<div dir="ltr"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">tgsticht</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:tgsticht@gmail.com">tgsticht@gmail.com</a>></span><br>Date: Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 2:42 PM<br>Subject: Re: September Adult Literacy Highlights<br>To: AAACE-NLA <<a href="mailto:aaace-nla@googlegroups.com">aaace-nla@googlegroups.com</a>><br></div><br><br><div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">9/16/2024</span></div><div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></span></div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Remembering Ruth Colvin (Dec. 16, 2016-Aug. 18, 2024)</span><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Literacy (Ret.)</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Ruth Colvin passed away on August 18, 2024, at 107 years of age! She began her adult literacy work in 1961 when she began a project which became Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA). She directed LVA into a national organization with over 400 affiliates and thousands of tutors offering one-on-one tutoring and small group instruction in literacy for both native born and immigrant adults. </span></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></span></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">In 2002, I got a Christmas card from Ruth noting that LVA had merged with Laubach Literacy to form the world’s largest adult literacy education organization, ProLiteracy Worldwide. In 2012 ProLiteracy moved into new headquarters in Syracuse, New York, and I was invited to present two inaugural workshops on adult literacy education.To my surprise, and great honor, Ruth attended both these workshops. </span></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></span></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Having worked for adult literacy education in numerous nations, Ruth continued her adult literacy work into her 11th decade of life. She received the Medal of Freedom from the President of the United States, the Presidential Medal of Volunteer Action, nine honorary doctorate degrees,and the gratitude of thousands of adult literacy learners throughout the world!</span></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></span></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">The Proliteracy organization provides a web page where you can learn more about Ruth Colvin and her many contributions to Adult Education and Family Literacy. Online at: </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="https://www.proliteracy.org/news/in-remembrance-of-ruth-j-colvin-1916-2024/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">https://www.proliteracy.org/news/in-remembrance-of-ruth-j-colvin-1916-2024/</a></span><br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">###</span></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="auto" class="gmail_attr">On Monday, September 9, 2024 at 2:42:11 PM UTC-7 tgsticht wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><br><div>Greetings all! I'm pleased to note that the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame Newsletter for September 2024 was published today and includes a copy of the September Adult Literacy Highlights. The newsletter goes out to members of the IACEHOF in a number of nations. You can read a copy of the newsletter online at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://halloffame.outreach.ou.edu/Portals/1415/Assets/Documents/newsletters/HOF%20Sept%202024%20Final.pdf?ver=NcMlW9DZZiuztlN87ZYN2A%3d%3d" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://halloffame.outreach.ou.edu/Portals/1415/Assets/Documents/newsletters/HOF%20Sept%202024%20Final.pdf?ver=NcMlW9DZZiuztlN87ZYN2A%3d%3d</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>And thanks to all of you for your birthday wishes for me you have posted here or sent directly to me. I'm deeply touched by all these well wishes!</div><div><br></div><div>Tom Sticht</div><div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="auto" class="gmail_attr">On Sunday, September 8, 2024 at 6:08:55 AM UTC-7 <a rel="nofollow">djros...@gmail.com</a> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Sans Serif">Thanks, Sharon for re-posting part of Tom Sticht's recent message here as a COABE International Literacy Day message. As you and others here may know, Tom's international work over the years on behalf of UNESCO is as impressive as his domestic research. </span></font></div><div><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Sans Serif"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Sans Serif">Tom, thanks for this post, and your many informative posts here. I especially appreciate that this message reminds us that our field needs to address a wide range of adult learner education needs to help them in their roles as worker, parent </span><span style="font-family:Sans Serif">
<span>(e.g. providing knowledge and skills needed to prepare pre-school children to enter school, help them achieve in school, encourage them
to stay in school, and increase their opportunities to enroll in higher
education)</span></span><span style="font-family:Sans Serif">, community member, healthy adult and patient (and parent of healthy children as patients), as well as to provide a wide range of adult (foundational) education program services that include help to address social exclusion and increase social justice by providing adult learners with advocacy and political action skills. </span></font></div><div><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Sans Serif"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Sans Serif">Along with Sharon, I would like to wish you a happy 88th birthday!</span></font></div><div><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Sans Serif"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Sans Serif">David J. Rosen, founder and Moderator</span></font></div><div><font size="4"><span style="font-family:Sans Serif">National Literacy Advocacy (NLA) group, now in its fourth decade</span></font><br></div><div>======================================<br></div><div>From the COABE International Literacy Day post:<span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250);text-decoration:none"><span align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-height:1943px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:877px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)"><span><span><span align="center" valign="top" style="min-height:1943px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:877px;border-top:0px"><span border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse"><span><span><span align="center" valign="top" style="background:rgb(250,250,250) center center/cover no-repeat;border-top:0px;border-bottom:0px;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px"><span align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;max-width:600px;width:600px"><span><span><span valign="top"><span