>> Kaleena Black:
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to this Library
of Congress Literacy
Awards webinar.
I'm Kaleena Black.
I am an Educational
Resources Specialist
at the Library of Congress.
We're really glad that you're
joining us today for the first
of four panels as part
of our Literacy Awards
Successful Practices Series.
Today's topic is on Serving
Adult Literacy Needs.
And thank you for being here.
Kathy, if you can,
go to the next slide.
Just a little bit
of housekeeping before
we get started.
We are recording this program,
and we'll start the recording
as soon as we are able to.
And since this event is going
to be recorded, any questions
or other participant
contributions may be made
available publicly as part
of the Library's archives.
So want to keep that in mind.
Next slide, please.
So, like I said, we're so
excited that you're here.
You'll have the opportunity
to talk to each other
and the panelists via chat.
And so, to get started
with that,
we'd love if you could
just share your name,
where you're joining
us from in the chat.
And please be sure to make
sure that you're sending it
to everyone so that we can
all see your contributions.
Great. It's great to see
some folks that are local,
folks from all over the
country, all over the world.
Yeah. Great that
you're all here.
Thank you.
So please keep letting us know
where you're joining us from.
Again, just a way to let
you know that we want you
to participate, and we're
happy that you're here.
Next slide, please, Kathy.
Just a little bit of background,
the Literacy Awards
was originated
by David M. Rubenstein in 2013.
And it honors organizations
that are working to promote
and expand literacy and reading
in the United States
and worldwide.
The awards recognize groups that
are doing exemplary, innovative
and replicable work, and they
emphasize and spotlight the need
for the global community to
come together and striving
for universal literacy.
I'm going to put the link in
case you want to have a look
and learn more about
the program.
I'll put a link in the chat.
And up on your screen is a video
that I'm also going to link
to in the chat about
this year's honorees.
So you can watch that video
to learn about the winners
and the honorees this year.
And then, on the next slide,
this is just a screencap
of the page on our site
where you can learn more
about the organization.
So let me just pop those links
into the chat really quickly.
So, like I said,
today's panel is
on serving adult literacy needs.
And it's going to be
facilitated by Dr. Loriene Roy.
She is a Library of Congress
Literacy Awards advisory member
and also a professor in
the School of Information
at the University
of Texas at Austin.
And our panelists
today represent several
of this year's honorees.
And they include the Institute
for the Study of Adult Literacy,
the Learning Source, Seeds
of Literacy and VALUEUSA.
So, Kathy, you can
go to the next slide.
Before we jump into our panel
and I turn this over to Dr. Roy,
we really want to want to
hear from you first and kind
of just reflect a little
bit on why we're all here
and just get us thinking a
little bit before the program
really starts.
So, if you could, complete
the following sentence.
Just fill in the
blank in the chat.
We would love if you
could participate.
So literacy makes
blank possible.
Okay. I see stability.
I see reaching one's goals,
success, innovations, joy,
citizenship, everything,
thriving.
These are great.
It's like you -- so you've
been thinking about this.
Critical thinking, success,
being your best self,
connections, the joy of life,
empowerment, liberation.
These are -- these are so great
and inspiring and positive.
Health, transformation.
Yes. So just, you know,
keep adding into the chat
to keep reflecting on this.
And I think we can also keep
this in mind as we're hearing
from Dr. Roy and the panelists.
I think we'll circle back
to this a little bit later.
So thank you so much.
And next slide, please.
With that I am really thrilled
to turn this program now
over to Dr. Roy and
the rest of our panel.
>> Loriene Roy: Thanks, Kaleena.
Bonjour. Hello.
I'm Loriene Roy.
I'm Anishinaabe, enrolled on
the White Earth Reservation,
a member of the Minnesota
Chippewa tribe.
I'm also a professor in
the School of Information
at the University
of Texas at Austin.
As we start our conversation,
I want to acknowledge
the Indigenous peoples
on whose lands each
of us is residing.
I'm honored to be a
member of the Library
of Congress Literacy
Awards advisory board.
And I'm here with
four individuals --
well, five; we have
two representatives
from one group -- whose
organizations were selected
as a 2021 Library of Congress
Literacy Awards Program
Successful Practice Honoree.
We're going to have
a conversation built
on our panel theme, Serving
Adult Literacy Needs.
I'll now pass it
over to each of you
to introduce yourselves as well.
And please share where you're
calling from and provide us
with some background
on your organization.
Let's go in order of how people
are listed on the program.
So we'll start with
the Institute
for the Study of Adult Literacy.
>> Carol Clymer: Hi, everyone,
and thank you to the Library
of Congress for this --
hosting this and for the award.
We're really grateful.
So I'm Carol Clymer from --
the codirector of the Institute
for the Study of Adult Literacy
and the Goodling Institute
for Research in Family Literacy.
And we're at Penn
State University
in the College of Education.
And I want to briefly
tell you about our work
and how we are structured
and organized.
So both of our institutes
are highly integrated.
What we learn in from and
about adult education,
we feed into family literacy
knowledge and vice versa.
We have in both of our
institutes the mission
to conduct research and to
develop lessons and knowledge
about evidence-based practice.
We use that research to inform
professional development.
And so we do -- we have
several grants from Pennsylvania
where we run the professional
development in the state
for the adult education system.
We also use that information
to inform direct service.
We have both a Career &
Family Pathways Program,
which means we provide
adult education
and family literacy services
in three counties in the state
of Pennsylvania, in
central Pennsylvania.
And then, finally,
we use that --
all of this information to
inform policy and advocacy
and so to inform those
who fund adult education
and family literacy about really
important practice and things
that are important to the
delivery of adult education
and family literacy services.
We work internationally.
We're known for our
work internationally
on these four areas.
Next slide, please.
So the Institute for the Study
of Adult Literacy was
established first in 1985 by,
of course, a researcher
professor
in the College of Education.
And it's grown, you know,
considerably since that time.
And it's -- we are
totally grant funded.
So we raise all of our own
funding to do our work.
And we've historically
worked on career pathways
with workforce development,
families, health literacy,
coalition building,
instructional technology,
direct service; and we
do that for low income
and underserved populations.
And we've been doing
this work a lot --
before some of the things became
buzzwords like career pathways
and workforce development,
many, many years.
We provide a very --
a variety of services.
As I said, we do a lot of
large-scale evaluations.
We develop instructional
materials and curriculum.
We provide technical assistance,
professional development.
We do customized
assessments and evaluations.
