The GED and Literacy Programs as Counterspaces to Schooling? Operationalizing What We Know

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

This panel session will identify a spectrum of socio- cultural, socio-economic and socio-political issues, that manifest inequality in urban education settings and that have ramifications for youth and adult education program design and adult education students’ identities. In keeping with the program theme, the panel of five researchers will present counter narratives that address school reading failure among urban adolescents, African American men’s literacy and schooling experiences, high school “push out”, and offer ideas for creating counter spaces of engagement, democracy and safety based on their research. Themes across the research will be “teased out” and discussed, especially as they suggest new ways to create spaces in urban schools and adult education programs. In the spirit of adult education, audience feedback and input will be maximized and encouraged in directing the course of discussion.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Adult Literacy and Adult Education

Chair

• Joni Marie Schwartz, LaGuardia Community College - CUNY

Papers

• School Push Out and the General Educational Development Test - Eve Tuck, SUNY - College at New Paltz

• Engaging Young Men of Color in GED (General Educational Development) Programs - Joni Marie Schwartz, LaGuardia Community College - CUNY

• It Must Be Told: Stories of Hope, Dreams, and Possibility From The Open Book - Dianne Ramdeholl, Empire State College

• The Role of Identity in the Literacy Experiences of African American Males - Brendaly Elizabeth Drayton, The Pennsylvania State University

• Reading in the Crawl Space: A Study of an Urban School’s Literacy-Focused Community of Practice - Chantal Francois, Rutgers University

Discussant

• Eve Tuck, SUNY - College at New Paltz