DOCUMENT RESUME CE 077 566 ED 431 868 Focus on Basics, 1998. TITLE National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and INSTITUTION Literacy, Boston, MA. Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), SPONS AGENCY Washington, DC. 1998-00-00 PUB DATE NOTE 118p. R309B60002 CONTRACT Focus on Basics, 44 Farnsworth St., Boston, MA 02210-1211; AVAILABLE FROM e-mail: [email protected] Collected Works - Serials (022) PUB TYPE Focus on Basics; v2 n1-4 1998 JOURNAL CIT MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Academic Persistence; Adult Basic Education; *Adult DESCRIPTORS Literacy; Educational Change; *Educational Practices; *Educational Research; *Literacy Education; *Outcomes of Education; Program Effectiveness; Student Motivation; *Teaching Methods *General Educational Development Tests IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT This volume contains the four 1998 quarterly issues of this newsletter that present best practices, current research on adult learning and literacy, and information on how research is used by adult basic education teachers, counselors, program administrators, and policy makers. The following are among the major articles included: "Power, Literacy, and Motivation" (Greg Hart); "The First Three Weeks: A Critical Time for Motivation" (B. Allan Quigley); "Build Motivation by Building Learner Participation" (Barbara Garner); "Staying in a Literacy Program" (Archie Willard); "Stopping Out, Not Dropping Out" (Alisa Belzer); "Where Attendance Is Not a Problem" (Moira Lucey); "Getting into Groups" (Michael Pritza); "The GED [General Educational Development Test]: Whom Does It Help?" (John H. Tyler); "Project-Based Learning and the GED" (Anson M. Green); "Describing Program Practice: A Typology across Two Dimensions" (Barbara Garner); "Retention and the GED" (Jamie D. Barron Jones); "The Spanish GED" (Anastasia K. Cotton, Bertha Cantu-Lujan); "Changing Approaches to Math" (Cynthia J. Zengler); "Why Is Change So Hard?" (Marcia Drew Hohn); "How Teachers Change" (Virginia Richardson); "Dinosaurs and Upstarts: Organizational Change at CASA Latina" (Hilary Stern); "A Story of Improvement" (Jane Cody, James Ford, Kathleen Hayward); "Facilitating Inquiry-Based Staff Development" (Jereann King); "An Unexpected Outcome" (Edith Cowper); "Lessons from NCSALL's [National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy] Outcomes and Impacts Study" (Hal Beder); "Less Teaching and More Learning" (Susan Gaer); "Knowledge in Action: The Promise of Project-Based Learning" (Heide Spruck Wrigley); "Turning Obstacles into Opportunities" (Deborah L. Johnson); and "Voter Education, Registration, and Action (VERA)" (Andrea Nash). Each issue also contains regular features and resources. (KC) Focus on Basics Volume 2 1998 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1:1 This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. 0 AVAILABLE U BEST COPY Focus on tor_ World Education/NCSALL, Connecting Research and Practice, Volume 2, Issue A, March 1998 LEARNER MOTIVATION Contents Welcome by Editor Power, Literacy, and Motivation by Greg Hart The First Three Weeks: A Critical Time for Motivation by B. Allan Quigley Build Motivation by Building Learner Participation by Barbara Garner Staying in a Literacy Program by Archie Willard Stopping Out, Not Dropping Out by Alisa Belzer Where Attendance is Not a Problem by Moira Lucey Getting Into Groups by Michael Pritza Focus on Research: NCSALL's Learner Motivation Study by Barbara Garner Blackboard: A List of Suggested Readings. Editorial Board How to Subscribe to Focus on Basics of Adult Learning is the quarterly publication of the National Center for the Study Focus on Basics research on adult learning and literacy, and how and Literacy. It presents best practices, current administrators, and policy research is used by adult basic education teachers, counselors, program is dedicated to connecting research with practice, to connecting teachers Focus on Basics makers. classroom, and by doing so, making adult basic with research and researchers with the reality of the education research more relevant to the field. All subscription and editorial correspondence should be sent to: Focus On Basics Attn: Diem Nguyen World Education 44 Farnsworth Street Boston, MA 02210-1211 e-mail address: [email protected] is copyrighted, but we urge readers to photocopy and circulate the publication Focus on Basics and the National Center for the Study Focus on Basics widely. When reprinting articles, please credit of Adult Learning and Literacy. Editor: Barbara Garner Associate Editor: Diem Nguyen Illustrations: Mary White Arrigo published by the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy Focus on Basics is (NCSALL). NCSALL is funded by the Educational Research and Development Centers Program, Award Number R309B60002, as administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement/ National Institute of Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning, U.S. Department of Education. For more information on NCSALL, please see the article "The New Center for Adult Learning and Literacy." do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of NCSALL or The contents of Focus on Basics the National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning; World Education; the Office of Educational Research and Improvement; or the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. 