DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 437 557 CE 079 640

AUTHOR Stein, Sondra

TITLE Equipped for the Future Content Standards. What Adults Need

To Know and Be Able To Do in the 21st Century.

INSTITUTION National Inst. for Literacy, Washington, DC.

PUB DATE 2000-01-00

NOTE 171p.; For the EFF program materials, see ED 436 681. For

EFF reports, see ED 410 402, ED 405 464, and ED 384 792.

AVAILABLE FROM ED Pubs, P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Tel:

877-433-7827 (Toll Free); Fax: 301-470-1244; Web site:

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html.

PUB TYPE Guides Non-Classroom (055) Legal/Legislative/Regulatory

Materials (090)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC07 Plus Postage.

DESCRIPTORS *Academic Standards; *Adult Basic Education; Adult Learning;

*Adult Literacy; Basic Skills; Case Studies; Change

Strategies; Curriculum Development; Educational Change;

Educational Needs; Educational Objectives; Educational

Planning; Evaluation Methods; Futures (of Society); Grants;

Learning Processes; *Literacy Education; Models; *National

Standards; Performance Based Assessment; Program

Development; Program Evaluation; Skill Development;

Strategic Planning; Student Evaluation; Systems Approach;

Teaching Methods

ABSTRACT

This document presents the Equipped for the Future Framework

(EFF) content standards that were developed over a 6-year period by hundreds

of adult education practitioners, experts, and others nationwide to create a

working consensus on what adults need to know and be able to do in the 21st

century. Chapter 1 defines adult literacy for the 21st century. Discussed in

chapters 2-5 are: building the EFF (fundamental purposes for learning,

planning grants, constructing role maps, linking skills to effective

performance, common activities, generative skills, from skills to standards);

the EFF standards and how they work (4 categories of EFF skills, using the 16

EFF standards to assess performance); teaching and learning with the EFF (3

case studies); and a starting point for standards-based system reform

(building consensus on results; aligning the system; reform at the classroom,

program and system levels.) Seventy-seven footnotes to chapters 1-5 are

listed. Appendixes constituting approximately 30% of the document contain the

following information: EFF framework; role maps; common activities matrix;

EFF content standards; documentation templates; lists of the EFF development

partners and 1999-2000 Equipped for the Future Team members; and sources of

additional information on EFF. (MN)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document.
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BESTCOPYAVAILA
Equipped for the Future

Timeline 1994-2004

Learner

Response to

Goal 6

Draft

Role Maps

Validate

Four Purposes

and

Identify Key

Role Activities

Draft

EFF Standards

Identify Core

Skills and

Knowledge

Validate

Role Maps

Field

Review

Expert

Review

Develop

Qualifications

Define Publish Guide Framework that

Approach for for Using Focuses on

Assessing EFF Content Performance

Standards Standards Across Standards

Define

Dimensions

for

Performance

Continuum

Develop Tools

to Assess

Performance

Identify

Benchmarks

and Levels of

Performance

Ongoing

Implementation

and System

Reform

1996 1997

DEVELOPING THE FRAMEWORK DEVELOPING THE STANDARDS

1994 1998 1999

2000 2001 2004

DEVELOPING THE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK
Equipped for the Future

Content Standards

What Adults Need to Know and

Be Able to Do in the 21st Century

By Sondra Stein

National Institute for Literacy
Equipped for the Future

Content Standards

What Adults Need to Know and Be Able to Do in the 21st Century

JANUARY 2000
C

Cz

-41:=Z1

Motional° Oristitute for Literacy

Dear Colleague:

1775 I STREET NW

SUITE 730

WASHINGTON, DC 20006

TELE L 202.233.2025

F AAX 202.233.2050

w E B www.nifl.gov

0

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." According to this

old adage, it's important to know what you're trying to achieve before carrying out a plan

to achieve it. Otherwise, there can be lost opportunities, confusion about purpose, and a

failure to focus energy and resources on the goal. Nowhere is this lesson more relevant

than in the field of education. If westudents and educatorsdo not have an agreed-on

vision of the goals and content of teaching and learning, it is hard to imagine that we can

provide the most effective educational opportunities possible.

The Equipped for the Future Framework and Standards presented in this book are

the results of six years of effort by hundreds of people nationwide to create a working

consensus on what the goals of teaching and learning should be. They are important

tools for building a strong customer-driven educational system that aligns its resources

with achieving its stated goals.

Our hope is that EFF will provide learners, educators, policymakers, and others with a

common language and set of knowledge and skills that can be used to improve teaching

and learning, accountability, and investment in the enterprise of adult education. While

the EFF Framework and Standards are not a program or curriculum, they do provide

critical ingredients for adult educators and students to use in focusing teaching and

learning on meeting the real-world needs of students.

I hope you will take advantage of these new EFF resources and join us in seeing how

EFF can help our nation better meet its literacy needs.

Sincerely,

Andrew Hartman Hartman

6
Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER 1

A Definition of Adult Literacy for the 21st Century 1

CHAPTER 2

Building the Equipped for the Future Framework 3

Starting With the Customer Perspective: Fundamental Purposes for Learning 5

Planning Grants: An Affirmation of the Vision 7

What Adults Do: Constructing Role Maps 8

Linking Skills to Effective Performance 13

Common Activities: Linking Roles for Transfer 14

Generative Skills: The Basis for Standards 15

From Skills to Standards 15

CHAPTER 3

The EFF Standards and How They Work 17

Four Categories of EFF Skills 17

Standards for Standards 18

Specifying the Standards 19

The 16 EFF Standards 21

How to Read the Standards 22

Using the Standards to Assess Performance 56

Guiding Principles: What We Want Our Assessment Framework to Include 57

Defining the EFF Continuum of Performance 58

Four Key Dimensions of Performance 59

Identifying Levels That Describe Real-World Competence 60

Identifying Tools and Approaches to Document and Assess Performance 62

What Programs Can Do Now 64

CHAPTER 4

Teaching and Learning With the EFF Framework 65

Introduction 65

Vermont Adult Learning: Speaking for Ourselves 66

Sweetwater Union School District: "No Time for Turkeys" 72

Canton City School: Building the Skills to Manage Resources 79

Commentary 85

Chapter 1 summarizes the goals of

Equipped for the Future.

Chapter 2 provides a history of the

EFF research process for those who are not

familiar with EFF. It defines the key elements of

the EFF Framework and describes how they

were identified and refined through the EFF

research process. This chapter also identifies

links between EFF and other related efforts.

If you know the EFF story, you may want to

move right on to Chapter 3.

Chapter 3 presents the EFF Content

Standards. It defines the Standards, provides

examples of how teachers have been using

each Standard, and introduces the NIFL's

approach to building an assessment

framework for EFF.

Chapter 4 provides three detailed

examples of the Framework in Action. It

shows how teachers use the range of EFF

tools to build learner competence in meeting

the requirements of family, civic, and work life.
.11

Chapter 5 places these examples in

the broader context of system reform.

It invites readers to think about how they

can begin to align the various parts of

the education systemcurriculum,

assessment, professional development,

and accountabilitywith achievement of

the results outlined in these standards.

CHAPTER FIVE

A Starting Point for Standards-Based System Reform 88

Building Consensus on Results 88

Aligning the System: Identifying Necessary Changes 89

Aligning the System: First Steps Toward Change 91

Inside Classrooms: Keeping an Eye on the Big Picture 92

Inside Programs: Keeping an Eye on Common Goals 98

Looking at the Whole System: A Framework for Improving Service Delivery 100

Footnotes 104

Appendices

APPENDIX A

The EFF Framework

Role Maps

Common Activities Matrix

EFF Content Standards

APPENDIX B

Documentation Templates

APPENDIX C

EFF Development Partners

APPENDIX D

Equipped for the Future Team, 1999-2000

For More Information on EFF

8
Equipped for the Future

Content Standards

Acknowledgements

A collaborative, multi-year standards development initiative like Equipped for the Future (EFF) can

only reach the point of producing standards worth publishing through the work of hundreds of individuals and organizations. In the Appendix you will find the full list of practitioners, administrators,

researchers, and state and national leaders who served as advisors and partners in the standards development process. All have contributed in some way to the development of Equipped for the Future Content Standards: What Adults Need to Know and Be Able to Do in the 21st Century. We are extremely

grateful to them for joining us in envisioning a better adult learning system, and for keeping us focused

on achieving that vision as we developed the EFF Content Framework and Standards.

The National Institute for Literacy would not have been inspired to begin this work without the many

adult learners who took the time to share with us their purposes for learning and their vision of how literacy could help them achieve their goals as workers, members of families and communities, and citizens of this country. Nor would we have continued this work without the affirmation provided by

hundreds more learners who participated in the 25 programs that joined in the EFF field development

process over the past two years, using the framework and earlier versions of the standards to guide

instruction and assessment. We are grateful for these learners' willingness to work with us to improve

our system so that we can provide more and better opportunities for the universe of learners to achieve

the four purposes in their daily lives.

In addition to those who inspired EFF, I would especially like to thank those whose assistance has

directly contributed to the publication of this book. These include: Brenda Bell, Aaron Kohring, and

Michelle Perry for preparing the data and artifacts for Chapters Three, Four, and Five from our database

at the Center for Literacy Studies; Carolyn Bronz, Michelle Miller, Eileen Peca, Debbie Stowers, and Judy

Wurtz for working with Brenda Bell, Andy Nash, and Donna Curry to create the three "Framework-inAction" vignettes in Chapter Four; Ellen Wernick for her painstaking work in organizing the data and

artifacts used throughout the book, especially in Chapter Three; Mary Dunn Siedow, Fran Tracy Mumford, and Lynn Reddy for their thoughtful review of the final manuscript; Susan Green for her constant

and careful pruning of my prose to assure that meaning triumphs; and Mary Revenig of DesignWorks

for the extraordinary labor of love that made this book a thing of beauty.

My colleagues at the Institute and my family and friends know how much I owe them all for their

patience and support while this book was in preparation. Thanks especially to Andy Hartman, Sara

Pendleton, Sharyn Abbott, and my husband, Joe Klaits.

Sondra Stein

National Director, Equipped for the Future

January 2000
CHAPTER 1

A Definition of

Adult Literacy for

The 21s` Century

The Equipped for the Future Standards for Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning have been

developed to answer a complex question: What do adults need to know and be able to do in

order to carry out their roles and responsibilities as workers, parents and family members, and

citizens and community members?

It is widely acknowledged that the demands of adult life have changed significantly in the last

quarter of the 20th century. The National Research Council's 1999 report, How People Learn:

Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, summarizes the "complexities of contemporary life" as

follows:

"The skill demands for work have increased dramatically, as has the need for organizations and workers to change in response to competitive workplace pressures. Thoughtful

participation in the democratic process has also become increasingly complicated as the

locus of attention has shifted from local to national and global concerns. Above all, information and knowledge are growing at a far more rapid rate than ever before in the history

of humankind."'

In order to carry out daily responsibilities at home, in the community, and in the workplace,

adultsregardless of their educationare required to sift through a vast amount of information, often requiring familiarity with technical content, before they can make decisions that

impact the well-being of families, neighborhoods, and ultimately, this country. Under such circumstances, the National Research Council report continues, "the meaning of 'knowing' has

shifted from being able to remember and repeat information to being able to find and use it." 2

The 16 Equipped for the Future (EFF) Standards have been identified through a careful

research process that began by looking at the changes in adults' daily lives. Building on research

conducted in 1990 by the Secretary's Commission on Necessary Skills (SCANS), Equipped for

the Future partners engaged adults all across the country in a research effort aimed at "mapping" the critical responsibilities of family and civic life as well as work life. Building consensus

Equipped for the Future

Adult Literacy for the 21st Century

V

"In the early part of the twentieth century,

education focused on the acquisition

of literacy skills: simple reading, writing,

and calculating. It was not the general rule

for educational systems to train people

to think and read critically, to express

themselves clearly and persuasively, to

solve complex problems in science and

mathematics. Now, at the end of the century,

these aspects of high literacy are required

of almost everyone in order to negotiate

successfully the complexities of

contemporary life."3

How People Learn: Brain, Mind,

Experience, and School

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 1
A

first on what adults have to do in these roles and what effective performance looks like in different communities across the United States, EFF was able to identify a core of 16 skills that constitute a foundation for success in coping with the "complexities of contemporary life" and

preparing for the future.

The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) undertook this effort in order to better understand

what we need to do, as a nation, to meet the challenge posed in the National Education Goal for

Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning:

"Every American adult will be literate and possess the knowledge and skills necessary to

compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship."4

By elaborating a new content framework that specifies the knowledge and skills required to fulfill these adult responsibilities, the NIFL's Equipped for the Future initiative makes it possible for

the national goal to serve as a guide to practice, as well as policy, for meeting adult learners' needs

and informing system accountability. EFF accomplishes these complex purposes by providing:

A common framework that adults can use to assess their own knowledge and skills in relation to their personal and career goals so they can shape a course that will better prepare

them for the future.

A common framework that teachers and programs can use to link curriculum and instruction, as well as assessment and evaluation, to achievement of real-world outcomes.

A common results-oriented language for linking the services provided through this nation's

human resource investment systemincluding schools, colleges, businesses, welfare-towork programs, one-stop career centers, industry-based skill standards, and school-towork programs.

A common standard for demonstrating competence that programs can use to award

portable credentials for adult learning.

A common definition of important results that public officials and citizens alike can use to

assure that public dollars are wisely invested in adult literacy and lifelong learning programs.

In these ways, the EFF Content Framework and Standards provide a starting point for building

a system for lifelong learning that is directly aligned with our national goal, a system that will

enable Americans, wherever they live, to build the skills they need to move themselves, their

communities, and our nation into the 21st century.

While the journey has just begun, the NIFL is publishing this guide now to give our partners

the tools they need to join us in the work ahead.

2 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

11
CHAPTER 2

Building the

Framework

"The people of the United States need to know that individuals in our society

who do not possess the levels of skill, literacy, and training essential to this new

era will be effectively disenfranchised, not simply from the material rewards

that accompany competent performance, but also from the chance to participate fully in our national life. A high level of shared education is essential to a

free, democratic society and to the fostering of a common culture, especially in

a country that prides itself on pluralism and individual freedom."'

A Nation at Risk, 1983

Nearly two decades have passed since the National Commission on Excellence in Education

issued A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform. Over these 20 years, the nation's

governors have joined together with the President and Congress to set challenging education

goals for the country and to put in place programs of educational reform that hold the promise

of change. In each of the major academic fields, content standards have been developed that

define the range of knowledge and skills that young people are expected to master before they

graduate from high school. And yet, every day we see signs that not enough has changed. We are

still a nation at risk. Student performance on national and international tests continues to be

lower than we aspire to. National business and industry associations continue to report difficulties in finding employees who have the skills needed in the workplace.' And recent studies of

welfare reform reveal that "it may take more education and training than states now provide to

make work truly pay for former welfare recipients."' According to an Urban Institute report

published in 1999, "the poorest 20 percent of American families lost more in welfare benefits

about $1,400 a familythan they gained in earnings." 4

What are the skills workers need to secure a job that pays well in the U.S. today? In Teaching the

New Basic Skills economists Richard Murnane and Frank Levy present a list of what they call

the New Basic Skills identified through research in high-performance businesses. Their list

includes:

The ability to read at the ninth-grade level or higher.

The ability to use math at the ninth-grade level or higher.

The ability to solve semistructured problems where hypotheses must be formed and tested.

o

Reports From the Media...

New York Times

Wednesday, September 29, 1999 (page A-18)

Most Pupils Can't Write Well, Report Says

BY JODI WILGOREN

0

nly about one-quarter of American students

can write at a proficient level, exhibiting

"solid" academic performance and "competency

over challenging subject matter," according to a

report released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The Washington Post

Tuesday, April 13, 1999 (page E-1)

Applicants Not Making Grade

Skills Shortage Plagues Firms Digging Deeper

Into the Labor Pool

BY KIRSTEN DOWNEY GRIMSLEY

More than a third of job applicants nationwide lack the basic math and reading

skills to do the jobs they are seeking, up from 19

percent in 1996, according to a new survey of more

than 1,000 personnel executives conducted by the

American Management Association.

"The sharp increase in the deficiency rate is not

evidence of a `dumbing down' of the incoming

work force," said Eric Rolfe Greenberg, the management association's director of studies. "Instead,

it testifies to the higher skill levels required in

today's workplace, where new technologies have

raised the bar for job applicants in terms of literacy

and math."

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 3

12
V

"Throughout the U.S., private- and

public-sector companies are facing the

problem of a workforce severely lacking

in basic workplace skills." 5

Michael Bloom and Brenda La Fleur,

The Conference Board

A Nation Lacking Skills9

The ability to work in groups with co-workers from different backgrounds.

The ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.

The ability to use personal computers to carry out simple tasks such as word-processing.6

According to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993the most comprehensive

survey of the literacy skills of adults in the U.S.the skills of more than 40% of all American

adults are below the New Basic Skills benchmark (level 3 on the NALS 5-level scale).' The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) conducted two years later confirmed these findings:

Compared with seven other industrialized countries, including some of our most important

competitors in the global economy, the U.S. ranked sixth. Only Poland had a higher percentage

than the U.S. of working adults whose skills were below level 3the level associated with

annual earnings above the poverty leve1.8

Equipped for the Future offers an avenue for change. These standards for what adults need to

know and be able to do "to compete in the global economy, to exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship," and "to participate fully in their children's education" are based on a

careful and extensive mapping of what adults actually do when carrying out important everyday responsibilities. Like the occupational skill standards being developed by industry-specific

public-private partnerships, the Equipped for the Future Standards start from thousands of

More than 40 percent of American workers

have inadequate literacy skills.

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Inadequate

Skills

Adequate

Skills

Source*. International Adult Literacy Survey

Excellent

Skills

Even high school graduates lack the ...and graduating from college

skills required to do their jobs adequately... is no guarantee.

60 60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Inadequate

Skills

Adequate

Skills

Excellent

Skills

50

40

30

20

10

Inadequate

Skills

Adequate

Skills

Excellent

Skills

4 EFF Content Standards

13

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
"snapshots" of adult performance collected over a three-year period from adults all across the

country, followed by careful analysis of what knowledge and skills support effective performance. As a result, there is a match between the knowledge and skills identified in EFF Standards and the knowledge and skills adults really need to be full participants in all aspects of our

national life.

This chapter outlines the approach taken by the National Institute for Literacy and its many

partners in developing a clear, specificand measurablepicture of what attainment of the

National Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning Goal looks like, as a first step toward building a

system that will help us get there.

Starting With the Customer Perspective:

Putting the Focus on Fundamental Purposes for Learning

In January 1994 NIFL launched Equipped for the Future by sending an open letter to teachers, tutors, and adult learners across the country, inviting them to help us answer the question behind the National Goal: What is it that adults need to know and be able to do in order

to be literate, compete in the global economy, and exercise the rights and responsibilities of

citizenship?

By March 1994, 1,500 adult students from 151 programs in 34 states responded to our openended request. They told us about the ways the workplaces in their communities were changing,

about jobs that were disappearing as companies moved to other parts of the world. They talked

about what it means to be a "newcomer" to America, learning a new

language and new cultural norms,

and about the struggle and joy of

learning to be an active citizen in a

democracy. They described their

hopes and fears for their families

and the need to prepare their

children and themselves for a

world that is changing fast. Taken

together, their words presented a

clear and powerful vision of how

education could equip them for

the future.

More than identifying specific

knowledge and skills they needed

to meet these challenges, adults

drew our attention to four fundaExcerpts From Student Essays"

"We need companies that

will train the workers here in

New Haven for new jobs.

We used to have the old jobs

that moved away. We can't

compete for new jobs without

education and training."

"At this point in my life my

responsibilities as a citizen are

close to home. As a parent,

everyday I guide my children in

every way I can. I want them to

do well in school and be happy.

I want them to have a better

I I I

MAY 1993

NIFL signs Memorandum

of Agreement with National

Educational Goals Panel to

define Goal 6 (Literacy and

Lifelong Learning Goal).

JANUARY 1994

NIFL solicits essays about

Goal 6 from adult learners in

programs nationwide.

education and better future

than the one I had before I

came to this country. I encourage them to take advantage of

the opportunities this country

gives to its citizens instead of

taking those opportunities for

granted. And I want them to

grow up to be responsible

citizens in their community."

"I want to understand American

life, American families, and

the American school system

because my children are learning in schools and colleges here.

We lived in a Communist society. We didn't know democratic

values, and now we must study

how to use these democratic

values in our lives. The many

rights of an American citizen

such as thinking as I please,

speaking, and writing as I

please, choosing my work as

I please are very important for

me because I did not have

these rights in Russia."

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 5
"I want to be able to understand my child's

teacher, and when I go to the mall and other

places, I want to be able to understand

everything."

"When you vote you have a say-so. You feel

good about yourself because your vote does

count and makes a difference."

"I never did put myself down because of [not

being able to read] but I had an empty spot

inside me, always depending on someone else

to read things to me."

Four Purposes for Learning

ACCESS

To gain access to information and

resources so they can orient themselves

in the world.

VOICE

To give voice to their ideas and opinions

with the confidence that they will be

heard and taken into account.

L

ACTION

To solve problems and make decisions

on their own, acting independently, as

parents, citizens, and workers, for the

good of their families, their communities,

and their nation.

BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE

To keep on learning in order to keep up

with a rapidly changing world.

mental needs that returned them to education. We call these the four purposes for learning:

Access, Voice, Action, and Bridge to the Future.

Learning for access and orientation includes not only physical or geographic orientation

reading maps and signsbut also psychological or social orientationknowing what is going

on in the world, understanding institutions that have an impact on one's life, getting needed

information. This purpose underlies many of the specific goals adults bring to literacy programsfor example, understanding the world, helping children with schooling, getting a job,

gaining economic awareness, and being an informed citizen.

Learning for voice embraces all aspects of communicationwritten and oralneeded to present oneself to the world. It goes beyond communication skills to the reasons for communicating: to speak and be heard. The writings about citizenship offered an important arena for voice,

but it was also important to adults in other aspects of their lives: to communicate with their

children's teachers, to exchange ideas at work, to speak up in their community.

"I feel that getting my high school diploma and

furthering my education will help me advance in

the corporate world today. I will go on to college

and get my degree in the field that I am working

toward, but I won't stop there! I will move on and

broaden my horizons by taking up and learning

more than one skill.... I may never know who or

what I will be up against, so I will prepare myself."

> Learning for independent action includes the dual elements of independence and action.

Many adults who feel their literacy skills are limited depend on others for help with reading and

writing. In statements that pointed to this purpose, learners expressed their desire to be able to

act for themselves, make informed decisions, and not have to rely on others to tell them what to

do. Learners' responses stressed independent action in all aspects of life: supporting their families, achieving economic self-sufficiency, and fulfilling responsibilities in their communities.

Learning as a bridge to the future reflects learners' sense that the world is changing. A prime

purpose for learning is to be ready for the changesto learn how to learn and prepare oneself

for lifelong learning. Keeping up with change is a necessity, particularly at work, but in personal

and family development and citizenship, learners also saw themselves in rapid social transformation. Keeping a job, adjusting to technological change, and improving family circumstances

were all reasons to continue learning.

6 EFF Content Standards

15

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In July 1995 NIFL published the results of this adult learner study in a report called Equipped

for the Future: A Customer-Driven Vision for Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning. It framed a

call to action, an invitation to all the readers of the study to become part of the process of shaping a new system.

"The National Institute for Literacy believes that the vision shaped in these adult perspectives constitutes a customer-driven mandate for change. We propose this vision be

adopted as a mission statement for our field and that we beginas a fieldto explore

what we would need to do differently, as teachers, administrators, counselors, support

staff, providers of technical assistance and staff development, funders and policymakers,

to assure that every aspect of our delivery system is dedicated to achieving Goal 6 as

defined by these adult students.""

P ai IWing Grants: ate ffirmat5on 4 the V5slion

In order to encourage this kind of discussion, in 1995 the NIFL awarded planning grants to

eight organizations around the country. These organizations tested the resonance and usefulness of this new framework of roles and purposes by engaging more than 1,100 stakeholders

and customers of the adult literacy fieldincluding employers, policymakers, and community leaders, as well as adult learners and practitionersin focus groups, structured feedback

sessions, practitioner inquiry, and student writing projects. After a year of exploration and

discussion, their recommendation was that NIFL should lead a national, collaborative, standards-based system reform initiative. The goal of this reform initiative would be to focus the

nation's adult literacy system on helping adult learners develop the skills needed to meet the four

purposes in their lives and successfully carry out their roles as parents, citizens, and workers.

The timing was right for an effort aimed at focusing the adult literacy system on a clear set of

results. Reauthorization of the Adult Education Act was pending in Congress, and evidence of

the program's effectiveness was not strong. A number of reports identified the shortcomings of

the service delivery network. One prepared specifically for Congress by the General Accounting

Office (GAO) called Adult Education: Measuring Program Results Has Been Challenging noted

questions about the validity and appropriateness of student assessments and the usefulness of

nationally reported data on results. The report also drew attention to "the lack of a coherent

vision of the skills and knowledge adults need to be considered literate "12 How could the field

have useful and appropriate instruments and valid and reliable assessment procedures when

there was no consensus on what was important for programs to achieve, and therefore, important to measure?

Adult learners' responses to the national goal provided a starting point for building consensus

on a vision of what needed to be achieved. The nationwide focus on accountability for results

provided the mission: to develop standards defining the knowledge and skills necessary to

achieve the four purposes and carry out adult roles. These standards could provide the basis for

a new framework for accountability in the adult basic education system.

0

JULY 1995

NIFL releases Equipped for

the Future: A Customer-Driven

Vision for Adult Literacy and

Lifelong Learning, proposing

a new framework for adult

learning based on the four

purposes and three adult

roles as parents, workers,

and citizens.

OCTOBER 1995

NIFL awards eight planning

grants to test and elaborate

the Framework and creates

a working group to oversee

progress.

1995-96

Planning grantees convene

114 focus groups in 18 states

to validate the four purposes

and examine what adults

need to know and be able

to do as workers, citizens,

and parent/family members.

o 0

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 7

16
0 0 0

"My book, In Over Our Heads, was looking

at contemporary culture as a kind of school

in which every adult is compulsorily

enrolled. The hidden curricula of the school

are found in the many highly frequented

roles of adult life: parenting, partnering,

working, being a citizen in a diverse society,

adult learning, and the like."13

Robert Kegan

APRIL 1996

NIFL establishes a

National Policy Group

to provide guidance and

linkage to other efforts.

What Adults Do: Constructing Role Maps

In 1996 Equipped for the Future set out to map the terrain of "what

adults need to know and be able to do to fulfill their roles as parents,

citizens, and workers!' In the first stage of this effort, the eight planning projects collected data on what adults in each role know and are

able to do. In successive phases focus group results were synthesized

into draft role maps, presented to a wide range of role practitioners

for feedback, revised, and published.14

In the course of this work an important shift was made from a focus simply on acquisition of

skills and knowledge to one on active application of skills and knowledge. Rather than starting

with academic content areas and conceiving adult education as an attempt to remediate gaps in

past schooling, the EFF team responded to adult learners' focus on purpose by first trying to

construct "maps" of what adults actually do in carrying out their adult roles.

Following in the footsteps of such work-related efforts as the Secretary's Commission on Necessary Skills (SCANS) and the skill standards movements for occupational areas like retail sales,

manufacturing, and electronics, we began our effort by defining the broad areas of responsibility and key activities characteristic of adult performance in each role and used this map of critical activities as a template for identifying the knowledge and skills that support successful

functioning in adult life.

OCTOBER 1996

NIFL funds three statebased partner grantees

one for each roleto

elaborate role maps and

develop standards.

Draft role maps were prepared in the fall of 1996 by researchers who

synthesized the data collected by the eight planning projects. In the

case of the Worker Role Map, the synthesis also took into account the

work of the U.S. Department of Labor on SCANS, O *NET, and the

National Job Analysis Study. Our intention was to begin the next

round of data collection with a Worker Role Map that reflected existing research and ongoing initiatives. In this way our field work could

contribute to validating these expert analyses, enabling DOL and NIFL to construct a common

framework for education and training that would support a seamless adult workforce development system:5

Each draft Role Map included the following parts: a "key purpose" that illustrates the central

aim of the role; "broad areas of responsibility" that are the critical functions an adult performs

to achieve the role's key purpose; and "key activities" through which the role is performed.

Later, "role indicators" were added that describe successful performance of key activities, providing an important link between activities and skills.

The language used in constructing the syntheses came from the data and reflected the purposeful and active depiction of the roles"taking action," for example, for the citizen role, or

continued on page 12

8 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

17
Equipped for the Future Citizen/Community Member Role Map

III

Citizen/Community Member Role Map

Effective citizens and community members take informed action to make

a positive difference in their lives, communities, and world.

BROAD AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Become and Stay Informed

Citizens and community members find

and use information to identify and

solve problems and contribute

to the community

Form and Express

Opinions and Ideas

Citizens and community

members develop a personal

voice and use it individually

and as a group

Work Together

Citizens and community

members interact with other

people to get things done

toward a common purpose

Take Action to

Strengthen Communities

Citizens and community

members exercise their rights

and responsibilities as

individuals and as members

of groups to improve the

world around them

I--

> Figure out how the system that affects

1 an issue works

C.) 4 Identify how to have an impact and

recognize that individuals can make w a difference

SC

Identify, monitor, and anticipate

problems, community needs, strengths,

and resources for yourself and others

Recognize and understand human, legal,

and civic rights and responsibilities for

yourself and others

Strengthen and express a sense

of self that reflects personal

history, values, beliefs, and roles

in the larger community

Learn from others' experiences

and ideas

Communicate so that others

understand

Reflect on and reevaluate your

own opinions and ideas

Get involved in the community

and get others involved

Respect others and work to

eliminate discrimination and

prejudice

Define common values, visions,

and goals

Manage and resolve conflict

Participate in group processes

and decision making

Help yourself and others

Educate others

Influence decision makers and

hold them accountable

Provide leadership within the

community

Find, interpret, analyze, and use diverse

sources of information, including

personal experience NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 9
Equipped for the Future Parent/Family Role Map

Equipped

forth, future

Parent/Family Role Map

Effective family members contribute to building and maintaining a strong family system

that promotes growth and development

BROAD AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

-?3

Promote Family Members'

Growth and Development

Family members support the growth

and development of all family members,

including themselves

Meet Family Needs

and Responsibilities

Family members meet the needs and responsibilities

of the family unit

(L

Strengthen the Family System

Family members create and maintain a

strong sense of family

Make and pursue plans for

self-improvement

Guide and mentor other family members

Foster informal education of children

Support children's formal education

Direct and discipline children

Provide for safety and physical needs

Manage family resources

Balance priorities to meet multiple needs and

responsibilities

Give and receive support outside the immediate family

Create a vision for the family and work to

achieve it

Promote values, ethics, and cultural heritage

within the family

Form and maintain supportive family

relationships

Provide opportunities for each family member

to experience success

Encourage open communication among the

generations

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised 3/29/99

10 EFF Content Standards

19

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
Equipped for the Future

Building the Framework

Equipped for the Future Worker Role Map

Equipped

F' future

Worker Role Map

Effective workers adapt to change and actively participate in meeting the demands

of a changing workplace in a changing world.

BROAD AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Do the Work

Workers use personal and

organizational resources to

perform their work and adapt

to changing work demands

Work With Others

Workers interact one-on-one

and participate as members

of a team to meet job

requirements

Work Within the

Big Picture

Workers recognize that formal

and informal expectations shape

options in their work lives and

often influence their level of success

Plan and Direct

Personal and

Professional Growth

Workers prepare themselves

for the changing demands of

the economy through personal

renewal and growth

Organize, plan, and prioritize work

Use technology, resources, and

other work tools to put ideas and

work directions into action

111 Respond to and meet new work

challenges

I

V

Take responsibility for assuring work

quality, safety, and results

Communicate with others inside

and outside the organization

Give assistance, motivation, and

direction

Seek and receive assistance,

support, motivation, and direction

Value people different from

yourself

Work within organizational norms

Respect organizational goals,

performance, and structure to

guide work activities

Balance individual roles and

needs with those of the

organization

Guide individual and

organizational priorities based

on industry trends, labor laws/

contracts, and competitive

practices

Balance and support work,

career, and personal needs

Pursue work activities that

provide personal satisfaction

and meaning

Plan, renew, and pursue

personal and career goals

Learn new skills

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99

L - NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 11
FEBRUARY 1997

NIFL publishes EFF: A Reform

Agenda for Adult Literacy and

Lifelong Learning, which

introduces the initial "role

maps," portraits of adult

responsibilities, and invites

programs, learners, and other

stakeholders nationwide to join

in the development process.

1997

From January through May

grantees conduct feedback

sessions in which 864 effective

role performers and a variety

of stakeholders comment on

and revise the draft role maps,

describing broad areas of

responsibility and key activities.

"working together" for the worker role. Every effort was made to assure that the language was

clear, simple, and understandable to learners, practitioners, and the general public.

The role maps were refined and validated through an extensive structured feedback process

conducted in 1997 by three consortia (one for each role), each guided by a national advisory

group representing stakeholders for that role. Each consortium recruited effective role performers and a variety of stakeholders to comment on and revise its draft role map. A total of

864 participants from 18 states took part in the feedback process. Participants were geographically spread out and diverse in terms of demographics, background, and experiences.

For the worker role, the complexity and range of work contexts made the task of validating the

role map particularly challenging. Staff recognized they could not feasibly convene structured

feedback groups with representatives from all industrial sectors and work situations. Instead

they aimed for diversityincluding both manufacturing and service sectors and large,

medium, and small enterprises. The aim was not to replicate the occupational skills standards

work on specific job clusters, but to identify the key underlying characteristics of the worker

role across many different work contexts.

Five states participated, each targeting a particular industry. Each convened a Working Group

with representatives of the targeted industries, adult education, employment training, economic development, and related agencies. Working Group members helped set up structured

feedback sessions and recruit participants.

A total of 371 individuals took part in 28 feedback sessions on the Worker Role Map. Almost

all were from business and industry, with a few from education and training organizations and

community organizations. Participants included employees at all levels, from janitors to midlevel managers. They worked in a range of sectors and company sizes, from mom-and-pop

grocery stores to large multinationals.

For the citizen role, a total of 25 structured feedback sessions were held in 13 states, involving

257 participants. Participants in the citizen role structured feedback were active in many kinds

of civic organizations and brought experience in a wide range of civic participation activities.

The largest single grouping was of representatives from local community-based organizations.

Others were active in state and local government (elected and appointed positions), religious

organizations, unions and businesses, educational and academic organizations, and a variety of

local chapters of national organizations.

For the parent role, 17 feedback sessions were held in nine states, involving 236 individuals.

Participants represented all economic levels, from welfare recipients to high-income parents.

The parents who worked outside the home had a wide variety of jobs: farmers, teachers,

nurses, service workers, managers in small and large businesses, company directors, and a

CEO of an international company. Some were retired (including a former state legislator).

12 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

21
They had a range of values, from conservative religious to

more liberal. Their education ranged from those working to

get their GED to a sprinkling of Ph.Ds. They were affiliated

with a wide variety of organizationsgovernment, education,

libraries, community and voluntary organizations, religious,

youth, business and industry, and health care. Though most of

the participants spoke English as their first language, two sessions were conducted in Spanish to ensure broader participation and representation. Two groups also were conducted on

Native American reservations.

By asking adults to help construct role maps that reflect their

experience as citizens, workers, or family members, EFF

brought a sense of values and personal meaning into its content framework. Participants said that citizenship is not just

about voting in elections, for example, but about taking action

in many ways to make a positive difference in the world. Parents were described as creating a vision for the family and promoting values, ethics, and cultural heritage. Workers not only

do the work but pursue work activities that bring them personal satisfaction. The issue of values and meaning is integral

to the role maps. They are not decontextualized lists of skills.

Unkting alciiHs to Effectitue Perffoomance

The role maps concentrated on broad areas of responsibility,

key activities, and role indicators as the areas on which the

Equipped for the Future

Building the Framework

States Taking Part in Worker Role Map Feedback

VIRGINIA

Food Industry including Nabisco, Interbake Foods, National Fruit

Product Co., WLR Foods, AFL-CIO and Bakery, Confectionery, and

Tobacco Workers International Union.

NORTH CAROLINA

Metals Manufacturing including Piedmont Triad Center for Advanced

Manufacturing, AMP Inc., Burckhardt American, Newman Machine Co.,

National Institute for Metal Working Skills, and AFL-CIO.

OHIO

Heavy Metal Industry including Ford, Ohio Stamping and Machine,

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Ohio

State Building and Construction Trades Council and AFL-CIO.

VERMONT

Health Care Industry - including Lamoille Mental Health, Southern

Vermont Home Health, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Rutland Regional

Medical Center, Copley Health Systems, Fletcher Allen Health Care

and AFL-CIO.

MAINE

Retail including National Retail Federation, Aroostook Center Mall,

Hannaford Bros. Co., American Pulpwood Association, and AFL-CIO.

least work had yet been done. In the next phase of work the EFF initiative constructed a database of skills and knowledge from published sources and EFF data, then used the role indicators to link the resulting skills and knowledge data with the refined role maps.

In spring 1997 the EFF technical-assistance team and coding teams from each of the role consortia reviewed and coded data on skills and knowledge. Each role consortium was asked to

review the literature relating to its role and identify up to 10 documents that, in its opinion,

defined the current state of knowledge about skill requirements for effective performance of

that role.

Since each of the source documents in the database had been created independently, there

were few commonalities in language. The EFF technical-assistance team developed a coding

guide that made it possible to bring skills and knowledge from each of the documentary

sources into a common framework, which could then be linked with the role maps. Deliberately based on the Department of Labor's O *NET skills framework, the guide created a sorting

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 13
Role Maps are "linked" to existing databases of knowledge,

skills, and abilities.

Citizen/Community

Member

Civics Standards, K-12

Civics Framework for

NAEP

ABA's Essentials of

Law-Related Education

MA ABE Social Studies

Framework

Quickening of America

MCOL Content Standards

for Adults as Citizens

Data From Phase II, EFF

Parent/Family

Member

PTA Standards

Evenstart Quality

Standards

Traits of Healthy Families

National Center for Family

Literacy Quality Indicators

Parents as Teachers

MotherRead

Early Supports for

Family Life

The Seven Habits of

Highly Effective Families

The Family Functioning

Scale

Data From Phase II, EFF

JUNE 1997

Grantees begin to define

"common activities" across

the three roles and a single

set of "generative skills" that

are needed across the roles.

Worker

O *NET Data

SCANS

NCTM/ANPN

Workplace Basics

CADD Standards

AEA Standards

Chemical Process

Industry Standards

Metal Workers Standards

Retail Sales Standards

Hospitality Standards

Data From Phase II, EFF

mechanism that could clearly link the EFF Framework with SCANS and O *NET.

The next step was to bring together the role map

and skills database for each role in order to build

the "clear picture of what adults need to know

and do in order to fulfill their roles as citizens,

workers, and family members," on which standards could be based. This task was carried out at

"linkage meetings" held in May and June of 1997,

where participants created the links between the

key activities of the refined role maps and the

skills and knowledge in the coding frame.

These linkages were a way of grounding the skills

in their application in key activities and ensuring

that role maps were sufficiently elaborated so that

education programs could use them to prepare

adults to perform their roles successfully.

By the end of June 1997 the EFF team was ready

to take the final steps needed to create adult learning standards: the separate roles needed to be linked and brought into one coherent framework that reflected the reality of adult experience as well as the needs of the adult learning

system for the clarity of a single set of standards. In this next phase of work, EFF defined

"common activities" across the three roles and a single set of "generative skills" needed across

the roles.

