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Volume 6, Issue 3

FaLL 2006

The Arkansas Adult

Learning Resource

Center provides equal

access to all programs

and activities.

Statewide Meeting to Discuss Literacy Issues

David Jolliffe, Brown Chair in English Literacy, is spearheading efforts to

improve literacy education in Arkansas

About one hundred Arkansans who work with literacy as teachers, tu-

tors, administrators and policymakers gathered at the University of Ar-

kansas on Friday, Sept. 15, to draft a “state of state literacy" document

for Arkansas and to participate in workshops on literacy issues offered

by experts from across the country and close to home. Billed as a state-

wide "town hall meeting" on literacy, the event was sponsored by the

Brown Chair in English Literacy at the University of Arkansas. "The

town hall meeting represents an opportunity for folks from all corners of

Arkansas to consider our common concerns and to plan projects to

meet the literacy needs of Arkansas' citizens," said David Jolliffe in a

UA press release. Jolliffe is a Fulbright College English professor who

occupies the Brown Chair in English Literacy.

The morning session gave participants the opportunity to generate ma-

terial that will eventually become a document that addresses four ques-

tions: What do we know about literacy in Arkansas already. What do

we need to know. What are we doing about literacy in Arkansas al-

ready. What do we need to do. Each member of the Brown Chair advi-

sory committee gave a brief presentation, after which participants wrote

comments, discussed them in groups and then reported their conclu-

sions to the group as a whole.

Arkansas Adult Learning

Resource Center

3905 Cooperative Way,

Suite D

Little Rock, AR 72209

Phone: 800-832-6242

(501) 907-2490

FAX: (501) 907-2492

http://www.aalrc.org

Continued on page 4

The State GED Testing Office in conjunction with the University of Ar-

kansas Community College at Batesville recently completed a two-year

study comparing GED graduates with traditional high school graduates.

Nancy Whitmire, adult education center director at UACC Batesville,

gathered the information for the project that followed the enrolling fresh-

men of 2004 and followed the students for two years. The study in-

volved 57 GED graduates and 240 traditional high school graduates.

The comparisons included the following:

•

Full-time vs. part-time

•

Ages of the traditional vs. GED grads

•

Enrollment in developmental courses

•

Academic probation

•

Retention rate

•

Grade point average

GED Graduates vs. Traditional High School

Graduates Comparison Study

By Janice Hanlon, Arkansas GED Administrator

Continued on page 4

2

Adult Learning Network

ESL News

ARKTESOL will be the

host affiliate for the up-

coming Southeast Regional TESOL Con-

ference to be held in LITTLE ROCK from

November 29 - December 2, 2006. This

should be a very big event for the state,

for ARKTESOL, and for our

ESOL community!

Conference information, the registration

form, and other information about the

Peabody Hotel and accommodations in

Little Rock are available on the ARKTE-

SOL website:

http://wolves.dsc.k12.ar.us/arktesol/arktes

ol.htm

AALRC Staff

Director

Marsha Taylor

___________________

Administrative

Assistant

Wanda Johnson

Professional

Development

Coordinator

Nancy Loftis

Media

Coordinator

Klaus Neu

Secretary

Toccara Pearson

Information

Technology

Specialist

Rob Pollan

Disabilities

Project

Manager

Patti White

Professional Development News

http://www.escweb.net/ar_esc/

Please remember that the AALRC is now using ESC Web for all work-

shop/training registrations. Tips, tricks, and hints may be found on the AALRC

web site at:

http://www.aalrc.org/profdev/ESCWeb.doc

. If you are still having

trouble, you can always call the AALRC at 1-800-832-6242 or

1-501-907-2490.

NOTICE:

If you are unable to attend a work-

shop you have registered for, please

contact the AALRC as soon as possi-

ble. Participants are often placed on

waiting lists because workshops fill

up. If you find that you cannot attend

a workshop and you call ahead, this

gives us time to notify wait-listed

participants that they can attend.

