Dear David, Aaron,

Nothing like a top of the head response to engender controversy and 
maybe dismay, but  here goes.

The story of the early printing press is all about adult literacy, in 
two volumes with very small print, i don't think a "school" has been 
mentioned yet.  Instead I find out how all sorts of adults used the 
press--churchmen, nascent scientists, guild members, small shopkeepers, 
the list is very long.  A "gutter press" emerged.The printing press 
organized knowledge and essentailly broke the guild system, as 
knowledge could now be  gotten through a book, not a person.  Without 
the printing press we would have been either dead or Catholic.

I remember seeing a draft of a paper by Sondra Stein in maybe  1997 and 
  having two reactions:  1)  wish somebody had given me role maps, they 
sure would have helped,  plus 2)	life cannot be  reduced to role maps 
which by their structure and  assumptions are narrow and ethnocentric 
(which I have been charged with being, myself).

Being a qualititative researcher, I always ask:  can I find myself in 
here?

What I think the EFF standards are is  an updated guild system, with 
the teacher the master and the adult learner the novice.

Maybe the EFF standards are an answer to the problem of attendance--EFF 
carries the student over  irregular attendance.  Maybe EFF is an answer 
to the dilemma of what to teach and a common vocabulary for students 
and teachers.  So what I call "narrow" is maybe a way of organizing 
chaos.  EFF is CERTAINLY a tool for acculaturation into  American  
norms.

I understand that Sondra  had many years of teaching adults, so much  
of  EFF is guided by  her experience.  i can't argue with that, don't 
want to.  EFF is a phenomenal effort.

Do you play Mah Jongg?  That's how i think of David's idea of thousands 
of modules--a universe of little tiles (modules) floating out in 
(cyber)space.  By themselves the tiles break free of roles, you don't 
have to fit the tiles into an EFF framework, though it would be useful  
to have an overarching system, like the "curriculum standards" we as 
teachers invented when i was a school teacher.

I don't want to offend anyone, and i am aware that this list  serves 
teachers, administrators, who  use EFF and maybe helped make EFF.  But 
I will just continue--the "Equipped for the Future Content Standards"  
is really hard to get through.  i guess it must have been written for 
multiple audiences.  if I were thinking of using EFF I would want a 
three-holed punched explanation of EFF with a one page executive 
summary, maybe, or description of how it was built, then at  most  5  
pages (maybe 3) of narrative about how to" do"  EFF.

So...any "selling"  or "explication" of EFF should focus  first on  the 
problems it seeks  to solve.

What i would really like is feedback  on EFF--from people who use 
it--on my points:

1)	ethnocentric (fitting into American culture)
2)	normative ( idealized American values, e.g., "respect for diversity)
2)	narrow (no mention of basic survival skills)	

As i recall, Tom Sticht  mentioned after reading George D.'s  book that 
EFF wasn't striclty speaking a fully  grounded approach to data 
gathering--the categories were  givens, did not emerge.

So please correct me  on any  of the points above;  skewering is 
painful, so leave off the sword play,  I  think.

Ready to be educated.

Andrea




On Mar 31, 2006, at 5:03 PM, Aaron Kohring wrote:


> Yes, David- I agree with your interpretation.  And I'm also glad you

> mentioned other areas where the term Content Standards could apply.  In

> fact, there has recently been some discussion on the Technology list 

> about

> Standards for using Technology.

>

> Andrea, as regards to print, do you think standards for Reading & 

> Writing

> would apply?  And what about certain applications of print- advocating 

> for

> a point of view if seen through an EFF lens could also bring in the

> standard "Advocate and Influence".  What do you think?

>

> Aaron

>

> At 04:28 PM 3/31/2006 -0500, you wrote:

>> Andrea,

>>

>> My interpretation of "Content Standards" is this: this discussion

>> list used to be called "NIFL-4EFF", and used to be about Equipped For

>> the Future curriculum standards.  "Content standards" is a broader

>> name which includes, but is not necessarily limited to,  EFF

>> curriculum standards.  The discussion now includes state-developed

>> curriculum frameworks and standards, and presumably curriculum

>> frameworks and standards used in other countries.  It could also

>> include industry-specific skills standards, as they might be used in

>> developing workplace literacy or workplace basic skills curricula,

>> although I think no one has brought this up yet.

>>

>> Aaron, is this interpretation correct?

>>

>> David J. Rosen

>> newsomeassociates.com

>> djrosen at comcast.net

>>

>> On Mar 31, 2006, at 4:08 PM, Andrea Wilder wrote:

>>

>>> Well, hello, everyone!

>>>

>>> i am putting together a long written piece on adult literacy, a lot 

>>> of

>>> work, but there are revelations, too.  The printing press was an 

>>> agent

>>> for standardization in chronology and in data, a general unifier of

>>> many manuscripts (by hand!)  that enabled writers to really

>>> communicate

>>> with each other.  With printing:  the idea that progress, poaitive

>>> change, could be made, as technological changes  expanded the known

>>> world.

>>>

>>> I am very interested in content standards, a way of measuring I guess

>>> the attainment of certain skills and knowledge  through print.  In 

>>> the

>>> world of the early printing press that would have been impossible:,

>>> "knowledge" was just being assembled.  The idea of "content 

>>> standards"

>>> seems very narrow, circumscribed.  first one must agree on the

>>> content,

>>> ;  how does that happen?  CASAS?  EFF?  A bit of a puzzle.

>>>

>>> Andrea Wilder

>>>

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>>

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>> Adult Education Content Standards mailing list

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>

> Aaron Kohring

> Coordinator, LINCS Literacy & Learning Disabilities Special Collection

> (http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/)

> Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content Standards 

> Discussion

> List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)

> Coordinator, Equipped for the Future Websites (http://eff.cls.utk.edu/)

>

> Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee

> EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance

> Phone:(865) 974-4109 main

>            (865) 974-4258 direct

> Fax:   (865) 974-3857

> e-mail: akohring at utk.edu

>

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> Adult Education Content Standards mailing list

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> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 

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>