WorkKeys is more than Basic Skills

You must sort clothes in a dry cleaning establishment according to the customer's instructions. According to the form shown, how should this customer's shirt be treated? 1. Dryclean it, add light starch, and fold it. 2. Dryclean it, add light starch, and place it on a hanger. 3. Launder it with no starch and place it on a hanger. 4. Launder it with light starch and place it on a hanger. 5. Launder it with medium starch and fold it. (This is a level 3 question out of 6 possible levels.)

    According to Paul Jurmo, “workers need not just the basic skills, but the ability to work in teams, solve problems, track down information, and behave responsibly.”  The sample question above has been borrowed from the ACT WorkKeys website.  Since I have been working with students on the WorkKeys assessments discussed in my classroom, I wanted to place this assessment in the decontextualized approach as a tool that evaluated basic skills when discussed in our class.  Dr. Muth challenged me to see it as having functional context also. 

    As a high school teacher of students with special education needs, I am hyper-focused daily on the assessing of basic skills with the ultimate goal of graduation in mind.  The testing for standards of learning is the end goal for that diploma, whether we agree to disagree or not, basic skills is what we are told to teach.  The SOLs have tested the basic skills of public school students for approximately fifteen years now.  In the last two years the state of Virginia has been changing the testing format, getting away from the multiple choice, one correct answer style that the students have been trained to master.  These previous versions have often challenged students with disabilities.  The newer multiple answer, fill in the blank, process multi-step types of questions are now true stumbling blocks as these students have not been ‘trained’ to test in this format.  As a result alternative assessments have been used to meet the requirements of a diploma.  The ACT WorkKeys falls in this category.

   The transition coordinator in Chesterfield County was looking for teachers who were willing to use the WorkKeys format with students with disabilities for two reasons.  One, these tests replace the newer difficult SOLs required toward graduation, but secondly if the student can pass three of these assessments they can earn a NCRC ("ACT's National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) is a portable credential that demonstrates achievement and a certain level of workplace employability skills in Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information, and Reading for Information.").  Since I have been trained to view the SOL test as the ‘end all’ goal, I was excited to offer students this opportunity in my classroom as the NCRC was just a bonus.  From my viewpoint I was still hyper-focused on those SOL requirements, hence the WorkKeys became a basic skills test and decontextualized from my perspective.

   This week I watched over the shoulder of some of my students as they worked on the practice problems on the AZTEC program which prepares the students for final assessment in WorkKeys.  Yes, these problems address basic skills; there are multiplication problems, division problems and questions about verbs, subjects and objects.  However, the reading and writing questions in particular are focused on real-life common sense skills needed for success in the workforce.  For example:  Write a “how to” list for greeting a customer in a restaurant or write a “how to” list for closing a store for the night.  This evaluates the basic skills and the “workplace literacy” as described by Jurmo.  If you are an employer isn’t what you want your employee to know as basic as “how to greet a customer”?   As an employer you want them to understand the basics of your business, yes add up the bill for the customer, but before the employee can add up the bill and demonstrate the basic skill, they must get the customer to order a product.  Isn’t that truly basic if you want make money?  Perhaps our definition of basic skills is too narrow.

    The NCRC will allow my students, who are workplace bound, the ability to inform a hiring authority that they have the basic skills necessary for success in job-related training.  When walking into certain hiring authorities they will not be led to a computer to test and prove their abilities, instead the NCRC is documentation that they already have the skills needed.  This saves time for the hiring authority as it takes the guesswork out of the hiring process.  The NCRC will demonstrate that my student has basic skills, common sense and it discloses their employee potential.  It is easy to see now that the WorkKeys has both decontextualized context and functional context.

Language Is Power

Looking at “literacy, culture, membership” in the generative words list, there is one sentence flashing into my mind: “Language Is Power.” It is the slogan of the most influential language training school in China, where I was a student, and then a teacher.

Language is a big part of literacy both in daily life and working communities. As mentioned in Belfiore’s work, it is important to use the right language at the right situation for the right purpose. To some extent, being able to do this is a symbol of power, the power one needs to maintain and even promote his position in a certain community. Having the power of language, one will be recognized as a member of the group by others as well as himself. In the contrary, the lack of the power will hurt the sense of belonging.

