K-12

David Archer: “The Biggest Determinant of Success in Any School is the Home Environment”

/ The Old Crank / 1 Comment

David Archer, head of programme development at ActionAid, in a post yesterday to the Guardians’ Poverty Matters Blog, argues that policymakers make “at least four fundamental mistakes” when addressing children’s literacy around the world. According to Archer, one of those mistakes is “to think schools will do everything alone.” He writes:

…The biggest determinant of success in any school is the home environment. When children come from homes where both parents are illiterate, and there is nothing to read or reinforce their learning, they are likely to fail. If the school is an oasis of literacy in a village community, it is hard for children to develop literate habits or to value literacy practices.

Officially, there are more than 750 million illiterate adults in the world; in reality, that number should be doubled. Yet almost nowhere are governments investing in adult literacy programmes. There is compelling evidence on the particular importance of female literacy for transforming the chances of girls, and there is clear evidence about what works in running effective adult literacy programmes. A set of 12 core international benchmarks developed by ActionAid and the Global Campaign for Education have been widely agreed. Until we see new energy being invested in female literacy, we cannot be surprised that children struggle to learn. (my emphasis)

Diversion of the Day: Run DMC on Reading Rainbow

/ The Old Crank

Here is a video of Run DMC promoting literacy on an episode of Reading Rainbow, back in the 1980s. I’m posting it here because, as a matter of literacy policy, we need to remind policymakers that reading is a very fresh way to learn.

Reading Rainbow was a great show. The host, Levar Burton, also served as executive producer of the series, which ran for an amazing 21 seasons and won a boatload of Emmys and a Peabody Award. Burton was—and still is—a great literacy champion. He may have introduced more kids to books than anyone alive today. I learned recently that he’s just finishing up work on a new multimedia/tablet version of the show.

h/t onetwoonetwo.com, @kurt930

Excellent Article on History of Adult Education in California—and Why It’s All Falling Apart Now

/ The Old Crank

Over the weekend, the San Diego News-Tribune published an outstanding guest opinion piece by Dom Gagliardi, principal of the Escondido Adult School, and a past president of both the California Council for Adult Education and the National Commission on Adult Basic Education.

Gagliardi’s article is a great primer on the proud, 156-year history of school-based adult education in California—a system of “adult schools” that is all but collapsing in the wake of massive state budget deficits over the last several years—and a law that has encouraged many school districts to cut adult education from their budgets.

Gagliardi notes that at its peak in 2005, nearly 1.4 million Californians were enrolled in adult education, mostly through this system. But since 2010, 32 adult schools have closed temporarily and 44 have had their budgets cut by more than 50%, all because of a budget mechanism implemented in 2009 known as “categorical flexibility,” which allows districts to divert funds from programs like adult education to support its K-12 programs. As Gagliardi writes:

The increasing economic pressure on school districts to balance their budgets has put them in the untenable and unfortunate position of pitting one program against another. When forced to prioritize instructional services for youth or adults, the choice is obvious and painful. (my emphasis)

That last point can’t be emphasized enough (see point number one here).

According to Gagliardi, there is at least one school district in California that has remained steadfast in continuing to provide adult education despite these pressures—and not surprisingly, it’s his own. Although the district has cut their budget by about 20%, the Escondido Adult School, which serves approximately 10,000 students per year, has survived, at least in part via increased class fees to offset the decreases in state and local funding.

Gagliardi concludes, “[i]t is increasingly evident that giving local school districts the ability to use funding previously earmarked for adult education to support K-12 programs must end before the entire adult education system is decimated. (my emphasis) Once the infrastructure of the state’s adult education program is gone, it will be difficult if not impossible to resurrect.”

That law is supposed to expire in 2015; it’s encouraging to read a call to end this practice now, before it’s too late.

Be sure to go read the whole article if you are at all interested in what is going on there. Again, it’s a great primer on the history of adult education in the state, a good summary of what is going wrong there now, and a call to act before there is nothing left to save.

Dallas Independent School District Drops Adult Education

/ The Old Crank

According to this story in the Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Independent School District is planning to drop their adult education program, which has provided free GED and English as a second language classes for 38 years.

According to the story, the DISD decided to drop the program in order to focus on pre-K through 12 students. Moreover, while the program is grant-funded (state and federal—presumably Workforce Investment Act—funds), they are no longer able—or willing—to fund the administrative expense of managing the grant:

“That’s really where we want to continue spending our efforts,” Daniels said. “Certainly, it’s no secret that we have lost a number of administrative positions, and while this is a grant-funded program, there would need to be some administrative oversight from our staff. So we decided that it would be best for everyone if another fiscal agent took on the grant.”

DISD’s adult education program is the third-largest in the state, serving about 7,000 adult students each year. The Texas Education Agency is now in the process of searching for another school district or organization to take over the program.