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Welcome to the Literacy Assistance Center!

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The Literacy Assistance Center (LAC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening and expanding the adult education system, and to advancing adult literacy as a core value in our society and a foundation for equal opportunity and social justice. Since 1983, the LAC has been working to build the capacity and improve the quality of the basic education, high school equivalency, and English language programs that serve New York’s most educationally and economically marginalized adults and out-of-school youth. Our primary services include teacher training, instructional coaching, curriculum development support, data management and data analysis, and leadership support for adult education practitioners in community-based organizations (CBOs), libraries, community colleges, public school systems, and union-based training funds. Read More About the LAC 

Literacy & Justice Initiative

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TAKE ACTION! The Literacy & Justice Initiative (LJI) is a project of the LAC to advance adult literacy education as part of a broader vision for racial, social, and economic justice. We are inviting organizations to sign on in support of a new Literacy & Justice Call for Investment to expand adult education in NYC. This is part of an exciting new vision developed in collaboration with our community partners and outlined in Literacy & Justice: A Call for Transformative Action.
Read more about Literacy & Justice 

Investing in Quality: A Blueprint for Adult Literacy Programs & Funders

The LAC’s Investing in Quality report details 14 "Building Blocks" of a comprehensive, community-based adult literacy program, identifies the resources needed to fully implement the Building Blocks, and includes a first-of-its-kind cost model and sample budget. 
​Read more about Investing in Quality
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LAC News

Strengthening Adult Literacy Education: Results from the NYC Pilot Project Fiscal Year 2022

January 12, 2023 - The LAC is pleased to release “Strengthening Adult Literacy Education: Results from the NYC Pilot Project Fiscal Year 2022.” This new report describes the FY22 activities and results of the citywide $2.5M Adult Literacy Pilot Project, created and funded by the New York City Council and supported by the NYC Department of Youth & Community Development. This pilot funded 19 community-based adult literacy programs to invest more per student and strengthen and enhance services. As a result, programs reported significant increases in student engagement, staff engagement and retention, digital literacy skill gains, access to culturally responsive education, educational gains, workforce preparation, and student support services.
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Digital Resilience in the American Workforce

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September 15, 2022 - Two members of the LAC staff,  Cynthia Bell and Nell Eckersley, are working on the Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW) project, an initiative from JFF, World Education, and Safal Partners, with support from the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE), to better prepare adult education   
practitioners who support learners that struggle to fully engage in tasks that demand the use of digital technologies. 

This initiative includes a number of components including a landscape scan (
read the report here) and  flexible, evidence-based, and piloted strategies and materials that help teachers build the digital literacy skills and digital resilience of adult learners.   We will share more as resources become available.  
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Listen Up for Literacy & Justice!

December 8, 2021 - The LAC is pleased to announce Listen Up for Literacy & Justice, a new project to build an online collection of adult education students’ stories, in their own powerful voices. Adult literacy students and alumni are invited to participate by sharing their stories on the impact of adult education in their lives and communities. 
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The project aims to connect adult literacy students across NYC; to move policymakers to increase support for adult education; and to create a platform for advocacy around the importance of adult literacy education for social justice. 
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Each story is an audio recording of a student responding to 3 questions, with the option to add photos. You can listen to the emerging collection on the Listen Up stories page and read more here about how to participate. We hope that many students will contribute their stories and raise their voices for the right to an education! 

The Chicago Chinese Mutual Aid Association Interviews Ira Yankwitt​

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July 20, 2021 – The Chinese Mutual Aid Association (CMAA) in Chicago included an interview with Ira Yankwitt in their Spring newsletter.  CMAA became aware of the Literacy Assistance Center after reading an open letter Ira wrote titled, “Literacy and Justice: A Message to Our Field.”  They were interested in the thinking that led the Literacy Assistance Center to publicly make explicit connections between literacy work and social justice movements.  See the interview here  (scroll down to the second story).