border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><span><span><span valign="top" style="padding-top:9px"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span align="center" valign="top" style="background:rgb(255,255,255) center center/cover no-repeat;border-top:0px;border-bottom:0px;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0px"><span align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;max-width:600px;width:600px"><span><span><span valign="top"><br><span border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><span><span><span valign="top" style="padding:9px"><br><span align="left" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;float:left;min-width:100%"><span><span><span valign="top" style="padding:0px 9px;text-align:center"><br><img align="middle" alt="" src="https://mcusercontent.com/84fcd2a6e9eb5844378433df6/images/8fb2b988-87e6-46a3-1050-b7304d23f0ce.jpg" width="564" style="border:0px;min-height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:bottom;max-width:1200px;padding-bottom:0px;display:inline"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;min-width:100%"><span><span><span valign="top" style="padding-top:9px"><br><span align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;float:left;max-width:100%;min-width:100%"><span><span><span valign="top" style="word-break:break-word;color:rgb(32,32,32);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-align:left;padding:0px 18px 9px"><br>Happy International Literacy Day!<br><br>In the United States, just over 82,000 devoted adult education teachers, state staff, and administrators continue to work tirelessly in a field of education that is generally marginalized among the education systems of the nation.<br><br>In honor of<span> </span><a href="https://coabe.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84fcd2a6e9eb5844378433df6&id=cb33d6b736&e=0a23394e5f" style="color:rgb(0,124,137);font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">#InternationalLiteracyDay</a>, we are proud to share components of an update that was sent out on a national listserve by famed researcher, Tom Sticht. The findings were highlighted by a 2023 UNESCO report which confirmed his decades long research that adult education truly breaks barriers and creates pathways to prosperity.<br><br><a href="https://coabe.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84fcd2a6e9eb5844378433df6&id=577ce00b1a&e=0a23394e5f" style="color:rgb(0,124,137);font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">UNESCO</a><span> </span>reports that adult education continues to:<br><br>1. Improve productivity at work, at home, and in the community leading to higher tax bases for communities, decreased violence at home and in the community, and greater participation in citizenship activities by a larger segment of the adult population.<br><br>2. Improve self-confidence and other psychological and physiological aspects of health of adults, including activities that will help the brain grow throughout adulthood and contribute to reduced medical costs for adults as they age.<br><br>3. Improve health of adult’s children due to learning in adult education programs leading to better prenatal and postnatal care, reductions in low birth rate infants, and better home medical care, thereby contributing to lowered medical costs for children and fewer learning problems in school.<br><br>4. Improve social justice from providing literacy education for marginalized populations to permit them to acquire skills and knowledge needed to take political action that allows them to achieve their civil rights and to overcome social exclusion and join in the mainstream of society.<br><br>5. Improve productivity in the schools by providing adults with the knowledge they need to better prepare their children to enter school, help them achieve in school, encourage them to stay in school and increase their opportunities to enroll in higher education, thus breaking intergenerational barriers.<br><br>These findings were first published in 1994 by famed researcher, Tom Sticht and confirmed in a recent UNESCO report.<br><br>On International Literacy Day we at<span> </span><a href="https://coabe.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84fcd2a6e9eb5844378433df6&id=76a948d72b&e=0a23394e5f" style="color:rgb(0,124,137);font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Coalition on Adult Basic Education</a><span> </span>express appreciation for and solidarity with the work of adult education teachers all around the world!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="auto" class="gmail_attr">On Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 2:10:49 PM UTC-4 tgsticht wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="border-left:none;padding:0px;display:flex;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:medium"><div style="margin:0px;min-width:0px;padding:0px 0px 20px;width:initial"><div style="direction:ltr;margin:8px 0px 0px;padding:0px;font-size:0.875rem;overflow-x:hidden"><div style="direction:initial;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:small;line-height:1.5;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;overflow:auto hidden"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">9/7/2024</span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A Message for September 8: International Literacy Day</span></b></p></div></div></div></div></div><div style="border-left:none;padding:0px;display:flex;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:medium"><div style="margin:0px;min-width:0px;padding:0px 0px 20px;width:initial"><div style="direction:ltr;margin:8px 0px 0px;padding:0px;font-size:0.875rem;overflow-x:hidden"><div style="direction:initial;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:small;line-height:1.5;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;overflow:auto hidden"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education (Ret.)</span></p></div></div></div></div></div><div style="border-left:none;padding:0px;display:flex;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:medium"><div style="margin:0px;min-width:0px;padding:0px 0px 20px;width:initial"><div style="direction:ltr;margin:8px 0px 0px;padding:0px;font-size:0.875rem;overflow-x:hidden"><div style="direction:initial;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:small;line-height:1.5;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;overflow:auto hidden"><div dir="ltr"><span style="line-height:normal;margin:10pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,"serif";font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-style:normal">UNESCO reports that since 1967, some 512 International Literacy Prizes have been awarded. Studying these awards I have observed two main important streams of effects produced by adult literacy programs around the world:</span></span><span style="line-height:normal;margin:10pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,"serif";font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">(1). Multiplier Effects in Adult Literacy Education. </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-style:normal">An examination of research reports and several hundred applications for UNESCO literacy prizes revealed that governments can expect multiple returns on investments in adult literacy education in at least five areas:</span><u><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-style:normal"></span></u></span><p style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times,"serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt;text-indent:0in">1. Improved productivity at work, at home, and in the community leading to higher tax bases for communities, decreased violence at home and in the community, and greater participation in citizenship activities by a larger segment of the adult population.