If you can read this sentence, you just might have your mother to thank for it. If you have achieved academic and career success, mom – again – probably gets a lot of the credit. that’s because, according to research funded by the National Institutes of Health, a mother’s reading skill is the greatest determinant of her children’s future academic success, outweighing other factors such as neighborhood and family income.

Researchers concluded that programs to boost the academic achievement of children might be more successful if they also provided adult literacy education to parents.

“The findings indicate that programs to improve maternal literacy skills may provide an effective means to overcome the disparity in academic achievement between children in poor and affluent neighborhoods,” said Rebecca Clark, Ph.D., chief of the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the NIH institute that funded the study.

Here in Bucks County, Vita Education Services is addressing this need with its Family Literacy program. Family Literacy is an intensive year round program to assist parents, primarily mothers, in gaining the literacy and parenting skills they need to become full partners in the educational development of their children through family-centered educational programming.

Family literacy addresses the literacy needs of all members of the family while promoting parents’ involvement in their children’s education as their children’s first teachers.

Vita partners with Head Start, Bucks County Free Library, St. Mary Parenting Center, and the Bensalem and Bristol Township School districts to deliver this model program. Family Literacy classes are located at Bensalem Head Start in Bensalem and Franklin D. Roosevelt Middle School in Bristol.

In honor of the importance mothers have in their children’s academic success, Vita has designated May as Power of Moms Month. As a unique way to celebrate Mother’s Day, Vita is inviting people to lend their support to the Power of Moms with a donation to its Family Literacy program. Contributions provide resources that make an immediate impact on students, their families, and the community.

For more information on Vita’s Family Literacy program and the “Power of Moms,” visit www.vitaeducation.org For more information about the NIH research, visit http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2010/nichd-25.htm

Vita Education Services, in cooperation with the Professional Development System of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Post-secondary and Adult Education, presented a statewide webinar on its new Decisions for Action (DFA) program. Executive Director Linda Wolfson and Decisions Curriculum and Training Specialist Gail Huber were the presenters.

The webinar detailed the DFA program and the benefits of incorporating it into existing adult education classes. Vita was asked to give the webinar to interest adult education providers in piloting the DFA course.

The goal of the DFA program is to increase persistence among adult learners by giving them a process for anticipating consequences and planning for the future, thereby making better choices. See DFA Flowchart. The course focuses on the development of thinking skills as well as a process for making decisions. It is based on Vita’s decision-making programs that have been taught to adults in correctional and other settings for over 40 years.

DFA teaches a five-point process for making decisions. The process has students ask pertinent questions that help them analyze situations. Through this analysis they discover what they are in control of and the options they have in situations.  DFA requires critical thinking to organize thoughts, examine and challenge assumptions, and define personal goals.  Because students use relevant life situations, they practice solving real problems.  These problems are often the barriers to participation that are beyond the control of the adult education provider.

“It is our belief that teaching DFA will increase the students’ internal resources for managing challenging situations. This, in turn, allows them to persist longer in their studies and meet goals that will result in increased job opportunities and/or preparation for postsecondary education or training,” Wolfson said.

Presenters Wolfson and Huber received positive feedback on the webinar. The State is now accepting applications from adult education agencies to be part of the DFA pilot program.

Doylestown (April 8, 2013) Vita Education Services is offering free Adult Basic Education programs for adults in Bucks County who wish to improve their reading, writing, and math skills as well as obtain their GED. Spring classes are being offered at the CareerLink in Bristol located at 1260 Veterans Highway. Registration is Tuesday, April 16, or Wednesday, April 17, at 9:30 a.m. and placement testing is Friday, April 19, at 9:00 a.m.

Potential students must attend registration and the placement testing to be eligible to attend class. Visit www.VitaEducation.org for more information or call 215-345-8322.

A United Way agency, Vita Education Services is the lead literacy agency in Bucks County and the leading provider of educational programs in the Bucks County Correctional Facilities.