Common nct6vMesg Liinicting Holies fog. 7ranster

Common activities were defined as activities that occur in all three roles. In identifying a core

set of common activities across all the roles, all three levelsresponsibilities, key activities, and

role indicatorswere examined to take into account real differences in the centrality, importance, or frequency of activities from role to role.

Linking activities across the three roles meant that each role influenced the whole in particular

ways. For example, the citizen and family member roles were particularly strong on interpersonal and communication activities such as "guide and support others" and "respect others and

value diversity?' The worker role was particularly strong on systems activities like "work within

the big picture" and "keep pace with change?' Activities were designated as "common" only if

they appeared in all three roles. However, common activities had different emphases and meanings in the context of each role.16

14 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

23
Generative Skills: The Basis for Standards

Once the EFF team had identified the core activities that were common to all three roles, it was

possible to identify a set of "generative skills" that supported these common activities. Generative skills were defined as "integrated skill processes that are durable over time, in the face of

changes in technology, work processes, and societal demands?' They are required in order to

carry out the common activities identified from the role maps, as well as many day-to-day

tasks. Using the original role-specific codes that linked skills with key activities, generative skills

could be directly linked with the newly defined common activities.

From Skills to Standards

In October 1997 the result of this phase of EFF research was published as a wall-chart titled Equipped for the Future: A New Framework for Adult Learning. The chart included all the key elements

of the EFF Content Framework: purposes, role maps, common

activities, and generative skills. Readers were invited to review

these elements and to let the EFF development team know if the

Framework seemed to address the needs of learners in the adult

literacy system.

At the same time, the technical-assistance team returned to the

data and produced the first draft of EFF Standards. The effort to

keep the standards focused on application of skills resulted in an

overly complex first standards draft that filled a three-inch-thick,

three-ring binder, weighing down the 25 local programs that

worked with the EFF team to test and refine the Standards.'? Over

a 15-month period the standards were revised twice more

through an iterative field and expert review process.

OCTOBER 1997

NIFL publishes EFF: A

New Framework for Adult

Learning, which introduces

the skills and knowledge

critical for successful

achievement of purposes

and roles.

DECEMBER 1997

25 programs in 12 states

begin 18-month process of

field development.

The 25 field sites that participated in the development process were selected through a competitive process. State directors of adult education were invited to submit letters of interest and to

nominate programs in their states to participate. Twelve states chose to participate in the

process and worked with the NIFL to ensure that, taken together, the field sites reflected the

range of program types (volunteer and paid instructors, CBOs, LEAs, community colleges, and

libraries), program contexts (workplace, welfare-to-work, corrections, citizenship), and learners (ESOL, ABE, GED).

At least three teachers or tutors from each program used the Content Framework and Standards with learners for a five-month period, from January to May 1998, submitting detailed

weekly documentation:8 In June a three-day Debriefing Institute was held to enable participants to discuss their experiences with one another, provide feedback to NIFL, and work in

Equipped for the Future

Building the Framework

Common Activities

Gather, Analyze, and Use Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support From

Others

Develop and Express Sense of Self

Respect Others and Value Diversity

Exercise Rights and Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision and Goals

Use Technology and Other Tools to

Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

1998

Field development sites

use the Framework and draft

standards in their programs,

documenting the process

and results with assistance

from EFF field support staff.

OCT 1998

Standards revised based

on feedback from field

development sites.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 15
Equipped for the Future

Building the Framework

NOV 1998

10 field sites begin a second

phase of field review, with

each site concentrating on

one or two of the revised

standards.

JAN 1999

45 national experts in

standards and assessment

participate in a two-day

seminar to review the

standards.

Based on the results of the

field review and feedback

from the national experts,

final revisions are made.

small groups to develop criteria for revising the Standards. A Standards Working Group, led by

our technical-assistance team and composed of EFF staff and teachers from the field sites, met

in the weeks following the Institute to review the recommendations and develop a revised Standards template.

Once this template was approved, the Standards were revised and reviewed once again by a

smaller set of the 25 programs and by a panel of experts that met in January and March 1999.

The Standards were revised in May 1999, based on this review. Standards that were changed

substantially were tested a final time in programs over the summer.

16 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
CHAPTER 3

The EFF Standards

And How They Work

The 16 Equipped for the Future Standards define the core knowledge and skills adults need to

effectively carry out their roles as parents, citizens, and workers. The Standards have been identified through research on what adults need to do to meet the broad areas of responsibility that

define these central adult roles. They do not address the full range of activities adults carry out

in these roles; rather, they focus on the knowledge and skills that enable adults to

gain access to information and ideas;

communicate with the confidence that their message makes sense and can be understood by

others;

make decisions that are based on solid information and reached through thoughtful analysis,

consideration of options, and careful judgment;

keep on learning so they won't be left behind.

These are the four purposes for learning that adult learners identified in the first phases of the

EFF research.

Four Cater Dries of EFF SkiEls

The EFF list of necessary skills is different from the list adult educators traditionally use. It

starts with the Communication Skillsthe skills adults need for access to information: reading

and writing, listening and speaking, and observing. But it also includes three additional categories of skills that adults need in order to use the information they access to carry out their

responsibilities: to speak and act effectively in their roles as parents, citizens, and workers. These

categories of skills (see sidebar) include those we traditionally think of as interpersonal skills,

and those decision-making and learning skills we traditionally talk about as "higher order" or

critical-thinking skills.

Grouping the skills into these four categories is intended to underline the interchangeability of

skills within a category. For example, some activities that require adults to Work Together can be

carried out most effectively by relying on oral and visual communication skills. In such situations, reading and writing may not be the most important means of communicating with others about what needs to get done. Similarly, the specific interpersonal skills one needs to draw

on will vary from situation to situation depending on the task and context. The categories

How EFF Standards Work

The 16 EFF Standards

Using the Standards to Assess

Performance

EFF Standards include four

fundamental categories of skills

that adults need to draw from to

carry out the key activities that are

central to their primary roles:

Communication Skills

Read With Understanding

Convey Ideas in Writing

Speak So Others Can Understand

Listen Actively

Observe Critically

Decision-Making Skills

Solve Problems and Make Decisions

Plan

Use Math to Solve Problems

and Communicate

Interpersonal Skills

Cooperate With Others

Guide Others

Advocate and Influence

Resolve Conflict and Negotiate

Lifelong Learning Skills

Take Responsibility for Learning

Learn Through Research

Reflect and Evaluate

Use Information and

Communications Technology

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 17

26
EqufliiiedhfOi; the Future

i Th, tan,' prids

V

"School-based abilities are not

necessarily the same as work-based

abilities. Employers want employees

with solid academic basics, but they

want the applied versions of the three

R's. Applied reading, writing, and math

are substantially different from the

versions taught in schools. In addition,

employers want a set of behavior skills

that are not taught at all in traditional

academic curricula, such as problem

solving, communication skills,

interpersonal skills, and leadership."'

Anthony P Carnevale

and Jeffrey D. Porro

reflect this variability of skills, encouraging adult learners to think about all the skills in a given

category as tools they may want to draw on selectively to achieve their purpose more effectively.

Being able to use all the skills in each category with a high degree of competence maximizes flexibility, giving adults a range of choices for how they can meet daily challenges and opportunities.

Standards for Standards

Every standards development effort is guided by a set of criteria that reflect shared assumptions about learning and the role of standards. The following "standards for standards"

identify the key criteria that guided EFF Standards development over the past five years:

EFF Standards must accurately reflect what adults need to know and be able to do. EFF's

definition of what adults "need to know and be able to do" is based on analysis of what adults

do in their roles as workers, citizens, and members of families and communities. Since every

effort was made by the EFF team to start with an accurate picture of adult roles and role performance, there is real confidence that the Standards truly represent the knowledge and skills

critical to real-world successfor now. The world will continue to change, however, and EFF

Standards must also be dynamic and capable of change. The EFF Role Maps and Standards

will need to be reviewed periodically to make sure they continue to reflect real-world demands.

In this way we can assure that performance against the EFF Standards translates into realworld results.

EFF Standards must be reflective of broad consensus. Every component of the Framework

on which the EFF Standards are based, including the four Purposes, the Role Maps, and the

Standards, has been refined through an iterative process of feedback, comment, and testing.

The four Purposes emerged from learner writings about the national adult literacy and lifelong learning goal. The broad areas of responsibility and key activities in the Role Maps are

based on structured feedback sessions involving, in each case, three to four hundred adults

identified as effective performers in the role of worker, parent/family member, or

citizen/community member. The Standards were refined through nearly two years of field

and expert review. As a result, this Framework and these Standards reflect a broad and inclusive consensus on what is important for adults to know and do to be maximally effective in

their daily lives.

EFF Standards must be specific enough to guide instruction and assessment. Once the

core areas of knowledge and skills covered in the EFF Standards were defined, the Standards

were refined through two rounds of field review to assure that teachers working with adults

at every level of skill development could use them to guide instruction and assessment. The

goal of the Standards development team was to make sure that the Standards were specific

enough to communicate to adult learners, teachers, and other education professionals what

is most important for students to learn, without dictating how the ideas or information

should be taught.

18 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

27!
EFF Standards must be able to be measured. In specifying the content of each Standard, the

EFF development team turned to researchers and evaluators, as well as field reviewers, to help

ensure that EFF Standards focus on performance that is observable and measurable. The goal

of these efforts was to define standards that enable instructors not only to document performance but also to place it on a continuum and let students know if they are performing well

enough to accomplish a desired goal.

EFF Standards must define multiple levels of performance for students to strive for. The

EFF development team is just beginning the work of defining performance levels for EFF

Standards. These levels will be descriptive, focusing on what adults can do with the knowledge

and skills at each level, including what external benchmarks are linked to each level. This

approach to setting levels is based on the assumptions that adults differ in the goals they want

to achieve at different points in their lives and that different goals require different levels of

performance. Once EFF performance levels are set, adults will be able to use them, in combination with EFF Role Maps and Content Standards, to make informed choices about the level

of proficiency they need to develop to achieve goals they set for themselves.

EFF Standards must be written clearly enough for all stakeholders to understand. One of

the strongest imperatives guiding the EFF Standards development process has been always to

keep in mind the multiple audiences that need to understand the Standards. Our goal has

been to write Standards that are compelling enough to inspire adult learners, teachers, and

tutors, and clear enough to send a coherent message to policymakers and other stakeholders

about what students know and are able to do if they meet EFF Standards.

Specifying the Standards

Since the starting place in defining the EFF Standards is what people do that requires the

knowledge and skills that make up each Standard, every effort has been made to assure that the

Standards sharply focus on application of skills.

Naming the Standards. The name of each EFF Standard focuses on how adults need to use

the skill to carry out the core of activities common to the three roles. The EFF Reading Standard is called Read With Understanding to express the focus on purpose and use: adults need

sufficient mastery of decoding and comprehension strategies to accomplish a task requiring

them to Gather, Analyze, and Use Information or Manage Resources,2 for instance. The level of

mastery required will vary, depending on task and context. Similarly, the EFF Math Standard is

called Using Math to Solve Problems and Communicate to make clear the role that number sense

and mathematical operations play in helping adults carry out key activities in their daily lives.

Focusing the Content of the Standards. This focus on application is continued in the

description of the content of the Standard. The description of Read With Understanding is

given in the box at the right.

V

"Not everyone can be an expert. Everyone

can be good at something, but most of us

get along without being proficient in

everything."3

Bert F Green

Read With Understanding

Determine the reading purpose

Select reading strategies appropriate

to the purpose

Monitor comprehension and adjust

reading strategies

Analyze the information and reflect

on its underlying meaning

Integrate it with prior knowledge to

address reading purpose

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 19

28
V

"Viewing literacy as skills or tasks does not

adequately encompass the complexity of

the experience of literacy in adults' daily

lives. Literacy reflects the fundamental

interdependence of the social world at

many levels.... Although literacy requires

knowledge of the technical skills of forming

letters, spelling words, decoding, and so on,

these technical skills are useless without

social knowledge that attaches meaning to

words in context." 4

Hanna Arlene Fingeret and

Cassandra Drennon

This Content Standard has been framed to include the key elements of the reading process as

defined in the Reading Excellence Act (REA).5 In the REA, reading is defined as "a complex system of deriving meaning from print that requires all of the following: a) the skills and knowledge to understand how phonemes, or speech sounds, are connected to print; b) the ability to

decode unfamiliar words; c) the ability to read fluently; d) sufficient background information

and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension; e) the development of appropriate active

strategies to construct meaning from print; f) the development and maintenance of a motivation to read" (Sec. 2252(4)). These necessary components of reading are reflected in points two

and three of the EFF Standard: "Select reading strategies appropriate to purpose" and "Monitor

comprehension and adjust reading strategies." In the EFF Standard, these specific skills and

abilities are explicitly wedded to the reader's "purpose."

EFF research with adult learners has convinced us that purpose is the key to motivation for

adultsmotivation to learn and motivation to achieve. The EFF Standards have been designed

to encourage adult learners and their teachers to think about strategies for learning and for

using skills in the context of the learner's purpose, to identify barriers along the way to achieving that purpose, and to identify and try out new strategies that might enable the learner to get

past those barriers. A shorthand way of saying this is that EFF Standards encourage a problemsolving approach to skill development. While the focus of teaching and assessment is what students need to learn in a particular situation to achieve their purpose, the goal is longer-term. to

build, over time, the cognitive and metacognitive strategies that facilitate learning with understanding and transfer of learning from one context to another.

The EFF development team adopted this approach to the Standards for two primary reasons.

First, it makes sense in terms of how adults need to use skills in the world. A problem-solving

approach to developing knowledge and skills fits with a world in which adults' everyday life

responsibilities demand that they be able to identify and respond to change and challenge at

work and at home. Second, it is congruent with the growing body of research on how people

learn. Teaching skills in the context of purpose and application facilitates retention of knowledge

in a usable formso students can draw on it as necessary, in a range of contexts and situations.

Practitioners in the field development process supported this approach to defining standards

for similar reasons. They told us that standards focused on "purposes" speak directly to the

goals and needs of their students. Adult students are highly goal-directed. They come to formal

learning situations actively seeking knowledge and skills in order to build competence in their

lives and accomplish things that have an impact on those around them. Making sure that each

Content Standard explicitly focuses on what the teachers came to call "components of competent performance" enabled teachers to identify with greater specificity what their students can

and cannot do so they can better align teaching and assessment with learner needs and goals.

20 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

293
The 16 EFF Standards Communication Skills

Decision-Making Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Lifelong Learning Skills

Use

Information and \

Communications

Technology

Use Math to

Solve Problems and

Communicate

Take Responsibility

for Learning

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

30

EFF Content Standards 21
How to Read the Standards

Insights From Field Research: Using the

Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Since we do not yet have performance levels for

EFF Standards, we thought it would be helpful for

readers to see how teachers are using the Content

Standards to plan instruction and assess

performance.

This section is composed of excerpts from documentation submitted by teachers who participated

in Phase I and Phase II of the field development

process. In Phase I, teachers submitted weekly

documentation describing their experiences using

the Framework and Standards with their learners.

In Phase II, teachers' documentation focused

specifically on the Standards. Most of the field

notes included here come from this second phase

of documentation.

Phase II documentation asked teachers to respond

to three sets of questions. The first focused on

planning for instruction, the second on evaluation

of instruction and student performance, the third

on teacher reflections on how using the Standards

affected teaching and assessment.

For each Standard we have included excerpts from

at least one teacher's documentation. We purposely

use responses from different sections of the documentation from Standard to Standard to give the

reader a flavor of the types of responses we

received across all three sets of questions. We wish

it had been possible to include some responses

in full, but they were too long for the space

available here.

The phrases in italics identify the questions from the

documentation template.

All comments are from documentation submitted

by the teacher(s) identified at the beginning of the

selection. The level of instruction and type of

instructional setting are also identified.

Copies of the documentation templates for both

Phase I and Phase II are included in Appendix B.

Eguiperbit %or, the Futu..

The Standards COMMUNICATION SKILLS ead With

Understanding

Reflections

"Adult illiteracy usually involves a lack of

proficiency in comprehension strategies and

in metacognition. Over several years, Wittrock

and Kelly (1984) studied several hundred

young, functionally illiterate adults. Nearly all

of them could decode words, but very few of

them used, monitored, or evaluated learning

strategies and metacognitive processes. In

these experiments, when learning strategies

and metacognitive processes were taught to

these students, their reading comprehension,

including their ability to read on-the-job

technical text, improved substantially

about Mb."'

Merlin C. Wittrock

"To read critically means to read intelligently.

When we read the newspaper we have to think

about what they want to tell you. We...don't

have to believe everything we read. Before

when reading the newspaper I was just trying

to read the words, but now I can understand

what the papers are trying to say."

Adult learner; Santa Clara Reading Program,

Santa Clara, CA

Insights From Field Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning'

Marty Duncan

Sumner Adult Education, East Sullivan, ME

Adult Basic Education (ABE) Level 1;

One-on-one tutoring, series of lessons

"I felt I was working from a more solid basis

than before and that if I were asked to explain

what EW and I are doing, I would be able to do

that in a clearer way than before."

Describe what you know about the level of performance of your students.

Clearly identifies purpose for reading: EW determined before and during her first session at the

learning center that she wanted to learn to read so

that she could function independently in specific

ways, especially grocery shopping. She has also

discussed a larger purpose relative to her lifelong

feelings of inadequacy because of her inability to

read. After more than 30 years of marriage, she

has been widowed for about a year and is feeling

the loss of her husband's assistance in this area of her life. Chooses appropriate strategies for reading: EW

explained in the first session that she wanted to

learn the alphabet including the sounds of letters.

She had tried to learn some of this in the past but

became frustrated and gave up.... We agreed to

begin a list of grocery words using the names of

groceries EW commonly purchased.

Effectively overcomes external and internal barriers to comprehension:* EW is willing to discuss

openly and even joke about her negative self-criti- cism. She is aware that she becomes irritated and

sarcastic whenever she makes even the slightest

mistake. At this point, she places full responsibility

for the fact that she didn't learn to read squarely

on her own shoulders. Though I can guess from

what she has said me that there are contributing

factors from her family, social, and school situation, EW seems to believe that these are minor and that her own "thick-headedness" is the real reason that she hasn't learned to read. Integrates new information with prior knowledge to address reading purpose: EW and I have

been using the assessment forms from Project READ, San Mateo. We discuss each week what she has learned and how she uses it. Last week, she

said that she was using her practice grocery list to

make one to use for shopping. This week I will ask

her how she knows when she is doing something

better. What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the standard?

Clearly identifies purpose for reading: EW will

be able to discuss information she has gathered

and knowledge she has gained. Chooses appropriate strategies for reading: EW

will be able to say what she is doing when she is

trying to figure out something she is reading. She

will be able to repeat a strategy that she has previously tried. She will be able to use increasing

numbers of effective strategies. She will be able to

match a problem situation with a strategy.

Effectively overcomes external and internal barriers to comprehension:' EW will be identify

both internal and external barriers to comprehen- sion. She will be able to use what she has learned about these barriers to improve her attitude

toward herself and her ability to learn. She will be

able to recognize which external barriers can and

cannot be removed. She will learn strategies that

can be useful in overcoming the barriers. She will

be able to apply a useful strategy when confronted with the effects of a barrier. Integrates new information with prior knowledge to address reading purpose: EW will give

examples of the ways she uses her increased under- standing and knowledge in her daily life (for example, regularly using a grocery list, regularly reading

ads and comparing prices before shopping.)

-1 Except where otherwise noted, all teacher data are

from the second round of field review, conducted October 1998 May 1999. " Wording changed as result of Standards review process. 24 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Reflections

We included reflections from a range of

writers, thinkers, researchers, and teachers

to provide alternative perspectives on how

adults use this skill in their lives.

22 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
The EFF Standards page has been designed to illustrate the relation between the

Content Standard and the other elements of the EFF Content Framework.

The Content Standard pops up from

the center of a circle framed by the Four

Purposes that motivate adult learning.

In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

,errh LF

Read With

Understanding

Determine the reading purpose.

Select reading strategies

appropriate to the purpose.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS Read With

Understanding

a

Monitor comprehension and adjust

reading strategies.

Analyze the information and reflect

on its underlying meaning.

Integrate it with prior knowledge Mcd3a'

to address reading purpose.

4

Family ',

(ECIEBICIZI ADaalUIRC13

EMEGD titgars

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support From Others Develop and Express Sense of Self Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

The triangles represent the three primary adult roles.

Meeting the Standard enables adults to achieve the

purposes and carry out their roles effectively.

The 13 Common Activities represent

the areas of overlap between the three

roles. Fuller descriptions of both the

Common Activities and the areas of

overlap can be found in Appendix A.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

321

EFF Content Standards 23
COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Need Mh

UnderMandm

Refiections

"Adult illiteracy usually involves a lack of

proficiency in comprehension strategies and

in metacognition. Over several years, Wittrock

and Kelly (1984) studied several hundred

young, functionally illiterate adults. Nearly all

of them could decode words, but very few of

them used, monitored, or evaluated learning

strategies and metacognitive processes. In

these experiments, when learning strategies

and metacognitive processes were taught to

these students, their reading comprehension,

including their ability to read on-the-job

technical text, improved substantially

about 20%."6

Merlin C. Wittrock

"To read critically means to read intelligently.

When we read the newspaper we have to think

about what they want to tell you. We...don't

have to believe everything we read. Before

when reading the newspaper I was just trying

to read the words, but now I can understand

what the papers are trying to say."

Adult learner, Santa Clara Reading Program,

Santa Clara, CA

insights Fr0071 Field Research:

Using the Standard i© Guide Teaching and Learningt

Marty Duncan

Sumner Adult Education, East Sullivan, ME

Adult Basic Education (ABE) Level 1;

One-on-one tutoring, series of lessons

"I felt I was working from a more solid basis

than before and that if I were asked to explain

what EW and I are doing, I would be able to do

that in a clearer way than before."

Describe what you know about the level of performance of your students.

Clearly identifies purpose for reading: EW determined before and during her first session at the

learning center that she wanted to learn to read so

that she could function independently in specific

ways, especially grocery shopping. She has also

discussed a larger purpose relative to her lifelong

feelings of inadequacy because of her inability to

read. After more than 30 years of marriage, she

has been widowed for about a year and is feeling

the loss of her husband's assistance in this area of

her life.

Chooses appropriate strategies for reading: EW

explained in the first session that she wanted to

learn the alphabet including the sounds of letters.

She had tried to learn some of this in the past but

became frustrated and gave up.... We agreed to

begin a list of grocery words using the names of

groceries EW commonly purchased.

Effectively overcomes external and internal barriers to comprehension:* EW is willing to discuss

openly and even joke about her negative self-criticism. She is aware that she becomes irritated and

sarcastic whenever she makes even the slightest

mistake. At this point, she places full responsibility

for the fact that she didn't learn to read squarely

on her own shoulders. Though I can guess from

what she has told me that there are contributing

factors from her family, social, and school situation, EW seems to believe that these are minor

and that her own "thick-headedness" is the real

reason that she hasn't learned to read.

Integrates new information with prior knowledge to address reading purpose: EW and I have

been using the assessment forms from Project

READ, San Mateo. We discuss each week what she

has learned and how she uses it. Last week, she

said that she was using her practice grocery list to

make one to use for shopping. This week I will ask

her how she knows when she is doing something

better.

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the Standard?

Clearly identifies purpose for reading: EW will

be able to discuss information she has gathered

and knowledge she has gained.

Chooses appropriate strategies for reading: EW

will be able to say what she is doing when she is

trying to figure out something she is reading. She

will be able to repeat a strategy that she has previously tried. She will be able to use increasing

numbers of effective strategies. She will be able to

match a problem situation with a strategy.

Effectively overcomes external and internal barriers to comprehension:* EW will be able to

identify both internal and external barriers to

comprehension. She will be able to use what she

has learned about these barriers to improve her

attitude toward herself and her ability to learn.

She will be able to recognize which external barriers can and cannot be removed. She will learn

strategies that can be useful in overcoming the

barriers. She will be able to apply a useful strategy

when confronted with the effects of a barrier.

Integrates new information with prior knowledge to address reading purpose: EW will give

examples of the ways she uses her increased understanding and knowledge in her daily life (for example, regularly using a grocery list, regularly reading

ads and comparing prices before shopping).

t Except where otherwise noted, all teacher data are

from the second round of field review, conducted

October 1998 May 1999.

* Wording changed as result of Standards review process.

24 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

33
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

Read Nth

Understand Ong

Determine the reading purpose.

Select reading strategies

appropriate to the purpose.

Monitor comprehension and adjust

reading strategies.

Analyze the information and reflect

on its underlying meaning.

Integrate it with prior knowledge MatZGR

to address reading purpose.

O

QO

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Need Willi)

Underatenang

Family

COMMON

ACTIVITIES

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 25

34
0 I

0

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Ci nvey seas

rtitin

Reflections

"Whether fresh insight comes first or fresh

words I don't know. To this day, I am as

bemused by the hen and egg dilemma as I was

at six years old. But I know this: when we begin

to get new insight we tend to find new words,

for only by using the new can we, in turn,

communicate the new insight to others or even

to ourselves. Surely there is a simultaneity

about this matter of fresh phrases gushing out

of our vocabulary and fresh ideas gushing in

to our minds. A new gestalt is formed, a new

coming-together of multiple forces [internal

and external] takes place and this gestalt

transforms us and the situation in which

we exist."7

Lillian Smith

insights FIriPm Reid Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Debbie Stowers and Michelle Miller

Canton City Schools ABLE, Canton, OH

ABE and GED;

In-class activity, series of lessons

Describe what you know about the level of performance of your students.

Many of the students are able to identify purpose

and audience for writing. Some of the students can

organize information well. A few struggle with format and sequence of materials. Some students can

control barriers effectively. Few are able to edit and

revise writing for effectiveness.

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the Standard?

Recognizes purpose and audience for writing; verbalizes the purpose and audience for writing;

demonstrates in writing the purpose and audience for writing

Selects a format for writing; writes the main idea;

lists the paragraph topic idea; sequences the topic

ideas in appropriate order

Organizes paragraphs; uses topic sentences; uses

supporting details; uses correct grammar

Rereads text for possible problems; has others

reread text for problems; recognizes need to

change text; edits text for grammatical and structural errors.

Describe what took place during the learning experience.

Our first lesson with the Writing Standards involved

making posters for our mentor luncheon. As a class

we determined the purpose and organization of

each poster. In groups they wrote the text for our

posters. This was recorded on the Writing handout.

Next, the students helped each other edit and make

changes that were needed before transferring the

text to the posters. Beginning with a group activity,

they were able to get a better feel for the Standard

and what each component meant.

In the follow-up lesson, students were to complete

applications for our job shadowing program. On

the application there were two short essay questions. Using the Standard and the Writing sheet, the

students worked individually to complete their

essays. Once they identified the purpose/audience

and organized their ideas, they wrote a rough draft.

Peers, as well as teachers and tutors, assisted in the

editing. After rough draft revisions were completed,

a final copy was made on the application.

Look at the steps you identified above. How does the

evidence you collected relate to these steps?

Students expressed the purpose/audience both in

words and on paper.

Students selected a format; wrote down thoughts

and ideas; and, with help, organized and sequenced

ideas.

Students put ideas into paragraphs and began

each paragraph with a topic sentence.

Students had others read their writing and, with

help, revised text to correct errors.

26 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

Convey ideas

in Writing

Determine the purpose for

communicating.

Organize and present information

to serve the purpose, context, and

audience.

Pay attention to conventions of

English language usage, including

grammar, spelling, and sentence

structure, to minimize barriers

to reader's comprehension.

Seek feedback and revise to

enhance the effectiveness of

the communication.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Cornmey Udeas

WrdUng

O

QO

Family

ACTIVITIES

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

36

EFF Content Standards 27
COMMUNICATION SKILLS

S ea Ss Ot i rs

Can U erstand

,0,

Reflections

"The philosopher H.P. Grice has pointed to four

simple rules that govern any rational communication of information. While we do much more

with language than convey information, Grice's

rules are a good starting point for a discussion

of how people shape language to affect and

influence other people:

1. Say as much as necessary and no more.

2. Tell the truth.

3. Be relevant.

4. Be clear.

Any attempt to exchange information in conversation with others would quickly cease to have

a point if these rules were not obeyed, in the

vast majority of occasions, by the vast majority

of people. At the very least, you must (for the

most part) pretend that you are obeying these

rules, if you are to be accepted as a conversational partner."8

James Gee

insights From Fieid Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Maggie Moreno

Harris County Department of Education,

Adult Education Division, Houston, TX

ESOL Level 1; Series of lessons, project,

group activity

Describe what you know about the level of performance of your students.

Purpose: Most students can identify the purpose

for speaking to an audience, but are able to communicate with limitations.

Strategies: Impromptu answers are not clear.

They need help organizing thoughts and clarifying main ideas. They need to write their ideas first

before speaking in front of a class or group.

Barriers: They have problems with grammar, sentence structure and word order.

Monitors Reactions: They can speak and deliver

the message to a group after practicing a lot first

in their class and then to other classes.

Adjusts: Even after presenting the project to the

first class, the students wanted to practice again in

our classroom and make corrections to the original presentation.

Carla McTigue

Arlington Employment and Education

Program (REEP), Arlington, VA

ESOL Level 250; In-class activity, series of

lessons, group activity

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the Standard?

Purpose: I will look for evidence that students ask

and respond to questions from other group members using learned phrases and some new phrases

and that they participate in conversations piecing

together the information they obtained aurally. I

will look for attempts at spontaneous conversation, particularly with respect to the problemsolving portion of the activity.

Strategies: I will look for students trying to clarify

general meaning by rewording and rephrasing. In

some cases, less use of bilingual dictionaries and

teacher assistance will represent progress in building oral fluency. I will look for less switching to

the primary language.

Barriers: I will look for progress in students'

vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and overall

oral fluency.

Monitors Reactions: I will look for evidence,

through body language, speakers' next utterances

and overall flow of conversations, that speakers

are receiving listeners' reactions.

Adjusts: I will look for instances of students'

rephrasing or rewording their questions when

explicitly or implicitly called upon to do so by

their listeners.

How was learner performance different or similar to

what you anticipated in planning for the activity?

Learner performance was somewhat more advanced

than I anticipated. They spoke carefully, articulately,

with much original, spontaneous language, and

with much checking and rewording to aid others in

their group's comprehension. They listened actively

to the reading of the stories, taking detailed, copious

notes, and also to each other, posing many questions

to each other and listening carefully to the answers.

I also was surprised by the strong performance of

other EFF Standards that my students demonstrated. They worked very well together under significant time pressure. They showed definite

opinions and advocated for them. They resolved

conflict and negotiated to the extent their language

abilities allowed them. Occasionally, they were

unable to explain their ideas adequately to convince

others. In these cases, they switched to their primary languages, which I expected.

I did not expect that students would rely so much

on their comparatively strong reading and writing

skills to aid their ability to speak and listen effectively. Almost all took copious, fairly accurate notes

while listening to the stories. At this level, students

draw on all of their language skills to optimize

communication.

28 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

37
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

STANDARD

Speak So Others

Can Understand

Determine the purpose for

communicating.

Organize and relay information

to effectively serve the purpose,

context, and listener.

Pay attention to conventions of

oral English communication,

including grammar, word choice,

register, pace, and gesture in order

to minimize barriers to listener's

comprehension.

Use multiple strategies to

monitor the effectiveness of the

communication.

O

MOgi33C;7

QO

41 I

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

S eak So Others

Can Understand

Family

COMMON

ACTIVITIES

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 29
COMMUNICATION SKILLS

oaten Actively

Reflections

"Communication means listening openly

and sending convincing messages. Being

an adept communicator is the keystone of all

social skills. Listening well is also crucial to

competence in communicating. Listening

skillsasking astute questions, being openminded and understanding, not interrupting,

seeking suggestionsaccount for about a

third of people's evaluations of whether

someone they work with is an effective

communicator."9

Daniel Goleman

insights From Fieid Research:

Using the Stand rd to Guide Teaching and Learning

Jane Knight

Knox County Adult Literacy Program,

Knoxville, TN

ABE Level 1; Series of lessons with a student

leadership group on Listen Actively

How did the process of defining and collecting evidence work for you? How did it require new or different methods of thinking and observation from

you and your learner(s)?

Defining evidence and collecting the evidence

worked well. It helped me to know exactly what I

would look for from each student in order to know

that they were making progress. I used checklists in

my observations instead of just writing notes.

Defining the evidence helped tremendously with

the lesson planning because as I planned each lesson I would scan the components then check the

'types of evidence to be sure that the evidence I

intended to look for measured the component.

Did using the components of the Standard in planning and assessing learning change the process of

planning, teaching, and evaluation? How?

In the planning of the lesson I spent a lot more time

thinking about how the student looked before the

lesson than I have before. I liked the step-by-step

approach. It made planning and teaching the lesson

much easier. It is like having a roadmap that shows

you how to get to your destination. I did not have to

hunt for ways to assess the skill. Using the components made it easy to see how the student was performing the step. I found it helpful to take the

Standard page and place it in my planning book in

front of my lessons and use the Standard page as a

check when I was teaching and planning. I don't

feel that adult educators usually plan at this depth

or level and the components are a good guide to

helping teachers plan activities that address the

skills that adults have identified.

One piece of evidence Jane collected from a student:

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_.141%71) i1 evrt.

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,Y15176TeL4-4'en°,,.\ Is Sc froces

?(\_ o e bet o me- a?c0 Cease,

Que. bearreD a J-0T ab°`"rd-i

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ry -s cAP ?rrio Vt-r1 deeSn,r161

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30 EFF Content Standards

39

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

Nu I

Usten ctively

Attend to oral information.

Clarify purpose for listening and

use listening strategies appropriate

to that purpose.

Monitor comprehension, adjusting

listening strategies to overcome

barriers to comprehension.

Integrate information from listening

with prior knowledge to address

listening purpose.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

IL,n'easn AcaNs[IF

Mor&gp

QO

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

40

EFF Content Standards 31
. S .

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

0 serve Critically

Reflections

"...while observation seems as simple and

commonplace as dressing, eating, or driving a

car, it is important to remember that...each of

us interprets the world and responds to it

according to our personal frame....

Many psychologists believe that professionals create frames for understanding within their

chosen fields, just as individuals construct a

frame for interpreting the events of daily life.

Experts know what to look for and rapidly learn

from what they see, and thereby rise to the top

of their profession long before others who do

not have a structure for sorting out the least relevant from the most relevant details. Sternberg

(1995) believes that intelligent behavior may be

marked more by the structure or frame one

brings to a problem or task than by what one

knows about the problem or task beforehand.

Thus, developing a professional frame with

which to evaluate and act on events is a critical

skill for becoming an expert."1°

Gary D. Borich

0 sights From Fieid esearch

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Karen Masada

The Reading Program

Santa Clara County Library

Milpitas, CA

What happened this week?

Today we watched a very good video that Ellen

checked out for us on reading the newspaper. During one part of the video, the narrator showed how

two very different articles could be written about

the same event depending on the point of view and

personal biases of the reporter. Without taking a

closer look, both seemed to be reports that just contained the facts of the event. We stopped the tape in

the middle and talked about what the true facts of

the story were. After the narrator compared the two

articles and explained the need to read critically, the

learners were amazed at how much opinion was

inserted into the article by subtle word choices and

the omission of several facts that the alternative

article highlighted. The video was a great tool to

reinforce their understanding of reading/viewing

things critically.

We talked about drawing conclusions based on

reviewing multiple sources, personal knowledge,

and reliance on trusted opinions of others. In terms

of the media, one learner said that she used her critical thinking skills much more when reading articles in her native country, Iran. She said that she

believed that you had to write more of the truth

here before being published. I gave her some examples of far-fetched headlines in tabloids like the

Enquirer and we discussed considering a source's

reputation for accurate reporting as another means

to help draw conclusions.

For a future class I'd like to get a video clip of some

news event and show it to the class with the volume

turned all the way down and then ask half the

group to write about just the facts of what they witnessed and ask the other half of the group to write

an interpretation of what they thought was occurring. We could make comparisons between groups

or within groups. I think it would be an interesting

follow-up lesson.

Anita Johndro

Atkinson Adult Learning, Atkinson, MEt

Employment preparation; Series of lessons

"This has been a valuable lesson for me as well as

my students. We both came away from this experience this summer with new and valuable tools for

ourselves. One student expressed the feeling that

she will never view the news, television, listen to

the radio, or look at a program the same way. She

said once you talk about these things, you start to

see where they relate in your life and you never

see it the same way as you used to see it."

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the Standard?

Describing visual sources

Looking at the source deeper

Asking questions or applying knowledge of

unseen

Comparing that knowledge to what they already

know

Making an analysis of the information

Reaching a conclusion

What evidence of student progress did you see and

how did you document it?

Students identified components of the visual source

more thoroughly as we discussed the pieces in

class.... The first time most of the students only

looked at the visual source at face value. But all said

that when they observed critically they compared,

then evaluated, and lastly made some kind of decision. We looked at the sources and then compared

them with prior knowledge they had. The last thing

I asked them to do was to make an evaluation

because that is what they told me they did. Once

they were asked to make a comparison, some had

difficulty so we asked these questions: What

appealed to you about the visual source? What did

not appeal to you? Are there any underlying messages?

What are the messages? To whom is the message

directed? What age level? What are the consequences?

Was the source successful in its appeal? Why?

t From third round of field review, JuneAugust, 1999

32 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

STANDARD

Observe Critically

Attend to visual sources of

information, including television

and other media.

Determine the purpose for

observation and use strategies

appropriate to the purpose.

Monitor comprehension and

adjust strategies.

Analyze the accuracy, bias, and

usefulness of the information.

Integrate it with prior knowledge

to address viewing purpose.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Obsenr Critically

O

L7

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

42

EFF Content Standards 33
. S

DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

Use Math t

Solve Problems

and Communicate

Reflections

"An outstanding feature of the current mathematics education scene is the rejection of the

traditional curriculum and the methods of

assessment associated with it. In the traditional

view, the curriculum was fragmented into subject areas, such as geometry, arithmetic, algebra, and these subjects further fragmented into

topics like notation, numeration, statistics, and

so on. Assessment in this curriculum was concerned with the correctness of answers and

procedures.... Wherever we look in western

education systems, this rejection of the traditional paradigm has taken place. There has

been a change in emphasis in the curriculum

from product to process, from fragmentation

and procedural knowledge to integration and

problem solving. The basic aim is well formulated in the NCTM Standards (1989) by its

concept of 'mathematical power'; the notion of

empowering the students to be able to apply

their mathematical knowledge, concepts, and

abilities in problem solving, communication,

and reasoning. In all cases, it has been realized

that sustaining this new set of aims requires the

use of new assessment techniques geared to

the change in direction."11

Kevin Collis and Thomas A. Romberg

insights From Field Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

J. Renee Thompson

Knox County Adult Literacy Program,

Knoxville, TN

GED Level 2; Series of lessons on perimeter

and area. The context was cleaning, painting,

and furnishing new classrooms after a fire.

Describe what you know about the level of performance of your students.

Selects appropriate mathematical concepts and

techniques and accurately applies them to the

purpose and the problem:* ME has never decorated, painted or cleaned a living or working place

on her own. She knew the formulas for area and

perimeter, but only in a math class context. AH

told me while painting her mother's house she

went and got paint about ten times in one day. She

was very interested in finding a way to determine

the amount of paint needed before starting. AM

has decorated and painted her home many times.

She judges how much paint she needs for a room

by sight. She did not know the formulas for area

and perimeter. She did not know that you can figure the amount of paint needed for a room mathematically. SJ has never planned out painting a

room or using mathematical concepts to aid her

in determining how much she would need to

paint a room.

