{ Educate }
Educate is the first category of action in { We Speak America }.
Education in the U.S. is going through a transformative change. What we used to know is no longer what we need to know. The digital economy demands innovative thinking at all levels. The current economic downturn has shaken the long standing interconnections between education, government, and citizenry. While the economy affects all walks of life, the impact is multifold for those in the lowest rung. In the changing landscape of education, the challenge is upon us to come up with innovative solutions to help the underserved become full citizens of our American democracy.
The Need for Alternative
The sheer number of Limited English Proficient (LEP) adults in the U.S. (22 million) call for thinking outside the box. Preparing low-wage workers and LEP immigrants to move up in the economic ladder require more than business as usual approaches. { We Speak America } will create an organizational and revenue model that will bring education back to the community, find solutions at the grassroots level and outside established bureaucracies.
Diminishing funding streams and increasing reporting requirements have hijacked many adult literacy programs. Akin to their K-12 equivalent, many programs are caught in bureaucracies, unable to innovate, as more time is spent on data production, standardized tests, and other required paperwork. While there are many effective learning practices in the field, best educational practices still need to find their way in program offices and in all the classrooms, notwithstanding the constraints of management and public funding.
Educators must join forces in addressing outdated traditional and top-down models in education: drill and practice, grammar-based, teacher-directed educational approaches that are frowned upon, but continue to exist. While they make great conference discourse and coffee talks, adult literacy sites are plagued with the same old instructional methodologies. Curricula reflect textbooks from traditional academia, pages and pages of rote memorization of cultural facts and data–the Where-Are-You-Froms, and the cultural song and dance and food festivals that mostly highlight ethnic identity when workers really need are work-based language skills that will help them sustain their jobs. There is also an industry built around out-of-context drill and practice, grammar-based, and vocabulary picture books that need tremendous adaptation to fit specific populations. Now, a simple Google search on “ESOL” reveal that such practice has taken off as practitioners create their own java-scripted grammar quizzes on-line.
On the education front, { We Speak America }, as a social enterprise, will find exemplar adult literacy programs, benchmark their best practices, and use them as programmatic models.
The Right Tools
Adult learners in the U.S. are a highly complex group. From learning disabilities to domestic problems, the multiple barriers to upward mobility suggest a different way of tackling issues. { We Speak America } will organize from the bottom-up and educate one community at a time.
Conducting effective Needs and Skills Assessment will uncover the many layers that lock the underserved in a permanent state of economic stagnation. Understanding the community in which adult learners reside will also excavate the obstacle to economic development. Research-based and current curriculum frameworks have to replace expensive, linear, inflexible, and non-adaptable curricula that become doorstoppers after initial use.
Educators are lifelong learners. As rolemodels for students, they also need to regularly self-assess and evaluate their practice. Adult literacy education is not known for professionalization. Many organizations are full of volunteers with good hearts but no educational background and experience. Creating a support system for incumbent and would-be educators can professionalize the industry. They must be introduced at pre-service and orientation to the availability of best practices in pedagogy and curriculum development. Management can also provide a support system by creating communities of learners for educators, where they can share, exchange know-how, and provide support for each other.
Some Data
Of the 23 million Limited English Proficient (LEP) immigrants, only a little over a million are in federally-funded ESOL programs in the U.S.
Once the 2010 census is tabulated, we will have a more current economic landscape for low-wage immigrants in the U.S. The information below is taken from the business plan of { We Speak America }.
- “Almost half of U.S. low skilled workers are immigrants.” U.S. Current Population Survey, 2004-2005
- “As of 2005, 35.8 million of U.S. is foreign-born, about 12.4 % of the total population; 3 in 10 lack a high school diploma.” ( Asian American Justice Center, 2007)
- “The U.S. labor force is also projected to become older and more racially and ethnically diverse in the future. As the baby boom generation ages, older workers are expected to compose a larger share of the labor force. The 55-and-older age group, which made up 13 percent of the labor force in 2000, is projected to increase to 20 percent by 2020.” (US GAO Report, page 9).
- “2004 American Community Survey, foreign-born workers represented about 15 percent of the U.S. labor force. The highest foreign-born shares—20 percent—were found among workers in construction and arts, entertainment, hospitality, [and] food services.” (Bartlett, 2006).
- “Workers are not receiving sufficient training. Participants generally agreed that more training is needed, although it is unclear who is responsible for training—the employers, employees, or both. Previously, in many industries, employers provided long-term training. Today, however, employers are less likely to train their employees because in a tight labor market they face the risk of losing workers to other firms that do not train.” (US GAO Report, p. 10).
Sources: Adult Literacy Education in Immigrant Communities Report
Building A Competitive Workforce: Immigration And The US Manufacturing Sector by David Bartlett
Benchmark Best Practices
The education sector is full of bright minds. There are many unsung heroes in the classrooms, all caught in bureaucracy. Their educational pedagogy and discipline are muffled by the need for number crunching. At the end of the day, the head count becomes more important than what’s in those heads. Education falls in the backburner.
Finding Think-alikes shouldn’t be so difficult in the Internet society. The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) has discussion lists where educators have created a community of sharing (you can register here). They are an excellent way to find best practices in other programs. Educators are learners too. They have much to learn from one another.
The Role of Social Entrepreneurship
The public sector–CBOS, Non-profits, Union organizations–have traditionally provided educational opportunities for the underserved. Many of them are government-funded agencies, so much so that an unfavorable shift in government may mean loss of funding and programming cutbacks. The private sector, on the other hand, could play an important role in the mobilization of those trapped at bottom of the pyramid. Enter the innovative minds of change agents and social entrepreneurs. The social entrepreneur could provide a refreshing perspective on social causes, by utilizing proven principles of business enterprises to help advance and empower the underserved. From the Skoll Foundation:
Today, social entrepreneurs are working in many countries to create avenues for independence and opportunity for those who otherwise would be locked into lives without hope. They range from Jim Fruchterman of Benetech, who uses technology to address pressing social problems such as the reporting of human rights violations, to John Wood of Room to Read, who helps underprivileged children gain control of their lives through literacy. They include Marie Teresa Leal, whose sewing cooperative in Brazil respects the environment and fair labor practices, and Inderjit Khurana, who teaches homeless children in India at the train stations where they beg from passengers.
The Road to Transformation
The crisis in education can be tackled in many ways, but for { We Speak America }, the information superhighway is the road to transformation. By leveraging the affordances of internet technology for education and training, the organization aims to diminish the multiple barriers facing low-wage workers and Limited English Proficient immigrants. As a social enterprise, it partner with multiple stakeholders that play a role in the success of the American worker–businesses, community-based organizations, faith-based institutions, NGOs, Unions, family, and government.
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