Literacy In The News ::
Spanning the US
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Modesto Bee: 4.18.2021 by John Holland
Eight adult students and two educators were
honored with the 22nd annual awards from the Literacy Network of Stanislaus
County. The [sic] were presented March 19 via Zoom.
The organizers provided these details on the
honorees:
Alondra Ibarra-Torres and Sandra Rodriguez,
both students at Modesto Junior College, were winners in the English as a
Second Language category.
Abdul Darwe and Otoniel (Tony) Muñoz were honored in the Literacy category. Both are students at LearningQuest/Stanislaus Literacy Centers.
Darwe, a native of Afghanistan, overcame
physical injuries and the constant threat of bombing in his war-ravaged
homeland. He moved his mother and sisters to Pakistan, where they then obtained
visas to come to the United States. He hopes to obtain a GED and eventually go
into teaching or nursing.
Muñoz suffered from physical problems
resulting in speech and movement difficulties. He has improved his reading from
fourth-grade to ninth-grade level and has learned technology skills. He hopes
to attain a High School Equivalency certificate to boost his job skills.
Turlock Adult School students Maria
Luisa Avina and Nancy Contreras won scholarships of $500
each. Both are bilingual, bicultural, first-generation students. READ MORE ➤➤
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Lubbock Online: 4.18.2021 by Steve Banta, Literacy Texas
During the pandemic, literacy was one of the
hardest-hit social services programs in Texas. As with education, mental
health, and other key human learning services, the so-called “COVID Slide”
significantly impacted literacy training, especially in rural areas.
Literacy Lubbock
Nonprofits like Literacy Lubbock kept
their doors open throughout 2020, working with adult students juggling
full-time jobs, and family responsibilities while they earned GEDs and other
high school credentials. Less fortunate Texas nonprofits were forced to close,
and thousands of students and families fell between the cracks of literacy
education.
Texas ranks 47th in literacy nationwide,
with some of the lowest national percentages of people aged 25 years and older
to complete high school or GEDs. During the pandemic, job losses proved that literacy
is critical to our future, and our state’s economy.
Technology was identified as the key to bridging the learning gap. More than 71% of nonprofit survey respondents serving students listed lack of computers and internet access at home as major roadblocks to learning. Sixty-two percent were unable to communicate with students without cell phones or email addresses, and many cited cultural and language barriers as a hurdle to communication.
Moving forward, nonprofits are re-booting
tele-literacy training, investing in iPads and other electronics to reach students,
but nothing outweighs the desire the learn.
READ MORE ➤➤
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CountOn 2: 4.19.2021 by Carolyn Murray
Reading a book, filling out a form, signing
your name – it’s easy to take being able to do these things for granted.
For nearly 50 years, adults have gained this
skill through the Trident
Literacy Association.
News 2’s Carolyn Murray shares this week’s
Everyday Hero: the founder of the organization and asked what sparked the idea
to help adults learn to read and write.
“A gentleman came up to me, held out a card
and said, ‘do you think this card is appropriate for my grandson?’ and I looked
at the card and said yes, I think he would really like it,” explained Pat
Gibson.
She continued: “When I went to check out,
the clerk said thank you for helping him buy a card today because he cannot
read, and it was an epiphany for me. It had never occurred to me that there were
adults who couldn’t read.”
Gibson quickly dismisses the notion that she
is solely responsible for starting Trident Literacy, but the Virginia native
planted the seed for the organization in 1972
And Gibson says they are often hidden in plain sight – your neighbors, relatives, and friends. Thousands of people struggling to read and write in Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties.
“There are 66,000 adults in the tri-county
area who do not possess a high school credential and they have a problem
filling out a job application form,” said Gibson. WATCH 04:00
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According to the Texas Education Agency,
thousands of adults do not have a high school diploma. A local organization is
trying to fix that.
Under a little less than a year, the Adult Literacy Council of the Concho Valley said
their staff has seen a different population of students use the resources they
provide to get their GED and other educational resources to be able to live and
work.
“We have had traditionally before COVID. We
had older people that were wanting to get their high school equivalent. They
had missed school. And when I say older, it could be 20, 30, 40, 50, or the
90-year-old that are wanting to get their high school equivalent. It’s in their
bucket list and they want that to be done…we saw more younger kids and I’m
talking about 15 to 18-year-olds that have dropped and who were not doing their
classwork necessarily at school or not having a computer,” Marilynn Golightly,
Adult Literacy Council of the Concho Valley program director said. WATCH
02:07
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