And we run the help desk for the
management system in the state
for adult education,
national reporting system data
that is required.
I've included our website link
there so you can, you know,
learn more about what we
do if you open that link.
The next slide, please.
The Goodling Institute
for Research
in Family Literacy was
established in 2001 by a --
by Congressman William
F. Goodling.
He's from York, Pennsylvania
and his colleagues.
He's a US Representative.
His colleagues gave him
an endowment of funding
for his retirement, which he
contributed to Penn State.
And through this
endowment, we've been able
to conduct research and
evaluation projects, again,
the same thing, professional
development.
We also offer a
post-baccalaureate certificate
in adult basic education
and family literacy
through the World
Campus at Penn State.
And then we do a lot of writing.
We do a combination
of scholarly articles,
guides, research briefs.
And then we also
are developing print
and digital instructional
tools for use around the globe.
Again, our website
is here if you want
to learn more about that.
Next slide, please.
So I wanted to just kind of
share just very briefly some
of the highlights of our work.
You know, we have done
adult education research
on adult learners, on
immigrants, on career pathways,
on literacy and health.
And one of the things
that we really tried to do
in our research is make it
practitioner and user friendly,
make it so that it's
readable and you can use it
in your everyday practice.
We've done a lot of work -- this
is our direct service programs,
which I mentioned that we have
in three different counties.
But the -- I want to point
out we have a really
stellar program, I believe,
and I think the prison
does, too,
at Muncie Women's State
Correctional Institution
in Lycoming County.
It's a peer tutoring program
there where, you know,
we're working with inmates
who have unmet literacy needs.
They're trying to get
into the GED program
or into the vocational
education program.
And prison officials have said
that the peer tutoring is really
in some ways changing the
environment around the prison
because the tutors feel
like they are really
being useful and helpful.
And the people who are
getting tutored are learning
from other inmates.
And then we run a
tutoring program
that actually gets credit at
Penn State, six hours of credit;
and we use tutors from
Penn State to work
in our adult education and
Family Literacy Programs.
We've historically done a lot of
work on workforce development,
working with employers
in Pennsylvania.
And, also, a lot of
those resources are
on the Pennsylvania
Adult Resources website
because we provide professional
development in the state
to all adult education agencies
to connect their adult
education programs more closely
to workforce development
programs.
And then, finally, we've
been doing a lot of work
on integrated education
and training.
We have a library.
We have a guide for
developing integrated education
and training programs.
For those of you who aren't
familiar with that term,
it's a way to accelerate
adult education learners
who are low basic skills so
that they can simultaneously
participate in vocational
training
or occupational training
and build their basic
or their language
skills at the same time.
Next slide, please.
And then, finally,
some brief highlights
about our Goodling
Institute work.
We're currently running a
William Penn Foundation Family
Literacy Program in the
city of Philadelphia.
We're doing the evaluation
and technical assistance.
We have done -- I don't know
if any of you have heard
about the National Center
for Families Learning,
Toyota Family Service
Learning Initiative.
We did a six-year program
evaluation, national evaluation
of that initiative, helping them
to find some positive outcomes
of their -- of family
service learning.
We recently -- because we run
a Family Literacy Program,
we needed to switch
from, you know,
face to face to remote
education.
And we recently published
an article
in UNESCO on that experience.
And I just mention it
because I feel like, again,
one of the lessons
that we have learned
in our work is how important
Family Literacy Programs have
been during the pandemic.
As adult education instructors
have seen their adult learners
who are parents struggling
with their children's learning
at home, I think they've
done more to help parents,
especially immigrant
parents navigate, you know,
school systems and learn
about was what was required
to help their children with
remote learning themselves.
We also do evaluation
in the prisons related
to family literacy and have
some publications on fathers
that are incarcerated.
And then, again, with our
professional development
and our practical work that we
do, we have a number of guides,
like how to do interactive
literacy.
That's parents and
children learning together.
We also have developed a list
that we adapted from some work
in Pennsylvania of
indicators of program quality
for family literacy so
that programs can look
at their own success in
terms of these indicators.
And then, finally,
we've been trying
to really encourage continued
funding of family literacy.
And so we've been doing a lot
of work on what the status
of family literacy is in
the United States now.
And we've written some --
a policy brief on that,
which is changing the
course of family literacy.
So thank you, and I'll
turn it over to Loriene.
>> Loriene Roy: Thank
you, Carol.
You really show how your
organization interprets this
role in serving adult
literacy needs.
But you also pointed
out so many other things
that your organization
is involved with.
You could have been on a
panel on workforce development
or literacy for those who are
incarcerated or health literacy.
You also mentioned the National
Center for Families Learning.
And last year they received
the David M. Rubenstein Special
Response Award from the
Library of Congress.
And, in 2017, they
received the American Prize.
So you're illustrating how
the community and family
of literacy efforts are
connected to each other as well.
So thank you so much
for starting us off.
We're next going to hear
from our representatives
from The Learning Source, Aimee
Callahan and Sarah Secrist.
>> Sarah Secrist: Good
afternoon, everyone.
My name is Sarah Secrist.
I am the Chief Operating Officer
with The Learning Source,
and I'm joined by my
colleague, Aimee Callahan,
who is our Chief
Learning Officer.
And we are so thankful to
be here and to hear all
about your great work
and are so grateful
to be receiving this award.
The Learning Source was
established in 1964.
We are based out of
Denver, Colorado;
and we are actually the oldest
and largest adult education
agency in the state.
We started out as a very small
volunteer-run program for adults
that were studying to get
their GED, and now we have
over 30 locations
across the state.
Next slide, please.
A little bit about who
we are and what we do.
The mission of The Learning
Source is to promote
and provide educational
opportunities
through collaborative
partnerships for adults
and families to support
their future achievements.
So we really rely on our
partnerships with other agencies
to further our mission.
We work with school districts,
libraries, community colleges
across the state to provide
free community classes
to adult learners in Colorado.
This is a list of our
current program offerings,
so we provide adult
basic education
in high school equivalency
classes.
We have English language
acquisition programming.
One of our biggest and most
successful programs is our
Family Literacy Program,
and that's at about
15 different schools
in the Denver Metro area.
We also have a robust
student success coaching
and career navigation
department.
They really serve
as academic support
for our instructional team
and also helping our
adult learners think
about their next step in
their educational careers.
And then one of our new and most
exciting areas of programming
which actually Aimee is
overseeing is our Integrated
Education & Training
or IET Career Pathways.
