COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

EDUCATION COMMITTEE HEARING

HARRISBURG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 14TH FLOOR AUDITORIUM 32 6 MARKET STREET HARRISBURG, PA 17101

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2 013 11:00 A.M.

PRESENTATION ON ADULT LITERACY

BEFORE: HONORABLE PAUL I. CLYMER, MAJORITY CHAIR HONORABLE HAROLD A. ENGLISH HONORABLE MARK M. GILLEN HONORABLE MIKE REESE HONORABLE WILL TALLMAN HONORABLE JAMES R. ROEBUCK, JR., DEMOCRATIC CHAIR HONORABLE JAKE WHEATLEY, JR. HONORABLE MARK LONGIETTI HONORABLE ERIN C. MOLCHANY HONORABLE PATRICK HARKINS

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 2

COMMITTEE STAFF PRESENT: JUDITH M.D. SMITH MAJORITY ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ELIZABETH MURPHY MAJORITY RESEARCH ANALYST JONATHAN BERGER MAJORITY RESEARCH ANALYST MIKE BIACCHI MAJORITY RESEARCH ANALYST CHRIS WAKELEY DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ERIN DIXON DEMOCRATIC RESEARCH ANALYST 3

I N D E X

TESTIFIERS

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NAME PAGE

DR. ERIC DARR PRESIDENT AND CEO, HARRISBURG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY...... 6

DONALD BLOCK EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GREATER PITTSBURGH LITERACY COUNCIL...... 10

KIM ROSSMAN PRESIDENT, PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION FOR ADULT CONTINUING EDUCATION (PAACE)...... 14

JOANN WEINBERGER CHAIR, PUBLIC POLICY COMMITTEE, PAACE...... 19

SAMUEL JOHNSON DIRECTOR, WATER ASSET DEVELOPMENT, CONSOL ENERGY INC...... 46

PATRICK SYKES PROGRAM GRADUATE, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA....4 8

JACKIE SMITH PROGRAM GRADUATE, GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA....52

SUBMITTED WRITTEN TESTIMONY

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(See submitted written testimony and handouts online.) 4

1 P R O C E E D I N G S

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3 MAJORITY CHAIR CLYMER: We're glad to see a very nice

4 representation this morning for the House Education Committee

5 public hearing on adult literacy. This is an issue that we all

6 have a common interest in because if we can make the populace

7 more educated, give them the confidence and the skills that they

8 would need just in everyday life, that makes sense. But more

9 importantly, it helps them to secure employment if they're

10 looking for employment, and as I said, give them the confidence

11 to do things that they thought they may not be able to do

12 because they felt they didn't have the necessary skills.

13 Reading is so important in the makeup of any of our citizens

14 today in education. I believe the emphasis is on doing the

15 basics, and I certainly support what we're attempting to do here

16 today.

17 So I am just delighted that we have been able to put

18 together the special speakers who will be coming before us, and

19 at this time before I call Chairman Roebuck for his comments, I

20 want to introduce the Members that are with us here, Members of

21 the Committee, Representative Hal English, Representative Mark

22 Gillen, Representative Will Tallman, Representative Jake

23 Wheatley, and I'm going to have staff introduce themselves. I

24 have staff sitting in the audience, and Judy Smith, do you want

25 to start right here? 5

1 MS. SMITH: Good morning, everyone. Good morning.

2 It’s not working.

3 Good morning, everyone. Judy Smith, Executive Director

4 for the House Education Committee.

5 MS. MURPHY: Good morning. Elizabeth Murphy, staff of

6 the House Education Committee.

7 MR. WAKELEY: Chris Wakeley, Executive Director for

8 Democratic House Education Committee, Representative Roebuck.

9 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: I have staff people in the

10 audience.

11 MR. BERGER: Jonathan Berger, House Education

12 Committee.

13 MR. BIACCHI: Mike Biacchi, House Education Committee.

14 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: And I saw that

15 Representative Erin Molchany has joined us, and is there another

16 person that -- and Representative Longietti is with us as well.

17 Having made my opening remarks, I ’m going to call upon

18 Chairman Roebuck for comments.

19 MINORITY CHAIRMAN ROEBUCK: Thank you. I also want to

20 recognize Erin Dixon, who is on my staff. Good morning.

21 I would certainly echo the statement of Chairman

22 Clymer in terms of the importance of adult education for

23 individuals but I would also add to that that adults become role

24 models for young people and those who are parents who are able

25 to improve their education ultimately hopefully transmit that to 6

1 their children and encourage them also to be good learners. So

2 the topic we deal with is very, very important. I look forward

3 to the testimony today, and I certainly thank all those who are

4 here for being here.

5 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

6 gentleman, at this time recognizes Dr. Eric Darr. He is the

7 President and CEO of Harrisburg University of Science and

8 Technology, and he was leading us today to a tour of the

9 university, and I'm telling you, it was very informative and we

10 certainly appreciate the time that he has taken with the members

11 of the House Education Committee. So at this time the Chair

12 recognizes Dr. Darr for comments.

13 DR. DARR: Chairman Clymer, Chairman Roebuck, thank

14 you very much for having the Committee meeting here today.

15 Welcome to Harrisburg University, the first new comprehensive

16 university in Pennsylvania founded in a hundred years, since a

17 little place called Carnegie Tech a little west of us, and when

18 we were founded, we literally were writing on blank pieces of

19 paper for what a new university would be, and in some sense

20 renewing how to found a university in Pennsylvania. There was

21 nobody alive that had actually done that, and so therefore how

22 does one create a new university in today's age was an

23 interesting challenge, and I'll tell you, not for the faint of

24 heart.

25 Also, congratulations to all of you. You've passed 7

1 the first admission requirement; that is the elevators in this

2 building. You will be receiving your conditional acceptances to

3 the university, so appreciate that.

4 Again, the University, Science and Technology focus,

5 we are 49 percent women, 45 percent minorities, which is 10

6 times what you will find in a university that focuses on science

7 and technology careers, bachelor's degrees, master's degree, and

8 hopefully in the next 12 to 18 months, a doctorate degree as

9 well.

10 We were founded to address science and technology

11 educational needs of students in Pennsylvania, workforce needs

12 of businesses in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and at the

13 time, Harrisburg was the largest State capital in the union that

14 did not have its own four-year comprehensive university in the

15 downtown of the city. Obviously the Dixon Center, State

16 universities are represented. Temple has had had a presence

17 here for a long time, and Penn State-Harrisburg out near the

18 airport, but none of those affect what goes in any great way

19 with regard to economic development in the city of Harrisburg.

20 And so were all the reasons why Harrisburg University was

21 founded.

22 We try to be nimble. We try to build programs that do

23 not duplicate what can be found other places, other

24 universities, other colleges, and try to be responsive to the

25 needs, as I said, of our constituents, the businesses of 8

1 Pennsylvania, the government of Pennsylvania, but most

2 importantly, the students and families here in Pennsylvania.

3 So again, welcome to the university. I ’m happy to

4 have you here. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.

5 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

6 gentleman and recognizes at this time Representative English for

7 remarks as this has been one of his issues that he has dedicated

8 a lot of time and worked very hard on this issue, adult

9 literacy.

10 So at this time the Chair recognizes Representative

11 English for comments.

12 REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH: Thank you, Chairman Clymer,

13 thank you, Chairman Roebuck. I appreciate your time in

14 dedicating to this hearing today.

15 This is a chance for everybody here to learn. I had

16 the opportunity to learn when one of my constituents, Don Block,

17 the executive director of the Greater Literacy Council in

18 Pittsburgh, came to meet with me and talk to me about adult

19 literacy, and being a freshman here in the Legislature, I found

20 it quite interesting. He invited me to come to an open-house

21 presentation that they had, and I got to interact with many very

22 impressive students, and when I use the word "student," w e ’re

23 not talking kids with pimples; w e ’re talking a more mature

24 student. And I think I was very impressed with what they were

25 doing. I was very shocked and disappointed with some of the 9

1 funding cuts that have been incurred, and shocked and

2 disappointed in many ways, not just for basic reduction but the

3 lost opportunity in a lot of our fellow citizens, and I

4 appreciate the chairman for this opportunity for all of us to

5 get educated and to listen to the testimony today.

6 You know, I think everybody wants to know that

7 somebody cares, that they have hope, that there's belonging, and

8 I think, you know, we focus so much on the students up to about

9 age 17, 18 when they potentially graduate high school, but what

10 about thereafter? And sitting in this room of some mature

11 students, I remember in law school, the lady that sat next to

12 me, she used to baby-sit for my mother. So she was a late in

13 lifer going to graduate-level degree, and there's many

14 opportunities for people to succeed. We want to infuse early

15 education. We want to support our libraries so everybody has a

16 chance and opportunity to go there, and we really want an

17 opportunity for people to continue to pull themselves up, to

18 give them those chances and opportunities, and I think there's

19 some tremendous value in the cost savings or cost expense what

20 we may be able to put into educating or re-educating students

21 and how that translates into society and hopefully more

22 productive citizens to earn income, to make better decisions, to

23 not be potentially impoverished, to not be dependent on

24 government aid, and to not be incarcerated, or if they were

25 incarcerated, give them an opportunity to advance beyond that, 10

1 and again, to have that care, that hope and belonging so that

2 everyone has that in the community, in the workplace and in the

3 family.

