Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i8MDO1827922; Wed, 22 Sep 2004 09:24:11 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 09:24:11 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <A43C552CCAD3D34686401CF16C9E60320134CF0A@MAIL1.AD.Brown.Edu> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Isserlis, Janet" <Janet_Isserlis@brown.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:1935] difficult decisions X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 1729 Lines: 19 Karol wrote: > If a family has trouble keeping these three home visits, chances are > there will be difficulties with attendance later. .. families must have 75% attendance so we want to be sure that the > family is a good fit for us. Since we have a long waiting list, it > isn't fair to keep slots open for families that are not ready. If a > family can't keep the three visits, we just put them back on the waiting > list until they feel they want to try again. > This raises a chronic issue - do we work better by serving fewer students, by waiting til they're "ready" or *is* part of our work in helping folks not also about allowing people more than one chance to get started? There are arguments for both stances: we don't have time/space/resources to wait - we can work with X number of people now. The other position, however, seems to lead inevitably to the fact that many of the people who aren't "ready" will never be ready without some ancillary support along the way. It puts providers into an all-or-nothing position - come now, or don't come at all, and does exactly the opposite of what many of us are trying to do -- enable adults to do what they need to do to get to programs and to be present to learning. I bring this up not to cast judgement one way or another but rather to question generally when and how those decisions get made, by whom and in whose interests. It also seems unusual for a program to be able to do this amount of "pre' work (three home visits) - I wonder how/if use of that time in assisting people in becoming ready to get to school might shift in some way so that not only are papers being completed, but strategies designed to help folks get started? Janet Isserlis
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