Organizes and communicates data in format

appropriate to purpose and audience:* ME has

never made a scale model of anything. She had

never used a tape measure or measured a room.

AH knew nothing about scale models and drawings or how to go about designing them or for

what purpose you would use them. She was very

skeptical about being able to do a scale drawing.

AM has not measured a room or used those measurements to make a scale drawing. SJ did not

know what a scale drawing was or if she had ever

seen one. She has never used a tape measure or

measured anything larger than with a ruler. SJ was

not sure if she could do this task.

* Wording changed as result of Standards review process.

What will you look for in order to know if your students are making progress toward meeting the

Standard?

Selects appropriate mathematical concepts and

techniques and accurately applies them to the

purpose and problem: ALL students will be able

to determine whether they need to use the formulas for perimeter or area for the results they need

to decorate a room. ALL students will be able to

accurately measure a room for perimeter and/or area. Organizes and communicates data in format

appropriate to purpose and audience: ALL students will be able to use the mathematical formulas for area and perimeter to draw a scale model of

a room on graph paper. ALL students will be able

to clearly and accurately explain how they used

these math formulas to create the graphic description. ALL students will be able to use these mathematical concepts to give them results that will aid

them in decorating or redecorating a room.

r_Key_____

Pee:Eibies

c,n3orDobtc.

l'Acr Wes_

shelf 9 -tea f F

----\. We, rabic, t..

ind

Tobie, II LMill

IIIII

IN I II I

1-5 ft

34 EFF Content Standards

43

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In order to fulfill responsibilities as parents/family

members, citizens/community members, and workers,

adults must be able to:

T :N°z[

. p.; 4 prr

iti:{

Use ath to

SoDve robbers

and Communicate

Understand, interpret, and work

with pictures, numbers, and

symbolic information.

Apply knowledge of mathematical

concepts and procedures to figure

out how to answer a question,

solve a problem, make a prediction,

or carry out a task that has a

mathematical dimension.

Define and select data to be used in

solving the problem.

Determine the degree of precision

required by the situation.

Solve problem using appropriate

quantitative procedures and verify

that the results are reasonable.

Communicate results using a variety

of mathematical representations,

including graphs, charts, tables, and

algebraic models.

O

DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

Use math t

S© v :A Pribrie

nd Comm

Mouezcg7

QO

S

lo t

Family

COMMON

ACTIVITIES

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 35

44
DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

Solve Problems

and Make Decisions

Reflections

"When we engage in task-oriented problem

solvinghow to do something or how to performwe are engaged in instrumental learning.

Reflection is involved when we look back

on...assumptions guiding the problem-solving

process to reassess the efficacy of the strategies and tactics used. We look back to check

on whether we have identified all the relevant

options for action, correctly assessed the consequences of alternative hunches or hypotheses, controlled the right variables, used the

best methods of problem solving and used

them correctly and carefully, made inferences

warranted from the evidence and as free from

bias as possible, generalized from a dependably representative sample, and correctly interpreted the feedback on actions taken.

We may also look to make sure that our

actions have been consistent with our values,

to see how well we are doing in relation to our

goals, whether our attitude has been objective

and our interpretations of the results convincing. This is how we reflect on the process by

which we have learned meaning through

instrumental problem solving."12

Jack Mezi row

Insights From Field Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Michelle Miller and Debbie Stowers

Canton City Schools ABLE, Canton, OH

ABE and GED; In-class activity and

one-on-one tutoring

"We are generally pleased with our outcomes

with this unit and with this activity. We feel the

process of working through the problem was as

important as or maybe more important than the

final product in terms of student learning."

Describe what you know about the level of performance of your students.

All students in this class have had some experience

identifying problems. Unfortunately, most of the

students have difficulty breaking a problem down

into a clearly defined description.

Most students in this class are able to identify

major causes of a problem. However, they tend to

overlook contributory causes or see just one reason rather than how a combination of factors can

cause a problem.

Few of the students in this class can come up with

options for solving a problem. Often they feel too

overwhelmed by the problem to feel that they

even have options. They tend to be pessimistic

about solutions.

Very few of the students in this class are able to

recognize strengths and weaknesses in a particular

solution. That requires the ability to reflect on and

anticipate outcomes and few of our students do

that well.

Few of the students in this class can select an

option and put it into effect.

None of the students in this class can establish

benchmarks for evaluating a solution over time.

Most are still learning what a benchmark is. Most

of the students think of evaluation as just an opinion based on a feeling.

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the Standard?

Determine the problem by thinking about what

needs to be changed, fixed or eliminated. Write

the problem clearly on the problem-solving form.

Recognize factors that affect the problem. Identify

the major and minor or contributory causes of

the problem. Write the causes on the problemsolving form.

Generate options by participating in a suggestion

circle or sharing with a trusted friend. Generate

options by researching community and in-class

resources (books, Internet, social service agencies,

etc.). List options on the problem-solving form.

Reflect on each option's application. Write each

option's strengths on the problem-solving form.

Write each option's weaknesses on the problemsolving form.

Reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of each

option. Select option with the best chance of problem-solving success. Write choice on the problemsolving form and implement the decision.

Reflect on the possible outcomes. Determine ways

to measure success (benchmarks). Determine reasonable points in time to expect successful results.

Write at what points in time the outcome will be

measured for success of the solution and what

that measurement or benchmark will be.

What evidence of student progress did you see and

how did you document it?

Each student did write out a problem, explain

causes, come up with several solutions and evaluate

the strengths and weaknesses of each solution.

Some students established benchmarks for evaluating the success of the solution over a period of time.

This completed form will go into the portfolio. We

are hoping to do one or possibly two journal writings on the success of the solution in the near

future. In addition we are hoping the students in

this class will have a better understanding of problem solving and be able to accomplish the next

problem-solving activity more independently.

36 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

45
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

. DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

Solve Pr 1 lems

M ke Decisions

AVM DPI

S lye robe s

an Make Decisions

Anticipate or identify problems.

Use information from diverse

sources to arrive at a clearer

understanding of the problem

and its root causes.

Generate alternative solutions.

Evaluate strengths and weaknesses

of alternatives, including potential

risks and benefits and short- and

long-term consequences.

Select alternative that is most

appropriate to goal, context, and

available resources.

Establish criteria for evaluating

effectiveness of solution or decision.

.)

(Do @t-hgui)

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

46 1

EFF Content Standards 37
r r'r 0 0 0 0 , 0

DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

Reflections

"Erasmus counted items again and again, comparing what was left against his lists. All his

work and planning, and still he'd miscalculated.

Already the candles were almost finished, as

was the lamp oil. The coal was low enough that

they had to ration it and could no longer keep

the cabin so comfortably warm.

Dr. Boerhaave joined Erasmus in the storehouse one dark morning when he was counting

the tinned soups for the third time. 'This isn't

your fault,' he said.

Erasmus shook his head. 'Then whose fault

is it? If I'd planned better....'

`Blame Commander Voorhees,' Dr. Boerhaave said. `If he'd told us from the beginning

we were going to winter up here...how could

you know what to plan for, if he didn't tell

you?'"13

Andrea Barrett,

The Voyage of the Narwhal, 1855-1856

Onsights From Field Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Michele Miller and Debbie Stowers

Canton City Schools ABLE, Canton, OH

ABE and GED students; Work-Based Project

"This process required us to really break down

everything we knew about planning into small

pieces. This enabled us to help the students

through the process better."

Describe what you know about the level of performance of your students.

Most students, when they enter the program, have

not had experience setting goals or their

goals are very vague such as, "I would like to have

a good job." A few students can set a goal but it

isn't reachable or realistic. At the time we started

this class project, all students had some experience

talking about goals and setting at least one goal in

the area of a skill they would like to work on in

class. About half of the students in this class are

able to identify a goal for a project and determine

if it is feasible.

Very few of the students in this class are able to

organize activities or arrange activities in order of

importance to accomplish a goal. In other activities the tendency is to just jump into a project

without thinking about ordering tasks or what the

end product should be like.

None of the students in this class are able to establish benchmarks for monitoring a plan. Students

would have difficulty understanding the vocabulary for this component.

About half of the students in this class are able to

carry out a plan. Maybe half of those would be

able to make reasonable adjustments in a plan if

there were problems. The students don't usually

have the life experiences or self-confidence to

make adjustments when there are roadblocks

encountered. Very few are able to accurately document what has been done to carry out a plan.

* Wording changed as a result of Standards review

process.

Very few of the students in this class are able to

use benchmarks to reflect on and evaluate a plan.

The vocabulary would be a stumbling block.

Unless we are guiding the activity the students

would not think to analyze by breaking it down

and looking at parts. The tendency for most is to

evaluate by generalizing and saying, "This was a

good activity," or, "I liked this."

Did using the components in planning and assessing

learning change the process of planning, teaching,

and evaluation? How?

Yes, it caused us to look more closely at the skill of

planning and break it down into parts or steps. It

certainly made the planning and teaching of this

skill more concrete with specific planning tasks to

be done. We incorporated some vocabulary words

we probably would not have presented had we not

used the components. Using the components

caused us to revisit the plan throughout the project

to evaluate if we were meeting our benchmarks or if

we needed to make adjustments.

What are your general reflections on what you've

been doing with EFF for this unit of study?

Using EFF in the work-based activity part of our

program has allowed the students to feel like they

are really learning something useful and gives those

hours more of an academic feel which the students

want. It is a wonderful framework for allowing us to

integrate the ABLE work with the work-based

activity.

38 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

, Plan

Set and prioritize goals.

Develop an organized approach

of activities and objectives.

Actively carry out the plan.

Monitor the plan's progress while

considering any need to adjust the

plan.

Evaluate its effectiveness in

achieving the goals.

DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

Man

Family

COMMON

ACTIVITIES

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 39

487
.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Cooperate With Others

Reflections

"E. L. Thorndike, an eminent psychologist who

was also influential in popularizing the notion of

IQ in the 1920s and 1930s, proposed in a

Harper's Magazine article that one aspect of

emotional intelligence, 'social intelligence'the

ability to understand others and act wisely in

human relationswas itself an aspect of a

person's IQ. When Robert Sternberg, another

Yale psychologist, asked people to describe an

'intelligent person,' practical people skills were

among the main traits listed. More systematic

research by Sternberg led him back to

Thorndike's conclusion: that social intelligence

is both distinct from academic abilities and a

key part of what makes people do well in the

practicalities of life. Among the practical intelligences that are, for instance, so highly valued

in the workplace is the kind of sensitivity that

allows effective managers to pick up tacit

messages."' 4 Daniel Goleman

Insights From Field esearch:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching a

Judy B. Wurtz

Sweetwater Union High School District,

Division of Adult and Continuing Education,

Chula Vista, CA

ESOL Level 2; Series of lessons focused on

the skills necessary to work together.

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the Standard?

Students will be able to identify general factors

that promote cooperation, such as "everyone participates."

Students will be able to specify actions that contribute to those factors, such as "ask questions of

quieter members."

Student Self-Evaluation Form

d Learning

Students will be able to give specific examples of

contributions of others.

Students will be able to fill out a written form

evaluating their own actions in seeking the opinions of others and expressing their own. They will

evaluate the job performance of their team members and the level of cooperation of their teams as

a whole.

Individual performance within the group will

improve as a result of the evaluations.

Students will be able to identify and positively

resolve any conflicts that may arise in their

groups.

What evidence of student progress did you see and

how did you document it?

Group self-evaluation forms and a

form for peer evaluation. As the

teacher, I evaluated the final productthe group's presentation to the

Rate Your Teamwork class.

NAME exisTALitt5 15fr46E

ACTIVITY COO

GROUP MEMBERS /114/901i

How did I do as a member of the group?

DATE Fe,(0/gg

I. I checked to make sure everyone understood what I did or said. 2. I answered any questions that were asked. 3. I explained things whenever I could. 4. I asked specific questions about what I didn't understand. 5. When I had a problem or didn't understand, I got

extra practice or help. 6. I listened to the other members in the group. 7. I paraphrased what others said to be sure I

understood what they said and their point of view.

OFTEN SOMETIMES NEVER IZ

IV

L7

l7

How can I be more helpful in the future? r UV/ 11 fr(e.d (--,0 /4- /e 5

HOW DID YOUR TEAM DO? 1. Effective use of time 1 3 5 Wasted time Usually on -track Efficient 2. Productivity 3 5 Wasted time Usually on-track Efficient 3. Decision making 3 5 Wasted time Usually on-track Efficient q IrSh STegl(1 5 7P 2_0'7. 3 SOP

How did the process of defining evidence and collecting this evidence

work for you? How did it require new

or different methods of thinking and

observation from you and your

learner(s)?

It was challenging to think of ways

that I could document whether or

not my students were cooperating

with each other. It forced me to

think of ways to word the evaluation

forms that would get students

beyond their usual comments of

"everything was good." I tried to get

very specific with the evaluation

forms but was still not satisfied with

the results. I also need to find a way

to document the changes that take

place in the group dynamics over

timeperhaps a separate evaluation

for every time they get into groups.

40 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

Cooperate

With Others

Interact with others in ways that are

friendly, courteous, and tactful and

that demonstrate respect for others'

ideas, opinions, and contributions.

Seek input from others in order to

understand their actions and

reactions.

Offer clear input on own interests

and attitudes so others can

understand one's actions and

reactions.

Try to adjust one's actions to take

into account the needs of others

and/or the task to be accomplished.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

O

(2(N:owlet

5th them

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

50

EFF Content Standards 41
Equipped for the Future

The Standards

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Advocate and

Influence

Reflections

"Where every man is a sharer in the direction

of his ward-republic, or of some of the higher

ones, and feels that he is participator in the

government of affairs, not merely at an election

one day in the year, but every day...he will let

the heart be torn out of his body sooner than

his power be wrested from him by a Caesar or

a Bonaparte."' 5

Thomas Jefferson

"I realize that my vote is my voice in my community. As a citizen, it is my responsibility to

exercise that right. I understand that I can make

a difference in my community by getting

involved in what is happening. I can participate

in the neighborhood block watch. I can volunteer in the school systems, serve lunches or

help in the classrooms...I've experienced a lot

through the years and I should let my voice be

heard."16

Deborah Johnson

Insights From Field Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning/

Cindy Sloneker

Mt. Diablo Adult Education, Concord, CA

ESOL; In-class activity

What are the student needs or goals that you hope to

address:

To help students realize the value of being an

"active" community participant.

To help students feel comfortable and confident

participating in democracy through letter writing.

Look back at your original plan for this activity.

Describe what actually happened and how learners

responded and participated.

We wrote letters to a newspaper. The newspaper

wanted to know how adults learned English; it's

doing a feature article on this because of discussions to eliminate bilingual education in California

Schools.

The students were comfortable and eager to

write these letters. Their body language revealed

their comfort level: people were smiling and animated during the small group discussions. They

showed interest in the others in their groups as they

shared their experiences. They were ready to share

Student Response Form

Teacher/Tutor Name:

Date:

Learning Activity:

Cindy Sloneker

3/27/98

Writing letter to editor

of newspaper

1. What I learned:

1. Other students learned English in a similar way that I

didthat's comforting.

2. It's fun to let native speakers understand how people

learn English.

3. It's important for everyone to understand there are

many different ways to learn a second languagenot

just one way.

4. Our ideas about learning English are valuable and

important to the voters and educators of the USA.

2. How I could use what I learned outside the classroom.

1. We should express our ideas to others by speaking out

to community leaders, educators, and elected officials.

2. I will read about this issue as I can be better informed.

3. I can help the rest of my family learn English by using

some of the suggestions made by classmates.

4. I can write, with confidence, a letter to the editor again

sometime.

their findings with the rest of the class when

went to the whole-class discussion.

During the writing process, they knew how to get

started; I didn't have to prod or make suggestions as

to how they could begin writing.... I was a little surprised by their willingness to participate. They were

not intimidated by the idea of having their ideas and

writings published in the newspaper. The activity

went more smoothly than I anticipated.

we

For each Standard that was central to this activity

describe as specifically as you can what evidence you

saw/heard/collected that students could use this skill:

The Standards were Advocate & Influence and Convey Ideas in Writing

The evidence was:

The students expressed their ideas in appropriate

language, and these ideas were well organized.

They listened to others' contributions, and added

their ideas.

They wrote their stories in appropriate language,

in a clear, understandable way.

If you have named a product as part of your evidence, please describe what about the product shows

evidence of effective skill use:

Stories to editor were clearly written. The stories

gave precise examples of how they have learned

English: by watching cartoons, talking to native

speakers, reading the newspaper, writing new

words in a notebook and reviewing these words.

The letters were succinctly written, requiring little

editing.

The letters were written in appropriate style, tone,

readability level for a newspaper audience.

The students supported one another during the

small group discussion by volunteering information, by listening actively to the others.

They evaluated what the others said, and added

their own experiences to support information the

others noted.

They laughed and showed animation in the discussion, revealing their engagement.

t This data is from the first round of field review

of the Standards, conducted from December 1997

May 1998.

42 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

51
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

STANDARD

O

Advocate and

Influence

Define what one is trying to achieve.

Assess interests, resources, and

the potential for success.

Gather facts and supporting

information to build a case that

takes into account the interests

and attitudes of others.

Present a clear case, using a

strategy that takes into account

purpose and audience.

Revise, as necessary, in response

to feedback.

111 . S.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Advocate and

Influence

O

ViOG1i3g7

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

(31

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 43
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Nescave Con.fir]ca

and Merooth's.28

Reflections

"Conflict has an emotional cost that remains

after the battle is over. Win or lose, the scars

may be with you for the rest of your life. People

spend their lives focusing on the promotion

they 'lost,' the business they 'lost,' the divorce

they 'lost,' the project they 'lost.' This tunnel

vision keeps them gripped, locked in their own

anger.... The small battles between partners,

parents and children, employees and bosses

take a significant toll.

Productivity and satisfaction, in business

and personal relationships, come from our ability to collaborate with others. When you are

resolved, you can fully focus on the tasks at

hand. Your efforts are undiluted. Unresolved

conflict, on the other hand, is an impediment to

productivity and to satisfying, functional relationships. In today's world of 'knowledge work,'

focus and creativity are essential. It's impossible to be fully productive when you are angry.

That's why getting resolved about the situation

that's sapping your strength and attention is

very important."' 7 Stewart Levine

Onsights From Felld Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Michelle Thibaudeau-Johnson

Sumner Adult Education, East Sullivan, ME

ABE Level 2; One-on-one tutoring,

series of lessons

Describe what took place during the learning experience.

This is the first series of lessons in which I had a

student review the family learning plan to identify

her actual interests. From there we collaborated

about what generative skills she would need to be

able to meet those interests. When she prioritized

them Resolve Conflict and Negotiate was first. I had

her read the Standard and asked her if she felt comfortable with it and understood it. She was clear on

the first and second components of the Standard,

but not on 3, 4, and 5. I thought it was interesting

that her understanding seemed limited to the components she could already do and that her comprehension broke down at #3, the component she has

yet to learn.

How was learner performance different or similar to

what you anticipated in planning for the activity?

I didn't expect that the student's life situations

would so easily determine what generative skill we

should be working on. It was absolutely clear that

skills related to resolving conflict would be necessary, not onlyto deal with the current conflicts but

to in fact meet her goals related to setting priorities.

Setting priorities and balancing one's own role is

more often than not about dealing with conflicts.

The learner's performance worked out pretty much

as I had anticipated it would. She stated the conflict,

i.e., her daughter keeps turning on the television

during nap time and that is unacceptable to the

learner, identified who wanted what (daughter

doesn't want to take a nap; learner wants daughter

to take a nap) and why (daughter doesn't think she

needs or wants a nap because she is too old; learner

thinks daughter needs a nap to help her be in a better mood when her brother comes home after

school) but then needed guidance to move beyond

that point.

What evidence of student progress did you see and

how did you document it?

The student actually wrote out the verbal information she provided during our discussion. By writing

it out her thinking became clearer...the writing

seemed to guide her through a step-by-step process

of moving through the conflict. New to her was the

idea of determining minimum expectations/

requirements/behavior she would accept from the

other party. We had a discussion and she determined the least she would accept was for her

daughter to lay down quietly and at least rest. After

discussing how that "could" look, she went on to list

options for dealing with the child if she was uncooperative with the minimum expectations.

How did the process of defining evidence and collecting this evidence work for you? How did it

require new or different methods of thinking and

observation from you and your learner(s)?

As the learner and I reviewed the components of

performance and types of evidence information, I

think she was challenged to think in a more evaluative manner than usual. She read and questioned

what it meant because it was actually related to

something that she would be doing. I did enjoy

working with the student in this way. It felt like

more of a team effort in learning.

Did using the components in planning and assessing

learning change the process of planning, teaching,

and evaluation? How?

It brought my student to a different level than

usual. I think somehow it allowed her to feel a sense

of confidence and self-belief that I sought her input

in planning our time together. I realized that the

forms I made can actually work for planning and

documentation.

44 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Needwe CouTT,aa

and HcegoUsts

ResoDve ConfDilict

and NegotDate

Acknowledge that there is a

conflict.

Identify areas of agreement and

disagreement.

Generate options for resolving

conflict that have a "win/win"

potential.

Engage parties in trying to reach

agreement on a course of action

that can satisfy the needs and

interests of all.

Evaluate results of efforts and

revise approach as necessary.

QO

igrabgoD

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 45
0

II

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Guide Others

Reflections

"Mentors are guides. They lead us along the

journey of our lives. We trust them because

they have been there before. They embody our

hopes, cast light on the way ahead, interpret

arcane signs, warn us of lurking dangers, and

point out unexpected delights along the way."18

Laurent A. Daloz

Insights From Field Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Judy B. Wurtz

Sweetwater Union High School District,

Division of Adult and Continuing Education,

Chula Vista, CA,

ESOL Level 2; Series of lessons, small group

activity

"As I think about what we did and how much

more focused the students were in their groups,

it seems that the English almost takes care of

itself. Students will automatically do better on

the CASAS standardized tests because they are

listening to and using more English in the classroom. I think that next semester I will begin with

the Standard 'Guide Others' in order to help

solve the problem of unfocused groups and

using too much Spanish in their groups."

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress towards meeting the Standard?

Students will ask what other students need.

Students will listen with attention before responding or offering any guidance.

EQUIPPED FOR THE FUTURE

STANDARDGUIDE OTHERS

Equipped for the Future is a federal initiative to create standards for adult education. ELF is in the process of evaluating the standards. This summer, we will use the standard

"Guide Others" in our class work. We will evaluate it to see if it is appropriate and awful in

an ESL class. Some of the EFF skill descriptions for "Guide Others" are: a. Evaluate the needs of others. b. Evaluate your ability to help. c. Use strategies that take into account the goals, task, context and learning styles of others. d. Ask for feedback on the usefulness and results of your help.

I. What does df C. i; NI01, need? ie ,-,eec sreQ....k.-

2. How can you help? all 'Time. 57ekK --inyle-c,,

3. What qualities does 141. canal,- have that will help her or him? %/,90alo I iry

Students will be able to restate the expressed need

accurately.

From a list of suggested activities, students will be

able to choose one that meets the needs of the

person they are guiding.

Some students will be able to create their own

activity/strategy for guiding.

Students will ask each other if their guidance was

helpful and how or how it was not.

What evidence of student progress did you see and

how did you document it?

Students were more focused in the guidance they

offered and in the activities they chose for their

group. Students were aware of the needs that different activities addressed. Those students who felt

they would not be able to offer any guidance were

able to help each other. Some students who were

very skeptical of gaining any benefit from other

members of the group (as opposed to help from the

teacher) said they learned from other group members. Students answered the final questions on their

STANDARDGUIDE OTHERS handout.

t From third round of field review, July-August 1999

EQUIPPED FOR THE FUTURE

STANDARDGUIDE OTHERS

I. What do you need help with? I rte c1 1,0y. 11, file--,

pr.rentqt 1 ni i Id- ein 1 nj ah,A o_?eal(irj WI, it in) 6,1 I

2. Did the others in your group help you? Yes , b fr. Co, ( 5 e., 3. What did they do that helped you?

4. Did they do anything that hurt?

5 Are ,041-bia in (44,5 1-yr, ID f 1 e,; 011,11

(Q,., (D' why or v-41.1 In --t )

7(.5 i

be I +kin.) ii \iel.3 5 bocl

-to( my Le.r,,,,15 . I Iiie, 6ec@u5e_, E iced

Learn 1-Elkil'Ish

46 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

I D Guide Others

Assess the needs of others and

one's own ability to assist.

Use strategies for providing

guidance that take into account the

goals, task, context, and learning

styles of others.

Arrange opportunities for learning

that build on learner's strengths.

Seek feedback on the usefulness

and results of the assistance.

41@P

0,07

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Guide Others

O

NllouthgriD

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 47
0 I 0

LIFELONG LEARNING SKILLS

Vake ResponsaAnty

ffar Leanrdng

Reflections

"Changes in the economy imply the necessity

of knowing how to learnin other words, how

to organize social and technological resources

to transform what is unfamiliar into the mastered, a process that requires knowing how to

identify the limits of one's own knowledge, how

to ask germane questions, how to penetrate

poor documentation, and how to identify

sources of information."19

Sue E. Berryman

"Studying and learning strategies are always

goal-oriented. They are intentionally invoked,

which implies at least some level of conscious

thought as well as active selection. This also

means they are available for conscious reflection and description. Third, studying and learning strategies are effortful; they require time and

often involve using multiple steps. Finally, they

are not universally applicable. One's goals, the

context, and the task conditions all interact to

determine appropriate strategies to use."2°

Claire E. Weinstein and Debra K. Meyer

insights [From Reid Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Jennifer Ladd

Atkinson Adult Learning, Atkinson, ME,-

Welfare-to-Work, Multi-level;

Community and workplace activities

What components of the Standards will you work

with?

Establish learning goals that are based on an

understanding of one's own current and future

learning needs.

Identify and use strategies appropriate to goals,

task, context, and the resources available for learning.

Monitor progress toward goals and modify strategies or other features of the learning situation as

necessary to achieve goals.

What steps will you look for in order to know if your

students are making progress toward meeting the

Standard?

The learning goals they set will be self-monitored

each week.

Goal progress will be talked about with either

myself or in their groupings.

Alternative resources and strategies will be openly

discussed and learners will guide learners.

Goal setting will be constantwhen one goal is

reached it will be openly celebrated and supported

and the next steps identified by the learner.

How did the evidence relate to these steps?

Level 3 learners took the time to reflect on their

goal progress and how it related to their future

plans (in most cases September being the future).

Personal progress on goals was not a huge topic,

but group goals were. If the group had an intense

week of work coming up, then they prepared themselves by setting up goal plans to accomplish

the task. This worked really well in all of the

team/groups. I don't recall being explicitly

depended upon to be a resource but more to help

guide their planning process. In most cases, learners looked to their site supervisors for information

and guidance, which I felt was totally appropriate,

and encouraged.

Learners guiding other learners and discussing

alternative resources happened better than I had

originally hoped. Learners were great mentors to

other learners and in most cases they asked what I

thought before doling out the guidance, which in

a couple of personal situations was appropriate.

Learners really took from their own base of

knowledge/experience and drew upon that to

guide others. We talked of the importance of every

learner having a different experience, but that any

information was valuable.

Constant goal setting wasn't as readily accomplished as I'd hoped. It is taking more time and

guidance than I originally planned. Consistency,

though, seems to be the key to accomplishing this.

For those learners who continue, having a consistent, every day interaction with me at first and

with other teachers, will reinforce the concept of

automatic goal setting and transferring of skills

learned as well as skills to be gained.

How did the process of defining evidence and collecting this evidence work for you? How did it

require new or different methods of thinking and

observation from you and your learner(s)?

I had to be much more keenly aware of where my

learners began and then where they are now. I felt

much more in touch with what my learners needed

(time to reflect or for the peer leadership that

occurred) and felt more like it was a respected classroom. I've always been unsure of what student-centered is, and then this summer's group really

showed me how the balance needs to happen

between teacher and learner. This process also has

made me understand how important it is to know

where the learner begins through observation, or

through learner assessment. It was worth the time

for me to spend three days of orientation with the

learners before we began our summer program. It

also allowed the learners to get to know me and find

where our level of trust would be.

tFrom third round of field review, June-August 1999

48 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

57
In order to fulfill responsibilities as parents/family

members, citizens/community members, and workers,

adults must be able to:

LIFELONG LEARNING SKILLS

'Take NesponsniMy

ffor Learnhg

@Thn,MCn1C,

Thke Responsibaty

for _earrnng

Establish learning goals that are

based on an understanding of one's

own current and future learning

needs.

Identify own strengths and

weaknesses as a learner and seek

out opportunities for learning that

help build self-concept as a learner.

Become familiar with a range of

learning strategies to acquire or

retain knowledge.

Identify and use strategies

appropriate to goals, task, context,

and the resources available for

learning.

Monitor progress toward goals

and modify strategies or other

features of the learning situation

as necessary to achieve goals.

Test out new learning in real-life

applications.

Mat.c4T \

QO

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

58

EFF Content Standards 49
, . LIFELONG LEARNING SKILLS

Reflect and Evaluate

Reflections

"Part of the perceived need to teach thinking

skills has come from a growing awareness that

society has changed, and skills appropriate a

generation ago may no longer prepare students

for the world beyond school. The rate of

change within society is accelerating so rapidly

that it is difficult to assess what factual knowledge will be needed in the future, and this

means that schools should be less focused

on imparting information than on teaching

students to learn and to think for themselves.

Students faced with a future in an unpredictable world will need to gain the skills that

will give them the greatest control over their

lives and learning, and for this they will need

to think critically and creatively at the highest

possible levels, and to develop an awareness

of global issues and problems."21

Robert Fisher

Insights From Field Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Judy B. Wurtz

Sweetwater Union High School District,

Division of Adult and Continuing Education,

Chula Vista, CA

ESOL Level 2; In-class activity that uses the

Standard to transform a required reporting

exercise into a learning experience

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the Standard?

1. Students will read and understand "learner

results" as listed on the CASAS TOPS (tracking

of programs and students) update record.

2. Students will ask questions about the "learner

results."

3. Students will ask for clarification of the teacher's

expectations.

4. Second semester students will be able to identify

areas in which they have made progress (or goals

met) since they began to study.

5. Students will be able to explain their choices

either orally or in writing.

Describe what took place during the learning experience.

As a whole class, students filled out most sections of

the TOPS entry and update records. We then

looked at the "learner results" section briefly. Students put the forms into their folders and I passed

out enlarged copies of the goals and achievements

listed in the "learner results" section of the TOPS

form. We discussed and explained each one, using

Spanish when necessary. I then told the class that I

wanted them to look over the lists and check any

goals they felt they had achieved, even if they had

only been in the program for a short time. Teachers

are being required to do this as part of our accountability reports to the state.

Students checked all of the goals or results that

they felt were appropriate, chose one which they

either considered to be a greater goal or an area of

greater success and wrote a few sentences about

why they chose it.

Sentences were very short but their expression of

their goals or achievements was poignant.

How was learner performance different or similar to

what you anticipated in planning for the activity?

As expected, students had difficulty understanding

the instructions but were persistent in their

attempts to do so. Their questions "Why are we

doing this?," "What's the point?," "Why don't the

newer students think more in terms of the future

instead of trying to reflect on too short a past as an

ESL student?," "Give us examples," were more probing than I had expected. Students became more

aware of their goals and are making specific

requests about the direction of the class and what

they feel they need to study.

What evidence of student progress did you see and

how did you document it?

Students moved through the following stages:

a. Confusion

b. General questions

c. Specific, clarifying questions

d. Make choices

e. Write a short explanation of one of their choices

(documentation)

f. Fill out the TOPS update record (documentation)

Look at the steps you identified for making progress.

How does the evidence relate to these steps?

I was only able to document steps 4 and 5 but we

have filled out the TOPS forms in the past and, for

the first time, I feel that the students truly reflected

on the positive results of their learning. The students were able to check specific things with knowledge and confidence because of the process we went

through. None of the students asked me "Should I

check this one?," a question not uncommonly asked

in past semesters.

50 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

L59_1
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

STANDARD

Reflect and Evaluate

Take stock of where one is:

assess what one knows already

and the relevance of that

knowledge.

Make inferences, predictions,

or judgments based on one's

reflections.

Equipped for the Future

The Standards

LIFELONG LEARNING SKILLS

Reflect and Evaluate

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 51
I

LIFELONG LEARNING SKILLS

Learn Through

Research

Reflections

"Our research tackled new and complex issues,

and we were committed to a methodology

embracing both observations in the field and

observations made in interview and quasiexperimental situations. Few studies make the

attempt to combine naturalistic and controlled

observations, much less undertake to compare

and contrast the generalizations each class of

observations yields. Moreover, because our

questions were novel and our theoretical

framework outside the mainstream of cognitive

psychology and anthropology, tasks of data

analysis were far from routine. We had to invent

all of our analytic schemesjust as we had to

invent many of our cognitive tasksand we

had to refine and test these schemes recursively against the data."22

Sylvia Scribner and Patricia Sachs

insights From Fieid Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Glenda Shumate

Wilkes Community College, Wilkesboro, NC

ABE Adult High School curriculum;

Individual activity, independent study

Describe what you know about the level of performance of your students.

Pose a question: One has already completed a

research paper and has an idea of how to begin

but three students have little experience identifying the question or assumption in a research situation where they are seeking their own answers.

Their past experiences have been directed toward

identifying the specific answer to a specific question as identified by a lecturer or an assigned text.

Hypothesis is a new word for the three of them.

Use multiple lines of inquiry: All four have used

a research strategy before but not to the extent

they will to complete their projects in the U.S.

History course. In the past, they were able to skim

their textbook to find a pat answer. In their projects they may have to research several materials to

arrive at an opinion and facts to support their

opinions. This will be new to three of the four.

Organize, elaborate, analyze, and interpret findings: All have good critical reading/viewing skills.

One has excellent skills but lacks the self-confidence to employ them to the fullest. Two are more

confident that they understand what's being asked

of them but their skills are at a beginning level.

The fourth is not as confident but has above

beginning skills since she has completed a short

research paper before coming to this course.One

is much more aware of the big picture and is able

to integrate info more easily than the three who

are younger, less mature, and less experienced

with research projects.

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the standard?

Questions about the process and what I'm looking for in the answers should become fewer as the

students progress. Students' questions should

become more specific to the area they are

researching.

Students will be better able to discover where to

search for resources and be increasingly able to

find them without my help. Based on their experiences, the students will develop an internal list of

sources and ratings for those sources as to which

is most likely or least likely to be of help in locating specific facts needed.

Students will develop a knowledge base of nonbook sources (librarians, historians, witnesses,

PBS, Internet, etc.) who might be of help and

develop an awareness of how to best use each.

Students' answers or presentations should grow

increasingly topic specific and contain less superfluous info as they progress.

Students' answers/presentations on opinion topics

should include supporting statements that are

specific and that demonstrate the depth of their

research as well as depth of thought. Students'

answers/presentations should be organized to

demonstrate a logical progression of thought

from the questions needing to be answered

through the research that was done to the conclusion reached.

How was learner performance different or similar to

what you anticipated in planning for the activity?

So far, learner experience has been what I hoped for

but did not expect. One found that the Research

standard really applied to her life because she had

problems making decisions and sticking with them.

She said that the components of performance and

types of evidence "help me work through things in

an order, to decide and to have reasons to stick to

the decision." Another said that she'd "found out

interesting things that would've never been in a regular textbook."

52 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

','61
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

A iR D

Learn Through

Research

Pose a question to be answered

or make a prediction about objects

or events.

Use multiple lines of inquiry to

collect information.

LIFELONG LEARNING SKILLS

Learn Through Research

O

Organize, evaluate, analyze, and

interpret findings.

a

MCDGOZ@C?

QO

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 53

62
it 1 eV -

LIFELONG LEARNING SKILLS

Use Information

and Communications

Technology

Reflections

"New communications technology has drawn

citizens of all societies into closer proximity

with each other. Through satellite and cable

technology, many of us are regularly in contact

with people in countries other than our own.

Wars in distant lands...impact on both our

economic and our personal relations. To be a

valuable member of our society a person not

only has to become aware of the role the

United States plays on the world stage...but

also has to assess the impact of modern

technologies on those roles." 23 Joan Burstyn

insights From Field Research:

Using the Standard to Guide Teaching and Learning

Anson Green

Northwest Vista College, San Antonio, TX,

Employment preparation, Adult Secondary

Education (ASE); In-class and workplace

activity

What are the steps you will look for in order to know

if your students are making progress toward meeting the Standard?

Students will see technology as a viable alternative

to gather information or create, manage, and store

information meaningful to their life or needs for

work.

Students will choose the technological tool/software appropriate for the task. They will choose

multiple tools for tasks and choose which one

performs the needed feature; realize the limitation

of tools/software, and seek to use appropriate

tools/software that picks up where one leaves off

(multi-tasking); and understand problems of

compatibility and will learn to control and work

through them.

Students will perform the task at hand, using what

they know but may work within their "safe zone."

LcC:G75j:C-_O_C:CTLS-2.C-_Cr..53:C-_CrIGS5r-_Cr-_6a..GCi-_C'FA'

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DAILY ACTIVITY SHEET

Name: Stephanie Morando Date: 7/29/99

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Day (circle) M T W & F

Typing Speed Today: Today I typed 45 wpm.

Programs I used today: Today I went into word and

worked on the article for the newspaper and I also

went into excel and worked on the weekly time

sheet.

What I learned on them: when I went into excel I

learned how to send my weekly time sheet as an

attachment all on my own.

What I learned on the Internet today: I looked

through 2,500 Best Sites magazine and found some

cool web sites that I never know existed. Other

than that I didn't find anything else out on the

Internet.

70__,Lj :s-_ct,o_ 90525_0-sio.000_iz

They will continue when they meet barriers and

continue the task until they "get it right," no matter the steps of revision.

They will take steps when they meet a barrier (ask,

use help file, experiment).

Students will ask for help/overcome feeling "stupid" with computers.

They will realize technology is not a panacea and

has its limitations and glitches. When it fails, it

may not be their fault.

What evidence of student progress did you see and

how did you document it?

For me, meaningful assessment is assessment that

reflects what learners can do with technology. It's

an assessment based on performance, and it needs

to be based on a framework that can be customized

to address our learners' expectations, time constraints, and other demands of our program.

For example, as soon as learners are comfortable

with the basics of a word-processor, I have them

create a daily activity sheet that tracks their daily

achievements. I give them the basic information

that needs to be in ittyping speed for the day,

what skills they picked up during the day, how they

used the Internet to gather information, where they

are having difficulties. I then introduce some of the

more advanced draw features of the word-processor and then cut them loose to customize the sheet.

Learners complete these activity sheets before

they leave each day; they learn to save them to their

floppy discs and later to our server space upstairs.

They then print them out and place them in their

portfolios. Immediately they pick up the print

menu dialogs needed to switch their computer

between printing on our black and white and color

printers. More advanced students have learned how

to send me the sheets as attachments to e-mail.

These products give a day-to-day picture of student

performance and are tangible examples of knowledge in action.

t From third round of field review, July-August 1999

54 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
In order to fulfill responsibilities

as parents/family members,

citizens/community members,

and workers, adults must

be able to:

9

9

nf

and Co

7 0

rmatbn

mur cat bns

ogy

Use computers and other electronic

tools to acquire, process, and

manage information.

Use electronic tools to learn and

practice skills.

Use the Internet to explore

topics, gather information, and MCDMIZGIT

communicate.

