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LR/RI produces a bulletin roughly every
two
to three weeks in order
to inform area practitioners of news, events, and calls for
participation
and also as a forum for posing questions, issues and discussion topics.
The current bulletin is posted below. To read previous bulletins, go to
Bulletin
Archives. To receive the bulletin via email, contact LR/RI.
May 9, 2007
Bulletin #242
Dear Colleagues,
Calls for
participation, employment,
funding,
and conference and workshop
opportunities, online
and other resources. To post information, and/or to receive
the bulletin via email, please contact LR/RI or leave a message at
(401-863-2839).
Janet Isserlis
____________________________________________________________
NOTICES
RI Adult
Educators’ conference: save the date. The fifth state conference will
be held on May 17th, at the Airport Radisson.
To register, please contact lrri@brown.edu. You don’t need to
pre-pay, but please do register by by April 30th (NO later than
May7th), so that we can have an accurate count for materials and
lunch.
More information here.
ESOL share
- Tuesday, June 12th, at
2:30, Genesis Center, 620 Potters Avenue, Providence. Open focus
– looking back, looking forward. Reflecting on learning,
resources and possibilities.
SONGS
FOR PHUKET: An Afternoon of Opera,
Classical Music, and Beer to Benefit the Books 4 Phuket Campaign Sunday,
May 13, 4-7 p.m. at Nick-A-Nee’s, 75 South Street, Providence
In December 2004, a tsunami of unparalleled destruction hit Southeast
Asia, killing approximately 150,000 people. Phuket, Thailand, was
slammed with 30-foot waves, resulting in hundreds of deaths and
enormous damage to the infrastructures that support tourism, the
island’s economic mainstay. Since that time, Phuket has largely
rebuilt, but resources are still stretched thin. The Kalim School, an
English-immersion public elementary school, has a new building but
still needs books for its 350 students.
Providence Inner City Arts (PICA), RI Black Storytellers (RIBS) and
other prominent locals have teamed up with
former-Rhode-Islander-turned-Thai-restaurateur Tom McNamara to create
Books 4 Phuket, a campaign to raise funds for the Kalim School library.
On May 13, Nick-A-Nee’s will host the project’s fundraising benefit
concert, a joyful highbrow-meets-lowbrow affair featuring live
classical music, opera solos by soprano Clara Schuhmacher and others,
and International Storyteller, Len Cabral as MC. Suggested donations
are $25 per person. More details about the library benefit concert are
available at http://www.books4phuket.com
New teacher orientation pilot:
As many of you may know, Rhode Island adult educators have been working
on an orientation process for practitioners who are new (either just
beginning, or within the early years of their work as educators).
On June 11, 13 and 15 (from 9-3 pm) we will be implementing a first
trial of an orientation process, designed (this time) mostly for
classroom teachers. In time we hope to broaden this orientation
to include all practitioners - teachers, administrators, program
staff. We invite applications to participate in this first
pilot - and welcome practitioners who can commit to complete the
following:
- prepare a written observation of an adult education class
and/or a written reflection of one's own class (to be completed prior
to the first meeting on June 11th
- Attend all three meetings - June 11, 13, 15, from 9 to 3 - complete
tasks within and between the meetings (these will not be very
time-consuming, and will generally require no more than an hour's work)
- Reconvene in the early fall electronically and/or in a culminating
meeting in order to provide final recommendations/feedback. The
purpose of this meeting (or email discussion - to be determined) is to
allow participants time to reflect on a set of guided questions that
will be distributed at the end of the three-day pilot session).
We welcome a mix of new and somewhat more experienced practitioners for
this pilot, and ask that you answer the following questions, (by email,
fax or snail mail) by May 25th. (lrri@brown.edu; other contact
information at the top of this message)
What do you believe an orientation should include?
What are you hoping to learn from your participation?
Have you ever participated in a similar orientation process before -
either within your current program, or in another field?