For a Better Democracy, Invest in Adult Literacy Education

July 13, 2021 – The LAC was very pleased to be cited in this June 18th Op Ed by Shahana Hanif, who recently won Brooklyn's 39th City Council District Democratic Party primary race.  In the Op Ed, Hanif describes adult literacy education as an issue of economic and social justice and repeats the LAC Literacy & Justice Initiative’s call for a six fold increase in adult literacy funding over the next five years.  Read the Op Ed here.
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Report: The Impact of COVID-19 on NYC Adult Literacy Programs & Students

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​July 9, 2020 – The Literacy Assistance Center (LAC) has released a new report on “The Impact of COVID-19 on NYC Adult Literacy Programs and Students,” based on findings from a survey the LAC conducted in May 2020 of adult education program staff in New York City. The report outlines the effects of COVID-19 on literacy programs and adult students, the emergency transition to remote learning, key barriers and needed supports, and the outlook for the field as the pandemic continues.
​Read more about COVID-19 Impact

​Literacy and Justice: A Message to Our Field

Ira Yankwitt, Executive Director, Literacy Assistance Center
June 15, 2020
At the LAC, we believe that, as adult literacy educators, we have a moral obligation to actively participate in the fight against systemic racism and white supremacy and to explicitly align our work with movements for racial, social, and economic justice. 

Over the past three months, COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities throughout our city, and many of our students have been on the frontlines of the pandemic. 


​Read More
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​Providing Instruction from a Distance

The LAC has put together a variety of resources for taking your instruction online. 

On our YouTube Channel we have uploaded a number of videos by our staff demonstrating basic how to's as well as a Vlog series of deeper dives on tools like Whiteboards. 
On our Coronavirus Times page we include tips for making your lessons distance friendly as well as a list of sites and apps with ready made content you can suggest for your students.

Census 2020 Resources Available

 In the fall of 2019, the LAC provided a series of three workshops on the 2020 Census and gathered a number of resources that we have now made available on our website. 

​We recognize that for a number of reasons, the 2020 Census may be causing program staff and students in adult education programs great concern.  We hope these resources can help both instructors and students be more informed about the census process and understand the concerns around and importance of participating in the 2020 Census.   

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LAC is Grow with Google NYC's Small Business of the Week

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July and August of 2019, the LAC has been offering Google Applied Digital Skills workshops at the Grow with Google NYC Learning Center at 111 8th Avenue.  Through four cohorts, meeting three times each, we have worked with 42 adult education teachers and program staff.  Participants learned the basics of Google Drive, reviewed the skills needed for the G Suite Certification, and explored the Applied Digital Skills lessons Google has created.

On August 23, 2019, Grow with Google NYC listed the LAC as the Small Business of the Week.  We are very happy to be partners with them and look forward to providing more workshops in their space.  

Congratulations to Students of the Year

The LAC congratulates Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) and two of  their students, Andre Fuller and Phillip Rucker, who were honored as Students of the Year by the New York Association for Continuing and Community Education (NYACCE) on October 23, 2018. They were two of eighteen students were selected from across New York state.
 
Andre Fuller began attending classes at Flatbush Library Learning Center in the fall of 2017. An immigrant from Trinidad, he never finished high school and worked to make ends meet, putting his education on the proverbial back burner.
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Although it had been twenty years since Andre had been in a school setting, he enrolled in TASC preparation courses and attended every class, even when a member of his family became seriously ill. Balancing class, work, and family was not easy but the results were worth the struggle. He is now enrolled at Kingsborough Community College and is on his way to a career as an accountant.
 
Phillip Rucker had not been to school in 50 years—dropping out in the tenth grade—when, in 2016, he came to the Adult Learning Center at Central Library to obtain his high school equivalency diploma. He wanted to be a role model for his children and grandchildren.
 
Working through medical and family issues, he completed a series of adult basic education courses and moved on to the pre-high school equivalency preparation classes. Rucker successfully completed the TASC exam on the first attempt last July. He encourages and motivates classmates and is an inspiration to younger students. Rucker hopes to attend college and give back to the Library by becoming a tutor.
 
Brooklyn Public Library is delighted to see Andre and Phillip recognized and to provide a welcoming space for anyone wishing to pursue a career, learn something new or explore the world around them.

Susan Gaer to Present Two Part Workshop at the LAC 

Susan Gaer will be leading a two day workshop called "Exploring Online Tools for English Language Learning on Mobile Devices" on May 24 and 25, 2018.

