, health care, and supporting social services. The event, sponsored by HHS' Office of Minority Health, centered attention on the concept of "health literacy." For more information on the summit, visit http://www.summit.omhrc.gov or contact Carolyn Staley at cstaley@nifl.gov

Get the Facts, Literacy Facts

Need quick information on pressing literacy efforts? Turn to the Institute's Literacy Fact Sheets. These documents include facts and statistics gathered from more than 50 research studies. This information is organized by major topic areas in the field, including learning disabilities, welfare and literacy, parental involvement in learning, English as a second language literacy, literacy and health, workforce education, correctional education, family environment and family literacy, and reading facts. These sheets are regularly updated and supplemented, and can be found at /nifl/facts/facts_overview.html.

Math for Learning, Math for Life

Bringing clearer focus to the issues of adult numeracy and basic skills, the Center for Literacy in Quebec and the Institute sponsored Summer Institute 2002 in Montreal. The three-day think tank was assembled by Susan Cowles, a former Institute Literacy Leader Fellow and the coordinator of the Institute's Science and Numeracy Special Collection, and Donna Curry, publications coordinator at the EFF National Center. The event focused on adult numeracy and basic skills practice in the United States, particularly in relation to the Institute's LINCS and EFF programs. Additional information on the Summer Institute can be found at http://www.nald.ca/PROVINCE/QUE/litcent/whatsnew/SLI2002/1.htm.

Legislative Update

FY 2003 Appropriations - On July 18, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted in favor of its Fiscal Year 2003 Labor/Health and Human Services/Education Appropriations Bill, including funding for adult education and family literacy programs. While the President's FY '03 proposal reduced funding for Even Start, Prison Literacy, and several job-training programs, the Senate bill restores funding for those programs. Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee is expected to take action on its FY '03 appropriations bill in early September. All three proposals - from the President, Senate, and House - will then be negotiated until Congress reaches a final agreement on FY '03 funding, which will likely occur by late fall 2002. To learn more about the Senate bill, please visit /nifl/policy/updates/02_07_19.html.

TANF Reauthorization - As part of the landmark welfare reform legislation passed in 1996, a new system of block grants to states for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) was created, changing the nature and provision of welfare benefits in America. That TANF law expires on September 30, 2002. Congress is currently considering legislation to reauthorize the program, which will set the nation's welfare policies for the next five years. Congress is also considering some modifications to the rules and funding of the TANF program, including the rules that apply to adult education and training opportunities. To learn more, visit the Institute's policy pages on reauthorization of welfare laws at /lincs/collections/policy/welfare.html

New Publications

EFF Hot Topics (/lincs/collections/eff/hot_topics/EFF_HOT_020604.pdf) The Spring 2002 EFF Hot Topics newsletter is now available. This issue introduces the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle, a 10-step process that provides teachers with a detailed tool for developing learning activities integrated with assessment. Guiding questions and sample tools are included for each step of the process. To illustrate how the process works, two teachers share examples from their ESOL and family literacy classrooms.

Equipped for the Future Assessment Report: EFF/NRS Data Collection Project. (/lincs/collections/eff/eff_nrs_2002.html) Released in July, this report discusses progress on the EFF Assessment Framework, the field research process, and lessons and implications for the National Reporting System (NRS). The multi-year EFF/NRS project will enable programs using EFF to report student progress in ways that are compatible with NRS requirements.

Bridges to Practice featured in Practitioners' Points. http://www.floridatechnet.org/bridges This newsletter (Vol. 2, Issue 4) from the Florida Human Resources Department provides some valuable information on accommodations, technologies and strategies from the Bridges to Practice program.

To join the Institute's mailing list, visit: /nifl/join_mailing_list.html

Staff on the Road

August 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 levels.

Editor: Lynn Reddy (lreddy@nifl.gov)

For more information, contact:
National Institute for Literacy
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