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e*Literacy







Volume 2, Issue 7 November, 2002

CONTENTS

Institute, OVAE, NICHD Award $18.5 Million for Adult Literacy Research

Establishing a new research network dedicated to studying the most effective methods and approaches for teaching reading skills to low-literate adults, the National Institute for Literacy, along with the Office of Adult and Vocational Education of the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health, awarded a total of $18.5 million in grants for six research projects focused on adult literacy instruction.

The projects within the network will design, develop, implement and study the effectiveness of adult literacy interventions for low-literate adults, including the role of decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension instruction and explicitness of instruction. These priorities were all identified by the Reading Research Working Group, an effort co-sponsored by the Institute and the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy at Harvard University.

The grants will fund five-year studies initiated by researchers at Georgia State University, University of Illinois, University of Kansas-Lawrence, Educational Testing Services, Wake Forest University of the Health Sciences, and the University of Delaware. For more information on this effort, please visit: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/crmc/cdb/AFL_workshop.htm.

Verizon Continues Support for America's Literacy Directory

As a demonstration of its commitment to expand and enhance America's Literacy Directory (ALD), the Verizon Foundation recently awarded the Institute a $156,000 grant to further the development of a single national literacy directory of local literacy service providers and literacy partners in the United States. ALD is a collaborative project that began in September 2001.

Working with Verizon, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Department of Education, the Institute is using ALD to help states and national agencies to meet their diverse needs in collecting information about their local programs, while providing comprehensive information about literacy providers. The Institute is also planning to provide other features, such as a Spanish-language version of ALD and a more comprehensive directory of programs providing learning disabilities services.

Senate To Confirm Two Institute Board Nominees

In an effort to confirm nominees to the Institute's Advisory Board, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has decided to move pending Board members' nominations to the Unanimous Consent (UC) calendar and confirm them on the Senate floor, rather than in committee. Nominees will likely be confirmed one at a time as the Senate receives the paperwork necessary for appointment.

To date, Senator Edward Kennedy, HELP Committee Chairman, has received the completed paperwork for two Advisory Board nominees, Carol C. Gambill and Juan R. Olivarez, and is trying to place their confirmation on the UC calendar, for consideration when the Senate returns to work after the November elections.

Carol Gambill is the director of special projects for the Tennessee State Department of Education's Division of Curriculum and Instruction. She is also the founder of the First Step Pre-School for the Hearing Impaired. Ms. Gambill earned both her B.S. and M.A. from the University of Tennessee. She is the recipient of the Edith May Life Award from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Juan Olivarez is the president of Grand Rapids Community College in Grand Rapids, MI. He also serves as president of the Michigan Campus Contact program, which helps put literacy volunteers in the local community, and is a board member of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. Dr. Olivarez earned his B.A. from Aquinas College, his M.A. from Wayne State University, and his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Michigan Education Association.

Once the Senate returns to work, it is also expected to move forward the eight remaining nominations to the Institute's Advisory Board. These include: Douglas Carnine of Oregon; Carmel Borders of Kentucky; Blanca E. Enriquez of Texas; Jean Osborn of Illinois; Phyllis C. Hunter of Texas; Mark G. Yudof of Minnesota; William T. Hiller of Ohio; and Robin Morris of Georgia.

Congress Focuses on Adult Literacy, Corporate Partnerships

Acknowledging a growing national focus on the importance of adult and family literacy efforts, the U.S. House of Representatives heard from a wide range of private-sector representatives active in literacy activities. Verizon Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg, actor James Earl Jones, and representatives from Pizza Hut, MBNA, and the PBS television program "Between the Lions" testified on October 8 before the House Education and the Workforce Committee's Subcommittee of Education Reform. The subject of the hearing was "Literacy Partnerships That Work." For more information on these efforts, visit the Committee's website at: http://edworkforce.house.gov.

Institute Promotes Health Literacy

Communities can provide adults the knowledge and skills needed to deal with the full range of health-related issues they come across during their lives by implementing the Equipped for the Future (EFF) approach to building literacy, said EFF Project Director Sondra Stein at a national gathering of health educators.

"The EFF approach to building health literacy is not just to provide information about specific healthcare issues, but to provide adults with the knowledge and skills they need to deal with the full range of health-related issues they come across in their lives," Stein said at the event.

Speaking at the Health Literacy: Leading Edge Practices conference sponsored by Pfizer, Stein was part of a town hall-style meeting designed to spotlight successful strategies for integrating health literacy with healthcare. In addition to hearing about the Institute's EFF model, attendees at this fifth annual conference heard discussions on efforts undertaken by the American Medial Association, the National Health Council, and the State of Georgia.

LINCS Regional Technology Centers Receive Funding

The Institute has awarded five LINCS Regional Technology Centers (RTCs) grants to continue collaboration efforts with their state partners in strengthening the literary field through a wide range of efforts.

More than $800,000 in grants were awarded to the Ohio Literacy Resource Center (Midwest LINCS), Center for Literacy Studies in Tennessee (Southern LINCS), ABLE Net in Pennsylvania (Eastern LINCS), Northwest Regional Literacy Consortium (Northwest LINCS), and State Literacy Resource Center of California (Western/Pacific LINCS).

Twelve LINCS Special Collections were also provided $530,000 in grants to enhance the content and presentation of each collection by identifying specific audiences that each collection is targeting while refining criteria for resources posted on each collection. Grant recipients included:

LINCS also presented at the NAEPDC National Training Institute, held November 6 through November 9 in San Francisco. Representatives from the Institute and from the LINCS Regional Technology Centers conducted a session that provided state directors a greater understanding of the resources available for state program improvement initiatives and that identifies resources to fill existing gaps in areas where there are limited resources.

