Publications:
A Framework
for Adult Numeracy Standards:
The Mathematical Skills and Abilities Adults Need
To Be Equipped for the Future
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The National Institute for Literacy issued a wake-up call to the adult education community
with the publication of Equ
ipped for the Future. The voices of the 1500 adult learners
motivated those who work in the field of adult education to respond, to critically evaluate, and ultimately rework the curricula, instructional and assessment
practices, program structure
s and supports currently in place. Similarly, the Framework
for Adult Numeracy Standards documents the voices of adults who tell us about the
significance of mathematical skills and knowledge in their lives. These voices create
an expanded definition
of numeracy, one that includes much more than computation
or passing standardized tests. This emerging definition encourages all of us to
give voice to our mathematical understandings, to take joy in accessing information and making
meaning via a sol
id sense of number, data, geometry and spatial reasoning, and algebra.
It insists on the importance of making informed decisions and solving problems through the use of quantitative and spatial reasoning, and most importantly, it defines
a numeracy tha
t is situated in modern, relevant situations and addresses skills necessary
to cope with present and future societal demands.
The adult education community needs to commit itself to this broadened definition
of numeracy. Let's step back a litt
le further. The adult literacy/basic education
field needs to include numeracy in its agenda period. Not as an afterthought, but
in a basic and systemic way. Numeracy must become an integrated component of all ABE, GED,
ESOL, family literacy and wor
kplace learning environments. Policy makers, administrators
and curriculum developers on the national, state and local program levels need to include mathematical literacy in their mission of providing a second chance to adult
learners. Classroom teac
hers must step forward as leaders in reform and take on
the challenge of creating mathematically empowering learning environments. Failing
to take action means that we're willing to turn a deaf ear to what parents, workers and
community members have t
old us. Because we cannot consider that an option, we now
turn our attention to what it might take to make lasting reform happen.
Recommendations for System Reform
The Framework for Adult Numeracy Sta
ndards is a consensus statement about what the
content of adult education classes should include. Each of the seven numeracy themes
include key findings and implications for learning and teaching that are intended
to serve as a map for adult educ
ation practitioners and policy makers as they take the
important next steps toward reforming instructional programs for adults. The ANPN
Working Group members and several study and focus group participants have begun to
speculate about how we're going
to make those next steps happen. What will it take to create
learning environments that support quality numeracy instruction? We have polled
the members of the ANPN Planning Project for System Reform and have also
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drawn upon
the focused discussions which took place at the Conference on Mathematical Literacy. We
are in agreement that several necessary conditions and system components must be
in place for our vision to become a reality.
The Necessary Conditions
- Reform has a chance only if it is supported at all levels: national, state, and
local. It has to be both bottom-up and top down with ongoing opportunities for people
at the different levels
to dialogue.
- Learners must be meaningfully involved in the development of each system component.
- Teachers must be meaningfully involved in the development of each system component.
- Realistically adequate
resources must support all system components.
- Numeracy must be included in literacy reform.
The System Components
The following is a discussion of each system component needed to suppor
t the changes
called for in the framework and suggestions for initial strategies for beginning
the improvement in these areas.
Communication/Dissemination
A group writes a document . . . a tree falls in the forest. Al
l stakeholders need
to hear our "sounds," and be invited to make noise with us. Strategic dissemination
is key all along the way. And so is two-way communication that both explains and
invites feedback. We knew this as we began to talk about reform
two years ago, so we established
a communication structure through the Adult Numeracy Practitioners Network (ANPN).
ANPN publishes a quarterly newsletter (The Math Practitioner) and has two very active Internet communication mechanisms: the ANPN Homep
age and the NUMERACY listserve.
We need to disseminate the framework and all subsequent products and processes through
the network and through other existing adult education channels.
For the system to be reformed teachers have to know what the
work environment requires
and what is needed by the community in order to better prepare adult learners. There
must be ongoing dialogue with industry if, in fact, the curriculum is to change to
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meet the needs an
d expectations of the workplace. There must also be communication
with community stakeholders -- for their input into math reform and for them to become
comfortable with the new approaches to math.