Now enrolling for
fall session: TRANSITION TO COLLEGE ~ Saturday, June 2 at 10:00
AM, 175 Main Street Pawtucket, 722-9800
Pre-College enrichment program for non-traditional adults returning to
academic life:
COLLEGE SUCCESS → ACADEMIC REVIEW → CAREER SEMINARS →
MENTORING → ACADEMIC ADVISING & COUNSELING → FINANCIAL AID
Contact: MarieCrecca-Romero@riral.org
discount tickets: Maya Angelou at PPAC: The
production company that is bringing Dr. Maya Angelou to PPAC on June
1st is offering a 10% discount on ticket prices to members of groups
like Literary Resources/ RI. The code will work for individual
purchases. The code is "AMNB" which can be used directly at the
PPAC box office number (401 421-2997, or click directly here
http://www.uniquelives.com/2007/7maproveb.htm
Change
Agent CALL FOR ARTICLES
Theme: Taking Action to Stay In School
Adult students face many
challenges as they try to balance their work life, family life, and
commitment to their education. Most students, at some point or another,
encounter obstacles too difficult to overcome and have to stop out from
school. We’re looking for students who have creative ideas and are
taking action to keep themselves and their classmates in school. This
issue of The Change Agent is about the external challenges (working too
hard, health issues, lack of transportation or child care) that make it
hard to keep coming to class and the ways that students are taking
leadership to address those difficulties.
Questions for students and teachers to think about: (Please
choose one question to write on.)
What needs to happen in your community, workplace, or program so you
can keep coming to class?
What are some things you think you could do with your classmates to
address the challenges of staying in school? Have you done any
organizing with your classmates or program around transportation, child
care, jobs and wages, or health care? What was it, how did you do it,
what happened? How have other students helped you stay in school? If
your program provides child care or transportation, how did you make it
happen and has it made a difference in learner persistence? All
articles must be received by May 18,
2007.
All articles will be considered. Suggested length is 500-1,200 words.
Final decisions are made by The Change Agent editorial board. A stipend
of $50 will be paid to each adult education student whose work is
accepted for publication in this issue.
Please send material (preferably by email) to: Angela Orlando, Editor,
New England Literacy Resource Center/World Education, 44 Farnsworth
St., Boston, MA 02210, Phone: 617-482-9485 fax: 617-482-0617 email:
aorlando@worlded.org
The mission of The
Change Agent is to provide news, issues, ideas, and other
teaching resources that inspire and enable adult educators and learners
to make civic participation and social justice part of their teaching
and learning. It is published by the New England Literacy Resource
Center.
Call for Contributors
to Voices of
Justice, the New Creative Writing Section of Multicultural
Education Magazine - We're seeking submissions of creative writing on
topics including diversity, identity, multiculturalism, education,
social justice, environmental justice, and more specific subtopics
(race, gender/sex, sexual orientation, language, (dis)ability, etc.).
Do you write poetry? Short stories or flash fiction? Creative
nonfiction? We will consider any style or form, but we prefer prose
that is no longer than 600 words and poetry that can fit comfortably
onto a single page of text. Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling
basis.
And... If you’re a teacher, Pre-K through lifelong learning, please
ENCOURAGE YOUR STUDENTS to submit to us! We would love submissions from
the youngsters as well as the not-so-youngsters!
Submissions may be sent electronically or by postal mail.
Electronic submissions should be sent to Paul C. Gorski at
pgorski01@gw.hamline.edu with the subject line "ME Submission." Hard
copy, mailed submissions should be addressed to: Paul C. Gorski,
Graduate School of Education, Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Avenue,
MS-A1720, St. Paul, MN 55104.
Format: All submissions should be double-spaced, including references
and any other materials. Please send one copy of your submission with
the title noted at the top of the page. The title of the manuscript,
name(s) of author(s), academic title(s), institutional affiliation(s),
and address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the author(s)
should all be included on a cover sheet separate from the manuscript.
If you are a student or if you are submitting work on behalf of a
student, please include age, grade level, and school name.
If you are submitting your work via postal mail, we ask that
authors send the full text of the submission on a 3-and-one-half-inch
High Density PC-compatible computer disk in any common word-processing
program. If you wish the manuscript or other materials to be returned
after consideration and publication, please also send a stamped and
addressed return envelope large enough for that purpose.
Please address questions to Paul C. Gorski at pgorski01@gw.hamline.edu.
The summer issue of Field Notes
offers a chance for teachers to write about their work in a personal
way. The topic teaching from
the heart is open to interpretation. Write about your most
heartening classroom stories, your heartbreaks and heart-healing tales
about teaching. Write about a book you've used that has plenty of
heart, or even has heart in
the title. Submit a lesson about Valentine's Day. Or even send in a
lesson plan on keeping the heart healthy, in more ways than one.
We welcome book reviews, movie reviews (500-700 words), personal
stories (c.1000 words or less), lesson plans, heart-filled photos
(with captions), an ESOL lesson on idioms related to the heart, or
other ideas you may have. Deadline
for submission is April 15. Go to http://www.sabes.org
for complete
submission guidelines, found under the Field Notes click. To talk to a
real person about real ideas, call Lenore Balliro, editor, at
617-482-9485, or email her at lballiro@worlded.org.