Institute Centralizes EFF Efforts

In a move that consolidates research, technical assistance, and implementation efforts, the Institute has centralized all Equipped for the Future (EFF) efforts at the Center for Literacy Studies (CLS) at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. CLS has coordinated EFF field research for many years and has worked with SRI International to develop a framework and tools to assess learner performance on the EFF standards.

Because of this move, the Institute will be able to seamlessly integrate EFF research into implementation efforts more quickly. The first demonstration is the release of three Research to Practice notes this month, as well as the launch of a new Tool Kit based on the EFF teaching and learning cycle.

The National Institute for Literacy has provided the EFF Center $450,000 in operational funding. This funding is the fourth-year award of a five-year grant with the center.

For more information on EFF training, please contact Jean Stephens at 865-974-6610 or jjstephe@utk.edu.

Bridges to Practice Names New Master Trainers

The Institute's Bridges to Practice Training Program recently named Mary Lou Belisle of Wisconsin and Jeffrey Fantine of Ohio as Master Trainers, following two weeks of training for the Texas Adult Education Training Teams. To be certified by the Institute as a master trainer in Bridges to Practice, an individual must complete a three-stage process that involves developing knowledge of learning disabilities, training other people, and supervising trainers.

They were observed by NIFL Learning Disabilities Program Director June J. Crawford and Beth Blanchard, Master Trainer and Bridges to Practice Program Manager at the Seattle-King County Workforce Development Board. Belisle and Fantine will be the trainers in a planned training session in Carson City, NV from January 6, 2003 through January 10, 2003.

Also, Amelia Gilley of the Tyler Literacy Council (Texas) was recently awarded a certificate as an intermediate trainer.

Bridges to Practice trainers will be sponsoring a one-day symposium as an introduction to the Learning Disabilities Association conference in Chicago this February. The symposium will feature a keynote address from Dr. Steven Tingus, director of the National Institute for Disability Research. A limited number of scholarships are available for those who have completed basic training in all four books of Bridges to Practice, those who have been through the Seattle Academy for TANF trainers, or those who have done training in Bridges materials for others. Application forms are available in the LDA conference program or online at http://www.LDAAmerica.org.

Institute Deputy Director Moves On

Carolyn Staley, who served as Deputy Director of the Institute since January 1994, moved on from the agency as of the end of September. Carolyn will stay active in literacy through private consulting and related public service activities. Currently completing her seminary degree, Carolyn will continue to work with faith-based literacy initiatives in Washington, DC and in the Mississippi Delta region.

During her almost nine years with the Institute, Carolyn managed the National Literacy Public Awareness Campaign, "Literacy: It's A Whole New World," and directed the National Literacy Summit 2000. She also focused on health literacy, the Literacy AmeriCorps national service project, and the NIFL Hotline and Clearinghouse services.

Partnership for Reading Launches New Family Literacy Web Pages

The Partnership for Reading has added a new section to its webpages describing two major efforts to strengthen reading instruction in family literacy programs. Providing the opportunity to build new professional development opportunities and tools related to reading skills development, these two new initiatives offer a wealth of useful information for family literacy service providers.

The first initiative, by the National Center for Family Literacy, will provide a series of professional development materials through The Family Partnership in Reading initiative. Funded by the Institute through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, these trainings and materials will summarize the scientific research, based on the development of a synthesis of research on language development, literacy, and communication for children ages 0-5.

The second initiative is provided through the Equipped for the Future (EFF) Reading Project. A joint effort of the Institute and the National Center for Family Literacy, this project will build a professional development model and relevant tools to bring scientifically based reading research into the forefront of curricular, instructional, and professional development decisions by family literacy programs.

For more information on these offerings, visit: /partnershipforreading/family/family.html.

Legislative Update

OERI Reauthorized, Renamed "Institute for Education Sciences" - The Education Sciences Reform Act (HR 3801) will replace the current office of Education Research and Improvement (OERI) with an Institute of Education Sciences. The new Institute will oversee federal education research and will consist of: an Office of the Director; a National Board for Educational Sciences; and the National Education Centers. The National Education Centers include centers for education research, education statistics, and education evaluation and regional assistance.

The mission of the new Institute for Education Research is to provide national leadership in expanding fundamental knowledge and understanding of education from early childhood through postsecondary study. Its mission is to provide parents, educators, students, researchers, policymakers and the general public with reliable information about the condition and progress of education in the United States, educational practices that support learning and improve academic achievement and access to educational opportunities for all students, and boost the effectiveness of Federal and other education programs. Under the law, the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoints the Director of the Institute to a six-year term. Under the provisions of the Act, the President may appoint the Assistant Secretary for OERI to serve as the first Director of the Institute, without Senate approval.

To learn more about this legislation, visit: http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/107th/education/oeri/oeri.htm.

FY 2003 Appropriations - The federal fiscal year began October 1, but Congress has not yet approved most of the 13 required appropriations bills for fiscal year 2003, including the measure that funds adult education and family literacy programs. Congress has approved a continuing resolution (CR) in order to keep the federal government running at current levels through November 22. The status of the FY 2003 appropriations measures is available at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app03.html.

New Publications

EFF materials are now also available in Spanish, and can be purchased through the EFF National Center. Available materials include EFF Role Map Posters, Skills Wheels, and Skills Wheel Posters. Full descriptions of these products can be found on the EFF Special Collection web site (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/resources/default.htm). For information about purchasing EFF materials contact Virginia (Ginny) Bleazey, Operations Manager of the EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance, at the Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee: bleazey@utk.edu or (865) 974-8426.

EFF Research Principle: A Purposeful and Transparent Approach to Teaching and Learning: EFF Research to Practice Notes 1-3 is now available at EDPUBS (http://www.ed.gov/about/ordering.jsp.)

November 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 work to improving 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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