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April 2000 -- Why and How States Should Invest in Adult Learner Leadership
April 2000 -- Why and How States Should Invest in Adult Learner Leadership
VALUE supports adult learners as advocates.
One of VALUE’s goals is to help adult learners to communicate effectively with adult education policy makers (legislators and adult education officials). We are preparing Advocacy Messages which adult learners can refer to. Shown below is our second Message.
Our first message was sent out in December 1999. It talked about the impacts that the federal Workforce Investment Act and National Reporting System might have on adult learners.
The VALUE Advocacy Committee will post these Advocacy Messages to our web site [literacynet.org/value]. We welcome suggestions of other issues for our Advocacy Messages.
Background
A growing number of states are investing in "adult learner leadership." State-level adult education organizations (including adult basic education offices, volunteer literacy organizations, professional associations, state literacy resource centers, and state literacy foundations) are beginning to recognize the potential of adult learners as leaders for literacy and education.
These state-level organizations are funding:
- the creation of adult learner organizations;
- conferences for adult learners;
- travel by adult learners to national conferences;
- newsletters and other publications written by learners;
- guidebooks and videotapes which show learners and practitioners how to support learner leadership;
- adult learner web sites which contain learner writings and other news and information of interest to adult learners;
- recognition events which honor successful adult learners;
- meetings between adult learners and their legislators and other public officials.
Some states are also appointing adult learners to literacy advisory boards.
Why it’s important for states to support learner leadership
VALUE commends those states which have already begun to support these and other forms of learner leadership. We report about these examples on our web site [literacynet.org/value] in the "News from the States" section. We hope that other states will learn from those examples and that all states will share their creative ideas about how to help learners be effective leaders.
VALUE’s mission is to help adult learners become active leaders in efforts to promote literacy and education in the United States. We believe that learners can strengthen literacy and education efforts in their states by:
- recruiting new learners into literacy programs,
- encouraging new enrollees to "stick with it" and succeed in their education,
- educating policy makers and funders about the importance of investing in adult literacy, and
- getting involved in improving the quality of education for children AND adults.
Many adult learners want to "give back" to the adult education programs which gave them a second chance. When adult learners get involved as leaders in adult education, they can (a) help strengthen adult education efforts in their state and (b) develop decision-making, teamwork, and other skills and knowledge which they can use in their families, in their workplaces, and in the larger community.
Decision-makers at the state level should recognize the potential of adult learners as leaders and support learner leadership in any way they can.
What policy makers can do
1. Learn -- and help others learn -- about adult learner leadership.
Don’t assume that all supporters of adult education know very much about the concept of "adult learner leadership." Take the time to educate yourself about the potential of helping learners to move into leadership roles. Understand that this is a natural direction for adult education to move into. See how adults can use leadership skills not just within the literacy field itself but in their workplaces, communities, and families. Then educate other supporters of adult education through conference workshops, publications, a web site, and other means.
2. Set up an infrastructure to support learner leadership.
Recognize that, for adult learners to be effective leaders, they need more than personal motivation, self-confidence, and leadership skills. They also need an infrastructure of (a) funding to carry out special projects; (b) communication channels; and (c) support (encouragement, ideas, and "elbow grease") from fellow learners, adult educators, and others.
A number of state-level adult education agencies and associations are beginning to create such infrastructures. Here are some of the components to include:
a. A fund for learner leadership activities at the state and local levels
For any sustained adult learner leadership effort to succeed, funds will be required. A state should consider setting up a special fund to support learner leadership activities at the state and local level. (State-wide projects could get "macro-grants" while local-level projects might be awarded "mini-grants.")
There are a number of possible sources of funding and in-kind help which state adult education offices might tap into:
Federal and state adult education budgets (These typically can be used for staff development and special projects.)
Federal sources like VISTA , AmeriCorps, and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. (VISTA provides modest stipends to people giving their time to community service organizations. Adult learners have received VISTA funding which allowed them to become paid staff of adult education programs. AmeriCorps Volunteers are being used as mentors for adult learner groups.)
Private philanthropists. (Adult learner leadership would be a nice "cause" for a philanthropist to adopt.)