</span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;text-indent:0in;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times,"serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">2. Improved self-confidence and other psychological and physiological aspects of health of adults, including activities that will help the brain grow throughout adulthood and contribute to reduced medical costs for adults as they age.</span></p><span style="line-height:normal;margin:10pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,"serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">3. Improved health of adult’s children due to learning in adult education programs leading to better prenatal and postnatal care, reductions in low birth rate infants, and better home medical care, thereby contributing to lowered medical costs for children and fewer learning problems in school.</span></span><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">4. Improved social justice from providing literacy education for marginalized populations to permit them to acquire skills and knowledge needed to take political action that allows them to achieve their civil rights and to overcome social exclusion and join in the mainstream of society.</span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">5. Improved productivity in the schools by providing adults with the knowledge they need to better prepare their children to enter school, help them achieve in school, encourage them to stay in school and increase their opportunities to enroll in higher education.</span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;text-indent:0.55pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Times,"serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">(2). Intergenerational effects of adult literacy. </span></i><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Item number 5 above is especially important because it reveals the effects that educating adults can have on the educational opportunities and achievements of children.<i> </i>This intergenerational effect of adult literacy education was discussed extensively three decades ago in 1994 at UNESCO’s World Symposium on Family Literacy during the United Nations Year of the Family (</span><span style="font-family:Arial,"sans-serif";background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Sticht, 1994).</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Over a quarter century later, in 2023, a UNESCO report confirmed the foregoing thoughts and states, “ Research evidence indicates a strong association between parents’ education levels and their children’s level of literacy acquisition. Different studies have therefore stressed the importance of intergenerational approaches to literacy learning …The desire to help their children with school readiness and schoolwork often motivates parents to (re)engage in learning themselves…” (Hanemann, 2023)</span></p><span style="line-height:normal;margin:10pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,"serif";color:rgb(127,127,127)"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:windowtext">Conclusion</span></span><span style="line-height:normal;margin:10pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,"serif";color:rgb(127,127,127)"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:windowtext">Through their efforts, thousands of devoted adult literacy teachers working in a field of education that is generally marginalized among the education systems of nations, adult literacy teachers have often worked under the most arduous circumstances, at times in fear of their very lives, to serve the earth’s disenfranchised, socially excluded, illiterate or marginally literate adults.</span></span><span style="line-height:normal;margin:10pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,"serif";color:rgb(127,127,127)"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:windowtext">On International Literacy Day governments and individuals express appreciation for and solidarity with the work of adult literacy teachers all around the world. And the work to bring literacy to close to three quarters of a billion adults continues.</span></span><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">References</span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hanemann, U. (2023). <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">UNESCO International Literacy Prizes 2023, Promoting literacy for a world in transition: building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies: analytical study</span></span>. online at <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000388129" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000388129</a>)</p><p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:Arial,"sans-serif";background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Sticht, T. (1994). Family Literacy: A World Movement. In: UNESCO: World Symposium on Family Literacy. Online at: </span><a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000125234/PDF/125234engo.pdf.multi" style="color:blue" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:Arial,"sans-serif";color:rgb(17,85,204);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000125234/PDF/125234engo.pdf.multi<br></span></a><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></p></div><div></div><div></div></div></div><div style="clear:both"></div></div><div style="clear:both"></div></div><div style="font-size:0.875rem;padding:0px;width:auto;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-top:none;margin:0px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><div style="border-top:0px;padding:0px"><div style="clear:both;margin:0px;padding:16px 0px;border-top:none"><br></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="auto" class="gmail_attr">On Tuesday, September 3, 2024 at 2:43:04 AM UTC-7 sharonmbonney wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you for assembling and sharing all of this, Tom! I have so appreciated your many contributions to our field over many decades.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And on a personal note, I hope you have a wonderful 88<sup>th</sup> birthday!
