EL/Civics Activities Packet Certification Issues in Adult Education The Colorado Department of Education's Center for At-Risk Education has compiled a list of information sources and resources related to certification in adult education. This is available as an Adobe Acrobat document. If you do not have the most recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader (5.0), you can download it here for free. Earlier versions of Reader are not recommended. If you have trouble viewing the PDF within your browser, you may need to download the PDF to your hard drive first, then launching Reader and opening the PDF from your hard drive. Showcase: Through the Back Door: Memoirs of a Sharecropper's Daughter Who Learned to Read as a Great-Grandmother, by Janet Driskell Turner This wonderful book chronicles Janet’s difficult childhood in rural Georgia in which her family worked the white men’s farm, scraped by with what they could grow for themselves, and had little chance to get an education. It goes on to describe changes in the way that whites and blacks related to each other, and ends with how her life changed as she learned to read. This is the sincere and uplifting story of a courageous woman. For more information, click here. Colorado GED Information Updated! For more information, click here. Colorado Receives Four Mini-Grants from Western/Pacific Literacy Network Approximately twice each year, Western/Pacific Literacy Network awards mini-grants for the creation of high-quality online literacy projects. Content can be literacy education materials, modules, or curriculum, or it can provide training for practitioners and learners. Education projects may consist of original or existing, tested materials. Training projects may promote online literacy teaching/learning and/or raise awareness of the national Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) project and its resources. The budget for each proposal must be no larger than $3,000. Applicants must be providers of adult or family literacy services (e.g., adult schools, community colleges, libraries, state agencies, prisons or jails, or community-based organizations [CBOs]) within the Western/Pacific region. In the most recent round of proposals, four out of ten mini-grants were awarded to Colorado programs. The Colorado winners are: Ecosystem of a Lake (Adult Education Center of Durango, CO) Description: A virtual, interactive investigation of a typical temperate climate lake emphasizing building vocabulary, analyzing data, assessing and solving problems, and interpreting maps, charts and graphs. Target Area: Science Education (low level ABE) Funding; $2550 Monthly Science Web page (Adult Education Center of Durango, CO) Description: A monthly interactive, virtual science page based on a current science related event. Target Area: Science Education (ABE or pre-GED) Funding; $3000 Parenting in Hispanic Families (Southwest Board of Cooperative Services/ Four Corners Resource Center for Distance Education - CO) Description: Web site to provide Hispanic parents with parenting material in low level English. Target Area: Family literacy Low level ABE and ESL Funding; $3000 Hands-on Math (Southwest Board of Cooperative Services/ Four Corners Resource Center for Distance Education - CO) Description: Web site to provide life-skill/math modules for low level English. Target Area: Family literacy Low level ABE and ESL Funding; $3000