tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832205589360987196.post6900912550670976761..comments2023-08-24T05:57:41.490-07:00Comments on Adult Education Matters: Bringing Adult Ed to the NPE Conference TableUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6832205589360987196.post-18521854208361506842014-02-23T17:19:54.877-08:002014-02-23T17:19:54.877-08:00Cynthia, I read this blog but I have not commented...Cynthia, I read this blog but I have not commented before, and I am not from California. However, I have some advice for you as you prepare for the NPE Conference:<br /><br />1) Encourage other adult educators to go to the conference. Meet virtually or in person beforehand, or as early as possible at the conference to plan how to introduce the importance of adult education to K-12 colleagues.<br /><br />2) Go armed with PIACC data (http://piaacgateway.com/) As you know, PIACC is the recent international assessment of adult competencies, with data on three domains: adult literacy, adult numeracy, and problem solving in a digital environment. As you also know, the U.S. did very poorly on all three assessment domains. For others, a quick video introduction will be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgRwgFD-Ynk<br /><br />3) Make the case that although Early Childhood Education and K-12 education are both very important, they often cannot succeed without educated parents. Research shows that children of parents (especially mothers) who have higher levels of education do better in school. The parents read to their children, help children with homework, and help them in other ways.<br /><br />4) The U.S. workforce is not as competitive now that we have a world economy. We need to have a better-educated workforce, better prepared for post-secondary education. However, if we rely only on K-12 education to address Americans’ basic skills, – even if skills do improve – economists estimate that this will take 50 years before the current workforce turns over, and workers are fully prepared. We cannot wait even ten years. We need to address adult learners’ basic skills (including English language for immigrants) now!<br /><br />5) There are adult education models that have evidence of working, for example the iBest program in Washington State and elsewhere, and two studies that show that incarcerated adults who participate in adult education programs have low recidivism rates, among other evidence. Unlike much of higher education, where the U.S. makes a significantly greater investment, adult education has for many years had the National Reporting System that measures adult learner progress in every state. (Yes it could be improved, but in many states there is no data like this in higher education, or these data have only been collected recently.)<br /><br />6) Ask your colleagues at the NPE conference if they personally know an adult who cannot read. Most will say they don’t. Then point out that most Americans DO know adults who don’t read at all or who don’t read well, that they just don’t know it because adults with poor reading skills are adept at hiding this. They order hamburgers or chicken in restaurants because they know that restaurants will have this, even though they may not be able to read the menu; they often carry a newspaper even though they cannot read most of it; they say they left their glasses at home when confronted with a task that requires reading; they often have someone at home who reads things for them, Often their friends, family members, and community members do not know they cannot read well.<br /><br />Perhaps others have some ideas to add, and I hope these will help. Good luck!<br /><br />David J. Rosen<br />Djrosen123@gmail.com<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04832824610583947181noreply@blogger.com