4 Thank you, Mr. Chair.

5 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

6 gentleman, and we will now turn to our panel who is with us this

7 morning. We have before us Donald G. Block, Executive Director

8 of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council. We have Kim

9 Rossman, President, the Pennsylvania Association for Adult

10 Continuing Education, and JoAnn Weinberger, Chair, Public Policy

11 Committee of PAACE. Welcome, and you may begin your testimony

12 as you see fit.

13 MR. BLOCK: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to

14 thank Representative Clymer and Representative English for their

15 roles in planning and carrying out this hearing. Thank you.

16 I have spent 33 years in the field of adult literacy,

17 all of that in Pennsylvania, and have been recognized nationally

18 by my peers as the outstanding administrator in the nation.

19 Last year I had the honor of serving on Governor Corbett's

20 Advisory Commission on Post-Secondary Education.

21 So we're here today to speak about a vital but

22 sometimes forgotten program in the Pennsylvania Department of

23 Education, adult and family literacy. This program is vital to

24 the economic success of our State, as Representative English

25 indicated, and to lowering the cost of public assistance and 11

1 unemployment compensation, and today we're going to emphasize

2 the economic benefits that we get from this program, as well as

3 the benefits for the students themselves, and yes, we will use

4 the word "student," even though w e ’re talking about adults.

5 We serve two main populations in these programs. We

6 serve people 17 years of age and older and out of the public

7 school system. The first group are American-born students who

8 didn’t finish high school and who want to go to college or get a

9 job and they need to pass the GED or high school equivalency. A

10 second group are immigrants and refugees, very hardworking

11 people, making a new life in this country who want to work hard

12 and contribute but they need to learn our language. So those

13 are the two primary groups that we serve. I can sum up by

14 saying these programs make them better workers, parents and

15 citizens.

16 Now, while the word "literacy" is associated primarily

17 with reading, we teach a broad range of skills. We teach math,

18 writing, computer skills, and all the subject areas for the GED,

19 and as I said, also English as a second language. And recently

20 w e ’ve become very job-focused, so w e ’re teaching resume writing,

21 interviewing and job behaviors, and we have professional staff

22 on the staffs of these programs working on career planning for

23 students and placing them directly into jobs or post-secondary

24 education.

25 Everything that I do as the director involves 12

1 collaboration with other organizations. We don’t do this alone.

2 Classes and tutorials are held in public libraries, community

3 centers, churches, colleges and even coffee shops and

4 restaurants, and I work closely with a number of large employers

5 so that students can be placed directly in jobs. We sit on the

6 Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, and we are on the

7 leadership team of the CareerLink in Pittsburgh, so w e ’re

8 heavily involved in the workforce development system.

9 And we definitely don’t depend on government support

10 to run this program. I and my staff raise approximately $1

11 million annually in private donations to supplement the public

12 dollars that we receive.

13 I ’d like you to understand that there’s a waiting list

14 for these programs. There is a heavy demand from people who

15 want to get into these programs. In my office, we get about 50

16 calls a week from people who would like to enroll as students in

17 our program, so this demand that some folks might think is a

18 very hypothetical thing is very real to us. That’s a lot of

19 people demanding the service, and we can’t accommodate all of

20 them, so we have waiting lists.

21 The census tells us we have 710,000 adults of working

22 age in Pennsylvania who do not have a high school diploma. I ’m

23 not counting those over 65; I ’m counting just the working-age

24 adults. Imagine the cost if we had to support all 710,000 on

25 public assistance for the five years that the law allows them to 13

1 receive assistance. I calculated that at $21.3 billion -­

2 that's billion with a B -- the cost that we cannot bear as

3 taxpayers, I don't think.

4 So we do have a lot of testing and evaluation of

5 outcomes in these programs. I'm not planning to go into that in

6 detail but I have attached to my testimony some data about

7 outcomes, how many students get their GED, how many get jobs,

8 how many go to post-secondary.

9 Just for a moment, I'll take you back to October 1986.

10 Now I'm showing my age, I think. I was here in Harrisburg

11 standing behind Governor Thornburgh as he signed into law Act

12 143, the Pennsylvania Adult Literacy Act, and my colleague who's

13 sitting back there, Jeff Woodyard, was also there at the signing

14 of Act 143. Governor Thornburgh was a strong advocate for this

15 program and continues to support it.

16 So that created a line item in the State budget

17 labeled "adult and family literacy,” and through the 1990s and

18 2000s we were able to increase the number of students that we

19 served, and now I'd like my helper here to show us this chart.

20 We're going to just make reference to a chart that we have here.

21 Let's turn it around. That's upside down. There we go. So the

22 blue line at the top represents the State funding levels over

23 those six years from '07/'08 until the current year, and the red

24 line indicates the number of students enrolled. So at the peak

25 of student enrollment, we were able to reach 52,000 students 14

1 across the State, and unfortunately, that has dropped to less

2 than half of that, or 24,000 students across the State in the

3 current year or the most recent year for which we have data.

4 This means fewer students getting their GED, getting jobs and

5 moving off public assistance. In 2011, many programs simply

6 closed their doors and stopped delivering services altogether,

7 unfortunately.

8 So my colleagues will say more about the broad impacts

9 of these programs. I simply want to emphasize to you that this

10 is not about reading, writing and math, that this is really

11 about giving people a chance to rise out of poverty, to become

12 self-sufficient, to get jobs, to feel the pride of supporting

13 themselves and not being dependent on government assistance. So

14 there really is a huge economic impact that we're talking about

15 today, and just as some of the comments were made earlier that

16 there has been this funding drop-off that Representative English

17 felt, to use his words, shocked by, and it's affecting our

18 services. We would like to serve much more of the need, and so

19 we're asking you to take a look at this history and consider

20 what action could be taken to help these students who really

21 want to contribute to our economy.

22 Thank you. I ’ll yield back to the chairman. Thank

23 you very much.

24 MS. ROSSMAN: Members of the House Education

25 Committee, first I ’d like to thank you for inviting me to 15

1 testify on behalf of adult and family literacy programs in

2 Pennsylvania. As the current President of PAACE, Pennsylvania’s

3 Association for Adult Continuing Education, and the Executive

4 Director of Tutors of Literacy in the Commonwealth, I appreciate

5 your time and your willingness to listen to the importance of

6 investing in adult and family literacy programs, programs that,

7 as Don said, will educate participants to successfully join the

8 workforce. EPIC programs, adult and family programs that are

9 Educating Pennsylvania and Investing in our Communities, are the

10 only programs available to help meet the needs of this

11 population of learners.

12 PAACE is the voice for Pennsylvania’s working

13 professionals in the field of adult and family literacy. Tutors

14 of Literacy in the Commonwealth provide support to volunteer

15 tutors and tutor coordinators in adult and family literacy

16 programs throughout the State. In Pennsylvania, approximately

17 1,000 trained volunteer instructors are matched with adult

18 learners who have the greatest barriers to learning. These

19 volunteers work to fill a huge need in the field, and they’re

20 known for making a difference in many lives.

21 Many Pennsylvania citizens want to do better for

22 themselves and for their families. Stumbling blocks such as

23 transportation problems and childcare issues are frequently

24 encountered along the way to success. These stumbling blocks

25 and other life circumstances, often due to poverty, make it 16

1 brutally clear to these learners that they don't have the skills

2 necessary to meet the needs of the 21st century economy. The

3 statistic that Don shared, 710,000 Pennsylvania adults of

4 working age lacking a high school diploma, certainly supports

5 the fact that these learners aren't prepared to meet the 21st

6 century economy needs. Another statistic tells us that 13

7 percent of Pennsylvanians 16 and older lack basic literacy

8 skills.

9 Adult and family literacy programs work hard to fill

10 the gaps between the skill levels of Pennsylvania's adult

11 learners and the needs of employers and the economy. Adult and

12 family literacy, again, as Don said, goes well beyond reading

13 and writing just as the needs of these learners go beyond

14 education. With the help of educational case managers, focused

15 professional development for instructors, and increased

16 requirements of volunteer tutors, adult and family literacy

17 programs are better able to help learners with both academic

18 needs and workforce skills such as time management and problem

19 solving.

20 The current 61 State-funded adult and family literacy

21 programs, which is down from approximately 120 programs three

22 years ago, provide instruction in adult basic education, GED

23 preparation, parent education, English as a second language, and

24 workplace skills, and they do this through classroom and small

25 group instruction, distance learning, one-on-one tutoring, and 17

1 educational case management. Family literacy programs also

2 include parent and child interactive literacy activities to

3 support parents in their role as their children's first and

4 foremost teacher. These programs serve learners such as Lizette

5 Tikanov, who immigrated to Lancaster from Peru six years ago.

6 She was an attorney in her country and spoke little English when

7 she arrived. Lizette attended ESL, English as a second

8 language, classes at Lancaster-Lebanon Literacy Council, where

9 she worked to improve her listening, speaking, reading and

10 writing skills. She's now taking classes at Harrisburg Area

11 Community College in computer and information technology and has

12 a full-time job. In the spring of 2013, Lizette became a U.S.

