In response to Christy's question about "pockets of progress" and
teacher training, a place to look might be the reports by Arthur Levine
analyzing teacher preparation programs (and also administrative
preparation programs) at the university level. While these reports don't
deal specifically with literacy issues, they clearly analyze what it
takes to train an effective teacher or administrator. A problem I see in
the public schools is that many teachers who have the underlying
teaching skills in place often don't have the specific knowledge about
literacy instruction to apply with those skills. Or, they have the
literacy instruction knowledge, but not the underlying teaching
preparation. 

Here is the link to the Arthur Levine reports. This links directly to
the page for training leaders (principals), and at the bottom you can
click on the various portions you want to download. The executive
summary is the shortened version, I believe. On the right side is the
link for the teacher training report and other reports, which also have
the shortened executive summary and the full report.

http://www.edschools.org/reports_leaders.htm

Thanks,



Brant Hayenga
Educational Diagnostician 



-----Original Message-----
From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Christy
Breihan
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 8:11 AM
To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 2563] Re: [SPAM?] Thinking about the NIFL

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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