So we are in the process
of working with the State
of Colorado to develop these
industry recognized certificate
programs to bridge that
gap to higher education
and get our adult learners
into more sustainable
career pathways.
Very excited about the
development of that,
and we're hoping to launch some
of that programming
this coming January.
Next slide, please.
So a little bit more
about who we serve.
So we, again, have
about 30 locations
across the state of Colorado.
We started out as a very
Denver-based program,
and now we sort of
span different names.
We have partnerships
up in Fort Collins
with the community college
there, down to Pueblo.
And we are expanding into
more rural communities
up in mountain region.
We serve about 1500 adult
learners and families each year.
This is a little
bit of a breakdown
about who our learners
represent.
They come from a diverse
range of backgrounds.
About 32% or more are immigrants
representing countries all
over the world.
Over 50% of our learners are at
or below high school level
education when they're enrolling
in our programs, 56% or more are
unemployed or not currently part
of the workforce,
70% or more represent
low-income individuals.
And then many of them have
barriers to education,
whether that be English
language proficiency
or low literacy skills.
So we're really focused
on helping them move
up in their skills to achieve,
again, better education
or employment opportunities
for them and their families.
Next slide.
So -- so some of the ways
that we have been able
to address these issues with our
learners, we have really focused
on creating small leveled
classes for our adults.
We have a team of about
60 paid instructors
and over 100 volunteers
that are working
to support those classes.
We also have ongoing
professional development
opportunities for
instructional team.
We really want to
help them think
about their instructional
practices
and improving the
quality of the programs
and services we're
offering the community.
So just this past year,
we started offering
or creating professional
learning communities
for our instructors to focus on
some of those best practices.
And then each of our team
members creates a very
professionalized -- personalized
professional learning plan
to focus in on how they
can improve their practice
and share strategies
with their colleagues.
We also have -- we use
standardized curriculum.
So all of our core
texts for both our ESL
and GED classes are
aligned with college
and career readiness standards
with the state as well
as English language
proficiency standards.
And those are also aligned
with the state assessments
that we are required to use to
demonstrate educational growth
for our learners, which
ties to our funding.
Most of our programs are funded
through the Federal
Adult Education
and Family Literacy
Act or AEFLA grant.
So that alignment with those
assessments is really important.
I think one of the things that
has come out of the past couple
of years is really
looking at the format
of our program offerings.
Prior to 2020, most of our
programs were in person.
We did have a small
distance learning program.
Now that we've been able
to sort of experiment
with different program
formats and getting feedback
from our learners, we are
offering more online hybrid
and flexible course
offerings to meet the needs
of our busy adult learners,
many of them who are working
or have busy family lives.
We're also looking at offering
weekend classes moving forward
to meet the needs of those
that can't meet those
weekday classes.
We've been very intentional
about integrating technology
into our classes before we
use that more as a supplement.
But now all of our learners
have access to some sort
of online platform where they
can practice their English
language practice or
studying for their GED
on their own outside of class
to get that extra support.
Again, we also have a
growing success coach
and career navigation department
so they can provide
the academic support
to our instructional team,
really focused on that retention
and persistence for
our adult learners
so that they can achieve
their educational goals.
We are developing our
career pathways and, again,
bridging that gap to
post-secondary education.
And we are excited to become a
Northstar Digital Literacy site
in the new year.
This is supported
by the Colorado Department
of Education.
But we know that, in
addition to building literacy
and language skills,
many of our learners need
that digital literacy support to
really bump them up to that --
their employment
education goals.
So we will begin offering
that this next year.
And then this last slide
here is a little bit
about our outcomes and impact.
So we are proud to
say that over --
about 50% of our learners are
demonstrating a full measurable
skill gain on the
state assessments,
and that is something that
is required by our grant.
So we've been able to exceed
some of those targets each year.
Additionally, many more
of our learners are
demonstrating grade level
improvement in reading,
math or language
and completing their
educational goals.
We have close to 100 students
that complete their
GED each year,
and we host an annual
graduation.
Many of those learners are part
of our corrections program.
We have one of our oldest
partnerships is with the city
and county jail,
and we have classes
and the testing center there
to help those learners complete
that credential and get them on
a better pathway moving forward.
And then other community
program graduates,
many go on to post-secondary
education and training.
And then, in addition to
that, we offer both live
and online employability skills
workshops that are available
to all of our 1500
learners to help them,
to complement their academic
work and have them really think
about what their career goals
are as they move forward.
So thank you again for having
us be part of this webinar.
We look forward to
any questions you have
about The Learning
Source and applaud you all
on your great work as well.
>> Loriene Roy: Thank
you so much, Sarah.
I was really pleased to see that
a number of your locations are
in public libraries since I
teach students whose career
goals typically are to
work in public libraries.
And I'm also a past president
of the American Library
Association.
So we all see the library
connection, and I was pleased
to see a number of
the sites there.
Thanks so much.
We're going to now
hear more from another
of our panelists'
contributions, and that'll be
about Seeds of Literacy.
So we're going to hear
from Bonnie Entler.
>> Bonnie Entler: Good
afternoon, everyone.
I'm Bonnie Entler.
I'm the President and
CEO of Seeds of Literacy.
Seeds is an award-winning adult
literacy program in Cleveland,
Ohio, and nationally
accredited by ProLiteracy.
Next slide, please.
I am honored to be
here on behalf
of our 1000-plus adult students
and 250 volunteer tutors.
Seeds reaches those in greatest
need for the greatest potential.
Seeds of Literacy's mission is
to provide free personalized
education to empower adults
to thrive in our community.
We accomplish this by offering
free one-to-one instruction
in basic education and high
school equivalency prep
to adults.
We provide weekly registration,
three class sessions per
day Monday through Thursday
and are open year round.
Frequency, flexibility
and individual instructions
are the key
to reaching students most
in need of education.
Next slide, please.
Last year, 88% of our students
lived at or below poverty level,
70% were female, 30% are
male, 68% of our students are
between the age of 24 and 59,
65% were African-American,
45% were White, 17%
are Hispanic,
4% are Asian and 3% are others.
More than 41% of our students
are employed, and almost 50%
of our students have
dependent children.
Last year, Seeds' students
came from 29 other states
and four other countries,
attending classes
in our virtual classroom and
our two physical locations.
You may be surprised by our
incoming educational levels
that we see everyday here at
Seeds: 94% of our students enter
with a reading level
below ninth grade level;
and almost everybody,
99.7% of our students,
have math skills below
a ninth grade level.
And 88% of our students
lack computer skills
when they start classes
here at Seeds.