13 citizen. Lizette, would you please stand and be recognized for

14 your accomplishments?

15 Lizette's story and other stories shared today reflect

16 the needs of adults in every region in our State. Adult and

17 family literacy programs have increased the quality of services

18 in order to meet the needs of these learners despite the 50-

19 percent funding cuts we've experienced in recent years.

20 I'd also like to take a moment to highlight the fact

21 that we do address the needs of the whole adult learner, not

22 just the educational needs. This doesn't mean we act as social

23 workers. We do use referral services when appropriate. It does

24 mean that we provide instruction in the skills needed for adult

25 learners to increase self-sufficiency. We teach life skills, 18

1 skills that we all too easily assume are inherent in those

2 around us. We teach in the context of community, education,

3 work and family, making instruction relevant to the adult

4 learner. We work to minimize recidivism through programs at

5 correctional facilities and services to ex-offenders returning

6 to the community. We help parents support their children. We

7 promote skills needed to fully participate in a Democratic

8 society.

9 Adult learners in adult and family literacy programs

10 learn to value education and by doing so often break a vicious

11 cycle that’s passed down through generations. Yes, we all want

12 pre-K-through-12 education to be as strong as possible, and in

13 order to support that vital education, we also need the backing

14 of the parents at home. If those parents aren’t valuing

15 education, what are the odds they’ll support the education of

16 their children?

17 Pennsylvania’s school districts spend an average of

18 $15,000 per student per year. Adult literacy provides

19 instruction to adult learners at approximately $1,000 per

20 learner per year. Doesn’t it make sense to make the most of

21 those $15,000 per child to equip the adults, the parents with

22 the skills needed to support the education of those children,

23 skills such as reading with their children and helping with

24 homework. Research shows that the best predictor of a child’s

25 success in school is the educational level of the mother. 19

1 In summary, adult and family literacy serves a vital

2 need not filled by other programs. We help learners become more

3 active, informed members of society. We hope that today’s

4 testimonies will make it clear that we could provide more

5 services with more funding, ultimately benefiting adult learners

6 statewide as well as the State’s economy. We hope today’s

7 hearing will help you understand the many reasons our services

8 are needed and why we believe these programs deserve strong

9 consideration when budgeting decisions are made.

10 Thank you for your time and the opportunity to appear

11 before you today.

12 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: JoAnn, just before you

13 begin, the Chair wants to recognize the attendance of

14 Representative Patrick Harkins over to our right here. Good

15 morning to our legislator.

16 All right. You may begin.

17 MS. WEINBERGER: Thank you. Good morning, and thank

18 you very much to the Committee for holding this hearing. I

19 especially want to say that before I retired last February, for

20 27 years I was the head of the Center for Literacy in

21 Philadelphia, the State’s largest adult literacy program, and

22 Representative Roebuck had his office right across the street

23 and was a supporter of our program.

24 So nationally and in Pennsylvania, adults currently in

25 the workforce and those unemployed need to increase their skills 20

1 for the 21st century economy. We need that adult education

2 pipeline in order to help both adults and to support the

3 education of their children. Our economy can’t wait for the

4 graduates of K-12 to enter and complete college or acquire an

5 industry certification. Furthermore, today’s high school

6 dropouts become our students. As much as I ’d like to say w e ’re

7 going to put ourselves out of business, it does not look that

8 that’s going to be possible.

9 Today I’d like to provide some basic background in the

10 importance areas worthy of discussion from a policy perspective,

11 and then talk about some strategic direction.

12 First of all, return on investment. Thanks to the

13 work of Dr. Paul Harrington -- at the time he was heed of the

14 Department of Labor Studies at Northeastern; he is now at Drexel

15 University -- we have some very strong return on investment data

16 from adult literacy programs. The formula that’s used for what

17 I’m going to say was attached to my testimony.

18 What we know is that annually our students who get

19 jobs add over $8 million of Pennsylvania tax revenue. Secondly,

20 they save over $38 million in cash transfers and non-cash

21 transfers, whether it be Medicare insurance or TANF or food

22 stamps. So for over $47 million of return, the Commonwealth is

23 spending $11,675,000. That is an investment that is well worth

24 it, and an investment to consider in terms of further work.

25 The second area is one of career pathways. I just 21

1 want to reemphasize what my colleagues have said about education

2 and training working together, and that adult literacy does not

3 act in a vacuum and that all programs that are funded throughout

4 the Commonwealth are concerned with what's the transition

5 whether it be to post-secondary education, either into a college

6 or a technical program, or into a job with clear career pathway

7 opportunities. What careers are emphasized depends upon the

8 particular region in our State.

9 Furthermore, the U.S. Office of Education has released

10 college and career readiness standards for adult literacy.

11 They're based on common course standards and they have been

12 shared throughout Pennsylvania with all of our programs.

13 Third, there are new data on the need for our

14 services. There's not been a new national adult literacy study

15 for over 10 years but the new survey of adult students, or

16 adults in 23 countries plus the United States, has painted a

17 very grim picture for us, and I would like to just summarize

18 what that data based on 16- to 65-year-olds includes. First of

19 all, in general, U.S. adults performed either average or poorly

20 in each of three proficiency measures: literacy, numeracy and

21 problem solving. And problem solving was done on computers, so

22 the 16-year-olds were also low in terms of problem solving.

23 They may be able to write a 140-character text. That doesn't

24 mean that they can solve a problem on a computer.

25 The low-education disadvantage also of parents had an 22

1 impact on the adults who were tested. The lower the education

2 of the parent, the lower the scores of the 16-year-olds and up.

3 So in summary, the U.S. has millions with low literacy

4 skills. We don’t yet have Pennsylvania-specific data but

5 there’s no reason to believe that the picture would be any

6 different. Also, on a measure of health status, adults with low

7 skills are four times as likely to have poor or fair health than

8 other adults in the population.

9 Although again, how do we meet this need? We can’t

10 meet the low-skills challenge just by focusing on K-12 or

11 college education, and we shouldn’t have competition between

12 these systems. I understand the focus on K-16, I don’t disagree

13 with it, but let’s not leave adult and family literacy out of

14 the mix.

15 And there’s going to be a new GED test, so come

16 January 2, 2014, in Pennsylvania there are over 40,000 adults

17 who started testing, have not finished and will have to start

18 all over again. What does that really mean? So the new GED

19 test, first of all, is based on common core standards. I

20 support that, but that’s not what those adults have learned

21 already. Secondly, the tests are only going to be available on

22 the computer at approved testing sites. Again, another skill.

23 Third, the results will be in two levels: high school

24 equivalency, and college and career readiness standards. So

25 there will be two different levels of information. And fourth, 23

1 there's going to be an increase in the cost, $120 versus

2 currently $75 at many of the testing sites.

3 It's also important to know that there are going to be

4 options that are available. This State has chosen to go with

5 GED in 2014, but there’s also a Request for Information on the

6 PDE procurement site for what the criteria of other groups are.

7 For example, we already know that ETS and CTB/-McGraw-Hill have

8 developed competitive examinations. It’s important for you

9 because the School Code Section 4.72 only refers to the GED in

10 terms of an alternative examination.

11 Now to the policy recommendations. First of all,

12 Pennsylvania should make adult and family literacy a priority.

13 It provides a demonstrated return on investment. As former

14 Representative Ryan Cowell put it, it’s a two-fer: first, it

15 supports adults to obtain employment, and it provides support

16 for K-12 education. Pennsylvania’s economy as well as our

17 children’s performance will benefit and the return on investment

18 will be measurable.

19 Secondly, to meet the demand, additional resources

20 must be found. I know how hard that was. I was Deputy

21 Secretary of Policy Management at PDE so I know what the

22 difficult decisions are. However, it doesn’t just have to be

23 found through the line item at PDE. There are other programs

24 that can be brought to bear in terms of braided funding. An

25 example is an I-BEST program that was started in the State of 24

1 Washington, has been proven effective in seven other States.

2 Third, again, think about the School Code change that

3 will be needed to Section 4.72. And last but not least, there

4 is, as part of Act 142, but as amended in 1997, a call for an

5 interagency coordinating council. It is legislatively mandated.

6 It has not been active for the last couple years. Bringing all

7 the departments along with business, public awareness people and

8 programs to the table to have joint planning would be

9 advantageous to the Commonwealth.

10 So now I would like to share the story of Nicole Peach

11 from York. Nicole was abandoned by her mother and raised by her

12 grandmother. When her grandmother became ill, she took care of

13 her and had to drop out of school. She spent time with her

14 boyfriend and became pregnant. At seven months, she tried to go

15 back to the school district, and they said you'd be better off

16 getting a GED. She's tried to work at minimum-wage jobs and

17 knew that she had to get a GED and therefore joined classes and

18 went through the program. She has now achieved her GED and is

19 going to be going to HACC to first of all become a nurse's aide,

20 and secondly, a licensed practical nurse. Would you please

21 stand, and we'd like to congratulate you on your GED.