Kathy White, Vita’s Literacy Tutoring Coordinator

Putting its mission of helping people to “decide.learn.grow.” into action, nine Vita Education Services staff members attended the 2013 Pennsylvania Association for Adult Continuing Education Conference at State College, Pa., in March. The conference offered a rich context for adult education topics and issues, including Literacy, Adult Basic Education, ESL, Family Literacy, corrections education and workforce development.

One of Vita’s staff attendees, Kathy White, was featured in the conference’s “Spotlight on Success: Stories of Adult Educators, Students, Volunteers, and Programs.” Kathy is a valued member of the Vita Education Services’ staff. Her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with Literacy Emphasis as well as her past service as a literacy volunteer in Haiti makes her well suited for her position as Literacy Tutor Coordinator. Developing close relationships with both her tutors and students has resulted in increased retention of both and, as a consequence, students have persisted in their studies, making significant educational gains.

Vita Education Services is the lead literacy agency in Bucks County and the largest provider of educational services in the Bucks County Correctional Facilities.  For information, call 215-345-8322; visit www.VitaEducation.org.

Vita Education Services has received a $35,000 grant from the Jane Ann Krause Trust fund of The Philadelphia Foundation for general operational support.  Announcement of the grant was made by R. Andrew Swinney, President of the Foundation.

“We are most grateful for the continuing support from The Philadelphia Foundation.  We are pleased to be recognized by the Foundation as a high-performing nonprofit organization,” said Linda Wolfson, Vita’s Executive Director.

Founded in 1971, Vita Education Services brings learning to life to over 1,000 Bucks County residents annually in the community and the criminal justice system by providing quality education programs: Basic Literacy, GED Preparation, Family Literacy, English as a Second Language, Decisions for Living and Decisions for Teens.  These services are provided by professional staff and trained volunteers. Vita is the lead literacy agency in BucksCounty and the largest provider of educational services in the Bucks County Correctional Facilities.  For more information, call 215-345-8322; visit www.vitaeducation.org.

The Philadelphia Foundation, a public charity, is Southeastern Pennsylvania’s leading center for community philanthropic engagement and is committed to improving the quality of life in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties through funds established by its donors.  Established in 1918, The Philadelphia Foundation continues to help donors harness their generosity and vision by providing tools, knowledge and financial stewardship directed to maximize the strategic impact of charitable contributions.  Grants from more than 750 charitable funds strengthen the effectiveness of nonprofits and support programs that are vital to the people of this region.

Significant changes to the General Education Development test, or GED, will greatly impact people who are working toward taking the test. Among the changes, the test will be computer-based, more expensive, and likely more difficult. The change in the GED test is at a national level and is an issue of concern to adult-education advocates.

The new test is being developed by Pearson, a large British-based publisher of educational materials and tests, and the American Council on Education, which has run the exam as a nonprofit program since the 1940s.  They formed the company GED Testing Service and are revamping the test, which they say has become outdated. The new GED test is expected to be introduced in January, 2014.

In the meantime, the existing GED test has been computerized and is being offered at many testing sites, such as Bucks County Community College. The cost to take the computerized test is $120, a 60% increase in cost over the former paper and pencil test. What the cost will be starting in 2014 is unknown. Some testing centers will most likely not make the transition to computer-based testing, possibly reducing the number of testing sites.

Vita Education Services, a Bucks County-based nonprofit agency, offers GED preparation classes at no cost through grants from the PA Departments of Education’s Division of Adult Education. These students depend on the exam to open career doors for them or to advance to post-secondary education. For some of these students, regardless of determination and desire, the increase in the GED testing fees is more than they can afford.

Realizing a need, Vita has established a GED Scholarship Fund to help students with a proven record of achievement in Vita’s GED preparation classes pay for the GED test. The motivated adults who meet the requirements of Vita’s screening process have an excellent chance of passing the GED test.

Vita is reaching out to area businesses to help support the fund and partner with Vita toward the betterment of adult learners, our workforce, and our community.

For more information, visit www.VitaEducation.org or call 215-345-8322.

Doylestown, PA (December 26, 2012)  Vita Education Services is offering free Adult Basic Education programs for adults in Bucks County who wish to improve their reading, writing, and math skills as well as obtain their GED.  Also offered are free English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for adults for whom English is not a first language who wish to improve English conversation and reading and writing skills.