Adult education is able to react to system re
form much more quickly than the K-12
system, but it should not have to work alone. Communication must occur across schools,
K - 12 as well as community and technical colleges. Other institutions that work
with adult learners, specifically community a
nd technical colleges, need to be at the
table during the discussion of system reform, and they must be making every effort
to move forward along with adult basic education.
While effective communication needs to occur across schools, communiti
es, and industry,
it must begin within the adult education system. According to the Conference on Adult
Mathematical Literacy (p.7), "although State Literacy Resource Centers and other
agencies have been established to act as clearinghouses, materials
from the national
level filter very slowly to teachers at the local level and teachers remain largely
unaware of standards, new teaching materials, technologies, and curricula in use
outside their programs. Further, improvements in adult (numeracy) ed
ucation are hindered
when adult educators do not have opportunities to network, exchange ideas, and collaborate."
1996 - 1997
- Expand circulation of ANPN newsletter (from 1,000 to 10,000). Disseminate to
local learning prog
rams via state ABE offices and literacy resource centers and to
national stakeholders. Focus discussion in the newsletter around the numeracy themes.
Publish excerpts of the document in the September, 1996 issue to begin the dialogue around
numeracy
themes.
- Continue Internet dialogue. Make the Framework for Adult Numeracy Standards available
on the ANPN Homepage.
- Rework the July, 1996 draft framework for dissemination to ANPN members, state
directors, res
ource centers and the mathematics education community.
- Present draft framework at at least five state or regional ABE conferences.
Numeracy Content Learning Standards
The Framework for Adul
t Numeracy Standards should be used to develop a more specific
set of learning outcomes that in turn guide the development of curricula,
instructional materials and assessment. Questions that need to be
considered are: What is
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the "grain size" or specificity level of a learning standard?
What generative and specific skills support each standard?
How do we address levels of proficiency?
Do we use one set of standards with benchmarks or do we create three
or four? How do we refine and validate the standards?
1996 - 1997
- Form an ANPN Working Group to co-develop Adult Numeracy Standards.
Expand the Working Group to members from ten states
who are supported by and report
progress to their state ABE offices. Develop working relationships (possibly subcontracts)
with NIFL-funded projects so that the work remains in sync with and informs the EFF Project.
- Participate in EFF Working Groups and meetings.
- Begin simultaneous teacher research projects that begin to
explore and implement
components of the numeracy standards in adult education classrooms across the country.
Use this research as a way to begin classroom reform. The experience
of NCTM, the
MA ABE Math Team and several state curriculum framework development groups is that
engagement and experimentation must begin before the final document is complete.
Ownership by a critical mass of practitioners will create a real base of s
upport.
Curriculum
The numeracy learning standards will guide adult learning programs as they update
their curricula to respond to current and future demands of workplaces and communities.
Local programs and state
s will utilize the standards to evaluate and, in some cases,
develop their own curricula. State resource centers or collaboratives might pool resources
to develop model curricula. Major funding should be sought to support the development of this comp
onent.
1997 - 1998
- Seek a partnership with the National Science Foundation, the National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics, the Departments of Education and Labor, private industry
and foundations to fund the development o
f a comprehensive adult numeracy curriculum
based upon the learning and performance standards.
- Call together the developers of the major National
Science Foundation-funded
K-12 mathematics curriculum projects (Interactive Mathematics,
Connected Geometry,
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and Investigations in Number, Data and Space, for example)
to consider the possibilities of adapting these projects to adult learning
environments.
Assessment
Once clear numeracy learning standards are developed
as statements of what adults should know and be able to do,
we need to think about developing new performance and assessment tools.
What kinds of evidence will show that people have met the
standards? How will we test what we value? How do we align assessment with content standards
and the curricula based on those standards? Too often, the testing instrument, whether
it be the TABE or the GED, drives the curriculum. When a learner's only
goal is to pass a test, it is difficult to teach math concepts needed for real life. Unfortunately,
it often doesn't matter what adult educators consider the most important concepts
or topics to teach. Students are very likely not to think of them as
important unless they are reflected in the tests and assessment. No matter what assessment is designed,
unless it is incorporated into individual instructor's assessments, GED exams, job
placement tests, and the like, it will get lost in the need of
both students and instructors to address what does appear on those assessment tools.