When a workshop has a waiting list,

participants may not send substitutes

from their center to attend in their

place. Registrations are held for par-

ticipants and not for centers.

Originally created by Dr. Fitz Hill as the Literacy Classic while he was Head Coach of the San Jose State

Spartans, the event has moved to Little Rock as the Delta Classic 4 Literacy. The 2006 event will be the

first of an annual series of football games to be played between historically black colleges and universities

(HBCUs).

But the Delta Classic is much more than just a football game. Each year, the game will cap off a full week

of

Delta Classic events

designed to raise awareness about literacy improvement needs in the Delta region

of the South and to raise money to fund literacy programs.

http://www.deltaclassic4literacy.org/

What is the

Delta Classic 4 Literacy.

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Adult Learning Network

GED Mathematics Training Institute

New Adult Education Program Advisor chosen for Department of Workforce

Education, Adult Education Section

Carla Hendrix has been chosen as Larry Therrell’s successor for the

Adult Education Program Advisor position for the northwestern sec-

tion of the state. Carla lives in Joy, a community near Searcy, with

her husband David, and daughter Kayla. She graduated from Hard-

ing University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Education. She

obtained her adult education, computer, vocational, and career ori-

entation endorsements, as well. She began her career in education

as an adult education instructor with Foothills Technical Institute

(now ASU Searcy). She taught there five years, and then moved to

Wilbur D. Mills Educational Coop in Beebe where she worked two

years as a Workforce Education Evaluator. Carla worked as a junior

high business teacher and dance team coach at Rose Bud High

School from 1999 through 2006. She says that she is happy to be

back serving in adult education.

Larry Therrell retired this past July after serving over 31 years in adult education as an instructor and as

a program advisor. Larry has served on various committees over the years that have included funding,

writing of program policies, and state plans.

The GED Mathematics Training Institute was conducted in Arlington, Virginia on August 22-24, 2006.

Nancy Loftis attended the institute as the Arkansas representative. Planning is underway for statewide

implementation of the project. The institute was designed based on the findings of the data analysis con-

ducted by GED Testing Service and MPR Associates, Inc. and addresses two goals.

Goal 1: To provide trainers with the tools, resources, and strategies needed to conduct professional de-

velopment for GED teachers within their respective service areas.

Goal 2: To provide GED teachers with the information they need to recognize those areas of mathemat-

ics with which students are having the most difficulty and how to adapt their instructional practices to

help students perform better on the GED Mathematics Test.

Calendar

All events are at the AALRC unless otherwise noted.

Professional Development Training

October 5 - GED Examiner’s Regional Meeting -

NW AR Community College - Bentonville

October 10 - GED Examiner’s Regional Meeting -

Paragould Community Center

October 12-13 - ESL Basics

October 16-18 - LD Comprehensive (Session 2)

October 17 - Computer Basics

October 18 - PowerPoint

October 19-20 - Administrators’ Training - Ft. Smith

Convention Center

October 26-27 - AACAE - Riverfront Wyndham - NLR

Meeting Calendar

October 3 - AACAE Committee

October 12 - AALRC Advisory Committee

N

ovember 1 - Beginning Excel

November 2 - Beginning Excel -

(Repeat of previous session)

November 6 - CAELA Follow-up

November 7-8 - LD Comprehensive (Session 3)

November 9-10 - ESL Basics

November 14-15 - Teaching with Manipulatives -

(Formerly Strategies and Accommodations)

November 30 - December 1 - Literacy Strategies

December 5-6 - LD Comprehensive (Session 4)

November 16-17 - Adult Education Advisory Council -

Black River Technical - Pocahontas

December 8 - WAGE Meeting

Carla Hendrix -

Adult Education Program Advisor

4

Adult Learning Network

Third Statewide Meeting to Discuss Literacy Issues

GED Graduates

vs. Traditional High School Graduates

Some of the findings of the study were that the GED graduates were more likely to take develop-

mental courses in math but fewer in reading and writing than traditional high school graduates;

the age spread of GED graduates was greater than the high school graduates, and the grade

point averages of GED graduates were only slightly lower. Another interesting finding was that

the GED graduates were more likely to leave school before the end of two years.

