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Focus On Basics

Volume 3, Issue B ::: June 1999

BLACKBOARD

Workforce Investment Act

For a copy of the act, contact the House Document Room at (202) 226-5200. The Workforce Investment Act is Public Law 105-220. For an overview of the act, go to http://usworkforce.org/
For federal legislation and summaries of the act, go to http://novel.nifl.gov

Assessment Systems

Comprehensive Adult Skills Assessment System (CASAS),
8910 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92123-1104
phone: 1-800-255-1036,
fax: 619-292-2910
website: http://www.casas.org/

National Reporting System

For information on the National Reporting System,
contact Larry Condelli of Pelavin Research Associates at
(202) 944-5311 or visit the web site at http://www.air-dc.org/nrs.

Accountability

An interesting discussion on accountability started on the
National Literacy Advocacy electronic discussion list in May.
To read the archived messages, go to http://literacy.nifl.gov/forums.html .
The archives are grouped by year and can be sorted by name,
date, topic, and thread. You can specify the NLA list, and
sort by thread: accountability.

Focus on Basics Electronic Discussion List

FOB electronic discussion list serves as an electronic forum for discussion about the articles published in Focus on Basics. It is intended as a place to converse with colleagues about the themes examined in the publication, to get questions answered and to pose them, to critique issues raised in the articles, and to share relevant experiences and resources.

To participate, go to the LINCS homepage at http://nifl.gov.
Choose "Literacy Forums and Listservs" and follow the instructions. Or, send an e-mail to LISTPROC@LITERACY.NIFL.GOV with the following request in the body of the message: SUBSCRIBE NIFL-FOBASICS
firstname lastname 

Spell your first and last names exactly as you would like them to appear. For example, Sue Smith would type: subscribe NIFL-FOBASICS Sue Smith Put no other text in the message. Give it a couple of minutes to respond. You should receive a return mail message welcoming
you to NIFL-FOBasics.

And finally, a poem about Accountability

Truth and Perfection

I can see it off in the distance,
Shimmering in the brilliant red sunset.
"Outcome measurement
leading to accountability and
continuous improvement."
Its models of logic impressive, complex,
Almost beyond human comprehension.
But as I approach, I see behind the mask
A teetering house of cards,
Held together with airplane glue,
The odd rubber band,
And the too-bright paint,
Festive and self-congratulatory.
As I stare, awestruck and overwhelmed, I wonder:
Is this thing as unattainable and tauntingly out of reach
As is true love, true happiness,
or anything else
Perfect and true?


-Alan Brickman, 1999

Updated 7/27/07 :: Copyright © 2005 NCSALL