A special "adult learning" license plate.
b. A state-level steering committee
A steering committee composed of adult learners and adult educators can guide further planning and action for learner leadership in the state. (This committee might evolve into a statewide adult learner organization.)
Be sure to include representatives of various ethnic/language communities, so they can serve as "ambassadors" to those communities. (Many people who don’t speak English as a first language might be shy about getting involved as "leaders," so special efforts must be made to reach out to them.)
c. A staff person at the state level to handle learner leadership activities
Someone needs to have expertise in the why’s and how’s of learner leadership and have the time and authority to do the work of organizing learner leadership activities. This person could be a former adult learner.
d. A web site and/or an electronic list
VALUE has established a web site and an electronic list ("listserv" or "e-list") to help adult learners and others learn and talk about learner leadership activities around the country. A few states have set up similar adult learner web sites. These contain news, ideas, student writing, and other information. These are ways to spread information efficiently while also giving adult learners opportunities and motivation to use Internet technology.
Some of the information presented on the web site might be translated into other languages. This might be a way to encourage non-native-English-speakers to get involved as leaders.
e. A Request for Proposals to fund local-level learner leadership projects
Once a state has set up a fund for learner leadership projects, it should issue a "Request for Proposals" (RFP) to invite adult learner groups to apply for funds for special projects. A review committee would also need to be established, to fairly review the proposals and decide who should be awarded funds.
This application process can itself be a learning experience for adult learners and a way to encourage the formation of local adult learner groups. The RFP might require that groups which apply for funds must be composed fully or partially of adult learners. The applicant groups would then need to sit down and agree on what they want money for and how they would manage the funds. For many learners, this might be the first time they have ever prepared a proposal. These groups might therefore need one or more adult educators to serve as mentors. The mentors can help them prepare the proposal, carry out the project, manage funds, and report the results of the project back to the funder and others.
The funds might be in the form of "mini-grants" and be used for discrete, achievable projects like:
- organizing a student support group,
- creating a newsletter or anthology of learner writings,
- travelling to meet with legislators,
- making a video,
- organizing a fundraising event or learner-run business, or
- hosting an open house for new learners.
Some of the funds might be set aside for special outreach activities aimed at non-native-English-speaking communities.
f. A statewide adult learner conference (and/or a series of regional conferences)
Adult learner conferences have proven to be a great way to energize adult learner involvement. They are opportunities to share ideas, meet friends and make new ones, get new skills (like "how to speak in public," "how to form a support group," "how to meet with your legislator,"or "how to use the Internet"), and be inspired to try new things. These conferences can feature workshops run by experienced adult learners or by teams of learners and their mentors.
They are also opportunities for those who are trying to create a statewide infrastructure for learner leadership to get input and involvement from adult learners around the state. In this way, the state-level infrastructure will better serve the needs of adult learners.
VALUE and other organizations have sponsored adult learner training workshops and conferences. States might adapt these models to their own particular needs.
3. Spread the word.
State-level decision-makers and their agencies and organizations should promote and publicize learner leadership within their states. Do this in your speeches, newsletters, reports, and web sites. Don’t limit yourself to the "usual" adult literacy conferences. Educate legislators, business groups, unions, religious organizations, social service agencies, and ethnic organizations about the importance of adult education and the potential of adult learners.
Use the VALUE web site and other means to spread the word about the good things you are doing to encourage learner leadership so others outside your state can learn from you.
Make the development of adult learner leadership a priority. See it as consistent with the historic purposes of adult education. Recognize that learners are often very motivated to give something back to the programs that helped them and to their communities, but need guidance and opportunities to get involved.
Become an advocate for an expanded vision of adult learning and adult learners.
For more information, contact VALUE c/o Learning Partnerships, 14 Griffin Street, East Brunswick, NJ 08816-4806, 732/254-2237. (And please tell us what you are doing in your state! )
December 1999: The Workforce Investment Act and National Reporting System: Are These Federal Policies Helping or Hurting Adult Learners?
Background
The federal government has recently introduced two policies which affect the adult basic education field:
The Workforce Investment Act is requiring adult education programs to cooperate more closely with job-training programs. For an adult education program to be funded, it must show that its learners achieve the following types of goals: (a) get a job, (b) earn a GED, or (c) help their children succeed in school.
