From the archivePress 2006 page, captured July 2011
Press: 2006
The Literacy Institute Hosts LESLLA, an International English Language Forum for Researchers and Policy Makers (11-1-06)
The Literacy Institute will host the international LESLLA 2006 forum for over 80 international, national, and statewide researchers, practitioners, and policy makers on November 2-3 at Virginia Commonwealth University.
LESLLA, which stands for Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition, is an international forum focusing on the development of second language skills by adult immigrants with little or no schooling prior to moving to the country of entry. “It’s hard for individuals to learn to speak and read in English when they cannot read in their own language,” says Nancy Faux, ESOL specialist at the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center and the conference’s organizer.
Researchers from as far as the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and East Timor, and from across our nation will study and discuss education policy development in countries where immigrants settle and most need educational support. The conference features more than twenty presentations and discussion groups, opening with an address on “A National Citizenship Implementation Plan” and including the U.S. premiere of the European Quality Label Prize-winning film, “Newcomers to Morocco,” which documents what happens when Dutch literacy teachers become the students in an Arabic class in Morocco.
Toward the conference’s conclusion, working groups of experts from The Center for Applied Linguistics; Brown University; University of Minnesota; American Institutes of Research; Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.; Literacy Work International; Newcastle University, UK; Tilburg University, NL; and Radboud University, NL; Virginia Commonwealth University; and the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center, among many others, will develop research and action recommendations for international implementation.
The Literacy Institute is a partnership between the Virginia Literacy Foundation and Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education and Center for Public Policy.
To find out more about the conference and participants, please visit the LESLLA website at leslla.org. The conference, held on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, is open to registered participants only. (Media contact details removed in this archive.)
The papers from this forum were published as Low-Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition: Research, Policy, and Practice.
The Condition of Education (12-1-06)
A snapshot of the state of U.S. education. The original page reposted a Public Education Network “Weekly NewsBlast” item of December 1, 2006, which summarized a Washington Post story by Valerie Strauss on the U.S. Department of Education’s annual Condition of Education report. The figures it highlighted:
| Measure | Figure in the 2006 report |
|---|---|
| Minority share of public school enrollment | 22% in 1972 → 43% in 2004 |
| Hispanic share of public school enrollment | 6% in 1972 → 19% in 2004 |
| Minority vs. white enrollment in the West, 2004 | 57% to 43% |
| Children 5–17 speaking a language other than English at home | 3.8 million (1979) → 9.9 million (2004) |
| Total spending per student (constant dollars) | $7,847 (1995–96) → $9,630 (2002–03), up 23% |
| Per-student spending by district poverty, 2002–03 | low-poverty $10,768 · high-poverty $10,191 · middle-poverty $8,839 |
It also noted that most parents reported being very satisfied with their child’s school, and that distance education courses were offered at more than half of the country’s two- and four-year colleges. The full report is published by the National Center for Education Statistics at nces.ed.gov.
Questions readers ask
How many people attended LESLLA 2006 in Richmond?
The release expected more than 80 researchers, practitioners and policy makers from the United States and abroad, meeting at VCU on 2–3 November 2006.
What was the film Newcomers to Morocco?
A documentary, premiered in the U.S. at the forum, about Dutch literacy teachers who became beginners themselves in an Arabic class in Morocco. It had won a European Quality Label prize.
Why does a 2006 page summarize the Condition of Education?
The Institute reposted national education statistics it thought useful to its readers. The archive keeps the figures in a table and links to the current report at NCES.