Seeds is different.
Seeds reaches those adults
left behind, sometimes twice
by traditional classrooms
as children
who did not finish junior high
or high school and as adults
who do not complete traditional
GED or basic education classes.
Seeds' model is based
on educational research
on one-to-one instruction.
Next slide, please.
One-on-one instruction is the
most effective teaching method
for nontraditional students.
We follow national Common
Core State Standards
and GED benchmarks
in our curriculum
and teach computer skills
most requested by employers
with a national standard
certificate.
Teaching [inaudible] lies in
our one-to-one tutoring method
which allows students to
work at their own pace
and at their own level.
Personally assisted
by volunteers, tutors,
students take the test of
Adult Basic Education, TABE,
to benchmark both math
and reading level.
Staff creates individual
instructional plans
for each student based
on the TABE results
that match a student's
needs with tutor's ability.
Staff provides and
monitors curriculum,
track student progress,
adjust methods and curriculums
to ensure skill mastery.
Students are reassessed
to ensure
that we're tracking
progress effectively.
Our students have been students
[inaudible] our one-to-one
instructional work
for our students.
Our students have
thrived in the last year.
Last year, we had 829 new
students enroll in Seeds.
We had 397 passed GED sections.
We had 276 students pass at
least one of the GED sections,
and 94 students passed all
four sections of the GED.
Next slide, please.
Our numbers continue
to grow every year.
We probably average
about 100 GED each year.
Very fortunate to see those
numbers kind of grow even
as the GED computerized
exam in 2014.
Unfortunately, here
in Northeast Ohio,
we have extremely high
illiteracy rates here.
We are in Cuyahoga County, which
is the largest northeast county
in Ohio, which has a
42% illiteracy rate.
Here in the city of Cleveland,
the largest metropolitan area
in northeast Ohio, has
a 66% illiteracy rate.
In some neighborhoods,
the literacy rates
are as high as 93%.
The stats are almost
unimaginable and difficult
to imagine places in Ohio
where parents can't read
to help their children
with multiplication tables,
where jobseekers can't
pass employee tests written
at 8th grade levels,
where grandmother's can't
understand the directions
on a bottle of hopsner
[phonetic].
As we all believe,
literacy converts poverty
into possibility.
Adult literacy is the first step
to economic self-sufficiency,
better health and academic
success for children.
Our students are our motivators.
Our students' courage to learn
helps us to identify new ways
to improve learning,
increase retention,
engage all our stakeholders.
We feel that education has
offered many challenges
and rewards and have been
honored to lead Seeds
of Literacy in the
last 18 years.
Thank you for this wonderful
recognition, and congratulations
to all the other awardees.
>> Loriene Roy: Thank
you so much, Bonnie,
for helping us learn a little
bit more about what Seeds
of Literacy is all about.
I love seeing the Seeds
successes on your website,
all these great little
comments from your graduates.
And I am very grateful to all
of our groups that are involved
with helping people
prepare for the GED.
Neither of my parents
graduated from high school.
And my father worked as a
janitor and a school bus driver
until he had a stroke
when he was about 50
and could no longer work.
And so my mother then
went and got her GED.
And then she spent the
rest of her working life
as a teacher's aide for an
Indian Education program.
So getting that GED
meant a world
of difference to our family.
Next, we'll hear from
Marty Finsterbusch,
who's the Executive
Director of VALUEUSA.
>> Marty Finsterbusch: Loriene,
thank you for having VALUE here.
So right now you're
going to hear
about the most unique
organization in all of adult ed.
VALUE is made up of adult
learners, the people who went
through the programs
as students.
We're the only organization
nationally run
by the students of adult ed.
Our board of trustees
are people who went
through adult ed programs.
I myself went through adult
literacy program as a student.
And so what makes VALUE unique,
for over the last 20 years,
we look at the --
we look at adult ed
through the eyes
of the students.
While most programs look at
adult ed looking down at it
or looking at it, we the
students look at adult ed
by looking up, how
far do we have to go,
how do we navigate this system?
When you look at adult ed that
way, it looks totally different
than from looking at it
and looking down at it.
So VALUE is very
unique in that capacity.
We -- our goal here is to
promote effective policies,
and we encourage adult
learner leadership skills;
and that we believe that
anyone who ever wants
to prove their skills in reading
and writing or in English can
and should be able to.
So that is what VALUE is about.
Next slide, please.
So what do we do?
What does a group of
adult learners do?
Well, we are a research center.
We have been looking at adult
ed and student involvement.
How do you do that
in your program?
How do you recruit students?
How do you keep retention
rate in your program?
And so VALUE has become
the one organization
that collects what
adult learners are doing
in the United States.
And we help local programs,
we help state groups
and we help national groups
that improve their services.
So we become that resource,
collecting that information
and giving back to the field.
We also have what we call
a Leadership Institute
where we bring student leaders
and practitioners together every
four -- or every other year,
and every four year we go to DC
and we do leadership skill
training and building
and learning how
to work together.
We also help educate legislators
and elected officials
about who is an adult learner
and what does it mean to us
from our viewpoint, not
from programs' viewpoint
but from us, the adult learners.
And the other thing that we
have done is develop a training
that takes administrators
and adult learners,
bring them together,
teaches them how
to analyze their own programs,
what needs to be improved
in that program through the eyes
of the students and the program
and then teaches critical
thinking, organizing skills,
diversity training
to the adult learner.
But, at the same time,
it really is a program
improvement training.
And so we have done this
training all around the country,
and we're in the process
of working with ProLiteracy
to have it published so then
programs can start doing this
training across the
United States on their own
without VALUE have to going
in and during that training.
So these are some of the things
that we do on a regular basis.
Next slide.
Okay. So with the next
slide, look at adult ed.
People don't see adult literacy.
You don't say, hmm,
that person walking
down the street can't read
or that person can't spell.
You don't see.
Our nation doesn't
see adult literacy.
Writer's role [phonetic]
is to bring
that awareness to our field.
And as some of them, by
getting more students involved
in the field of adult literacy
and making it more comfortable
for adult learners to be able
to speak out, I'm telling you,
when we started 20
years ago, our field,
students felt ashamed speaking
out about adult literacy.
We've been working on
changing that image.
And so VALUE is also
unseen in our field.
We've been here for
over 20 years,
and I guarantee most people
in our field hasn't heard
about VALUE as said.
But our impact is there.
And so we have directly
impact legislations.
I have actually testified
before Congress.
We've met with legislators.
