| FY2002 Adult EdGrants Ready |
OVAE is readying 59 adult education state grants for distribution July 1, 2002. Grants include funds reserved by Congress for integrated English literacy and civics education services for limited English speakers. The money will be obligated during the 27-month period ending September 30, 2004. |
| Weintraub Retires 6/30 |
OVAE policy director, Jon Weintraub—a weekly guardian of policy sections of Thursday Notes?will retire June 30. Weintraub joined OVAE from Capitol Hill to direct the policy office seven years ago. His extensive experience in Congress and his analytical abilities have been a great asset in moving OVAE toward its goals. His leadership on framing budget requests, Congressional testimony, and strategic policy spanned two administrations. We will miss him greatly. |
| Doing More With "Less" |
Arkansas may be the only state in the union with a full–time staff person for English literacy, Philip Less. With five professional staff in the state office for adult education, the one fifth that Less comprises has been able to handle a range of issues in English literacy from crafting the EL/Civics grants to managing summer "academies" offering professional development to English literacy teachers. He also provides significant technical assistance to local programs starting or offering English literacy instruction. State Director Garland Hankins says Arkansas ranks second nationally in percentage growth in Hispanic population. He views Less' role as key to the success of the state's services to limited English speakers in the coming years. Contact philip.less@mail.state.ar.us or garland.hankins@mail.state.ar.us. |
| American Adults Not Literate in Science |
Nearly three fourths of American adults do not understand much about basic science, according to a new study by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Less than half could define ?DNA? and less than one fourth could define ?molecule.? While some university experts believe scientific literacy over the last ten years has trended up, NSF researchers say it hasn?t changed much. To keep things moving in our government, academic and industrial labs, the US increasingly is relying on foreign workers. Meanwhile, American adults, it seems need help with skills required to assess medical claims, determine the merits of genetically engineered food or understand national scientific issues. See http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/06/15/not.rocket.scientists.ap/index.html. |
| Free Health Literacy Materials |
Materials on drug abuse, having a healthy baby—and coming soon—minority health issues, all for low level readers are available free from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). After practitioners pointed out the dearth of material to prepare folks for the GED science section, AAAS scouted resources and developed several sets of materials for struggling readers that would allow them to get a handle on some aspects of science. See http://ehrweb.aaas.org/scilit/ and http://www.healthlit.org/ [each has some items] or contact Chickona Royster at 202/326-6454. |
This page last modified—August 9, 2002 (cd).