GED graduates comprised 11.6 per cent of the first-time entering total enrollment of Arkansas

state-funded colleges and universities in the 2005-06 academic year.

The study provides valuable information that can be used to assist our GED graduates as they

transition into higher education. The study received national recognition as Janice Hanlon, Ar-

kansas GED Administrator, and Tambra Nicholson, GED Administrative Assistant, were asked to

present the information at the national GED Administrators’ Conference in Portland, Maine this

summer.

In the afternoon, members of the advisory committee conducted 90-minute workshops on such

topics as fostering literacy in the workplace, working with struggling readers, enriching literacy

learning through community arts organizations, providing literacy instruction to speakers of lan-

guages other than English and involving families in literacy education.

Members of the Brown Chair advisory committee include Jim Allen, executive director of the

Ozark Literacy Council; Deborah Brandt, professor of English at the University of Wisconsin at

Madison; Jo Davis, literacy specialist for the Delta Academic Initiative; Judy Fox, literacy trainer

for the Hagerstown (Maryland) Schools; Eli Goldblatt, writing program director at Temple Univer-

sity; Fitz Hill, president of Arkansas Baptist College; Philip Less, ESL coordinator for the Arkan-

sas Department of Workforce Education; and Patti Williford, director of the Southwest Arkansas

Migrant Education Cooperative.

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

On October 19-20, 2006 Adult Education and Literacy Council Directors

will meet at the Fort Smith Convention Center. On October 19, Lennox

McClendon, Executive Director of the National Adult Education Profes-

sional Development Consortium, and Art Ellison, State Director for New

Hampshire, will present “Building Support for Your State Program.” The

focus of the meeting will be emphasize that Adult Education and Literacy

leaders must begin working together to create a shared voice for our

state program.

This could not come at a better time since our legislative session will be-

gin in January 2007. Watch for an update from the training in the next

newsletter.

Building Support for Your State Program

5

Adult Learning Network

AALRC

Advisory

Committee

Dubs Byers,

Chair,

Pine Bluff

Emily Barrier,

Little Rock

Harriet Branch,

Monticello

Sharon Ellis,

Secretary,

Fort Smith

Jennifer Hurst,

Pine Bluff

Lloyd Huskey,

Little Rock

Steven Lilly,

Lonoke

Charlotte

Robertson,

Little Rock

Trece Shepherd

Williams,

Helena

Billy Upson,

Texarkana

Nancy

Whitmire,

Vice-Chair,

Batesville

News from the Disabilities Project Manager

New Names for LD Workshops

The AALRC has changed the names of two learning disabilities’ workshops

that are offered at least annually, so look out! You may be signing up for a

workshop you have already completed in the past.

The Payne-Jordan LD Workshop is now called the Learning Disabilities

Comprehensive Workshop Series. So if you’ve been through the Payne

training, be aware that the LD Comp. workshop is the Payne training with a

new name.

Likewise for what was known previously as the Strategies and Accommoda-

tions workshop, which is now called Teaching with Manipulatives.

For detailed information about these and other learning disabilities work-

shops, please go to

http://aalrc.org/resources/ld/ld_workshops.pdf

.

GEDTS Accommodations Brochure

The national office of the General Educational Development Testing Service

(GEDTS) has developed a new brochure called

Tips for Candidates with

Disabilities

, which provides information for people who wish to take the

GED test. The brochure lists accommodations available for people with dis-

abilities and provides information on how to request them. Specific forms

are available for people with learning and other cognitive disabilities and for

people with ADHD.

This fall GEDTS will disseminate the brochure to official GED Testing Cen-

ters, and it will continue to monitor its state and local offices to ensure that

they are aware of the policies and improve access for people with disabili-

ties.