The National Reporting System will require adult education programs to use a new way to report the skills that adult learners possess. This reporting system will have several levels of skill achievement. For a program to get funding, it must show that its learners are moving up through those levels.
Why VALUE is concerned about these new policies
We agree with the Workforce Investment Act that it is important for adult learners to improve their job status, get a GED or high school diploma, and help their children succeed in school.
We also agree that adult education programs should be able to show to funders that learners are actually making progress. (We are taxpayers, too, and want to fund [a] programs that actually help learners and [b] learners who are ready to work at improving their literacy skills.)
However, we are concerned about these policies because:
1. About 40 to 45 million U.S. adults have very low levels of basic skills. Many of these adults are learning disabled. Many of them are immigrants with limited English skills. These adults need special adult education services if they are to (a) get a good job, (b) earn a GED, (c) help their children succeed in school, or (d) move up through the levels to be measured by the National Reporting System.
2. Many adult education programs will likely avoid serving those 40-45 million lowest-skilled adults. These programs will be afraid that they won't be able to demonstrate the outcomes required by the Workforce Investment Act and National Reporting System. They will instead select the "cream" of the population of adult learners (those with higher skill levels, those without learning disabilities, those immigrants who already speak English). Programs will do this so they can meet the goals set by Congress and therefore qualify for federal and state money. This means that the lowest-skilled learners won't get the services they need.
3. Some states are now focusing their resources on "testing" and "reporting" rather than improving the quality of adult education programs (through teacher training, etc.) and serving more learners. These states are making this shift from "teaching" to "reporting" because they think that this is what Congress and the Workforce Investment Act want.
4. Many states are relying heavily on standardized tests to measure the literacy levels of adult learners. These tests produce "scores" which can be added up and reported to the federal government and other funders.
Unfortunately, those standardized tests often don't measure the kinds of skills and knowledge that adult learners are looking for. (For example, an adult learner might need to be able to read the computer screen she uses at work, or deal with insurance forms, or use English to speak to his boss or his child's teacher.) Standardized tests aren't designed to measure the specific skills and knowledge which adult learners work on in their basic skills programs. Therefore, many learners get the skills they seek to improve their lives without necessarily scoring high or advancing a level on standardized tests.
And, worse yet, many adult learners find standardized tests to be either meaningless or threatening -- or both! This can lead some learners to be discouraged or even drop out.
Adult educators have been developing new forms of assessment which can be used to measure how well learners are meeting their individual goals. Policy makers should encourage adult educators to develop and use these new kinds of measures, so everyone gets accurate information about what is really being achieved in basic skills programs..
5. Some of the dropouts from adult education programs have learning disabilities which are never diagnosed. They drop out because the work expected of them is too difficult. With the proper assessment tools, learning disabilities could be identified early and dropout rates reduced.
What policy makers should do
VALUE is pleased that policy makers are trying to make adult education programs more relevant and accountable.
But we are concerned that, when trying to respond to the Workforce Investment Act and National Reporting System, policy makers are actually:
a. forgetting about the 40-45 million lowest-skilled adults. These include learning disabled people and non-English-speakers who require special kinds of assessment and teaching;
b. using tests which produce meaningless numbers rather than show whether learners are really learning skills and knowledge they need in the real world; and
c. focusing so much on "testing and reporting" that they forget about "teaching."
If these things happen, policy makers will fail to conform to the "spirit" and the "letter" of the new federal policies. That is, there is a real danger that:
- Policy makers will fail to serve the most educationally disadvantaged.
- Policy makers will fail to provide high-quality, relevant adult education services which really help adults for their roles as workers, family members, and citizens.
To avoid these problems, we recommend that policy makers:
1. Set reasonable goals for all types and levels of adult learners and the adult education programs which serve them.
2. Fund programs adequately (and provide them with staff development resources) so they can provide high-quality services relevant to the particular learners they serve.
3. Fund research and development projects which encourage adult educators to develop and use a range of assessment tools (not just existing standardized tests) that really measure what adults want and need to learn.
For more information, contact VALUE c/o Learning Partnerships, 14 Griffin
Street, East Brunswick, NJ 08816-4806, 732/254-2237.
Revised 8/24/01