As a non-native speaker of English in the United States, the English proficiency is my power to survive in this foreign land . The language enables me to find an apartment, communicate with my neighbors and do grocery shopping by myself. I go to an American church, talk with others, make new friends and feel belonged to the group. Without the language, I would have to rely on someone else to fulfill these basic tasks. Therefore, the language also contributes to my self-confidence and sense of independence. It helps satisfies my basic needs as a human being and allows me to pursue higher goals.

As language is always an embodiment of the culture behind it, the English competence serves as a path leading to the marvelous western culture. Being able to read in English, I enjoy the access privilege to great thoughts and entertainment that are originally generated in English. One may argue that those who do not speak English may also appreciate them via translation. However, there are so many cultural elements that are untranslatable. They just lose the meaning when striped from the original language and cultural background. That is why the greatest poems of Tang Dynasty make no sense when translated in English. Also, translations bear the personal bias of the translator inevitably. The real meaning of the original work, both the denotation and connotation, will be modified by the translator’s personal ideas with or without intention. Therefore, when one reads translated version, he is highly vulnerable of receiving wrong messages, and being misled and manipulated. Being able to read the original version protects me from these risks and entitles me with the uncolored cultural perspective and a boarder freedom of mind.

Besides English in general, the specific vocabularies and phrases I learned at the Writing Center stand as vivid examples of how literacy in work enhances the sense of belonging and membership of the group. Before working at the Writing Center, I had little professional training in academic English writing. I didn’t have the language to talk about writing and I didn’t consider myself as someone who could help others with their writing. During the time working there, I learned the language in this field, such as global revision, local revision, claim, evidence, reasoning, structure, organization, reader-based approach, writer-based approach, unpacking ideas, etc.. Therefore, when talking about writing, I can, at lease, sound professional and knowledgeable, which boosts me confidence and help me explain the writing process much clearer. Now I identify myself as a member of the writing consultants, which is particularly special among Chinese students here, and feel much more comfortable sharing my ideas and advise about others’ writing pieces.

To sum up, language is powerful in various layers. It is decisive in one’s personal and professional life. Sharing a language means sharing the culture it embedded in and the membership of the speakers’ community.

The Triangle of Digital Literacy and Diversity

As a recent grad from the M.Ed in Adult Learning Literacy track, Susan asked me to contribute to the blog.  I thought I’d try to add to Kristin’s treatment of issues surrounding computer-based GED testing in an article she wrote for the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center’s Progress newsletter last year.  I see three diverse, and distinctly disjointed digital literacies in adult education with regard to learners, teachers and trainers/academics on a daily basis.  While I have never been enrolled as a student in an ESL or GED program (which would surely give me an improved vantage point), I have spent more than ten years as both an instructor and a trainer in the field.   Honestly working through the mundane logistics of making digital literacy work for everyone may help us cultivate a more democratic approach to adult education that takes into account all three perspectives.  It just so happens that the man who steered me to my very first adult teaching job, Jason Guard, has written about the same topic today on the Distance Education Skill Share blog.

Our learners’ show us all the time their positive attitudes towards technology, though generally they don’t demonstrate much of a grasp of word processing, saving documents, etc.  But even, or sometimes especially, students at the lowest levels of academic literacy (unschooled to third grade equivalent) show the greatest enthusiasm for assistive software that helps them with phonics and pronunciation, reading, writing and basic math.  Fifty year old men who can’t read and have never operated a computer before often pick up the use of a mouse and some commands like “enter,” “shift” and “backspace” within days of beginning school.  Soon they’re working independently for short periods in multi-level classes when the instructor has to address higher functioning students.  Nineteen year olds happily watch Khan Academy videos about equivalent fractions on laptops.  ESL learners willingly struggle to write up autobiographical Language Experience Approach (LEA) paragraphs with the help of a typing-to-speech program.  Adult education teachers sometimes underestimate these learners just because their incoming digital literacy hovers at low levels, overlooking their openness to, and enthusiasm for technology.