LIFELONG LEARNING SKILLS

Use Onfforroroation

and Comm atIons

Technollo y

COMMON ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use

Information

Manage Resources

Work Within the Big Picture

Work Together

Provide Leadership

Guide and Support Others

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Develop and Express Sense

of Self

Respect Others and Value

Diversity

Exercise Rights and

Responsibilities

Create and Pursue Vision

and Goals

Use Technology and Other

Tools to Accomplish Goals

Keep Pace With Change

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

614

EFF Content Standards 55
Using the Standards

To Assess Performance

The EFF Standards development team is well along the way to meeting the technical criteria we

established for the Standards:24

Through a broad consensus-building process we have developed Content Standards that

accurately reflect what adults need to know and be able to do.

Through an iterative field review process we have made sure that these Standards focus on

performance that is observable and measurable and that they are specific enough to guide

instruction and assessment.

The remaining tasks to be accomplished in order to meet our "Standards for Standards" include

defining multiple levels of performance for students to strive for, and identifyingand, where

necessary, developingaccurate assessment tools to meet a range of purposes for assessment.

These tasks move the EFF development process from content standards that describe what adults

know and can do to performance standards that describe how well they can do it. These are critical next steps if EFF Standards are to drive program improvement and frame accountability

for resultsfor learners who need to know they have credentials that are portable and meaningful in the outside world, and for funders and policymakers who need to know that programs

and systems are achieving desired results.

This section of Chapter 3 outlines the work the EFF development team has already undertaken

to develop an assessment framework for the EFF Standards, as well as the major tasks that lie

ahead. These tasks include:

Defining the EFF continuum of performance;

Developing a continuum of performance for each Standard, with levels that benchmark key

performances;

Developing tools to assess performance of each Standard for the range of assessment purposes; and

Developing a broad "qualifications framework" that focuses on integrated performance across

standards, with levels that represent real-world benchmarks.

Each of these tasks is a "system" level task, with implications for assessment and credentialing of

individual learning. Carrying them out successfully will require the same broad consensusbuilding process and strong customer focus that has distinguished the EFF Standards development process to date. It will also require far more substantial resources. The National Institute

for Literacy hopes to engage committed partners who are willing to invest in the research and

development required to build this assessment framework.

This section begins with an overview of the key assumptions that guide development of the

framework. It then walks through each of the major tasks that are necessary to build an assess56 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

65
ment framework, describing both the groundwork being laid by the EFF team this year and the

longer-term implementation challenges in each area.

GRAding Prieto Wes: What We Want Our Assessment Framework

'To Maude

1. The EFF Assessment Framework must address multiple purposes for assessment. The

framework must provide for:

Information on learner achievements and mastery that is useful to the learner as well as the

teacher throughout the instructional process.

Information about what learners can do that is credible to employers, educational institutions, and policymakers, as well as to the learners themselves; and

Information that is useful for program and system improvement and accountability.

2. To address these multiple purposes, the EFF Assessment Framework must support a multidimensional, flexible, and systemic approach to assessment. Teachers and programs will

be able to choose from a range of toolsto be identified or developedthat enables them

to accurately measure performance against EFF Standards and that are linked to one

another, so that multiple assessments can provide a rich portrait of learner competence.

3. The EFF Assessment Framework must address learning over a lifetime. Strategies for

assessment and credentialing must take into account the fact that adults build skills over

time (rather than all at once), in response to changes in their life situations. Certificates and

other credentials must be modular, designed to define competence or mastery at a particular

point, and within a framework that assumes continuing development of competence as

skills, knowledge, and understanding are further developed over time.

4. Since EFF Standards define the skills all adults need in order to carry out their roles as

workers and members of families and communities, the EFF Assessment Framework

must address a single continuum of performance for all adultsincluding those with

only minimal formal education and those with many years of formal education, including advanced degrees.

5. Each level defined in the EFF Assessment Framework must communicate clearly what an

adult at that level can do. Numerical levels don't communicate meaning to external audiences. Grade levels seem to communicate a common picture of performance, but in fact the

meaning behind the label varies widely from community to community and state to state.

Grade levels are particularly misleading when applied to adult performance, since they focus

on developmental skill levels that don't match the ways in which adults, with their broader

background and range of experience, can combine skills and knowledge to perform effectively in daily life.

Equipped

e

Qx t RIG2RD

Stan tilt)

O

"Getting clear about what we mean by

'performance' is not just a technical

question, but a question of value. At the

heart of performance accountability is

what we want adult education to be and

to become. Only when we are clear about

where we want to go can we create

mechanisms to show how far we have

come." 25

Juliet Merrifield

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 57
"Many times, instructors...focus on

`covering the material' (i.e., transmitting

information and theory). They neglect

students' practicing the application of the

ideas and information to solve problems in

their work or other life roles. The result is

self-defeat: a loss of effectiveness and

efficiency in learning and in its retention.

The focus on covering the body of ideas

diminishes the students' understanding of

the meaning of those ideas as they relate

to the problems the learner encounters in

day-to-day work settings. The emphasis

on 'covering the materials' also deprives

learners of the opportunity to gain capability

for later roles." 26

Barry G. Sheckley and Morris T. Keeton

6. The levels defined in the EFF Assessment Framework must be explicitly linked to key

external measures of competence (e.g., certificates of mastery, NAAL/IAL survey levels,

diplomas, and other credentials) and key pathways (e.g., entry to higher education and

entry to employment as defined by occupational skill standards) so that adults and systems can rely on them as accurate predictors of real-world performance.

7. The levels defined in the EFF Assessment Framework must be the products of a national

consensus-building process that assures portability of certificates and credentials.

8. Work on the development of this framework must maintain the strong customer focus

that has distinguished the EFF Standards development process to date. It must be based

on a broad, inclusive definition of maximizing accountability for all activities to all customersstarting with the adult learner.

Task One: Defining the EFF Continuum of Performance

The basic principle of Equipped for the Future is that "EFF Standards describe knowledge and

skills all adults need to be effective in meeting the four purposes and carrying out activities central to their roles as parents and family members, citizens and community members, and workers?' If our goal is to define a continuum of performance that adults move along throughout

their lives, adding skills, knowledge, and abilities that increase their flexibility in responding to

change, what characteristics or dimensions of performance is it important to pay attention to?

This is the first question the EFF team has addressed in moving from content standards that

describe what adults know and can do to performance standards that describe how well they

can do it.

The EFF team began by looking at other frameworks that have attempted to define a similarly

broad continuum of adult performance, including the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS)

and the qualifications frameworks developed by Australia, England, Scotland, South Africa, and

New Zealand. The team also looked at data from EFF field development sites that included

teacher descriptions of student performance and research reports from cognitive science studies on expertise and transfer. Our goal was to identify a theory-based set of dimensions for performance that would be useful in describing and discriminating between performances at both

ends of the continuumadults with many years of formal education and advanced degrees at

one end of the continuum, and adults with very few years of formal education and low English

literacy skills at the other.

One of the concerns raised about existing frameworks that attempt to address a broad continuum of performance is that they do not adequately discriminate between performances at the

low end of the scale.27 Because the NIFL is particularly concerned with addressing the needs of

the adult literacy and basic skills system, the EFF team wanted to make sure that the EFF continuum would be sensitive to performances at the beginning of the continuum. As a result, the

58 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

670
team paid close attention to data from EFF field sites that defined the kind of evidence of

progress teachers looked for and how they described student performances. At the same time,

the team assumed that the goal of the adult literacy system for adults at the low end of the

scale, as for all other adults, is to facilitate increasingly more effective performance in the

world. The aim is to build one continuum, not to strand low-literate adults on a special, developmental continuum, cut off from movement along the main pathway toward mastery and

expert performance.

Since research on expert performance over the past 20 years has been building a greater understanding of the cognitive and metacognitive strategies used by expert performers and how they

differ from those used by novice performers, we began to examine whether we could build our

continuum on this theoretical foundation?'

Four Key Dimensions of Performance. As a result of this analysis, the team identified four

key dimensions of performance that are being used to construct a developmental performance

continuum for each EFF standard. These dimensions are:

1. Structure of knowledge base.

2. Fluency of performance.

3. Independence of performance.

4. Range of conditions for performance.

1. Structure of Knowledge Base.

What is a knowledge base and how do we build it? Traditionally we think about a knowledge

base as what one knows. The literature on expertise and transfer asks us to think not only

about what and how much an individual knows (the number of facts, procedures, concepts,

etc.) but also how that knowledge is organized. The goal is to assure that, as an individual's

knowledge relative to a particular domain or skill grows, the structure of the knowledge base

also develops, becoming increasingly coherent, principled, useful, and goal oriented.29 This

means that what a person knowsat whatever level of knowledgeis organized for efficient

retrieval and application in every day life. She or he has access to that knowledge and can draw

upon it for effective action in the world.

We see evidence of such developments in the knowledge base in improved performance along

the other three dimensions we have identified. That is, a knowledge base organized around

meaningful concepts, including an understanding of when and under what conditions information or strategies are useful, supports performance with greater fluency and greater independence under a greater range of conditions.

2. Fluency of Performance.

This dimension reflects the old axiom "Practice makes perfect." EFF defines it as the level of

effort required for an individual to retrieve and apply relevant knowledge. Points along the conEquipped

e Stan

ftgt.OBIG,

arc's

According to How Pe le Learn

1. Experts, regardless of field, draw on

a richly structured information base.

2. Experts recognize meaningful patterns of information. Experts' command of concepts allows them to see

patterns, relationships, or discrepancies that are not apparent to novices.

3. Experts organize their own knowledge in meaningful patterns around

core concepts, big ideas, or basic

principles of the area of expertise.

4. Experts' knowledge is "conditionalized"it includes a specification of

the contexts in which it is useful.

Conditionalizing knowledge transforms

it from "inert" to "active" usable

knowledge.

5. Experts can retrieve relevant knowledge (without effort) as a result of

1-4 above. That is:

a. They can recognize meaningful

patterns in a problem they need to

solve.

b. They can identify the relevant

concepts or big ideas for solving

that problem.

c. They can identify the relevant

conditions of usefulness of those

concepts.

d. As a result, they can fluently retrieve

the information that is necessary to

solve a problem.3°

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 59

68
"I found the Dimensions of Performance

very useful in helping me define where

students were when they came into the

class and how their learning developed

over the short period they spend with us

(6-10 weeks). I needed something that

was intelligible and 'says something' to

me, to the students, and to the employers

who come to us looking for entry-level

employees.

The Dimensions of Performance have

given me a flexible template to build

customized assessment tools that really

provide a picture of learner progress.

Structure of Knowledge Base -

What does a learner know and how

it is organized?

Degree of Fluency Is a learner

performing the task with difficulty or

is it automatic?

Performing With Increasing

Independence How much guidance

do the learners need? Are they acting

alone or are they working in teams?

Range of Performance How many

different tasks and contexts can the

learner use the skill in?"31

Anson Green

tinuum range from "slow performance, with a great deal of effort," through "some effort" and

"fluent," to "fast, effortless, 'automatic' performance."32

3. Independence of Performance.

An important indicator of an adult's increasing skill is the extent to which she or he needs

direction or guidance in using that skill. EFF uses DeFabio's definition of independence for this

dimension: "an individual's ability to select, plan, execute, and monitor his or her own performance without reliance on the direction of others."" Points along a skill-development continuum for this dimension of performance would look at a decreasing need for assistance in

carrying out these metacognitive functions, whether a person is acting alone or in collaboration

with others.

4. Range of Conditions for Performance.

This dimension goes to the heart of how well an individual can use a skill. Included in the EFF

concept of "range" are variables related to both task and context. These variables include the

kind as well as the number of tasks and contexts in which one uses the skill. Variables to consider include the degree of familiarity or unfamiliarity of a task or context, the extent to which

the task is structured or unstructured, and the complexity of the task.

The team has chosen to focus the continuum on these four dimensions of performance

because they describe not only what people know but also how well they can use what they

know. Together, they will provide a simple, coherent, research-based picture of performance

that makes sense within programs and to the many other stakeholders who care about what

people can and cannot do as a result of their learning. They will enable users both to capture

the complexity of what students are capable of performing and to communicate it in a way that

is easy to understand.

'Task 'Two: UdentiVing LeueDs Mat Descgibe

ReaD-Would Competence

Identifying levels is the part of work on Equipped for the Future that introduces the critical area

of accountability. The challenge in moving onto this difficult ground is to keep clearly focused

on EFF's guiding principles for assessment, which present the big picture of accountability for

what and to whom. EFF's overarching operational rule states that work on the EFF Assessment

Framework will be consistent with work on the EFF Content Framework. It will be "based on a

broad, inclusive definition of maximizing accountability to all customers and stakeholders

starting with the adult learner."

Three of the guiding principles for the EFF Assessment Framework specifically address the creation of levels:

Each level defined in the EFF Assessment Framework must communicate clearly what an

adult at that level can do.

60 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
The levels defined in the EFF Assessment Framework must be linked to key external measures of competence and key pathways so that adults and systems can rely on them as accurate predictors of real-world performance.

The levels defined in the EFF Assessment Framework must be the products of a national

consensus-building process to assure portability of certificates and credentials.

These principles underline EFF's focus on real-world results. Operationalizing them will

require more than setting and describing levels of performance for individual standards. Over

the long term, they will also require trying to understand and describe levels of what might be

called "composite" or "integrated" performance. This is because most activities in adult life

don't depend on using skills one by one but on drawing on multiple skills and integrating them

to accomplish a purpose.

The process of identifying the knowledge and skills codified as the EFF Standards began by

looking at what adults need to do in the world today to be effective as workers, parents and

family members, and citizens and community members. In thinking about how and where to

set levels (both for individual skills and for this broader, integrated skill competence), this can't

be forgotten. EFF levels must not be based solely on academic conceptions of "beginning,"

and "advanced," but must be anchored to external benchmarks related to what an

adult needs to know and be able to do to accomplish real life goals.

Work Currently Underway. As a first step toward defining "descriptive" levels on the performance continuum for individual standards described above, a group of practitioners has been

working with the EFF technical assistance team to develop a template for collecting evidence of

performance that focuses on the four dimensions.34 This template will be used with 10 to 15

programs in the 1999-2000 year to begin creating a rich, contextualized picture of adult learner

performances along the continuum. The data collected from participating programs will help

develop clear and specific descriptions of what performance looks like along the continuum, in

terms both of level of skill development and what adults can do with those skills in their everyday lives. These descriptions will be used to build strong links and "crosswalks" to existing systems for describing level of skill, including the U.S. Department of Education's National

Reporting System (NRS) and the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL).

Longer-Term Challenges. Improving performance accountability in adult education also

requires research on defining levels related to real-world competence. NIFL will fund and collaborate with research by others that helps establish valid and reliable linkages between what

adults know and what they can do. A project that will contribute to this effort is already underway, with the National Retail Federation and the Voluntary Partnership developing skill standards for Sales and Services.

"We seem to have reached a plateau in

the predictive power of our current tests,

especially as they pertain to predicting

criteria that go beyond school grades.

One possible reason for this plateau is that

intelligence in everyday life just doesn't

seem to be the same thing as intelligence in

academic settings. But most of a person's

life is spent outside academe.... We need to

understand more about intelligence as it

applies to everyday settings."35

Robert J. Sternberg

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 61

70
' I - . m.

V

"Standardized tests provide valuable

information for selecting and placing

students and for comparing students,

schools, and school districts with one

another. These types of data will continue

to be useful for their intended purposes of

selection, placement, and comparison.

However, these tests do not measure

student conceptions, learning strategies,

or metacognitive or affective thought

processes relevant to instruction. To

measure these thought processes of

learners as a way to understand better

how teaching affects student achievement,

I see a need for a complementary type of

test information that requires a new type

of test." 36

M.C. Wittrock

Data from this and similar efforts in areas related to all three role maps will provide a starting

point for structured feedback in a broadly inclusive process, aimed at identifying and building

consensus on a small number of levels that reflect important benchmarks for adult performance and lifelong learning. This process will need to involve all stakeholders and customers of

the adult lifelong learning system. The NIFL is just beginning to talk with partners about what

this process might look like and has commissioned several papers to help in thinking about a

valid design.

Task Three: gdentEtygng Tools and Approaches

to Document and Assess Perfformance

Now that the EFF Content Standards and key dimensions of performance have been clearly

specified, we can begin the systematic identification of a range of tools and approaches that will

help address the three purposes of assessment that are central to the EFF Framework:

To provide information on learner achievements and mastery that is useful to the

learner as well as the teacher throughout the instructional process.

To provide information about what learners can do that is credible to employers, educational institutions, and policymakers, as well as to the learners themselves.

To provide information that is useful for program and system improvement and

accountability.

To address these purposes and be consistent with our other guiding principles, the tools and

approaches identified must enable us to answer two questions about every learner:

1. What do you know?

2. What can you do with this knowledge?

In addition to enabling teachers and programs to document and measure, in valid and reliable

ways, performances along the continuum, such tools will help create a database for researcha

richly contextualized picture of adult performancesthat will enable teachers and programs to

understand better what levels and combinations of skills are necessary for adults to carry out

important goals in their lives.

Work Currently Underway. The first steps have already been taken in this systematic exploration of tools and approaches. Participants in an expert review of EFF Standards held in January 1999 were asked to respond to two questions regarding assessment: first, to identify effective

approaches for assessing performance against EFF Standards; second, to identify existing tools

that exemplify these approaches.

Starting with the information gathered through this process, the EFF technical assistance team

has begun to create a matrix of proposed tools and approaches for assessing each Standard for

purposes of informing teaching and learning, certifying mastery, and/or informing program

62 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

71'
and system accountability. When complete, this matrix will provide a starting point for ongoing consultation with practitioners and experts as well as for a focused program of research to

be conducted over the next two to three years.

Longer-Term Challenges. Questions that will guide this consultation and research include:

To what extent do existing tools and approaches provide accurate measures of performance

against EFF Standards?

In what areas do we need to encourage the development of new tools and approaches?

Can we reach agreement on a set of design criteria for practitioners to use in developing valid

and reliable tools to support the teaching and learning process?

In what ways do these criteria need to be modified to guide development of more highly standardized tools designed to permit comparison of students within and across programs for

accountability purposes?

As part of the effort to address these questions, the NIFL will support work to:

Systematically Collect Data.

Teachers will work with assessment experts to develop rubrics and guidelines that help them

more systematically collect evidence of student performance against EFF Standards and make

more reliable inferences about the "level" of student performance.

Improve Assessments Intended to Inform the Teaching-Learning Process.

Research will focus on improving assessments intended to inform the teaching-learning

process, including: a) refining rubrics and guidelines to assure validity and greater inter-rater

reliability; and b) identifying areas of learner growth and change for which no tools yet exist for

assessment, and c) testing approaches to documenting and judging such changes.

Improve Assessments Intended to Inform Accountability.

Results from this research, as well as ongoing consultation with assessment experts, will inform

our understanding of the kinds of tools that will be most useful for accountability purposes.

Our exploration of EFF and accountability will also include: a) examining the extent to which

programs of instruction and assessment based on EFF Standards yield results on existing standardized assessments; and b) examining the extent to which existing standardized assessments

measure learner achievements against EFF Standards.

Coordinate Research and Development Efforts Through an Assessment Consortium.

NIFL hopes to facilitate this research and development through creating an Assessment Consortium, comprised of representatives of key stakeholders, to develop and prioritize a common

assessment agendaconsistent with the guiding principles outlined above. Bringing together

key players with an interest in assessment and the results of such assessmentincluding practitioners, researchers, and policymakerswill enable better coordination of resources and the

"It is important to remember that the traits

achievement tests purportedly measure,

such as mathematical ability, reading level,

or physics achievement, are not features of

objective reality, but constructs of human

designinvented to organize experience

and solve problems, but shaped by the

science and the society in which they

evolved. Contemporary conceptions of

learning do not describe developing competence in terms of increasing trait values, but

in terms of alternative constructs:

constructing and reconstructing mental

structures that organize facts and skills

('schemas'); learning how to plan, monitor,

and, when necessary, switch problemsolving strategies ('metacognitive skills');

and practicing procedures to the point that

they no longer demand high levels of attention (`automaticity')."37

Robert J. Mislevy

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 63
V

"Ultimately the vision of a lifelong learning

system that combines work and learning

should be judged by standards that measure

its ability to increase choices and opportunities for both work and learning for students

as well as its ability to satisfy performance

requirements on the job. The diversity

among American students, workplaces, and

communities requires a variety of alternative

paths that mix work and learning integrated

by an incremental and sequential system of

competency-based standards.

The challenge is to build an integrated

system of career pathways with different

points of access and exits controlled by

posted skill standards. Individuals should

not be allowed to enter or exit a particular

path without certification of skills and

applied competencies. Every exit from

a learning path should be validated by

accredited learning and lead to either

work or continued progress along another

learning path...." 38

Anthony P Carnevale and Jeffrey D. Porro

development and validation efforts those resources support. Through coordinated pursuit of a

common agenda we can accelerate our efforts to measure (and achieve) progress toward results

that matter.

What Programs Can Do How

How does this long-term work fit with the pressing program and system accountability

demands raised by the Workforce Investment Act and other pieces of state and federal legislation? EFF research on adult roles and the skills and knowledge adults need in order to be effective in those roles has enabled us to identify and build consensus on what results are important

to measure. Adult and family literacy programs, adult schools and citizenship programs, workplace education programs across the country have begun to use EFF to refocus curriculum and

instruction on achieving real-world outcomes. Over the next several years, as valid and reliable

tools for documenting and measuring these results are developed, programs will be able to provide strong evidence of the ways in which they prepare adults to be more effective in their roles.

In this way, EFF will enable the field to expand what can be measured so that programs can

demonstrate how they systematically contribute to achieving all three purposes of the Adult

Education and Family Literacy Actto assist adults in "obtaining the knowledge and skills necessary for employment and self-sufficiency" and in "the completion of secondary school education," and to assist "parents in obtaining the skills necessary to be full partners in their children's

educational development." 39

For a look at how programs are using the EFF Framework and Standards to build competence

in these areas, please turn to the next chapter.

64 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

73
CHAPTER 4

Meeting Common Goals:

Teaching and Learning

With the EFF Framework

Introduction

This chapter provides three detailed examples of how teachers use the Equipped for the Future

Standards and all the elements of the Content Framework to explicitly focus teaching and

learning on real-world goals. Each example is constructed from the documentation and materials provided by teachers participating in the Equipped for the Future field development

process. More than 100 teachers and tutors working in 25 programs participated in the first

year of the field development process, trying out the framework and draft standards with their

students to help the EFF development team determine if "the EFF Standards and Content

Framework help you move toward your goals of more effectively addressing the learning needs

of adults who come to your program." In the second year of the field development process, a

smaller number of programs were asked to focus explicitly on using the Standards to collect

evidence of student progress toward stated goals.'

The three examples included here illustrate how teachers use different aspects of the Content

Frameworkfrom the Purposes and Role Maps to the Common Activities to the Standards

to construct lessons that build real-world competence in their students.

The first example, from a multilevel, welfare-to-work class at Vermont Adult Learning

(VAL), focuses on a class where the four learner-identified Purposes and the Citizen/Community Member Role Map provide the structure for learning. This example is from the first

round of field reviews and does not include the detailed analysis of the Standards found in the

other two examples.

The second example is drawn from the work of two English as a Second Language (ESL)

classes in the Division of Adult and Continuing Education at Sweetwater Union School District. The focus here is on a series of lessons constructed to develop learner competence

related to communication and interpersonal skills.

The third example, from the Even Start program at Canton City Schools, focuses on how

teachers used the Framework and Standards to link work and learning and to observe, assess,

and report progress to others.

Vermont Adult Learning:

Speaking for Ourselves

Sweetwater Union School District:

"No Time for Turkeys!"

Canton City Schools:

Building the Skills to Manage Resources

"I could see that EFF was more than just a

methodology of project-based learning in

classroom instruction. The Standards were

developed based on a philosophical belief in

a customer-driven system, and the learners

who were empowered to make decisions in

the classroom and in the program, and given

the skills to do so, were energized and

invested in their learning. They were also

learning the skills they would need in their

adult roles. They were learning to use the

generative skills while they were learning

the subject content."

Eleanor Lockwood, Director,

Windham Adult Education, ME

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 65
Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

While roughly one-third of teachers and tutors in the field development sites used EFF for

working one-on-one with learners (see Chapters 3 and 5 for examples), we chose to use three

group instruction samples here in order to provide condensed, multifaceted pictures of EFF

as a guide to teaching and learning.'

Each illustration of the EFF Framework in action has been constructed in the same way.

Each begins with a narrative description of the program and the students involved.

Each narrative walks through three phases of instruction from the teacher's point of view:

planning, implementation, and assessment/evaluation.

Each narrative is supplemented by:

Reflections from the teacher (italicized type labeled Reflection),

Commentary by the EFF team highlighting key features of the

Framework (in green type), and

Illustrative forms, rubrics, and other artifacts prepared by the teacher,

as well as samples of student work produced during the activities.

O

O

Read With Understanding Use

Information and Communications Technology

Learn Through Research

Reflect and Evaluate

Take Responsibility

for Learning Guide Others

TF

Resolve Conflict and Negotiate

COMMU

Convey

Ideas in Writing

Advocate

and

Influence

Speak So Others Can Understand

Vermont nzkoN LearmAng QVAQ Program

Speaking for Ourselves

Listen ActivelyObserve Critically Use Math to Solve Problems and Communicate Solve Problems and Make Decisions

Cooperate With Others

°NAL SKILLS

Standards Used in This

Vermont Adult Learning Project

This example comes from the Vermont Adult Learning (VAL) Program, which serves yearly

over 3,000 adults from rural and urban areas across several counties in northern Vermont. VAL offers a variety of programs, including learning centers, basic literacy and

GED preparation classes, work readiness and Bridge to College courses, teen parenting, and family literacy. In addition, some of VAL's work is conducted through individualized, home-based tutoring.

VAL was an EFF field development site in 1997-98, when field development activities

focused on evaluating the overall usefulness of the Framework as well as refining the

Standards. Teacher Carolyn Bronz tried out the Framework that year: team teacher Lou

Dorwaldt joined her later in the year. Carolyn was immediately drawn to the four Purposes, which she felt made a unique contribution to framing the work of adult education.

She decided to give students practice in fulfilling each one.

The students in the welfare-to-work class described here had been meeting for over a year when

this project started. Though skill levels varied, all the students had mastered basic literacy, and

many were at a pre-GED level. Carolyn described the students' learning goals this way:

"They all have the ultimate goal of becoming employed and being able to support their

families with their own earnings. They all need and want to improve their academic skills,

66 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
their workplace skills, and their social skills. Each year, we try to design a program that will

address these goals in the most effective way. This year we decided to use project-based

learning, using the EFF Framework as a way of identifying and teaching the skills necessary to be successful in the project."

This story illustrates how a learning project, conceived as a way

to fulfill the objectives of the welfare-to-work program, also drew

students into fuller participation in their communities and

develop valuable personal skills.

Origins of the Project

The project is a result of using real-life

opportunities to address both funder and

student goals. Adults in the class were all

either on welfare or recently off the rolls, and

according to Carolyn, "Welfare reform issues

are very important in their lives right now.

Many are facing time limits for benefits and

have been required to take Community Service Employment to earn their grants." Students in the class were concerned that some

of the regulations they faced were getting in

the way of gaining the skills for employment.

These included mandated appointments at

the welfare office 20 miles away, even though

there is no public transportation in this rural

community. Some women had few options

other than driving uninspected or unregistered vehicles. Others could find no day care

for infants. They had concerns to voice to

decision makers.

Though developed in a

"civic" context, the skills,

knowledge, and confidence

students develop will serve

them in all three primary

rolesworker, family

member, and community

member.

. Reflection

"I feel encouraged to know that I can start

at any place in the Standards that feels

right to me, and I am choosing to start with

the four Purposes. These Purposes are

easy to understand. They have come from

the adult students themselves and so have

great validity and authenticity. They give me

an overall handle on what I'm doing with

students and why."

COUNTY COURIER

SCHOOLS

Students Testify in Montpelier

ENOSBURG: Members of the Goalseekers Class went to Montpelier Feb. 4 to

testify before the Joint Committee on

Health and Welfare. Their topic was welfare reform. The Goalseeker Class is a

group of single parents and displaced

homemakers who are working on academic and workplace skills at Cold Hollow Career Center.

The program funded by a Perkins

grant is

Vermont Adult Learning has a structure in place for making that

possible. For the last few years the program has invited local legislators to a student meeting in the fall. This event, set up to inform

legislators about the educational needs of residents, also provides

a learning opportunity for students as they prepare and practice

what they want to tell their representatives.

Through these sessions VAL has gradually built a good relationship with local representatives, and some students have been

Sara Branon Kittell, D-Fairfield, who

have both been supporters of the project. The group also met with Rep. Mark

Woodward, D-Johnson, and Rep. Alber

Perry, D-Richford, who gave advice on

how to testify effectively.

Adult education is a vital piece of the

welfare reform puzzle. The students

have been concerned that Vermont's

welfare reform initiative does not

emphasize the importance of getting an

e education in preparation for a

February 12, 1998 8

n't effectively address the issue of transportation. Almost every member of the

class impossible to hold down jobs and

keep appointments. Not being able to

buy, maintain, register, and insure vehicles means that students must depend

on others or drive illegally in order to

meet the obligations under welfare

reform. Other issues of concern a

child care, housing, lack of job

a living wage, and lo

ance Cold Hollow Career Center Goalseekers Class

Funded by a Carl Perkins Grant

Taught by Vermont Adult Learning: Lou Dorwaldt & Carolyn Bronz, Teachers

Our Issues of Concern

Existing and budgeting on welfare grants that don't cover the cost of living (grants

are 52% of poverty level)

Being required to work before we have the opportunity to get adequate education

and training

Being looked down upon by others because of receiving welfare; poor self-image,

feeling worthless

Being forced to take low-paying jobs that will not support our families

Lack of adequate, safe housing

Transportation difficulties: driving without licenses and insurance; relying on relatives,

friends or hitchhiking for rides; inability to keep cars in good condition

Child care concerns: does it make sense for mothers of young children to work at

minimum wage jobs and pay others to care for the children when their salary will not

support the family and they lose their health insurance?

The obstacles that get in our way: domestic abuse, substance abuse, children with

disabilities and/or I.E.P.'s, lack of child support from fathers of our children

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 67
I .

Reflection

"I introduced the four EFF Purposes to

my class and asked them to think of which

Purposes were addressed by speaking to

state legislators, what skills we needed in

order to be able to do this, and what next

steps they envision for themselves."

encouraged to become more active in the political process. In 1997 the representatives were so

impressed by what they heard during their visit that they suggested a group of students come to

Montpelier, the state capitol, to testify before a legislative committee about the issues that concerned them.

Using the Framework for Planning and Teaching

The students were excited by the idea of speaking in Montpelier, and preparations for the visit

became a focus for classroom activities. To make sure that the students understood the ways in

which this activity was legitimate learning, the class used the EFF Framework to identify the

skills that could be developed if they used this invitation to express their concerns to the legislature. These skills included Read With Understanding, Convey Ideas in Writing, Speak So Others

Can Understand, Listen Actively, Solve Problems, Use Technology, Learn Through Research, Plan,

and Advocate and Influence.

Questions to Ask Reach Up Welfare-to-Work

Program Staff (Abridged) Developed by Goalseekers Class

PERSONAUCAREER

1. Why did you decide to be a Reach Up worker?

2. Have you ever lived on welfare? Do you know how hard it is to live on

52% of your needs?

TRANSPORTATION

1. Some students are driving without licenses and insurance. Some can't

afford to have a legal vehicle and maintain it. How can people get to

work if they have these problems?

CHILD CARE

1. At what age does Reach Up expect people to put their children into

child care?

2. If a single mother feels it's in the child's best interest for her to stay

home to care for that child, how do you respond to that?

EDUCATION

1. How important do you feel education is for the goal of getting a job?

2. It's hard to get a good job with only a high school diploma. What is your

policy about higher education?

QUESTIONS FOR THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR, STEVE GOLD

1. How many people are in the Reach Up program statewide?

2. What is the percentage of people who have obtained jobs and no longer

receive welfare?

3. What is the total budget for the Reach Up program?

4. How much of this budget goes to the recipients?

5. Where does Reach Up funding come from?

6. What do you feel are the greatest successes of your program?

Over the next several months, students completed background readings;

conducted research on individual and corporate welfare; wrote their personal stories; practiced their speaking skills; and studied how government

works. Carolyn summarized the standards-related learnings as follows:

Read With Understanding: Students had to read a variety of authentic

source materials, some of which were college level. They had to be able to

recognize bias, evaluate an argument, and understand diverse points of

view. They had to develop their vocabulary and their background knowledge of government and social programs.

Convey Ideas in Writing: They each wrote essays about the issues related

to welfare reform that most concerned them.

Speak So Others Can Understand: Each student who went to Montpelier

spoke. All students have been actively speaking in class and practicing

their delivery before their peers.

Listen Actively: They practiced taking turns speaking, listening with

respect and without interrupting, and giving feedback to speakers.

Resolve Conflict and Negotiate: This is ongoing in this class. Working on

openly sharing feelings in an assertive, not aggressive, way. Working on

confidentiality issues, and trust building.

Plan: In order to successfully make the trip and make it to class each

week, students must manage their time and plan child care, transportation, etc.

Solve Problems: Unexpected problems constantly crop up for them. They

are becoming more creative and more collaborative in finding solutions.

Reflect and Evaluate: Weekly class feedback forms completed.

68 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

77'
Carolyn described "the big day" this way:

"The students were well prepared but nervous, of course. They read their

stories to the committee, who listened attentively and asked many questions. They kept us long after our scheduled hour. This made a huge

impression on the students. As one said, 'The committee really seemed

interested in what we had to say about our situation. I thought we were

going to go down there and just be blown off. But I was wrong: Every one

of the students came out of the session feeling empowered?'

Interviewing Welfare-to-Work Staff

One of the outcomes of participation in the hearing was that the class

invited the director and several staff members from Reach Up, the state

welfare-to-work office, to meet with and be interviewed by class members. To make sure that the visit didn't turn into a gripe session, the teachers spent time discussing with students beforehand how they would

conduct the day and the kinds of questions they would ask. They spent

several class sessions brainstorming the questions and holding mock

interview practice.

Students also did additional research on the Internet to learn more about

the local welfare program. Teacher Carolyn Bronz described the goal of the

meeting: "We planned to establish a tone of mutual respect so that the

information we were sharing would be helpful to all of us. We thought that

if the welfare staff could learn more about some of the problems we were

having, maybe the program would become more beneficial to people who

are trying to get off welfare and get jobs?'

Looking at Student Performance

The meeting went well. "It was a valuable two-way sharing and feedback

session. We learned ways to make the system work better for both of us."

Afterwards Carolyn created a questionnaire that asked the students to

use "the lens of the EFF Standards" to

evaluate the learning project and to

reflect more deeply on what they had

gained from the experience. Each student wrote about the skills she used

and why.

EFF makes skills explicit and gives

students a way to talk about them.

The EFF Framework helps students

develop metacognitive awareness

of their own learning.

.

Student ResponsesEFF Questionnaire

What did you have to learn and be able to do in order to do

this project?

Read With Understanding

-To learn about what's going on

in the world today.

-To know what I just read and

understand what it said.

Convey Ideas in Writing

I had to learn how to write so I

would be understood.

Put my ideas on paper in the

right way.

Speak So Others Can

Understand

-We must talk loud and speak

slow so they could understand.

I stutter when nervous so I had

to concentrate on what I wanted

to say.

-We had to get our point across.

Listen Actively

So we can understand what

people tell us.

I had to listen carefully to questions so that I could answer.

Cooperate With Others

I am learning how to work with

people I do not like.

-We had to get along to do this

project.

Advocate and Influence

We were advocating for

ourselves.

Everyone has influence on each

other in our class.

Resolve Conflict and Negotiate

We had to try to solve things in

ways that don't hurt feelings.

-As a group we are responsible to

solve any problems that occur.

Guide

We learn how to give someone a

helping hand.

- We guide one another for the

best for the group.

-The teacher guides us with the

help we need.

Plan

- We had to make a design of

what we were going to do.

We had to decide what order to

get things done.

Although the teachers plan the

classes, the students have come

up with good ideas to change

the teachers' plans.

Research

We had to know the information

about the agencies and our

project.

- I learned how to look up things.

-I use personal knowledge,

information from libraries,

books, etc.

Use Technology

We used the computer to do

our testimony and to find out

information.

Reflect and Evaluate

We gained experience by looking

back at what we did.

How will you use what you learned in this project outside of school?

-To get jobs and in my household.

I will use this information in just

about everything I do in life from

buying groceries to doing a job.

-To teach people how welfare

works and what they are

supposed to do.

I use what I have learned in this

class every time I open my eyes

til I close them at night. I use my

reading, writing, math. I can

solve problems or get help. This

class has made me open my

eyes when I thought I was

worthless.

- I will learn to speak out more in

my every day life.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 69

78
.

Feedback from

George Costes, Vermont State Senator for

Franklin County, Member of the Joint

Committee on Health & Welfare

1) Please tell your reaction to the Goalseekers

Class testimony in Montpelier.

You people knew your subject well. You were prepared and presented your point of view clearly.

You spoke about difficulties with transportation,

child care, insurance and other problems. Your

legislators need to hear about these problems.

2) What effect do you think this testimony had?

It brought some problems to the forefront and

now we're working hard on rural transportation.

Efforts are being made to improve it. We are still

working on a public transportation system for

Franklin and Grand Isle counties. We also voted

to appropriate money to the place in Burlington

that repairs cars to resell very cheaply to people in

need of transportation. This was a direct result of

your testimony. We still need to take a look at the

problem of licenses which have been suspended

because of fines. We have talked about instituting

a Forgiveness or Amnesty Day to give people

another chance to retain their licenses.

3) Do you have questions or advice for this

group of women?

Keep these issues coming at the legislators. We

need to hear from you about these issues. Keep

the pressure on. Come in again this year to testify.

Come prepared with your facts and figures like

you did last year. Your group did a very good job.

L

Avis Gervais,

State Representative for District 2

(Enosburg, Richford, Bakersfield,

Berkshire)

1) Please tell your reaction to the

Goalseekers Class testimony in

Montpelier.

The Health and Welfare Committee

were astonished as to how these women

and their families live each day! The

hardships they encounter which in turn

discourage them from advancing to a

quality life for their families and themselves!

2) What effect do you think this testimony had?

We need answers to this problem. A

couple of the members of the committee immediately sought out help for

some of the members.

3) Do you have questions or advice for

this group of women?

You did a great job all by yourselves!

Don't give up!!

4) How do you think this class should

follow up?

Proceed to get a listing of Legislative

names and telephone numbers, federal

and state, to allow them to make contact with these persons on their own.

This is what impresses them!

Learner Comments About the Trip to itliontpeiler

The day we went to Montpelier to meet with

the Joint Committee was really good. They all

listened to us while we were talking and when

they left to vote they wanted us to stop until they

came back.

The part that surprised me was they were

interested with our lives. Also the Joint Committee

wanted to help us if the laws don't do what they

were voted in for.

Also it was very interesting to see how they

worked down there. Having our classmates talk

was really nice.

I think the worst part of the day was waiting.

But it was good after that. I would do it again.

Ellen Landry

...I was very scared when I had to go up and talk

about my problems. I wanted to hide, but I am

very glad that I did talk to them. The committee

can't help you if you don't stand up and talk. I

know because they helped me get my Medicaid

back when I kept losing it for no reason!

I had a good time down in Montpelier. I feel

that I learned a lot there. I learned that the people

at the Capital really want to help us. I feel that our

class did a great job in testifying about all of our

problems. I feel that we all got our points across

to all the people in the room, not to just a few. I

would go again. Thank you to all the people who

made it possible for us to go.

