Special Edition February 07 (Formatting was changed- the edition was published in Publisher)

The Arizona Association for Lifelong Learning (AALL) is publishing this special advocacy edition in order to inform key leaders in Arizona about literacy issues in our State.

AALL is a 30 year old organization dedicated to the principles of lifelong learning.

Our mission is :

As part of our mission, AALL has been active in advocating for the continuation of State Adult Education Funding which matches
Federal dollars to provide Basic Education, GED, English Language Learning, and
Citizenship classes throughout our state.

These classes are provided by many programs: Community based organizations, community colleges, school districts, and probation departments.

Included in this special edition are the stories of a few of our learners, as well as fliers compiled by the Arizona Department of Adult Education which contain statistics that demonstrate the need for and impact of Adult Education in Arizona.

We trust that you will be impressed with these stories and that you will support our efforts on behalf of Arizona’s Adult Learners.

Maureen Hoyt, AALL Advocacy Chair

Adult education programs offer a vital service to Arizona residents who have literacy needs:

Those who do not have a high school diploma

Those who read, write or have math skills below the 9th grade level

Those who wish to improve their English language skills

Those who wish to study to become citizens

Darlene Haddox, 36, registered at the LEARN Center at Northern Arizona University on September 28, 2006. Her personal challenges and triumphs exemplify her remarkable resolve to create a successful productive life for herself and her children.

Darlene arrived in Flagstaff in August of 2004 from Alabama. Even though homeless and living in her car, she made sure that her daughter, Nicole, attended school every day.

She has been separated from her husband for three and a half years and is currently in the process of finalizing her divorce due in large part to domestic violence. She suffers from several debilitating conditions including bipolar disorder and depression. Any one of these challenges could have represented an overwhelming barrier to success, but Darlene has not let that happen.

“I can’t do math,” Darlene said on the first day she signed up for GED classes. She had been trying off and on to get her GED since she was 19 years old.

A Few Facts *
More than 40% of the US workforce and more than 50% of high school graduates do not have the basic skills for employment.

A rise of 1% in a nation’s literacy score yields a 2.5% increase in labor productivity.

The health care industry estimates $73 billion per year of unnecessary health care expenses are attributable to poor literacy.

In 2000, Sara was an ABE student with her high school diploma and some college credit. She had come to Pima College Adult Education El Rio Learning Center to refresh her math skills before returning to Pima Community College.

What I remember most about Sara is that she was the kind of person who needed to understand topics clearly and deeply. She had an almost dogged pursuit of know-ledge to this end, coming back to me repeatedly to make sure she understood what she needed to do to transition to Pima. For several sessions I saw her a lot and then not at all.

The next time I ran into Sara was at El Pueblo Liberty Learning Center in 2003. She was a volunteer in Linda Kangas’ literacy class.

Later I learned that Sara had continued her education and had even finished a bachelor’s degree in education at the University of Arizona. Sara continued to volunteer in Linda’s class very consistently and began to substitute for ESOL and ABE classes.

Just last session, PCAE’s El Pueblo Liberty Learning Center hired her to teach ESOL 1A in the mornings.

I look at Sara and I know she is good with students. First of all she’s been there. She can relate to ABE students because she has been an ABE student. She can relate to non-native speakers because she is a second language speaker of English herself.

Second, Sara has a great deal of native compassion and patience. The same dogged nature that led her to come back to me over and over to review the steps for transition does her well as a teacher. I am sure she has patience for her students who may need repeated practice in order to understand thoroughly. I see her now applying the same diligence she once applied to math to learning how to be an ESOL teacher. I expect her to do well.

Note: At the beginning of each class, my students write five to ten minutes on a quote I have selected and written on the board. This exercise gives them practice in developing writing, organizing and thinking skills. The following essay by Ryan Parker has not been corrected. It is as he wrote it.

The Quote of the Day:

Happiness is not much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. – Norman MacEwan

by Ryan Parker

The quote for means a lot about what I have been doing in my life recently. I have been away in a recovery program in southern Utah called Cross Creek Programs. I was there for 20 months and had just graduated on Dec. 17, 2006.

Being there has shown me a lot about who I am, and that it has given me a tool that I will have for the rest of my life if I live one day at a time, and that is my sobriety, and without it I have nothing. I will not have relationship with my family, with friends, and also with myself, I will lose everything I have been working towards to this day. I have been sober for 22 months now, and I am only 18 years old. Everyday is a gift to be able to breathe a sober breath.

I have been going to AA on a daily basis, and something that I have learned through this program is to help new comers, because I remember feeling hopeless and some stranger was willing to take me in under his wing, and I am doing the same. I do this because it keeps me sober, and helping people through hard times like the ones I have faced in my life definitely keep me sober.

Giving back is one of the big things I have been doing because I want to share this gift of sobriety with others, and if I only get through to one person, it is worth all the work, and I would feel like I have saved someone’s life.

And being able to come here and get my GED is a gift also, because I am also getting another chance at something great. It’s like the saying goes, “you need to give to receive.”

submitted by Ruth Howe, Instructor, Rio Salado Community College

For more of “Our Stories” go to the AALL website: www.az-aall.org