22 So I'd like to thank you for your attention to the

23 issue of adult and family literacy and with the chairman's

24 permission, we would like to open it to questions.

25 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks our 25

1 presenters this morning for some very informative information on

2 adult literacy. Just a few questions before I turn it over to

3 the other Members of the Committee.

4 If I did not have a high school education and I wanted

5 to get my GED, that is the objective of the program, adult

6 literacy, to help each person get their GED. Is that correct?

7 MS. WEINBERGER: In some cases we have many learners

8 who already have a high school diploma but they don’t have the

9 skills for the 21st century, and so for those adult learners,

10 and it is true throughout the State, they come to our programs

11 to develop all the skills that they need, either to be able to

12 transition to post-secondary, they already have a piece of paper

13 but they know they don’t have the skills. So to go into post­

14 secondary or to obtain employment.

15 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: My next question is, just

16 to be sure, at this point when these students -- call them

17 students -- are under instruction, where are they receiving the

18 instruction? In school, in churches? Because I would like

19 to...

20 MR. BLOCK: The providers of these services include a

21 wide range of types of entities so they range from school

22 districts to community colleges to nonprofit organizations. So

23 wherever those groups have their facilities, it might be in a

24 school or it might be in a public library. It’s quite a range.

25 It’s very diverse. That’s probably the best answer I can give 26

1 you.

2 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: That’s fine. If a student,

3 an adult student, was trying to master the English language,

4 they were very proficient in another language but they were

5 struggling with the English language, now, you would help them

6 because that would seem obvious, how could they move forward in

7 the academics if they could not write or speak English. So

8 that’s a given, right?

9 MR. BLOCK: That’s correct. English as a second

10 language for adults is an important piece of what we do, yes.

11 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: And how successful are you

12 when you say that you’re not social workers but I do understand

13 how important it is to connect a person who is now learning,

14 educating themselves, really feeling good about the direction

15 they’re going but they still need some social service work. It

16 may be getting employment, it may be finding housing, you know,

17 they need assistance until they can make that transition. How

18 do you do that? Do you work with social welfare, or how do

19 you...

20 MR. BLOCK: I think...

21 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: ...even churches can help

22 them, I would assume.

23 MR. BLOCK: Pardon me. I think I can speak for all of

24 my colleagues in saying that w e ’re heavily connected with all of

25 the other social agencies in our towns and that there’s an 27

1 active referral back and forth and back and forth, and we

2 recognize what is our expertise and what is not our expertise,

3 and so we use all of those other resources.

4 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: My final question, and I

5 have others, but to give time to my Members of the Committee

6 here. You were mentioning about common core standards, and that

7 caught my attention immediately. You said that as common core

8 standards are being implemented within the education process,

9 that that has made it a little bit more difficult for them to

10 get their GED. Well, common core standards, are you referring

11 to the Keystone exams that we're taking? Is that what it is?

12 Explain that a little bit more, because my understanding is that

13 there are standards but they're not specific books or reading

14 materials that they have to do. It is having them reach a level

15 where they can function and be functional with other students

16 not only in Pennsylvania but across the Nation. So I would like

17 a little bit more in-depth understanding of that issue.

18 MS. WEINBERGER: So the issue for adults is not

19 Keystone exams. The issue for adults is the GED, and the new

20 GED that starts on January 2nd will have four exams. Currently

21 there are five. And the exams particularly on language arts and

22 on math are based on the common core standards, again, not that

23 there has to be any one particular set of books or workbooks or

24 materials, but the GED Testing Service, which has joined with

25 Pearson Vue, so it's now a for-profit. It was a nonprofit since 28

1 it was founded after World War II, that this for-profit has gone

2 to businesses and corporations as well as to the developers of

3 common core standards and reconstructed the examinations almost

4 from scratch. So no longer is the majority of it multiple

5 choice, and a five-paragraph essay. There is every kind of

6 question imaginable, and much of it is short answer.

7 So I hope that answers your questions. I ’d be happy

8 to delve into more.

9 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: That’s fine. I appreciate

10 that.

11 The Chair recognizes Chairman Roebuck.

12 MINORITY CHAIRMAN ROEBUCK: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

13 I noted that you noted the two categories of students

14 you focus on, dropouts and immigrants, and I wondered,

15 particularly for students who fall under the category of having

16 dropped out of high school or dropped out of the educational

17 process, that it’s my understanding that one of the things that

18 oftentimes leaves students to fall behind and ultimately to drop

19 out is lack of reading skills, and I wonder if you might address

20 how you in fact take students who have fallen into that category

21 and develop necessary levels of reading success that will allow

22 them to progress. I hear over and over again that a student who

23 cannot read well by 4th grade probably never will read well, so

24 I ’m wondering how you overcome that hurdle.

25 MR. BLOCK: Well, I ’m not going into a lot of 29

1 curriculum and instruction here but there is research to prove

2 that the brain continues to develop for long periods of

3 adulthood and that there is no cutoff point by which you must

4 have these reading skills or you’re lost. So w e ’ve seen many,

5 many cases of students who continue to develop these reading

6 skills that you’re talking about, and one of the great things

7 that’s gratifying about adult education is how motivated the

8 students are. They have come to a point in their life where

9 they are ready to make this a priority. They’ve had some bumps

10 in the job market and they see now this is what I need, and they

11 come very highly motivated. So that desire tends to overcome

12 some of those past difficulties that you’re talking about. The

13 motivation is so important. And you may add...

14 MS. WEINBERGER: I would go and add to my colleague’s

15 comments, and that is, first of all, we teach in a context.

16 It’s not just academic skills for academic’s sake. And it’s not

17 because you’re in 6th grade, you must read 6th-grade reading

18 materials. So that the materials are in the context of job and

19 where you want to go and beginning to have every individual

20 think about what that career pathway means.

21 Secondly, we don’t use any one type of approach to

22 teach reading. W e ’re very eclectic, and if one approach doesn’t

23 work, move to another one, and it’s one of the flexibilities of

24 adult education that’s not necessarily true in every school

25 district. So we do see successes. It’s not necessarily a short 30

1 time. I don’t want to make it sound like in three-months

2 somebody who has dropped out and reading at the 4th-grade level

3 is going to get their GED. It is not going to happen. But

4 again, the motivation is important.

5 MINORITY CHAIRMAN ROEBUCK: Thank you. The second

6 question, I notice in the chart here that you gave to us that

7 there seems to be a point at which the number of students

8 seeking help almost reaches a line of funding and then both drop

9 off. Is the drop-off a result of the cut of funding? Is that

10 what drives the line down or is it something else here that is

11 not evident in the two lines as they move forward?

12 MR. BLOCK: I think the single largest factor would be

13 the funding cut. There were also some increased requirements

14 from the State as to standards that we needed to maintain, and

15 that may have increased slightly the cost per student, in a way

16 to get more quality, but the primary reason for the drop-off is

17 the funding reduction. As I said in my testimony, there’s no

18 lack of demand; it’s the lack of supply that w e ’re talking

19 about.

20 MINORITY CHAIRMAN ROEBUCK: And if I just may make one

21 other observation. I see the use of the term "adult literacy”

22 and I wonder if the better term might be "adult learning"

23 because indeed, you can be literate and still perhaps have some

24 of the deficiencies w e ’re talking about here, and I just wonder

25 if "learning" is not a better descriptive term to use. 31

1 MR. BLOCK: Yes, w e ’re all nodding yes because w e ’re

2 not talking about the absolute non-reader. When we say "adult

3 literacy,” some people may assume that w e ’re talking no skills

4 at all at the start, and that’s very rare to start with someone

5 who has no skills at all. W e ’re talking about people who come

6 in and they’re tested and they find a level somewhere between,

7 say, 3rd and 8th grade reading level. So they have some skills

8 but they are in need of our services. Adult learning, perhaps

9 we haven’t adopted that because it might be misunderstood to be

10 continuing ed at a college or a university. So we struggle with

11 the terminology ourselves but we settled on adult literacy.

12 MS. ROSSMAN: Just to add to that, I think when we

13 look at the definition of literacy, maybe what we consider is a

14 little bit narrower than what the field considers as the

15 definition of literacy. I don’t have it in front of me but it

16 expands to include more thinking skills, critical thinking

17 skills, reading, writing, but beyond what we expect, it’s the

18 actual use of that information.

19 MS. WEINBERGER: And in the Pennsylvania Department of

20 Education, it’s the Division of Adult Education is how it’s

21 phrased.