They have -- we have actually
changed pieces of legislation,
but you don't see that.
But the students are there
doing that for our field.
We've aided other
national organization,
national campaigns
throughout the years.
They come to VALUE, and we help
them miss the pitfalls reaching
out to adult learners, or
how to talk to adult learners
or how to get them in.
And we've been doing that.
We also meet the needs
of local students.
I'd be surprised how many
students have called me
up to say, my program
is not listening to me.
I'm getting frustrated.
I'm going to leave and
then talking with them,
how that program works and
how the best to navigate that.
These are the things
that VALUE do.
We also do this for
local programs
when local directors
call and say, Hey.
I can't get anyone
into my program.
How do I get students
into my program?
Guiding them how to
reach adult learners
in their own communities.
This is the things that VALUE
does all across, but no one sees
that because we're not
out there, like, Hey.
So we're behind the
scene organization,
helping improve adult education.
And we help state groups.
We've helped other national
organizations doing campaigns.
I can't get into all the things
that we've done over the years.
By just showing you
that we're one
of the unique organizations
that you don't see.
And we believe that the
most valuable resource being
underutilized in adult
ed is the adult learners.
And that's because our
field hasn't yet seen
that the adult learners are
our equals in this field.
We always see going down
to help the students.
We're saying, guess what?
We're your equals, and we can
help you do your job better.
We can reach legislators
better than this deal can.
We can help educate the
nation about adult literacy.
And so that's what
makes VALUE so unique.
We're not a direct
service provider.
We're a provider for the
field to make the field better
to meet the needs
of adult learners.
And I'll leave it at that.
I threw a lot at you real quick.
>> Loriene Roy: All right.
Thank you so much, Marty.
You mentioned ProLiteracy.
And ProLiteracy Worldwide
was one
of the David M. Rubenstein
Prize recipients.
They received the prize from
the Library of Congress in 2019.
I invite the audience and all
of us to really take a good look
at the websites of
these organizations.
I looked at your webinar,
Marty, on leadership training
for people who've
been in your program.
And that provides advice
for anyone who would want
to be an advocate for an issue.
Really great advice on how to
elevate a member of a program
but also what happens personally
when someone is singled out
and how they can work with
their family and their community
and -- on this change
that's coming over them,
not just being someone who has
acquired more skills in literacy
but being that spokesperson.
So that leadership training
video was really helpful.
So thank you, all of you,
for providing the background
and setting the stage
for the conversation
that we now can have.
Do you have questions
that you would
like to ask the other panelists,
anything that you would
like to ask we'll -- from the
panelists, we'll go to see
if there any questions
coming in from the audience.
>> Carol Clymer: I'm going
to ask Marty this question
because I know it's a
-- and I'll do this.
Sorry. There.
Hi. It's Carol.
I'm going to ask
Marty this question
because I know it's something
that we're always
struggling with,
and maybe you have some
good tips for everybody.
And it's been particularly
difficult during the pandemic is
that's recruiting students.
Do -- you kind of
mentioned that's something
that you help programs with.
But can you talk a little
bit about, you know,
what we should be doing now
where people may be not wanting
to, you know, do face to face
or they may be reluctant to do
hybrid instruction, anything,
any tips you might be
able to share with us?
>> Marty Finsterbusch:
What VALUE has learned
over the last two years talking
with other adult learners,
that there is a group of
adult learners waiting
for our programs to reopen.
They don't want to do online.
They don't want to.
I mean, I hear a lot of programs
say, oh, online is going to get
so many more people, and
it's -- and it's going to,
but there's still a core
that is sitting back
and waiting till this is over.
So just know that our program
numbers are going to go up.
Physical or -- can
never disappear.
Yes, we can handle more
people, and it's going
to save programs a lot of
money by having it online.
But we're hearing from students
saying they're waiting till the
COVID is over.
Now, if you can do a
hybrid kind of thing,
I think that's the best way to
go because adult learners need
to learn more technology and
get used to and is afraid of it.
One of the things that
frustrates adult learners
who can't read and struggle,
people say that, well,
just go online and register.
Well, how do you go online and
register if you can't spell?
Well, you can buy it on Amazon.
Well, how do you buy
something on Amazon
when you can't spell Amazon?
So what I'm saying to you
is you're going to get them
in your door and then introduce
them to your program online.
They'll be more likely to do
that once they walk
through your door.
But we're hearing
students are holding back.
They're holding back.
>> Carol Clymer: Thanks.
>> Marty Finsterbusch: I
don't know if that's going
to help you, but that's
what we're hearing
from -- 33 No, it does.
We have that -- we have --
we have some that are going
to more likely to come now
because -- especially for
our evening remote classes
that that's working better.
For hybrid, we have
some that are coming
in person and then on remote.
And if they can't come
in person, they go remote
and vice versa, they
kind of switch up.
And --
>> Marty Finsterbusch: Are
they your more you're advanced
students too?
>> Carol Clymer: No.
They're more of the student
-- I think this is true --
more of the students who
can't navigate the computer
and don't want to
be doing all of the,
you know, everything online.
They want somebody
physically to be helping them.
>> Marty Finsterbusch:
And that's the hybrid.
>> Carol Clymer: Yep.
>> Loriene Roy: Thank
you, Carol.
That was a great question.
And that kind of leads to me
asking everyone on the panel
if they can share
anything they would like to
about how their work
has fared during COVID.
I know it has impacted even
the work that I'm involved
with at our university.
We've seen a bumper crop of
admissions, 850 applications.
We generally admit about
100 new students a year.
So we've had a huge
rise in admissions.
Part of it, we no longer
require the Graduate Record Exam
for our master students.
But how has COVID impacted
the work that you do?
>> Carol Clymer: I don't
-- I don't mind going.
Our Family Literacy Program,
it's been really, really --
I'll just talk about
that one because we had
to start going totally remote.
And it's really --
it's not that easy
to do what's called interactive
literacy activities remote,
you know, where you're
trying to, you know,
model for the parent to,
you know, ask questions
when they're reading
to their children or,
you know, that sort of thing.
But we have found really a
successful way to, you know,
handle the remote situation in
our Family Literacy Program is,
for example, like, for
the interactive literacy,
we do a bedtime story.
And, you know, the kids come at
seven o'clock with their pajamas
on and their parents and, you
know, the whole, you know,
remote learning activity is
around that bedtime story.
And so we've had to be --
I guess to answer your
question specifically,
we've had to be really,
really creative.
It's really pushed the envelope
for the instructors to figure
out how they could do things
that they would do
in person online.