Assistive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities, Part 3

This is the third and final article (for now) about assistive technology avail-

able for check-out at the AALRC library. The last two

newsletters included information about the FM Loop,

RFB&D, talking scientific calculators, and the Step Pad.

For Part 3, here are two more items we would like to

publicize.

The first item is similar to the Step Pad, and available for the same low price

of $39.00 from

http://tinyurl.com/nqoqk

.

Continued on page 6

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Adult Learning Network

Adult Education

Advisory Council

Patricia Bates, Chair

El Dorado

Diane Shores,

Vice-Chair, Helena

Ben Aldama,

Rogers

Jim Allen,

Fayetteville

Diane Cary,

Magnolia

Steve Clayton,

Jonesboro

Pat Collins,

Russellville

Sharon Ellis,

Fort Smith

Denise Hester

Blytheville

Lloyd Huskey,

North Little Rock

Margaret Jarrett,

Monticello

Steven Lilly,

Lonoke

Paulette Martin,

Little Rock

Bobbie Sanders,

Little Rock

Flora Simon,

Dumas

Marsha Taylor,

Little Rock

The Time Pad is a handheld

digital recorder that you program to set off an alarm at

specified times of day. For example, you could set it to

3:30 pm on days you have a GED class or a session with

a tutor, and at 3:30, it will sound an alarm. Then you can

listen to the recording you attached to that alarm, which

may say something like, “It’s time to go to class.” It’s like

a pager that you program with your own messages! You

could program times to do homework, go to work, take

medication – it’s totally individualized. The AALRC has five of these avail-

able for loan to adult education and literacy programs if you have a student

who would like to try using one before they purchase their own.

Another item in the AALRC assistive technology library is JAWS

®

for Win-

dows

®

software (

http://tinyurl.com/5qxlc

) preloaded on a laptop.

JAWS

®

for Windows

®

works with your

computer to provide access to today’s soft-

ware applications and the Internet. With its

internal software speech synthesizer and

the computer’s sound card, information

from the screen is read aloud, providing

technology to access a wide variety of in-

formation, education and job related appli-

cations. JAWS also outputs to refreshable

Braille displays, providing yet another

means of access for the student who is

blind or visually impaired.

If you have a student who is blind or severely visually impaired, he or she

may already know how to use JAWS. If they have never used JAWS, it

could open the doors to using a computer and the internet that they never

knew was possible. The Arkansas School for the Blind offers free JAWS

training in their computer lab for instructors who will be working with stu-

dents using JAWS.

For more information about either of these items, please contact Klaus Neu

at the AALRC at

klaus@aalrc.org

or call 800.832.6242.

How do you INSPIRE your student.

Built on a solid base of educational research, the Inspiration software im-

proves the students’ performance to visualize, think, organize and learn. It

strengthens critical thinking, comprehension and writing. A one-day training

workshop with a valuable copy of the Inspiration software for each partici-

pant will be offered at the AALRC on January 25 and 26, 2007. Please feel

free to sign up - the session ID numbers are 41871 and 41872.

Continued from page 5

7

Adult Learning Network

Tech

Talk

Note: To link to any web address (URL) in this newsletter, go the AALRC's home page at

http://aalrc.org, look up this newsletter, and then just click on the appropriate link.

Purchasing New Computers.

If you are purchasing new computers and are considering buying from Dell, please contact Rob

Pollan (

rob@aalrc.org

or 479-649-5830) and he will check to see if we can get you a better price.

In the past, we have been able to get much better pricing.

Computer Recycling

Need to dispose of old computers, monitors, and peripherals. Harkins Recycling can take care

of this for free, and they're HAC certified with the EPA. Please don't throw your old equipment in

the trash (there are many dangerous materials that need to be disposed of or recycled properly).

If you have a pickup truck load or more, Harkins can pick up the load for you, anywhere in the

state, for free. If you don't have a large load, please bring it to the AALRC and we can store it for

you until there is a large enough load for them to pick up.

