Adult Literacy

E-Rate Also an Adult Education Issue

/ The Old Crank

An E-Rate increase has gathered some momentum over the last several months. The White House recently joined the effort by issuing a proposal (“ConnectED”) that basically outlines a vision for expanded connectivity powered by new E-Rate funds (in a nutshell: “to have 99% of American students connected to broadband Internet within five years”). More information here.

E-Rate is an interesting issue from a government education spending point of view because it’s not a legislative matter (that is, it doesn’t require Congress to act)—it only requires FCC approval.

Most of the attention on E-Rate is focused on K-12 schools, but it’s worth keeping an eye on from an adult education policy perspective as well, because public libraries are covered by the program. Faster/better connectivity at public libraries provides a benefit to adult leaners—particularly those enrolled in library-based adult education programs, of course, but also self-studiers (a population that adult education policy folks often forget about—a story for another day), or any learner enrolled in a program anywhere who uses their local public library for supplementary study outside of class. Back in June, ALA issued statement in support of the administration’s ConnectEd proposal that noted the role that library broadband connectivity plays in adult education:

“At any given point in the day a library can enable: a student live-chatting with an online tutor for homework help, a parent communicating with his child’s teacher via the online course management system, a high school student taking an Advanced Placement course online, a small class taking an online GED training course, students of all ages participating in real-time distance learning and a professional completing a recertification course. These are just a few of the Internet-based services the E-rate program helps support in America’s libraries. Virtually all public libraries provide no-fee access to computers and the Internet, including WiFi.” (my emphasis)

What would be even better, of course, would be an E-Rate program that allowed community-based adult education programs to apply for the discount as well as schools and libraries.

Immigration Reform Scams

/ The Old Crank

I’m not surprised that this is happening, and I wonder if confusion among some immigrants has been compounded by the landmark gay rights rulings that occurred around the same time the comprehensive immigration reform bill passed in the Senate. The press covered the Senate passage as a victory (which it was), but for those who do not follow the inner workings of the legislative process closely—and/or who are unfamiliar with our legislative process in general—it may have appeared that something with the country’s immigration laws and procedures had suddenly changed, when in fact we are just one step along in what may be a long (and possibly futile) process to make those changes.

Unlike legislation, which not only has to pass both the Senate and the House, and then be signed by the president, (and even then, may have implementation dates far off in the future, like most of the provisions in the Affordable Care Act), SCOTUS rulings can have an immediate impact on policy, as it did with the gay rights cases, and I can understand why it might have appeared that something similar was happening with immigration policy, based on the understandable excitement over the passage of the Senate bill.

See: Avoid immigration reform scams – New York adult literacy | Examiner.com.

Kickstarter and the NEA Are Completely Different Things

/ The Old Crank

This is a pretty good column, but it’s shame that it takes five paragraphs to make the  important point that Kickstarter and the NEA are fundamentally different kinds of entities, so to compare how much they respectively “raise” doesn’t make a lot of sense. The NEA is not concerned with raising money from individual donors at all.

The reason this matters is because people unfamiliar with Kickstarter and/or how government arts funding works might read Issacson’s comment and assume, considering the source, (this was at an “ideas festival” after all), that this is a case where a smart young entrepreneur is beating the government at it’s own game. But as Boyle explains (without actually calling out Issacson for making a not-very-well-thought-out comparison), that’s not actually what’s going on here.

California Proposed GED Alternative in “Early Stage”

/ The Old Crank

A somewhat buried lede in this San Jose Mercury News story on the GED, from July 7th:

The California Department of Education is seeking approval from the state Board of Education to adopt an alternative high school equivalency test that could be taken either using pencil and paper or on a computer, said Denise Moore, education program consultant. However, the idea is still in its early stages and the alternative test might not be available until later next year, she said.