New Literacy Journal
The first issue of the Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal,
co-published by the Commission on Adult Basic Education (COABE) and
ProLiteracy America, was launched in March.
The journal’s predecessor, Adult Basic Education, was started by COABE
in 1977. The new journal will continue to carry research articles that
are peer reviewed using a double blind protocol that conceals reviewers’
identities from authors, and vice versa.
The journal will also include the following shorter features written
especially for practitioners:
• Practitioner Perspective offers first-person narratives
by people who’ve solved problems that instructors or program directors
often encounter. The emphasis is on learnings that can be used by other
practitioners.
• Web Scan, edited by David Rosen, offers a roundup of the
most useful instructional and management resources found on the
Internet.
• Research Digest, edited by Cristine Smith, offers a quick
recap of published and ongoing research projects around the country,
with contact information so interested readers can find out more.
• Resource Reviews, edited by Daphne Greenberg, help
practitioners and researchers stay abreast of the latest offerings from
educational publishers.
• Occasional essays, called Viewpoint, that analyze trends
and forces at work in the field. The March issue carries an essay on
health literacy by Rima Rudd. The July issue will carry an essay on the
national research agenda by John Comings.
The journal is published three times per year. To subscribe, or to view
author guidelines, visit http://www.coabe.org. For more information,
send an e-mail to journaleditor@literacyprogram.org.
Daphne Greenberg,
Georgia State University
learning
opportunities
Research Says! Family Literacy
Practitioner On-Line Training Course Offered Free of Charge
The Volunteer Florida Foundation, in partnership with the Florida
Department of Education, Division of Community Colleges and Workforce
Development, has launched Research Says!, a 12 hour, professional
development training on-line course. “Research Says!” is a
virtual classroom designed to teach family literacy practitioners how
to use a book as a bridge to existing curriculum. The course will be
offered free
of charge through June 30, 2007. Please visit http://www.flafamilyliteracy.org/
and click on the “Research Says!” link to register, and learn
more.
2007 Parent Workshop Series Brochure
- (for full schedule, please contact lrri@brown.edu)
Entrance to all workshops is $5.
Workshops will take place at the CVS-Highlander Charter School in
Providence on designated evenings from 7 - 9 PM.
The program includes 13 workshops for parents, including:
Understanding Learning Styles, Organized for Learning, Orton-Gillingham
for Parents, Transitions
to Higher Education, The Journey of Parenting: Connections to the
Evolving Brains of Children
Ages 4 - 14, Self-Esteem, Quirky Kids, Understanding the Impact of
Early Reflexes on Sensory and
Academic Development., Parenting a Child with Learning
Differences, Homework, Using
Evaluation Data to Advocate for Your Child, Cultivating
Collaborations: Creating a Team to
Support Your Child Attention
Pre-registration is required. Seating is limited.
Feel free to contact me with any questions. - Cathy Sanford,
Director, Hasbro Center for Teaching Excellence c/o The Dunn Institute
for Learning Differences 401-831-7323
Providence Public
Library events
- http://www.provlib.org/branchout/current.html
funding
opportunities - large and less large
Grants to Support Job
Skills & Education for Disadvantaged Youth -Staples
Foundation for Learning Grants provide funding to programs that support
or provide job skills and/or education for all people, with a special
emphasis on disadvantaged youth. Maximum Award: varies. Eligibility:
501(c)3 organizations.
Deadline: April 6.
http://www.staplesfoundation.org/foundapplication.html
Funding
opportunities from PEN Weekly
NewsBlast, (from Pen Weekly Newsblast; To view
past issues of the PEN Weekly NewsBlast, visit: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_past.asp
Grants for Community
Improvement Programs - Hamburger Helper is looking to lend a
helping hand to neighborhoods nationwide with its "My Hometown Helper"
grant program. Individuals from communities and organizations across
America can submit a written essay of 250 words or less describing how
the "My Hometown Helper" grant would help improve their community
project. Maximum Award: $15,000. Eligibility: Requests for funding must
be sponsored by a municipal or civic organization or public school. Deadline: May 31, 2007. http://www.myhometownhelper.com/
Hasbro Children Foundation grants to support the development and/or
expansion of programs for children. Maximum Award: $500-$35,000.
Eligibility: Programs must provide direct services to children under
age 13. They must serve children and families who are economically
disadvantaged. They must be innovative and provide a model from
whichothers can learn.
Deadline: N/A. http://www.hasbro.org
UPS Foundation Education Grants fund
high impact philanthropic programs
that raise the level of educational instruction, family learning
opportunities, and school involvement projects. Maximum Award: varies.
