Background

The Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education is committed to providing adult education and literacy practitioners across the nation with high-quality, evidence-based professional learning opportunities, to support learning that results in college and career readiness for adult students, thereby contributing to the nation's goal of, once again, having the highest skilled workforce in the world. Through the Literacy Information and Communications System (LINCS), OVAE plans to expand the work to meet the needs of teachers and learners.

Overview

OVAE's continued investment in LINCS signals its intent to more strategically utilize LINCS, for assisting States and local adult education agencies in promoting teacher effectiveness, and evidence-based instruction in adult education.

LINCS was originally launched by the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL), in 2001, and was transferred to OVAE when funding for NIFL ended, in 2010.

The three major components of LINCS include:

LINCS Regional Professional Development Centers will work with States to deploy evidence-based materials and professional development activities to the field of adult education. The regions are realigned to correspond with OVAE's administrative regions, under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA). Grants were awarded to the following entities in the regions:

• Region 1 (New England): World Education, Inc.
• Region 2 (South): University of Tennessee Center for Literacy Studies
• Region 3 (Midwest and Great Lakes): Kent State University
• Region 4 (West and Outlying Areas): Peninsula Library System

LINCS Resource Collection team will manage a centralized repository of evidence-based material―a centralized resource collection with updated sub-topics. This contract was awarded to Kratos Learning Solutions.

LINCS Online Portal will provide an updated technology platform to support professional learning through communities of practice, and social media that can more interactively engage educators in evidence-based professional development activities. This contract was awarded to Quotient, Inc.

Website:

http://lincs.ed.gov/

Contact:

Mary Jo Maralit