Writings: U.S., 2019-2023

• This October 2023 five-volume series  provides resources for those who want to expand and strengthen adult foundational education (AFE) in the U.S.  It acknowledges that AFE has – often with limited resources -- produced significant benefits for adult learners and diverse community stakeholders, while also generating program models, trained AFE specialists, and other resources that the field can build on. But the series also summarizes concerns that AFE reaches inadequate numbers of learners and community partners; isn't sufficiently relevant to their interests and needs; too often doesn't use effective practices for instruction and management; and has limited investment by public and private-sector stakeholders.  The series discusses (1) the strengths and limitations of current AFE in the U.S; (2) a vision and voices for a multi-purpose, collaborative, empowerment-focused AFE; (3) what community-oriented AFE can look like at the local level; and (4) how advocates for such a perspective can generate the supports and supporters we need. 

• This March 27, 2023 100-page document (Learners as Leaders for Stronger Communities: Renewing Participatory Learning, Learner Leadership, and U.S. Adult Foundational Education) traces the history of participatory learning and learner leadership efforts in adult foundational education (AFE) since the 1980s. It identifies potential benefits and challenges of such work. It concludes with actions stakeholders can take to make participatory models and learner leadership central features of new community-oriented adult foundational education systems in the U.S.  Written for AFE practitioners, learners, and supporters who are interested in both AFE systems reform and participatory education and leader leadership.  To see two related presentations at the 2023 annual conference of the New Jersey Association for Lifelong Learning, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq-233AmHi0&t=90s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS06Ui8KKFA

• Since April 2022, an ad hoc team of AFE researchers and practitioners has developed a Concept Paper for an "AFE Digital Library."  This national, coordinated, online system  would help AFE providers, learners, policy makers, funders, and other stakeholders access valuable, relevant resources (e.g. reports, curricula, assessments, policies).  Below, view (a) a one-page "Why We Need a National Digital Library for U.S. Adult Foundational Education," (b) a 5-page Executive Summary of the Concept Paper, and (c) the full, detailed 46-page Concept Paper.  (Paul Jurmo served as Coordinator of this AFE Digital Library Group.) 

• In this January 28, 2023 podcast, Paul Jurmo first talks with host Erik Jacobson about Paul's early work in village literacy/numeracy programs in The Gambia. The conversation then moves to lessons that emerged from subsequent projects in the U.S. that field-tested contextualized, participatory/collaborative models of AFE for diverse purposes, learners, and communities. This episode is part of "The Critical Teaching and Learning Forum" hosted by Erik Jacobson, professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey.  Access this podcast at https://anchor.fm/ctlfpodcast/episodes/Rethinking-Adult-Education-e1u4uu2/a-a98fgob 

This PowerPoint was presented at a January 17, 2023 initial meeting of representatives of urban adult foundational education coalitions. It discusses:

1. How might past work-related AFE inform a new approach focusing on “equitable workforce and economic development”? 
2. What would a community-oriented, equity-focused, collaborative approach look like.? 
3. What would this approach require?  
4. What actions might AFE and partners take to transition to this approach? 
5. How might a national urban AFE network support “AFE for equitable workforce and economic development”?

• "First Things First: Re-Map 'the U.S. Adult Literacy Problem'" makes the case that efforts to build more effective opportunity systems for foundational-skills-challenged adults should be based on a comprehensive, accurate, and actionable understanding of the problems that adult learners and adult educators have to contend with.  Published by ProLiteracy in April 2022, it discusses (a) the range of basic (now increasingly called “foundational”) skills that U.S. adults need; (b) the diverse adults and out-of-school youth who have various kinds of foundational skills limitations and how those limitations can impact their ability to perform work, family, civic, and lifelong learning roles; (c) the factors that contribute to this largely-overlooked problem that has major implications for millions of individuals, their families and communities, and the nation as a whole; (d) the strengths that adult learners bring with them and can be built on; and (e) other stakeholders who can benefit from partnering with adult foundational education efforts and adult learners.   Download the file below or visit https://www.proliteracy.org/Portals/0/pdf/Research/White Papers/2022-04-FirstThingsFirst-DefiningAdultBasicSkills-whitepaper-1893.pdf

• "Activists, Academics, and Administrators: Why and How They Have Attempted to Reform U.S. Adult Education" is a PowerPoint presented by Paul Jurmo and Federico Salas-Isnardi on April 11, 2022 at the 2022 national conference of the Coalition on Adult Basic Education. It describes examples of innovations and systems reforms since the 1980s and discusses actions that might be taken now to build more effective systems of supports for basic-skills-challenged adults and out-of-school youth. Also attached is a list of resources related to themes discussed in this presentation. 

