Return-Path: <silja_kallenbach@jsi.com> Received: from jsi.com (gateway.jsi.com [199.98.226.160]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id LAA04034 for <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>; Wed, 9 Apr 1997 11:41:44 -0400 (EDT) Received: from jsi.com ([172.16.43.7]) by gateway.jsi.com with SMTP id <35717-3>; Wed, 9 Apr 1997 11:48:43 -0400 Received: from JSI-Message_Server by jsi.com with Novell_GroupWise; Wed, 09 Apr 1997 11:43:59 -0400 Message-Id: <s34b80ff.013@jsi.com> X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 4.1 Date: Wed, 9 Apr 1997 11:41:39 -0400 From: Silja Kallenbach <silja_kallenbach@jsi.com> To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Subject: civic participation standards Encoding: 120 Text Status: RO Content-Length: 6257 Lines: 115 EQUIPPED FOR THE FUTURE CIVIC PARTICIPATION STANDARDS PROJECT By Silja Kallenbach, New England Literacy Resource Center/World Education What do we as adults need to know and be able to do as participants in a democracy? How can we be prepared to contribute to our communities as active citizens and community members? How should civic literacy and participation figure in ABE and ESOL instruction? Answering these questions is a step in the process of reshaping our adult literacy and learning system so that we can better help adults meet real-world responsibilities and exercise their rights. This kind of reform will eventually help all types of literacy and ESOL programs to define, codify and strengthen effective practice. This reform effort is called Equipped for the Future (EFF), and sponsored by the National Institute for Literacy. The Civic Participation Standards project is one of three components of EFF. Two other consortia focus on what adults need to know and be able to do as workers and family members or parents. The Civic Participation Standards project is spearheaded by a collaboration between the Center for Literacy Studies in Tennessee, New England Literacy Resource Center/World Education and the Philadelphia Mayor's Commission on Literacy. Each one of us is partnered with ten or more community-based adult learning centers in twelve states. The centerpiece of this reform will be voluntary curriculum standards. Unlike K-12 standards, which are designed for academic disciplines, these standards grow out of and reflect the adult roles of citizen/community member, parent/family member and worker. We are now in the second year of this multi-year project. Last year, we held focus groups with active community members and literacy stakeholders, and worked with literacy teachers to conduct classroom inquiry projects with adult learners. We asked what civic participation means to people, how they have participated, and what skills and knowledge they needed to participate. Based on the opinions and experiences of this very diverse group of people, we developed a framework for what adults need to know and be able to do as active and effective citizens/community members. We are calling this portrait of adult responsibilities and key activities a *role map.* The Citizen/Community member role map represents our synthesis of what we have learned to date. [The role map can be viewed at URL: http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~litstudy/rolemap.] People told us that the core purpose of citizenship is to take informed action make a positive difference in one's own life, community and the world. Often the focus is very close to home -- setting a good example to children, helping one's neighbors, contributing to one's community in small ways and large. As often, the focus is broader -- keeping government accountable, speaking out against injustices, influencing decision-makers, and becoming decision-makers. People's experiences fell into four broad areas of responsibility: (1) Becoming and staying informed; (2) Forming and expressing opinions and ideas; (3) Working together; and (4) Taking action to strengthen communities. Our feedback sessions are complemented by 37 inquiry projects in classes and in tutoring sessions in which adult literacy teachers and learners have been trying out the draft framework through lessons leading to student-defined action projects. In New England alone, five of the inquiry projects are with ESOL students. In Providence, RI, a group of ESOL students are organizing a blood drive. In Cambridge, MA, one class of ESOL students investigated various issues around public education, met with a school committee members and a state representative, and wrote letters to decision-makers. Another class studied about civil rights. The Dover, NH ESOL class prepared and gave interactive presentations about their countries and cultures to white, American elementary school children. In each case, English skills were developed and practiced, and grammar lessons were embedded in meaningful, real-world context. By June we will have compiled and synthesized the inquiry experiences and resulting recommendations from the teachers. The inquiry projects will be highlighted in the fall *97 issue of NELRC's Change Agent newspaper. This year, the role map is being reviewed and modified by hundreds more literacy stakeholders across the country to make sure that it reflects a wide range of experiences of civic participation. Once the map has been validated, it will be used to develop role (performance) indicators and identify the embedded skills and knowledge. It is important to emphasize that this role map is not yet curriculum standards. We expect to turn it into draft standards by November 1997 in a way that merges the three adult roles and yet respects what is special about each role. By January 1998, we will turn our full attention to instructional approaches, assessment and staff development. We expect to engage many more literacy programs in that development effort and preliminary piloting of the standards in a broad range of literacy contexts. Eventually, literacy programs and teachers across the country can use the EFF standards as a common framework for curriculum, instruction and assessment. The EFF standards hold the promise of not only helping us do our job of preparing adults for the future better, they will give us common language for describing student progress that even lay people and legislators can understand and hopefully appreciate. ************************************************************ For more information on EFF, contact Sondra Stein, National Institute for Literacy, 202-632-1500; sstein@smtp.nifl.gov. For more information and to receive a copy of the citizen/community member role map, contact: Brenda Bell, Associate Director Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee 600 Henley Street, Suite 312 Knoxville, TN 37996 423-974-4109 Fax 423-974-3857 bsbell@utkux.utk.edu For more information on New England Literacy Resource Center or The Change Agent newspaper, contact: Silja Kallenbach, Coordinator NELRC/World Education 44 Farnsworth Street Boston, MA 02210 617-482-9485 skallenbach@worlded.org
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