Susan Gaer has been an ESOL adult educator for more than 30 years, and has worked as a teacher, curriculum developer, technology trainer and coordinator at Santa Ana College School of Continuing Education in Santa Ana, CA.  She has taught all levels of ESOL from basic literacy through advanced. 

​Currently, Susan is working as an Educational Consultant empowering teachers and administrators to provide engaging materials for students. You can see lesson ideas on her website at http://www.susangaer.com. In addition, she is President-Elect for CATESOL (California Association of Teachers to Speakers of Other Languages).
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Read more on our Public Workshop Calendar 

New ALE-Funded Program Highlights Section on the NYC STAC website

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One of the projects that the LAC leads is the New York City Support and Technical Assistance Center (STAC), which is funded by the New York State Education Department to provide support and technical assistance to the 19 Adult Literacy Education (ALE)-funded programs in New York City.   On February 14, 2018, we unveiled a new ALE-funded Program Highlights Section on the NYC STAC website.  In this section you will find contact and class registration information as well as a highlight about the program's accomplishments. 

Digital Literacy: Consume, Create, Curate!
From EdTech Center Partners, May 18, 2017-- Nell Eckersley, EdTech Partner, and  LAC's  Director of Instructional Technology & Communications and NYC STAC Manager,  gave adult educators a compelling “Call to Action” to go beyond consuming technology and become ambassadors for curating and creating information online during her keynote at OTAN’s annual Technology & Distance Learning Symposium Conference held March, 2017 in Anaheim, CA.  Read More 

The Great Thanksgiving Listen 
The Literacy Assistance Center
 is pleased to be partnering with StoryCorps this year for The Great Thanksgiving Listen.
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The Great Thanksgiving Listen is a national project that empowers people to create an oral history of the contemporary U.S. by recording a conversation with someone special over the Thanksgiving holidays using the free StoryCorps App. Interviews become part of the StoryCorps Archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress  where they will serve as an invaluable resource for future historians. 
Learn more and how to participate

Register now for the Meeting Challenges Exploring Solutions in the Adult ESOL Classroom Conference
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Registration is now open for the third annual MEETING CHALLENGES, EXPLORING SOLUTIONS IN THE ADULT ESOL CLASSROOM Conference, sponsored by the Literacy Assistance Center and English Language Studies at The New School.

When: Saturday, October 21st, 2017, 9am to 4pm
Where: New School, 
Tishman Auditorium, University Center, 63-65 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011


Join us for this one-day conference that provides English Language Teaching professionals with a space to learn from one another, share ideas, and network.

 
The day features the plenary "Learning Challenges: Assessment Solutions" by Anne Katz., workshops exploring techniques and ideas to support classroom practice, and presentations focusing on current challenges facing ESOL teachers.
 
Both The New School and the Literacy Assistance Center have a long tradition of excellence in the training of teachers of English to speakers of other languages. We welcome participation by professionals who seek to address critical issues in the field and hone their own craft.
REGISTER HERE
ADMISSION:
**PLEASE NOTE on-the-day payments can only be made via credit or debit card. Pre-purchase via Eventbrite is strongly preferred**
$25 per participant (until 10/20/17)
$15 for New School students, faculty, staff, alumni (until 10/20/17)
$15 for current and former TESLA certificate students at the Literacy Assistance Center  (until 10/20/17)
$30 for at the door registration (10/21/17)

LAC Staff Member Joins NYACCE Board
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The LAC is happy to announce that at the New York Association of Continuing and Community Education (NYACCE) Conference on April 26, 2017, a member of our staff, Nell Eckersley, became a member of the NYACCE Board. NYACCE is the state-wide association that provides information, and support for professionals serving the needs of life-long learners. 