22 MINORITY CHAIRMAN ROEBUCK: Thank you.

23 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair recognizes

24 Representative English.

25 REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 32

1 Just a couple questions from your testimony. Can you

2 enlighten me on with the GED requirements changing January 2nd,

3 going from five parts to four parts, how long does it take an

4 average student or -- and I know there's probably no average,

5 they're all individual, unique circumstances, but what's the

6 process for that student to undertake it and just sort of how do

7 they proceed? Do they have to knock out various parts? How

8 long do they have to take those parts? And I think by analogy

9 to, like, a CPA exam, and that's changed over time as well, but

10 you can take a part, take a part, take a part, rather than one

11 exam pass or fail the entire thing.

12 And then just maybe a follow-up or if you could expand

13 on the I-BEST program that you'd mentioned and how that might be

14 retroactive, taken, I think, in community colleges and then go

15 back and get your GED.

16 MS. WEINBERGER: Do you want to do the GED and I'll do

17 the rest?

18 MR. BLOCK: All right. Currently, there are five

19 sections in the GED. It takes too long to do them all in one

20 day. They vary in length slightly, but the total testing time

21 is approximately seven hours for the five sections, and most

22 testers take at least two days to take the five sections. Some

23 failing to pass one section come back later and retest on that

24 section to raise their scores, and as JoAnn indicated, even

25 those retest scores will all be thrown out on December 31st. 33

1 The old 2002 version of the GED test will no longer be valid.

2 So you can see they revise the test approximately every 10 to 12

3 years.

4 And I hope that was helpful about the GED but most

5 students take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years,

6 depending on their entry level and their skills at the time that

7 they start in studying and preparing. We encourage them to take

8 a class because many students think that they can just walk in

9 off the street and take the test and then in many cases they

10 find it to be more difficult than what they imagined and they

11 really needed some brush-up on their skills.

12 REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH: And I ’m glad you can’t just

13 walk in and pass it. That gives some confidence that there is

14 some rigor, which seems to be a popular word around here,

15 rigorous standards.

16 If a student fails a section, fails a section, is

17 there any limit to the number of times they can fail or

18 timelines?

19 MS. WEINBERGER: After three strikes, they have to

20 wait a period of time, and I can’t remember exactly what that

21 is. We could get back to you if you want. But then they do

22 have to wait.

23 But any time, for example, the current test started in

24 2002. Somebody could have started testing in 2002 and still be

25 testing in 2013. As long as it’s the same test, they have been 34

1 allowed to do that. It’s just with a brand-new test, and this

2 has occurred in the past as well. With a brand-new test, all

3 prior scores are wiped out.

4 REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH: Any prognostication of those

5 40,000 students that there was the ability to extend that time a

6 year or two years? I mean, how many do you think would...

7 MS. WEINBERGER: We don’t know. In many cases,

8 testing sites in Pennsylvania have tried to reach out to those

9 who did not finish testing to see if they wanted to come back,

10 so we don’t know.

11 I have to be honest with you: other States have done

12 a major campaign to make sure that publicly the 40,000-plus, for

13 example, in Pennsylvania would know that. This State issued a

14 press release, and it’s been up to individual programs in

15 individual areas of the State such as Don in Pittsburgh to try

16 to get the word out.

17 So now to respond to your I-BEST, okay. So I-BEST is

18 a program that teams a training instructor, whether it be in

19 welding or commercial driver’s license or whatever the need is,

20 with an adult literacy or GED instructor. So at the same time

21 the adults are pursuing GED in the context of the job they want

22 to enter and being trained, and so at the end they both have the

23 industry certification or an associate’s degree if that’s what

24 they’re studying for and a GED.

25 REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH: Thank you. 35

1 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

2 gentleman and recognize Representative Longietti.

3 REPRESENTATIVE LONGIETTI: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

4 I want to focus in on one of the recommendations that

5 Ms. Weinberger made, recommendation number three, just so I

6 understood too. I know that we received an email recently from

7 a gentleman who works for McGraw-Hill, probably, you know,

8 biased from his perspective, but pointing out some concerns

9 about the regulations as written. Could you explain, you talk

10 about, I think you're hitting on the same subject in your third

11 recommendation, the way the code regulations are proposed

12 currently and creating options. Could you explain what changes

13 would need to be made and what are the options and just give a

14 little better understanding?

15 MS. WEINBERGER: So that particular section gives

16 several options for ways that people can obtain a Commonwealth

17 secondary school diploma, which is what is issued. One is if

18 they have 30 hours of college credit, et cetera. But there's

19 only one testing option, okay, one program option, and that is

20 the GED test. So in other States, the law has already been

21 changed so that, for example, New York State is going with

22 CTB/McGraw Hill. New Hampshire is going with ETS. Across the

23 United States, some States have chosen two or all three

24 alternatives to give the adults a choice.

25 It's important, for example, to know that the ETS test 36

1 and the McGraw-Hill test can also be taken paper and pencil next

2 year. So only the GED test is where the adults have one choice:

3 on the computer. So that’s why. I mean, McGraw-Hill’s

4 marketing nationwide, ETS, their test is called High Test, is

5 marketing nationwide, and GED Testing Service, Pearson Vue, is

6 also marketing nationwide. Does that answer your question?

7 MR. BLOCK: Just quickly, you might say well, why are

8 these other States moving away from the GED test, and they’re

9 very concerned -- in some cases they’re very concerned that very

10 low-income students might find $120 fee for the test a complete

11 obstacle and will not complete their high school equivalency,

12 and that’s what the GED Testing Service is saying, that it will

13 be $120, no choice about the fees, and that may be one of the

14 reasons.

15 REPRESENTATIVE LONGIETTI: And the competitors offer a

16 lesser fee?

17 MR. BLOCK: I believe theirs is $60 or $70.

18 MS. WEINBERGER: There’s still some question about

19 whether there are add-ons to that and, you know, that’s one

20 reason I think that Pennsylvania has put out that Request for

21 Information to try to get really clear information on what the

22 cost would be.

23 REPRESENTATIVE LONGIETTI: And all of these are for-

24 profit companies, whether it be GED, Pearson or McGraw?

25 MS. WEINBERGER: Is ETS for-profit? 37

1 MR. BLOCK: They are not.

2 REPRESENTATIVE LONGIETTI: Okay. So one of them is a

3 non-for-profit and the other two...

4 MS. WEINBERGER: Right.

5 REPRESENTATIVE LONGIETTI: So as the proposed

6 regulations are set right now, there would be no option other

7 than the Pearson GED test?

8 MS. WEINBERGER: Correct, and actually they’re not

9 proposed; they’re in law.

10 REPRESENTATIVE LONGIETTI: Okay.

11 MS. WEINBERGER: They’re already codified many years

12 ago, okay? It has not been modified.

13 REPRESENTATIVE LONGIETTI: So there would be a need to

14 be a modification to the current regulations if we were to allow

15 for other options?

16 MS. WEINBERGER: That’s correct.

17 REPRESENTATIVE LONGIETTI: Thank you.

18 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

19 gentleman and recognizes Representative Tallman.

20 REPRESENTATIVE TALLMAN: Thank you for presenting.

21 Adult literacy is an interesting thing because typically you go

22 down age, you said well, hey, I should have done something. So

23 I appreciate the efforts that you folks do.

24 Just real quick. We go from $75 to $120 for the GED

25 test because of the changes required by common core? Is that 38

1 what's driving the change?

2 MS. WEINBERGER: No. What's driving the change is GED

3 Pearson Vue, they're setting the cost. Also I have to say, $75

4 is about the State average but there are some testing sites

5 currently in the State that do charge more.

6 REPRESENTATIVE TALLMAN: So the changes in the

7 standards driven by common core are increasing costs?

8 MS. WEINBERGER: Not necessarily. You know, we don't

9 know...

10 MR. BLOCK: I think what we're trying to say as best

11 we know is that it was a corporate decision to set the cost at

12 that level. It wasn't so connected with the common core or the

13 content of the test. It was simply a corporate decision. Now

14 we're going from a paper-pencil test to computer-based and we're

15 going to charge more, and...

16 REPRESENTATIVE TALLMAN: But your curriculum obviously

17 has to change because of common core, so you costs are changing.

18 MR. BLOCK: Well, there could be increased need for

19 materials and training for our staff. I agree with that.

20 REPRESENTATIVE TALLMAN: Thank you.

21 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

22 gentleman and recognizes Representative Wheatley.

23 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and

24 thank you all for being here this morning.

25 I have a couple of questions. One, the system of 39

1 education, where do you fit? Meaning I ’m kind of clear on pre-K

2 through 16. There will be people who will get pushed out or

3 drop out, right? And then we have a community college system

4 that somewhere takes and retrains and helps to train our future

5 workforce in specific areas. Where do you fit in that continuum

6 of system?

7 MS. WEINBERGER: Truthfully, I would call us a

8 stepchild because w e ’re not K-12, w e ’re not pre-K and w e ’re not

9 higher education, w e ’re not community colleges. However, within

10 the Pennsylvania Department of Education, we are in post­

11 secondary, okay, and higher education. We have one line item in

12 the budget. It’s kind of midway in between everything that is

13 adult and family literacy.

14 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: And so I ’m very interested

15 because what’s the -- and I might have missed this when you were

16 saying this -- what’s the average age of the individual that is

17 participating in your program?

