Starting with one-on-one volunteer tutoring, we have experimented with multiple program designs to deliver free adult education that is: 1) flexible for students balancing work, study, and family; 2) tailored to each student’s needs; and 3) meets the demand for free education from adults across Dane County.
We made our first foray into group classes in 1982 when asked to organize an ESL class for Cuban refugees and other Spanish speakers. The class, led by five teachers, was a stopgap while Madison Area Technical College organized a regular long-term class. A volunteer taught our first long-term group class in 1997 to help address the waitlist for tutors.
In 1998, we partnered with Leopold Elementary School to teach a class to parents that focused on skills useful for communicating with the school. By 2007, we had “English in the Schools” classes at five sites (Falk, Sandburg, Schenk, Sauk Trails, and Glacier’s Edge Elementary Schools).
A 2000 collaboration with an “Even Start” program in Verona marked our first Family Literacy class where parents and their kids ranging from pre-school to 2nd grade, participated in early learning activities.
For several years, starting in 2009, we hosted Spanish classes alongside English classes and students form the two classes joined in conversation after class. We ended the Spanish classes to focus our core mission of ESL and Adult Basic Education (ABE).
Our Workplace programs, where we partner with an employer to teach English to employees at their worksite on paid time, began in the early 2000s. Our first partners, Spring Window Fashions, Pan-O-Gold Baking, and King Pharmaceuticals, began classes in 2001. Wisconsin Cheeseman and Meriter Hospital soon followed in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
50 years into operations, we still support student-volunteer tutor pairs that work relatively independently. We have added additional formats for tutoring. In 2001 we offered the “1st Step Learning Lab” to provide assistance to students waiting for a tutor, shifting to “Drop in and Learn” (DIAL) by the end of 2002.
Our current-day volunteer tutoring programs—Community Literacy for ESL and Essentials Literacy for basic reading, writing and computer skills—both offer structured tutoring classes in which paid staff writes lesson plans for eight matched student/volunteer tutor pairs that meet weekly in a classroom setting. Tutors love the support and students love the individualized attention.
Literacy Network has tutored students studying for a GED or HSED since the beginning. Program enhancement along the way have included embedding tutors in Madison College HSED classes and receiving dedicated funding for GED/HSED tutoring from the City of Madison and United Way of Dane County.
Literacy Network held its first on-site special workshop on “Becoming a U.S. Citizen” in the fall of 2002, followed soon thereafter with an “ESL for Citizenship” class in partnership with United Refugee Services of Wisconsin to help students prepare for the citizenship exam. By 2008, we were receiving Adult Education and Family Literacy Funding to teach civics. In 2023, we received our first direct federal grant from the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services to teach citizenship classes.
In 2009, we started an “English for Health” class hosted by St. Mary’s Hospital that included a mock clinic to teach about the health system and preventive health. The State of Wisconsin named the program a “promising practice” for improving minority health outcomes in 2010. By 2011 the program was in three clinics (Dean East, GHC Hatchery Hill, Wingra Family Medical Center). Literacy Network licensed an “English for Health” curriculum for use by other adult literacy agencies.
Experience and connections working in the health care sphere prepared Literacy Network for two significant events: acquisition of our building at 701 South Park Street from St. Mary’s, and a successful plain language curriculum on COVID vaccination in 2021 that increase vaccination uptake among students from about 40% to 78%.
In the last decade, Literacy Network added a Student Services department that includes bilingual staff and is dedicated to supporting student persistence and addressing barriers to participation in programs.
In 2019 we created the Transitions Program to support high level English language learners seeking to attend college or certificate programs. The program offers classes on academic reading and writing, academic advising, skill-building workshops, and visits from college advisers and worker certification programs.
Our most recent innovation was the creation in 2023 of a Student Leadership Council to advise agency leaders and involve students in agency decision making.