What a great idea this is!  Incorporating literacy into broader community
scales may really be critical to gaining broader understanding and support.

-- 
Louise W. Wiener, Chairman of the Board
    Learning and Leadership in Families
    2701 12th Street NE
    Washington, DC 20018

    Mobile Phone: 301-213-6516
    Office Phone: 202-243-7783
    Website: www.LLFinc.org
    Email: lwiener at LLFinc.org

    United Way / CFC # 8981
On 6/29/07 4:43 PM, "Wrigley, Heide" <heide at literacywork.com> wrote:


> Hi, Jon and others - I think developing sustainability indicators and

> then measuring change along various dimensions is an excellent idea. In

> the evaluations for AmeriCorps, we looked at the contributions that

> literacy providers made to the overall health of a community, since

> literacy couldn't very well take credit for all positive changes in a

> community. 

> 

> In the last few years, we've been working with the California Community

> Development Matrix (developed in Minnesota originally, I believe). This

> matrix offers a scale continuum along which which community members may

> fall. The continuum ranges from "in crisis" to "thriving" with various

> points in between (vulnerable, stable). The matrix addresses various

> dimensions (health, housing, employment)and contains a matrix with

> descriptors for each level. While "education" is included, literacy (or

> English language proficiency is not).

> 

> I think scales and rubrics of this sort can be adapted to include

> literacy and English proficiency and your example of the social

> indicators are a great example of how literacy can be made visible as

> one factor that contributes to community health

> 

> Cheers 

> 

> Heide

> 

> Heide Spruck Wrigley

> New Mexico  

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jon Engel

> Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 11:20 AM

> To: specialtopics at nifl.gov

> Subject: [SpecialTopics 414] Re: What would be required to measure

> CommunityLiteracy Impact?

> 

> Good Afternoon,

> 

> Measuring literacy levels across communities is indeed difficult.  I

> know of

> no other resources other than thee census and NALS/NAAL.  However,

> Austin

> and Central Texas has a really great project that I wonder if other

> communities might have.

> 

> It is called the Central Texas Sustainability Indicators Project, and it

> releases a data report every other year.  The report has developed

> "sustainability indicators" across several domains such as public

> safety,

> education and children, social equity, civic engagement, economy,

> health,

> environment, and land use and mobility.  The report utilizes hard data

> sources and a locally designed phone survey.

> 

> The 2006 reported that 30% of the population reported that they felt

> limited

> "a great deal" by their lack of English proficiency in their day to day

> activities.  The report stated that the trend was "worsening" and that

> the

> community needed to "take action".

> 

> You should be able to see the report at www.centex-indicators.org

> 

> Jon Engel

> 

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov]

> On Behalf Of Janet Isserlis

> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 8:11 AM

> To: specialtopics at nifl.gov

> Subject: [SpecialTopics 394] Re: What would be required to measure

> Community

> Literacy Impact?

> 

> David and all,

> 

> Interesting question.  Without rehashing the complex arguments and

> elements

> of the 'validity' of the NALS or NAAL, I'm wondering if folks working

> in,

> say, health or community development/housing - have formal or informal

> measures of the literacy strengths of their constituents.

> 

> In other words, does the fact that service providers/community workers

> might

> proactively utilize plain language (because plain language, like

> universal

> design, is just good for everyone),  multiple languages (brochures,

> posters,

> etc) and otherwise might be thinking about literacy and communication

> issues

> -- does all of this indicate a sense of communities' literacy abilities

> AND

> a sense of the critical need to be mindful of literacy/communication

> across

> service provision areas?

> 

> I realize this is not gold standard science, but I am curious to see if

> there has been any shift in communication by service providers.  As

> well,

> how does literacy happen all the time away from literacy provision?

> (Think

> New Literacy Studies - Hamilton, Barton; think  (Arlene) Hannah

> Fingeret's

> social networks, think community literacy itself.

> 

> Community literacy maybe encompasses communities' strengths and

> abilities so

> that communities themselves have access, options, and (?) degrees of

> power?

> 

> This, of course, is difficult to measure.

> 

> Janet Isserlis

> 

>> From: "David J. Rosen" <djrosen at comcast.net>

>> Reply-To: <specialtopics at nifl.gov>

>> Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 07:48:23 -0400

>> To: <specialtopics at nifl.gov>

>> Subject: [SpecialTopics 393] What would be required to measure

> Community

>> Literacy Impact?

>> 

>> Community Literacy Colleagues,

>> 

>> Since we are looking at outcomes and impact of community literacy

>> today, let's consider what a city would need to measure the impact of

>> a major citywide community literacy effort.  One important measure

>> might be the literacy level of city residents.  At present, the only

>> ways I am aware of to measure that for adults are:

>> 

>> 1) Census data,  and

>> 2) The NALS or NAAL

>> 

>> The census, however,  measures the years of school completed, not the

>> adult literacy level. The NALS, NAAL, and the next national

>> assessment, each measure a scientific sample of adults, but so far

>> this assessment has not been conducted in cities, only in a handful

>> states, and it is costly -- several hundred thousand dollars, I

>> believe.  Are there other adult literacy assessments that we should

>> be aware of that measure a random sample residents -- not just those

>> enrolled in programs? Are there plans for a new -- or modified

>> assessment -- a new urban NAAL, for example -- that could meet this

>> need?

>> 

>> David J. Rosen

>> Special Topics Discussion Leader

>> djrosen at comcast.net

>> 

>> 

>> David J. Rosen

>> djrosen at comcast.net

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> -------------------------------

>> National Institute for Literacy

>> Special Topics mailing list

>> SpecialTopics at nifl.gov

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

>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/SpecialTopics

>> Email delivered to janet_isserlis at brown.edu

> 

> -------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Special Topics mailing list

> SpecialTopics at nifl.gov

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

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/SpecialTopics

> Email delivered to jengel at communityaction.com

> 

> 

> -------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Special Topics mailing list

> SpecialTopics at nifl.gov

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

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/SpecialTopics

> Email delivered to heide at literacywork.com

> -------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Special Topics mailing list

> SpecialTopics at nifl.gov

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

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/SpecialTopics

> Email delivered to lwiener at llfinc.org

>