Perspective: Joy-Lily (Amend 173)

Wednesday, August 14th, SB 173 will go before the Assembly Committee on Higher Education.

 

Unless amended, SB 173 will narrow the mission of Adult Education, eliminating Older Adults and Parent Education.   Older Adults and Parent Ed can continue, at district discretion, but only if funded through alternative sources. 

 

Many (not all) in the Adult Education community, want to see 173 amended.  (Full disclosure:  I do.)

 

Joy-Lily (Martha Herman), an Older Adults teacher at San Mateo Adult School, is one such person. 

 

She shares the letter she sent to the Higher Education Committee (below).

 

You, too, can share your opinions with the Higher Ed Committee. Click here for contact info.

 

 

Dear Committee Members,

 

Please add my voice to the call to include older adult education in the plans to revamp California's adult schools.

Click the "read more" link to read the rest of Joy-Lily's letter.

What Do You Want For Adult Ed in the Future?

We are in another chrysalis.

In two years, the new Regional Consortia will start up.

Adult Ed will be run by these Consortia.

They will decide what kind of Adult Ed is provided in their areas and who provides it and to whom.

What do we want for this future?

What do you want?

Now is the time to think about this.  To share our ideas. 

And then to share in the work to make it happen.

We know what happens when we don't share in things.  We know what happens when we are too busy, too tired, or just plain unwilling to get involved.

This is our future.

We need to be part of deciding what it looks like, what it feels like, for decades to come.

All of us.  Students, teachers, community members, administrators.  All of us need to be part of this.

All of us know something that is important to share.  

All of us have a piece of the puzzle because we are the puzzle.  We are the future.

The only real question is:  Do we go into it eyes open or eyes closed?

Please take a few minutes to think about what you want for Adult Ed and share your ideas and opinions in this questionnaire - then ask others to share theirs, too.

In this way, we can gather ideas and opinions from around the state so we make a system that serves the whole state.

Thank you.

Here's the questionnaire:

What do you want for Adult Ed in the future?

Parent Education and ESL: Potential Partners in Parent & Child Success

As the planning for the new Regional Consortia starts up and as we debate whether or not to narrow the mission of Adult Education, i.e. while everything is still liquid and possible, I wanted to throw an idea into the mix... something that's been bubbling up in my mind recently.

My idea:

A four day class for ESL students and their children that utilizes the parent-participation model.

Four days a week, the child or children is in the parent-participation program.  Probably best age fit for this model is age 1 to 5.

Two days a week the ESL parent is in the ESL classroom, learning ESL, CBET, EL Civics, etc. 

And the other two days the ESL parent is in the parent-participation program, learning and playing with his/her child, learning more about child development, forging connections with other ESL parents, and learning about K12 schools and local resources for families.

Click on the "read more" link to learn more.

CCAE: Join the Family!

We're still here!  We've come so far!  And we've got further yet to go!

 

The Voice

Hear that?

That's the voice of Adult Education!

Otherwise known as CCAE -

California Council for Adult Education -

the only organization that includes teachers, classified staff members, administrators, counselors, students, and friends of adult education.



And thanks in great part to CCAE's legislative advocacy in Sacramento, that voice continues.

Athena and CCAE remind Sacramento to choose wisely.



CCAE rallying support for Prop 30

CCAE also provides professional development at regional and state conferences.

SMAS teachers at the 2013 Bay Region Conference

Branka Marceta,
Co-Chair of the 2013 State Conference



 

The cost of Membership is very reasonable and includes access to healthcare benefits.

 

Click on the "read more" link to learn about why you should join and how.

We've Got Tools

Opposable thumbs are not the only thing that make us human.

 

 

 

The ability to think and to ask questions, to consider past, present, and possible futures, are tools more important than thumbs.

 

And we've got 'em.

 

As the money from increased tax revenues and Prop 30 flows in, and we make choices about how and where to spend it on education, across the state, let's use 'em.

 

Here are some bits to help us:

 

Click the "read more" link to see them.

The Unified Field Theory of 173: Happy Independence Day

Are you familiar with Unified Field Theory?

Yeah, neither am I.

Not really.  I mean, I don't understand everything about it.

That's the whole thing.

No one has so far.

Not even Einstein who spent much of his life trying to.   He's the guy who came up the name.

Unified Field Theory tries to put together things that don't seem to agree into a frame where you see that they do.  Because after all, they already are.  Parts of a whole that work together in shared purpose. 

I think that's what Rumi was talking about with this field:

Hard to get to, isn't it?

Click to the "read more" link to see us there.

CCAE Communicator - July 2013

CCAE - California Council for Adult Education - is the only organization representing all who care about Adult Ed:  Students, Support Staff, Teachers, Administrators, and Community Members.

 

Their  website bills them as "The Voice of Adult Ed in California" and indeed, they have been an important voice in Sacramento, speaking up about the value and necessity of Adult Education and carrying the message that...   Adult Education Matters!

 

Here's the latest from CCAE, including messages and updates from the new CCAE State President Larriann Torrez, outgoing President Chris Nelson, and CCAE Legislative Analyst Dawn Koepke.

 

More about CCAE membership in a separate blog post. 

Hit the "Read More" link for the update.