By Jackie Taylor with Ellen Fern and Heidi Silver-Pacuilla
Advocacy Groups Meet Deadline to Comment on the Senate’s Discussion Draft of the Workforce Investment Act of 2011
Last week, the National Coalition for Literacy met the Senate’s June 17 deadline to submit feedback on the Senate Discussion Draft of the Workforce Investment Act of 2011. The Coalition’s feedback, as well as feedback submitted by several Coalition Member organizations, is available here on the NCL Advocacy Blog.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released Titles I-V (out of 6 titles) for review and feedback. Feedback for Title V is due Monday, June 20, at 6 pm Eastern. All Titles made available for comment are also available on the NCL Advocacy Blog linked above.
Of primary concern to the Coalition are Titles I and III. Title I streamlines governance provisions such
as boards and plans and establishes common performance indicators across the four core WIA programs. Title III, also referred to as the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, contains revisions to the federal legislation that provides for these programs. The Coalition’s top ten concerns, in order of priority, are:
1. Include Performance Measures on Educational Gains
2. Revise Intensity and Quality
3. Change State Leadership to a Minimum of 15%
4. Improve the Professional Quality of the Adult Education Workforce
5. Include Digital Literacy in the Definition of Adult Education
6. Review the Performance Accountability System
7. Emphasize All Literacy Levels in Title Purpose
8. Add Definition of “Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education Program”
9. Include Libraries on Center Advisory Board and Ensure Coordination of Eligible Providers with Libraries
10. Add “career advancement” to the Definition of English Language Acquisition
A task force met multiple times throughout the week to discuss and draft recommendations and justifications. Thank you to the following individuals for participating in this important work:
Ellen Fern, Washington Partners; Marcie Foster, CLASP; Heidi Silver-Pacuilla, AIR; Emily Sheketoff and Jeff Kratz, ALA; Marsha Tait, NCL; Jackie Taylor, COABE; Jeff Carter, David Harvey, and Peter Waite, ProLiteracy.
We appreciate the Senate HELP Committee staff meeting with us and listening to our Members’ concerns and vision for a more innovative, open, and professional adult education system. The Coalition commends the Senate HELP Committee for its work and we are pleased to see several items in the discussion drafts, including:
- The emphasis on postsecondary transitions and career pathway programs for adult learners
- Better alignment and coordination with workforce programs, Vocational Rehabilitation programs, and One Stops
- An emphasis on technology for teaching, learning, outreach, and program productivity
- A required state professional development system to support the teaching workforce
- A codification of the English language and civics education (EL/Civics) grant program
- A newly conceptualized National Center on Adult Education and Family Literacy
Congressman Hinojosa Sponsors the Adult Education and Economic Growth Act of 2011
Meanwhile, on the House side, Congressman Hinojosa reintroduced H.R. 2226, the Adult Education and Economic Growth (AEEG) Act, last Thursday, June 16th. This Act, originally introduced in 2009, amends the Workforce Investment Act. Thus, when the House begins writing a House draft of WIA, Congressman Hinojosa will be working hard to get as much language from the AEEG Act into a new House WIA bill. We will keep you posted as to whether the bill will also be reintroduced in the Senate. The Coalition is organizing a Task Force to review the reintroduced legislation and will make its feedback available on the NCL Advocacy Blog and Coalition Current Policy Papers web page.
To ensure you receive notice of the Coalition’s feedback and of WIA’s movement, you will need to subscribe to NCL’s RSS feed or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
For an update on last week’s Budget and Appropriations process, visit Washington Partner’s June 17 Education Report.
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