Return-Path: <nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id gBCND5X01407; Thu, 12 Dec 2002 18:13:05 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 18:13:05 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <78.32c2a45c.2b2a715b@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Wrmuth@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-fobasics@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FOBASICS:628] Re: Have you been served? X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 108 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Status: O Content-Length: 1965 Lines: 31 As the Education Administrator for the US Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), I can say that NCSALL's work is making a significant impact on the literacy programs in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. For example, LoBuglio's chapter (Annual Review, Vol.II) has helped correctional educators articulate the needs - and erosion of support over the past ten years - for prison literacy programs in state and federal prisons. The findings and questions raised by Tyler, Murname & Willet (2000) has helped us (BOP) rethink outcomes for our literacy programs: we knew "earning a GED certificate" was a gross reduction of what goes on in our programs (serving over 20,000 federal inmates); their work helped us make the case in a language policy makers could - and did - understand. But for us, NCSALL's most influential work has been the Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS) (Strucker & Davidson 2002). While the BOP has many strong literacy teachers, there are also many who lack a background in literacy. The ARCS provides a model for assessment, instruction, and program design. In one aspect of my current dissertation research (I am a doctoral student at George Mason University), I am extending the ARCS "lens" to prisoners in literacy programs. I am also working with BOP educators to design a core to our literacy program that uses the ARCS framework to inform curriculum, staff training, and, to a degree, overall program design. We will also be building into our literacy programs constructivist (and possibly critical) approaches (e.g., encouraging prisoners to establish their own goals and purposes for learning) and content drawn from the worlds of prison, transition, and the community. I thank NCSALL contributors such as Sophie Degener and Vickie Purcell-Gates for their work in these areas, and John Comings and the NCSALL staff for their generous and practical support over the past three years. -Bill Muth (202) 305-3800
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