NY City Council Immigration Committee's Preliminary Budget Hearing
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 The Literacy Assistance Center actively supports the work that the New York City Coalition for Adult Literacy (NYCCAL) and City Council Member Carlos Menchaca are doing to advocate for New York City to maintain the $12 million in funding for adult education as well as to "baseline" the funding in the final budget, which would enable the city to provide programs with multi-year contracts in addition to another one year adjustment. 
On March 22, 2017, LAC Executive Director, Ira Yankwitt, presented testimony at the City Council Immigration Committee's preliminary budget hearing on behalf of NYCCAL.  You can read the transcript of the testimony here or view a video of the entire hearing here (the NYCCAL panel begins at 3:28:00).  #LiteracyLiftsNewYork

Literacy Assistance Center's Spring Workshop Calendar Now Available
The new LAC spring catalog of public workshops is now available!  It includes four workshop series in technology, STEM and project based learning.  In addition there are a number of standalone workshops on ESOL, Math, Science, Assessment and more.  The events on the calendar are open to all.   
  • Go to the Workshop Calendar
  • ​Download the Workshop Calendar as a PDF
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The Literacy Assistance Center announces the second annual MEETING CHALLENGES, EXPLORING SOLUTIONS IN THE ADULT ESOL CLASSROOM  Conference
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This one-day conference will take place on  Saturday, October 29, 2016.  It is hosted by The New School in partnership with the Literacy Assistance Center.  The conference features the plenary “Smart Practice: Brain based Approaches to Teaching,” by Sarah Lynn of the Bridge Program at Harvard University’s Center for Workplace Development, workshops to support classroom practice, and presentations focusing on current challenges facing ESOL teachers.  Read More

Literacy Assistance Center Announces Fall Workshop Calendar
The Literacy Assistance Center is excited to announce the return of adult education professional development workshops open to the public.  The Fall Workshop Calendar includes three workshop series and a variety of individual workshops.  
  • Go to the Workshop Calendar
  • ​Download the Workshop Calendar as a PDF
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FALL 2016 TESLA Offered at No Cost to Selected Participants
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Thanks to the generous support of the Office of the Mayor, the New York City Council, and the Department of Youth and Community Development, the Literacy Assistance Center is pleased to offer its Fall 2016 TESLA Certificate Program at no cost to selected participants.  Read More

New York City Council Fiscal Year 2017 Preliminary Budget Hearing
New York City Council Committee on Immigration

Honorable Carlos Menchaca, Chair
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On March 28, 2016, LAC Executive Director Ira Yankwitt testified before the City Council Immigration Committee alongside other advocates from the New York City Coalition for Adult Literacy (NYCCAL) to call for an increase in city funding for community-based adult literacy programs. You can read his testimony here.

Getting Ready for WIOA
In 2014, the United States Congress passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) replacing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the primary Federal legislation that funds and oversees the provision of adult education services nationally. 
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The US Departments of Labor and Education have issued various Notices of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in 2015 to guide the states in how to implement WIOA.  State entities responsible for WIOA implementation are expected to draft and submit WIOA implementation plans by March 2016.  Accordingly, the New York Department of Labor (NYSDOL) and New York State Department of Education (NYSED) collaborated to create a Combined State Plan and posted it for public comment in December 2015. 

​To see the LAC’s response to the NYS Combined State Plan go to this link  http://bit.ly/LACWIOAResponse.  It includes our recommendations on what to consider when developing the State plan, especially as it applies to the adult education system in New York State. 
 

We have also gathered other WIOA related materials that might be helpful.  You can find them at this link http://bit.ly/LACWIOA.

LAC TESLA graduate, Laura Jimenez, Keeps Students Inspired on Road to Their American Dream
By John Schiumo

Saturday, September 12, 2015 
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The latest New Yorker of the Week keeps her students inspired, disclipined and determined on their road to their American dream. NY1's John Schiumo filed the following report.
Growing up, Laura Jimenez called two places home. Living at times in Mexico and the United States, she learned what new immigrants need.
"Everybody is important," Jimenez says. "No matter where you come from, no matter you know what your background is, you're a person. You deserve to be treated in a nice way."
Now, Laura is doing that and so much more. After fulfilling her dream of becoming a U.S. citizen, she's helping others.
Laura is the citizenship preparation instructor at the YMCA's New Americans Welcome Center on Staten Island. It's the borough she's lived in for almost 30 years.
"If you're a hard-working person, you can really achieve whatever you want," Jimenez says. "I have a lot of students who, after they became a citizen, they already set another goal, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and that doesn’t happen in another country." Read More...

