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News, Views,
and Clues
March, 2004
NAEPDC
LINCS Update
In the upper left hand corner of every LINCS page is the LINCS Search hot button that takes you to the searchable data base. It includes a Literacy Thesaurus that helps pinpoint the terminology for a search. Think about including a LINCS session in your upcoming spring conferences and summer institutes. Here is the update on what is new at LINCS:
“Here's What's New on LINCS:
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/whats_new/whats_new.html
Collecting
ESL State Policies Has your state developed state ESL policies and guidance regarding issues such as:
If so, are you willing to share? The State Staff Workgroup on ESL is collecting state-level resources to add to the NAEPDC resource web site and the NIFL ESL Special Collection web site. Attached is their brief survey to collect those items. Once on the web site, you can use the examples to create or improve your own ESL state policies, models, and processes. The
ESL State Staff Workgroup is comprised of Cathy Shank (WV), Marcia Cook
(ME), Diane Whitley (KS), Donna Albanese (OH), Karen Gianninotto (MD),
Kristen Ockert (WA), Lynda Terrill (National Center for ESL Literacy
Education), Marilyn Shaw (GA), Mathew Scelza (LINCS) and Philip Less (AR).
We appreciate your willingness to share your ESL resources.
Job Search—NIFL Director The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) is seeking applications for the Institute Director. Please forward this information to anyone in your state who meets the qualifications and could make a contribution to this valuable resource organization. The listing can be found on the NIFL web site (www.nifl.gov) or you can go directly to the pertinent pages listed below. Instructions for Applicants: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/instr_apps.html Vacancy Announcement: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/vacancy_announce.doc The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) recently posted new publications on its website, http://www.clasp.org: Proposed TANF Extension Would Pressure States to Cut TANF Caseloads and Place States at Risk of Penalties by Mark Greenberg, Hedieh Rahmanou, and Nisha Patel. On February 26, a bill (H.R. 3848) was filed to temporarily extend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. In contrast with prior extensions, this bill does not seek to maintain current law until reauthorization is resolved. Rather, while maintaining flat TANF and mandatory child care funding, H.R. 3848 would require a “recalibration” of the program’s caseload reduction credit so that the amount of a state’s credit would be based on recent caseload declines. This paper briefly summarizes the current status of reauthorization efforts, provides additional explanation of the “recalibration” provision of H.R. 3848, and discusses H.R. 3848’s potential effects on state programs. 11-page paper: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1078428230.84/HR3848.pdf 4-page version: http://www.clasp.org/Pubs/DMS/Documents/1078782665.94/HR3848_short.pdf
As you
make your plans for attending the pre-COABE State Director's conference
activities, please save the date for the following event on April 21
(Wednesday) evening for you or your representative.: Mark your calendars. Details will follow. Keep up the good work. Let me know when we can help.
Your family literacy programs may be interested in this analysis of the impact of the President’s budget on child care over the next five years--from the March 2004 issue of CLASP Update, published by the Center for Law and Social Policy. “President's Budget Cuts Child Care for More Than 300,000 Children Under the Administration’s proposed budget, at least 300,000 fewer children would receive child care assistance in 2009 than in 2003. This would occur because child care funding would be essentially frozen through FY 2009, making it impossible for states to maintain their current levels of child care assistance. However, the Administration’s budget almost certainly underestimates the number of children that would lose child care over the next five years if the proposed budget was adopted, according to a recent analysis from CLASP and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Reversing Direction on Welfare Reform: President's Budget Cuts Child Care for More Than 300,000 Children, by Jennifer Mezey, Sharon Parrott, Mark Greenberg, and Shawn Fremstad.” The full text is now available online: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1078759091.58/Mar04_Update.pdf
Education and Family Sustaining Incomes Here is another publication linking education with family sustaining incomes--from the March 2004 issue of CLASP Update, published by the Center for Law and Social Policy. “Long-Term Training Makes a Difference Research has shown that the welfare-to-work programs that have been most successful in helping parents work more and increase earnings over the long run are those that include substantial access to education and training, together with employment services and a strong overall focus on work as the goal, according to a new CLASP publication, Why Congress Should Expand, Not Cut, Access to Long-Term Training in TANF by Julie Strawn. The House welfare reauthorization bill would cut the time training counts toward meeting initial hours of participation by three-fourths—from 12 months down to three months in each 24-month period. The Senate Finance bill, on the other hand, continues the current 12-month policy and adds a new option for states to count vocational educational training toward the work rates for more than 12 months, with participation in such programs capped at 10 percent of a state’s caseload.” The full text is now available online: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1078759091.58/Mar04_Update.pdf
(These reports remind me of the quote
framed on my wall: “Jobs will get them off welfare, but education
will get them out of poverty.” Susan Greenblatt, Director of
Technical Assistance for The Administration of Children and the Family, US
Department of Health and Human Services.)
Denise Pottmeyer and the folks in Ohio have just published a local program managers’ guide for negotiating Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with their One-Stops. If you are considering the same, it might be a good resource for you. Below is a brief containing the web site location. Ohio's MOU Implementation Guide is now available in PDF format on our web site. Go to http://www.ode.state.oh.us/ctae/adult/ABLE under “ABLE Grant Management” is the "Ohio ABLE One-Stop System Memorandum of Understanding Implementation Guide". This guide is meant to assist local ABLE programs in the local One-Stop Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) negotiations.
A Study on Youth
in ABE The Center for Advanced Study in Education of the City University of New York Graduate Center recently completed an OVAE funded study on youth in ABE entitled “An Exploratory Case Study of 16-20 Year-Old Students in Adult Education Programs.” The study compared younger and older adult learners and explored the impact of youth on adult education and some probable causes of the increase. Garland Hankins (AR), Mary Weaver (CA) and I were among the advisory board members.
Below is a brief on the study that includes
the web site for the Executive Summary and the full report. Attached is the
news release regarding the study. The study manager was Seymour Speigle SSpiegel@gc.cuny.edu.
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) results will be released next year. In preparation, Mark Kutner, (AIR Pelavin) project manager, wanted to provide you with some background information. We hope to have him discuss the results in some detail at one of our upcoming national meetings. Below is his brief, and attached is his PowerPoint. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) provides the first analysis of the literacy skills of America's adults since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). The release of NALS focused a lot of media and policy attention on the subject of adult literacy skills, and the implications for businesses, education, and American society. State directors were asked a lot of questions by their governors’ offices and legislatures after the release of NALS. NALS data are still being cited more than ten years after the findings have been released. Attention will again be focused on these issues when NAAL findings are released in mid-2005. The attached slides provide a brief overview of NAAL, and the state component of NAAL which is being administered in six states. These slides describe the NAAL design features, cognitive components, and the background questionnaire, and will help you begin to become familiar with the assessment in preparation for the release of results a little more than one year from now. You can contact Mark directly at MKutner@air.org or at his desk number--202.403.5321 |
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Contact us: Dr. Lennox
McLendon, Executive Director; 444 North Capitol Street, NW; Suite 422;
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