Rose Elwood

From the teachers' point of view the experience was

successful in many ways. In addition to the skills

growth described above, they reported the following

observations of changes in student performance:

Students are becoming more confident, as evidenced in their demeanor, their speech and their

body language. They were "respectful, poised, and

clear in their questions and comments?'

They are growing more supportive of each other

and more ready to share.

They are understanding their own personal power

and seeing how they are responsible for their situations.

Another important source of data about student performance was the feedback the class received from

state representatives and the Department of Human

Services staff. These external observers confirmed the

teachers' observations, describing the students as well

prepared and articulate.

The teachers concluded from this experience that

projects involving students in reaching out to the

community can result in powerful learning experiences. Carolyn noted: "The preparation involved in

speaking, writing, presenting their points of view,

and interacting with people that they ordinarily see

as impossibly out of reach requires them to get their

act together, and they do!"

From Vouce to [Independent neVon

A year later, Carolyn's observations about the power

of breaking down the wall between the classroom

and the community is being corroborated by an

experience she and fellow teacher Lou Dorwaldt are

having with a new class in a different town. The Getting Ready to Work class is a group of low-income

women, mostly single mothers, who are all welfare

recipients.

70 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
VAL invited legislators to visit students and teachers in this

program as well. This time, one of the legislators brought

along an application for a grant to benefit women and girls.

The class considered this new possibility and decided to use

grant writing as a learning activity to help them develop

specific skills in service of a real objective. As with the previous class, they used the EFF Framework to identify the skills

they would need to focus on.

Adults' goals evolve as they

engage with each other and

project activities.

Together the group spent a few hours of class time brainstorming ideas for the project and

many more hours writing the proposal. Students drew on their own experience to identify the

need for resources to address emergency child care and transportation. Then they developed a

plan to address these needs. The class brought in people from the community with experience

in grant writing to guide them in developing a budget and timeline, and one of the students

typed up the proposal. As a result of this effort they received a $4,000 grant.

A committee of four students was formed to administer

the grant and to help find matching funds from local organizations. As they begin the process of carrying out their

project plans, these students will be interacting with a variety of community agencies and people. They will be making and implementing decisions and learning from each

step in the process as it presents itself.

&unman/

Carolyn and Lou continue to marvel at the opportunities

that unfold when they approach learning as an activity

with real-life application. They also note that it takes more

time to teach this wayhelping students develop and

apply skills in ever-changing situations. They reflected on

what they were learning:

"EFF gave us the framework we needed to take full advantage of this learning opportunity. It enabled us to make explicit all the skills students develop through project-based

learning. In addition, using the framework to reflect on learning afterward gave students

the chance to appreciate and integrate what they have learned."

The real-world focus of EFF

provides opportunities for adults

to develop relationships that

build and benefit the community.

The Framework tools help adults

see how their developing skills

transfer across roles. The research,

planning, and problem solving

developed through this community

project can be applied to work

and family contexts.

Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

Title Page of Grant Application

Who We Are

We are a group of low income women in Getting

Ready to Work,* a collaborative educational and

work skills program. We all want to get off welfare,

but we are having a hard time. We all want a better

future for our children. We want to provide a loving,

stable environment for our children. Our goal is to be

able to have safe, reliable, high-quality child care so

that we can go to work or school to better our

futures. Our dream is to have employment that pays

enough to support our families.

We are taking responsibility for reaching our goals

by coming to the GRTW program and getting our

GEDs and Adult Diplomas. Some of us are taking

college courses to get a start on a degree. There are

others among us who are working part-time, as well

as coming to class twice a week. One of us has

started her own business. As a group, we identified

the need in our area for child care and transportation, and to fix it we wrote a grant to try and get

funds for this purpose. All these things that we are

doing are steps that we are taking to achieve the

goals of creating better lives for ourselves and our

children.

*Partners in GRTW are DET, Reach Up (DSW), Vermont Adult

Learning, and two local technical centers.

The St. Albans (VT) Messenger

Tuesday, June 15,1999

Getting Ready to Work

Students Write, Receive Grant

GRTW students wrote and received a grant

for child care and transportation through

The Vermont Women's Fund, a component of

The Vermont Community Foundation. The

Vermont Women's Fund received 59 applications requesting more than $300,000 out of

an available $40,000 for grant making. Of the

59 applicants, the Foundation awarded a total

of 13 grants.

On May 25, Kate Baldwin from the

Vermont Community Foundation will visit

Vermont Adult Learning to present teachers,

Carolyn Bronz, Lou Dorwaldt and their

GRTW students with the $4,000 check.

The grant l . d for the

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 71

80;
II

JW

aC

z0

LL

C2

Read With Understanding Use

Information and Communications Technology

Learn Through Research Reflect and Evaluate

Take Responsibility

for Learning Guide Others Resolve Conflict and Negotiate

Convey

Ideas in Writing

Advocate

and

Influence

Speak So Others Can Understand

Listen ActivelyObserve Critically

Sweetwater Union School District

"No Time for Turkeys!"

Judy Wurtz and Eileen Peca teach in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program of the

Division of Adult and Continuing Education at Sweetwater Union School District, a large district in southern California. During the course of a year, this ESL program serves close to

20,000 adults, a number that is increasing each year. The classes described in this vignette

are intermediate-level ESL. Students at this level are able to use English to meet the basic

survival needs of daily life but need a lot of practice and improvement in order to use

English in a wider range of situations. The focus of instruction for teachers in this program is improving the reading, comprehension, writing, speaking, and listening skills

of students so that they can function more independently in both familiar and unfamiliar situations.

Use Math to Solve Problems and Communicate Solve Problems and Make Decision.

Cooperate With Others ONAL SKILLS

Standards Used in This

Sweetwater Union School

District Project

Group Work Self Evaluation Reflect on your work in groups this week. What was positive about your group? Who was negative about your group? What was positive or negative about your participation? STOP and reflect on this for a moment. Now, answer the questions below. Do not consult with your partner. Express your personal opinion.

I. Did you participate in the discussion? r(e5 1 (it'll- 2. Were you comfortable or not? Whyt .218.5 I G fin beicaucv.. _L ILlet_. 3. Were you happy with your participation? Why or whynot? '/e-5

. What helped your participation? .1 /44,A cc( 1,/*Cdy

5. What blocked your participation? Whet, -I an, .16. ce.,4- 6. What did you want to do but couldn't? ,..0 rri-e... E791/5/1

7. Did your group finish its task? Ye5 I f is

8. What did pattern from each other? P/IP rf. tl form oi ii-aoly

Compare your work here with other work places. I. Where do you parlidpate mom in dass, at home or at work? iet C /45 5 2. What did you learn that you OM transfer to work or home? 157, C4.1, 0 i (fi

tt)

C,

Improved interpersonal

skills address general

policy goals of active

citizens, healthy families,

and productive workplaces.

Judy and Eileen meet with students, in separate classes, for

about 20 hours a week. While almost all the students are

native speakers of Spanish, they come from a wide range of

educational and occupational backgrounds. Judy and Eileen

use a variety of teaching approaches. In general, both try to

build lessons around real-life application of skills. The

lessons described here took place during the second year of

their participation in the EFF field development process.

During the time described here, the Common Activity Work Together provided the context for

work on all the Communication Skills, plus the skills Cooperate With Others, Guide Others,

Reflect and Evaluate, and, as it turned out, Resolve Conflict and Negotiate. Students were organized into teams to learn about team work and group process skills.

COMMON ACTIVITY

Work Together

Cooperate with others to learn, accomplish tasks, and pursue

common goals.

Identify what needs to be done and plan

how to do it

Pay attention to the relationships within

the group as well as to completing the Recognize and deal with conflict in a

task productive manner

Identify and draw upon everyone's

strengths in carrying out the work of the

group

72 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
The Origin of the Lesson

Judy and Eileen had been meeting with their classes for several months when a real in-program

conflict provided a teachable moment for conflict resolution skills. Two of the classes planned

to hold a Thanksgiving party together, and one student from each class volunteered to pick up a

turkey from a local market, with the understanding that the turkeys were pre-cooked. As it

turned out, they were not, and one student was upset when she discovered that she had "volunteered" to cook the turkey. "As a result," Judy reports, "there was a lot of tension at the party and

the two classes sat separately. One class accused students from the other of giving them 'dirty

looks.' It was a miserable experience for all of us."

Afterward, Judy and Eileen discussed the possibility of using this

incident as the basis for classroom work on Resolve Conflict,

Cooperate With Others, Speak So Others Can Understand, and Listen Actively, but they were hesitant. "We knew that this would be

asking our students to revisit some negative emotions and memories and we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. When one of us

explained the conflict during a team meeting of EFF teachers,

others thought this provided a great opportunity to explore the

Standard Resolve Conflict and Negotiate. Especially since these two groups of students would be

in the same class with each other the following semester and would have to get along, this was a

reason that could motivate all of us, students and teachers, to revisit this unpleasant times'

The transition to a

system that can provide

"results that matter"

requires structural support

for colleagues to share,

problem solve, and

challenge each other

to take risks.

After the holidays, they decided to talk about the conflict in class and build a series of class

meetings and activities around it. Then each planned separate follow-up lessons on conflict

resolution skills.

Using the EFF Framework lor Pganniing

Judy describes the process she used in planning the first class:

"As I planned what we would do during these classes, I looked at the standard for Resolve

Conflict and thought about what I already knew about how my students deal with conflict. I

had very limited information to go on, as I haven't noticed many conflicts in class. I also had

very little practice in observing this skill in the way I'm used to observing the Communication Skills. All I noticed was that the students in my class had not considered any other possible interpretations of what had gone wrong at the party beyond their own.

"I then thought about what I would look for, what my expectations of student performance

of the skill Resolve Conflict and Negotiate would be. My expectations included the ability to:

Identify that acknowledging a conflict is the first step toward satisfactory resolution.

Write what happened to create the conflict.

Listen to and acknowledge the other class's version of what happened.

Agree to an activity that will help resolve bad feelings left from the conflict."

.

Components of Performance for

Resolve Conflict and Negotiate

Acknowledge that there is a conflict.

Identify areas of agreement and

disagreement.

Generate options for resolving conflict

that have a "win/win" potential.

Engage parties in trying to reach

agreement on a course of action that

can satisfy the needs and interests

of all.

Evaluate results of efforts and revise

approach as necessary.

An EFF curriculum builds

from what participants

already know and can do.

Finding these starting

points is a new endeavor

for most teachers and

students.

EFF promotes intentional

teaching, planning instruction with the end in mind.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 73

82
Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

The Framework facilitates explicit

discussion of what is being learned

and why and therefore helps students

and teachers negotiate the direction

of the curriculum.

Resolve Conflict and Negotiate

We are going to spend some time talking about the

conflict that occurred with the Thanksgiving party.

We are going to do this for two reasons:

1. The national project that we are participating in

(EFF) asked that we take a conflict and use it to

evaluate their Standards.

2. Next semester some students from the other

class will be your classmates. You will have to

work and cooperate with them.

Reflect on what happened when planning for the

Thanksgiving party and during the party itself.

Identify the conflict or conflicts:

What factors contributed to the problem?

What did we do to resolve the conflict? Should we

do more?

What Took Place

In early January both classes were asked to write about the conflict. In preparation for their

writing, students read a paragraph explaining why the classes were revisiting this conflict. "The

class talked about EFF and the Standards we had studiedCooperate, Speak, Reflect and, now,

Resolve Conflict. We also talked about the fact that next semester they would be in a class with

some students from the class with which they had the conflict. They would need to work

together amiably and cooperatively?'

Judy described what happened:

"As I expected, it was difficult for everyone (including me) to revisit the conflict, but the opening reading explaining why we were doing this helped, especially in making clear that the classes

would mix the next semester. After this introductory discussion, the students wrote responses

to the questions on the form. Then, working in small groups, they listed factors they felt contributed to the conflict and identified possible solutions. (One class said 'No more parties with

the other class?) This list was compiled for reading in both classes the next day. I was surprised

to learn that the 10:00 class had had some other conflict within their own group at the party.

Many students from the 10:00 class were unaware of the bad feelings in the other group?'

On the following day, the 8:00 group was happy to learn from the combined list of factors that

the 10:00 class accepted some responsibility for failing to welcome them into their room, etc.

The earlier class then accepted some of the responsibility for isolating themselves.

One of the recommendations for resolving the conflict was that students from the different

classes needed to get to know each other better. Together the teachers and students planned a

joint class for the following week. One class developed "interview" questions for all students to

Notes from Class Discussion

Identify the conflict:

The 8:00 class felt they were isolated and ignored by the 10:00 group.

The 10:00 class felt that the 8:00 group put their food at a different table, sat at a different

table and isolated themselves.

Each class said, "The other group didn't talk to us."

Two groups from the 10:00 class said, "We didn't welcome them. We didn't invite them to

put their food with ours or sit with us."

Both classes said there was a lack of communication and lack of organization.

The 8:00 class felt upset and angry because organizers told them that the turkey was fully

cooked and came with other food. When their representative picked up the turkey, it was

not cooked and came with no other food.

The 10:00 class picked up a turkey that was fully cooked and came with mashed potatoes

and gravy, strawberry jam and pumpkin pie.

Solution???

Both classes said that some people were only served turkey skin and bone.

Both classes said we need more communication and for the students from the different

classes to get to know each other better.

Suggestions: What can we do for the two classes to get to know each other better?

Interview 10

column to form

NAME?

students from

questions. WHERE

FROM?

GETTING TO

the other WHERE

LIVE?

KNOW YOU

class. Use the

MARRIED/ SINGLE?

word at the

CHILDREN?

top of each DREAM FOR

THE FUTURE?

1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Both classes had just finished making "dream maps" (collages of their

dreams for the future) and then doing oral reports on them. Thus the

column about dreams for the future.

74 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
use in a get-better-acquainted activity that also gave the students an opportunity to practice

English. They included a question about dreams for the future, which had been a topic of discussion in earlier classes. The other class selected a movie to view. "After 30 minutes of interviewing

each other, we watched the movie and ate popcorn, which both classes brought. It was a very

successful day!"

Looking at Student Performance

Throughout planning and implementing these lessons on resolving conflict, Judy and Eileen

considered what they knew about their students' experiences with negotiating and resolving

conflict. The components of performance for the Standard Resolve Conflict and Negotiate provided guidance for instruction, observation, and student self-assessment. The components of

performance also guided the teachers' thinking about ways to document student performance.

Each student prepared a written summary of what happened to create the conflict (see form on

page 74). Each student also created a written summary of the other class's version of what happened, documenting the ability to acknowledge the other party's position. Completed "getting

to know you" forms documented each student's willingness to participate in activities designed

to resolve bad feelings left by the conflict.

Since the lessons were structured to include writing and interviewing activities, they included

opportunities for teachers and students to assess progress toward the Standards Convey Ideas in

Writing, Listen Actively, and Speak So Others Can Understand as well as Resolve Conflict and

Negotiate.

Teaching English to speakers of other languages has its own set of challenges and opportunities,

and practitioners are finding that using the EFF Framework supports and validates the array of

skills that ESL practitioners teach but rarely have the opportunity to report. As Judy reflected:

"During these lessons, I needed to focus on how this process could be carried out in English appropriate to the level of my ESL students. The goal of the traditional ESL class is

English language acquisition, and the process is contrived. While the long-term goal

remains English acquisition with EFF, the goal of last week's classes was conflict resolution

and the process was authentic English."

Both teachers planned additional lessons to follow up on these class sessions about the conflict

between the classes.

Elleen's Fonow-11/0 Lessons

Eileen began the follow-up lessons by asking her students to think of a conflict they had experienced in their personal lives and to reflect on how they had resolved the conflict. In small

groups, individuals who felt comfortable doing so shared their experiences with each other.

Then every group shared one conflict with the whole class.

.

Teachers using this

approach to curriculum

development need to

be able to let their

students ask questions

and engage in activity

beyond what the teacher

already knows.

Reflection

Using the components of performance helped

me to focus on the process of what we would

be doing in class and how.

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NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

84

EFF Content Standards 75
Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

Reflection

Using the components of performance

to define and collect evidence makes the

teacher a little more sure that the lesson was

successful and that the learners learned. It

helped me to see the many steps involved in

discussing the topic of conflict. Not only was

I more aware of the many steps, but the

students were as well.

&P

Patricia M. Duarte

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Next, the class watched a Crossroads Cafe Video about misunderstandings and conflicts and

talked about the characters in the story. The students were asked to recall three conflicts in

the video and to suggest possible resolutions. The conflicts and their resolutions were listed

on the board. Together, Eileen and class members discussed the consequences of each suggested resolution.

Practice exercises

(grammar, for example)

continue to be important

components of larger,

contextualized lessons.

They then watched the video again. Afterward, students held a

mini-debate on the major conflict in the video. According to

Eileen, "The students were able to identify all of the conflicts in

the video and were quick to match resolutions to those conflicts.

For grammar review, we also practiced giving advice to the characters using 'should' and 'had better.

Finally, students wrote stories about a conflict they were presently facing in their own lives. The

first paragraph was to introduce the conflict, the second, to describe a possible resolution and

its consequences, and the third, to describe an alternate resolution and its consequences. These

writings documented students' increasing ability to identify areas of agreement and disagreement in a conflict and generate options for resolving the conflict that can meet the needs and

interests of all.

The following day Eileen extended the learning by shifting focus to the Standard Cooperate

With Others. Her class had been working in home teams to prepare for biweekly vocabulary

tests. She fostered cooperative behavior by awarding a prize to the team that received the highest composite score on the tests. After six

weeks, the teams were making progress in

working together. Eileen felt both individual

students and the teams would benefit from

an activity focused on building competence

in this area. As she thought about her expectations for the activity she was planning,

Eileen was guided by the components of performance for Cooperate With Others. Here's

how she listed the desired outcomes for the

lesson:

All students will contribute to the activity.

The team leaders will help others participate

actively and feel like contributing members

of the team.

The teams watching the presentations will

give feedback and support.

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76 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

85
Eileen asked students to share in their home teams the conflict resolution stories they wrote the

previous day. After hearing all the stories, each team selected one to present to the whole class as

a play or a poster. Team members worked together to create a short play or visual representation of the conflict story and acted it out or presented it to the class together. Five theater presentations and one poster (a cluster diagram of the conflict) were made and discussed.

Then students reflected on the value of working in a team. Students were practicing English as

well as deepening their understanding of conflict resolution skills by acting out the stories in

English. At the same time they were strengthening their team work skills by actively participating in a group activity and reflecting on their participation.

Judy's Foi Pow-up Lesson

Judy planned a fairly straightforward follow-up lesson on resolving conflict. Once again, she

was guided by the Standard in determining what she would focus the lesson on and what

progress she would look for:

Ability to identify the conflict in a specific situation.

Ability to list a variety of ways to resolve conflict.

Ability to discuss consequences of the different options and choose the one most likely to

resolve the situation.

In order to build on prior learning, she started the class session by asking the group

to brainstorm a list of ways to resolve conflict and then a list of sample conflicts.

Many of the examples the students gave were problems rather than conflicts (drugs,

domestic violence, gangs). Judy realized that she needed to help the group focus first.

"They already had a good grasp of the steps needed to resolve conflict but many

didn't know the difference between a conflict and a problem:'

One student mentioned a conflict with his neighbors and Judy took that as the kernel for the next day's lesson. She wrote a dialogue between a man and his wife about

a neighbors' noisy parties and followed it with written exercises including comprehension questions, identification of points of view, and presentation of options for

solutions.

Because some of the students had difficulty identifying points of view, Judy and the

class members discussed the differences between point of view and solution, writing

examples of both on the board. They also discussed the qualities of a lasting solution

and resolution. Some members of the class began to identify creative solutions that

might be acceptable to all parties concerned. Judy observed or collected evidence of

student performance in the following ways:

The list of ways to resolve conflict, generated by the students and recorded by the

class secretary.

- . S.

Student Notes From Brainstorm

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Maths: We have to do something about the Gomez family next door. Jorge: I know. They have to many noisy parties at night. I can't sleep and we hove to get up at 4:00 in the morning. Maybe we should just call the police. Martha: l don't know. Maybe we should by talking to them. Jorge But we talked to than two weeks ago and the noise just continues. I have to get my sleep. I'm so tired at work, it's dangerous. Martha: I'm sum some of the other neighbors are feeling the some way. Maybe if 3 or 4

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NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 77
Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

Put each action in the appropriate columns. Repeats are o.k.

SHOW

FRIENDLINESS

CON Ye- t rA-te_

GOOD

COMMUNICATION

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CONTRIBUTES

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SHOW

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Reflection

Looking for evidence that related to the

components of performance led me to

extend the exercise I developed. Normally

I would have presented the dialogue with

comprehension questions only. This time I

included questions about opposing points

of view, which stimulated thinking about

compromise and resolution, as it stimulated

some good discussion in English.

Individual student work on the dialogue and follow-up questions.

Student writing about possible solutions to the

conflict.

Observation of class discussion about possible

solutions. "There was disagreement in their

answers and students were able to defend their

suggestions."

All individual and group work was filed in students'

individual folders or in team folders, as documentation of work on the Standard Resolve Conflict and

Negotiate.

Throughout these class sessions, Judy took her cues

from her students, while keeping her focus on the

Standard. "As with most of my EFF teaching, I

planned this lesson in small increments. I find this

to be one of the truly exciting ways that EFF has

impacted my teaching. I plan a small increment without a clear idea of what direction the lesson will go. The remainder of the lessons are based on the interaction with studentsthey give

their ideas (usually through brainstorming) and I base my follow-up lesson on something from

that, which they in turn respond to and may lead to another lesson. I always felt I responded

well to my students' expressed needs but they didn't often express them. I never before have felt

that the class is such a collaboration between students and teacher."

Summary

The EFF Framework has provided Judy and Eileen with the tools they need to construct lessons

that help students build and practice the skills necessary to Work Together. Making explicit the

components of performance of interpersonal skills like Cooperate With Others and Resolve Conflict and Negotiate enables teachers to teach and assess these skills as intentionally as they teach

and assess communication skills like Speak So Others Can Understand and Listen Actively.

78 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

87
Canton City School Adult Basic Literacy

Education Program

Building the Skills

To Manage Resources

Debbie Stowers and Michelle Miller teach in the Canton, Ohio Even Start Program, a

component of the Canton City School's Adult Basic Literary Education (ABLE) Program. Overall, the Canton Even Start program serves roughly 60 families per year in

four sites. At the site described in this vignette, work experience and education are combined into a 30-hour work-based learning program located in a child care center. While

children participate in preschool or elementary classes, parents participate in real work

experiences in their child's school and the surrounding community and attend their own

classes. Skill levels of program participants vary, from beginning reading to GED, but all have the

common goal of developing skills for the workplace and family.

Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

Read With Understanding Use

Information and Communications Technology

Learn Through Research

0

-JW

U.

Reflect and Evaluate

Take Responsibility

for Learning

Since many of the Even Start mothers are moving from welfare to work, a primary focus of the

program is developing employability skills. The 30-hour schedule allows parents to fulfill their

welfare work requirement by volunteering at their child's school where academic, work, and

parenting skills are integrated into work-based learning projects.

Teachers in the Even Start Program use a combination of strategies to develop the curriculum.

Lesson planning generally begins by focusing on a Common Activity; then the Standards are

used to build lessons. The lessons described here took place during the second year of the EFF

field development process, in a class where many of the students were working toward a GED

certificate. The Common Activity Manage Resources provided the context and the teachers

began by designing the activity around the skill Plan. This story illustrates how students

COMMON ACTIVITY

Manage Resources

Find, manage, share, and allocate time, money, and material resources

in a way that supports your own needs, goals, and priorities and those of

your family, community, and workplace.

Identify those resources you have and

those you need

Determine where they are and how they

can be obtained

Use the resources in an efficient and

effective manner

Balance resources effectively for family,

work, community, and self

Guide Others

TF

Resolve Conflict and Negotiate

COMmuN,C4

Convey

Ideas in Writing Speak So Others Can Understand

,4)

Advocate

and

Influence

Cooperate With Others

°NAL SKILLS

ti

Listen ActivelyObserve Critically Use Math to Solve Problems and Communicate Solve

0

Solve Problems and Make Decisions

Standards Used in This

Canton Even Start Project

CO

0

Reflection

"We like the way EFF allows us to integrate

ABLE, work-based projects, and parenting.

With the hands-on, work-based learning we

do to meet requirements for TANF students,

it is a wonderful way to teach transferable

skills students will need for the workplace."

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 79
Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

The adults in this program are

developing work-related skills

as they learn about activities and

services in their community.

Components of Performance for

Plan

Set and prioritize goals.

Develop an organized approach of

activities and objectives.

Actively carry out the plan.

Monitor the plan's progress while

considering any need to adjust the plan.

Evaluate its effectiveness in achieving

the goals.

Teachers are looking

for progress toward one

Standard while making

explicit to students the

practice and application

of other skills.

develop and apply a skill, assess their progress in consultation with teachers, and document evidence of this progress.

Origin of the Lesson

The year before, Debbie and Michelle's class had participated in a joint project with a local

hospital. The project involved decorating sweatshirts that were then donated to Community

Christmas, a local charity. The teachers had originally used the activity to help students

develop and apply employability skills including Cooperate With Others and Speak So Others

Can Understand.

This year Debbie and Michelle decided to use the sweatshirt activity as a way to teach the skill

Plan. The teachers wanted to explicitly teach the steps to planning, using the Standard's components of performance as a guide. They also wanted to compare the activity to the previous

year's activity, in order to see what if any change there might be in students' performance if they

were first instructed in the skill Plan.

Using the EFF Framework for Oanning

Using the components of performance, the teachers articulated what they would look for to

know if their students were making progress. The students would be able to:

determine when sweatshirts are to be completed

determine the quality of work on each sweatshirt that will be acceptable

identify the steps to complete all the sweatshirts

identify resources needed to accomplish each step

prioritize or put steps in a reasonable order

determine who will be responsible for each step or activity

determine how much can be accomplished each day

stay on task

problem solve as needed

help others as needed when finished with own tasks

determine if the work that was supposed to be done each day was done

The two teachers also designed a follow-up activity that would require students to apply this

skill. Their goals were to reinforce the skill and allow the teachers to collect evidence of students' planning in other contexts.

Although Plan was the primary skill emphasized in this activity, the teachers structured the

learning experience to develop other skills as well, including Speak So Others Can Understand,

Listen Actively, Cooperate With Others, Solve Problems, Reflect and Evaluate, and Take Responsibility for Learning.

80 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

89
What Took Place

The local hospital provided the materials and training. The goal was to decorate 25 sweatshirts

to be donated to Community Christmas. Two student representatives went to a training session

to learn how to decorate the sweatshirts with iron-on decorations and paint; they were responsible for showing the rest of the class how to do the task.

Before getting started with the work, Debbie and Michelle spent

time with students going over new vocabulary words associated

with the work and reviewing the steps involved in planning. They

used the components of performance for the Standard as their

guide and encouraged students to adapt the language to their

comfort level. "We had to take time and really work through the

meaning of each component of performance. We decided to simplify some wordings and keep some the same when using them in

lessons. We attempted to make a planning form that would serve as evidence of student performance. This process required us to really break down everything we knew about planning into

small pieces. This enabled us to help the students through the process better."

The teachers used the

components of performance

to facilitate the structured

practice of "planning," a

concrete and transferable

skill.

They posted the planning steps on the bulletin board and held a group discussion to formulate

a plan for completing the sweatshirts. It took about an hour to work through each step on the

board. Then each student completed an individual planning form based on the group's work.

Students had opportunities to problem solve while carrying out the activity. They asked for

guidance, as needed, from the students who were trained. Each provided assistance based on

her own style. One student was a "big picture person" and always knew how many sweatshirts

were done, how many were left to do, and kept in contact with Karen at the hospital. The other

student representative was a "detail person" who helped all the students with decorating decisions and problems.

Because the student representatives took responsibility for leading the others, the teachers' role

changed. No longer was the teacher in charge, deciding who would do what when. The students

were now providing guidance.

"As planned, it took four days to complete 25 sweatshirts. Our benchmarks were based on the

amount of work we thought we could complete in a day. We were actually ahead of schedule

after the first day, even with only one iron, since the students were so very excited about the

project. It was hands-on, to allow them to be creative. In addition, a few of the students had

previous experience decorating sweatshirts, since we did the same project last year."

I .

Individual Planning Form

Plan Pi* I AFOt 3hi(n

I. What Is the goat? at need, to be deer and mortal.) 77 3uSat 5nirt3 3rculct ne done nice (1 rJ neat nog rzpv

2. Usk the steps In order. arranCie our 3FGCe

z, gel ira9-6, Scissors, 5uPelle5

3, ?fa.. out Thitern5 -Q2c 5u 30iri-3

B cut Out --031-Fern5 and QrranCe

iron J tiern5 cn The Shirts

out '",xin-lrir-P3cs-Va the11-Ice cletennini youSrYereaching thoPeacrt 5e0Abearnanoiervient and, crr sureties iccjether

a. ecn,pier -Patlern iron on ci nd. earl perGon

roue of 1-eckt

3, (3.-t me enci of The 10E+f-daul raue all Owe

suya-r ?a,,nted. Tycilete e. step write ~you did ex( tt you needed edjustroonts Int :tole plen. PlancrecF2n, av aNg a littie mcre cione

tc) 2 We. 9kOot oks 4r)EitternS ironed on -zinc, we ad thus at least one acne -fre co--04

ajailrcICITC3u-Y)05:t1-CICLIt517c:Irertt 5. leoldnpd each bender.. plan. 017 .nr....alzr

bihnlWrecn.Vre not I 4Wo uJ

-threu0

Teacher Reflection

"A written planning form works very well for

collecting evidence for the plan standard.

Also, it works very well to follow through

with the activity planned and complete an

end product. It would be very difficult for

students to be motivated to learn this

standard without the real-life situation."

The sharing of

responsibility allows for

many skills to develop

through authentic activity.

Here, students are

"managing resources"

and "guiding others"

(Common Activities) as

they coordinate and

monitor the work.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 81
Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

shirl- Evaluation

Jima,.. hobo ...Dtc Jo

2

ALAut e_.

c!4-cr' c,e274-

Student Reflection

"By looking at them (EFF skills) one at a

time I now know I can do it."

Knowing where students

are before explicitly

teaching a skill allows

teachers and students to

determine when progress

has been made.

Looking at Student Performance

Before beginning this activity, the teachers reflected on what

they believed the level of performance of their students was in

Plan. The teachers felt that their students brought limited

experience to the activity. "Most students have not had experience setting goals when they enter the program. The goals

they do set tend to be very vague, such as, 'I would like to have

a good job.' At the time I started this project, all students had some experience talking about

goals and setting at least one goal in the area of a skill they would like to work on in class. But

they had little experience in articulating how they would go about achieving the goalin

describing a sequence of steps. Their tendency was to just jump into a project without thinking about ordering tasks or what the end product should be like."

EFF supports development

of metacognitive skills.

Awareness of how we

apply skills in various

contexts enables greater

choice and intentionality in

using a variety of skills.

Students apply their

skill to a new situation,

demonstrating an increase

in their ability (range and

flexibility) to plan.

Completing the project in less time and with much less confusion this year was one indication that students had made

progress in the skill of planning. At the conclusion of the

activity, the students held a discussion session devoted to evaluating the plan and the project as a whole. They then followed

with a written evaluation, which they placed in their work

folders. The main observations made by those who had participated in this project last year was how fast they finished

this year, how organized it was, and how well everyone

worked together and got along. The students attributed this to

their planning.

A Follow-Up Lesson

Teachers know that students need multiple opportunities to

practice a skill before it can be considered as a developed

competency. To give the students more practice with the skill

Plan, teachers encouraged students to carry out another similar activity.

A local college class had given the class "lit kits." Each "kit" contained a collection of age appropriate children's activities centered around a particular children's book. The class decided it

would be fun to make them for one another's children.

The teachers thought that this would be a good opportunity to observe whether students could

use the skill of planning in another context. They asked students to prepare written plans

before starting work on the lit kits, using the same planning form developed for the sweatshirt

project. Students and teachers discussed benchmarks that addressed the quality of the lit kits

before getting started.

82 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
Again, there was explicit discussion

of the components of performance

for the Standard Plan. Debbie and

Michelle listed the evidence that they

wanted to collect from students:

writing a clear goal.

documenting the plan along with

the benchmarks on the planning

form.

jotting down each day's accomplishments.

writing an evaluation on the quality

of the finished product.

Since Debbie and Michelle were interested in seeing what students could do on their own, this

time students made individual plans without the benefit of the whole group discussions to help

with decision making. In fact, almost all students were able to plan their work to meet the

agreed-upon deadline for completion of the lit kits. Teachers observed that students also implemented their plans well: "Students not only produced a high-quality product, they also started

work immediately, stayed on task, problem solved as needed, and helped others?'

The students' work-based activities provided Debbie and Michelle with an example of how well

students internalized what they had learned about planning and problem solving. In preparation for a school event students were asked to inflate 100 helium balloons in a very short period

of time. As the deadline approached they realized that they would never complete the task

using the individualized process they had begun. They stopped work and developed a coordinated plan to get the work done in the allotted time. And they succeeded! Debbie and Michelle

used this success as an opportunity to discuss transfer of learning to other contexts. "Later, we

reflected on the problem, the options, and how we applied them. We discussed how in our

everyday lives we often solve problems or plan without taking time to write out each step.

What's important is that we take the time to apply each step. The more we as teachers use EFF

in our classrooms, the more we will have [such] teachable moments:'

Documenthg Student Peniormance

Canton Even Start student progress is documented in individual student portfolios. Portfolios

are three-ring binders with the EFF Skills Wheel on the cover. Tabs divide the portfolios into 16

sections, one for each EFF Standard. Each portfolio begins with a student goal sheet on which

the student can track progress toward goals and identify necessary next steps. As students complete work on learning projects like the ones described above, they put written work in a folder.

At the end of every week, during "portfolio reflection time?' students review their work and

select one or two documents to include in their portfolios.

Wan*-7-1Ye..... /13 11-ihN Plan Project z, If!ri

1. What is the goal? Pt needs to be dear and reachable) Tei orlie, y 70ed,

) A.- an sP° (9`1.' eR.,,fic,-rck°:leryTh 5- 6

3. otccorm

2. List the steps In order. K± I. G.0 Fir r4TE ?tizzies

3. What will be the benchmarks for determining you are reaching the goal? ned?. to START The

rricl-,,on

1,0` 4Trrc wno-1 lie dolt, ...-1-/-1 sly

1.-Kit 'c3-F -nor'"' A ,...1,44. fpCC...5 d C -meg; nmoCe. A . adT-F,

4. A.---yo't;4co'Impl?ete ';ach51'step-C 16:3what Syoued''i yC:need.'ed:o make adjustment} trreoLs ?Aar, Day NsoLop_ ,eed. lie ? °LT,- i D y e r , -rr red

Cc to r

.on.' Day -D. (ICC...05 a o x r-ist; , no" ° Wed

C.k.'ft

Day MOST or 11. 001Y, Da 4 a- -1-piacea ri\c"C°45A t9 T.;'h nd

.te/15 DQ...0-1---V-%nt t2i.34-

I.

-,N5 Pton't L,wc c4/1,, 5

7:DSa:Yec,a5:1ech"T-r3tobench'.-Thi'ma'r1LCA pCITaCnI.ffel°1thr4e5're:e_p:obtremsC Tdete-emine"whPyR. (Ant on 5. back ) n L....,O'V.CL,L. out real ooe-1,.

For the Portfolio

Student name JeoniTe_K Role: Parent Skills Used: Communication Reading Writing Speaking

Listening Observing r.7

Date Worker Citizen

Interpersonal Cooperate With Others Advocate and Influence Resolve Conflict/Negotiate Guide Others Lifelong Learning

1Zn oisioni;,Making Reflect and Evaluate

Learn Through Research Solve Problems and Make Decisions Learn in New Ways Use Math in Problem Solving Use Technology and Technology Which of the skills you checked above is the one you are going to focus on?

(The one you are going to write about in the next question and the one you are going to put this paper behind in your portfolio.) Focus Skill -49/a-4

In order to show progress we need to see before and after. Please explain in detail how

well you were able to use this skill before this lesson compared to how well you can use

it now that you have had the lesson. Are there things you hadn't done before with this

skill that you can do now? In what ways can you use the skill better now? 1. Before' neve Filoukt oh:Dui- holy impo(faat it- was to

But now I i"oi6CkPect'a liePi"p'tan -1-Ain55 like- eily

bid

2. Before I how to ri Qin

But nowt Can !1St the sfeps needed tr, rr2ke a plan

3. Before) would just give Lop doo- i,vo(k Our

But nowt Can make cloi St n e nt5 If My plaVldoGSn't

go like I e_xpeol-ecl.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

92

EFF Content Standards 83
Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

For each document included in the portfolio, the student attaches a form on which she

describes how she has progressed in her use of the skill illustrated by the document. Jane Meyer,

ABLE program coordinator, describes the portfolio system as "very flexible and highly individualized." For example, two students working on the sweatshirt project very likely might include

their planning or evaluation sheets under different Standards. While Plan would be the most

obvious choice, since this was the main Standard focused on, several students included their

work under Cooperate With Others, since they felt they had made the most progress in this area.

And one of the student leaders for the project put her evaluation under the Standard Guide

Others, since she took great pride in the assistance she provided other students on the project.

Canton City Schools ABLE Goals end Progress Record

Neme JOG ti e., Site Tl-C_ Date,ut, '7 Quarter 0 2 3 4 circle one What do you want to be able to do or to do better In your role as a (complete one or more roles):

Family member MGICe. 011;fri Care- arranime,n+, -Per ml 5nn,-/o,shca7 an

-1-1,e, dad 6-1' my el,. 51,115e.ry. Worker IP, prO VG. my ma FA s k.; l Is Sel T cam 3e-.4- a_jo h in

rIvii-s-ir '10_4-1 0 fl - Community member Cd/t4ac7i- ml Co u.nci I 17,0k-el rkr, 5e.e. &LC tk4- a.

Crime. fdia..40..11 1707,5 ra.M in my rini3hhar hone-L.

In the column marked "need*, check the skills that will help you reach these personal goals: Need Improved Need Improved Communication Skills Decislon-Making Skills Read with Understanding 1.-- Use Math In Problem Sotang & Communication ie. ,.' Convey Ideas in Writing ..-- Solve Problems and Make Decisions

.."" Speak so Others can Understand ..-. ,...- Plan .....-

,..--- Listen Actively -- Observe Critically

Interpersonal Skills Lifelong Learning Skills Cooperate with Others Take Responsibility for Learning

....-' Advocate and Influence Reflect and Evaluate Resolve Conflict and Negotiate t....., Learn through Research _ 1./ Guide Others Use information & Communications Technology

om...1,1y I On the front, under "improved," check the skills for which you documented Improvement in your portfolio.

Progress I eon-Each -ed my0.0-5c rettLrta,3 Cr 40 5 c... l-P JoS it CO aci 211-"L ild daycare. on_ 1--hc daynP nny 5i,r3,xy. I <fake,

--ivo my mo.hie.r 0,13,,o4 3e-ffirt3 Josh ready_ -Ar °Lye., re and

fn,..-1- fj -1-1,,.. has ( day of my Su-r3ery). -'& 7 k ehao-le.r ma.4-11. r,.vit,.),

NeiFfireps 857 Sr G O. xe, hatk-ke C. hi Icleo_re, IP my mol-f-,e r c.cm '4 wad-6

...Josh Goi /*Ore. pri&LCA-ine. Lo/4-41 Weleci prObie..rn5 . P[0_41 -1-0 -11:14c.

pra.e.,Fic e. gED -1-es-t on -Ad -21. Mn k e a. y /i54 o-P ned-<., re3arcl i .73

' .. r A . I e r A A &di v it Cl a,. Date On the front, under "improved," check the skills for which you documented improvement In your portfolio.