• "Learning from Adult Basic Skills Efforts in Developing Countries" is a PowerPoint presented virtually by Paul Jurmo and David J. Rosen on April 11, 2022 at the 2022 national conference of the Coalition on Adult Basic Education.  It describes how basic education has evolved in developing countries, recent international  guidelines developed for basic education programs, examples of programs in four countries, and lessons that U.S. adult educators might learn from such basic/foundational skills efforts. The presentation draws from "Basic Skills for Community-Oriented Development: A Resource Book for Educators and Other Partners" written by Paul Jurmo in 2021 (available at no charge from ProLiteracy at https://www.proliteracy.org/Portals/0/pdf/Research/White%20Papers/2021-BSFCOD-PJurmo-Resource.pdf?ver=2021-08-04-122813-600 ).

• With input from other U.S. adult education advocates, in April 2021 Paul Jurmo wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The Committee had called for public comments as it considered new federal policy for adult education.  See the attached document, which was co-signed by two dozen adult educators. 

•  “A Different Way: Reorienting Adult Education toward Democracy and Social Justice” is a 23-page article that opens with arguments from a range of stakeholders for using adult education as a means of supporting democracy and social justice in the U.S.  It then describes four strategies that adult educators might use to help learners deal with social justice challenges. This is followed by examples of how diverse programs have helped learners deal with ten types of social justice issues, including voting rights, immigrant integration, health, criminal justice, employment and economic security, environmental justice, and others.  It concludes with actions that adult educators and other stakeholders might take to identify and respond to social justice challenges learners and communities face.  The article was self-published by Paul Jurmo on Inauguration Day 2021 to contribute to productive reflection, dialogue, and action about the purposes and content of the U.S. adult basic skills development system.  The attached version is an update of the original, published by ProLiteracy in April, 2021. 

• “Trains, Buses, and Basic Skills: Learning in -- and from -- a Union Education Program for Transit Workers” is a case study of a work-related basic skills program in New York City that prepared members of Transport Workers Union Local 100 for success on civil service exams. Published in the March 2021 issue of Labor Studies Journal, it describes the origins of the larger Training and Upgrading Fund union-management education program; how the program used research-based strategies to plan, implement, learn from, and improve basic skills activities; and the results for workers, the union, and the city’s transit system. Recommends actions stakeholders might take to build similar models of work-related basic skills education for diverse industries and worker populations. Such collaborations and investments have great potential at this time of need and opportunity for worker education.

• “Ten Actions to Build an Adult Basic Skills Development System that Is More Inclusive, Relevant, Efficient, and Sustained” is a “Forum” piece by Paul Jurmo in the Fall 2020 issue of Adult Literacy Education:  The International Journal of Literacy, Language, and Numeracy.  It describes steps that policy makers, funders,  practitioners, and other stakeholders can take to expand and strengthen basic skills development opportunities for U.S. adults while helping to create a more equitable, productive, healthy, and environmentally sustainable society.  Read it and the insightful responses to the article from Esther Prins and Art Ellison. Download the PDF document below or here: https://www.proliteracy.org/Portals/0/pdf/Research/ALE%20Journal/ALE_ResearchJournal-v002_02-2020.pd

• "Contextualizing Adult Education:Learning from Six Decades of Experience and Research" is a September 2020 ProLiteracy Research Brief that traces the evolution of contextualized adult basic skills efforts in the U.S. Presents arguments for and examples of contextualized instruction integrated with learner academic and real-world interests.  Identifies issues for educators interested in using a contextualized approach to consider. Written by Paul Jurmo and Judy Mortrude and edited by Alisa Belzer. Download the PDF document below or here: https://www.proliteracy.org/Portals/0/pdf/Research/Briefs/ProLiteracy-Research-Brief-04_Contextualizing-2020-09.pdf 

• "Hidden Treasures:  Two Decades of  Workplace Basic Skills Efforts in the United States” is a ten-page article in the Spring 2020 issue of the COABE Journal. It describes efforts to develop, field-test, disseminate, fund, and sustain diverse models of basic skills education for U.S. incumbent workers from the 1980s to early 2000s. These models were customized to multiple industries, jobs, worker populations, basic skills, and goals. The programs were carried out through partnerships of diverse government agencies, employers, labor unions, educational institutions, and communities. It concludes with four “lessons” from those rich efforts that can inform current and future efforts to strengthen and expand basic skills supports for incumbent workers and job seekers. 