Eligibility: 501(c)(3) organizations. http://www.community.ups.com/philanthropy/grant.html
- other grants from the Public Education Network: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
- The federal government's new one stop grant site:
http://www.grants.gov/
The Poverty & Race Research Action
Council
(PRRAC) announces another round of education reform grants in areas of
social science research. PRACC is particularly interested in
issues
such as high classroom turnover/mobility and its disproportionate
impact
on low-income, minority, and farm worker students. However, other
issues will be considered as well. To apply, send PRRAC a
proposal
outlining the planned research and methodology, the advocacy work it is
designed to support, a budget, timeline, and qualifications of the
researchers.
Maximum grant: $10,000. No application deadline. http://www.prrac.org/grants.php
Funding Solutions for Small Nonprofit
Organizations
A collection of resources to help small nonprofit organizations
fundraise
including ways to motivate your board, sample fundraising letters,
phonathon
advice, and tips to improve your direct mail solicitation. http://www.nonprofit-innovations.com/
employment
opportunities
Employment
opportunity: English for Action seeks a passionate, energetic and
creative full-time executive director to provide leadership to the
organization as it seeks to increase sustainability and community
impact. Full description: http://www.idealist.org/en/job/211090-138
Substitute
teaching: The
Genesis Center is interested in adding to its substitute list. If you
are an ESOL instructor who is interested in occasional work as a
substitute, either day, evening or Saturday hours, please call Nancy
Fritz or Pat Clarkin at 781-6110.
Jobs in Literacy –
nation wide postings on the National Institute for
Literacy’s LINCS site: http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/lincs/jobs/jobs.cgi
Substitute list:
if
you would like your name added to the general
list,
please see contact LR/RI. The list needs to be updated so that it
can function more usefully for teachers and programs hoping to work
with
them. (http://www.brown.edu/lrri/sub.html)
Rhode Island Community Jobs (RICOMJOB) is a
public
e-mail announcement
list that seeks to raise the profile of meaningful work in Rhode Island
by helping non-profit and public interest employers publicize openings
effectively. Anyone seeking a job that makes a difference in Rhode
Island
can join the list. Any non-profit, government or private sector
employer
advertising a paid position related to the public interest or community
concerns can post a free job listing. Positions must be paid but
may be part-time, full-time or temporary.
To join the list as a job seeker or to post a job as an
employer go
to: http://www.ricommunityjobs.org
Rhode Island Community Jobs is supported by the Swearer
Center
for Public
Service at Brown University and the Rhode Island Campus Compact.
If you have questions about this service, please contact us at
ricomjob@brown.edu
online
/ resources available
Ed.D.s for the Real World - Thinking
of getting a doctorate? The Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching, in Stanford, CA, heads a group of
postsecondary institutions revamping Doctor of Education degree
programs. The foundation has invested $200,000 in the 3-year
project. The network is tackling what course work best reflects
job-related issues and whether mastery should be demonstrated by
dissertation—or something else. Members already beginning
modifications include Vanderbilt University, the Universities of
Southern California, and Maryland.
http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/news/sub.asp?key=51&subkey=2266
From David Rosen:
In March of this year, I posted some questions here about nourishing
creativity and innovation: If you are a teacher, does your program or
school nourish creativityand innovation? If so, how does this happen?
If you are a professional developer, how do your
professionaldevelopment efforts nourish creativity and innovation? Does
your state ABE system nourish these? If so, how? How do _you_ nourish
creativity and innovation in your work and inthe work of your
colleagues?
You will find at
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Creativity_and_Innovation a list
of possible sources – and examples – of teacher creativity and
innovation in adult literacy education.
What other sources and examples are you aware of? To contribute your
ideas of sources or examples, reply to this message on the Professional
Development discussion list and/or add them to the above wiki page.
and
In November, 2006 I began a discussion here about how to attract or
recruit low-literate adults to adult literacy programs.
That discussion is archived on the Adult Literacy
Education Wiki at
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Recruiting_Low-literate_Adults
In April, 2007, I made a presentation to Adult Literacy (program)
Organizers in Ireland, sponsored by the National Adult Literacy Agency,
on how to recruit and serve hard-to-reach, low-literate
adults. The presentation is also now archived on the Adult
Literacy Education Wiki at
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/
Recruiting_and_Serving_Hard_to_Reach_Adults
If the above long Web address breaks into two lines, cut and
paste both into your browser. Or you could just select: http://tinyurl.com/29b5o9
-and -
The discussion of the "What Works for Adult ESL Students" study,
recently held on the Special Topics discussion list, is now
archived on the Adult Literacy Education ALE) Wiki at
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/What_Works_for_Adult_ESL_Students
- David J. Rosen, National Institute for Literacy Special Topics
Discussion List Moderator djrosen@comcast.net
online discussion: Going
the Distance: Online and Blended Models of Sustained Professional
Development
on The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List, May 7 –
21.