As more and more industries are beginning to consider national skill standards that
are portable, adult educators need to follow closely to see what implications
these
standards might have for adult learners. How might industry skill standards affect
how we should be assessing adult learners? Evaluation and assessment needs to communicate
to learners a range of what they may need to learn and to certify that
learners have
mastered competencies so that employers and colleges will honor learners' educational accomplishment. We should assess and certify adult learner's workplace readiness
with respect to math. While we're looking at industry standards, we ne
ed also to
look to business and industry to find out just what skills are needed to succeed
in the work environment.
Assessment tools need to be designed to evaluate the ability to "process". How well
do individuals and groups problem solve
? How are their reasoning skills? Is it possible
to design concrete benchmarks for the process skills -- problem-solving/reasoning, communication, connections/relevance? How do we know when an adult is reasoning
mathematically?
1996 - 1997
- Establish a numeracy assessment work group to collect promising assessment practices
from across the field and outside of ABE (K - 12, industry, and from other countries
including Australia, the Netherlands and Great Britain where
interesting work in
the area of numeracy assessment is happening).
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1997 - 1998
- Establish a work group to develop assessment models that provide good evidence
of mastery of the skills and
knowledge called for in the learning standards.
Staff Development
Ongoing staff development is critical for math reform. One stakeholder stated the
need for staff development this way: "We have the same teachers we ha
d yesterday,
so without staff development, we will have the same teaching we had yesterday. We
need to help teachers teach in a way they were not taught."
Too often in adult basic education programs, teachers are expected to be proficient
in
all areas -- math, reading, writing, social studies, science -- yet most adult
educators are trained in only one of these domains, and rarely in the math domain.
Therefore, many adult education teachers are uncomfortable with math. Teachers need profe
ssional
development in order to improve their own math skills as well as change their attitude
and perspective toward math. We need to help teachers understand math concepts, not just be able to follow the steps. If we continue to teach the way that w
e
were taught, math will continue to be an elitist subject, only accessible to a very
limited number of individuals. Until teachers see the value of math to real life
situations, they will be unable to help their learners connect to math.
Along
these same lines, teachers have to become knowledgeable and comfortable with
the workplace. Teachers often teach the same concepts in the same way that they
were taught. If teachers have no awareness of what math skills are needed for work,
they cann
ot possibly begin to prepare their learners for work environments. There needs
to be communication between business and adult education with opportunities for experiencing
hands-on what workers need for today and the future.
Staff development
requires more than simply having adult education teachers attend
training sessions. Teachers need opportunities to develop ongoing peer relationships
where they are supported as they explore new strategies in their classrooms. Any
kind of reform or c
hange is scary. Teachers should not be expected to try to reform their
practice without support.
1996 - 1997
- Support existing and establish new statewide teacher math teams to plan and conduct
staff development to learn ne
w math content and pedagogy. Draw upon the expertise
of NCTM and ANPN members and include employers in content discussions. Use the ANPN
newsletter, homepage and electronic discussion groups to share learnings between states.
Bring representatives o
f teams together in April 1997, at the ANPN/NCTM annual meeting.
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Instructional Practices
Changes in instructional practice go hand in hand with staff development. Adult education
tea
chers need to learn new methods of presenting math topics in the classroom. For
example, many teachers have not been trained to use manipulatives to present math concepts. Typically, they were taught to follow the algorithms which is what they,
in tur
n, teach their students. Yet many adult learners related that they learned
best during hands-on activities. A part of staff development should be building
teachers' comfort level with using hands-on materials.
Rather than the perception that
the teacher is the one with all the knowledge, the
new perception for math reform is teacher as "guide on the side" or facilitator.
Teachers need to incorporate into the adult education classroom many opportunities
for learners to discover math for th
emselves. Supporting learners to work together and share
their experiences will be necessary for system reform in math.
