8.11.05 Times-Ledger Papers

Back To School - Adult Literacy

By: Annette R. Richmond

Minerva gets very excited when she thinks about starting college. It has been a dream of hers and now it is getting very close. But, before she can take that step, she has one other major hurdle to overcome. Now, in her mid 40s, Minerva is getting ready to take the General Educational Development test (GED) As a student in the adult learning program at York College, Minerva is in her third year and has been studying diligently in her GED preparatory class. She feels ready to take the GED and hopes to pass before the end of autumn. “I have put my daughter through college and now it’s time for me.”

The National Assessments of Adult Literacy (NAAL) defines literacy as “using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.” In addition to completing daily tasks, 21 st Century also adults need higher developed skills for more complex tasks, such as understanding contracts, loan agreements or medication instructions, as well as computer use.

Andrea Dawes, an adult basic education teacher at LaGuardia Community College , in Long Island City , has committed herself to helping students attain these skills. Having taught adults for 13 years, Ms. Dawes says, “I have two responsibilities. One is to get my students where they want to be, be it college or a better job and the other is to get them to leave the familiarity of their neighborhoods and participate more in the larger society.”

When Minerva started taking classes, she was just one of an estimated 44 million adults in the U.S. who do not read well enough to complete a job application, read a food label or a simple story to a child. About 25% of this group represents immigrants who may just be learning to speak English. The remaining 33 million are composed of more than 60% who did not complete high school (in New York you must be 19 to take the GED if you dropped out of school) and over 25% who have some type of physical or mental condition that inhibits full participation in everyday activities such as work, school or household chores, according to National Institute for Literacy (NIFL).

Adult literacy skills used to be described in terms of reading at a grade level between kindergarten and 12th grade. In 1992, the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) helped develop a five-level literacy scale to determine skills in everyday life tasks involving prose, document and quantitative skills. Most adults in Level 1 can read a little. Adults in Level 2 usually can perform more complex tasks such as comparing, contrasting, or integrating pieces of information, but usually not higher-level reading and problem-solving skills. Adults in levels 3 through 5 usually can perform the same types of more complex tasks on increasingly lengthy and dense texts and documents. NALS says, “Level 3 represents the minimum skill base that adults need to function well in the 21 st Century.” The NALS and the U.S. Department of Education estimate that approximately 50% of people living in New York State are at Level 3 or above, and only 37% of adults in New York City are at Level 3 or above. Thirty-six percent are at Level 1 and 27% at Level 2.

Adult education includes adult secondary education (GED or other high school diploma programs), pre-college English as a Second Language (ESL), and adult basic education (ABE). Though literacy programs vary in their class levels generally those who read below a 6th-grade level are in basic literacy classes; pre-GED class students read at 7 th-9 th-grade level; and those reading at a 10th-grade level or above are in GED classes.

Non-profit community-based programs, community colleges, and some public schools offer adult learner classes in New York , which are largely funded by federal, state and local government, as well as some private and corporate funders. However, the recent threats of drastic cuts in federal funding have caused great concern throughout the adult learning (GED and ESL) community.

Classes vary from one day/evening per week to sixteen hours per week, such as at York College , in Jamaica , which offers G.E.D, Adult Basic Education (ABE), and English as a Second Language (ESL). Maria Williams, Director of the free Adult Learning Program at York since 1994, says that the staff works hard to create an environment similar to high school where the students have a homeroom and work with other students at the same literacy level. Ms. Williams says, “The older students serve as mentors to the younger students. The younger students help their elders with some of the more complex mathematics.”

Raul only completed elementary school in his hometown of Pueblo City , Mexico . He began taking classes at York College to help him reach his goals. “I wanted to improve my English. I had problems with writing.” Just like many adult learners, Raul balances school and work. He attends class from 9AM-1PM four days per week and goes to work at a Manhattan restaurant as a busboy beginning at 4:30 . To him, the taxing schedule is worth it. “I want to work with computers, so I don’t mind.” But, not everyone is like Raul.

Working and raising families can put a strain on anyone and some adult learners have problems adding school to that routine. “The most frustrating part of my job is watching students whom I know are bright and full of potential stagnate because they put other concerns ahead of their education,” says Ms. Dawes. “ They come semester after semester with the desire to get their GEDs, but stop coming a few weeks into the course or have spotty attendance. I know some students have a hard time with family and work, but still I know students who do not let the roughest of times stop them. I wish I knew how to make all of them feel that way.” But, for many it is not that education is a low priority; they feel embarrassed for not being a strong reader in a perceived literate environment. Adults go through life hiding the truth, often even from spouses and children. The pressure can be tremendous.