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A Call for Rigor in Adult Ed 
by Robert Sheppard TESOL Blog
November 9, 2015 

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Last Saturday I took part in a welcome new addition to the conference circuit: Meeting Challenges, Exploring Solutions in the Adult ESL Classroom, presented by The New School and the Literacy Assistance Center. Set amid East Village foliage, catered with New York bagels like only New York can make New York bagels, intermingled with music by the Mannes School, and packed full of relevant sessions, it was a Saturday well spent.

The plenary was delivered by Betsy Parrish, author of Teaching Adult ESL, and at the heart of her address was a call for rigor in adult ESL. Taken on its own, such an appeal seems uncontroversial and even commonsense. But at a time when so many are so vocally railing against the new standards we find ourselves grappling with, for Parrish to make this case becomes something of a statement. But hers is a statement grounded in reason and research.  
Read more...


Conceptual Understanding in Instruction: It Really Works! 
By Molley Bruce, Hennepin Cty. Corrections Instructor
October 27, 2015
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The week after attending the ATLAS Math Institute for the second time, I began planning a mini-lesson on adding and subtracting fractions. I considered my students' learning preferences, and yet I reverted to beginning the instructional delivery with the process; this was how I was taught. However, the Math Institute presenters, Cynthia Bell and Libby Serkies, reminded us about the importance of conceptual understanding. Read more....

LAC & New School Announce Meeting Challenges, Exploring Solutions in the Adult ESOL Classroom Conference
September 8, 2015
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Saturday, October  24, 2015
9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The Auditorium
Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan  Hall
66  West 12th Street
New  York, NY 10011

This is a one-day conference hosted by The New School in partnership with the Literacy Assistance Center to provide English language teaching professionals with a space to learn from one another, share ideas, and network. Both The New School and the Literacy Assistance Center have a long tradition of excellence in the training of teachers of English to speakers of other languages. The day will consist of a plenary by a leading researcher in the field, followed by hands-on workshops to support classroom practice. There will also be panel debates exploring current challenges within the various contexts in which adults learn English.
Open to the public
To register click on the appropriate link below
$25 per participant 
$15 for New School students, faculty, and staff 
$15 for current and former TESLA certificate and other Academy students at the Literacy Assistance Center

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LAC and ETS HiSET® Announce Partnership 
June 26, 2015

The Literacy Assistance Center (LAC) is proud to announce that it has partnered with the Educational Testing Service (ETS®) to provide professional development and technical assistance to adult educators in states that have adopted ETS’s HiSET® exam. The HiSET® is an alternative high school equivalency test currently offered in California, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming, along with U.S. territories Guam, Northern Marianas, American Samoa and The Republic of Palau.

The LAC’s programming will consist of webinars, workshops, on-site services, coaching for increasing instructor efficiency as well as technological integration into course instruction. The LAC's main goal is to cultivate a community of effective education professionals who are preparing students to earn their high school equivalency certificates and become better prepared for college and careers.


"At the LAC, we envision a future where everyone has the opportunity to actively participate in civic affairs, achieve economic security, support their children's schooling and more," said Ira Yankwitt, Executive Director of the LAC." By teaming up with 
ETS®, we can help more adults achieve this."

"This is a great opportunity for us to help those who are at the forefront of education - teachers," explains Jonn Oswald, Vice President & General Manager, K-12 Student Assessment Programs at ETS®. "We're looking forward to assisting the community in preparing their students for future success."

For more information about ETS's® HiSET® program, please visit http://hiset.ets.org/. 



Library of Congress Literacy Awards
October 10, 2014

The LAC was honored to be recognized on October 8, 2014 by the Library of Congress as one of 14 US-based and international "Best Practices" organizations. Through the generosity of David M. Rubenstein, the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program honors organizations that have made outstanding contributions to increasing literacy in the United States or abroad. 

The awards also encourage the continuing development of innovative methods for combating illiteracy and the wide dissemination of the most effective practices. They are intended to draw public attention to the continuing need for literacy services and to increase awareness of the importance of literacy. 

By recognizing current achievements, the awards seek to inspire organizations, foundations, and other private sector groups to become involved in combating illiteracy.

Read more at this link: http://read.gov/documents/bestpractices2014.pdf (the LAC is on page 19)


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