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#44546a">Sharon Bonney</span></b><span style="color:#44546a">
</span><b><span style="color:#ffc000">|</span></b><span style="color:#44546a"> Chief Executive Officer
</span><b><span style="color:#ffc000">|</span></b><span style="color:#44546a"> Coalition on Adult Basic Education<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#44546a">PO Box 14400 Bradenton, FL 34280
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From:
</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><a rel="nofollow">aaac...@googlegroups.com</a> <<a rel="nofollow">aaac...@googlegroups.com</a>> on behalf of tgsticht <<a rel="nofollow">tgst...@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Date: </b>Monday, September 2, 2024 at 12:23 PM<br>
<b>To: </b>AAACE-NLA <<a rel="nofollow">aaac...@googlegroups.com</a>><br>
<b>Subject: </b>September Adult Literacy Highlights<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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</div></div><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">9/2/2024<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">September Highlights Adult Learners and Educators</span></strong><u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education (Ret.)</span></strong><u></u><u></u></p>
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<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">With five major causes for celebrating adult learners and educators, I note that September kicks off a new academic year for adult literacy education across the Nation.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><strong><u><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">On September 3rd</span></u></strong><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> in the United States we celebrate Labor Day to honor the workers of the world. Adult educators
especially recognize those workers who have sought out help in raising their literacy skills to meet the needs of modern workplaces. Writing for the International Labor Organization (ILO), Barbee (1986) developed guidelines for developing and delivering literacy
programs for workers, including the recommendation that:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> “Literacy training should be built into vocational and technical skills training. Literacy and knowledge go together. Literacy cannot be taught without building on existing knowledge and it seems
reasonable to use job knowledge as the content of further literacy development for adults. The research in "functional context" and other competency-based and individualised training clearly bears this out. It seems likely that this would also hold true in
most societies. This would mean that in planning vocational and technical skills training programmes a literacy component should be built in using "functional context" principles (p.32).”<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Today, adult educators in the U.S. are following this guidance and helping thousands of labor force members increase their basic skills with support from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act, Title 2: The Adult Education and Family Literacy act which provides financial support for integrated vocational and basic skills education. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><strong><u><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">On September 8th</span></u></strong><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> the world celebrates International Literacy Day, the day the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awards literacy prizes to institutions, organizations, and individuals whose actions are dedicated to the struggle against adult illiteracy throughout the world.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Serving for 25 years as a member of UNESCO’s International Literacy Prize Jury that selected the winners of these literacy prizes I learned two important lessons: (1) adult literacy programs generally
produce multiplier effects, meaning that important outcomes beyond the learning of literacy are frequently forthcoming and (2) adult literacy programs often have intergenerational consequences, meaning that improving adult literacy, especially that of women,
increases the likelihood that children’s literacy and education will improve.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Regarding the intergenerational effect of adult literacy education, Rosa Maria Torres, a member of the UNESCO International Jury for Literacy Prizes observed that “To educate children, it is essential
to educate adults, not only (illiterate, poor) parents and caregivers (including teachers) but adults in general. Because it is adults and the adult society who make the critical decisions that affect children’s well-being and for the sake of children, for
the present and for future generations. … the children’s right to education should include the right to educated parents.”<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><strong><u><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">On September 10th </span></u></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">I celebrate
my 88th birthday and honor the numerous adult educators and learners I have had the opportunity to work with for some 55 years in over half a dozen nations around the world traveling over a half million miles to advocate for adult literacy education. See