And I think in a lot of ways
it's improved their instruction.
In some ways, it's harder
for the students, you know.
We've -- I think we've
experienced what everyone
has experienced.
We've had some individuals
who have, you know,
low digital literacy skills,
but they don't anymore.
It's really, you know,
helped them to learn their
digital literacy skills and to,
you know, do more
with technology.
I'll stop there,
let others talk.
>> Loriene Roy: That's
a great contribution.
I know that I've had to
look at ways to provide
that social connection.
Our students want to
be with each other.
They love the breakout rooms.
And so I've had to be flexible
in how much we can
cover in every class.
And this fall I had a class
where we covered more content
than I've ever covered
in a course.
And I had to run to keep up and
prepare new material for them
because they were demonstrating
that they were eager
to learn more.
So we've heard from
the Institute
for the Study of Adult Literacy.
How about The Learning Source?
How has COVID impacted in any
way the work that you're doing
through The Learning Source?
>> Sarah Secrist: I
think that we share some
of the same observations as
the other programs in terms
of being able to expand
our program offerings
and really getting feedback
from students about what sort
of format works best for them.
A lot, as we've sort of
moved back to in person
and reengage students
that had --
were unable to continue
with us through the pandemic
because of technology issues
or that format just didn't work
for them, we've heard that
-- with our evening classes,
which usually have
the most interest
but sometimes lower retention
just because of the difficulty
of kind of persistence
with an evening class
when people are busy working or
families that we've kept a lot
of those classes remote to
accommodate those adults.
So we're trying to experiment
with different formats,
different times of day, again,
more intentional integration
of technology so that our
class work or the work
of the students expands
beyond the classroom walls
so they're getting that direct
instruction and interaction
in class but then they
have the opportunity
to do practice outside
of the classroom as well.
So, again, yeah.
A lot of the -- a lot of the
same observations and things
that other programs
shared as well.
>> Loriene Roy: Thanks, Sarah.
How -- Bonnie, how
about Seeds of Literacy?
Anything changed as
a result of COVID,
or what's your experience
been like?
>> Bonnie Entler: COVID was
challenging for everybody.
But right before COVID
hit, the board of directors
and I were working really
on kind of a growth plan.
And never in our vision
would we have ever thought
of a virtual classroom.
I can't thank my
program staff enough.
We were actually only
shut down about nine days.
We -- kind of a trial and
error for about six months.
We did a lot of recorded
lessons.
We did a lot of tutoring
via phone.
We really [inaudible] able
to rally the community.
We were able to get computers
out to students who needed them.
And kind of about a six
month of trial and error,
we were actually kind of able
to offer what we're calling
now our virtual classroom,
which really does mirror
our physical classroom.
So we have those site
coordinators who really are able
to match the students and
the tutors as they come on.
They go into their
private breakout room.
We digitized their
entire curriculum,
trained all our volunteer
tutors, not only technology wise
but working with
students that way.
It was something that I
would have never envisioned
that our students
would really able --
to be able to step up on to use
any kind of technology, device,
whether it's their phone
or tablet or computer
to be able to connect to us.
We have been opened,
our physical classrooms,
since right after Labor Day,
back to our 12-hour
days we operate on.
So we've got morning,
afternoon, evening classrooms.
And our virtual classroom
still is our most popular,
even for our beginning readers.
So we will continue to keep
that as an option as we continue
to look for expansion
opportunities
in our physical sites.
>> Loriene Roy: Great.
Thanks.
>> Marty Finsterbusch:
VALUE, for VALUE,
the most biggest impact
for us is our staff.
We get work study students
from the community
college and local college.
And this past year and the
other time, we didn't get this.
We didn't get the students.
When they come in here
and we get staff support,
which helps us get our
website, get newsletters out,
corresponds with memberships.
So we're teaching
adult learners --
I mean, community
college students
about how to run a nonprofit.
They get to see the
back end of it.
They get to see levels that
they would never get to see
because I say, Well, here's
our budget, boom, boom, boom.
We're planning a national
event in the Hill.
This is how you do.
We're planning event;
we're planning this training
how create these spreadsheets.
And so we give exposure
to work study students
that they would never
get anywhere else.
And they're learning
about adult ed.
Well, Covid has dried
up that pool.
And so we've been missing our
support staff in the office,
and that's the biggest
hindrance for us
because we don't have
enough manpower here to keep
on reaching out and
responding to everyone
and getting newsletters
out and sending
out reports and so forth.
So that's our biggest hurt for
us for Covid is not being able
to get college kids back
into VALUE so they can learn
about adult literacy and use
their skills to help us learn.
So that's the biggest thing
that's been hurting VALUE.
>> Loriene Roy: Thanks
very much.
Thinking of the challenges
that each of you has faced
and your many, many successes,
can you think of a way
that you might collaborate
with each other?
I can see so many
levels of skills,
so many levels of strengths.
And even just spending time
again on your websites,
you have something
to offer everyone.
Anyone have anything
they'd like to share?
I often volunteer my
students for activities.
In the spring, I'll
teach library instruction
and information literacy.
And we look for clients.
We develop pathfinders
or guides to literature.
We develop lib guides in
a kind of a sandbox area
and then instruction videos,
teaching people how to do things
like search in a database.
This past year, our client was
our new undergraduate program.
And our most popular
item was just a list
that answered questions about
what it takes to prepare
for a career in librarianship.
And this was for our
new undergraduates,
18- to 22-year-olds just
entering our program
on informatics.
>> Bonnie Entler: I can highly
recommend Marty's program.
We had the fortunate opportunity
to actually have Marty actually
come out, work with some
of the Seed staff as well
as some of our students.
And that has really helped
us as an organization,
as our program committee is
always keeping our students'
voice at the forefront.
Every decision we
make is revolved
around what our students
think about that.
And if any program has that
opportunity to bring Marty out,
I would highly recommend it.
>> Loriene Roy: His material
on the website on leadership,
that would impact any program
and any educational program too.
I can see content that would
benefit my own students as well.
>> Marty Finsterbusch:
That training is coming.
That's why we're
working with ProLiteracy.
VALUE cannot keep them running
around the country going
from program to program
around the country.
There's not -- we
can't keep that up.
So we have pilot tested.
We cleaned it up, and now
it's in the printing process.
And we were hoping to have it
up at the first of the year,
but without the support
staff here it's slowing
that process down.
So within another month or two,
it should be on the market.
And then any program
can take this training
and help evaluate
your own programs
and get your students more
involved in your own program
to help you meet your needs.