To participate, subscribe: http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment
Guest Participants (Biographies): http://tinyurl.com/yrtktz Preparation
for Discussion: http://tinyurl.com/242bpg This is a two-part
discussion.
Part I is a discussion primer and begins before the guest discussion.
Part II is the online discussion with Guest Participants. Join the
Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List to explore
development, design, and facilitation considerations and implications
with online and blended models of professional development. Subscribers
will have the opportunity to view a Pod cast of the face-to-face panel
discussion at the AALPD PreConference at COABE, interact with panelists
and additional guests online, and plan next steps.
Part I: Discussion Primer - What's Available in Online Professional
Development?
Join the list to share your state or organization’s initiatives in
providing online professional development, or to learn what is
available to you in online professional development, any costs
involved, whether credits (CEUs) are available, and more. Part II:
Guest Discussion - Going the Distance: Online and Blended Models of
Sustained Professional Development
Join the list to participate in a guest discussion of online and
blended professional development and professional
development-at-a-distance. for more information: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/date.html
from PEN weekly Newsblast,
May 4/2007 Learning to write successful mini-grant proposals
can lead to major grants - Think of a mini-grant as any grant
under $5,000, but you can use your own definition. The important thing
to understand is that many, many corporations and foundations have
mini-grant programs. Visiting the websites of corporations and
foundations in your city, county, and state, before researching grants
opportunities elsewhere, will alert you to the funding opportunities
that are out there for the asking. Now all you have to do is write the
grant flawlessly, writes fundraising guru, Stan Levenson, in the
current issue of Campus Technology. Regardless of the size of the grant
opportunity, there are six basic components to any grant application --
including the mini-grant. According to Levenson, no application should
be without:
(1) An assessment of how your efforts will meet an important unmet
need;
(2) Well-articulated goals and benchmarks for success;
(3) Clear program and process objectives;
(4) Detailed methods and activities to be funded by the grant;
(5) Specific evaluation framework; and
(6) A detailed and credible budget. http://campustechnology.com/articles/47746/
How many students really graduate from America’s High Schools? - Understanding High
School Graduation Rates, a new publication from the Alliance for
Excellent Education, illustrates the discrepancies in graduation rates
reported by government and independent sources, examines why this is
important, and explains how certain federal policies have contributed
to the graduation rate confusion. “Misleading graduation rate
calculations, inadequate systems to track students throughout their
education, and lack of accountability by the school are undermining
efforts to understand and increase the nation’s graduation rate,” says
Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former
governor of West Virginia. The new report compares graduation
rates reported by the states and the U.S. Department of Education to
those reported by independent researchers. While the average difference
between state and independent sources is about 13 percent, the gap
ranges from a low of 4 percent to a high of 32 percent. Additionally,
the report c! onsiders the costs of the dropout crisis and identifies
three core areas that are fundamental to calculating, reporting, and
improving accurate graduation rates: (1) The need for all states to use
the same accurate graduation rate calculations; (2) The need for a
state data system that tracks individual student data from the time
students enter the educational system until they leave it; and (3) The
need for federal policy that meaningfully holds high schools
accountable for improving student achievement on test scores and
increasing graduation rates so that low-performing students are not
unnecessarily held back or encouraged to leave school without a
diploma.
http://www.all4ed.org/publications/wcwc/index.html
Journal of Online Mathematics and its Applications offers
articles, learning modules, "mathlets" (single-purpose learning tools),
reviews of online resources, and a developers' area. Search
contents of the journal by type of
resource (e.g., article), by subject (e.g., number concepts, data
presentation, plane geometry), or both. The journal makes
extensive use of graphics, animations, video clips, and other
media. Articles and other materials are peer reviewed.