Conference participants suggested that "diversity in the classroom" was a reality
which should be kept in mind as we talk a
bout system reform. Diversity includes
differences in linguistic and cultural backgrounds as well as diversity of learner
goals and learning styles. For teachers to be prepared for this diversity in every adult education
class, there must be effectiv
e staff development and support systems in place.
1996 - 1998
- Create and provide opportunities to encourage teachers and programs to share promising
practices. These opportunities may include teacher inquiry projects, math
study
circles, and peer coaching projects.
Instructional Materials
The math materials developed for adult learners need to be seriously revised. Most
of the materials presently available "often reflect some of th
e worst traditions
of K-12 mathematics education" (Proceedings of the Conference on Adult Mathematical
Literacy, p. 6). There seems to be very little awareness of the MA ABE Math Standards and
little evidence of any effort to provide learners with pra
ctice in process skills,
such as reasoning and problem-solving. Very few materials offer open-ended or cooperative problem-solving activities for adult learners.
1996 - 1998
- Meet with and hold focus groups of publishers o
f curriculum and assessment materials.
Strategize about ways to develop materials based upon the new standards.
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Resources/Funding
Adequate funding and resources are needed for chan
ge. Obviously, staff development
requires funding earmarked for teachers to be able to seriously work on improving
their math teaching abilities. For staff development to truly have a positive impact
in the classroom, per student funding needs to be
increased. Added funding is also necessary
to ensure that adult learners have opportunities to use tools such as computers and
calculators.
Appropriate salaries and support for more full-time teaching positions, would recognize
and support teache
rs to invest more in their profession and to actively seek to change
the system.
At the Conference on Adult Mathematical Literacy, funding was called out as a critical
factor in system reform. The lack of adequate funding negatively impacts ad
ult education
programs in four ways: 1. Limiting achievement of goals, by causing programs to be understaffed and under-equipped, and by creating time and financial restraints;
2. Limiting preparedness of teachers (and tutors), by restricting availa
bility
of and access to pre-service, in-service, and professionalization opportunities;
3. Inhibiting development of instructional materials and not allowing for adequate experimentation
with new methods and resources; and 4. Limiting research initi
atives (either academia-based
or program-based). Research is essential to provide insights into teaching and learning processes of adult students, and to better understand the factors
affecting the application of what they have learned in real-life con
texts. (Proceedings
of the Conference on Adult Mathematical Literacy, p. 7)
1996 - ongoing
- Ongoing work with the National Institute for Literacy and EFF to strategize about
obtaining funding to support system reform.
Research
There is little research on how adults do mathematics or how they acquire
new mathematical skills. There is also very little on
the effectiveness and impact of adult numeracy instruction. This information is
essential to guide us to improve instructional programs. If we are to enter upon major reform, we must be supported by a research base.
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1996 and ongoing
- ANPN will seek to partner with the ne
w National Center for Adult Learning and
Literacy and other centers of research on adult learning and mathematics learning.
Program Standards, Outcomes and Evaluation
Participants at the Conference on Adult Mathema
tical Literacy recognized that accountability
demands affect math instruction and reform. There is concern that current methods
for ensuring accountability -- the use of data such as standardized test results -- do not truly reflect or measure learner'
s accomplishments. As long as funders
expect this kind of accountability, teachers will be inhibited in their ability to
truly address the needs of their adult learners.
Some major industries are now focusing on developing industry-specific sk
ill standards.
If these standards are implemented and used as a basis for hiring, these standards
will have to be a part of the discussion on math reform. Will there be some basic
math content and skill that all industries feel is critical to employe
e success?
System reform must build in an accountability system so that we're not in the same
place twenty years from now. We need to develop standards that everyone can understand
and accept. Then we need to be held accountable for prepari
ng our adult learners
so that they can meet these standards.
1997 - 1998
- Continue dialogue with all members of the Equipped for the Future Project and
the US Department of Education to connect the newly developed s
tandards to the Department
of Education's Indicators of Program Quality.
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