Literacy – Spanning the US :: Philadelphia PA :: Crawford Co AR :: Fort Bend Co TX

@PhillyCLC

Philly's adult learners earning their way to better lives

Philly.com: 7.03.2017 by Kristen A. Graham

For a long time, Sharif Cook-Riley thought he would become a statistic: He was a young black man with a criminal record and no high school diploma. But this week, he earned a piece of paper that has already served as a bridge to a better life.

Hector Ceballos left Mexico without finishing high school, in search of more opportunities in America. The equivalency credential he collected on Wednesday will allow him to pursue a future in the music world – something he has dreamed of for as long as he can remember.

The two men are among the 100-plus Philadelphians who earned the right to graduate this week in a ceremony honoring adult learners who successfully obtained Commonwealth Secondary School Diplomas – high school equivalency degrees, essentially.

In a city where nearly one in five adults lacks a high school degree and nearly half struggle to read, the achievement is meaningful on both a small and a large scale. Adults who earn their equivalency degrees increase their earning potential dramatically, by thousands a year.

Through the Community Learning Center, a 30-year-old adult literacy nonprofit, Cook-Riley took placement tests and, in four months, zoomed through a program that takes many people a year or more to complete.  READ MORE @

@AdultEdCrawford

Getting GED reinstated as alternative sentencing

Press Argus-Courier: 7.03.2017 by Taniah Tudor

Criminal offenders in Crawford County facing steep fines or community service can now have those sentences wiped out if they agree to work instead toward receiving their general education diploma.

When District Court Judge Chuck Baker started working as a county prosecutor 25 years ago, every sentencing included completion of the equivalency exam for those without a general education or high school diploma, he said.

After he took office as district judge in January, Baker and Debbie Faubus-Kendrick, the Crawford County Adult Education director, began to discuss reinstating the education program as alternative sentencing, he said.

“I wanted to bring that back when I became judge,” Baker said.

Baker started giving alternative service, or alternative sentencing in April in partnership with the Crawford County Adult Education Center, which offers the education courses.

“Baker is giving the participants an opportunity to grow and succeed where they’ve never had it before,” Faubus-Kendrick said.

Multiple people in the program are close to receiving their GED, and up to five people additionally will graduate from the CCAEC’s basic skills classes in a few months, said Marty Wilson, Crawford County Adult Education alternative sentencing coordinator.  READ MORE @

@ftbendliteracy 

Volunteer teaches English to immigrants in Houston area

Waco Tribune: 7.08.2017 by Monica Rohr

Mr. Vito, as his students call him, began class with his usual questions: “What do you want to know? What would you like to read?”

The English as a Second Language instructor, whose full name is Vito Susca, sat at the head of a long conference table. By his elbow, a pile of dog-eared reference books: A Dictionary of American Idioms. World Almanac 2017. Collins Thesaurus. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

His adult students at the Literacy Council of Fort Bend County can look up a nettlesome word in seconds on their smartphones, but the 86-year-old Susca is old school. So whenever someone stumbles over vocabulary, one of the books is passed around the table.

From Renee Kang, a native of Hong Kong, to Erika Arroyo, a soon-to-be first-time mother from Brazil. From Jean Cuyollaa, an ebullient retiree from France, to Morvarid Rad, a soft-spoken Iranian.

From one newcomer to another, then back to Mr. Vito, a retired engineer, Korean War veteran, history buff, widower twice over, son of an Italian immigrant father and Polish-American mother who both struggled to learn English as adults.

In his 17th year as a volunteer teacher, Susca conducts his class like a seminar on American culture, weaving in current events and comic strip brain teasers, regaling students with tales from his life and chapters from U.S. history. They leap from syntax and vocabulary to the Haymarket Square riots and the Trail of Tears; from grammar and idioms to the six flags of Texas and the meaning of Juneteenth.  READ MORE @