The following is submitted on behalf of Tom Sticht. It summarizes what
he will be speaking about at the Annual National Conference on Family
Literacy, March 4, 2007, in Orlando, Florida. He includes much of the
text from his presentation and provides references for those interested
in pursuing the ideas further. Dr. Sticht is always a strong affirmer of
family literacy. 

 

Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy

 

Tom Sticht

International Consultant in Adult Education

 

 

The evidence continues to mount on the importance of the transfer of
language, literacy, and educational achievement across multiple life
cycles. ABC Canada recently called attention to research from the
University of Alberta's Canadian Centre for Research on Literacy which
"confirms the assumption that improving parents' literacy skills
improves those of their children" (see Literacy at Work, No. 49, January
2007 at www.abc-canada.org).

 

This adds another important reference to a paper entitled "Toward a
Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy" available on the www.nald.ca web
site searched in the library pages. The paper reviews nine lines of
thinking and research that establish the value of adult literacy
education in providing multiple returns to investments in adult literacy
education, including the improvement of the educational achievement of
children. Following is a brief overview of the topics addressed in each
of the nine sections into which this paper is divided. The first two
sections deal with mistaken ideas that are widely held and which hinder
the development of adequate resources for adult literacy education. The
remaining sections present evidence arguing for a greater investment in
adult literacy education as a means of improving family literacy by the
transfer of literacy from parents to their children.

 

1.

 

Brain Development, IQ, and Early Childhood Education. Arguments for
early childhood education and against adult education are often based on
the growth of the brain and the development of intelligence in the early
years following birth. As suggested above, it has been commonly argued
that adult literacy education is too late and that we need to focus our
efforts on early childhood education when the brain is undergoing major
developmental changes. Brain science (neuroscience) is often cited to
support this position. In this section I review evidence suggesting that
this is not a sound argument.

 

2.

 

Born to Lose: Low Aptitude, Genes, Low Intelligence, and Adult
Illiteracy.

Claims have been made that poorly literate adults are genetically
inferior to others and are unable to succeed in life. Here I cite
statements in the popular press arguing that adults with low literacy
skills are likely to be of low IQ and hence unable to achieve much
benefit from investments in their education. I then present evidence to
counter these types of claims.

 

3.

 

Statistical Data: Thirty+ Year Reading Trend Data. These data show that
there has been little or no improvement in reading scores for 9, 13, and
17 year olds since 1971. The schools continue to turn out tens of
thousands of functionally illiterate young adults each year. This
suggests the need for a new approach to improving children's learning in
K-12. The new approach suggested here focuses upon the education of
undereducated adults to improve their  children's school achievement.

 

4.

 

Statistical Data: Parent's Education and Children's Literacy Skills:

Thirty year trend data for the United States and additional data from
international adult literacy assessments show that as parent's education
level increases their children's literacy achievement increases and this
relationship persists into adulthood.

 

5.

 

Statistical Data: Parent's Literacy and Children's Literacy: Not only
are parent's education levels related to their children's literacy
levels, but additionally data from the United Kingdom's Institute of
Education show that as parent's measured literacy, not just their years
of education, goes up so does the literacy of their children.

 

6.

 

Parent Education and the Efficacy of Preschool Education: New research
evidence indicates that adult education is a key factor in the success
of preschool education and that arguments for expanding early childhood
education are to a large extent actually arguments for increasing
investments in early adulthood education.

 

7.

 

The Intergenerational Transfer of Literacy in Adult Literacy Education:
Data from workplace literacy studies, family literacy studies, and
general literacy studies reveal the transfer of motivation,
self-efficacy, language, and literacy from parents to children and
indicate that adult literacy education can affect the literacy education
of the adult's children or grandchildren.

 

8.

 

The Intergenerational Transfer of Literacy From Parents to Their
Children:

Research is  presented on the oracy-to-literacy transfer effect which
provides one explicit mechanism for how parents transfer literacy
intergenerationally.

 

9.

 

Multiple Returns to Education in Adult Literacy Education. Studies are
cited showing multiplier effects of adult literacy education on health,
community activities, and productivity at work. Such studies indicate
that we can get  "double duty dollars" for investments in adult literacy
education.

 

 

 

Thomas G. Sticht

International Consultant in Adult Education

2062 Valley View Blvd.

El Cajon, CA 92019-2059, USA

Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133

Email: tsticht at aznet.net

 

 

 

Gail J. Price

Multimedia Specialist

National Center for Family Literacy

325 W. Main Street, Suite 300

Louisville, KY 40202

gprice at famlit.org

502 584-1133, ext. 112

 

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