Harkins Computer Recycling (Doyle Harkins)

501-840-3840 Cell

501-860-7081 Office

AALRC Remote Help Program

If you haven’t heard, the AALRC has a great remote control program that will allow us to connect

to your computer in seconds and fix your computer problems. If you have any kind of question or

problem with your computer, lab full of computers, or server, go to

www.aalrc.org

and click on

Technology, then Remote Control (the direct address is

http://www.aalrc.org/resources/tech/techSupport.aspx

). There are complete instructions on in-

stalling the remote, and it really is easy. Once installed, it will be like we are there at your loca-

tion, we can see what you see, and you will see the cursor move around as we fix your prob-

lems. You will even have the option of allowing us to connect to your computer or not, and when

the problems are fixed the remote control program will be removed. Contact Rob Pollan by email

at

rob@aalrc.org

or call at 479-649-5830.

Open CD’s, drives, and folders with one easy click and without a

cluttered desktop

Tired of Windows CD auto-start never working when you need it and working when you don’t

want it to. Or do you have to perform a bunch of clicks and wait for My Computer to populate the

window with all of the drives icons, just to open up one CD drive. This little tweak puts all of your

“My Computer” icons that you want in your Quick Launch toolbar.

If you don’t have the Quick Launch toolbar, start here. Right-click START and select PROPER-

TIES.

Continued on page 8

8

Adult Learning Network

Continued from page 7

Photo: Elroy Chinn with Dianne Kemmerer, a volunteer

tutor for the Twin Lakes Literacy Council

Elroy Chinn Wins National Award for Student Excellence

Provided by Twin Lakes Literacy Council

Arkansas literacy council student Elroy Chinn, age 87, has learned to read---and will now receive

national recognition for his achievement. ProLiteracy America selected Elroy Chinn for its most

prestigious student honor, the Ruth J. Colvin and Frank C. Laubach Award for Student Excel-

lence. Chinn was nominated for the honor by Arkansas Literacy Councils, Inc., who

had named Elroy as the Arkansas Student of the Year in 2004 – 2005.

Elroy’s lack of education is a result of his his-

tory—and America’s. He grew up in a share-

cropping family in El Campo, Texas at a time

when segregation was in full force. “I lived in a

prejudiced town,” Chinn said. “We had one

school, and it was whites only. There was no

colored school.”

Chinn began learning to read at age 84 at

Twin Lakes Literacy Council in Baxter County,

Arkansas. He says he was afraid that he was

too old to learn to read. “I told my wife I can’t

go to school at my age, and she said, ‘Age

ain’t got nothing to do with it.”

Elroy now studies twice a week with tutor Diane Kemmerer to practice newfound reading skills.

He’s progressed through Books 1 – 3 in the Laubach Way of Reading and is now working on

Book 4.

Elroy, accompanied by his wife Sharron, will fly to Atlanta to ProLiteracy’s Worldwide Conference

on October 4, 2006 to receive his award and make a speech. An interview with Elroy will appear

on the organization’s website to encourage new literacy volunteers and students.

“I’ve really been blessed,” Chinn says. “The Lord showed me the way, and I’m taking it.”

Open CD’s, drives, and folders

On the Taskbar tab, place a check next to “Show Quick Launch”. Press OK. You will now see

the Quick Launch icons just to the right of the Start button.

Next, right-click START and select explore. It will open up to C:\Documents and Settings\Your

User Name\Start Menu. Note the user name that you are under in the Explorer tree, and navi-

gate to C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Ex-

plorer\Quick Launch. Leave this window open at half screen by clicking on the “Restore

Down\Maximize” button (next to the big red X (close) button).

Now open up My Computer again and resize the window so you see this one and the Explorer

window. Drag and drop all of the drives you want from My Computer into the Quick Launch

folder. You can even put a shortcut to any folder you want by right clicking on the folder and se-

lecting create shortcut. Then drag and drop that folder into the Quick Launch.