• “Basic Skills for Economic Security:  How Adult Educators, Adult Learners, and Anti-Poverty Organizations Can Work Together”: This paper was issued by the Open Door Collective in November, 2019. It describes why and how anti-poverty organizations and adult basic skills programs can collaborate to help individuals who have basic skills-related challenges (e.g., lower levels of literacy, English language, and numeracy skills needed for work, family, and civic roles; lack of a high school credential; learning disabilities) to improve their economic security and that of their families and communities. In so doing, these partnerships can also contribute to the building of a more equitable, efficient, and sustainable economy. The paper identifies steps that these two stakeholder groups might take to understand and build on existing collaborative models to create new partnerships. Written by Paul Jurmo, David Rosen, and Nicholas Montalto. 

• “Greening U.S. Adult Basic Skills Efforts: What Eco-Partners and Adult Educators Can Do Together": This 23-page guide (September 2019) presents why and how adult basic skills organizations can work with “eco-partners” (i.e., organizations supporting environmental sustainability and green jobs) to enhance adult learners’ and adult basic skill programs’ use of environmentally-sustainable practices and to help adult learners move into green job career pathways.  The guide provides examples of eight types of collaborations with links to organizations doing this work and an annotated bibliography. This is one of a series of “Can-Do Guides” issued by the Open Door Collective. It was written and designed by Paul Jurmo with help from experts in adult basic skills development, environmental sustainability, and green jobs.  Also attached below are PowerPoint slides that Paul Jurmo and Alex Risley Schroeder used in a related webinar hosted by the Open Door Collective on September 24, 2020. To view a recording of that webinar, visit https://www.dropbox.com/s/6j7x55tbv5c7k5e/ODC%20Webinar%209-24-2020.mp4?dl=0  

• “Strengthening Public Health and the Healthcare Workforce: What U.S. Health Partners and Adult Basic Skills Programs Can Do Together”: This 36-page guide (September 2019) presents why and how adult basic skills organizations can work with “health partners” (i.e., organizations supporting public health and healthcare career pathways) to enhance adult learners’ and adult basic skill programs’ use of healthy practices and to help adult learners move into healthcare career pathways.  The guide provides examples of eight types of collaborations with links to organizations doing this work and an extensive annotated autobiography. This is one of a series of “Can-Do Guides” issued by the Open Door Collective. It was written and designed by Paul Jurmo with help from experts in adult basic skills development, public health, and healthcare career development. Also attached below are PowerPoint slides and a Resource Page that Paul Jurmo and several experts (Marcia Drew Hohn, Greg Smith, David Rosen, Janet Ohene-Frempong, Barbara Krol-Sinclair, Adriana Giraldo, and Betty McKiernan)  adapted for a series of related webinars titled "Addressing Health Inequities: What Adult Educators and Health Partners Can Do Together." These presentations were hosted by the Open Door Collective and other organizations in 2020 and 2021. To view a recording of one of those webinars (hosted by ODC on August 4, 2020), visit https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsvwvvkpdx1izfk/2020-08-04%2014.09%20ODC%20Health%20Partnerships%20Webinar.mp4?dl=0

This 61-page document (updated in March 2021) was written for the Open Door Collective.  It provides brief descriptions of over 200 on-line resources (e.g., reports, curricula) related to various aspects of work-related adult basic education.  These resources (which include works going back four decades) are organized in the following categories: 

• Work-Readiness, College Transition, and Career Pathways
• Work-Readiness for Particular Industries
• Workplace Education for Incumbent Workers
• Tools for Assessing Worker Basic Skills
• Tools for Program Planning and Evaluation
• Work-Related Basic Education in the U.S.: Local, State, and National Policy
• Interpretations of How to Make Workplace Education Relevant and Effective
• Employer Perspectives
• Labor Union Perspectives
• International Perspectives.        

• “What Universities Can Do to Strengthen U.S. Adult Basic Skills Efforts” is a 20-page (January 2019) document that describes why and how universities can support U.S. adult basic skills efforts. They can do this through research, professional development of stakeholders, upgrading of the basic skills of university employees and local residents, providing of in-kind resources to local programs, and leadership and advocacy.  It is one a series of “Can-Do Guides” designed and written by Paul Jurmo for the Open Door Collective.