The Literacy Assistance Center (LAC) offers abundant professional development workshops, programs and information to the adult education community. In one such workshop, Marilyn Rymniak, LAC Academy director, introduced the video America's Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation's Future, produced by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).
Every adult education professional and advocate should watch the video at least once. It is based on ETS’ 2007 report of the same name. The report, issued by ETS' Irwin Kirsch, Policy Information Center, assesses the "converging powerful socioeconomic forces challenging our nation's future" such as substantial disparities in literacy and numeracy skills.
America's Perfect Storm predicts a bleak future with fewer economic opportunities "among key segments of the population" if the country does not change its course. Education reform has been insufficient to solve the problems in which skills are lower and wage gaps are widening. According to ETS, national test results show "no evidence of improvement over the last 20 years; scores are flat and achievement gaps persist."
Keeping the adult education community abreast of this and other relevant, current and useful information is what LAC Academy does. Located in Lower Manhattan, LAC regularly hosts open houses where attendees can learn more about the upcoming certificate program, workshops and other services it provides. Visit LAC at http://www.lacnyc.org/.
Watch America’s Perfect Storm at http://www.ets.org/Media/Education_Topics/perfectStorm/perfectStorm.html
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