While instructors’ own levels of digital literacy are somewhat higher than those of their students, the scenarios just described are still not easy to realize.  They exhaust the most resourceful and energetic adult literacy practitioners.  The phonics program was likely borrowed from an Exceptional Education teacher, but a local school IT person needed to be physically present to load and authorize running the executable files that make it interactive.  The Khan Academy videos had to be downloaded by the teacher at home since any site with streaming content is blocked by the school or municipal system’s filters.  School and government organizations’ Flash Player and Java often run several iterations behind even when content’s not blocked, rendering sites like Teacher Tube and aggregator like United Streaming non-viewable.  Older urban and isolated rural regions lack the infrastructure for the required bandwidth too, making synchronous or simultaneous classroom eLearning difficult.   The older desktops couldn’t play mp4s, so they could only be watched on the single newer laptop.  When looking up LEA lessons before class, the teacher encountered numerous firewalls against sites with online storage (such as Google docs) or those that contain the flagged words “blog” or “lyrics.” Messages popped up warning that the requested sites violated the Internet acceptable usage policy of the school system or county government.  A large number of adult education programs in Virginia are located institutionally, physically, and in terms of funding within K12 school systems and correctional facilities that present all these obstacles to digital literacy.  So who wouldn’t give teachers a pass on integrating technology?  It would be so much easier simply to run off more copies like they’ve always done. 

With all that in mind, imagine instructors’ responses when the latest scholarly articles circulated by professional development organizations and presented at annual conferences recommend using Facebook, YouTube, Skype and Twitter in the adult literacy classroom to enhance language acquisition or numeracy.  While this cutting edge discourse fascinates and inspires graduate students like us, it also fosters cynicism in the field.  Trainers keep us up to date on ‘what works’ for adult learners under optimum conditions, yet they must resist presenting technology integration as an easy fix.  To the contrary, practitioners’ efforts at successful implementation open a Pandora’s Box of daily institutional and emotional barriers.  Technological best-case advice from the perceived ivory tower jaundices whatever’s left of practitioners’ will to implement computer-facilitated learning.  The field is looking for clear-eyed, setting specific, realistic guidance.  When they don’t get it, a loop is inadvertently created whereby teachers dismiss technology-related professional development, while trainers become increasingly frustrated with what they perceive as instructors’ recalcitrance towards new ideas.

So promoting digital literacy in the obtuse triangular paradigm of the academy, the field and literacy learners is not actually easier, but it is our professional duty.  We demonstrate our efficacy to our students and likely improve retention when we stay abreast of educational technology.  We model persistence and problem solving when we overcome challenges associated with ensuring digital literacy in real time, in the presences of our learners.  In the spirit of King, on this MLK day, consider that true participatory democracy now necessitates this new kind of literacy, and that facilitating it is one way that we, as adult educators, can show that our moral development actively strives to catch up to our “technological abundance.”

A dark, ugly genre

Anonymous note left in restroom stall

This Reddit / Yahoo news article about a poignant note left in a women's restroom inspired me to write this week's blog post about literacy genre.  I hope I'm not being too crude writing about women's restrooms, but literacy is happening in there.  I have seen it, read it, and felt it.   When I look at this unlikely genre through the lens of social practice theory, I see powerful text that has even deeper meaning because of its setting.  In Reading Work (Belfiore et al., 2004) Judy Hunter describes literacy as a social practice where people create special meanings from text connected to a particular social setting.  Hunter adds that literacy is more than words on the page, it is the meaning of words and their use.  Literacy is "activities around texts that involve values, attitudes, feelings and social relationships" (p. 247).  Literacy activity in the restroom is discourse between women who scratch and scribe crude messages of abuse, addiction, and depression on the walls for others to read.  Maybe this is the only place where ugly truths can surface; maybe this is the only place dark secrets can be put into words.  Maybe this is a place where we must face ourselves, literally and metaphorically.   Sometimes, a sympathetic response is added to the discourse, other times a nasty, cruel jab is penned alongside.   There is a darker, private understanding of these awful words: they aren't fit for any other place.  Their meaning is entwined with the social setting.  If taken out of context, these messages would probably be described as rude defacement of property.  When we learn where they were written, it can change how we feel about them.  Maybe we understand, maybe we were part of this discourse at one point, too.

It is because this note was found in a restroom stall that it caught my attention.  If it were taken out of the restroom--out of its genre--its deeper meaning would be lost.  Yes, the note is a worthy gesture of humanity in and of itself, however, its meaning becomes more profound when put into its literacy genre.  The meaning goes beyond words on the paper.  This note is an answer, a response to cries for help.  It is one piece of a larger literacy activity found in a genre of dark secrets and ugly truths. 