18 MS. WEINBERGER: I know it’s been rising, and the last

19 time I actually looked at that, it was 34. But it has become

20 younger as more and more of the dropouts have begun to come

21 back.

22 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: And you’ve all mentioned the

23 economic rationale for why it’s important to invest in your

24 program. You’re connected to industries and retraining

25 individuals not just for their ability to pass the GED but it’s 40

1 really to try to connect them to jobs. So tell me, do you have

2 industry partnerships that you’re working with that as you’re

3 training individuals that you know the standards by which they

4 can go out and partner and find employment?

5 MR. BLOCK: Yes, and in Pittsburgh, for example, we

6 have relationships with several hotels, with the casino, with

7 Bank of New York Mellon, and UPMC, University of Pittsburgh

8 Medical Center, so there are a lot of entry-level jobs in food

9 service, housekeeping and in document management at the bank

10 that w e ’re placing the students in, yes.

11 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: And are you -- as an

12 individual, do I have to pay to come to your services? It’s

13 offered free, right? So as long as we invest in you all, the

14 more spaces that are available for individuals to come through.

15 Now, let me ask you, on your partnership

16 relationships, are there any financial relationships that come

17 back from your partners? Do you have a partnership that kind of

18 pays for, you know, slots or anything like that?

19 MR. BLOCK: It’s not a direct contract. There are

20 contributions from those companies, charitable contributions,

21 but it’s not a direct contract. You may have something

22 different.

23 MS. WEINBERGER: I think it’s program by program, to

24 tell you the truth, so that in Philadelphia at times banks have

25 actually paid for a program that would operate on site so that 41

1 entry-level people could then be promoted up the ladder. Also,

2 depending upon the programs for ex-offenders or housing

3 authorities, there are contracts that go back and forth. Head

4 Start Centers is another example because of the encouragement of

5 parental involvement in terms of investment, but it is not level

6 across the State.

7 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: And the only reason I ’m

8 asking that, and this is my last comment and not really a

9 question, I ’m a very big supporter of career and technical

10 education, and I know that they’re doing a lot to retrain and to

11 really partner with industry. W e ’ve done a lot of trying to

12 support community colleges as a way to really get folk into the

13 economy and retrain. I think there is some way that we can

14 systematically probably find a system where you are brought into

15 that continuum and maybe develop a funding mechanism, because

16 the other thing I really like about what you said earlier, and

17 I ’ve been trying to get the pre-K-through 12 system to try to

18 adopt, and that is really you individualize your learning for

19 the participant. And we are now in the 21st century where we

20 can do that all throughout our system of educating folk where

21 they learn at different levels, and that shouldn’t prevent them

22 from progressing on their levels.

23 So I really think there is a way for us if we were to

24 be creative, a way to find funding opportunities for you, a way

25 to set objectives and find ways to partner with industry, and 42

1 that there is a continuum of finding people wherever they come

2 into the system of supporting them, so I hope that we can work

3 with you all to develop that, and I would like to see you grow

4 and continue the great work that you do.

5 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

6 MS. WEINBERGER: And I'd like to thank you because we

7 would like to participate in that, and I also have to say that

8 many of our programs are in community colleges or they're with

9 intermediate units so that some of that interaction takes place,

10 but we need to systematize that and we need to make sure that

11 that indeed happens throughout the Commonwealth.

12 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

13 gentleman and recognize Representative Molchany.

14 REPRESENTATIVE MOLCHANY: Can you guys hear me? Okay.

15 All right.

16 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for all the work

17 that you do in the context of adult literacy.

18 Initially I had questions about how conversations

19 around poverty kind of tie into adult literacy, but I think you

20 all covered that pretty well.

21 I am curious about the gender breakdown when you're

22 talking about adult literacy. Is there a disparity between men

23 entering -- not a disparity. Generally, what is the percentage

24 of men that enter your program, the percentage of women that

25 enter your programs? Is there kind of -- it is consistent with 43

1 the population or...

2 MR. BLOCK: I haven’t studied this statewide, but in

3 my own organization, 62 percent women and 38 men.

4 REPRESENTATIVE MOLCHANY: Yes, and just as a follow-up

5 to that, you know, I would love to see us be more proactive, and

6 I guess I kind of think to myself what can we do to be

7 proactive, you know, of course to make sure everyone is literate

8 but also to make sure that there’s not a huge gap there. You

9 know, are we somehow failing women along the way in terms of in

10 the context of education? You know, what factors are

11 contributing to that percentage being higher for women than men?

12 MR. BLOCK: Oh, um...

13 REPRESENTATIVE MOLCHANY: Sorry, heavy list. Late in

14 the game. My apologizes.

15 MR. BLOCK: We should announce the two students who

16 stood up and were congratulated. Perhaps they could tell us.

17 But the women who are raising children, that has a lot to do

18 with it. They see the need so directly when that child comes to

19 them and says I need help with this or read me this book or how

20 do I do this, and that’s one large part of it, I would say, but

21 there are many factors.

22 MS. WEINBERGER: I would also say single mothers,

23 heads of households, knowing they have to make more than minimum

24 wage, and that for many, many years the relationship between the

25 Department of Public Welfare and literacy programs was very 44

1 strong, not so much lately. And that provided extra

2 encouragement because women on public assistance were also then

3 able to access childcare and particularly money for

4 transportation.

5 REPRESENTATIVE MOLCHANY: Thank you. And just kind

6 of, you know, I ask this question because I did notice that the

7 success stories were majority women, and so that’s kind of why I

8 asked, so I appreciate your comments.

9 Thank you.

10 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

11 Representative and recognizes Chairman Roebuck for a follow-up

12 question.

13 MINORITY CHAIRMAN ROEBUCK: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

14 I think it would be helpful if we really knew the

15 structure of the GED test. I note, JoAnn, in your testimony,

16 you talk about the tests are based on the reasoning through

17 language arts, mathematical reasoning, science and social

18 studies. I ask specifically because I ’m familiar with a friend

19 who by birth was born in the Caribbean, raised in an English

20 environment, came to the United States, somehow got into a GED

21 program even while he was in high school, so he took the test

22 and did well on the test because it was in English, it’s

23 something he knew. The thing he stumbled over was the social

24 studies part where it talked about government structure. So I ’m

25 wondering, am I understanding the test correctly? Is that a 45

1 factor in what you’re evaluating if you have to also know

2 government structure or, you know, the American system of

3 government in order to pass the test? I mean, that’s something

4 we all might take, but be that as it may, am I correct in that?

5 MS. WEINBERGER: Yes, there is some clear content, and

6 I have to tell you, it’s increasing with the new test, not

7 decreasing. So that the GED program, yes, it includes, you

8 know, reading comprehension, and in truth, the current test for

9 science and social studies is if you had a basic understanding.

10 It gave you some paragraphs to read and then respond to

11 questions. So if you had any background, you could then

12 potentially go ahead. The new test is going to require greater

13 knowledge including original documents from the founding of this

14 country. So the answer is yes. And so the GED instructors need

15 to know more of that specific social studies and more of the

16 specific science, and through the Pennsylvania Department of

17 Education, professional development is being provided.

18 MINORITY CHAIRMAN ROEBUCK: Thank you.

19 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: And the chair thanks the

20 panel for being with us this morning, very informative, very

21 helpful as we consider this issue, adult literacy. So thank you

22 for joining us and for sharing your time and your expertise on

23 this issue.

24 At this time we will have our next panel who is before

25 us, and included in this panel is Samuel H. Johnson, Director, 46

1 Water Asset Development, Consol Energy Incorporated; Patrick

2 Sykes, program graduate from Pittsburgh; Jackie Smith, program

3 graduate from Gettysburg. The Chair welcomes you, and we'd like

4 to hear your testimony, and perhaps, Mr. Johnson, you can begin.

5 MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you

6 to the Committee for allowing me to speak today on a topic

7 that's so near and dear to my heart.

8 I think the light bulb for me went on about the

9 importance of adult literacy over the many years, the 31 years

10 that I served in the United States Army, and really the reason

11 why, and it is what makes me so proud of the United States Army

12 is to watch how many young Americans, both men and women, who

13 came into the Army with nothing more than a GED and their lives

14 changed. They grew disciplined, they grew maturity, and they

15 were set to go out and succeed in life whether or not they

16 stayed in the military. And that couldn't have happened had the

17 adult literacy programs not been out there to allow these young

18 men and women to even apply and join the United States Army. I

19 know that is the same across all our armed forces, and it's

20 something we as a Nation should be very proud of what we can do

21 for young men and women.

22 When I got out of the Army and joined Consol Energy, I

23 was extremely impressed with the support that our company has

24 for nonprofit organizations, and in the energy business, which

25 of course is growing here in Pennsylvania dramatically, it means 47

1 that there are huge opportunities for young men and women and in

2 some cases it’s a very competitive industry, and what does that

3 mean? That usually means when w e ’re hiring young men and women,

4 that it begins with, do you have a high school degree, and that

5 usually is the switch that turns off the interview if they say

6 no.

