I agree with Lucille that we need effective teacher training, but if it
is being done somewhere, then presumably it should be having some
measurable effect on the communities to which these well-trained
teachers have been assigned.  So my question is, aside from the
correspondents to this site who claim success with their methods, are
there "pockets of progress" anywhere in this country where teacher
training and research-based methods are boosting the literacy levels of
communities in a measurable and sustainable way? Are there any teacher
training or research institutions that can be shown to be having a
positive effect on their communities? Do the numerous centers for
special needs support, often represented at conferences I attend, reach
beyond their own clientele to influence teachers at neighboring
institutions? Are there partnerships between universities and school
districts or adult learning programs that are devising a promising
blueprint for others to emulate? Or are we all on our own in a world
where success is increasingly based on connectedness?
Christy Breihan
ABE Instructor, Milwaukee



>>> <tsticht at znet.com> 11/17/08 5:35 PM >>>

Colleagues:

In July 1991, the President of the United States signed Public Law
102-73
which, among other things, established the National Institute for
Literacy
(NIFL). The law called on the NIFL to conduct basic and applied research
and demonstrations. Though the actual agenda for the NIFL was not
specified, examples of questions to be addressed were given. These
included:

1.	How do adults learn to read and write and acquire other skills
(listening, speaking, reasoning, etc.)?
2.	How does the literacy level of the parents affect the skills
development
and schooling of the parent’s children?
3.	What are better ways to assess literacy skills?
4.	How can better instructional programs be developed?
5.	What are good methods for assisting adults and families to
acquire
literacy skills, including the use of technology; methods for adults
with
special learning needs (learning disabilities), and limited English
proficient (LEP) adults?
6.	How can the most disadvantaged be effectively reached and taught
literacy
skills?
7.	How can technology be used to instruct and to increase the
knowledge
base?
8.	How can research effort of others be built on?
9.	How can the field attract, train and retrain professional and
volunteer
teachers?

 We are now nearing the end of 2008, some 18 years after the NIFL was
established, and I am wondering what adult literacy professionals think
of
these questions: were they appropriate for the work of the NIFL, if so,
how
well have they been addressed, and if there were other questions that
took
priority and were addressed by the NIFL, and how any one or all of these
activities have improved the field of adult literacy education up to
now.

Some adult literacy advocates have called for changing the present
NIFL’s
focus on lifelong learning of literacy from birth through adulthood, and
returning it to its original focus on adult literacy education. Is this
a
good idea?

What do you think the NIFL should be doing to advance the field of adult
literacy education that it is not doing now?

Tom Sticht

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