4 L.; Focus on 1111111..moi Basics Welcome to Focus on Dear Readers, education has a story about the student who persevered despite Everyone who works in adult basic class of 25 women on Aid to Families with Dependent myriad challenges. My favorite story is the both the tests of General Education Development (GEDs) and Children (AFDC), who were studying for After the first month of the program, I commented on their nursing aide certification at the same time. said, "I bet you didn't expect us all to be here." I told her their almost perfect attendance, and one student all be there every month. She was right. The entire class, that no, I didn't. She vowed that they woyuld The students had near perfect attendance for nine which had become quite a tight group, graduated. in adult basic education programs tends to be months of class, 20 hours a week. Since the drop out rate astonishing. above 50 percent, this was more than remarkable, it was in adult basic education programs and meet their My iinterest in "persisters" -- those who reamin had begun in the same program three years educational goals despite the forces acting against them -- class of students with similar earlier. I watched one class of students persevere while another while others disappear? socioeconomic make up floundered. What motivates some to persist, consciously grappling with these questions and In plaaning this issue, I sought out people who were of which presents a different asked them to write for us. As I read the articles they submitted, each the role that community seems to theory or approach to supporting learner motivation, I was struck by staff are motivated by event just a taste of play in all of them. Greg Hart writes that learners and program Was it the power, or the sense of community developed power that community activism can convey. during the struggle, or both? identify those most likely to drop Allan Quigley's research suggests that staff should work quickly to small classes work well. Michael Pritza and his colleagues out. He found that one-on-one support and attendance leap. Moira Lucy obeserves switched from individualized to small group instruction and saw classroom, where learner persistence is not that the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) where friendships are born. Archie Willard such a problem, provides a safe haven for learners, a place on-going motivation as a identifies the strong relationship his tutor built with him as one key to his of his program was a factor in his learner, while Marvin Lewis feels that being involved in the running of learners is being persistence. While the strategies differ, in each of these examples, a community is sustained. created and, somehow, the motivation that propelled learners to enter programs thatwe have not managed to find the right mix of The drop out rate from adult basic educaation indicates hope that the strategies to do this consistently. It does seem, however, that we are making progress. We articles in this issue provide you with ideas that will make a difference. Sincerely, Barbara Garner Editor 5 L Motivation Power, Literacy, and by Greg Hart Will you support the construction of an adult education center on the south side of Tucson? Please answer YES or NO." Lina Prieto, working on her GED, and the single mother of two sons, put the question to each city council member September, each county supervisor as they stepped up to the microphone. It was 1996, and 2,000 people in the auditorium waited for each to answer. An occasional "grito" (shout) rose up out of the crowd. Even the children waited intently beside their parents, aware that something unusual was happening. Signs demanding support for adult education lined the huge room at the Tucson Convention Center and bobbed above the crowd. The politicians stepped up to the microphone one at a time to answer her. "Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!" Eleven times "Yes!", eleven times a huge eruption of shouting from the crowd, and on the last "Yes!" we rose to our feet and raucously celebrated victory. We -- immigrants, drop outs, single mothers on welfare, minimum-wage workers, under-paid part-time adult educators -- hugged one another, waved our signs, and gave "high fives" all around. The politicians looked out with wonder over the scene until they, too, were engulfed by the thrill loose in the room. A building for adult education was going to be built, for sure, but this jubilation was about more than that. It was about power. At Pima County Adult Education (PCAE), we have come to believe that literacy is a means to greater power and personal freedom, not an end in itself. It is the prospect of achieving power and not the concept of literacy that truly motivates both students and teachers. Lina Prieto, the other adult education students who had spoken before her, and the audience itself were acting with intent to influence their own destinies and their community. Literacy had helped them to act, but the excitement and satisfaction they felt arose from the knowledge that they were, in those moments, powerful. My colleagues and I at PCAE have grown weary of working with people desperate to change their lives, only to contend with the fact that from one year to the next about 50 percent of PCAE's 10,000 students drop out before achieving their learning goals. We know that the reasons for that are numerous and complex, and that many are associated with what it means to be poor. We also know that some students leave because what we are able to offer as a that many students sense program simply doesn't appeal to them. We believe what some adult educators already know: that our own status as adult educators relative to other public educational institutions is a mirror image of their own powerlessness. We think that far too many conclude that getting a GED or learning to read at a higher level probably won't change their lives, and, painful as it is to admit, at PCAE we believe they may be right. An Investment We held a series of formal and informal meetings and discussions throughout 1992 and 1993, some in the context of a series of day-long staff retreats. As a results, we decided to invest time, energy, and money to introduce the potential for power and civic engagement in an integrated way into our curriculum. We did this to motivate students to use and respect literacy as a tool of action rather of their lives and their than to regard it as a concept unrelated to the reality deepening our powerlessness. We also did it to motivate ourselves through adult educators. The commitment to the meaning and potential of our work as American philosophies and practices of Myles Horton, the great plain-speaking =adult educator, and, to a lesser degree, his friend, the great and courageous actions. Paulo Freire, provided fodder for our discussions and models for our large public An experience in 1988, when PCAE students and staff staged a demonstration that led to a 200 percent increase in funding, had taught us something important: students and adult educators changed when they felt they had