Progress

Next steps

The accomplishments documented in student

The program certifies in portfolios throughout the Canton Even Start

the Career Passport that Program form the basis for showcase portfolios

the student has the skills

necessary to perform in called Career Passports that are created for each

the workplace. student at graduation. The Career Passport

helps graduates from the Even Start program

become employed. It contains formal documents that identify and describe marketable skills including the student's

resume; a list of student competencies; letters of recommendation; and any

awards or certificates the student has earned. The list of competencies is a summary of the skill development documented in the student's portfolio. This

Career Passport becomes the graduate's credential. This system of portfolios

and passports connects student goals, curriculum, learning activities, and credentialing for the program. According to Jane Meyer: "The Career Passport

really helps students feel more confidence in the job interview. The description

of competence, which is in essence a credentialing by the school, verifies the student's level of skill development. Employers love the Career Passport because it

spells out specifically what the student can do. One employer compared the

passport to a screening tool, which saves him time in placing the right person in

the job."

Summ ay

The greatest benefit that using EFF has brought to Canton Even Start is the

clear articulation of both program and student goals. From initial recruitment

through graduation, EFF Standards permeate all activities. As a result, staff and

students can easily communicate the thrust of the program to collaborating

partners.

84 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

93
. Commentary

These three vignettes from Vermont Adult Learning, Sweetwater Union Division of Adult and

Continuing Education, and Canton City Schools Even Start Program illustrate several important

features of teaching with Equipped for the Future.

Contextualized Teaching

EFF helps teachers create meaningful, contextualized learning experiences that speak to what is

common across diverse student learning needs and goals. The real-world elements of the EFF

Content Framework:

the four learner-identified Purposes

the three Role Maps

the 13 Common Activities adults carry out in all three roles

codify the common elements of adult experience. They create a common denominator teachers

can draw on to contextualize learning, giving students a chance to develop and practice skills in

real-world applications. As a result, students have the opportunity to develop and practice a

broader range of skills, often with immediate payoffs in real-world results. In all three situations

we see examples of how the Framework helps teachers use what might appear to be extracurricular activitieslike a trip to the State House, or making sweatshirts for a Christmas Charity, or

dealing with a conflict that arises between classesas an opportunity to consciously build and

practice a range of skills.

Unten.Uonall Teachifing

The EFF Skills Wheela simple illustration of the 16 skills adults need to draw on to be effective in their roles as parents and family members, citizens and community members, and workersand the EFF Content Standards, which define the components of performance for each of

the 16 skills, are critical additions to the EFF toolbox. While the Skills Wheel makes explicit the

range of skills adults need to build competence in, the Standards spell out what competence

looks like for each skill. Looking at the lessons on conflict resolution in Sweetwater and planning at the Canton Even Start Program, it is clear how these elements of the Framework work

to transform teachable moments into learning experiences. The Wheel helps programs like

Canton Even Start that have incorporated a work experience component in response to TANF

requirements to make explicit the skills development aspect of students' work projects. And

having explicit descriptions of the components of performance of skills like Resolve Conflict and

Negotiate, Cooperate With Others, Plan, and Solve Problems makes these skills as teachable and

assessable as Read With Understanding, Use Math to Solve Problems and Communicate, or Convey Ideas in Writing. Teachers like Judy Wurtz, Eileen Peca, Debbie Stowers, and Michelle Miller

use these Standards descriptions to help answer the questions "What will I teach?" and "What

will I look for in student work?"

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 85

ri479 __1
Equipped for the Future

Teaching and Learning with EFF

Reflection on Learning

The Skills Wheel and Standards also provide tools that enable students to become more active

partners in their own learning. In the Vermont Adult Learning class Carolyn and her students

used the Role Maps and Skills Wheel to figure out what skills they needed to work on in order

to prepare for the visit to the State house and the meeting with State welfare administrators.

Knowing what skills they would need to draw on to accomplish a new or unknown task, like

testifying before a legislative committee or developing an application for a grant, enabled students to take on activities that otherwise seemed overwhelming.

Sweetwater's work on Resolve Conflict and Canton's work on Plan also illustrate how knowledge

of what to pay attention to (provided by the Standards) enables students to monitor, reflect on,

and even change their own performance. The Canton "balloon" story provides a clear example

of how such metacognitive development facilitates the transfer of skills to new contexts.

Assessment of Learning

All three learning examples illustrate how grounding teaching and learning in authentic activity provides a real-world measure of accomplishment. To find out whether Carolyn's students

can "speak so they can be understood:' we can turn to the legislators and state administrators

they addressed and ask, "What did they communicate to you?" "What is your impression of

their ability to perform?" To determine whether Debbie and Michelle's students know how to

plan, we can look for evidence that they completed the requisite number of sweatshirts by the

due date.

Teachers in these programs continue to use more traditional assessments of learner progress

and achievement as well, in skill areas where such tools exist. All three programs continue to

have as a goal preparing students to earn a GED or high school credential, since the GED

remains important as a benchmark of achievement with a broadly accepted meaning or value

for students and communities.

Canton's Career Passports (described on page 84) are intermediate program credentials for

graduates of the Canton Even Start Program who haven't yet earned their GED. Based on

demonstrations of competence in student portfolios, the Career Passports are intended to

directly communicate to prospective employers something about the range of work-related

performances the employer can expect from a given student. In response to the time limits

imposed under current federal and state welfare reform regulations, a number of education

and training programs for welfare participants are using such credentials. For programs like

these, where the goal is to prepare participants for employment in the local labor market, it is

the student's actual performance on the job that gives value to the credential. If students can

not perform in ways a program credential implies, the credential loses value, the program loses

credibility, and students that graduate from the program with the credential no longer have an

86 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

95
assured passport to a career. The tight circle of accountability in such cases, based on relationships within a community, means that it is in everyone's intereststudent, program, and

employerfor the credential to have face validity. Inflated claims hurt everyone, so everyone

works to make sure that the credential is an accurate representation of what the student knows

and is able to do.

Such program-based credentials don't address the full range of student, program, and funder

accountability purposes. For purposes of accountability to state and national funders and to

assure portability of student credentials, there is a need for national consensus on benchmarks

of student success that address performance across the whole circle of EFF skills. In the previous chapter, in the section titled Assessing Performance, we identified some of the specific tasks

NIFL and the EFF Development Team have defined as necessary steps toward establishing performance levels for EFF Standards and building the capacity to assess performance against all of

the Standards. In the next chapter, we will discuss some of the other broad system-level changes

that would support teaching and learning aimed at building the kind of real-world results

defined in the EFF Framework.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 87
Inside the Classroom:

Keeping an Eye on the Big Picture

Inside Programs:

Keeping an Eye on Common Goals

Looking at the Whole System:

A Framework for Improving

Service Delivery

V

"...the legitimacy and effectiveness of a

systemic approach will depend in large part

on its ability to strike a balance between

the common culture and common needs

of society as a whole and the diverse

perspectives, needs, and strengths of

subgroups and individuals within it. ...This

balance could be facilitated by a system

that combines a centralized vision and

supportive infrastructure (top-down reform)

with considerable responsibility, flexibility,

and discretion at the local level (bottom-up

reform)."1

Jennifer A. O'Day and Marshall S. Smith

CHAPTER 5

Equipped for the Future:

A Starting Point

For Standards-Based

System Reform

Butikllting Consensus on Glesuks

The vision of standards-based system reform is clear and straightforward. You build a broad

consensus on what results the system should achieve. You develop standards that express that

consensus in a clear and measurable form. Then you use those standards as tools for focusing

all parts of the system on achieving the desired results. Teachers use the standards to guide

teaching and learning. Curriculum and assessment specialists develop new tools that are based

on the standards. Professional development focuses on building the knowledge and skills that

teachers and other program staff need to implement the standards. Policymakers target

resources on building the capacity of programs to prepare students to achieve the standards.

Reporting frameworks at the program, state, and federal level are aligned with the standards to

assure that teachers, programs, and states are held accountable for achieving agreed-on results.

With all parts of the system geared to support common results, standards-based system reform

leads to marked improvements in achieving those results, and society benefits by more students

building the knowledge and skills they need to fully participate in the economic, political, and

social life of our nation.

This is the vision. Getting therebringing into alignment all parts and all levels of the educational systemis more complicated. That's why building broad-based, explicit consensus is

such an important first step in developing standards. Unless there is broad agreement, first, on

what the system should achieve, and second, on what knowledge and skills are critical to that

achievement, there will not be sufficient will to implement the multiple changes in practice,

governance, and policy that are necessary for all parts of the system to support the process.

Equipped for the Future is the first effort to develop a broad, explicit national consensus on

what the results of the adult literacy and lifelong learning system should be. The National

Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning Goal was the starting point for this effort, because that

88 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

97
goal articulates the broad social and economic ends that governors, the President, and Congress all agreed were important for the adult literacy system to achieve. NIFL invited adult

learners to help us understand what achieving this goal meant in their lives, because learners

are the primary customers of the system. The EFF team then proposed and built consensus

on a framework for system results that merged these two key perspectives. In this framework,

the four learner-identified purposes for learning served as a lens to identify the knowledge

and skills needed to carry out the three adult roles reflected in the policy goals of elected

leaders. Consensus was then built on content standards that codify the knowledge and skills

central to effective adult performance in these roles. System reform based on these standards

has as its goal to assure that every adult has the opportunity to develop the knowledge and

skills needed to improve the quality of his or her life and help us move toward our goal of a

fully literate America.

What are the key elements to consider in orchestrating a process of system reform? In her introduction to Designing Coherent Education Policy: Improving the System, Susan Fuhrman, Director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, summarizes the research on system

reform in K-12 education. She focuses on three major elements:

1. Explicit consensus on "ambitious outcome expectations" for all students, including specification of the knowledge and skills to be expected of every student.

2. Coordinating key policies in support of the outcome expectations. Student assessment,

instructional materials, teacher licensing, and staff development would all be tied to the

frameworks. In that manner, key policies would send coherent messages about instruction.

3. Restructuring the governance system to support high achievement by according schools

more flexibility in meeting the needs of their students. Higher levels of governance would

focus on outcome definition and accountability and remove constraints on school practice.

Schools would determine the instructional strategies most likely to foster student achievement of outcome goals.'

The process of aligning policies and governance practices to support achievement of "ambitious outcome expectations" can be visualized as a series of concentric circles, built around the

core focus of system reform: improving teaching and learning to enable more students to

achieve those ambitious goals.

ANgn6ng the System 6denthly5ng Mecessary Changes

In order to begin to understand what kinds of changes would be necessary in the adult learning

system to support achievement of standards, EFF involved 25 programs in 12 states in a field

development process that was guided by the following questions:

Are the EFF Draft Standards and other components of the EFF Content Framework reason-

"An agreement on what should be taught

and learned is an essential step in reform

because it goes to the very heart of schooling, but it is certainly not the only action that

must be taken. Assessments need to be

updated, teacher training and certification

need to be modified, and teachers need to

know what is to be expected of them. ...All

these steps are absolutely fundamental to

making comprehensive school reform work,

and without them the effort to reach agreement on what students ought to know and

be able to do has much less meaning." 3

John Jennings

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

98

EFF Content Standards 89
able, useful, and appropriate tools for guiding teaching and learning in adult literacy and basic

skill education? Are they appropriate for framing assessment of learning and reporting

learner success and other program results?

What other tools and resources are necessary for teachers and administrators to most effectively use the Standards and Content Framework to guide teaching and learning? What else

is necessary to frame assessment of learning and reporting of learner

success and other program results?

Do the EFF Standards and Content Framework help you move

toward your goals of more effectively addressing the learning needs

of adults who come to your program? How?

To use the EFF Framework, what characteristics and attributes do

teachers need? What strengths do programs need?

What are the barriers to using the EFF Framework in your classroom? In your program? In your state? 4

RofDections on Time

from Teachers.

"Time has also been an issue in regard to EFF. I believe that one of

the most powerful aspects of EFF is in its use as an evaluation/

reflection tool. Too often, we run out of class time and it feels as if

we have barely scratched the surface with EFF."

Karen Masada, The Reading Program

"I had no time to even think of EFF, and on reflection, I realize that

is what happens too often in adult education. In trying to meet the

demands of the moment, we lose sight of the long-term goal. I

wonder if this could be one of the reasons that we have such a low

retention rate." Johanna Donovan, Vermont Adult Learning

"It is so difficult to meet the needs of the adult learner when we

meet two nights a week and they don't have the time outside of

class to devote to individualized work. "

Kathy Calvert, New River Community College

.and Prove= Admiiniisfreora

"The need to schedule time on a shared computer really affects my

ability to capture my reflections when they are fresh, and causes me

to rush when I finally get access. The need for technology resources

and the staff time for planning, reflection, and meeting are critical

for the implementation of EFF.... I have requested funds in next

year's budget to pay for staff meetings. If EFF [Standards are] to

become our standards, we will need to make this kind of work part

of our regular operation."

Eleanor Lockwood, Windham Adult Education

"Our EFF implementation allowed us to bring together teachers who

worked in different parts of our program. Lack of funding for teacher

planning time has been a significant barrier to this in the past. Adult

literacy teachers linked up with family literacy teachers. Staff began

exchanging ideas and methods; they brainstormed to solve problems." Jane Knight, Knox County Schools Adult Literacy Program

Data collected from teachers, program administrators, and state

administrators in response to these questions enabled us to refine the

Standards and begin to put together a picture of the kinds of changes

that will be necessary at each level.

Teachers in the field development sites emphasized the need for more

timefor learning, for working with other teachers, and for planning

and evaluating the classes or tutorials they teach. They also identified

related needs for access to lesson and project ideas, curriculum materials, and assessment tools that other teachers have found to be effective.

Program administrators echoed teachers' concerns. Administrators

focused on the need for more resources to support more time for

teachers to develop new curriculum and new materials. They also

identified a need for more resources for staff development, so that all

teaching staffpaid and volunteerhave access to research about

teaching and learning that will help them do a better job.

State administrators identified the most important need as alignment

of assessment tools and accountability frameworks with the Standards.

At a time when the use of available resources is increasingly driven by

legislatively defined performance indicators, the only thing that counts

is what there is a collective agreement to assess. If the consensus on

what results are important to achieve does not lead to assessment tools

and reporting requirements geared to those results, then it doesn't

matter how broad the consensus is. Teachers and programs and states

can go only so far in aligning daily practices with the ambitious out90 EFF Content Standards

99

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
comes identified in the EFF Standards and Framework before key

incentives and resources must also be aligned to support achievement

of those results. System reform requires the whole system to work

together to achieve the results agreed on as important.

alllign5ng ayeerm: Hirst Saws Toward Change

While the adult learning system is a long way from the alignment envisioned, the EFF team knows what results it is trying to achieve. After

nearly six years of field-based research that started with adult learners

and has steadily expanded to involve all the customers of our system

employers, unions, skill standards voluntary partnerships, and institutions of higher educationand all the stakeholdersteachers,

administrators, policymakers, and other supporters of adult educationmany of the elements of EFF's new Framework have been put in

Equipped lice Wag litzGrzuG,

Standards- Base eform

ReffOectOons ono AccounUMOIV

"I think another element that should be brought into the big picture

is the issue of open enrollment. Where and how will EFF Standards

enter in when students drift in and out like they do. Performance

indicators will be very hard to measure if a teacher sees a student

once every month or so."

Kathleen Calvert, New River Community College

"Everyone is coming up with standards and talking about accreditation or certification and the need for accountability. What if everyone

comes up with something different and we spend half of our time

trying to comply with multiple sets of standards?"

Taylor Willingham, The Reading Program

place. The EFF team has developed a range of goal-setting and instructional toolsincluding

the Role Maps and Standards Wheelthat enable learners to take increasing control over their

own learning. Clear, specific Content Standards have been developed for each of the skills, and

teachers find them useful in diagnosing specific strengths and weaknesses. A process has been

initiated to determine what kinds of tools and approaches need to be included in EFF's new

assessment system if it is to be useful for the whole range of assessment and credentialing purposes defined by learners, programs, and other system customers. And working with EFF partners in the workforce development system, the team is testing a process to define credentials

based on external criteria of effective performance.

The next section of this chapter provides examples of how explicit consensus on the results of

the system has made a difference for some of the partners in the EFF field development process.

Since the primary focus so far has been on developing tools for use in the teaching-learning

process, a more detailed picture can be offered of how the Framework supports results-oriented

change at this level of the system. Examples are also emerging of programs and states using the

Framework to align system parts for more effective service delivery and to communicate with

others in a clear and straightforward way about how the adult learning system contributes to

broader community and national goals.

V

"...our understanding of what the essential

resources are and of what constitutes quality in curriculum and instruction will change

as systemic reform is implemented and as

we understand more about teaching and

learning. It will therefore be important to

view standards as dynamic and supportive

of the entire school system's learning to

improve over time." 5

Jennifer A. O'Day and Marshall S. Smith

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 91

1100
ED

V

"All newly enrolled learners attend an

orientation of approximately two hours

where they are informed of all program

services. The EFF Role Maps have been

included as a very basic and easy-tounderstand form where learners indicate

by personal choice the areas they need to

improve, as family member, worker, and

citizen. During the intake, a volunteer

assessment counselor asks the learner to

share past successes in each specific role

and identify areas for improvement; that

information is recorded on the back of the

form that introduced the roles during

orientation."

Aglae St Lot, San Diego READ

Inside the Classroom:

Keeping an Eye on the Big Picture

One of EFF's most important contributions to date is that it helps learners and teachers see the

explicit connection between what happens in the classroom and what adults do in the rest of

their lives. The EFF Role Maps enable students to place their individual goals in the context of a

broader picture of what all adults need to do in carrying out their roles as parents, citizens, and

workers. At the same time, the Skills Wheel enables students and teachers to identify the full

range of skills they may need to draw on in order to carry out activities that are important in

their lives. Looking at the Wheel as part of a goal-setting and initial assessment process, students can simultaneously see areas where their skills are already well developed and areas where

they need further work. This helps them see the relationships among skills and between their

own strengths and weaknesses.

Lileng the HoDe [Maps and Sias eeI1

Kate Marc, a teacher at Richmond Read working one-on-one with a learner, documents the

way in which using the Role Maps and Skills Wheel helped her student apply what he was

learning in his tutorials to what he was doing in the workplace:

My student is a 47-year-old man who was released from a drug treatment program in

Washington, DC. He's reading on about a third-grade level. We started with the Role

Maps. I asked him to help me with the EFF project and asked him where he would like

to focus some of the work we do. He immediately chose the worker role...

Week 2. We spent the whole hour on completing a Skills Inventory to see what

strengths he had as a worker... As we went through the list of Worker Skills, Joel

reflected upon each skill and used his knowledge about himself and his experiences

to answer...

Week 4. My original plan for this session was to reflect on the Skills Inventory Joel

completed.... I didn't expect to hear that he had been offered a job promotion as a

supervisor of the work crew on second shift. And that he used his knowledge of his

strengths to evaluate the new job offer. So we talked a little bit about the pros and

cons of taking this promotion. Then we began the goal-setting activity I had planned.

My feeling was that now this is urgentI want him to make his job decision in the

context of a bigger picture.

Week 5. I feel that working on this EFF project has been good for me as a tutor

because it has forced me to keep on track with the worker role and helping my student to do a good job at work. He wants to learn to read better so badly and it would

be easy for me to use a text series to move him along. But in the long run he'll be bet-.

ter off learning with work-related materials and information. The fact that he is already

using the information gained from our tutoring sessions is encouraging.

Kate Marc, Richmond Reads, Teacher-Tutor Logs, February-March 1998

92 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

101
Jill Gibbs, a Family Learning GED teacher in Greenville S.C., found that the Family Role

Map and Skills Wheel inspired her to take a different approach to helping parents identify

good books for their children.

Choosing Good Books for Your Children

At the family literacy/Even Start program at Greenville (SC) Elementary School, each

of the adult students has a child in the program and serves as a volunteer in the

school. The adults read books to children at home, during "parent and child time" in

the school, and in the classrooms or tutoring sessions during volunteer time.

This series of lessons grew out of a planned book-buying trip to the school's book fair.

A student asked "How will we know if we are making good choices?" All the parents

in the program had limited funds and wanted to buy books they could afford and that

were good literacy choices. ...To begin to answer the question, I suggested each

parent bring a selection of books from home and then think about their children's

reactions to these books. This led the parents to divide their books into three stacks:

1. My children really like and read or ask to be read over again.

2. My children read or ask for occasionally.

3. My children never look at or read.

I then had them assess the books in the first stack, and their brainstormed list

became criteria for selecting books. But before accepting these criteria, the parents

suggested they go to the library to look for other resources.

At the library, they looked at the posters listing Caldecott and Newberry Medal

winners and talked with the librarian about the books children choose most often

and about her own choices. They added these to their list, so that their final criteria

consisted of:

1. Pictures. Are the pictures pretty and do they go with the story?

2. Story. Is the story a good one?

3. Author. Is the author a successful writer who has written other good books?

4. Illustrator. Has the illustrator done pictures for other books and were they good?

5. Caldecott or Newberry Medal. Has the book received a Caldecott or Newberry

Medal or was it nominated to be in the top 100? Was it on any other medal nomination list?

6. High interest level for child. Is the book going to appeal to my child?

7. Library suggestion list. Is the book listed on the library suggestion list?

8. Teacher suggestion list. Has my child's teacher suggested reading this book?

9. The words. Is the language appropriate for my child's age level? Not too many

words or has repetition in the words.

The parents used these criteria when they attended the book fair and selected books

for their own children as well as for the children whom they tutor. After the fair, the

parents went to the library and selected 10 books, which they evaluated in the classroom according to the criteria. Then, during the "parent and child time" in school, they

had their children establish their own criteria for choosing books and took them to the

library to select books that met those guidelines.

Equipped

Stan

axGazg Rigervica

a of=Based Spun Reform

olk

CIv &It

111;

Promote Family Members'

Growth and Development

Family members support the growth

and development of all family members,

including themselves

KEY ACTIVITIES

Make and pursue plans for

self-improvement

Guide and mentor other family members

Foster informal education of children

Support children's formal education

Direct and discipline children

V

"The brainstorm started off predictably, with

the students saying that education and the

GED were the primary reasons for them

coming to school. We pressed them, asking

'What kind of things do you want to get educated about?' and 'Why do you want your

GED?' They started talking about wanting to

be role models for their kids and wanting to

be able to take care of their kids. From here,

they began talking about not wanting to rely

on anybody elseindependence. One

student started talking about wanting to be

a role model to the community."

Rebecca Garland, Teacher,

Dorcas Place Parent Literacy Program

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 93

[102'
"What I've found is that the roles are

great for initiating and relating the role of

education to our learners. If I jumped in at

the beginning of the year and said, 'This

class will help you manage your resources,'

I would have gotten some blank stares. But

when I said to them, 'This class will focus on

defining the worker role and how you use

skills in your work/student life,' they saw

the need for that. Many of our students are

ASPIRE volunteerswelfare to workor in

retraining so the words 'work' and 'student'

connected them to the purpose of why they

were there."

Jen Ladd, Atkinson Adult Learning Center

The adults shared their findings with the librarian and with other teachers in the

school. As a follow-up activity, the class evaluated and sorted books received by the

school from the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) Foundation.

Reflecting on this lesson afterwards, Gibbs wrote: "I could have brought in a published list of

criteria for choosing good books for children, but I wanted these parents to develop their own

criteria. This did not seem difficult for them to do, and it demonstrated their ability to make

choices and decisions, something they are sometimes reluctant to do."

In Quality Education Carnevale and Porro talk about the value of such an applied approach to

learning:

Available evidence suggests that the lack of transferability of academic learning into realworld environments can only be remedied by providing a different pedagogy that mixes

academic and applied learning. The integration of academic and experiential learning

serves a variety of purposes critical to educational reform, the modernization of work,

and improvement in the quality of community life.

Applied learning ends the isolation of schools from communities and workplaces.

Applied learning leavens academic curriculums with the authenticity of experience.

Applied learning allows for the development of lifelong learning systems that utilize

schools, workplaces, and communities as learning environments.6

In addition to demonstrating these benefits of applied learning, the two examples cited above

also show the ways that teachers and students use the Role Maps and Skills Wheel to encourage

the development of reflection and self-monitoring skills. The development of these metacognitive skills is important for students' ongoing learningand for facilitating transfer to other

applications.

Amy Trawick, Coordinator of the ABE Program at New River Community College, sums up

this aspect of the EFF Framework:

"[It] gives teachers a tool to help learners see the connections and a terminology to use in

talking about such complicated things as LEARNING and LIFE. Over and over again,

teachers sharing on the listsery have commented something to the effect that...the students are now 'seeing what they do in each lesson as part of the big picture: The connections have already existed; student awareness of these connections has not."'

Welfare participants attending classes at the Canton City Schools Even Start Program also

work for the program to fulfill their Welfare-to-Work requirement. One group of students was

concerned that, as parents, they were not effectively teaching and supporting their children's

use of math. Through the Family Member Role Map, they decided to support their children's

formal education by hosting a family math night at the local elementary school:

94 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

103.
Working as a team, the participants developed a budget for the event and wrote a

proposal to the school principal. When the proposal was accepted, they researched

teaching strategies for parents to use to teach math to children and designed and

planned appropriate activities to explain these. They arranged logistics for the math

night, planned refreshments and obtained them from community sources, and identified and collected the materials they needed. To advertise the event, they used computer word processing and desktop publishing to write, format, and publish flyers,

which they distributed.

Prior to the event, the team developed specific criteria they would use to evaluate its

success and determined how to collect the data. After hosting the family math night,

they met to discuss the event and wrote up a report, including improvements they

would have made. They also documented the skills they used from the EFF Standards, collected evidence of performance for their individual portfolios, and translated

the "family" learning into a "work" context.

All these evaluations led to the same conclusion: the family math night was a

resounding success.

'Yeachhg Va. Rawlins

In addition to describing how using the Framework enhances learning for their students, teachers also described how using EFF affected their approach to teaching.

"Even though I've felt that I was reasonably good at helping students to articulate their

goals, I found that the structure of the roles made visible on paper helped students to say

more, and, I suspect, set more significant goals. For example, a young mother of two volunteered that she had never registered [to vote] and that she'd like to do that and prepare

to vote. I doubt that would have come out in past, less focused, conversations:'

Caroline Beverstock, Project Read San Mateo County

"I feel that this is really what EFF is about.... I am working hard at making the material

relevant to their lives. I am making sure that students know that the info we learn in one

area carries over to another. I find myself applying the EFF Framework to other classes. It

just sort of spills over. The government students are now actually writing letters to officials

on current issues."

Janet Weil, Mt. Diablo Adult Education

"EFF conceptions of broad roles and purposes have encouraged me to expand the way I

view individual lessons. I used to plan so that a specific learning activity would take up the

hour or hour and a half that I spent with a student; a full circle, beginning to end. I felt

that this was to the student's advantagethe preview, presentation of new concepts or

materials, and then closure.... [Now] I like to think of activities less as series of closed cirMarch 16, 1998

Dear Parent(s),

You are invited to a family Math Night at Lathrop

School on April 8 at 6:00 pm. We will have fun and

educational math activities for you and your

child(ren) to enjoy together. These "hands on"

games will include sorting and graphing with jelly

beans, problem solving with the "Balloon Race"

and practicing math facts with dominoes.

Door prizes will be awarded, refreshments will be

served and a special take-home packet will be

given to each participating family.

DO NOT MISS THIS FUN-FILLED NIGHT AT

LATHROP SCHOOL!!!

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 95

:104:
In response to the question "What did

using the EFF Framework help you do?"

students answered the following8

"Helped me be able to save more money

and buy my home."

Atkinson Adult Learning Center

"Figure out how to adjust my schedule to

have more time with my children."

Blackwater Community School

"Feeling comfortable answering

questions without being embarrassed

about making a mistake."

Center for Literacy

"Helped me find books and help my

children gather information."

Harris County Department of Education

"Learn new ways of looking at things."

Knox County Adult Literacy Program

"Made me aware of where and how to

use information to get jobs from jail."

New River Community College

"I understand better how to talk to everyone at work, including my supervisor."

Richmond READ

"I have better understanding of speech

and reporting on TV and radio."

San Diego READ

(continued on page 97)

des and more as an educational spiral. I can link one week's lessons to the next simply by

considering student work as moving toward 'independent action' or attaining greater

`voice: With overarching views such as that, I can begin to think of my work with students

as fitting a continuum of learning, which is the way I like to view attainment of literacy in

general:'

Jim Carabell, Vermont Adult Learning

Amy Trawick again offers a broad summary:

"So what does the EFF Framework have to offer? To teachers who are caught in the GED

emphasis on 'academic' skills, it is a call to ponder the relevance of these skills to the real

world and to build on these skills in the classroom with lessons that disclose this relevance. It also offers an avenue of strengthening the learners' expectations for themselves.

The Framework might lead a GED teacher to ask, 'How will the GED help you meet your

purposes for learning and the roles you have in your life? Are there other things you would

like to learn to enhance these areas?' To teachers who are already life-skill focused, it offers

what I think is an improved way of communicating the connectedness of learning to living and for outlining the skills needed. For both sets of practitioners, the Framework

should be helpful as a planning tool to make teachers more intentional in connecting

lessons to lifeand more structured and thorough in the way those lessons are planned:'

Amy Trawick, New River Community College

Learners as Partners

Teachers using EFF report that explicitly focusing on the connectedness between learning and

life not only changes the content (and application) of learning, but also the relationship

between teachers and tutors and their students, and between students and their own learning:

"EFF is making me THINK more, reconsider what I teach and how I teach. I'm asking the

students more how they feel, what they've learned and how they can use what they're

learning in their lives. I'm encouraging the students to participate more in class and in

their communities. I find myself often using the 'Wheel' as a checklist:'

Maggie Moreno, Harris County Department of Education

"Students' involvement in their own learning has been the major outcome of this training.

Compared to years past, students came more prepared for class, they stayed involved at a

far higher level, and they attend with greater regularity. Although the emphasis has been

shifted from getting a GED to being prepared for the future, more students have received a

GED this year. Additionally, we have observed more students taking independent action,

whether in asking for a raise at work or inquiring about a child's grades at school."

Sara Mansbach, Greenville, S.C., Family Learning Team

"EFF helps to tear down some of the us/them mentality that new tutors often bring to

their tutor training. The substantial differences between thinking in terms of teaching

96 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

105
reading, writing, speaking and listening and thinking of access, voice, independent action,

and bridge to the future helps new tutors realize that these are their own purposes as well,

that they are not so very different from their prospective students?'

Caroline Beverstock, Project READ San Mateo County

"I especially notice a greater bond between the teacher and the learners in these

classes/tutorials. Learners usually call if they cannot make a session. A relationship of

commitment develops that is far superior to that of other classes in which missing one

class leads to two absences and then three and then it is just easier to drop the class

entirely. Somehow EFFers have more of an investment in their learning and a curiosity

about what is next."

Barbara Goodwin, Massabesic Adult and Community Education

"The whole class changed from negative, non-involved, high absenteeism adult students

into an actively involved, always-there group of students. More work got done, and students said it had meaning because they were applying what they had learned."

Etta Shirley, Little Singer School, Birdspring Reservation

"I used to think that I was very in touch with the students and their needs. I thought that I

had always assessed their needs quite well through my own observations, with regular

individual student-teacher interaction and reflection. However, when I approached the

students more formally and asked for their wants and needs as an organized whole class

activity, I learned a few things that were both interesting and surprising. Working with

EFF has taught me the value of including the students at every step of the way in their

schooling, and if a teacher follows that advice, the students will not only offer many valid

suggestions but also this process will lighten the load of the teacher."

Eileen Peca, Sweetwater Union Division of Adult and Continuing Education

"I truly believed that I was a learner-centered teacher because I let students do certain

things, like give input to the curriculum, keep their own portfolios, and evaluate me and

the class. I think I was afraid that if I turned too much over to the students I wouldn't be

needed anymorethey'd be doing my job. I discovered that, thankfully, I am still needed,

but for different reasons and as a result I needed to develop new strengths?'

Ann Marie Barter, Windham Adult Education

Teachers point to many of the same features of the Framework as the catalysts for both the shift

in student-teacher relations and the shift in content. By changing the terrain of learning from

what teachers are expert in (academic skills) to what students know something about as well

(skills applied in real-life contexts), the EFF Framework seems to encourage more of an active

partnership between teachers and learners. By making the content of that new terrain more

explicitthrough the Role Maps and Skills Wheel and specific Content Standardsthe

Framework also levels the learning field. Because students see how what they are learning can

0. 0 0 0 0 O 0

Student Responses, (continued from page 96)

"Reflect and Evaluate helped me to

understand my way of learning and

correcting my work and myself."

Sumner Adult Education Program

"I don't have to ask the price of a shirt if

it is 33% off. I know how to figure it

myself."

Ten County Coop Adult Education

"I've learned to take notes about important issues I wish to discuss with fellow

students and Center staff."

Wilkes Community College

"EFF helps me look closer at the things I

do and helps me realize there is room for

improvement."

Windham Adult Education

"Teachers' perspectives changed with the

infusion of EFF into their ways of teaching.

They began letting go of total control in the

classroom and moving beyond the textbook

into real-life issues. They built a community

in the classroom and retention increased."

Adriana Sanchez-Aldana,

Sweetwater Union Division of Adult and

Continuing Education

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 97

106
114 -::Equipped forlhe

tanclarcit-E3asecl

make a difference in other parts of their lives, they are "empowered" to take a more active role

in shaping what goes on in the tutorial or classroom.

Inside Programs:

Keeping an Eye on Common Goals

Program administrators have found the EFF Framework's clear focus on results useful in communicating program goalsand sharpening the focus on those goalsboth inside and outside

the program. Eleanor Lockwood, Director of Windham Adult Education in Maine, talks about

how she used the EFF Framework in the hiring process, to communicate to prospective teachers the program's focus:

"When we interviewed prospective teachers we gave each candidate a copy of the Skills

Wheel and asked them how they would incorporate these skills into instruction. We

looked for teachers who espoused a learner-centered approach, who understood the adult

roles of learners, and who included real-life application of skills in their teaching. We had

requested additional funds in our budget to provide for monthly curriculum sharing

meetings focused on EFF, and included attendance at these meetings as an expectation

when we interviewed:'

She also talks about using the Framework to communicate with outside audiences:

"With the encouragement of an advisory council that made the connection between EFF

and economic development [an issue in our community], I was able to use the idea of

Standards to persuade funders to invest in our infrastructure. In one year, we increased

our secretarial coverage to full-time, increased our ABE Coordinator/Instructor to fulltime, and added a part-time Workforce Education Coordinator. It made sense to the

school board and town council that, if we were to raise our standards, we needed a different structure to do it."

Both internal focus and external communication are also important to Barbara Goodwin,

Director of Massabesic Adult and Community Education:

"...The Standards have changed my perspective about how and why we provide instructional services to our learners. EFF has made me realize that I need to focus on accountability, our student intake process, and supervision and evaluation to a much greater

extent than I have in the past....

"Because directors need to be accountable locally to their learners, teachers, community

members, superintendent, school committee, and legislators, I believe that one big piece

of accountability lies with educating the school committee about EFF. My superintendent

and board members think of EFF as adult education learning results; this gives them a

framework in which to understand it. My task this fall will be to make a presentation to

98 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

107,
the Board of Directors with a plan to increase the diploma credit requirements by substantiating the need based on the EFF Standards."

Taylor Willingham, Director of the Santa Clara Reading Program, adds:

"I am also finding that EFF is a powerful tool for communicating to those who fund us.

We are always struggling with how to define literacy to people who think in terms of reading and writing. They do not always recognize the breadth of services and support we

offer to inmates and clients of recovery programs. I am really appreciating having a tool to

help them expand their vision of what we do and who we are."

Jane Meyer, Director of the Canton City Schools ABLE Program, emphasizes how EFF also

helps programs let the broader community know what the real work of adult education is:

"I have no trouble explaining what we do when I use the EFF Framework. Service clubs

such as Rotary and Kiwanis have responded to the Role Maps and Framework in very

positive ways. They see EFF giving them the workers they want to hire, neighbors they

want next door, and family members they want to know."

Shirley Wright, Director of the Adult School in Atkinson, Maine, provides a concrete example

of how the program used the EFF Role Maps to help build a new bridge between their program

and the broader community.

In Atkinson, Maine, there are few employment opportunities in the community. Welfare-to-Work participants at the Adult Learning Center fulfill their work placement

requirement through the program itself. In 1998, participants decided to help dispel

the community's stereotype of "welfare recipient." Using the Citizen/Community

Member Role Map, they decided to become involved in community projects to:

Show that welfare recipients were "givers," not just "takers."

Get to know others outside of their circle.

Learn about their community to become part of it.

Atkinson was celebrating its 175th birthday that year, and the Welfare-to-Work

participants focused on that in planning their work projects, which included:

Cleaning, landscaping, and maintaining the historic town cemetery.

Mowing lawns and performing garden and yard work for the town and community.

Fixing porches and roofs on public and community buildings.

Cleaning, painting, and maintaining town buildings.

Painting the Adult Learning Center.

Staffing the committee for the town's birthday celebration.

Participants formed work teams, with each team electing a leader. The team leader

was responsible for keeping time records, making sure the work progressed according to the timetable set by the team, negotiating conflicts when necessary, and manEQUIP YOURSELF FOR THE

FUTURE

at Even Start

You can gain confidence in yourself as

a Parent, a Worker, and a Citizen while continuing

your own education and becoming more involved in

your child's learning...

Even Start Family Literacy offers:

preparation for the GED

training for the workplace

informative parenting discussions

opportunities for parent and child togetherness

community service

a chance to meet friendly people from your community

Class hours are 8:00 to 2:15 Monday - Friday

(This time can count for your JOBS work requirement)

at

Baxter Elementary, Summit Elementary,

Lathrop Elementary and Coleman Child Care Center

For more information and registration

call Jane Meyer

588-2148

Atkinson Learning Center

designs chamber brochures

DOVER-FOXCRAFT A collaboration

between SAD 68 Adult Education and the

Southern Piscataquis County Chamber of

Commerce has resulted in a series of new

promotional brochures. The materials will be

distributed through the chamber, at regional

bed and breakfast establishments, and mailed

in vacation packages to people who ask what

the region has to offer.

According to Jennifer Ladd, technology instructor at the Atkinson Learning Center, the idea for the project originated with

Dennis Lyford. The executive director of

SPCCC first got the idea when he saw a student-produce e on a bulletin

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 99

10;8
o 0 0 0 ED ao 0

li re 1 t' aging the team. Leaders met once a week with the teachers and program director to

monitor progress, solve problems, and support each other.

The work teams planned and mapped out their projects, set timetables and budgets,

assigned tasks, gathered the necessary materials (staying within budget), and monitored the quality of their work. They learned and applied skills from all of the EFF

Standards and were able to document their learning.

The community's response was very positive. Residents were thrilled with the work

the teams accomplished, particularly because the town had previously been unable to

repair or paint the buildings. The birthday celebration was bigger and better than anyone had anticipated due to the time and effort the students spent.

Looking at the Whole System:

A Framework for Improving Service Delivery

System reform requires more than changes in individual programs. It also requires that the new

definition of results that matter drives changes in policies and governance. Maine and Washington, two of the states that have been part of the EFF field development process, have determined that the EFF Framework matches their own vision of results that matter. Both have

developed State Plans under Title II of the Workforce Investment Act that describe a program

of system reform to achieve these results.

