Author: Dr. Jenny McCormack Walker, Literacy Texas Executive Director
When finding a solution to a complex issue, the Literacy Texas team often looks for what we call the SMIT, which stands for the Single Most Important Thing. This strategy – brought to our team by the brilliant Kathryn Bauchelle – helps us drill down through all of the details of a challenge to get to the main problem we want to tackle.
Like many other organizations in the adult education and literacy world, we have been on a wild roller coaster ride that stems from federal funding instability. As we’ve navigated an ever-changing landscape, our team has considered the SMIT. What we’ve found is that more than anything else, we (and I mean we, collectively as Texas adult literacy providers) have to help people understand that our work is relevant and critical to the state’s future. The way to do that is to help them see the connection between the work we do with adult learners and the development of a strong, educated workforce.
You’ll see this approach in our programming this year. To clarify, we’ll continue to provide the same top-tier professional development you’ve grown to appreciate from Literacy Texas. However, when we talk about different areas of adult literacy (adult basic education, language learning, and computer and digital literacy, for example), you’ll notice that we’ll begin to explore those content areas through the lens of workforce preparation.
We’re not changing what we’re doing, necessarily. We’re just changing how we talk about what we are doing. An example might be that a class at your learning center called “Digital and Computer Literacy,” simply changes its name to become “Technology for the Workforce,” and we encourage our adult learners to consider how they could use those skills to find employment, improve performance in their jobs, or promote into a new position. We hope you’ll teach the same computer and digital skills that you were already sharing with your students but with a slightly new approach.
By centering on workforce development, adult learning programs could potentially have the opportunity to attract new students, and it also opens up more grant opportunities and innovative ways to connect with local corporate partners and employers. Ultimately, I believe this can actually be a really good shift in our work.
Change is hard, but right now, this shift is the SMIT. Without it, Literacy Texas – and other adult education and literacy organizations across our state – will struggle to remain relevant in the eyes of those who hold the power to either keep us going or cancel our future funding. Let’s work together so we can continue to elevate adult learners and support them as they reach their goals.
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