Dear Colleague,

The following post if from Linda Perry and was posted on March 21 to the
Content Standards Discussion List.
marie cora
_____



> 

> Interesting part of a discussion.  There are Scans competencies that are

> 

> followed in many areas in California and the testing for our program

> and 

> other ESL programs is from CAL, Center for Applied Linguistics,

> implying 

> some applied linguistic guidelines.  ORU recommends that doctoral

> students 

> who have studied for their undergraduate and/or master's degrees in

> their 

> education programs, study in other institutions for their doctorates so

> they 

> don't become ingrown and overly focused on one way of doing things.  

> The 

> idea is that it is broadening and keeps a person open to new and

> alternative 

> ways of teaching. Is David proposing national guidelines?  This is a

> good 

> idea, if it is an open ended recommendation that is regularly reviewed

> and 

> allows for input, research and inclusion of varied approaches.

> 

> 

> >From: "Amy R. Trawick" <atrawick at charter.net>

> >Reply-To: The Adult Education Content Standards Discussion 

> >List<contentstandards at nifl.gov>

> >To: "The Assessment Discussion List" <assessment at nifl.gov>,"The Adult

> 

> >Education Content Standards Discussion

> List"<contentstandards at nifl.gov>

> >Subject: [ContentStandards 75] Re: [Assessment 239] Re: : A National 

> >Systemof Adult Education andLiteracy

> >Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 10:28:54 -0500

> >

> >David, I think this is an intriguing idea.  Lots of issues are

> whirling

> >around in my head, but let's deal with this one first:

> >

> >Are you proposing the development of national standards or federal

> >standards?  It is possible to have a set of national standards,

> supporting

> >curriculum, and standardized assessments--developed and referenced by

> the

> >field as a whole because of the collaborative nature of their

> development 

> >or

> >adoption--without having these codified within the federal

> bureaucracy.  In

> >this scenario, the federal government could even provide support

> through

> >funding.  Is this what your getting at, or are you seeing a more

> hands-on

> >role being played by the federal government?

> >

> >Amy

> >

> >Amy R. Trawick, M.S. Ed.

> >North Wilkesboro, North Carolina

> >atrawick at charter.net

> >

> >

> >

> >----- Original Message -----

> >From: "David Rosen" <djrosen at comcast.net>

> >To: <hdooley at riral.org>; "The Assessment Discussion List"

> ><assessment at nifl.gov>

> >Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 1:09 PM

> >Subject: [Assessment 239] Re: : A National System of Adult Education

> >andLiteracy

> >

> >

> >Howard,

> >

> >Thanks for your thoughtful comments.  See my replies below.  I hope

> >others will join in this discussion, too, from the Assessment list

> >and from the Content Standards list.

> >

> >David J. Rosen

> >djrosen at comcast.net

> >

> >On Mar 15, 2006, at 10:44 AM, Howard L. Dooley, Jr. wrote:

> >

> > > I think David has a good, basic overall plan here.  I wouldn't say

> the

> > > plan is top-down either.  I think it recognizes that there is push

> > > today

> > > to be able to look at success across states and throughout the

> > > country,

> > > and for that we need a way to connect our local efforts into a

> > > national

> > > system.  Think globally; act locally -- as always the best

> politics

> > > and

> > > the best basis for a system of adult ed.  But my sense is that,

> right

> > > now, funders are in favor of such a national system, but most

> > > practitioners are not.

> >

> >I wish that funders _were_ in favor of this.  The largest adult

> >education funder, the U.S. Department of Education, is reluctant to

> >establish a set of national curriculum standards.  I am not sure why,

> >but guess that it is because a long-standing tradition that

> >curriculum standards  in American Education are in the control of

> >local school committees and state boards of education.  The closest

> >the USDOE has come to this is funding the development of a

> >"warehouse" of state curriculum standards,

> >[ http://www.adultedcontentstandards.org/Source/GetStandard.asp ] and

> >(through the National Institute for Literacy) supporting the

> >development -- but not the endorsement as national curriculum

> >standards - of Equipped for the Future. (I am not sure I have that

> >exactly right so if someone has better information, please let us

> >know.) The problem, as many people have said, is not that we lack

> >standards in the U.S., but that we have too many competing sets of

> >standards.  We lack a set of national standards that everyone uses.

> >

> > > Because, really, the benefits of such a system

> > > are largely for the funders, policy makers, and big-picture

> people;

> > > for

> > > the instructor and learner in the classroom, what is the impact of

> it?