7 What does that mean for us? It’s a growing industry.

8 We need a workforce. We need qualified people. And in the

9 State of Pennsylvania where this industry is growing so much, a

10 small investment in education could go a long way towards

11 improving the workforce for our State.

12 I was also very impressed that our company sees the

13 importance of adult literacy and was very supportive of me

14 becoming a member of the board, and that’s why I ’m able to sit

15 here today. They don’t mind me coming here to be part of this,

16 today’s testimonies, even though I should be working back in

17 Pittsburgh.

18 But additionally, they’re a major donor for adult

19 literacy in Pittsburgh and they are because they see a business

20 interest in that. And I don’t think any of us who sit on the

21 board or work with Don and his group think that there is a

22 requirement for the State and for government to support solely

23 the funding of adult literacy. We see that there’s a corporate

24 mandate to do that and also an individual mandate. As an

25 individual, you know, I also solicit my friends and coworkers 48

1 and family to help support what Don does.

2 But there is a distressing trend from those of us who

3 are working in the area from a corporate perspective, and that

4 is this negative trend in funding from the State. It just

5 doesn’t make sense to us. We see the importance of it in

6 corporate America in terms of what it can do for jobs in the

7 State. There’s a necessity for it. We have a hard time finding

8 qualified workers at times, and I think if you go throughout the

9 energy industry in Pennsylvania, a lot of times you’ll see

10 workers that are here from other States, and that’s a tragedy.

11 We have some of the best potentials here in Pennsylvania, and if

12 we can support them and get them those GEDs, that potential work

13 in our industry grows and so does the economy for the country.

14 And I would just leave you with one last note. If you

15 haven’t visited an adult literacy place in your constituency, I

16 would tell you to please do so. I think you’ll be amazed at

17 what they do for all the wonderful people in Pennsylvania, and

18 you’ll not only be amazed, you’ll be impressed and you’ll want

19 to support what they do.

20 Thank you for having me today.

21 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: Thank you, and Mr. Sykes,

22 your testimony please.

23 MR. SYKES: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the

24 House Education Committee. Thank you for having me here today.

25 My name’s Patrick Sykes and I ’m a graduate of the GPLC 49

1 GED program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I've been selected

2 as a student speaker.

3 I'll address you as a representative of the thousands

4 of previous and future students that are going to come through

5 the many literacy education programs in the State. We all share

6 in other's successes, and we are all eternally grateful to our

7 families and to the many benefactors that donate to these

8 programs.

9 I'm not only here directly because of those generous

10 funds but also as an advocate and a concerned citizen because I

11 see what's going on around me, I see, you know, things in the

12 neighborhoods and how they're declining. Now, I'll show you

13 proof that these programs change lives in dramatic ways. This

14 benefits our society by educating our citizens so that they can

15 improve their quality of life through better-paying jobs and

16 careers and overall happiness in their lives.

17 I dropped out of school as a 17-year-old naive young

18 man, having difficulties with my dad at home. That's enough

19 details of that. But I worked most of my young life in

20 underpaying, underachieving jobs due to my lack of education. I

21 wasn't allowed to go out and get the types of jobs that were

22 Monday through Friday 9-5, the so-called office jobs. My best

23 job was as a shipping and receiving manager in a physical

24 therapy supply company in Oklahoma, and basically the company

25 was so small was that it was me and the owner that I worked 50

1 there, so I did most of the shipping, receiving database

2 management, accounts receivable, accounts payable, things of

3 that nature. And I mention it because that’s my least physical

4 type of job. My most recent vocation was as a painter. I

5 painted for many years and ruined both of my shoulders. I had

6 multiple shoulder surgeries and a few other procedures done and

7 endured a lot of physical therapy, a lot of pain, and a lot of

8 depression through that. The end result would be that it’s no

9 better than it started. It’s in fact worse.

10 So then that got me on to the thought that I needed to

11 figure out something else to do with my life rather than the

12 physical types of jobs that I had been doing. So I started

13 looking through the paper and the classified ads online and

14 everything like that, and I was pretty depressed at what I saw.

15 I saw very limited opportunities, you know, more of the same,

16 you know, underpaying, underachieving types of jobs. So then a

17 place that I was involved with through my shoulder injuries is a

18 place called OVR, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. They

19 referred me to GPLC as a way to get an education to start, you

20 know, a ground floor to start from.

21 So I got in touch with Colleen Duran from GPLC, and we

22 got me tested, figured out where I was, and then got me on the

23 ball. Now, that started in February of 2012. On April 20,

24 2012, I passed my GED and then began to look where else I could

25 challenge myself, what was next. Because I found this new sense 51

1 of confidence about me and a new sense of, I wanted to achieve

2 something else, and so then I enrolled in a place called Bidwell

3 Training Center in Pittsburgh, where they offer a no-cost-to-you

4 education. On June 29, 2012, I started an associate’s degree in

5 chemistry, and on July 16, 2013, I graduated with a 3.50 GPA,

6 earning me the distinction of graduating with honors in the

7 Alpha Beta Kappa Honor Society.

8 Part of the program was to do a two-month externship

9 where you work actually in a chemical company so you get some

10 actual on-the-job experience as well as the paper diploma, and

11 after doing that they offered me to stay on, and that’s where

12 I’m currently employed at. It’s a company called R.J. Lee Group

13 in Monroeville, PA, and I work 40 hours a week, you know, five

14 days a week, and there’s overtime possible.

15 Now, I can tell you, you know, that these types of

16 programs are vital to people because first of all, if one person

17 doesn’t believe in you and say yeah, you’ve got it, you know,

18 you can do this, you can do this, then where’s the belief in

19 that person going to be? Are they just -- they’re just left to

20 their own devices to just say okay, I ’m going to do it, I ’m

21 going to do it. There’s no avenue for them to do it through,

22 and I can tell you that I personally started practicing the GED

23 on my own many times. I even actually went to classes a few

24 times in Oklahoma, and for some reason I never followed through

25 with it. It was that one person believing in me and giving me 52

1 that positive reinforcement like they did at GPLC that made me

2 want to strive for more and it made me want to keep going and

3 see what I could do, what was possible for me. And, you know, I

4 think programs like this, like Don and them mentioned, the tax

5 revenues generated from the people that are working now, that

6 only helps our society because then there's more revenues to

7 feed it to the next, you know, people that are going to need it.

8 So that's all I have, and I thank you.

9 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: We'll hear from Jackie

10 Smith.

11 MS. SMITH: Good afternoon. I'd just like to say

12 thank you for the opportunity to be able to be here today to

13 speak on behalf of the adult education programs.

14 My name is Jackie Smith. I am 4 6 years old and I've

15 just recently completed and passed the five-part GED test, which

16 has been a long-time personal goal of mine. I'm very proud and

17 relieved to say that I finally achieved this accomplishment, and

18 it was only because of the adult education programs that are

19 available in my community.

20 The program I attended at the Hanover Center for Work

21 Force Excellence was created through a partnership of three

22 adult and family literacy providers: Harrisburg Area Community

23 College, York County Literacy Council and New Hope Ministries.

24 I'm here to speak to you today about the importance of adult

25 education programs, and based on my own personal experience, I 53

1 can tell you that these programs are essential to those who have

2 not completed high school.

3 I ’d like to share with you briefly about my personal

4 story of what has led me to having to study and take the GED and

5 some of the struggles that I ’ve encountered as a result of not

6 having it. In addition, not having my GED has profoundly

7 influenced how I was going to parent my children.

8 Approximately 28 years ago, I was a senior in high

9 school and had just learned that I was pregnant. At that time I

10 had already applied to a school to learn how to cut hair, got

11 accepted to the school and was awarded a full scholarship to

12 attend. My boyfriend and I did not come from wealthy homes so

13 we decided that we both needed to be working full-time to save

14 money for the expenses that came along with an unplanned

15 pregnancy. I then made the decision to quit school with the

16 intention that I would go back at a later date to get my GED.

17 Pardon me.

18 One of the prerequisites of going to beauty school and

19 receiving a scholarship was to have completed high school and to

20 have a diploma, and since I no longer met that criteria, I was

21 not eligible to attend. My boyfriend and I got married. W e ’re

22 still married today, 28 years later, and we had six more

23 children. We had a total of seven children, which you can

24 imagine were no easy task in raising. My husband had to work

25 long hours and overtime every chance he could in order to 54

1 provide for us. Based on our income and our family size, we

2 were eligible to be on the WIC program for a few years, which

3 helped in putting food on the table, and it wasn’t going to pay

4 for me to work outside the home with that many children as I

5 would only be paying the babysitter.

6 In addition, without a high school diploma or a GED, I

7 wasn’t able to find a job that would pay much more than minimum

8 wage. So we thought that it would be best at the time for me to

9 be a stay-at-home mom, which I did for 16 years until they were

10 all in school full-time. I then went back to work on a part­

11 time basis, which I am still doing currently. I have changed

12 jobs three times over the course of the last 12 years and have

13 never worked at a job that paid much more than minimum wage. I

14 recognized that I simply did not have the skills, training or

15 education needed to have a job that paid more than what I was

16 already earning. Currently, I ’m a school bus driver.