I will close with the words from the note

To the girl who was raped: You are so strong. I cannot fathom the pain you must have gone through. The fact that you have the bravery to write it (even on a bathroom wall) gives me hope.

To the girl with eating disorders: I promise you, although I don't know you, you are beautiful, you deserve your health. You deserve freedom from that hell.
To the girl with the alcoholic father: I am so sorry for the agony it must cause. Again, such courage is remarkable you must be such a strong person to see such pain.
To the girl whose father died: Missing them never goes away. The ache of their absence never goes away. But the love they had, the memories you share surely must last. I am sure, out of the bottom of my heart, the people who have left you in this world are exceptionally proud of the person you are.
Everytime (sic) I see these walls, these confessions, I feel so blessed to know I have the priviledge (sic) of seeing them. Your moments, these secrets, are all precious even though they are sad. To all of you (including those I did not mention, and those who have not yet written)
-You are worthy.
-You are strong.
-You are brave.
-You are loved.
-Somebody cares.

Written below that, somebody penned a quick response: "To the person who wrote this, thank you."




 

Welcome ADLT 650

Welcome ADLT 650 Literacy and Diversity colleagues!  Please check out the blog and comment on any of the postings.   If you have completed the author invitation process, you are free to begin posting. Be sure to visit and "like" our companion Facebook page (see link in upper right margin).  Also, you can "follow by email" to receive alerts when there is activity on the blog.  Enjoy!

Kristin, JG, Susan, & Bill

Defining Digital Literacy

Adult education programs often fall short of addressing the digital literacy needs of low educated, low literacy English language learners, many of whom may not have Internet access on demand. Adult ed programs do a decent job of providing access through libraries, skill source centers, and adult education settings, however, access is only the beginning. Digital literacy encompasses a skill set that must be learned and practiced so that it can be put to use in an online setting. To that end, digital literacy is a competency for teachers, too. It is not enough to publish lofty goals for adult education programs using buzz words such as 21st century skills or technology integration without a professional development component. The most needy learners require skilled teachers. Program resources devoted to data collection and reporting do not address the digital literacy needs of these learners or their teachers. Valid data and program success, in this writer's opinion, begin with teachers.

I've been following blogs and postings by David Rosen, who pointed me in the direction of a technology self-assessment tool http://www.adultedonline.org/index.cfm If you want to assess your own digital literacy skills / technology integration, give it a try. Furthermore, I am sharing David's definition of digital literacy. I think his words get to the heart of what it means to be digitally literate, for us and our adult learners.

re-posted courtesy of David Rosen  http://davidjrosen.wordpress.com 

At one end of the spectrum digital literacy means basic comfort and competence in using computers, smart phones, electronic tablets, and other web-accessible devices. Toward the other end it means what some call information literacy, the ability to judge the quality of information one receives through electronic means. If literacy is getting meaning from print, then digital literacy is getting basic meaning from what you read — or have read out loud to you – through the use of a digital electronic device. It is also, at the higher end of the spectrum, sorting out wheat from chaff, using the higher order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

For me digital literacy involves reading widely, keeping informed, knowing when and how to be critical and when to embrace new information, new ideas. It also means how to approach new technologies – hardware and software – skeptically, fearlessly, and with enthusiasm. It means being limber in how one thinks, agile in using technology, expecting as normal seismic shifts in new information and communication tools.

Digital literacy is also fun. Unlike print literacy, we expect through digital literacy to be offered visual and sound embellishments of text. Digital magazines should be beautiful to see and hear. They should be interactive, with opportunities for talking and writing about what we read with others.

Digital literacy opens a door to digital learning. We are seeing the dawn of online courses, digital chautauquas and online study circles. We are also seeing the early stages of using digital technologies to learn anywhere, anytime, and as fast or slowly as one wants, with more easily accessible and better learning resources.

David J. Rosen, Ed.D. is President of Newsome Associates in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. His interests include integrating technology in the adult education classroom, using technology for learning outside the classroom, and education and employment for out-of-school youth. He is an implementation advisor for the Learner Web, a major national adult learner support initiative.

Yahoo! News No Book Library?