Both states saw the importance of articulating a clear vision of results as a starting point for system reform, and both were attracted to EFF because of its strong customer focus. Bob Crotzer,

administrator of the Adult Basic Education program in Maine for the past 25 years, talks about

this match in an interview published in The Maine Fertilizer. "EFF gives us a framework for

refining learner-centered instruction more keenly to the individual's life goals and needs. What

is different and emphasized with EFF is the accountability piece. At the national and state levels,

the public is crying for accountability. ...In Maine, Learning Results [a program for the K-12

system] has been a response to people who ask, 'What is it that students get as a result of what

we spend on their education?' The same question is being asked in adult education?'

Maine Adult Education has adopted the EFF Content Framework because of its learner focus.

According to Crotzer,

"...When adults come to us..., we need to understand that they come to us as parents and

family members, community members, and workers, and most of their needs correspond

to those roles. Once we know what the adult learner wants to learn, we can determine

[which] standards we need to meet to make sure that happens.... When you really get

down to it, who are we most accountable to? I think we're most accountable to the stu100 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

109
dent. If we're accountable to the student, then it's easy to be accountable to fenders, legislators, and state and federal departments of education."'

For Israel Mendoza, State Director of Adult Learning in Washington, part of the attraction to

EFF was the clear message it communicated to other agencies. Coming to the position of Director of the Office of Adult Literacy in the Community College system after more than 20 years in

the Department of Employment Services, Mendoza knew the importance of a strong vision:

"As we thought about our vision for the future we knew that the opportunity to state who

we are, what we value, and where we are going could not be missed. The vision had to

make sense. It needed to be so logical that everyone who read it would feel that we were

stating the obvious and that the vision we had for our students was in fact something that

each and every partner wanted for their clients/customers. EFF provides this."1°

The vision for Washington's state plan focuses on the learner-identified purposes

that are the heart of the EFF framework. It reads:

"All adults in the state will have access to adult and family literacy services that

assist them in gaining the skills required to:

Access needed information

Take independent action

Express their own ideas and opinions

Keep up with a changing world

Exercise their rights and responsibilities as family members, workers, and

community members.

This vision for student success will drive all aspects of redevelopment in the adult

and family literacy system. It will be seen in all goals and activities and serve as a

reminder of what it is the system needs to do and why it needs to do it. "11

The five-year plan for implementing this vision focuses on three areas:

1. Infusion into program delivery

2. Integration into the Assessment System

3. Targeted dissemination throughout the System.

The plan stresses increased coordination between

Building Blocks

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Service Delivery System

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All adults in the state will have access

to adult and family literacy services that assist

them in gaining the skills required to:

Access needed information.

Take independent action.

Express their own ideas and opinions.

Keep up with a changing world.

Exercise their rights and responsibilities

as family members, workers and

community members

service systems to move toward greater

responsiveness, accountability, and learner achievement. It describes the goals of the system in

conjunction with other organizations that provide employment, family support, social services,

and education to the same adults and proposes that "success will be measured by the effectiveness of the system as a gateway for adults to gain the knowledge and skills they need for their

roles in their families, at work, and in their communities."12

Washington's goal for dissemination gets at the heart of the difference between system reform

in the K-12 system and system reform in adult literacy and learning: the need for a "common

language for communication with students, providers, stakeholders" across the many diverse

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NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 101
agencies within the system. According to Mendoza: "The EFF Framework provides a way to

pull together the programs and services that have always looked like discrete and unrelated

efforts to our partnersand to us! EFF has helped us see our various programs as a system

with a common base rather than separate programs all competing for scarce resources. This

refocus has been very important."

Donna Miller-Parker, the Director of Washington's State Literacy Resource Center, articulated

one vision of how EFF could meld discrete programs into a seamless system:

All partners who have any contact at all with the adult education systemschools, teachers,

students, social service agencies, employment and training, business, labor, corrections, family literacy, GED programs, volunteer tutor programswould be familiar with EFF's Purposes, Role Maps, Skills, and Activities.

All providers of adult education would understand how the services they provide address

those skills and activities and support learners in their various roles.

All partners (see first bullet) would have a good picture of the overall system and the part that

each provider plays.

This could lead to portfolios that learners carry from program to program within the "system," reinforcing the idea that learning continues to build, and every learning experience is

part of the lifelong learning plan for an individual.' 3

This vision is not far from one put forward by Tony Carnevale in Education and Training for

America's Future:

"Our ultimate objective should be to create a high-performance education and training

system, a decentralized one that would preserve the autonomy of individuals and institutions, while using standards to guarantee constant quality and overall efficiency. Such a

system would be relatively indifferent to where learning occurred, so long as providers

were accountable to individuals, governments, business, and other final consumers.

Usable information would preserve and enhance the flexibility of education and training

markets, gradually eliminating existing institutional and technological barriers to lifelong

learning." 4

These visions suggest how a system unified by common goals, with all parts aligned to achieve

those goals, could more effectively serve adult learner needs.

102 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY
Equipped

Stan

CI,x03.gt.v39%

ase Reform

Equipped for the Futa,ory

Starah'ng Po ffor Standards-Based System leff ®rove

The EFF Content Framework and Standards provide a starting point for system reform. The

vision they offer of what results are important for the adult literacy and lifelong learning system

to achieve is consistent with existing federal legislation and the goals of adult learners. Developed and validated through an inclusive consensus-building process, this framework of purposes, roles, and standards constitutes a broad "curriculum framework" for adult learning that

states and programs can use to guide their own curriculum development processes to assure

that teaching and learning focuses on results that matter.

Equipped for the Future can be the first step to a cohesive "high performance adult learning

system." It spells out a consensus vision of what results are important, offering a common language that all the diverse partners and customers and stakeholders can use in taking on the

hard work of aligning all parts of the system to support achievement of those results.

NIFL will continue to be involved in developing tools that support the use of Equipped for the

Future. But the actual work of system reform depends on the efforts of everyone. We hope you

will use the materials provided in this guide and in other EFF documents to help us take the

next steps toward building that more effective system.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 103

1...-1 I
Equipped for the Future

Footnotes

Footnotes

Chapter 1: A Definition of Adult Literacy for the 21st Century

1 John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cockings, eds. (1999). How People Learn:

Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press), p. 3. 2 How People Learn, p. 4. 3 How People Learn, p. 4.

4 National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) (1993). "1993 National Education Goals Report:

Building a Nation of Learners?'

Chapter 2: Building the Framework

1 National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983). A Nation at Risk: The Imperative

for Educational Reform. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.

2 American Management Association (1999). Workplace Testing: Basic Skills, Job Skills, Psychological Management. (New York: AMA).

3 Michael Weinstein, "Without Training, Welfare Overhaul May Falter?' New York Times,

August 26, 1999, p. C6.

4 Pamela Loprest (1999). Families Who Left Welfare: Who Are They and How Are They Doing?

(Washington D.C. The Urban Institute).

5 Michael R. Bloom and Brenda Lafleur (1999). Turning Skills Into Profit: Economic Benefits of

Workplace Education Programs. (NY: The Conference Board), p. 3.

6 Richard Murnane and Frank Levy (1996). Teaching the New Basic Skills. (New York: The Free

Press), p. 3.

Irwin Kirsch, Anne Jungeblut, Lynn Jenkins, and Andrew Kolstad (1993). Adult Literacy in

America: A First Look at the Results of the National Adult Literacy Survey. (Washington, DC:

National Center for Education Statistics).

8 OECD/Statistics Canada (1995). Literacy, Economy, and Society (Paris: OECD). The seven

countries participating in the IALS in 1994 include Canada, Germany, the Netherlands,

Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S.

9 Turning Skills into Profit, p. 3.

10 Sondra Stein (1995). Equipped for the Future: A Customer Driven Vision for Adult Literacy and

Lifelong Learning. (Washington, DC: NIFL). All student essays quoted on pages 5-6 are from

this publication.

11 Equipped for the Future (1995), p. 5.

12 Lori A Weiss (1995). Adult Education: Measuring Program Results Has Been Challenging.

(Washington, DC: US GPO), p. 23.

13 Lisa Kuhmerker (1996). "Dialogue: Robert Kegan talks with Lisa Kuhmerker," World Psychology, Vol. 2. (New York), p. 5.

104 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

113,
I I

14 For a fuller description of the research process see Juliet Merrifield (1999), "Equipped for the

Future Research Report, 1994-1997" (Washington, DC: NIFL).

15 As a result of discussions with officials of the U.S. Department of Labor (including Raymond

Uhalde, Gerard Fiala, Robert Littman, and Donna Dye), the Worker Role Map synthesis was

conducted by Louise Bertsche and reviewed by Michael Campion for consistency with

O*NET.

16 See Appendix A for definitions of each Common Activity and a matrix of the relationships

between Common Activities and role-specific Key Activities.

17 See Appendix C for a full listing of the states, programs, and teachers who participated in the

field development process.

18 See Appendix B for documentation template. See Chapter 3, The 16 Standards, "Insights

From Field Research" for examples of the reports NIFL received from field sites.

Chapter 3: The EFF. Standards and How They Work

' Anthony P. Carnevale and Jeffrey D. Porro. Quality Education: School Reform for the New

American Economy (American Society for Training and Development, for U.S. Department

of Education, OERI, 1994), p. 9.

2 See EFF Common Activities Matrix in Appendix A for definitions of these activities.

3 Bert F. Green, "Setting Performance Standards: Content, Goals, and Individual Differences,"

William Angoff Memorial Lecture, November 6, 1995 (Princeton, NJ: Education Testing Service, 1995).

4 Hanna Arlene Fingeret and Cassandra Drennon. Literacy for Life (New York: Teachers College Press, 1997), p. 62.

5 Part C, Title II, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The REAwas enacted on

October 21, 1998, by P.L. 105-277, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of FY1999.

6 Merlin C. Wittrock, "Testing and Recent Research in Cognition," in Testing and Cognition,

eds. Merlin C. Wittrock and Eva L. Baker (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991), pp. 11-12.

(Source: M.C. Wittrock and R Kelly. "Teaching Reading Comprehension to Adults in Basic

Skills Courses." Final Report, University of California at Los Angeles, Graduate School of

Education, Vols. 1-3.)

7 Lillian Smith, "Words That Chain Us Words That Set Us Free," in The Winner Names the Age,

ed. Michelle Cliff (New York: WW Norton, 1978), p. 149.

8 James Gee. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses (Bristol, PA: The Falmer

Press, 1990), p. 94.

9 Daniel Goleman. Working With Emotional Intelligence (New York: Bantam Books, 1998), 176.

1° Gary D. Borich, with contributions by Debra Bayles Martin. Observation Skills for Effective

Teaching, 3rd ed. (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999), p. 7.

"Kevin Collis and Thomas A. Romberg. "Assessment of Mathematical Performance: An

Analysis of Open-Ended Test Items," in Testing and Cognition, pp. 100-101.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 105

1 1 4 1
Equipped for the Future

Footnotes

12 Jack Mezirow. "How Critical Reflection Triggers Transformative Learning?' in Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood, ed. Mezirow and Associates (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990),

pp. 7-8. 13 Andrea Barrett (1998). The Voyage of the Narwhal. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company),

pp. 164-5. 14 Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (New York: Bantam, 1995), p. 42. 15 Thomas Jefferson (1816) letter to John Adams, in Frances Moore Lappe (1989) Rediscovering

American's Values. (New York: Ballantine Books), p. 186. 16 Deborah Johnson (1995). "You Have to Be Able to Make a Difference?' in Sondra Stein, ed.,

Equipped for the Future: A Customer Driven Vision for Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning.

(Washington, DC: NIFL), p. 76. 17 Stewart Levine. Getting to Resolution. (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1998),

pp. 4-5.

18 Laurent A. Da loz (1999). Effective Teaching and Mentoring. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers), p. 17. 19 Sue E. Berryman, "Education and the Economy: A Diagnostic Review and Implications for

the Federal Role?' Institute on Education and the Economy, Occasional Paper No. 1, (New

York: Columbia University, 1989), p. 17.

20 Claire Weinstein and Debra K. Meyer. "Implications of Cognitive Psychology for Testing:

Contributions from Work in Learning Strategies?' in Testing and Cognition, p. 41. 21 Robert Fisher. Teaching Thinking: Philosophical Enquiry in the Classroom (London: Cassell,

1998), p. 9. 22 Sylvia Scribner and Patricia Sachs, with Lia Di Bello and Jessica Kindred. "Knowledge Acquisition at Work?' Laboratory for Cognitive Studies of Work, Technical Paper No. 22, (New

York: City University of New York, 1991), p. 1. 23 Joan N. Burstyn, ed. (1996). Educating Tomorrow's Valuable Citizen. (New York: SUNY

Press), p. 195. 24 Described above, pp. 16-17, in the section "Standards for Standards?' 25 Juliet Merrifield. "Contested Ground: Performance Accountability in Adult Basic Education?' NCSALL Reports #1, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1998),

p. 2. 26 Barry G. Shecldey and Morris T. Keeton. Improving Employee Development: Perspectives from

Research and Practice. (Chicago: CAEL, 1997), p. 16.

2722% of adults surveyed in 1992 for the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), for example,

fell into level one. This is a broad swath of low-performing adults that it has not been possible to analyze more closely due to the small number of items testing performance at this

level. 28 How People Learn. This report of the Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research

106 EFF Content Standards NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY

4.115
I

Council, provides an excellent summary of this body of research, and related research on

transfer of learning. The report suggests that teachers can facilitate building a coherent,

active, usable knowledge base by

providing students with opportunities to recognize meaningful patterns of information.

organizing curricula around big ideas or core concepts and staying with a domain long

enough for students to develop deeper understanding of facts, formulas, etc.

teaching applications across a number of contexts.

29 Robert Glaser, "Expertise and Assessment," in Testing and Cognition,p. 26.

3° How People Learn, pp. 36-37.

31 Anson Green, Northwest Vista College, San Antonio, TX. Documentation of EFF field

research, August 1999.

32 Cognitive scientists understand increasing automaticity as the process of knowledge about

the skill (facts, procedures, strategies, and concepts) moving from active working memory to

long-term memory. See Jennifer Cromley, "Learning to Think Learning to Learn: What the

Science of Thinking and Learning Has to Offer Adult Education" (Washington, DC:

National Institute for Literacy, 1999).

33 Roseanne Y. DeFabio. Outcomes In Process: Setting Standards for Language Use. (Portsmouth,

N.H: Heinemann, 1994), p. 42.

34 The EFF Development Team receives guidance in assessment through a technical assistance

contract with Institute for Educational Leadership. Led by Joan Wills, Director of the Center

for Workforce Development, this team brings together experts from Human Resources

Research Organization (HumRRO) and WestEd.

35 Robert J. Sternberg. "Toward Better Intelligence Tests," in Testing and Cognition, p. 37.

36 Merlin C. Wittrock. "Cognition and Testing," in Testing and Cognition,pp. 3-4.

37 Robert J. Mislevy, Linking Educational Assessments: Concepts, Issues, Methods, and Prospects

(Princeton, NJ: ETS Policy Information Center, 1992), p. 15.

38 Carnevale and Porro, Quality Education, p. 13.

39 Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Section 202. The WIA was enacted on

August 7, 1998, by P.L. pp. 105-220.

Chapter 4: Meeting Common Goals: Teaching and Learning

With the EFF Framework

See Appendix C for a full list of the programs involved in the field development process. A

list of the questions that shaped the process is included in Chapter 5, pp. 89-90. 2 The EFF Curriculum Sourcebook, due out early in 2000, will contain multiple lesson and project plans illustrating how teachers and tutors used EFF with students at varying levels in

diverse settings.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY EFF Content Standards 107
Equipped for the Future

Footnotes

Chapter 5: Equipped for the Future: A Starting Point

for Standards-Based System Reform

' Jennifer A. O'Day and Marshall S. Smith. "Systemic Reform and Educational Opportunity,"

in Designing Coherent Education Policy: Improving the System, Susan H. Fuhrman, ed. (San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993), p. 253.

2 Susan H Fuhrman. "The Politics of Coherence," in Designing Coherent Education Policy:

Improving the System, p. 2.

3 John F. Jennings. "School Reform Based on What Is Taught and Learned:' Phi Delta Kappan.

(Washington, DC: June, 1995), p. 769.

Sondra Stein. Participants Guide to the Field Development Process, Field Development Institute, Louisville, KY February, 1998. (Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy, 1998),

pp. 5-6.

5 O'Day and Smith, "Systemic Reform and Educational Opportunity," p. 275.

6 Carnevale and Porro, Quality Education, p. 12.

7 Amy Trawick, EFF Listserv, April 1998. 8 Teachers were not requested to provide student names on evaluation forms they submitted.

As a result, we list only program names.

9 Patte Bowman, "State ABE Administrator Takes Learner-Centered Instruction to Heart:' The

Maine Fertilizer, Vol 5, #5, May 1998, p. 1.

10 Israel Mendoza, excerpts from a presentation delivered June 1, 1999, at an EFF National Policy Group meeting.

11 Washington State Plan for Adult and Family Literacy, p. 1.

12 "Building a Vision: The Washington State Plan for Adult and Family Literacy, 1999-2004."

Developments: The Newsletter for Washington States' Adult Basic and Literacy Education Programs, Spring 1999. 13 Donna Miller-Parker. "Policy Questions on Workplace Education:' National Literacy Advocacy Listsery comment, February 26, 1999. Quoted with permission of author.

14 Anthony P. Carnevale. Education and Training for America's Future, The Manufacturing Institute Growth Papers (Washington, DC, 1998), p. 29, emphasis added.

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Equipped for the Future

Content Standards

Appendices

APPENDIX A

The EFF Framework

Role Maps

Common Activities Matrix

EFF Content Standards

APPENDIX B

Documentation Templates

APPENDIX C

EFF Development Partners

APPENDIX D

Equipped for the Future Team, 1999-2000

For More Information on EFF

118

Equipped for the Future

Appendices
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Content Framework for EFF Standards Content Framework for EFF Standards In order to fulfill responsibilities as parents/family members, citizens/community members, and workers, adults must be able to: MEET THESE 4 PURPOSES Access To information so adults can orient themselves in the world Voice To be able to express ideas and opinions with the confidence they will be heard and taken into account Independent Action To be able to solve problems and make decisions on one's own, acting independently, without having to rely on others Bridge to the Future Learn how to learn so adults can keep up with the world as it changes ACCOMPLISH THESE COMMON ACTIVITIES Gather, Analyze, and Use Information Manage Resources Work Within the Big Picture Work Together Provide Leadership Guide and Support Others Seek Guidance and Support From Others Develop and Express Sense of Self Respect Others and Value Diversity Exercise Rights and Responsibilities Create and Pursue Vision and Goals Use Technology and Other Tools to Accomplish Goals Keep Pace With Change DEMONSTRATE THESE GENERATIVE SKILLS Communication Skills Read With Understanding Convey Ideas in Writing Speak So Others Can Understand Listen Actively Observe Critically Decision-Making Skills Use Math to Solve Problems and Communicate Solve Problems and Make Decisions Plan Interpersonal Skills Cooperate With Others Advocate and Influence Resolve Conflict and Negotiate Guide Others Lifelong Learning Skills Take Responsibility for Learning Reflect and Evaluate Learn Through Research Use Information and Communications Technology UNDERSTAND AND BE ABLE TO USE THESE KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS How We Grow and Develop How Groups and Teams Work How Systems Work Rights and Responsibilities Culture, Values, and Ethics How the Past Shapes the World We Live In 44 47 Equipped for the future NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 5/19/99 120
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Citizen/Community Member Role Map Equipp- ed i--future Citizen/Community Member Role Map Effective citizens and community members take informed action to make a positive difference in their lives, communities, and world. BROAD AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY Become and Stay Informed Citizens and community members find and use information to identify and solve problems and contribute to the community Form and Express Opinions and Ideas Citizens and community members develop a personal voice and use it individually and as a group Work Together Citizens and community mem- bers interact with other people to get things done toward a com- mon purpose Take Action to Strengthen Communities Citizens and community mem- bers exercise their rights and responsibilities as individuals and as members of groups to improve the world around them Identify, monitor, and anticipate prob- lems, community needs, strengths, and resources for yourself and others Recognize and understand human, legal, and civic rights and responsibilities for yourself and others Figure out how the system that affects an issue works Identify how to have an impact and recognize that individuals can make a difference Find, interpret, analyze, and use diverse sources of information, including personal experience Strengthen and express a sense of self that reflects personal history, values, beliefs, and roles in the larger community Learn from others' experiences and ideas Communicate so that others understand Reflect on and reevaluate your own opinions and ideas Get involved in the community and get others involved Respect others and work to eliminate discrimination and prejudice Define common values, visions, and goals Manage and resolve conflict Participate in group processes and decision making Help yourself and others Educate others Influence decision makers and hold them accountable Provide leadership within the community 121 NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised 3/29/99 122
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Citizen/Community Member Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Become and Stay Informed Citizens and community members find and use information to identify and solve problems and contribute to the community KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Identify, monitor, and anticipate problems, community needs, strengths, and resources for yourself and others Talk with people knowledgeable about the problem or need Ask questions that produce relevant information Monitor a variety of media resources routinely, including local and national newspapers, television, radio, magazines, and the Internet Review and revise information about needs and strengths in order to stay on top of the situation Connect issues of personal concern to community needs and problems Recognize and understand human, legal, and civic rights and responsibilities for yourself and others Identify instances of injustice and illegality Base decisions on knowledge of rights and responsibilities Take responsibility for own actions Figure out how the system that affects an issue works Use relevant services and agencies to gain access to or understand the system Identify formal and informal rules Identify positions of power and powerlessness with the system Identify personal relationship to the system Determine the system's timetable, calendar, and other schedules and plan actions accordingly Predict correctly the conditions and changes that will result from a course of action Identify how to have an impact and recognize that individuals can make a difference Find and review historical examples and precedents to determine best course of action Analyze the situation with other people to take action Identify risks and potential consequences Plan doable steps toward goal Find, interpret, analyze, and use diverse sources of information, including personal experience Seek up-to-date and historical information supporting all sides of the issue Identify biases and hidden agendas in the presentation of the information Distinguish between fact and fiction Take into consideration the role and influence of the media Apply new information thoughtfully in real-life situations Equipped for the Future - Citizen/Community Member Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised 3/29/99 123 124
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Citizen/Community Member Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Form and Express Opinions and Ideas Citizens and community members develop a personal voice and use it individually and as a group KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Strengthen and express a sense of self that reflects your personal history, values, beliefs, and roles in the larger community Place yourself in history as to race, gender, and geography Identify your own perspectives, points of view, values, and beliefs Identify your own roles in larger community Exhibit self-confidence and personal authority Share your own culture and beliefs with others Learn from others' experiences and ideas Find effective role models or mentors and act on their guidance Ask questions that reflect what the speaker has said Integrate new ideas and experiences gained from reading, listening, and viewing into own thinking Recognize and articulate points of view different than your own Communicate so that others understand Use a variety of ways for communicating Know who the audience is and how to reach its members Organize thoughts, opinions, and ideas Defend your own position and opinions Use communication strategies that help build consensus and understanding Reflect on and reevaluate personal opinions and ideas Distinguish between personal opinions and facts Seek and use feedback from others Identify how your original position has changed Incorporate reflections and new ideas into action Equipped for the Future Citizen/Community Member Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 125 126
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Citizen/Community Member Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Citizens and community members interact with other people to get things done toward a common purpose KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Get involved in the community and get others involved Volunteer time and resources Participate in community events Reach out to a diversity of people Network with others Support the efforts of others actively Orient newcomers to the group or community Respect others and work to eliminate discrimination and prejudice Recognize and address instances of prejudice and stereotyping Create an environment in which others are included and welcomed Encourage and consider a wide range of opinions and beliefs Work well in diverse situations and with diverse groups Define common values and goals Identify common views and disagreements through open discussion Achieve consensus or compromise on the priorities and purposes of the group Manage and resolve conflict Address conflict and resistance openly and persistently, in a timely manner Use a variety of techniques to find common ground Focus on issues rather than personality Analyze what happens in conflict situations and use this knowledge in the future Participate in group processes and decision making Understand the roles of group members Contribute to planning and implementing activities Follow through on group decisions Equipped for the Future Citizen/Community Member Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 127 128
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Citizen/Community Member Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Take Action to Strengthen Communities Citizens and community members exercise their rights and responsibilities as individuals and as members of groups to improve the world around them KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Help yourself and others Assess personal needs and strengths to determine and/or inform participation in community activities Manage and share personal resources, including time, money, and materials Advocate for yourself and others Report crimes and injustices Educate others Share information and knowledge from personal experience and other sources Use methods appropriate to the audience and event, such as flyers, forums, speeches, and public service announcements Inform others of their rights Solicit feedback on effectiveness of educational activity Influence decision makers and hold them accountable Identify and gain access to decision makers Express views to elected officials by publicly challenging officials, letter writing, or phone calling Work for and support a candidate for public office Vote Provide leadership within the community Initiate and maintain a community activity Serve as a resource or role model Serve on committees, boards, and other positions of responsibility Develop leadership skills in others Represent and express the opinions and needs of others accurately Follow through on commitments to individuals and organizations Document, evaluate, and reflect on action taken Equipped for the Future Citizen/Community Member Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 129 130
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Parent/Family Role Map Equipped f'" future Parent/Family Role Map Effective family members contribute to building and maintaining a strong family system that promotes growth and development BROAD AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY -ks'4 Promote Family Members' Growth and Development Family members support the growth and development of all family members, including themselves Meet Family Needs and Responsibilities Family members meet the needs and responsibilities of the family unit Strengthen the Family System Family members create and maintain a strong sense of family rAIH>- Make and pursue plans for self-improvement Guide and mentor other family members Foster informal education of children Support children's formal education Direct and discipline children Provide for safety and physical needs Manage family resources Balance priorities to meet multiple needs and responsibilities Give and receive support outside the immediate family Create a vision for the family and work to achieve it Promote values, ethics, and cultural heritage within the family Form and maintain supportive family relationships Provide opportunities for each family member to experience success Encourage open communication among the generations 131 NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 132
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Parent/Family Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Promote Family Members' Growth and Development Family members support the growth and development of all family members, including themselves KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Make and pursue plans for self-improvement Set personal goals and commit to them by visualizing and talking about them Evaluate ways to meet personal needs, generate alternatives for achieving plan, and access resources such as libraries and educational institutions to address goals Allocate efforts and resources, including time and money, to meet goals Achieve goals for personal growth with the support of other family members Practice lifelong learning Guide and mentor other family members Adjust expectations of family members based on age, individual skills, abilities, and interests Guide decision making by other family members by fostering critical thinking Provide opportunities to expand knowledge and abilities by nurturing a sense of adventure Provide a proper balance of challenge and support to encourage risk taking View all family members as both teachers and learners Foster informal education of children Provide a wide variety of experiences to support learning Respect cultural differences in communication and learning styles Encourage language development by reading, singing, telling stories, and counting Stimulate learning and real-life experiences through choice, play, instruction, and sensory perception Express pleasure when children master a concept or task Foster initiative and social relations by listening to children's ideas, encouraging them to solve problems, and supporting the building of relationships with other children and adults Monitor external influences such as television (continued) Equipped for the Future Parent/Family Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised 3/29/99 133 134
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Parent/Family Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Promote Family Members' Growth and Development, continued Family members support the growth and development of all family members, including themselves KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Support children's formal education Remain involved in children's education from prekindergarten through high school by participating in conferences, school programs, and assignments Create an environment in which children can successfully complete their homework, Including creating quiet space, allocating time, helping them directly, or helping them get help Advocate for better education by voicing opinions and concerns and by networking with others Seek to understand all aspects of school operations and use this information to work with the school system and to guide children Find ways to contribute to child's classroom, such as sharing stories and cultural objects, cooking, or volunteering Build effective parent/teacher relationships by increasing communication and becoming involved as a mentor, tutor, or teachers' aide Direct and discipline children Practice a family code of conduct that affirms and supports all its members Provide consistent and loving adult supervision with appropriate discipline Set, communicate, and enforce limits, rules, and guidelines Allow children to make mistakes within safe boundaries in order to learn from them Adjust discipline based on child's age and understanding Reinforce expected behaviors by reasoning with children rather than demanding obedience Serve as a positive role model by modeling self-discipline, including controlling anger, organizing time, valuing relationships, and dealing effectively with life situations Equipped for the Future - Parent/Family Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised 3/29/99 135 136
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Parent/Family Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Meet Family Needs and Responsibilities Family members meet the needs and responsibilities of the family unit KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) I Provide for safety and physical needs Meet physical needs and provide a safe environment Provide adequate clean clothing, appropriate to the season Provide regular, nutritious meals Ensure health care matched to wellness or illness Guide child's behavior to prevent injury Protect all family members from abuse Choose child care providers carefully Manage family resources Manage personal, financial, and community resources Maintain consistent employment Develop and use a financial plan with realistic goals Recognize family members as resources Balance priorities to meet multiple needs and responsibilities Maintain balance among personal, family, work, and community responsibilities consistent with family priorities and individual needs Reserve and use time for personal, family, and community activities Establish routines and schedules that reflect family priorities Share responsibilities among family members to accomplish tasks Practice organizational and time management skills Give and receive support outside the immediate family Create and participate in a social network of friends and relatives for support, recreation, dealing with problems, and coping with change Identify the problem and admit to the need for help Identify individual and community resources and services to match the need Seek help Attend to others' needs and offer help, as appropriate Equipped for the Future Parent/Family Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 137 138
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Parent/Family Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Strengthen the Family System Family members create and maintain a strong sense of family KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Create a vision for the family and work to achieve it Develop, implement, and evaluate strategies to achieve the family vision Reflect upon and support family's common goals and values Consider social, political, and economic realities that affect the vision Allocate time and resources consistent with the family's vision Promote values, ethics, and cultural heritage within the family Establish and value family traditions and teach and model family customs Emphasize family strengths Identify and communicate cultural roots Draw upon knowledge of elders Establish and maintain a strong identity Provide for spiritual needs of family members Participate in rituals associated with faith, birth, marriage, worship, and death to foster spiritual growth Form and maintain supportive family relationships Equipped for the Future Parent/Family Role Map Encourage, acknowledge, and consider the opinions, values, and beliefs of all family members Support efforts of other family members to make decisions at home, school, work, and in the community Foster a spirit of kinship and interdependence by making a conscious effort to gather as a group and to discuss issues and problems together Demonstrate trust in other family members by accepting explanations, allowing choice, keeping promises, and accepting various perspectives Demonstrate effective conflict resolution strategies by using language that bridges differences (continued) NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 139 140
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Parent/Family Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Strengthen the Family System, continued Family members create and maintain a strong sense of family KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Provide opportunities for each family member to experience success Exhibit sensitivity to family members' social, emotional, and intellectual needs Provide opportunities for each family member to express feelings and experience success Respect individual rights to privacy Demonstrate enjoyment and enthusiasm for others' interests by supporting their activities Encourage open communications among the generations Encourage family members to speak and listen Name, own, and express feelings and respond to feelings of other family members Recognize non-verbal messages Honor the right to tell one's story without disapproval and criticism Recognize and use reconciliation techniques, such as offering an apology or using problem-solving strategies Equipped for the Future Parent/Family Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 141 142
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Worker Role Map Equipped *the future Worker Role Map Effective workers adapt to change and actively participate in meeting the demands of a changing workplace in a changing world. BROAD AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY Do the Work Workers use personal and organizational resources to perform their work and adapt to changing work demands Work With Others Workers interact one-on-one and participate as members of a team to meet job requirements Work Within the Big Picture Workers recognize that formal and informal expectations shape options in their work lives and often influence their level of success Plan and Direct Personal and Professional Growth Workers prepare themselves for the changing demands of the economy through personal renewal and growth Organize, plan, and prioritize work Use technology, resources, and other work tools to put ideas and work directions into action Respond to and meet new work challenges Take responsibility for assuring work quality, safety, and results Communicate with others inside and outside the organization Give assistance, motivation, and direction Seek and receive assistance, support, motivation, and direction Value people different from yourself Work within organizational norms Respect organizational goals, performance, and structure to guide work activities Balance individual roles and needs with those of the organization Guide individual and organizational priorities based on industry trends, labor laws/ contracts, and competitive practices Balance and support work, career, and personal needs Pursue work activities that provide personal satisfaction and meaning Plan, renew, and pursue personal and career goals Learn new skills 143 NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised 3/29/99 144
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Worker Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Do the Work Workers use personal and organizational resources to perform their work and adapt to changing work demands KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Organize, plan, and prioritize work Create and manage a work space that effectively allows for organizing, prioritizing, and planning work Gather and identify relevant information for the task Identify goals in order of importance to develop a work schedule, agenda, or business or action plan Identify and link like tasks for effective work completion U,e technology, r sources, and other work tools put ideas and iork directions into action Establish an efficient method for accessing appropriate resources Select and use the most appropriate technologies and resources to do the job effectively Use sequential, systematic, and creative thinking and decision making to complete the task and to document and analyze the process Incorporate appropriate suggestions and ideas from co-workers and customers into work processes Learn the strengths of co-workers and capitalize on them Accomplish both major and minor tasks and goals on or before deadlines Respond to and meet new work challenges Plan ahead and be proactive to perceived changes Take a receptive an' ;ponsive position toward challenges, changes, and increased work experiences, such as an increase in work or change in job position or tasks Evaluate your own skills for appropriateness to new challenges Demonstrate flexibility, positive attitude, and motivation in accepting new tasks Take responsibility for assuring work quality and results Solicit and use feedback from internal and external customers for continuous improvement Set a positive example for other employees and co-workers Use information from safety programs and training at all times Monitor potential hazards and mistakes and take the initiative to correct them Minimize work costs, problems, rework, and production time Document work thoughts, plans, and work processes for evaluation of the effectiveness of the work or business plan Exceed job expectations Use workplace customer service protocols at all times Focus on satisfying customers to increase sales and profitability Equipped for the Future - Worker Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised 3/29/99 145 146
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Worker Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Workers interact one-on-one and participates as mem- bers of a team to meet job requirements KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Communicate with others inside and outside the organization Identify the communication hierarchy within the workplace and keep appropriate co-workers informed Create and use feedback mechanisms that promote open communication Communicate in a variety of ways, such as orally, by e-mail, and by memo Use workplace customer service protocols at all times Give assistance, motivation, and direction Work as part of a team to develop and achieve mutual goals and objectives Initiate and maintain mentoring relationships that challenge others to succeed Recognize and reward the work efforts of others, including providing positive feedback Use a variety of methods to motivate others Provide constructive criticism to help others continually improve their job performance Help others outside of your job description without being asked Seek and receive assistance, support, motivation, and direction Develop and use networks of personal and professional contacts Solicit and/or accept help from supervisors and co-workers Go to the appropriate source for approval Find and maintain a relationship with a mentor or coach Be open to others' ideals and ideas Accept and use constructive criticism for continuous improvement of job performance Value people different from yourself Recognize and respond to others' strengths, abilities, and weaknesses Learn about other cultures Show, give, and receive respect Work through conflict constructively Help make sure information is accessible to all workers, for example, translation into other language, audiotapes and visual aids Equipped for the Future Worker Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 147 148
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Worker Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Work Within the Big Picture Workers recognize that formal and informal expectations shape options in their work lives and often influence their level of success KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Work within organizational norms Adhere to informal and formal organizational limits and expectations Identify and use the formal and informal power structures within the organization to get things done Maintain professional demeanor and integrity Monitor and adapt to shifts within the organization Respect organizational goals, performance, and structure to guide work activities View yourself as an integral part of organizational success Comply with organizational policies and procedures in a consistent manner Identify the hierarchy of key personnel and know their functions Identify and seek out co-workers who will provide correct information on what procedures to follow Respect and practice the company's boundaries for personal and professional interactions Balance individual roles and needs with those of the organization Monitor and use paths to promotion Use worker rights laws and procedures, including the grievance system, appropriately Choose and/or supplement appropriate benefits package based on an analysis of personal/family resources and needs Advocate for workers needs and rights through organizational channels, labor unions, and worker committees Guide individual and organizational priorities based on industry trends, labor laws/contracts, and competitive practices Meet external quality and standards criteria set by worker committees, unions, and national and international organizations Use industry standards as a baseline for product development and quality Forecast trends by gathering related labor and industry information from a variety of sources Keep updated on new labor laws or changes in existing laws Identify and review competitors' materials on a regular basis Create alternative means of doing work that anticipate the effects of industry changes Equipped for the Future Worker Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 149 150
Equipped for the Future Appendix A Worker Role Map, continued BROAD AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: Plan and Manage Personal and Professional Growth Workers prepare themselves for the changing demands of the economy through personal renewal and growth KEY ACTIVITIES ROLE INDICATORS (How? How well? With what outcomes?) Balance and support work, career, and personal needs Implement a time management system that matches priorities of work, career, and family Reduce conflict both on the job and at home Schedule regular leisure time alone and with family, friends, and co-workers Pursue personal interests, talents, or activities to develop and maintain a positive mental attitude and physical health Adjust to unexpected problems and situations through rational plans Pursue work activities that provide personal satisfaction and meaning Take pride in all aspects of your job Participate in team activities and competitions Achieve employer recognition for a job well done Volunteer for work-related activities and charity functions Plan, renew, and pursue personal and career goals Identify and attain realistic career options and goals Identify own strengths and weakness in relation to career goals Obtain a degree, certificate, or license consistent with career goals Generate an updated, accurate, and complete job resume or portfolio Network to identify career opportunities Promote yourself and your skills during job interviews and career networking Obtain a job in your chosen field Plan for retirement Learn new skills Find and maintain a relationship with a mentor or coach Obtain financial assistance for training and education when necessary Identify and enroll in training opportunities at work or other institutions that match life and career goals Cross train to become multi-skilled Accept new job challenges Utilize personal skills and strengths in new ways to transition to other jobs or careers Equipped for the Future Worker Role Map NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY Revised - 3/29/99 151 152
Common Activities Used

To Carry Out EFF Adult Roles

COMMON ACTIVITY KEY ACTIVITIES

Gather, Analyze, and Use Information

Find and analyze information from diverse

sources. Use it to form opinions, make

decisions, and take action.

Monitor and gather information from a

variety of sources

Establish criteria for the quality and

appropriateness of the information

Assess the value of the information

Use the information to make informed

decisions

Family Citizen Worker

Support children's formal

education

Make and pursue plans for

self-improvement

Provide for safety and

physical needs

Manage family resources

Find, interpret, analyze,

and use diverse sources

of information, including

personal experience

Respect organizational

goals, performance, and

structure to guide work

activities

Guide individual and

organizational priorities

based on industry trends,

labor laws/contracts, and

competitive practices

Organize, plan, and prioritize

work

Manage Resources

Find, manage, share, and allocate time,

money, and material resources in a way

that supports your own needs, goals, and

priorities and those of your family, community,

and workplace.

Identify those resources you have and

those you need

Determine where they are and how they

can be obtained

Use the resources in an efficient and

effective manner

Balance resources effectively for family,

work, community, and self

Manage family resources

Provide for safety and

physical needs

Balance priorities to

meet multiple needs and

responsibilities

Identify, monitor, and

anticipate problems,

community needs, strengths,

and resources, for yourself

and others

153

Use technology, resources,

and other work tools to put

ideas and work directions

into action

Balance and support work,

career, and personal goals
Common Activities Used to Carry Out EFF Adult Roles, continued

COMMON ACTIVITY

Work Within the Big Picture

Look beyond the immediate situation.

Take into account the structures, culture,

practices, and formal and informal rules and

expectations of the systems that influence

and shape your actions.

