What’s happening during AEFL Week 2016: Part Two

National:

Adult Education and Economic Inequality

World Education is publishing a blog series about adult education and economic inequality throughout the week. As part of it, they will also make available a free packet of selected Change Agent lessons related to the theme.

The staggering economic inequality in the United States affects adult education and adult learners directly and in multiple ways.  That is why we at World Education commemorate the Adult Education and Family Literacy Week this year by turning our focus on this topic in this blog series.

Digital Promise Webinar

Do your adult learners struggle with reading comprehension? Do they read, reach the bottom of a paragraph, and have no idea what they’ve just read? In support of National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, our focus this month for our free webinar series is on helping adult learners develop the complex comprehension processes associated with strong reading skills. Learn from experts at Mockingbird Education specific comprehension strategies, including digital tools, that help reluctant and resistant learners deepen and develop their reading skills. Register here!

#adulted webinar Sept 28@12pmET Help adult learners improve reading comprehension. Support #AEFLWeek @digitalpromise http://bit.ly/2cln9N1

South Carolina

North Area National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week

North Family Community School, The Challenge Center, is partnering with Save the Children and Reach Out and Read to hold what’s being billed as North Area National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, which began with a kick-off celebration on Saturday, Sept. 24. For more information, check out www.facebook.com/TheChallengeCenter, or e-mail sasigmon@tds.net. orstephanie.jones@yahoo.com.

Illinois

Shawnee Community College and South Suburban College (SSC)

More than 1.2 million adults in Illinois lack basic literacy skills that limit their ability to advance in education and at work. Shawnee Community College and South Suburban College (SSC) are two of the more than 84 adult education providers offering programs funded through the Illinois Community College Board, ICCB. Both are recognizing AEFL Week as an opportunity to draw attention to the need for adult education.

According to the the Gazette-Democrat, “adult education provides a path from low-income jobs and limited opportunities to the middle class wages and family sustainability.”

“Nearly 90 percent of the fastest growing jobs of the future require education or training beyond high school,” said Dr. Karen Hunter Anderson, ICCB Executive Director.

“Illinois has taken the lead in creating partnerships between adult education providers and employers to ensure a seamless pathway for students to higher education and employment in high growth occupations.”

For more information about adult education programs and services at Shawnee Community College visit www.shawneecc.edu.

For more information about adult education programs and services at South Suburban College visit http://www.ssc.edu/adult-continuing-education/.

For information on adult education throughout Illinois visit https://www.iccb.org/adult_ed.

Meanwhile, Brenda Boggs, the Literacy Program Director of the Southwestern Illinois College’s Adult Education and Literacy department, is using the occasion to put out a call for Project Read volunteer tutors.

SWIC is seeking individuals, particularly in the Granite City and East St. Louis regions, willing to commit to tutoring an adult student for two hours per week on reading, writing, English language acquisition or math, based on their student’s needs.

Tutoring is a great way to contribute to the community and make a real difference in the lives of adults and families.

Tutors receive training before being matched with one or more adult learners. Once trained and matched, volunteers receive free books and materials to use for tutoring. Tutors meet students at a public location for scheduled tutoring sessions. 

For more information, visit swic.edu/literacy-volunteer

2016 Literacy Leadership Award Winners

Today, on the 50th anniversary of International Literacy Day, the Board of Directors of the National Coalition for Literacy (NCL) is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Literacy Leadership Awards. Our 2016 Literacy Leadership Awards Event will be held during Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, on Tuesday, September 27 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., here in Washington, DC in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-369.

The NCL Literacy Leadership Awards recognize individuals and/or organizations that have made extraordinary national contributions to improving adult literacy and English language learning in the United States. This year, the NCL will recognize the following outstanding individuals and organizations:

• Johan Uvin, Acting Assistant Secretary, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education, for his long-standing commitment to advancing adult education at the local, state, and federal levels.
• Senator Jack Reed, who has been a champion for Adult Education funding in the U.S. Senate, and at the forefront of legislative efforts to strengthen Adult Education research and Adult Education’s role in the workforce system and Career and Technical Education.
• The Division of Consumer & Business Education at the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, for its commitment to serving and guiding adults with limited reading ability, and for its outreach to those working with them, particularly teachers in adult basic education and ESL programs.
• Margaret Becker Patterson, of Research Allies for Lifelong Learning, and Marty Finsterbusch, of VALUE USA, for ALLIES, a groundbreaking research study on adult learner leadership.
• John Y. Cole, Library of Congress Historian and founding Director of the Center for the Book, who has been instrumental in shaping numerous literacy and reading-promotion programs during his 50-year tenure at the Library, including the Library of Congress Literacy Awards.

In addition, retiring Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), the Co-chair of the House Adult Literacy Caucus, will receive special recognition for his life-long commitment in support of adult education, and for outstanding leadership in advocating education as a congressional and national priority. Congressman Phil Roe (R-TN), Co-Chair of the House Adult Literacy Caucus, has also been invited.

Registration for the event is now open: http://literacyleadership2016.eventbrite.com

The NCL Literacy Leadership Awards are made possible through the generous support of NCL members, with additional support from ETS HiSET and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Find out more about becoming a sponsor.

National Coalition For Literacy Calls for Omnibus Appropriations Bill

This week NCL sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to approve an omnibus appropriations bill before the end of the calendar year, rather than passing a continuing resolution based on FY 2014 levels that inadequately supports adult education (along with many other important programs). In addition, the letter calls for an increase in funding for Adult Education to at least the $609 million level proposed in the Labor-HHS-Education bill released by Representative Rosa DeLauro in September; urges restoration of the “ability-to-benefit” provision under the Pell grant program; and endorses a call by the Campaign to Invest in America’s Workforce to provide at least $250 million in WIOA implementation funding.

You can read the entire letter here.

You can help! Contact your members of Congress urging them to enact an omnibus appropriations bill, with an increase in adult education funding, as soon as possible.