Yahoo! News Yahoo News No Book Library

Any thoughts?

International Migrants Day, Civics, & Current Events

December 18th is International Migrants Day (IMD), declared so by the UN in 2000 when it adopted the  International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.  Wow, I have never heard of this day or its purpose.  But, my post is not about the (lack of) influence and relevancy of the UN, rather, it is about our US migrants, our newest citizens--legal or otherwise-- and how we adult educators integrate civics instruction in adult ESOL programs.  I include a link to an opinion article, written by Andy Nash in 2010, that came to my inbox with information about IMD.

Andy discusses how ESOL programs do a good job of educating migrants to be responsible citizens, to pay taxes and find employment.  Programs do a good job of preparing  migrants to be participatory citizens, to obtain citizenship, vote, participate in their children's school activities, and the like.  Programs fall short when it comes to preparing migrants to be action-oriented citizens.  An action-oriented citizen seeks to change the status quo, find justice, and analyze and criticize government.  Andy goes on to say how we need to report on measure of success that reflect civic engagement.  She provides a model for civics instruction that her organization has used successfully in MA.

One of Andy's points on how to motivate migrants to become action-oriented citizens is to use a current event.  She cited the example of 9/11 as an event that started dialogue and action.  It is a sad reality that we often need a horrific event to rekindle an action-orientation in ourselves.  In the wake of last week's tragedy in CT, perhaps another dialogue can begin.    Civics instruction needs to be raw, and it needs to be honest.  I feel we could all use some civics instruction right now.   In closing, I appreciate the information on IMD, and the reminder from Andy that our newest citizens are here to help change the status quo.

http://www.nelrc.org/publications/pdf/Civics%20and%20Adult%20ESOL.pdf

 

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

I'm passing along a link to a TESOL International brief on the topic.  Nothing new.   I  love how USCIS requires undocumented young people to provide documentation about their birth, arrival in the U.S, schooling, even a gov issued ID, to be processed for deferment.  This is not a path to citizenship, just a 2 year holding pattern, work permit, possible driver's license.  And oh yeah, it's $465.  Then the person is in our gov "system."  They must renew after 2 years.  Then what?  It's a tactic to post pone a decision on citizenship.  I'm sorry to rant, but it was just to get votes, too.  



We had a lot of stressed out ESOL students worried about getting into GED classes so they could apply for DACA and avoid deportment / perhaps find a path to residency.   Most of these folks had literacy levels that were too low even for ABE classes.  We  issue letters of enrollment for  ABE/GED and ESOL , as it seems PWCS AE should qualify as a state/fed funded literacy program for the purposes of this action. That is an issue for USCIS to determine, anyway.   

Has anyone else had experience with DACA?   Forgive my rantings.  This is one of my hot buttons.

http://www.tesol.org/docs/advocacy/tesol_policy-brief_august-2012_8-15_final-final.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Opportunity Index

opportunity index

If you have a few minutes, you might want to check out this link or read more about it in the recent  OVAE newsletter.  The Opportunity Index provides a composite score for each county in the U.S.-- "a measure of opportunity at the community level."  Reduced to numbers, Virginia is ahead of the national average.   Sources are Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau, produced by Opportunity Nation & Social Science Research Council. One of the factors in scoring opportunity is education.  Here's what SSRC says about education:

Access to knowledge is a critical determinant of long-term well-being and is essential to individual freedom, self-determination, and self-sufficiency. Education is critical to people’s real freedom to decide what to do and who to be. Education builds confidence, confers status and dignity, and broadens the horizons of the possible—as well as allowing for the acquisition of skills and credentials. Globalization and technological change have made it extraordinarily difficult for poorly educated Americans to achieve the economic self-sufficiency, peace of mind, and self-respect enabled by a secure livelihood.
Access to knowledge is measured using two indicators: school enrollment for the population age 3 and older, and educational degree attainment for the population 25 years and older. A one-third weight is applied to the enrollment indicator and a two-thirds weight is applied to the degree attainment indicator. Both indicators are from the American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau.
  
It was not clear to me whether the GED credential is considered degree attainment, or if enrollment in ABE programs is considered "enrolled"  in this methodology.  While I agree 100% that knowledge is the key to long-term success, I question whether we should judge knowledge by degree attainment only.