[Reading-hall-of-fame] Leave No Adults Behind

[Thomas Sticht]

Happy New Year! The following piece will appear in the newsletter of the
Learning Disabilities Association with a circulation of 50,000. Getting
the word out about adult literacy education in 2005! Tom Sticht




In the 21st Century, No Adults Should Be Left Behind.      January 14, 2005

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

On January 12, 2005 the White House posted a speech by President Bush in
which he discussed his plans to take the No Child Left Behind initiative
to the high school level
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/20050112-5.html).

In discussing the need for testing at the high school level, the President
framed his comments in terms of workforce development and stated, "Testing
in high schools will make sure that our children are employable for the
jobs of the 21st century."

In his speech the President also said, "Out of a hundred 9th graders in
our public schools, only 68 will complete high school on time. Now, we
live in a competitive world. And a 68 percent graduation rate for 9th
graders is not good enough to be able to compete in this competitive
world."

Barton (2000) reports that some 85 percent of adults 25 to 29 years old in
1995 had completed high school (p. 36). So somehow between the 9th grade
and age 25-29 high school completion increases from 68 to 85 percent. To a
large extent this reflects the fact that many high school dropouts go to
adult basic education (ABE) programs and study to earn a high school
diploma or GED equivalency certificate. If the testing procedures that the
President is recommending drives more students to dropout, as some have
suggested has happened when high school achievement tests have been
introduced in the past, then the ABE system will have to pick up the
education of these young adults a few years later.

In program year 2001-2002 the ABE system funded by the U. S. government as
part of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 enrolled 2,787,416 learners,
of which 38 percent were in ABE, 20 percent in Adult Secondary Education,
and 42 percent in English Language learning. That same year, in this
education system, 181,642 adult students received a high school diploma
or GED.

The President called for "a $1.5 billion initiative to help every high
school student graduate with the skills necessary to succeed." But if they
don’t, and if tens of thousands have to enroll in the ABE/ASE/EL system
later on, they will enter a marginalized education system that is funded
at the federal level at less than two-fifths ($575 million) of what the
President has proposed for his high school initiative. This is less than
$210 per adult student. Even with what the states add to the federal
money, spending on ABE/ASE/EL programs comes to less than $850 per
enrollee. This is less than one-sixth of what the K-12 system spends on
children’s education per year.

As the President moves forward with his promotion of NCLB at the high
school level, it is of great importance that he also moves to upgrade the
present adult education and literacy system (AELS) that is serving
millions of out-of-school youth, young adults, and older adults who need
to improve their life chances,  and those of their children,  through
education. It makes little sense to leave no children behind as they reach
adolescence and then decide they can be left behind just because they fail
to learn well and complete high school and grow into adulthood.

As our world grows increasingly complex, it is bad education policy to
decide that simply because children grow up and become adults without
having achieved high levels of basic skills and extensive knowledge, it is
OK to cast them off into a marginalized remedial education system and
focus on saving the next, upcoming generation. It is bad policy because it
not only reduces the overall health and productivity of our nation’s adult
force, it promotes failure in the upcoming generation because
undereducated parents are poorly prepared to provide for and transmit
language and literacy skills to their children at home and hence influence
their success in the K-12 system, including their likelihood of graduating
from high school.

Now that the President has decided to leave no child behind from birth in
Early Head Start, Head Start, Elementary and High School, it is time for
him to attend to the education needs of children when they grow up to be
adults. In our Nation's educational system of the 21st century, no adults
should be left behind.

References

Barton, P. (2000, January). What jobs require: Literacy, education, and
training, 1940-2006. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service

Sticht, T. G. (1998, September). Beyond 2000: Future directions for adult
education. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education, Office of
Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Adult Learning and Literacy.
(www.nald.ca under full text documents)

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/Fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net