17 Meanwhile, raising my kids was not only a priority but

18 it was my life 24/7. I never gave up on my goals of going back

19 for my GED or post-secondary education. However, I was

20 beginning to lose hope and confidence that I would achieve those

21 goals. My lack of self-esteem became a motivator to encourage

22 my children to value their education and for them to make wise

23 choices that would lead them to a successful future. Since my

24 husband spent most of the time way from home working to keep a

25 roof over our heads, I was the one who spent time making sure 55

1 that the kids did their homework. Reading to them and with them

2 became an every-night thing in our house. As early as middle

3 school, I began to advise them to set goals for some kind of

4 post-secondary education. Teaching this to them at an early age

5 has paid off for each of them. As our kids grew, they started

6 to embrace the value of education just as I hoped they would,

7 and they’ve become very self-motivated at getting all schoolwork

8 done in a timely manner. They all did very well while in

9 school, and as a result, all seven of our kids have graduated

10 from high school with honors and most of them have gone on to

11 and completed post-secondary education. They include a social

12 worker, a teacher, an engineer and an Army Special Forces combat

13 medic. One is studying biblical studies, and the two youngest

14 are working full-time to save money for college.

15 Our children are well on their way to a successful

16 future as a result of making education one of their greatest

17 values, and I share this today to prove to you that education

18 really does matter, and without it, there are limits to what you

19 can do, which brings me to where I am today. I could not stand

20 here before you today as having successfully completed the

21 classes and tests for obtaining my GED without the adult

22 education programs that are available to people within their

23 communities. It is programs like these that give people like me

24 hope for a more promising future, and now that I have my GED, I

25 feel that a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders and 56

1 once again I have hope and confidence with regard to my future

2 with employment and additional education.

3 Although I no longer have an interest in going to

4 beauty school, I've considered looking into other careers such

5 as something in the medical field, but whatever I choose to do,

6 I know that I will do it with a sense of freedom that I've never

7 experienced before.

8 I'm an informed voter, and I'm very aware of the

9 limited funds that are available to keeping programs like the

10 adult education available for serving our community, and it is

11 my hope that each of you will seriously consider the allocation

12 of funding for this crucial program.

13 Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with

14 you today.

15 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks our panel,

16 and at this time recognizes Representative English.

17 REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

18 Mr. Sykes or Ms. Smith, could you just help educate us

19 on taking the GED and challenges, practical challenges that were

20 before you in going through that process?

21 MS. SMITH: Yes. First of all, of course over the

22 course of the years in raising my kids, I had attempted several

23 times to attend the classes, which were free in my area through

24 the L.I.U. unit. Just the demands in raising the kids, there

25 just simply wasn't time for me, nor was there funds for us to be 57

1 able to afford me to pay for the test. So it just continued to

2 be put on the back burner. But I was not one of those persons

3 who wanted to come in off the street and just simply take the

4 test. I knew that I needed to brush up on my skills, and I

5 wanted to do well on the test.

6 So I just recently got into the program at the end of

7 August. I did not miss a class. We had classes Tuesdays and

8 Thursday nights from 6 to 9 at the Hanover Center, which is

9 where I attended. I scheduled to take my first test the first

10 Wednesday in October, and mine thankfully were broken down over

11 to three separate nights, which I am very thankful for because

12 it was overwhelming. I don’t know that I could have passed all

13 sections if I would have had to have taken it on a seven-hour

14 day test.

15 So the classes were free, the textbooks were free. To

16 pay for the test were free through the generosity of an

17 organization that was able to care for the cost but they had

18 such an overflow of people that they needed people who could

19 afford to do it, to pay for their test to do so, which I did. I

20 just recently passed it two weeks ago. So I’m very proud of

21 that.

22 MR. SYKES: For me, I tried many times. You know, I

23 bought the books to do it yourself, and the structure wasn’t

24 there for me. I needed somebody to push me. You know, I wanted

25 that other voice in the back going, you know, you can’t quit 58

1 now, you know, you have to keep going. We had classes, I think

2 they were twice a week as well, and due to my health issues, I

3 wasn’t working at the time so I was pretty open to any time they

4 wanted, you know, to do the classes. So for me, you know, it

5 was a no-cost GED, and I just, like I said, I think three

6 months. I started in February and took it in April. So it was,

7 you know, three months, and when I first started, I knew I had a

8 lot of the skills. I just didn’t know where I was. So taking

9 the pre-test and stuff really helped me find out what I needed

10 to focus on and, you know, get stronger at, and, you know, I

11 tried to accept any help they would give me. Any time they

12 asked, you know, does anybody want a printout for extra

13 homework, you know, yeah, give me two. I wanted to do well. I

14 didn’t want to fail.

15 REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH: Well, thank you, and I

16 appreciate both of you and your testimony today and your

17 perseverance, and the other folks that were recognized,

18 congratulations.

19 Also, Mr. Johnson, thank you for your personal time

20 and volunteerism and Consol Energy, and boy, if all the

21 companies can help out and recognize that this is definitely a

22 need, and if all of us including you two can just think about

23 the personal rewards, that maybe that one-on-one interaction to

24 help elevate a person, which translates to a family, which

25 translates to many more people and really is our community and 59

1 our society.

2 So I think this is a very worthwhile time and effort.

3 I appreciate the chairman to put this together.

4 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

5 gentleman and recognizes Representative Wheatley.

6 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and

7 first, let me start off by thanking you, Mr. Johnson, for your

8 service today but also for your service to this country. I want

9 to wish you a happy past Veterans Day but always a day to say

10 thank you for those things.

11 And then to the presenters who shared their personal

12 stories, I wanted to say when I was listening to each of your

13 stories and just thinking and reflecting on my own life, it is

14 always encouraging when you hear others who have accomplished

15 things in spite of challenges and barriers, so I want to say to

16 you all, first, thank you for sharing; two, congratulations for

17 reaching your goal, especially as I was listening to you, Ms.

18 Smith, and the fact that not only have you reached your goals

19 but you have continued to inspire those who are closest to you

20 to reach and attain goals, so that's very wonderful story and

21 you should be very proud of that fact.

22 And I guess, Mr. Chairman, the reason why I'm even

23 making a comment is because I think we are looking at this from

24 a budgetary perspective in a lot of ways. Imagine the fact -­

25 and by the way, Bidwell happens to be in my district and is also 60

1 something that is heavily dependent upon State support. OVR has

2 been mentioned here, also very dependent on State support. And

3 imagine that any one of the processes had there not been support

4 or significant support for it, maybe we wouldn’t have these

5 success stories here.

6 So how many individuals who are sitting at home today

7 faced with challenges and barriers who might be interested in

8 finding and seeking support so that they can become more

9 productive citizens, to eventually help our economy by which

10 because we are, I think, pennywise and dollar short, they can’t.

11 So these are the type of things that I ’ve always

12 stressed when we talk about investment and best utilization of

13 dollars. These are the things I think multiply when we invest

14 in them. So I ’m hoping that both sides of the aisle that are

15 here today will go back to our caucuses and really start talking

16 about the need to really support these types of programs because

17 again, we saw, w e ’ve heard personal stories but we see the

18 evidence that when we invest in these things, they multiply.

19 They have a real solidifying effect to our economy.

20 We have a private-sector company sitting here, not

21 that you can speak for Consol, but you’re talking about Consol’s

22 need to increase its workforce and the skill level of its

23 workforce. This is a program that actually does that.

24 So again, I ’m just offering my words, hoping that we

25 won’t leave here today being impressed with the things that 61

1 we ’ve heard and not go back in our caucuses and really fight so

2 that in the next budget, these types of investments are made,

3 and it is adult and family literacy today but it is the OVR and

4 what they do, it’s the programs like Bidwell Training Center and

5 others that do these types of things that support our economy in

6 a great way and support our citizens in great ways.

7 So thank you all for being here.

8 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN CLYMER: The Chair thanks the

9 gentleman. The Chair thanks all of our testifiers for being

10 with us today. It was very, very informative, and as

11 Representative English had said, that I think -- and

12 Representative Wheatley as they closed the meeting here, we all

13 have learned very important information about, and I will use

14 the word "adult literacy” and how important it is for us to

15 examine this issue very carefully when it comes in the budget.

16 But I thank you one and all for sharing your

17 testimony, and I know that all of us will go back with a renewed

18 spirit and determination to have this wonderful program

19 continue.

20 So thank you very much, and this House Education

21 Committee on public hearing is now adjourned.

22 I have one last thing. Thank you, a big thanks to

23 the administration and staff of Harrisburg University of

24 Science and Technology for allowing us to be here this

25 morning. They did a wonderful job, and we give them a very 62

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1 I hereby certify that the foregoing proceedings are a

2 true and accurate transcription produced from audio on the said

3 proceedings and that this is a correct transcript of the same.

4

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6 Florence Blantz

7 Transcriptionist

8 Diaz Data Services, LLC

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