<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(50,58,69)">February 10, 2024</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(50,58,69)">February
is National Black History Month</span></b><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(50,58,69)">The Past is Prologue Part 2: The
Intergenerational Transfer of Cognitive Skills (ITCS)<br>
</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">                                                                                                                                                                            
</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(50,58,69)">Tom Sticht,
International Consultant in Adult Education (Ret.)</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(50,58,69)">Three African American colleagues with whom I
have worked have long addressed issues concerning the transfer of literacy and
other cognitive skills from parents to their children, and in some cases vice
versa.  In April of 1988 I chaired a Conference on the Intergenerational
Transfer of Cognitive Skills (ITCS) in San Diego, California where each of these
colleagues discussed the role of family influences on the development of cognitive
skills. Each of these presenters had considerable experience with educational
research and development in both white and black communities and offered ideas
for improving both parental and children’s educational achievements. </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(50,58,69)">Dr.
Diane Scott-Jones, Families and Cognitive Development                                                                                                                        
                 </span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> At the 1988
conference on the ITCS, Scott-Jones reviewed programs aimed at improving  economic and educational outcomes for poor
minority children, families, and communities. She concluded that while these
programs had had some positive outcomes, “In the future, more  attention must be given to family and
community control of programs; to delivery systems that do not segregate and
stigmatize poor and minority children and families, to service delivery,
monitoring, and evaluation that emphasize family processes over the lifespan;
and to policies for the well-being of all children, families, and communities.”</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She went on to
further these recommendations with work at the National Science Foundation
where she started a grants program in child learning and development,  </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(50,58,69)">She served on the American Psychology Association’s Task Force
to revise its Ethical Principles for Research with Human Participants and on
former President Clinton’s National Bioethics Advisory Commission.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(50,58,69)">Dr.
Diana T. Slaughter-Defoe, Home-School Relations                                                                </span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:rgb(50,58,69)">Slaughter-Defoe (later Slaughter Kotzin) brought to the 1988
ITCS conference her expertise in human development</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> focused on black and white families and the
discrepancy between how research in the early 1960s and 1970s had focused on
creating policies to improve educational achievements of children while more
recent R & D was not as clearly policy oriented.  She concluded, “The hard-won, virtually
conventional wisdom of the past about the important interface between research
in human development and social and educational policy are only infrequently
addressed in the more recent research efforts.”</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Slaughter-Defoe continued work on families and
educational policy at</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black"> Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research Studies
and department of African American studies</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">.</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In 2012 she was
elected to the National Academy of Education and in 2019, the American
Psychological Association designated her a “pioneer woman of color among the
first to break into psychology’s ranks.”</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Dr.
Warren Simmons, Developing Programs for the ITCS                                                          </span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At the 1988 ITCS conference Simmons discussed issues in the
development of educational delivery systems to improve education of underserved
students. He had recently published a book chapter concerned with the uses of
computer technology and how this differed in white and minority schools. Simmons
went on to serve in several research, development  and policy positions carrying out activities
to advance educational opportunities for disadvantaged students. </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In 1998 Simmons became Executive Director of the
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University to improve schools
serving economically disadvantaged students, including the use of computer
technology. With his educational technology background in 2006 he was invited
by PLATO Learning, Inc.  to join its
Board of Directors to help advance the use of digital technologies in education.
For his many educational services he was awarded the Distinguished Citizen’s
Award by the National Governors Association.  </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">And
the Past is Prologue</span></b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Shortly following the ITCS conference with its
focus on family literacy by Scott-Jones and Slaughter-Defoe  and others, the national Even Start program
for the development of family literacy was initiated by the U. S. Congress in
1991. Then in 1998 the U.S. Congress created the Workforce Investment Act with Title
II the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act which was carried over into the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014 which is still ongoing.
</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The U.S. Congressionally initiated Museum and
Library Services Act of 2010 incorporated instructions for the provision of
services  and resources for the
development of computer technology skills 
(referred to as <i>digital literacy</i>)
addressed by Simmons at the 1988 ITCS conference. The presently ongoing WIOA
supports education for digital literacy defined as “the skills associated with
using technology to enable users to find, evaluate, organize, create, and
communicate information”.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Reference </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chapters by these three Black History Month honorees
can be found in:  Sticht, T., Beeler, M.,
&  McDonald, B., (Eds.). The
Intergenerational Transfer of Cognitive Skills: Volumes I & II: Ablex
Publishing Corporation, Norwood New Jersey</span></p></div>