[Reading-hall-of-fame] News Release From NALD

[tsticht at znet.com]

September 24, 2013

 News Release From The National Adult Literacy Database (NALD, Canada
 (www.nald.ca).


 Tom Sticht elected to the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall
 of Fame (IACEHOF)

 Adult educator Dr. Thomas Sticht of El Cajon, California, has been elected
 to the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame (IACEHOF).
 He will attend induction ceremonies in Orlando, Florida on November 19,
 2013.

 The induction citation states:

 As an International Consultant, Dr. Thomas Sticht has contributed greatly
to
 the field of adult education. These contributions include extensive
research
 and development on the oral and written language skills of adults,
 diagnostic tests for learning]disabled adults, and the development of
 adult education programs that integrate the teaching of basic skills
 (English language, reading, mathematics, etc.) with career education. His
 work has influenced adult education policy and funding in Canada, Ireland,
 New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States.

 One of Stichtfs greatest contributions has been through his research on
 literacy for the United States Army. His research on the listening and
 reading skills of lower aptitude recruits resulted in the development of
 the literacy assessment battery. Additionally, his research also led to the
 creation of the Armyfs Functional Literacy program, which integrated and
 contextualized basic skills education with Army occupational training.

 As a practitioner, Sticht directed teams that developed adult literacy
 programs for the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. He co]authored a
 15]volume set of books which integrated the teaching of reading and
 mathematics in five occupational fields. He also evaluated workplace
 literacy programs in the United States and conducted professional
 development workshops in several nations around the globe.

 Sticht was also the senior author of the book gCast]off Youth: Policy and
 Training Methods from the Military Experience.h This book formulated the
 principles of Functional Context Education and led to the government
 funding programs that served low]skilled adults, helping them integrate
 basic skills and occupational skills education. Reaching thousands of
 adults, these programs received over $100 million in funding from the U.S.
 Departments of Education and Labor, as well as from several private
 foundations.

 As a policymaker, Sticht served as Associate Director for the National
 Institute for Education. He was responsible for all Basic Skills Research
 and Development policy in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and
 Welfare. He presented Congressional testimony on issues of basic skills
 education for children and adults. He also served as Interagency Advisor on
 Basic Skills Education and advised educators in the U.S. Departments of
 Defense and Labor.

 In his career, Sticht has published over 170 books, book chapters, journal
 articles, curriculum material books and reports. Since retiring, he has
 offered over 200 free professional development workshops and lectures on
 adult education around the world. From 1979 through 2003, he served as a
 member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
 Organizationfs (UNESCO) International Literacy Prize Jury, which meets
 each year in Paris. He has helped review over 600 applications for literacy
 prizes and has participated in the awarding of numerous prizes and
honorable
 mentions for adult literacy programs. For this work, he was awarded
 UNESCOfs Mahatma Gandhi Medal.

 Sticht has also contributed to research and policy in early childhood
 education, arguing that poorly educated children are the source of adult
 functional illiteracy and functionally illiterate adults are the source of
 poorly educated children. Sticht and his colleagues conducted the first
 national conference on the intergenerational transfer of cognitive skills
 and published a two volume set of books covering that topic.

 He has also published several articles on early childhood education and
 early parenthood education with special attention to the role of oral
 language in the intergenerational transfer of literacy and educational
 achievement. Citing gStichtfs Law,h the oracy]to]literacy approach has
 been implemented by the Core Knowledge Foundation in its early childhood
 educational curriculum.

 Sticht retired in 1999 as President and Senior Scientist at Applied
 Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences, Inc. Since then, he has served as an
 International Consultant in Adult Education.

 *Editorfs note:
 You will find many documents by Dr. Sticht in the NALD Library; e.g.
 Literacy Frees the World: A Vision of the Future Through a Prism of the
 Past (2004) and Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant in
 the 21st Century (2005).