Reading and Writing colleagues,
Deborah Kennedy, the Executive DIrector of the National Coalition for Literacy, and I, in my role as Steering Committee member of the Open Door Collective, have co-authored an NCL blog article about the development of a new name for our field, "Adult Foundational Education". I encourage you to read and share a link to the article with your colleagues. I also welcome your comments here, or directly to me, about the name and the proposed definition that you will find at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTroPf5NCwcQIy_drWO5pzd44GE2fbmWNp71VyrqZCc/edit?usp=sharing
One clarification: this name is not proposed as a new name for programs or adult schools in the field but rather as a name for the field itself that currently goes by several, often confusing or ambiguous names. Deborah and I feel that a new well-defined name would serve many purposes. Read the blog article for more about that.
I welcome your comments and questions about the blog article, the proposed name for the field, and about the definition of the name. If you are interested in the process that led up to the proposed name that involved feedback from the field, an extensive discussion began in January 2022 in the LINCS Teaching and Learning community. You will find that at https://community.lincs.ed.gov/group/30/discussion/what-adult-foundational-skills-education
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com
Comments
Hi David,
Many thanks for sharing this work that you've been involved with for some time. I do like Adult Foundational Education for several reasons:
1. Our field has a number of names (adult basic skills education, college and career readiness, adult literacy, etc.) and unifying behind one name certainly has its advantages.
2. The basic in adult basic education can be taken negatively. Foundational well describes the skills we wish to build in our students.
As always David, you are to be commended for your tireless efforts on behalf of our field!
Thanks in advance for your comments!
Steve Schmidt, Moderator
LINCS Reading and Writing Group
Thanks Steve.
Everyone, here are some thoughts about how, if you wish, you can advance the use of this name:
Do you have other ideas about how we can advance the use of this name?
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com