some say in their lives. Students involved in planning and organizing the demonstration stayed involved with the program for years, some as paid teaching aides. Teachers involved in and inspired by the powerful impact on themselves and their students grew increasingly discontent with the standard academic, skills-based curriculum that, despite endless tinkering, never seemed to have an impact on attrition levels. Despite that previous experience, however, we still didn'T know how to introduce and sustain ongoing with our students about power. We weren't entirely sure how to identify issues of common concern or how to organize broad-based civic actions and interventions designed to address them, or how education classroom. We needed help we would connect all of that to the adult to proceed. We got it, from the Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC), an organization associated with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), founded in the 1940s by the late organizer and radical Saul Alinsky. The PCIC worked originally with faith-based constituencies and a few secular institutions to research issues of importance to the Tucson community, especially those affecting the poor. Some of the issues coming to light based on PCIC's work included lack of child care and transportation, inadequate job training for living-wage jobs, low wages, latch-key children, and the disintegration of families, neighborhoods, and schools. PCIC's lead organizer and I began to meet and form the basis for a working partnership that recognized mutual interests. With PCIC's help and guidance and PCAE's commitment of training, staff time, and leadership -- including the creation of the position of Coordinator for Civics and Citizenship -- we began to convene forums and one-to-one meetings for students and staff to identify issues affecting their lives. During these forums and one-to-one meetings, student and staff leaders began to emerge. Issues such as low wages, gang and crime-burdened neighborhoods, and parents' sense of disconnection from their children's schools came to the fore. At times with and at times without teacher guidance, small groups of students began to research issues. Their research included the analysis of public policy documents, the development of effective questions and agendas for meetings with public officials, the preparation of speeches and position papers, and learning how to reach consensus on strategy and conclusions through dialogue. The use of high level literacy skills was, of necessity, essential to all of these tasks. Training for staff and students also included public speaking skills, the mechanics of presenting at large public meetings, and conducting smaller group meetings with public officials and others. In fact, most of these activities were pointed towards meetings with public officials, of which there were eventually many. Student and staff skills were tested and refined during those encounters. Under the guidance of the Civics and Citizenship Coordinator, six student leaders took paid positions with PCAE as student advocates and student mentors. Their responsibility included, among other things, assisting student 7 councils and identifying other students with leadership potential. Eventually, a formed a group called the "Friends core group of about 40 students and staff --and Students of Adult Education." They continue to meet regularly and to take education students and an active and public role in issues of concern to adult adult education in general. Staff and student participation in this civic process was and remains a matter of self selection at PCAE. Individuals determine whether or not they want to be involved and their level of involvement. They demonstrate their interest through attendance at meetings and their willingness to volunteer for assignments such as research, meetings with public officials, or disseminating and explaining information to other students and staff. At any given time at PCAE, we may have 25 or so student leaders who are actively involved and a few of hundred who stay informed by attending student council meetings and meetings of the "Friends and Students." In the beginning of our relationship with PCIC, some of our approximately 170 staff were immediately interested, and others were skeptical. Some of those who were most cautious have since become ardent proponents of civic involvement. Others were ambivalent at the inception, and remain that way to this day. Everyone had questions and concerns: Is this type of civic involvement appropriate for an educational program? Might we lose our funding if we antagonize the powers that be or get caught up in partisan politics? Does PCIC have a hidden religious agenda? Will my job be threatened if I choose not to participate? Today, most teachers appear to be comfortable or are becoming more comfortable with PCAE's efforts to link adult literacy education with the notion of power. Clark Atkinson, a teacher with more than 25 years of varied experience as an adult educator and a strong advocate for teachers' rights, was one of the most dubious at the outset of our involvement. He said recently that he believes that our work with civic engagement has been the most important thing PCAE has ever done. We have had a number of outward successes based on the issues identified and addressed by students and staff. They include hosting the candidates for Governor and State Superintendent of Public Instruction in our classrooms, where they were challenged to publicly commit and demonstrate support for adult education.This later materialized into a statewide family literacy initiative. Adult education students played pivotal roles in the development of a city-wide program that nearly doubled the number of after-school programs for elementary-age children. In partnership with teachers, they have formed a non-profit corporation called Adults for Community Transformation (ACT). They confronted powerful local bureaucrats over the placement of a swimming pool at a local neighborhood center instead of a long promised adult education center. Ultimately, they got not one facility, but two. They worked with staff and parents at a troubled high school to create a jobs program for students that is now being lauded and duplicated throughout the city. Hundreds of students studied interviewing skills and participated in a walking canvass of some of the city's more troubled neighborhoods and later helped to present the results to the City Council and the County Board of Supervisors. Working with some of the city's most influential political and business leaders, they have been instrumental in the creation of a new job training strategy that guarantees employer-pledged, living-wage jobs with a career path. In the spring of 1997, students worked with the Board of Supervisors to get $2.25 million included for adult education buildings in a county bond issue. After the bonds passed in a very tight election, 500 attended a County Board of Supervisors meeting in July of 1997 to successfully request that the money be allocated ahead of schedule. 