Gather information about a system and how

it works

Determine your relationship to the system

and the roles you and others play within it

Monitor the system and predict changes

Base your efforts to influence the system on

your knowledge of how it works

Family

KEY ACTIVITIES

Citizen Worker

Support children's formal

education

Give and receive support

outside the immediate family

Create a vision for the family

and work to achieve it

Figure out how the system

that affects an issue works

Identify how to have an

impact and recognize that

individuals can make a

difference

Work within organizational

norms

Guide individual and

organizational priorities

based on industry trends,

labor laws/contracts, and

competitive practices

Balance individual role and

needs with those of the

organization

Respect organizational goa

performance, and structure

to guide work activities

Is,

Work Together

Cooperate with others to learn, accomplish

tasks, and pursue common goals.

Identify what needs to be done and plan

how to do it

Pay attention to the relationships within the

group as well as to completing the task

Identify and draw upon everyone's

strengths in carrying out the work of the

group

Recognize and deal with conflict in a

productive manner

Form and maintain supportive

family relationships

Provide opportunities for each

family member to experience

success

Encourage open

communication among the

generations

Give and receive support

outside the immediate family

Get involved in the

community and get others

involved

Respect others and work to

eliminate discrimination and

prejudice

Define common values,

visions, and goals

Manage and resolve conflict

Participate in group

processes and decision

making

Communicate with others

inside and outside the

organization

Give assistance, motivation

and direction

Seek and receive assistanc

support, motivation, and

direction

Value people different than

yourself

e,

Provide Leadership

Inspire and direct others in shaping and

achieving a common goal.

Institute and manage plans for action and

change, based on an understanding of the

big picture

Organize and motivate others to act

Guide sound problem solving and decision

making

Assure consistent monitoring and

evaluation of performance

Create a vision for the family

and work to achieve it

Direct and discipline children

154

Provide leadership within

the community

Get involved in the

community and get others

involved

Take responsibility for

assuring work quality, safety,

and results

Give assistance, motivation,

and direction

Organize plan and rioritize

the work

p
Equipped for the Future

Appendix A

Common Activities Used to Carry Out EFF Adult Roles, continued

COMMON ACTIVITY KEY ACTIVITIES

Guide and Support Others

Help others succeed by setting an example,

providing opportunities for learning, or giving

other kinds of assistance.

Acknowledge and reward others' strengths

and accomplishments

Contribute to creating supportive, learning

environments and experiences

Empower others through mentoring,

coaching, and being a role model

Seek Guidance and Support

From Others

Help yourself succeed by asking for

information, advice, and assistance.

Recognize when you need help and know

where to go for it

Seek out relationships with people whose

judgment is trusted

Create and make use of networks of

personal and professional contacts

Be responsive to new ideas and accept and

use constructive criticism and feedback

Family Citizen Worker

Guide and mentor other

family members

Foster informal education of

children

Support children's formal

education

Give and receive support

outside the immediate family

Help yourself and others

Educate others

Learn from others'

experiences and ideas

Help yourself and others

Give assistance, motivation,

and direction

Seek and receive assistance,

support, motivation, and

direction

Communicate with others

inside and outside the

organization

Develop and Express Sense of Self

Create your own personal voice. Use your

understanding of self to guide your actions.

Examine and clarify your own values and

beliefs, recognizing the role your cultural

heritage and personal history play in

shaping these and in determining the

possibilities of expression

Maintain standards of integrity

Consider the constraints of the situation as

well as your own strengths and weaknesses

when choosing a course of action

Pursue outlets for interests and talents to

maintain emotional and physical health

Make and pursue plans for

self-improvement

Promote values, ethics, and

cultural heritage within the

family

Reflect on and reevaluate

your own opinions and ideas

Communicate so that others

understand

Strengthen and express

sense of self that reflects

personal history, values,

beliefs, and roles in the

larger community

155

Pursue work activities that

provide personal satisfaction

and meaning

Balance and support work,

career, and personal needs

Balance individual role and

needs with those of the

organization
Equipped for the Future

Appendix A

Common Activities Used to Carry Out EFF Adult Roles, continued

COMMON ACTIVITY KEY ACTIVITIES

Respect Others and Value Diversity

Respect and appreciate the values, beliefs,

cultures, and history of others. Use this

understanding to counteract prejudice and

stereotypes.

Create an environment where others feel

welcome, are included, and thrive

Encourage and carefully consider a wide

range of opinion and beliefs

Educate yourself about other cultures

Challenge the beliefs that a person's

inherent capacity is limited by

background or group membership

Family Citizen Worker

Promote values, ethics, and

cultural heritage within the

family

Encourage open

communication among

generations

Form and maintain supportive

family relationships

Respect others and work to

eliminate discrimination and

prejudice

Learn from others'

experiences and ideas

Value people different than

yourself

Communicate with others

inside and outside the

organization

Exercise Rights and Responsibilities

Act and advocate on behalf of yourself

and others, taking into account laws, social

standards, and cultural traditions.

Recognize and assume your share of family,

civic, and work responsibilities

Monitor and keep up to date on federal,

state, and local laws and regulations

Make sure your own behavior is just and

responsible

Take personal responsibility to bring about

change or resolve problems to achieve a

common good

Support children's formal

education

Provide for safety and

physical needs

Recognize and understand

human, legal, and civic rights

and responsibilities, for

yourself and others

Influence decision makers

and hold them accountable

Guide individual and

organizational priorities

based on industry trends,

labor laws/contracts, and

competitive practices

Balance individual role

and needs with those of the

organization

Take responsibility for

assuring work quality,

safety, and results

Create and Pursue Vision and Goals

Dare to Dream. Be clear about where you

want to go and how to get there.

Articulate a vision that embodies your

values and goals or those of your family,

community, or work group

Establish attainable goals that are

compatible with that vision

Develop a realistic plan to move toward

the vision and goals

Create alternative means of meeting your

goals that anticipate the effects of change

Create a vision for the family

and work to achieve it

156

Identify how to have an

impact and recognize that

individuals can make a

difference

Define common values,

visions, and goals

Plan, renew, and pursue

personal and career goals

Pursue work activities that

provide personal satisfaction

and meaning
Common Activities Used to Carry Out EFF Adult Roles, continued

COMMON ACTIVITY KEY ACTIVITIES

Use Technology and Other Tools

To Accomplish Goals

Be familiar with a variety of tools and

technologies that can make it easier to

achieve your goals.

Keep up-to-date on developments in tools

and technologies that may be useful for

communicating, managing information,

solving problems, and carrying out daily

tasks

Determine which tools are most useful

for the purpose and context at hand

Use complex tools, machines, and

equipment to solve problems

Family Citizen Worker

Create a vision for the family

and work to achieve it

Make and pursue plans for

self-improvement

Foster informal education of

children

Manage family resources

Identify, monitor, and

anticipate problems,

community needs, strengths,

and resources, for yourself

and others

Find, interpret, analyze,

and use diverse sources of

information, including

personal experience

Figure out how the system

that affects an issue works

Help yourself and others

Use technology, resources,

and other work tools to put

ideas and work directions

into action

Respond to and meet new

work challenges

Take responsibility for

assuring work quality, safety,

and results

Organize, plan, and prioritize

work

Communicate with others

inside and outside the

organization

Learn new skills

Keep Pace With Change

Anticipate, manage, and adapt to change in

conditions and systems that affect your life.

Adjust your goals and plans over time to

take into account actual or prospective

changes

Keep abreast of and evaluate trends in your

industry and community, as well as the

nation and world

Determine what skills and knowledge are

needed to meet emerging needs or new

situations

Create opportunities to expand your

own skills and knowledge, as well as those

of your family, community, or work group

Make and pursue plans for

self-improvement

Support children's formal

education

Provide for safety and

physical needs

157

Identify, monitor, and

anticipate problems,

community needs, strengths,

and resources, for yourself

and others

Respond to and meet new

work challenges

Learn new skills

Guide individual and

organizational priorities

based on industry trends,

labor laws/contracts, and

competitive practices
-

A EFF Content Standards

Adults need to be able to apply the following skills in carrying out their roles as citizens, family members, and workers:

EFF Communication Skills

Read With Understanding

Determine the reading purpose.

Select reading strategies appropriate

to the purpose.

Monitor comprehension and adjust

reading strategies.

Analyze the information and reflect on its

underlying meaning.

Integrate it with prior knowledge to address

reading purpose.

Convey Ideas In Writing

Determine the purpose for communicating.

Organize and present information to serve the

purpose, context, and audience.

Pay attention to conventions of English

language usage, including grammar, spelling,

and sentence structure, to minimize barriers

to reader's comprehension.

Seek feedback and revise to enhance the

effectiveness of the communication.

Speak So Others Can Understand

Determine the purpose for communicating.

Organize and relay information to effectively

serve the purpose, context, and listener.

Pay attention to conventions of oral English

communication, including grammar, word

choice, register, pace, and gesture

in order to minimize barriers to listener's

comprehension.

Use multiple strategies to monitor the

effectiveness of the communication.

Listen Actively

Attend to oral information.

Clarify purpose for listening and use listening

strategies appropriate to that purpose.

Monitor comprehension, adjusting

listening strategies to overcome barriers

to comprehension.

Integrate information from listening with prior

knowledge to address listening purpose.

Observe Critically

Attend to visual sources of information,

including television and other media.

Determine the purpose for observation and

use strategies appropriate to the purpose.

Monitor comprehension and adjust strategies.

Analyze the accuracy, bias, and usefulness

of the information.

Integrate it with prior knowledge to address

viewing purpose.

EFF Decision-Making Skills

Use Math To Solve Problems

And Communicate

Understand, interpret, and work with pictures,

numbers, and symbolic information.

Apply knowledge of mathematical concepts

and procedures to figure out how to answer a

question, solve a problem, make a prediction,

or carry out a task that has a mathematical

dimension.

Define and select data to be used in solving

the problem.

Determine the degree of precision required

by the situation.

Solve problem using appropriate quantitative

procedures and verify that the results are

reasonable.

Communicate results using a variety of

mathematical representations, including

graphs, charts, tables, and algebraic models.

Solve Problems and Make Decisions

Anticipate or identify problems.

Use information from diverse sources

to arrive at a clearer understanding of the

problem and its root causes.

Generate alternative solutions.

Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of

alternatives, including potential risks and

benefits and short- and long-term

consequences.

Select alternative that is most appropriate to

goal, context, and available resources.

Establish criteria for evaluating effectiveness

of solution or decision.

15.8

Plan

Set and prioritize goals.

Develop an organized approach of activities

and objectives.

Actively carry out the plan.

Monitor the plan's progress while considering

any need to adjust the plan.

Evaluate its effectiveness in achieving

the goals.
EFF Interpersonal Skills

Cooperate With Others

Interact with others in ways that are friendly,

courteous, and tactful and that demonstrate

respect for others' ideas, opinions, and

contributions.

Seek input from others in order to understand

their actions and reactions.

Offer clear input on own interests and

attitudes so others can understand one's

actions and reactions.

Try to adjust one's actions to take into

account the needs of others and/or

the task to be accomplished.

Advocate and Influence

Define what one is trying to achieve.

Assess interests, resources, and the potential

for success.

Gather facts and supporting information to

build a case that takes into account the

interests and attitudes of others.

Present a clear case, using a strategy that

takes into account purpose and audience.

Revise, as necessary, in response to

feedback.

Resolve Conflict and Negotiate

Acknowledge that there is a conflict.

Identify areas of agreement and

disagreement.

Generate options for resolving conflict that

have a "win/win" potential.

Engage parties in trying to reach agreement

on a course of action that can satisfy the

needs and interests of all.

Evaluate results of efforts and revise

approach as necessary.

Guide Others

Assess the needs of others and one's own

ability to assist.

Use strategies for providing guidance that

take into account the goals, task, context,

and learning styles of others.

Arrange opportunities for learning that build

on learner's strengths.

Seek feedback on the usefulness and

results of the assistance.

EFF Lifelong Learning Skills

Take Responsibility for Learning

Establish learning goals that are based on

an understanding of one's own current and

future learning needs.

Identify own strengths and weaknesses as a

learner and seek out opportunities for learning

that help build self-concept as a learner.

Become familiar with a range of learning

strategies to acquire or retain knowledge.

Identify and use strategies appropriate to

goals, task, context, and the resources

available for learning.

Monitor progress toward goals and modify

strategies or other features of the learning

situation as necessary to achieve goals.

Test out new learning in real-life applications.

Reflect and Evaluate

Take stock of where one is: assess what

one knows already and the relevance of that

knowledge.

Make inferences, predictions, or judgments

based on one's reflections.

Learn Through Research

Pose a question to be answered or make

a prediction about objects or events.

Use multiple lines of inquiry to collect

information.

Organize, evaluate, analyze, and interpret

findings.

159

Use Information and

Communications Technology

Use computers and other electronic tools to

acquire, process, and manage information.

Use electronic tools to learn and practice

skills.

Use the Internet to explore topics, gather

information, and communicate.
Equipped for the Future

Appendix B

EFF Field Review of Standards

Excerpts From

1997-98 Documentation Templates

Planning

What are the student needs or goals that you hope to address and how

did you identify them?

How does the learning activity you are planning connect these needs to

the EFF Framework? Specify the Framework component you are using.

Describe the plan for the learning activity.

Evaluation

Look back at your original plan for this activity. Describe what actually

happened and how learners responded and participated.

How did your plan change over the period of the activity? What caused

the change?

160.

Now let's turn to what evidence you have for what students learned

through this activity:

For each Standard that was central to this activity, describe as

specifically as you can what evidence you saw/heard/collected that

students could use this skill:

If you have named a product as part of your evidence, please

describe what about the product shows evidence of effective

skill use:

Please identify any performance indicators (existing or created by

you) that were especially helpful to you in clarifying what counts

as evidence:

Reflection

Did anything that happened this week surprise you?

How are you feeling about your EFF work?
EFF Field Review of Standards

Excerpts From

1998-99 Documentation Templates

Planning

1.Which Standard are you documenting in this report?

2.What are the other Standards that may be used in the learning

experience?

3.Which Common Activity provides the context for working on this

Standard?

4. As you prepare for this learning experience, look at the components

of skill performance for this Standard. Each component of skill

performance describes a critical point in the successful application

of the skill. Think about how the components will inform what you

plan to do. Knowing that sometimes you will work with one or two

components, and at other times all, indicate the ones you will work

with in this activity:

5. For each component of skill performance named above, describe

what you know about the level of performance of your students. Use

a separate paragraph to report on each component. In this section, we

would like you to describe what your students can do or not do,

before you begin instruction, in relation to the components of skill

performance you are working with. Keep in mind the dimensions of

performance: building knowledge base, increasing range, increasing

flexibility/automaticity, and increasing independence.

6. If you think of the components of skill performance as describing a

picture of competence, what are the steps you will look for in order to

know if your students are making progress toward competence?

Please do not describe what you will do, but what changes or progress

you will look for in your student.

161

Evaluation

1. Describe what took place during the learning experience. If you are

describing a project-based activity or a series of lessons taking place

over weeks, please write journal-style entries on a weekly basis. If

multiple entries, precede each entry with the date of that entry.

2. How was learner performance different from or similar to what you

anticipated in planning for the activity?

3. What evidence of student progress did you see and how did you

document it? Please send in any blank forms or tools you used/created

to collect evidence. Please also attach examples of completed forms or

other artifacts of student work that illustrate the performance you

describe.

Reflection

1. How did the process of defining evidence and collecting this

evidence work for you? How did it require new or different methods

of thinking and observation from you and your learner(s)?

2. Did using the components of skill performance in planning and

assessing learning change the process of planning, teaching, and

evaluation? How?

3. If you used a standardized assessment instrument, did it cover the full

range of the components of skill performance you were working with?

If not, where were the gaps? What would need to be changed or added

to make this assessment instrument more useful?

4. What types of materials, staff development, and other resources

would help you more effectively use the EFF Standards in assessing

student progress and documenting real-life outcomes?

5. What are your general reflections on what you've been doing with

EFF for this unit of study?
A - EFF Development Partners

National Policy Group

Joan Auchter

Director, GED Testing Service

American Council on Education

Paul F. Cole

Secretary-Treasurer, New York

State AFL-CIO and Member,

National Skill Standards Board

John Comings

Director, National Center for

the Study of Adult Learning

and Literacy

Harvard University

Irwin Kirsch

Principal Research Scientist and

Executive Director, Language

Learning and Assessment Group

Educational Testing Service

Noreen Lopez

Director, Literacy Link

Public Broadcasting System

Katherine Mance

Vice President, Research,

Education, and Community

Affairs

National Retail Federation

Patricia McNeil

Assistant Secretary, Office of

Vocational and Adult Education

U.S. Department of Education

Israel Mendoza

Director, Office of Adult Literacy

Washington State Board of

Community and Technical

Colleges

Fran Tracy Mumford

State Supervisor, Adult and

Community Education

Delaware Department of Public

Instruction

Ken Nelson

Executive Director, National

Education Goals Panel

Charles Quigley

Executive Director, Center for

Civic Education

Benita Somerfield

Executive Director, Barbara Bush

Foundation for Family Literacy

Pam Tate

President, Council for Adult and

Experiential Learning

Edie West

Executive Director, National Skills

Standards Board

Citizen/Community Member Advisory Group

Aliza Becker

Assistant Professor, Rutgers

University

Robert Bickerton

Director, Adult and Community

Learning Services

Massachusetts Department

of Education

Alejandra Domenzian

(Former) Program Staff,

National Council of LaRaza

Rebecca Fennell

(Former) Director, League of

Women Voters Education Fund

Susan Hackney

Director, Adult Literacy, Valley

Technical Institute

COABE Representative

Judy Hofer

Research Coordinator,

World Education

Richard Lynch

Director, Standing Committee

on Law and Literacy

American Bar Association

Colby May

Senior Counsel, American Center

for Law and Justice

Lennox McLendon

State Director of Adult Education,

Virginia Department of

Education

162

Mark Molli

Director, Government Relations

Center for Civic Education

Arnold Packer

Chair, SCANS 2000 Center

Institute for Policy Studies

Johns Hopkins University

Pat Rigg

Consultant, American Language

and Literacy

June Rostan

Director, Southern

Empowerment Project

Pavlos Roussos

Senior Director, Division of Adult

and Community Education

Texas Education Agency

Edward Schwartz

President/Director, Institute for

the Study of Civic Values

David Smith

Senior Associate, Annenberg

Institute for School Reform

Regie Stites

Education Researcher,

SRI International

Oliver Thomas

Special Counsel, National

Council of Churches

John Zickefoose

Family Literacy Coordinator,

Read Now

Corona Public Library
Parent/Family Member Advisory Group

Beverly Bing

(Former) Director, Jefferson

County Public Schools

Annette Bridges

Even Start State Director/Family

Literacy Consultant, Kentucky

State Department of Education

Mary Ann Corley

(Former) Director, National

Adult Literacy & Learning

Disabilities Center

Mark Emblidge

Executive Director, Virginia

Literacy Foundation

Vivian Gadsden

Director, National Center on

Fathers & Families

University of Pennsylvania

Wilma Harry

Director, Even Start Family

Literacy Program

Indianapolis Public Schools

Townley Hritz

Grassroots Coordinator,

National Head Start Association

Nikol Irwin

Student Representative,

Louisville Schools Family

Literacy Project

Mary Lindquist

Past President, National Council

of Teachers of Mathematics

Barbara Qualls

Vice President, National Center

for Family Literacy

Cheryl Stobel

Education Specialist, Virginia

Department of Education

Carol Thigpen

Executive Director,

Nashville READ

Yasima Vinci

Executive Director, National

Association of Child Care

Resources and Referral

Agencies

Gail Weinstein

Associate Professor of English,

San Francisco State University

Worker Role Advisory Group

John Comings Inaam Mansoor Betsy Brown Ruzzi Pat Stone

Director, National Center for Program Director, Arlington Director, Development and Executive Director, National

the Study of Adult Learning Education and Employment National Affairs Employer Leadership Council

and Literacy Program National Center on Education

Harvard University and the Economy Joan Wills

Mary Moorhouse Director, Center for Workforce

Phyllis Eisen Manager, Skill Standards Robert Sherman Development

Director, Manufacturing Institute Evaluation, Center for Applied Special Projects Director, Institute for Educational

National Association of Linguistics, Inc. National Institute for Leadership

Manufacturers Metalworking Skills

Bruce Paige Sherry Yellin

Kristin Fiske Supervisor, North Caroline Field Sandy Smith Workforce Educator &

Technical Investigator, Office Analysis Center Project Director, Evaluation of Consultant, Texas Instruments

of Policy and Research Employment Security National Skill Standards

U.S. Department of Labor Commission Aguirre International

Kathryn Jo Mannes

Education Coordinator,

National Retail Federation

Technical Advisors

Sri Ananda

Co-Director,

Assessment and

Standards Development

Services

WestEd

San Francisco, CA

Louise Bertsche

President, Performance

Consulting Inc.

Bethesda, MD

Michelle Dela Rosa

Senior Scientist, Human

Resources Research

Organization (HumRRO)

Alexandria, VA

63

Joan Knapp

Chief Executive Officer,

Knapp and Associates

International, Inc.

Princeton, NJ

Joan Wills

Director, Center for

Workforce Development

Institute for Educational

Leadership, Inc.
Equipped for the Future

Appendix C

0)

rem0)

1-

0

I-0

4

4

I-2

0.

0

0.1 0

0

cc

4

0

4

Equipped for the Future Development Team (1996-1999)

Sondra Stein

National Project Director

Brenda Bell

Coordinator, EFF

Field Research and

Development

Lisa Levinson

Coordinator, EFF Training,

Technical Assistance, and

Materials Development

Kevin Brady

Materials Coordinator

and Online Discussion

Moderator

Rose Brandt

Regional Coordinator

Mary Ellen Cox

Research Assistant

Donal Crosse

Field Support

Donna Curry

Curriculum and Training

Specialist

Judy Franks

Regional Training

Specialist

Aaron Kohring

Research Assistant

Peggy McGuire

Assessment Coordinator

Andy Nash Ronna Spacone

Training Coordinator Field Support and EFF

Online Discussion

Michele Perry Moderator

Research and Training

Specialist Jean Stephens

Regional Coordinator

Meta Potts

Curriculum and Training Sarah Wells

Specialist Summer Intern

Mary Siedow

Regional Coordinator

Ellen Wernick

Editor and

Communications

Coordinator

Field Development Partners

ARIZONA

Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S.

Department of the Interior

Lana Shaughnessy

Education Program Specialist

State Literacy Resource Center

Maureen Ambrose Gibleski

(former) Director

Family and Child Education

Center, Blackwater Community

School

S. Jo Lewis, Principal

Jacquelyn Power, FACE

Program Administrator

Michelle Calabaza

Barbara Hauke, Chilchitah/

Jones Ranch, New Mexico

Gwendolyn Paul

Andrea Perkins

Edward Dean Thomas

Family and Child Education

Center, Little Singer Community

School

Etta Shirley, Coordinator

CALIFORNIA

California Department of

Education

Joan Polster

State Director of Adult Education

California State Library

Carol Talan

Family Literacy Specialist

Mt. Diablo Adult Education

Jacques La Cour, Coordinator,

ESL and Citizenship Programs

Margaret Scott

Cindy Sloneker

Janet Weil

READ San Diego

Chris McFadden, Literacy

Program Administrator

Tracy Block

Cindy Donaldson

Valerie Hardie

Laura Hildick

Aglae Saint-Lot

Carolyn Totten

Charlotte Yesselman

Project Read San Mateo County

Caroline Beverstock, Literacy

Program Coordinator

Donna Schleif ler

Project Read North

San Mateo County

Holly Fulghum-Nutters, Director

Leslie Shelton, (former) Director

Amy Prevedel

Becky Raymond

164

The Reading Program

Santa Clara County

Taylor Willingham, Director

Melanie Daniels

Diane Gordon

Julie Jacobs

Ellen Loebl

Marlene Martin

Karen Masada

Kathy St. John

Mimi Stillger

Metka Valh-Crnko

Mara Wold

Sweetwater Union Adult

Resource Center

Adriana Sanchez-Aldana,

Program Coordinator

Eileen Peca

Toni Stahlman

Judy Wurtz

MAINE

Maine Department of Education

Robert Crotzer, Adult Basic

Education Specialist

Center for Adult Learning and

Literacy, University of Maine

Donna Curry, Staff Development

Specialist

Atkinson Adult & Community

Education

Shirley Wright, Program Director

Jennifer Ladd

Phyllis Moore

Caribou Adult Education

Al Menard, Director

Gloria Berube

Roger Dyer

Jim Morgan

Massabesic Adult & Community

Education

Barbara Goodwin, Director

Mary Angelini

Ann Neill

Katherine Richardson

Sumner Adult Education

Ann Sargent Slayton, Adult

Learning Center Coordinator

Marty Duncan

Emily Nash

Allison Pinkham

Michelle Thibaudeau-Johnson

Windham Adult Education

Eleanor Lockwood, Director

Ann Marie Barter

Janice Gove

Alicia Stone
Equipped for the Future

Appendix C

Field Development Partners, continued

MASSACHUSETTS

New England Literacy Resource

Center, World Education

PENNSYLVANIA

Pennsylvania Department of

Education

Knox County Adult Literacy

Jane Knight, Adult Literacy

Coordinator

VIRGINIA

Virginia Department of Education

Lennox McLendon, State 0) Silja Kallenbach, Director Cheryl Keenan, State Director

of Adult Education

Jim Ford

Emily Littleton

Director of Education

ti NEW HAMPSHIRE Beth McConnell Arlington Education and

a) New Hampshire Department Center for Literacy Debbie Perrone Employment Program

0) of Education Judi Taylor, Director of Renee Thompson lnaam Mansoor, Program

Art Ellison, State Director of Education Services Director

Adult Education Mark Edmonds TEXAS Ken Anderson

Jane McGovern Texas Education Agency Delores Bucknam

Dover Adult Learning Center Ruth Sugar Pavlos Roussos, State Director Sarah Fearnow 0 Deborah Tasker, Director of Adult Education Angelita Felix

I

Deborah Liskow

Donna McAdam

Mayor's Commission on Literacy,

Philadelphia Harris County Department

Katherine Lucas

Patricia McAleavy

Denise Reddington Rose Brandt, Director of Education Carla McTigue

Kevin Brady Arnie Hinojosa, Director Donna Moss

NORTH CAROLINA Joanie Griffin, Education Megan Ogilvie

North Carolina Community Northampton Community College Coordinator Kathleen Reich

College System Manuel Gonzalez, Associate William Dixon Stan Rothouse

Randy Whitfield, State Director Dean Marilyn Goeters Robert Taylor

of Adult Education Anne Rae Connors Maggie Moreno Lynda Terrill

Nancy Hall Jennifer Westberg

North Carolina Literacy Resource Judy Sullivan Ten County ACE Co-op

Center; NCCCS Amy Normand, Program New River Community College

I- Mary Dunn Siedow, Director RHODE ISLAND Coordinator Amy Trawick, Assistant

Rhode Island Department of Kris McLain Coordinator, Office of Adult

Wilkes Community College Education Norbert Vazquez Education

Diane Harper, Director Robert Mason, State Director Lee Williams Sue Barton 2 Judith Ayers of Adult Education Kathy Calvert 0. Glenda Shumate VERMONT Virginia Leadbetter-Bolte 0 Deborah Woodard Dorcas Place Parent Literacy Vermont Department of

Center Education The READ Center

OHIO Tom Gannon-Rowley Sandra Robinson, State Director Barbara Gibson, (former)

Ohio Department of Education Rebecca Garland of Adult Education Executive Director

Jim Bowling, State Director of Michelle Montoya Marilyn Leahy

a Education Vermont Adult Learning Kathryn Marc

TENNESSEE Mary Paul Hankinson, Executive Mary Penzer

a

Ohio Literacy Resource Center,

Kent State University

Tennessee Department of

Education

Director

Carolyn Bronz

Marcia Phillips

cc Jean Stephens, Director Phil White, State Director of Jim Carabell

Judy Franks Adult Education Johannah Donovan

Lou Dorwaldt

Canton City Schools,

Canton ABLE

Center for Literacy Studies,

The University of Tennessee

Sally Gullion

Jane Meyer, ABLE Coordinator Brenda Bell, Associate Director I Vicky Andrews N Martha Hyland

Michelle Miller

Debbie Stowers

165
Equipped for the Future

Appendix C

Expert Review Panel

0)

0)

Sri Ananda

Assessment and Standards

Linda Church

Research and Development

Irwin Kirsch

Language, Learning and

Frank Philip

Council of Chief State School

Development Services Laubach Literacy Assessment Group Officers

West ED Syracuse, NY Educational Testing Service Washington, DC

San Francisco, CA Princeton, NJ

Larry Condelli Agnes Precure

0) Janet Baldwin Pelavin Research Center Carole Lacampagne Human Resources Partnerships

Education Statistics Service American Institutes for Research Institute of Post Secondary Office of Community College

Institute Washington, DC Education Services

American Institutes OERI Salem Oregon

for Research Jodi Crandall U.S. Department of Education

0 Kaye Beall

Program in Language, Literacy,

and Culture

Washington, DC Cynthia Prince

National Education

Program Development Department of Education Esther Leonelli Goals Panel I- Literacy Volunteers of University of Maryland, Baltimore Community Learning Center Washington, DC

America, Inc. County Cambridge, MA 0 Syracuse, NY Baltimore, MD Patricia Rickard

Tom Macdonald CASAS

Beth Bingman Donna Dye SABES/World Education San Diego, CA

National Center for the Study of Office of Policy and Research Boston, MA

Adult Learning and Literacy Employment and Training Dan Rothstein

0 at Center for Literacy Studies Administration Steve Mandes The Right Questions

The University of U.S. Department of Labor National Institute for Metal Project, Inc.

Tennessee/Knoxville Working Skills Somerville, MA

Knoxville, TN Evelyn Ganzglass Fairfax, VA

I

z Marilyn Binkley

Employment, Social Services,

Policy Studies Lennox McLendon

Betsy Brown Ruzzi

National Center on Education

National Center for Education National Governors Association Adult Education & Employment and the Economy

2

Statistics

U.S. Department of Education Marilyn Gillespie-Martinez

Training

Virginia Department

Washington, DC

John Sabatini

0. Washington, DC ESL Consultant of Education National Center for 0 Tampa, FL Richmond, VA Adult Literacy

-J Maria Broderick University of Pennsylvania

LLI National Center for the Study of James Hogan Larry Mikulecky Philadelphia, PA

Adult Learning and Literacy National Skill Standards Board School of Education

LLI Harvard University Washington, DC Indiana University Laura Salganick

0 Cambridge, MA Bloomington, IN Education Statistics

Brian Kanes Services Institute

Ken Chapman Washington State Board for John Olson American Institutes

0 Education Division Community Colleges Council of Chief State School for Research

CC American Chemical Society Olympia, WA Officers Washington, DC

Washington, DC Washington, DC

Cheryl Keenan Gerhard Salinger

z

Bureau of Adult Basic and

Literacy Education

National Science

Foundation

tci)

Pennsylvania Department of

Education

Harrisburg, PA

Arlington, VA

166
C)

C)

Ch

i

Ch

C)

z

0

I-0

0

z

I

z

2

ct.

0

0

0

cc0

I

Expert Review Panel, continued

Terry Salinger

American Institutes

for Research

Washington, DC

Mary Jane Schmitt

TERC

Cambridge, MA

Ramsey Seldon

Education Statistics

Services Institute

American Institutes

for Research

Washington, DC

Robert Sherman

National Institute

for Metal Working Skills

Fairfax, VA

Catherine Smith

Michigan Department

of Education

Lansing, MI

Regie Stites

SRI International

Menlo Park, CA

Thomas Valentine

Adult Education

University of Georgia

Athens, GA

Carol Van Duzer

National Center for Literacy

Education (NCLE)

Center for Applied Linguistics

Washington, DC

Gail Weinstein

English Department

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

Sallie Wilson

California Department

of Education

Sacramento, CA

Akeel Zaheer

National Center for

Family Literacy

Louisville, KY

C)

C)

C)

C)

0

I41(

0

0

z

i

z

2

0

0

cr

0

2

ct

cc

LL

I I I Citizen/Community Member

Role Map Validation, 1996-1997

Lead Agencies: Structured feedback

Center for Literacy Studies sessions were held in

The University of the following states:

Tennessee/Knoxville California

Knoxville, TN Connecticut

Kentucky

New England Literacy Massachusetts

Resource Center New Hampshire

World Education, Boston, MA New Mexico

North Carolina

Mayor's Commission on Pennsylvania

Literacy Rhode Island

Philadelphia, PA Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

Classroom inquiry projects were also conducted

in the following programs:

California

Mt. Diablo Adult School, Berkeley Adult School, Santa Clara

County Library Reading Program, Corona Library Reading

Program

Kentucky

Northern Kentucky Adult Reading Program

Massachusetts

The Literacy Project, Cambridge Community Learning Center

New Hampshire

Dover Adult Learning Center

Pennsylvania

Lutheran Settlement House, Center for Literacy, Community

Occupational Readiness and Placement Program, Northampton

Community College, 18th Street Development Corporation,

Germantown Women's Educational Project and Private Industry

Council of West/Fay

Rhode Island

Dorcas Place and The Genesis Center

Tennessee

Bedford County Adult High School, Putnam County

Adult High School

Texas

Harris County Adult Education, Ten County Cooperative

Adult Education

Virginia

Arlington Education and Employment Program, New River

Community College, and St. Charles Community Center.
ti

cr)

0

IO

I-W

2

a.

0

a

cc

0

5

LL

cc

Parent/Family Member Role Map Validation, 1996-1997

Lead Agency:

National Center for Family Literacy

Louisville, Kentucky

Structured feedback sessions were held in the following states:

Arizona

The State Literacy Resource Center, convening agency

Louisiana

Bossier Parish Community College, convening agency

Tennessee

Nashville Reads, convening agency

Texas

Houston Community College System, convening agency

Virginia

Department of Education, convening agency

Wisconsin

Department of Education, convening agency

Worker Role Map Validation, 1996-1997

Lead Agency:

Center for Adult Learning and Literacy

University of Maine

Orono, ME

State and National Partners:

North Carolina

North Carolina Literacy Resource Center

North Carolina Community College System

Raleigh, NC

Governor's Commission on Workforce Preparedness

Raleigh, NC

Ohio

Ohio Literacy Resource Center

Kent State University

Kent, Ohio

Vermont

Vermont Adult Learning

East Montpelier, VT 05651

Virginia

Workforce Improvement Network

James Madison University

Harrisonburg, VA

Adult Numeracy Practitioners Network

1684

Structured feedback sessions were held in

the following states:

Maine

Massachusetts

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Vermont

Virginia

Validation of Purposes and Roles, 1995-96

During 1995-96, these organizations convened focus groups,

conducted structured feedback sessions, and supported practitioner

inquiry projects in 16 states focused on whether the four purposes and

three roles provided a useful framework for adult literacy system

reform.

Adult Numeracy Practitioners Network

Center for Adult Literacy and Learning, University of Maine

Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee

Minneapolis Public Schools

National Center for Family Literacy

New England Literacy Resource Center

North Carolina Literacy Resource Center

Philadelphia Mayor's Commission on Literacy

CWELL Project, San Diego Community College District.
Equipped for the Future

Appendix 'D

Equipped for the Future Team, 1999-2000

Sondra Stein

National Director

EFF CENTER FOR RESEARCH

AND EVALUATION

Brenda Bell, Research Coordinator

Beth Bingman, Evaluation Coordinator

Mary Ellen Cox, Research Assistant

Aaron Kohring, Research Assistant

Peggy McGuire, Assessment Coordinator

EFF CENTER FOR TRAINING,

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE,

AND MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT

Lisa Levinson, Director

Faye Olsen, Assistant Director

Training Team

Andy Nash, Training Coordinator

Rose Brandt, Regional Training Coordinator

Donna Curry, Curriculum and Training Specialist

Judy Franks, Regional Training Specialist

Michele Perry, Research and Training Specialist

Meta Potts, Curriculum and Training Specialist

Mary Siedow, Regional Training Coordinator

Technology Committee

Wil Hawk, LINCS

Mary Siedow, NCLRC

Ronna Spacone, EFF Online Discussion

Moderator

Jean Stephens, Consultant

For More Information on EFF

To order more copies of this guide or other EFF publications contact:

EDPUBS Clearinghouse at 877-433-7827

To find out about EFF training and technical assistance opportunities contact:

Andy Nash at 617-482-9485 or andy_nash@jsi.com

For more information on EFF:

See our website on LINCS at http://www.nifl.gov/EFF

Subscribe to NIFL-4EFF, our online discussion, by sending the following message:

TO: listproc@literacy.nifl.gov

MESSAGE: Subscribe NIFL-4EFF your first name your last name

169,

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

CONTRACTOR

Joan Wills

Center for Workforce Development

Institute for Educational Leadership
The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) is an independent federal organization that is

leading the national effort toward a fully literate America. By fostering communication,

collaboration, and innovation, NIFL helps build and strengthen national, regional,

and state literacy systems that can better serve adults in the 21st century.

National Institute for Literacy Interagency Group

Secretary of Education, Richard W. Riley

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna E. Shalala

Secretary of Labor, Alexis Herman

National Institute for Literacy Advisory Board

Jon Deveaux, Executive Director, Literacy Partners, Inc.

Mark Emblidge, Executive Director, Virginia Literacy Foundation

Toni Fay, Vice President, Corporate Community Relations, Time Warner

Mary Greene, KERA Public Television, TV Productions

Reynaldo Macias, Professor & Chair, Cesar E. Chavez Instructional Center

for Interdisciplinary Chicana/o Studies

Marciene Mattleman, Executive Director, Philadelphia Reads

Anthony Sarmiento, Director, Worker Centered Learning, Working for America Institute

Senator Paul Simon, Director, Public Policy Institute

Lynne Waihee, Chair, Read to Me International

National Institute for Literacy Staff

Executive Office

Andy Hartman, Director

Carolyn Y. Staley, Deputy Director

Shelly W. Coles, Executive Assistant

Program Office

Sandra Baxter, Program Director, National Reading Excellence Initiative

Jaleh Behroozi, Program Director, LINCS

Jennifer Cromley, Fellowships Officer

Christy Gullion, Policy Analyst

Susan Green, Program Officer

Wil Hawk, Program Analyst, LINCS

Sara Pendleton, Staff Assistant, Programs

Lynn Reddy, Communications Director

Sondra Stein, Senior Research Associate and Director, Equipped for the Future

Administrative Office

Sharyn Abbott, Executive Officer

Darlene McDonald, Contracts & Grants Assistant

Suzanne Randazzo, Management Operations Specialist

MINA

National institute for Literacy

National Institute for Literacy

1775 I Street NW, Suite 730

Washington, DC 20006-2401

Tel 202-233-2025

Fax 202-233-2050

Web www.nifl.gov
xa

Iowa

National Institute for Literacy

1775 I Street, NW, Suite 730, Washington, DC 20006-2401

Tel 202/233-2025 Fax 202/233-2050

Web www.nifl.gov
U.S. Department of Education

Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI)

National Library of Education (NLE)

Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

NOTICE

REPRODUCTION BASIS

RIC

This document is covered by a signed "Reproduction Release

(Blanket) form (on file within the ERIC system), encompassing all

or classes of documents from its source organization and, therefore,

does not require a "Specific Document" Release form.

This document is Federally-funded, or carries its own permission to

reproduce, or is otherwise in the public domain and, therefore, may

be reproduced by ERIC without a signed Reproduction Release form

(either "Specific Document" or "Blanket").

EFF-089 (9/97)