And you talked about
collaborating.
I have to share the Barbara
Bush strategic plan are also one
of your funders.
VALUE's one of the
few organizations
that are actually named in it.
So if you haven't read this yet,
or seen this, you might want
to look at this plan
also that's out there.
So you talk about collaborating,
I just want to throw
that out there.
>> Loriene Roy: No, thanks.
Great for sharing.
And we've had a member
of our board very active
with the Barbara Bush Foundation
and as well as connections,
continued connections
to that effort.
But we all have something
to share with each other.
And I love the examples
that you've given,
how your organizations
are supporting each other.
Anything else anyone
would like to mention.
>> Carol Clymer: I mean, we
have a lot of resources on --
online and, you know, happy
to share those plus professional
development that we do,
both for the state,
nationally for local programs.
And we do evaluations.
I know Marty does that too.
But we can do all different
kinds of evaluations.
I'd also love to know
from my colleagues
like how they are measuring
their outcomes beyond just what
we have to put if you
get AEFLA funding,
federal funding beyond
just what you put
into the national
reporting system.
That I think, you know,
we -- Marty made a really,
really important point.
Our programs are invisible in
many, many ways to many people
and not just to the
learners but, you know, to --
even to other programs.
I mean, I'm delighted to be on
this call today because this is,
you know, the first time I've
heard of The Learning Source.
It's the first time I've heard
of the Seeds of Literacy.
And I'm really glad to
hear about your work,
but we don't always have
-- we don't have, like,
a well-organized field
because we get money
from different funders
to do our work.
We measure different outcomes,
depending on the funders that,
you know, fund our programs.
And we go to COABE and
we go to ProLiteracy,
and we have those networks.
But, you know, it's
not the same as K-12.
And so I -- you know, I really
think it's -- it would --
it's important to learn how
people are measuring their
outcomes and in ways that
aren't being mandated
by the federal government
because that's how we're going
to continue to succeed
and serve our learners
and become more visible I think.
>> Loriene Roy: Thanks, Carol.
That is a terrific question.
And just looking at
applying for a Library
of Congress Literacy Award,
we ask people to respond
and provide information about
certain criteria: Innovation,
sustainability, replicability,
measurable results
and evidence-based practice.
And those two last
criteria, measurable results
and evidence-based
practice, that's where we want
to see the measurement,
how to measure outcome.
Let's see how other folks on
the panel are addressing that --
that question, that area
about measuring outcome.
Learning Source,
come back to Sarah.
Anything you'd like
to contribute
about measuring outcome?
>> Sarah Secrist: I think
this is a question we continue
to think about because, as
other panelists have mentioned,
we have this sort
of standard outcomes
that we're reporting
for our grant.
But I really -- I think
something that we're looking
to grow is really our -- how our
students can become advocates
for our programs in the field.
So I think really interested
to learn more about some
of these leadership and
training opportunities,
thinking about how we can get --
grow our arm of advocacy
within our program
and really have our students
be able to share, you know,
their long-term successes
as a result of the support
that they got through
our programs.
So I think it's an
evolving conversation.
I don't know that I have the
exact answer for those things.
But I think those
long-term outcomes,
that's really what we're trying
to work towards with some
of this career pathway
development and, again,
engaging our alumni to be
able to speak for the field
and how important it is
-- the work is that we do,
beyond just that
educational functioning level.
>> Loriene Roy: I love
the gathering of stories,
what has this meant
in someone's life.
As we kind of think about
learning from each other,
it also reminds me of
programs that provide funding
that actually support or
recognize collaborations.
The Institute of Museum and
Library Services, IMLS, is one.
They really like to see
how groups collaborate
with each other.
And so I can envision,
you know, grant funding
that includes a number of your
organizations working towards
some aim, some difference.
I'm going to ask Bonnie
from Seeds of Literacy
to add any comments
that she would
like about the topic
on measuring outcome.
As the other programs shared,
measurements are
always a challenge.
I think only in our world does
anybody know what an educational
functional level is.
No one in the outside
world knows what that is.
So we have measured a
variety of different things.
And we measure all the typical
NRS ones like functional levels,
skill gains, all of that stuff.
But we actually kind of break
it down into some things
that I think a lot more
of our other stakeholders
and funders understand
a little bit more.
We do use our TABE for
grade level increases.
We do share a lot of our
attendance data from the number
of people going through
orientation
and how they progress through
the number of classes and hours
that they contribute to really
help stakeholders understand
that our adults are busy and
have lots of other barriers,
so education is not
always a top priority.
But they may just step
out for a little while,
but they may come
back six months later.
So kind of share a lot of
that data as long as --
as well as kind of all
our reassessment data,
our practice test
data, things like that.
We also teach students who have
very limited reading abilities
so someone reading under
the third grade level.
So we do some fluency
assessments,
and we kind of share
that information
with our stakeholders, too, so
that they can understand that,
you know, someone learning their
letter sounds and all of that
and progressing to be able
to read some sentences,
huge progress.
But we're always working on
sharing those kind of stories
with our different
stakeholders so they understand
that a student may not
achieve their [inaudible]
in twelve months, but they
may learn something new
that will be helpful to
them throughout their life
and make them better
community members.
>> Loriene Roy: Thanks,
Bonnie, so much.
Marty, anything you'd
like to add about --
>> Marty Finsterbusch: Yes.
I'm going to comment
on this issue
that our field needs
to do testing.
And it needs to be standardized
at some level so comparison.
But sometimes a field has gone
overboard in that capacity
and that doesn't
allow certain things.
Adult learners, it's
not only just
about getting reading
levels but can you survive?
Can you do something that you
couldn't do before for yourself,
for your family and your kids?
A lot of times that's
not counted anymore,
but that's what the adult
learner come in for.
So if someone comes
in your program
and they're 65 years old now
and they just want to be able
to learn how to read this,
we smack them with big tests.
We make them do -- jump
through all these hoops,
and we make all these
requirements.
So sometimes their
testing drowns
out what the program
is there for,
is helping someone get something
because, when someone comes
into a program, normally
there's a need that they need
to get met right away, not
that we're going to sit you
in a program for five
years and we're going
to test you and test you.
So it's our -- there's
a fine line here,
and we don't address that.
But sometimes our
-- to get that data,
We're creaming out the crops.
The lower level students
sometimes get left behind
in this testing because the
testing we have doesn't really
meet the needs of that adult
learner and it overwhelms them.
So as soon as you walk into
a program, here's a test.