8 the impact on students, These successes speak for themselves. But what about Skills of involved their learning, and their willingness to stay involved? remains about individuals have certainly grown. Right now, our attrition rate goals achieved as in the same, and we report about the same number of student opposition. the past. And, there has been a price to pay: power generates distant and, in Former allies, both individuals and institutions, have grown perceive that their interests and their access to some cases, inimical, as they adult education constituency resources may be threatened by an active competing for those same resources. The risk is real that in questing for power all of our ability to even offer we might lose some, or, in the worst case, educational programs. We might lose our jobs, too. We also clearly recognize another risk: that we as teachers, i.e., the literate, might exploit students. That possibility requires constant vigilance and introspection. The buildings we have being nicer places to work for adult won, for example, cannot just end up educators; they must serve and strengthen the adult learner community. We by the IAF or must be vigilant also that PCAE itself is not similarly exploited PCIC for their own purposes. We will not understand the full impact of our work for many years to come. We have shown ourselves that linking literacy education with the notion of power transforms the perspectives and motivations of educators and students alike. We have seen people's lives and the lives of their families change. When GED student Lina Prieto, who questioned city and county officials, speaks powerfully to a room of 2,000 people, she knows she has the ability to influence the direction of her community: she has power. Her seven-year-old teachers see students involved in son sitting in the audience sees it, too. When the civic process, they recognize that they themselves are engaged in meaningful work: they have power. When government officials see that the community they serve has a voice, they see that power belongs rightfully to the people. For the people at PCAE involved in this process, adult literacy education, and power will never rightfully be separate from one another again. About the Author Greg Hart is the director of Pima County Adult Education in Tucson, Arizona. 9 The First Three Weeks: A Critical Time for Motivation by B. Allan Quigley T 1 sn't there anything I can do to keep my students motivated?" This is the question I asked back in 1972, when I lost two students from my first adult basic education (ABE) class. At the time, my reaction was: "I must do better." I tried harder. I searched for more and better materials. I employed the best techniques I could find. I was as supportive as any teacher could be. But, somehow, even with my best efforts, things didn't change much. Some students stayed. Some didn't. I just couldn't get a handle on it. My best wasn't enough. In the late 1970s, as an ABE program director, my staff and I tried everything we could think of to improve our retention rates. We had full-time, part-time, and drop-in courses. We had block and continuous intake. We had centralized and decentralized classes around the city. We had large individualized classes, team-taught classes, childcare in some, computers in others. Still, even with our best ideas and best efforts, some students dropped out while others persisted. Our collective best still wasn't enough. Entering doctoral studies in 1984, I believed the books in the library would hold the answers. However, after working on this issue for almost 11 years as a professor and researcher, I still don't have the answer. A quarter century of worrying about the same question is a long time. I nevertheless think the contemporary literature and some of what I have found recently may be taking me closer to a better understanding of how to keep students motivated. While others may disagree, I like to think we are getting closer to answers. Let's see. Different Perspectives Looking back, I think neither my excellent co-workers nor I were really able to analyze our world because -- and here's the conundrum -- we saw it as our world. You might notice in the above story that at no point did my co-workers and I draw upon the perspective of the learners. I think this is a serious self-limiting condition in ABE. As educators, we often seek to reproduce the experiences that worked for us. Most of us basically liked school and succeeded at the schooling process. Educators have a common experience that separates us from our students. The culture of school that we so enjoyed is not necessarily a culture into which our students fit. We must keep that in mind when we design programs and instruction. Our learners are not a "different species," as some would have us believe (Quigley, 1997), and I must say immediately that I hate the negative stereotypes of our learners. Yet the common characteristics within our learner population, the one that distinguishes it from other populations in the educational spectrum, is that most of our students dropped out of school. Furthermore, most did so under unhappy circumstances. While our learners have many characteristic in common with mainstream adult students, they also have some radical differences. We can certainly learn from theories and research done with the larger adult population in mind, but we cannot extrapolate freely. 10