(Mathematical Association of America, National ScienceFoundation)
http://free.ed.gov/resource.cfm?resource_id=1875
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announces that
the The U.S. Civics and Citizenship Online: Resource Center for
Instructors is available online at: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=b36e663784bcd010VgnVCM100000d1f1d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=b36e663784bcd010VgnVCM100000d1f1d6a1RCRD
The Verizon Foundation recently announced a $31 million
investment to provide free online educational resources to teachers,
students and community organizations through Thinkfinity.org
<http://thinkfinity.org/> , Verizon's comprehensive online portal
to 50,000 standards- based, K-12 lesson plans, resources for adult and
family literacy providers, and other educational resources. Read more
at http://www.pr-inside.com/verizon-foundation-announces-31-million-r77817.htm
This resource, provided at not cost to the public, is written and
produce by some of the nation's leading educational organizations, such
as the National Center for Family Literacy, ProLiteracy Worldwide,
National Geographic Xpeditions, ArtsEdge, EconEdLink, EdSitement,
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Read-Write-Think, Science
NetLinks, and more. The $31 million commitment, which will be
distributed over three years, will allow leading educational
organizations to continue to produce and expand the number of
interactives and other educational resources available at http://www.thinkfinity.org/.
Resources from EdChange family of Web
sites:
A new Classism and Poverty Awareness Quiz http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/quizzes.html
;
Newly designed
Social Justice News Service site http://mail.socialjusticenews.net/mailman/listinfo/news_socialjusticenews.net-
email-based news service, periodic email digests of links to articles
related to equity, social justice, and multiculturalism from sources
all over the world.
New essays and links to essays http://www.edchange.org/publications.html
New essays in the Multicultural Education Research Room http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers.html
CAELA's newest online
resource collection,Working with
Literacy-Level Adult English
Language Learners. is now available at http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/collections/literacy.html
The collection includes links and annotations to many resources related
to working with adult English language learners, who have had limited
access to formal education. - Lynda Terrill, Center for Adult English
Language Acquisition, Center for Applied Linguistics, 4646 40th St, NW,
Washington, DC 20016 lterrill@cal.org
As referenced during
the December Leadership Institute, please be advised that all services
on WordChamp are being made
available to RIDE funded programs for the 2006-2007 program year.
The program is designed to provide support to classroom language
learning and can also function as an independent study tool for
students at high intermediate to fairly advanced levels. With
guidance, this could also be a useful tool for more basic level
learners. Find out more at http://www.wordchamp.com.
(Please note that this is not an endorsement of the site, but is being
disseminated for information purposes only).
from Daphne
Greenberg: The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities on December 13, 2006. This was a tremendous
achievement for all who had worked over the past 5 years and even
before that, to put disability on the human rights agenda.
It is expected that the U.S. disability movement will campaign for the
United States to sign and ratify the Convention. While the U.S.
had announced at the beginning of the process that they would never
sign, this appears to have changed and they are considering a
signature. See the Convention in its final form at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/convtexte.htm
Reflect 6, the magazine of the UK’s
National Research and Development Centre is now on-line.
http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=71
Articles of interest address numeracy, ESOL, work force learning and
practitioner-research.
from Thursday notes, April
12/07
Secretary Holds Higher Ed Summit
Secretary Spellings continued the national dialogue on higher education
by convening leaders and stakeholders from across the U.S. for a summit
here March 22. A Test of Leadership: Committing to Advance
Postsecondary Education for All Americans focused on action items to
advance five recommendations to improve college access, affordability,
and accountability. State Director representatives from Rhode
Island and Kentucky were among participants who discussed action steps
to align K-12 and higher education expectations; increase need-based
aid for access and success; use accreditation to support and emphasize
student-learning outcomes; serve adults and other non-traditional
students; and enhance affordability, decreasing costs, and promoting
productivity. http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/03/03222007.html
OVAE Selects Six Standards-in-
Action States Congratulations to LA, MD, MA, OK, RI, and TX,
the six states OVAE recently selected for Standards in Action, a
project designed to turn adult education standards into curriculum and
instruction. The states will test new professional development
activities and resources to build teachers’ understanding of standards
and how to translate them into curriculum and instruction.
