Greetings all,

This message might be of interest to you as content standards play an
important part in our accountability and program improvement efforts.
Aaron

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Dear Colleagues, 

As you know, funders in both the public and private sectors are placing
heightened expectations upon people who manage literacy and adult
education programs. The funders want to know:
o	Are programs able to demonstrate real learning gains among
students?
o	Are programs worthy of the trust placed in them by community
partners, business volunteers, students, and other stakeholders?
o	Do program personnel have the information they need to improve
their
programs and allocate precious resources wisely?

ProLiteracy, in partnership with the Dollar General Literacy Foundation,
is working to help program managers acquire the knowledge and tools they
need to answer questions like these. This new, three-year project is
called the Dollar General/ProLiteracy Performance Accountability
Initiative. Together, we will 1) identify successful accountability
practices being used in a variety of literacy and adult education
programs, and 2) use the practices to develop and deliver training
modules and print resources to improve performance accountability. 

Right now we are looking for up to eight exemplary literacy and adult
education programs to serve as models as we develop the first training
module: Data Collection and Management. You may be part of a program
that does a good job collecting and managing data. If so, please
consider nominating your program. If you know of another program that
would be a good model, please forward this message to that program's
director. We would also appreciate your help in disseminating this call
for model programs throughout your networks. The nomination information
and form may be downloaded from the ProLiteracy Web site by using the
following links:

*	www.proliteracy.org/downloads/guidelines.doc
*	www.proliteracy.org/downloads/application_form.doc

It is important to act quickly, as our deadline for accepting
nominations via e-mail or mail is 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006.
You may fill out and submit the nomination form on paper or online. See
the form for detailed instructions.

Model programs will receive a $1,500 stipend, increased visibility, and
an opportunity to make a positive impact on the adult education and
literacy field.

We appreciate your help in this critical endeavor and hope to hear from
you by Nov. 8.

If you have any questions, please contact me via e-mail at
mdaniels at proliteracy.org.

Thank you,

Melanie Daniels, Project Manager
Dollar General/ProLiteracy Performance Accountability Initiative
ProLiteracy Worldwide 1320 Jamesville Avenue Syracuse, NY 13210
mdaniels at proliteracy.org http://www.proliteracy.org

****************************************

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