GED, Pre-GED classes, and ESL classes are located at the Bucks County Technical High School in Fairless Hills, Bensalem High School in Bensalem, and William Tennent High School in Warminster.  In addition, GED and Pre-GED classes are located at the PA CareerLink^® in Bristol, and ESL classes are located at Bensalem Family Resource Center and Bucks Meadow YWCA FamilyCenter in Bensalem, and at the Vita Education Services office in Doylestown.

All potential students must attend an orientation/registration session to determine eligibility for Vita’s programs.  Registration begins in January. Click here for the complete schedule of ESL and GED classes and registration dates. 

A United Way agency, Vita Education Services is the lead literacy agency in Bucks County and the leading provider of educational programs in the Bucks County Correctional Facilities. For more information, call Vita at 215-345-8322

Doylestown, PA (October 24, 2012)  Vita Education Services is looking for women to become Decisions for Living (DFL) volunteer tutors. DFL tutors work with clients in the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown teaching a logical process that provides strategies to enhance women’s decision-making skills. It helps them develop a sense of hope and an orientation toward the future and provides the tools to help them reintegrate more effectively into the community upon release.

A Decisions for Living volunteer tutor training will be held in Doylestown on six Monday evenings beginning Nov. 12. The training includes learning the DFL process and a tour of the Correctional Facility. No teaching experience is needed to tutor DFL; volunteers must be at least 21 years of age.

Vita Education Services Decisions for Living for Incarcerated Women is partially funded through the United Way from the Bucks County Women’s Fund Initiative: Economic Self Sufficiency for Women.

To register or for more information visit www.vitaeducation.org or call 215-345-8322.

Vita Education Services is the lead literacy agency in Bucks County and the largest provider of education programs in the Bucks County Correctional Facilities. Since 1971, Vita has been bringing learning to life in the County by providing quality education programs in literacy and decision making.

Vita Education Services was invited to present a workshop on its innovative case management system for adult education clients at a statewide conference held by Penn State’s Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy in August.

Vita’s Executive Director Linda Wolfson and Curriculum and Training Specialist Gail Huber presented the workshop entitled “Student Persistence through Case Management.” Forty-five Adult Basic Education (ABE) providers from across the state attended the presentation.

The Vita Case Management system is a response to the PA Departments of Education’s Division of Adult Education’s requirement that all adult literacy clients have case management. Through research, Vita determined that there was no widely accepted educational case management model for adult learners. Vita’s system is based on current research in adult education and learner persistence and the agency’s extensive experience in the field.

“Case management has allowed Vita staff to work more closely with our students. Since we’ve instituted our new case management system, students are persisting in their academic studies longer and more students are reaching their goals,“ said Wolfson.

One component of Vita’s Case Management system is the Survey offered during the first class session.  The survey polls students about their confidence in different subject areas and their test taking skills.  Participants in the workshop brainstormed ideas about what they would do if students responded that they were not confident in content areas, and lacked effective test-taking skills.  The results of this brainstorming session can be read here: How to Use Survey Information to Plan Instruction

Vita Education Services announces an additional Family Literacy class at Franklin D. Roosevelt Middle School (FDR) in Bristol Township.

Family Literacy is a program to assist English as a Second Language (ESL) parents in gaining the literacy and parenting skills they need to become full partners in the educational development of their young children through family-centered education programming.

Last year, Vita began offering a Family Literacy class at FDR for ESL parents, with at least one child in Kindergarten through Grade 3 in the Bristol Township School District. In addition to this class, a new class is being offered for parents of pre-school age children. The new class is being offered in collaboration with Bristol Township School District through its Striving Readers grant.

Registration for both of these Family Literacy classes will be held at 9:15 a.m. Thurs., Sept. 20 or Fri., Sept 21, in Room A-13 at FDR Middle School, 1001 Veterans Highway, Bristol.

Vita has offered its Family Literacy program in Bucks County since 2000. In addition to the FDR Middle School site, Family Literacy classes are offered at Bensalem Head Start in Bensalem.

For more information about the Family Literacy registration and clases in Bristol, call 215-589-0916.