> > > How does it matter that what I need to learn and am mastering to

> get a

> > > job in RI is also what someone needs to learn and master to enter

> a

> > > community college in AL?  It may be interesting, but what does it

> > > matter?

> >

> >I agree that a system such as I propose would benefit funders.

> >However, it would also benefit teachers and learners.  A lot of

> >curriculum -- often very good curriculum -- is developed in programs

> >and states across the country.  But much of it is not published, and

> >if it is, is not easily accessed.  It is possible to find some good

> >curriculum through NIFL LINCS, and in other places on the Web, for

> >example, but this takes time, a lot of time.  Teachers don't have

> >much time to search for curriculum.  It would be of great interest to

> >most teachers if high quality curriculum --ready to download and use

> >-- and adapt to local needs -- in class tomorrow could _easily be

> >found_.

> >

> >Let me give you an example.  As I understand it (folks from Arizona

> >correct me if I got this wrong) Arizona has a set of state ESOL

> >standards that are widely used, and respected by ESOL teachers

> >there.  A couple of ESOL teachers at Pima County Community College

> >decided that they were useful as far as they went, but they wanted to

> >have good web-based instruction linked to those standards.  So they

> >spent hours and hours finding -- and linking -- instruction on a Web

> >page that they call The Splendid ESOL Web [ http://cc.pima.edu/

> >~slundquist/index.htm ] When I was doing workshops in Arizona a

> >couple of years ago, ESOL teachers popped up from across the state to

> >tell me about The Splendid ESOL Web and how useful it is to them.

> >This is instructional for us all: a set of standards developed by and

> >respected by teachers, a set of online instructional resources found

> >and organized/linked by ESOL Teachers, and widely used by other ESOL

> >teachers.  This sounds like a model to emulate in national curriculum

> >development.

> >

> >Take this a step further.  Suppose we had an agreed-upon format for

> >developing instructional resources, nothing fancy, one that most

> >teachers found easy to understand, easy to use, and that was linked

> >to national standards.  Suppose further that the format referenced

> >national curriculum standards, that every lesson or module or

> >learning object built by a teacher referenced a national curriculum

> >standard.  Then suppose the modules teachers developed were peer-

> >reviewed and those that were approved were stored in an easily-

> >accessible Web-based instructional lesson/module/learning objects

> >database where other teachers could access them by standard, topic,

> >level, etc.  Some of the elements of what I have described are in

> >place. For example, the Lesson Plan Builder, developed by OTAN in

> >California

> >[ http://www.lessonplanbuilder.org/lessons/ ], has a practical format

> >for creating lesson plans online, and links them to California (and

> >nationally used) standards.  OTAN  plans to store these lessons in an

> >accessible database. When that's done, the teacher's chore of finding

> >good lesson plans will be easier. Also, I very much like that these

> >are lesson plans created "bottom up" by teachers (or perhaps even by

> >teachers and their students together.)

> >

> > > I also think that many of the standards, curriculum and assessment

> > > pieces already exist.  If one has the time -- and right now it

> takes

> > > time, believe me -- to peruse and ferret the web, you can find a

> > > wealth

> > > of excellent curricula that is the start of a "comprehensive,

> > > modularized [curriculum], available in generic as well as

> > > work-contextualized units, in English".

> >

> >Yes, much of it is there -- and it's hard to find.  Some of it is not

> >there, however.  Try to find work-contextualized online lessons which

> >students can access directly (not teacher lesson plans but student

> >lessons online.) I have been searching high and low for these -- in

> >health care work -- but haven't found much.  Yet, given the good jobs

> >going begging in health care in New England -- and elsewhere --

> >wouldn't it be useful if health care workers could do some of their

> >basic skills learning online and if the instruction were

> >contextualized or embedded in health care work?

> >

> > > Much of it "available in free

> > > online in units that teachers could download and use in their

> > > classrooms, that tutors could use with their one-one-one or

> smallgroup

> > > instruction".  We use several items for our EL Civics, ESL

> > > listening and

> > > ABE math curriculua that are from the web.  The weakest link for us

> is

> > > "material in self-instructional formats that adult learners can

> use

> > > directly online."

> >

> >Yes, that is the weakest link.

> >

> > > There's a lot of print stuff that's been transferred

> > > to the web, put it's not exciting or constructivist enough to

> engage

> > > self-directed learners, unless they are high level readers and

> highly

> > > self-motivated.

> >

> >Right you are.

> >

> > > So, I think we could get there more quickly than we might think,

> but

> > > only if most of us really want to get there at all.

