Literacy: Spanning North America
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It’s All About Literacy For Volunteer
Glengarry
News (Press Reader): 2.27.2019 by Steven Warburton
For
the past two years, Apple Hill area resident Alison Tucker has been helping
local residents improve their literacy skills. It doesn’t matter if they are
recent immigrants or students looking to upgrade their skills, Mrs. Tucker will
work with anyone who wants to enhance their English skills.
The
England-born Mrs. Tucker, who worked as a nurse for 40 years and also taught at
St. Lawrence College, does her volunteer work through the TriCounty Literacy
Council, whom, she says, offered her the perfect retirement project.
“I
was looking to do something that I love and I wanted it to be volunteer work,”
she says. “I didn’t want to be tied to a schedule.”
The
Cornwall-based TriCounty Literacy Council specializes in addressing adult
literacy needs in the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. It does this by helping
upgrade literacy skills, prepare students for GEDs, conduct computer training
and provide occupational training for entry-level positions.
Despite
all of this, Mrs. Tucker says there isn’t a whole lot of awareness about the
program in rural areas. READ
MORE >>
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Reading
Changed His Life Forever
Gettysburg
Times: 2.28.2019 by T.W. Burger
In
a March 2002, interview with Times reporter Dick Watson, James Gourley said
learning how to read changed his life forever.
“I
never would have believed the opportunities that opened up as a result of
knowing how to read,” he said.
“Now,
I read everything I can get my hands on,” he said.
After
a couple of years of work with the Adams
County Literacy Council, he achieved his goal.
He
was 40 years old at the time.
After
that, he began speaking to students around the county on behalf of the literacy
council. In 1996, he was awarded the Laubach
Literacy’s national award of excellence and joined its national speaker’s
bureau.
James
R. Gourley Jr., of Orrtanna, died on Jan. 29, 2019, in the York Hospital. He
was 71.
In
the same Times interview, James revealed that his life before literacy had been
one of shame and fear his lack of literacy would be found out. He fooled
friends, neighbors, children and employers into thinking he was literate. At
home, he would pretend to be too tired to play monopoly or help with homework.
Twice,
he quit jobs because he was promoted to positions where he would have to deal
with paperwork.
Instead,
he went into construction work. READ
MORE >>
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Literacy
Connects Aims To Improve Local Economy, Lives
Arizona
Daily Star: 3.01.2019 by Ann Brown
Literacy Connects percolated from a
2007 regional town hall, which identified increasing literacy as the best way
to ensure a prosperous economy and improved quality of life for everyone.
Town
hall participants were shocked by the appalling fact that only 23 percent of
Americans read proficiently, says Betty Stauffer, executive director of
Literacy Connects.
In
Arizona, an estimated 530,000 adults read at or below a fifth-grade equivalent,
according to the National Assessment of
Adult Literacy.
Literacy
has a direct link to economic development. Employers want a well-trained,
qualified workforce. It also has an impact on everyday lives of those who must
read and comprehend things like contracts, voter guides and notes from
children’s teachers.
Literacy
Connects emerged in July 2011 after many meetings, facilitated discussions and
strategic planning sessions about the best way to offer quality literacy
services. Five organizations merged: Literacy Volunteers of Tucson, Reading
Seed, Reach Out and Read Southern Arizona, Literacy for Life Coalition and
Stories That Soar. READ
MORE >>
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Literacy
Center Branch Opens In Marble Hill
SE Missourian:
3.02.2019 by Dawn Bollinger
The
Cape Adult and Literacy Center
opened a new branch at the Bollinger County
Library in January.
Getting
an education matters; however, sometimes people do not have the opportunity to
graduate from high school along with their peers.
The
Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) program located in Cape Girardeau works to
help rectify that situation. By offering HSET (High School Equivalency Test)
classes to prepare students to take the HSET exam, formerly know as the GED,
the center makes it possible for adults to advance in their current jobs or to
begin new careers through advanced educational skills, or even to continue to
college.
DESE
(Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) put into place the
guidelines for all Adult Education and Literacy programs in the state.
Adult
Education and Literacy consists of three levels: Adult Basic Education, Adult
Secondary Education, and English Language Acquisition classes. The program
emphasizes basic skills such as reading, writing, math, and English language
acquisition, if necessary. READ MORE >>
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