Here's a test that
you're going to drown.
Well, do I want to
come back after that?
So we need to look at that whole
process constantly because,
from the student viewpoint,
it's awful getting smacked
with a hard test
as soon as you walk
through a door before you
know anyone and says --
and if you're at the lower
level, that test is --
overwhelms you that we have.
And so I'm just throwing
that out there
from the student viewpoint.
That area is still sense --
it needs to be improved for
our field because it's not fun
for the adult learner in
any way, shape or form.
Just throwing that out there.
>> Loriene Roy: Yeah.
No, that's great.
It reminds me that the
Institute of Museum
and Library Services follows
and asks its grant recipients
to follow an outcome-based
evaluation, that is, they say,
tell us how you're going to
measure changes in attitudes,
changes in behaviors,
changes in skills.
So it's a different
way of counting.
I want to now see if we have
any questions from the audience.
>> Kaleena Black: Great.
I'll come back on.
Hope you've had a chance
to see some of the comments
and responses to the panel.
I did see one question
from Leanne, I believe,
was asking about volunteers.
So she said, Everyone's
mentioned program volunteers.
Can each of you talk a bit
about how you recruit
and train volunteers?
>> Loriene Roy: That's
a great question.
Volunteers.
Let's start with --
>> Bonnie Entler:
[Inaudible] if you don't mind.
>> Loriene Roy: Yes.
Go ahead. Oh, Bonnie.
Thanks.
>> Bonnie Entler: Seeds
is about 24 years old.
We're getting ready to celebrate
our 25th anniversary next fiscal
year, but we've always
remained a very
volunteer-based organization.
So we have a pretty small staff.
There's only about 20 of
us serving 1000 students.
But we use volunteers as
tutors to every aspect
of our program [inaudible]
things like that.
But tutors have always been the
active part of our organization,
allowing us to provide that
individualized instruction
so students are able to
work at their own pace
and at their own level.
So our tutors go through a
six-hour training process
that we've created.
And then they will observe
with a current tutor
on site before we put
them into the classroom.
We have tweaked that
for our virtual tutors
because we know no one
can sit for six hours.
So we do a kind of
two one-hour sessions
and add some homework onto that.
We train tutors probably
about every six months.
Our training schedule
is on our website.
If anybody would like to join
us virtually, we'd be happy
to share our program with you.
>> Loriene Roy: Thanks, Bonnie.
Who else would like
to say something
about recruiting volunteers?
>> Sarah Secrist: We, too,
are a very volunteer-based
organization.
We use a lot of the sort
of national databases,
VolunteerMatch to
recruit volunteers,
trying to establish partnerships
with local colleges
and universities.
We -- just over the last couple
of years have a great
partnership
with Front Range
Community [inaudible]
>> Marty Finsterbusch:
Lost a connection.
>> Loriene Roy: Yeah.
She's -- she was
saying something great,
and we were halfway there.
But hopefully she'll come back.
Anything else to add
about volunteers,
how to recruit volunteers?
>> Carol Clymer: I just
put something in the chat.
>> Loriene Roy: Okay, great.
And what did you put
in the chat, Carol?
>> Carol Clymer: I mean, our --
we do have a six-credit
course that's
in the English Department.
And we recruit from
all different areas
of the University.
And it's interesting,
you know, we get science
and engineering majors and a
lot of college of ed majors,
and it's a really
fantastic program.
Of course, it has a very
specific training, you know,
because we have a
syllabus that we use.
And it's built off of our
training manual that --
that was done by another
program in the state
for professional development.
And then they have
a practicum, right,
so they come in, tutor with us.
And it's a really great
way to get tutors.
Not everyone has that,
you know, luxury but --
of working, you know, with
a university or college.
I think that's what -- yeah.
I forgot the name of the
person who just dropped off,
but I -- was it Leann?
Leann, anyway, from
The Learning Source.
I think she was just about to
say we have a good relationship
with a community college.
So I would suggest, you
know, build relationships
with colleges and universities
as one tool for recruiting.
It is harder to get
tutors from the community.
Part of that is because
in the state
of Pennsylvania our tutors have
to have a bachelor's degree
and so -- if they're going to
be doing one-on-one tutoring.
And -- yeah/, we can get some
people with a bachelor's degree
but -- and we go
out to all kinds
of different community groups to
do presentations and, you know,
the same things that, you know,
do the online tutor recruitment.
But it is a little bit different
because of the commitment
that people have to make.
And -- oh, it was --
Kathy was going to say it.
I don't know why I said Leann.
Sorry. Anyway, I'll
let her finish now.
So that's a little bit
about how we do recruiting.
Kathy, you were about to say
you have a good relationship
with a community college, I
think, before you cut off.
>> Loriene Roy: That was
Sarah, Sarah Secrist.
But, yeah.
Would you like to finish
what you started, Sarah.
>> Sarah Secrist: I
apologize for that.
My internet just all
of a sudden went out.
Yes. So we have a
great partnership
with Front Range
Community College.
They have a TEFL certificate
program, so we've been able
to serve as sort of a
mentorship practicum resource
for those students, and that has
been a really great partnership
to recruit new volunteers,
even new staff.
So we're looking at trying
to kind of establish more
of those partnerships to
bring in new volunteers
and also just share
our opportunities
with the community.
And then we host
twice-a-year trainings.
We've been looking at trying
to create more online trainings
to allow volunteers to get
involved with our program
at various points throughout
the year and then connect them
to our different sites
across the state so.
>> Loriene Roy: Great.
Thanks. Sarah, I
wanted to thank you
for mentioning recruiting
students at colleges.
Our students have to complete
what they call the capstone.
So each of them has to find
a field supervisor willing
to supervise some work
they're doing during their
last semester.
So they donate 125 hours toward
creating some tangible product.
And they're always
searching for good hosts,
and they do terrific work.
I'm going to ask Kaleena if
we had any other questions.
>> Kaleena Black: So we're
getting close to the end,
and I want to make sure we
have some time for the wrap-up.
But I think this last
question would be --
I'm forgetting the name
of who this came from.
I think it was James asked,
How would you suggest a small
library start an English
literacy program or a
technology literacy program
for struggling adults?
It's a good question.
>> Loriene Roy: Any
advice for this?
Sounds like a librarian.
>> Bonnie Entler: I know one
of your award recipients is
the Northstar Digital Literacy
thing [phonetic].
We've been using them since they
started, and they've been --
incorporate the assessment
into our program,
and it's been a wonderful
resource I would
highly recommend.