Materials will be available nationally at the end of the 3-year
project. Applications will be taken next spring for a second
pilot to engage more states in testing training materials to assess
implementation of standards. http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/sectech/factsheet/support.html
CT Targets Young Learners
in Adult Ed CT's Department of Education is implementing a new
State grant to help young adults persist and succeed in adult education
programs. The young adult learner initiative incorporates
enhanced academic programs, comprehensive support services, and
workforce preparation in a model targeting 16-21 year-old learners who
recently left the K-12 system. Nine new grants helped create
unique methods of educating young adults entering adult education this
year. State officials are seeking continued State support for
fiscal year 2008. For more information, contact
paul.flinter@ct.gov
GED Fast-Tracked On
Missouri's DVD MO’s Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education just developed a 15-hour GED Fast-Track DVD course by
investing WIA incentive grant funds awarded for 2005 performance
data. Materials focus on the problem areas in GED’s five major
academic topics—as well as on how to prepare for the test. The
course also offers a compendium of other tools such as a CD and student
workbook. The State plans regional meetings over the coming
months to train representatives of all adult education programs to use
the materials. Request a free copy from MO’s Ron Jewell at
ron.jewell@dese.mo.gov
from Thursday notes, April
18/07:
Learn How To Build
Statewide P-20 Systems If building a “seamless system” from
pre-school to graduate school (P-20) is your State’s goal, Governing
Change: Considerations for Education Policymakers from MA’s
Rennie Center may help. Governing Change describes four States’
efforts to build P-20 systems—including specific policies that needed
to be changed and how States addressed them. Each State’s Key
Lesson is identified to help others avoid pitfalls. States having
one Board and Commissioner for P-20 include New York, Florida, Montana,
and Idaho, according to the report. States with legislated P-16
(or 20) councils providing separate boards for each sector are Georgia,
Maryland, Indiana, and Kentucky. The report identifies Oregon as
the only State using voluntary councils for each sector, and lists 20
States (including its own) that currently do not have P-20 governance
initiatives. Download at http://www.renniecenter.org/research_docs/RennieCenter-GoverningChange.pdf
Radical Math is a resource for
educators interested in integrating issues of social, political, and
economic justice into math curriculum and classes… RadicalMath.org has
the goals of raising mathematic literacy and simultaneously developing
ways to address a range of community issues. The website supports
educators to teach many different types of math within the context of
studying social, political, and economic justice issues.
RadicalMath.org also contains teaching materials on important financial
topics for youth such as owning a credit card, paying for college, and
avoiding subprime lenders, as well as materials on Ethnomathematics.
Visit http://www.radicalmath.org/
for more or email info@radicalmath.org
Google
Scholar enables searches for
scholarly
literature, including
peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical
reports from broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find
articles
from a variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint
repositories and universities, as well as articles available across the
web. Google Scholar orders search results by how relevant they
are
to your query, so the most useful references should appear at the top
of
the page. This relevance ranking takes into account the full text of
each
article as well as the article's author, the publication in which the
article
appeared and how often it has
been cited in scholarly literature. Google Scholar automatically
analyzes
and extracts citations and presents them as separate results, even if
the
documents they refer to are not online. This means your search results
may include citations of older works and seminal articles that
appear only in books or other offline publications. http://scholar.google.com/
Living in Poverty slideshow does
the
math: what
does it take to live at the poverty level.
http://www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour2.htm
RI Foundation online scholarship
directory - searchable by city/town,
intended field of study, current high school, and more. http://scholarship.rifoundation.org/
YouthBuild USA Learning Network has
links to Web sites and
full-text
documents, and includes a section on "Authentic Materials/Engaged
Learning/Constructivism/Contextual Learning/Project-based Learning." http://www.youthbuild.org/learningnetwork/professionaldev.html
Providence Community Resource Network
(PCRN) http://www.provplan.org/pcrn
Spanish language version of PCRN is up and running.
You
can access the site from the PCRN home page, http://www.provplan.org/pcrn,
or go to http://www.provplan.org/pcrnespa.
The Web pages, online instructions, and the content of the database
have
all been translated.
conferences
and workshops - conferences and workshops
are
listed chronologically and are updated with each bulletin
Rhode Island - Training/events around
employment issues
for people with disabilities http://www.ric.edu/uap/training.html
5th biennial National
Adult Learner
Leadership Institute, July 5-7, Hartford, CT.
Come meet and network with adult learner leaders and supporters from
around the country; take part in leadership training workshops; and
discuss what is going on in adult literacy nationally.
Come early and spend Independence Day in Hartford!
Register online or send in the form by regular mail.
http://www.valueusa.org/2007LeadershipInstitute.htm
How Community Colleges Contribute to Equity
in Education and the Workforce (ETS-sponsored) May 21- May 22,
2007 Princeton, New Jersey
Community colleges enroll almost half of the undergraduate students in
America’s colleges and universities, and they are the postsecondary
institutions of choice for a higher proportion of minority, immigrant,
low-income, and first-generation students. For these students, the
colleges serve as portals for entry to the workplace or to
baccalaureate degree programs. Because community colleges are open
admissions institutions that serve students who are highly diverse in
age, race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status, they tend to be
flexible and prepared to support students at all levels to succeed. As
with all colleges and universities, students arrive with varied
experiences and learning styles; many of them have either struggled in
high school or have logged many years out of school before enrolling in
a community college.