> >

> >Your state, Rhode Island, the first wireless Internet access state,

> >border-to-border, would be a perfect "testbed" for a system such as I

> >am proposing.  I think if teachers and tutors understood how useful

> >this could be they would clamor for it.  Maybe you could get teachers

> >in Rhode Island to think about this.

> >

> > >  From a sincere, big-picture kind-of-guy,

> > > Howard D.

> >

> >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > David Rosen wrote:

> > >

> > >> Assessment Colleagues,

> > >>

> > >> Marie wrote:

> > >>

> > >>

> > >>> What do we need?  National standards?  Is that the most

> important

> > >>> thing that will help combat these issues?

> > >>>

> > >>> A different way to capture learning?  What would that look like?

> > >>> Remember that the needs of the funder and public are quite

> > >>> different than the needs of the teacher and student – and both

> are

> > >>> legitimate needs.

> > >>>

> > >>> What are your thoughts on these issues?

> > >>>

> > >>>

> > >>

> > >> Ignore for the moment the current political political realities,

> and

> > >> consider just the merits and faults, not the practicalities, of

> what

> > >> I propose, a national System of Adult Education and Literacy

> which

> > >> has three aligned components: National Curriculum Standards,

> (Free)

> > >> National Curricula, and Standardized Assessments.  Such a system

> > >> could have other components, but for now, I suggest we look at

> these

> > >> three.

> > >>

> > >> 1. Sets of national curriculum standards for: a) adult

> ESL/ESOL/ELL,

> > >> b) ABE (including adult basic education) c) ASE (adult secondary

> > >> education/GED/EDP/ADP) and d) Transition to College programs ,

> > >> developed through a process which is widely respected by the

> field.

> > >> (Some would argue that we already have that in Equipped for the

> > >> Future.)

> > >>

> > >> 2. National curricula developed based on those standards and

> > >> available for states to adopt (or adapt) as they choose.  The

> > >> curricula need to be comprehensive, modularized, available in

> generic

> > >> as well as work-contextualized units, in English but also

> bilingual

> > >> in Spanish and possibly other languages.  It needs to be

> available

> > >> free online in units that teachers could download and use in

> their

> > >> classrooms, that tutors could use with their one-one-one or small

> > >> group instruction, and in self-instructional formats that adult

> > >> learners could use directly online.  (Yes I know how big a task

> all

> > >> this is.)

> > >>

> > >> 3. Standardized assessments developed against the national

> curriculum

> > >> standards (tests, but also performance-based, direct assessments)

> > >> which have a high degree of validity for measuring the national

> > >> standards.

> > >>

> > >> Some might think that what I propose is too top-down.  I would

> argue

> > >> that it could be very bottom-up if the field -- and adult learner

> > >> leaders -- are/have been/will be well-represented in setting the

> > >> standards, and if the modules can be be selected to meet specific

> > >> learner goals and contexts as well as to the standards.  A

> national

> > >> curriculum could be made up of a database of thousands of units

> of

> > >> instruction (modules, learning objects) which could be very

> easily

> > >> found and in minutes organized/reorganized to fit learners' goals

> and

> > >> contexts.  An adult learner or a group who need to improve their

> > >> reading skills and who are interested in the context of parenting

> > >> could easily access standards-based modules on parenting issues

> with

> > >> reading materials at the right level(s).  A teacher whose

> students

> > >> worked in health care and who needed to improve their math skills

> > >> could quickly find and download materials/lessons for using

> numeracy

> > >> in health care settings. A student who wanted to learn online and

> who

> > >> wanted a job in environmental cleanup work could access

> standards-

> > >> based basic skills/occupational education lessons in this area,

> > >> accompanied by an online career coach and and online tutor. 

> These

> > >> examples just hint at the complexity and sophistication of what I

> > >> propose, and will have some shaking their heads at the cost. 

> But,

> > >> consider that if this is a national curriculum, the costs of

> > >> developing such modules have the benefits of scale, that those

> > >> curricula could be widely used -- and freely available.  (Sorry

> > >> publishers, this could eat into your profits.)

> > >>

> > >> There is more, but I'll stop with this.

> > >>

> > >> Okay, let the questions and brickbats fly.

> > >>

> > >> David J. Rosen

> > >> djrosen at comcast.net

> > >>

> > >> -------------------------------

> > >> National Institute for Literacy

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> > >>

> > >>

> > >>

> > >

> > > -------------------------------

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> >

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