Sticht (2018) for an overview of much of this work in adult education.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><strong><u><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">On September 11th</span></u></strong><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">, we honor those whose lives were ended in 2001 by the suicidal bombing by terrorists of
the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Seven months later, I was in New York to present a seminar at the Literacy Assistance Center (LAC), one of the premier adult literacy organizations in the nation, where I found adult educators struggling to move
forward (Sticht, 2017).<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Later, Jan Gallagher (2002) of the LAC wrote, "..at the Literacy Assistance Center (LAC) — located six blocks from what we still call Ground Zero — we continue to be affected by last year ’s terrorist
attacks and their aftermath in ways large and small. We cannot escape the fact that the adult education programs we serve — and, more to the point, the poor, working-class, and immigrant students they serve — continue to be affected by the economic, political,
and social consequences of living in a city that has been bombed and in a nation that is at war."<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Even now, adult literacy educators continue to serve adult learners who suffer the terror that results from fighting chronic poverty, marginalization, and social exclusion. But the educators know
that adult literacy education is a formidable weapon against terrorism in both war and peace. It is a weapon still drastically in need at the present time.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><strong><u><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">On September 16-20</span></u></strong><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">, we celebrate National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week to recognize the importance
of adult literacy education in improving the overall literacy of families. This was documented over 30 years ago in a newspaper article in Education Week by Peter Schmidt (1991). Entitled, “When Mothers Take Literacy Classes, Children Reap Benefits,” Schmidt
said, “Literacy and job-training programs for low-income mothers appear to have a secondary benefit of improving the educability of their children, a study by a women's employment group asserts. …After taking part in the programs, the study found, the mothers
were more likely than before to read to their children, to take them to the library, to help them with homework, and to take an active interest in their schools--activities presumed to have contributed to the youngsters' educational improvement.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">The study…was conducted by Wider Opportunities for Women Inc., or wow, a Washington-based, nonprofit training organization. "What this research tells us is that even very modest investments in the
training of mothers can have a positive impact on the educability of their children," said Cynthia Marano, the executive director of wow. "Such investments can contribute to ending the cycle of illiteracy," she argued. "Dollars spent on such programs perform
'double duty.'"<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Today, adult educators in the U.S. are making these investments in developing family literacy with funding from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Title 2: The Adult Education and Family
Literacy Act and tens of thousands of adults and their children are seeing the world better through the lens of improved literacy. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">References<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Barbee, D. (1986). Methods of Providing Vocational Skills to Individuals with Low Literacy Levels: The U.S. Experience. Discussion Paper No. 1. International Labour Office, Geneva (Switzerland).
(Available online using a Google search).<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Schmidt, P. (1991, September 4).When Mothers Take Literacy Classes, Children Reap Benefits. Education Week. (Available online using a Google search).<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Sticht, T. (2017). Fighting Illiteracy in Times of War. Available online at:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320024840_FIGHTING_ILLITERACY_IN_TIMES_OF_WAR_An_anthology_of_brief_historical_notes_by_Tom_Sticht" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#1155cc">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320024840_FIGHTING_ILLITERACY_IN_TIMES_OF_WAR_An_anthology_of_brief_historical_notes_by_Tom_Sticht</span></a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sticht, T. (2018). Mainstreaming Marginalized Adults: The Transformation of Adult Basic Education in the United States. Available online at:<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas-Sticht/publication/324604141_Mainstreaming_Marginalized_Adults_The_Transformation_of_Adult_Basic_Education_in_the_United_States/links/5ad8ba70a6fdcc29358632e6/Mainstreaming-Marginalized-Adults-The-Transformation-of-Adult-Basic-Education-in-the-United-States.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:#1155cc">https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas-Sticht/publication/324604141_Mainstreaming_Marginalized_Adults_The_Transformation_of_Adult_Basic_Education_in_the_United_States/links/5ad8ba70a6fdcc29358632e6/Mainstreaming-Marginalized-Adults-The-Transformation-of-Adult-Basic-Education-in-the-United-States.pdf</span></a><u></u><u></u></p>
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