The symposium will focus on research devoted to addressing the
challenges and opportunities offered by community colleges. Scholars
and practitioners will discuss the latest data, analyses, and
innovative ideas for policies and practices for community colleges as
they seek to close achievement gaps. Among the topics planned for the
conference are: Historical Perspectives on Community Colleges and
Achievement Gaps, Enrollments and Attendance Patterns at Community
Colleges, Closing Gaps in Mathematics, Literacy, English as a Second
Language, How Do Two-Year Minority-Serving Institutions Fare in Closing
Gaps? Community Colleges Preparing Students for the Workforce, Barriers
to Transfer and Retention, Placement, Remediation Approaches,
Defending the Community College Equity Agenda Participants may include
community college leaders, faculty, administrators, researchers from
various institutions, the general public, and representatives of
community college organizations.
To learn more:
http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.c988ba0e5dd572bada20bc47c3921509/?vgnextoid=1c10a7f45d410110VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel=19e5be3a864f4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD
REGISTER FOR SCALE'S 2007 READ.WRITE.ACT.
CONFERENCE! OCTOBER 26 - 27.
SCALE seeks proposals for workshop sessions at the 2007 Conference.
Conference attendees are college students, faculty, adult learners,
administrators, and community partners; please think about this diverse
audience as you plan your workshop. Proposals due by 5pm on June 29.
http://readwriteact.org/rwa/rwaconference.html
Join us for two days
of workshops on Effective Transitions
in Adult Education, November 8-9, 2007 in Providence, RI.
Our keynote speaker, Dr. JoAnn Crandall, will kick off the event with a
discussion of transition for English language learners. For more
details, http://www.collegetransition.org/novconference.html
Cynthia Zafft, Director, National College Transition Network at World
Education nctn@worlded.org
other events and
conferences http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar_world.cgi
TESOL worldwide calendar of events http://www.tesol.org/isaffil/calendar/index.html
from previous bulletins: REMINDERS,
RESOURCES:
SABES Resource Lists Available.
From Carey
Reid [full message here]:
As you might know, Massachusetts now has a rigorous, stand-alone ABE
teacher's license. SABES, the System for Adult Basic Education
Support,
is a state-wide staff development system funded by MassDOE.
Ö[S]months ago I asked if NLA subscribers were interested in
helping
SABES build resource lists, by standard, in support of teachers seeking
the new license here in Massachusetts. Many of you helped out,
thank
you, and we've also worked with small groups of people locally to build
these 29 lists, now with over 150 resources--books, articles, websites,
and videos. The lists are now available on SABES's license
support website at http://www.sabes.org/license.
You can get quickly to the lists by clicking on the "new resources
added"
link under What's New, or at any time by using the resources link on
the
bottom of every webpage. When you arrive at the chart listing the
29 standards, click on any standard to go to the resource list we've
compiled
for it. The lists are annotated; with the annotations,
teachers
who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in respect to a
particular
standard can be more assured they're getting the resource they want or
need. If the resource can be viewed or downloaded on the Net,
we've
provided a link.
Additionally, we want to improve these lists, so please
email me
if you'd like to suggest additions or changes. BTW, the full list
of resources is also collected in a ProCite bibliography file, so if
you
use that software and would like to have your own "instant" database,
let
me know and I'll email you the file. As stated earlier, SABES is funded
by the Massachusetts Department of Education. To avoid confusion,
the website is not an official DOE site but rather one of SABES's means
of supporting license-seeking teachers in our state. Links to
Massachusetts
DOE webpages, however, are provided on the site.
breathe - everyday yoga at your desk. http://www.mydailyyoga.com/yoga/everyday_yoga.html
what do you think? LR/RI has had an online survey
on its
site
forever. Previously, those who may have come across the survey
were
asked to copy and paste it into an email message, or to print it and
complete
it. Thanks to the brilliant technical support and inservice
learning
provided by Brown University, the survey can now be completed on
line.
I'd be grateful if you could please take the time to complete it.
While occasional word comes back about the work LR/RI has done, this
survey
attempts to be somewhat more systematic in considering the work that's
done and the work that needs to be accomplished. Please complete
the survey at http://www.brown.edu/lrri
- scroll
down and click on the link to the survey. If you lack web access
and wish to complete the survey, please contact LR/RI to receive one
via
snail mail or fax.
please
submit
Please contact LR/RI if you have information, questions or
announcements
to share with adult educators in Rhode Island. Bulletins go out at
least
twice a month; more frequently when there's more to share. To
submit
information for the next bulletin, please contact LR/RI by phone
(401-863-2839),
mail (PO Box 1974, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912) or email.
back to LR/RI
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