[NIFL-ESL:9157] RE: FW: [AAACE-NLA] Adult Literacy: What's Hot an

bjteach@ameritech.net

Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 11:32:21 -0400 (EDT)
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From: "bjteach" <bjteach@ameritech.net>
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Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9157] RE: FW: [AAACE-NLA] Adult Literacy: What's Hot an
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For information on Citizenship try the Adult Learning Resource Center in Des
Plaines, IL.

www.thecenterweb.org

Barb Sabaj
District 214 Community Education
bjteach@ameritech.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mearns, Raiana" <rmearns@state.pa.us>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 12:36 PM
Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9132] RE: FW: [AAACE-NLA] Adult Literacy: What's Hot an

> I've been trying to get information on the new citizenship test. BCIS has
an
> announcement of the new test on its website, but there is not really any
> information on possible changes to content or delivery of the test. Does
> anyone know more than what is on the BCIS website?
> Thanks,
> Raiana Mearns
> PA Dept. of Education
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lynda Terrill [mailto:lterrill@cal.org]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 12:31 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9109] FW: [AAACE-NLA] Adult Literacy: What's Hot and
> What's Not
>
>
> Crossposted from the AAACE-NLA list.
>
> Lynda
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thomas Sticht [mailto:tsticht@znet.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 10:23 PM
> To: aaace-nla@lists.literacytent.org
> Cc: tsticht@aznet.net
> Subject: [AAACE-NLA] Adult Literacy: What's Hot and What's Not
>
>
> July 1, 2003
>
> Adult Literacy: What's Hot and What's Not in 2003?
> Tom Sticht
>
> On June 30 we reached the half way mark of 2003, in terms of months. In
> terms of days, June 30 marked the 181st day of the year. To find out what
> topics in adult literacy education are in and which ones seem to be out, I
> tallied the number of messages posted to the NIFL lists as of noon on June
> 30.
>
> The falling 5 lists posted at least one message or more per day in 2003.
> ESL 552 messages
> AALPD 464
> Family 234
> Women 189
> Health 181
>
> The following 3 lists posted about 0.6 to 0.97 messages per day.
> Technology 175
> EFF 140
> POVRAC 111
>
> The forgoing 6 lists posted fewer than 0.5 messages a day.
> Numeracy 80
> Focus on Basics 78
> Assessment 66
> Library 52
> Workplace 51
> Learning Disability 38
> Homelessness 8
>
> The foregoing  7 lists include two which were at one time very active. In
> 1999 the Learning Disabilities list posted some 1161 messages, or about
> 6.4 messages per day. If the present rate of postings stays constant, the
> LD list will post only 76 messages in 2003, a dramatic fall from 1999. Why
> has LD dropped so much?
>
> The Workplace list had 812 postings,  over 2.2 per day,  in 1996, but this
> dropped to 667 in 2000, and then fell precipitously to 367 in 2001, to 219
> in 2002, and this year if the present trend persists the Workplace list
> will post only 102 messages. This seems out of place with the federal
> government's interest in the use of the federal adult basic education and
> literacy program to improve employment.
>
> Also of interest is the relatively low number of postings to the Focus on
> Basics (FOB) list which is supposed to be the list for getting research
> into practice. Given the interest in scientific, evidence-based approaches
> to adult literacy education, it seems that the FOB list, which represents
> the work of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and
> Literacy, is dramatically underutilized.
>
> One of the perennial issues that is supposed to be of interest to the
> adult literacy field is assessment, but if postings to the NIFL lists is
> any indicator of interest in assessment, it ranks 11th out of 15t, hardly
> indicative of major interest in assessment.
>
> If we assume that topics of major interest result in at least 1 message
> per day, then only one-third ( 5 out of 15) of the NIFL lists appear to be
> of major interest. This includes both the Technology and EFF lists which
> represent areas in which federal funds have been and are continuing to be
> invested to promote interest in these areas.
>
> The ESL list continues to rack up high postings as it has for over  5
> years. The new Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers
> (AALPD) has scored high postings in just 4 months. This is similar to what
> happened to the Poverty and Race (POVRACLIT) list. When it started there
> were 334 postings in just a little over 3 months in 2000 when it started
> up. But the next year it dropped to only 358 postings and in 2002 to 309
> postings. This suggests that some topics invite an initial spurt of people
> posting messages and then a rapid decline in postings. If POVRACLIT
> continues at the present trend, it will drop from 309 postings in 2002 to
> 222 in 2003. Does this indicate a drop in interest of issues of poverty
> and race in the adult literacy education field?
>
> If the NIFL lists are any indication, interest in the homeless continues a
> multiple year reign of being practically nonexistent.
>
> Of course, all this raises the question of just what do the NIFL lists
> indicate about what the adult literacy field thinks is hot and what it
> thinks is not.
>
> tsticht@aznet.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
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