Educating Professionals Adult literacy was an issue of disquiet for developing nations where it was regarded as a cause of health, economic development, and civic participation as late as the 1980s. During the 1990s, modernization of the workplace both in industrialized as well as developing nations made the workers most sought after who could retrain fast and without difficulty. Use of computers came to play an important part not only in high technology areas but even in agriculture, resource and service sectors, the same sectors wherein the workers employed over the years had less education. This has laid greater literacy challenges on peoples and societies.1

The Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) sponsors programs that facilitate American adults to receive the necessary proficiency they require to be prolific human capital, members of the family and citizens. The most important realms of assistance are Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education and English Language Acquisition. These programs stress on fundamental competence like reading, writing, mathematics, English language proficiency and problem-solving. Adult education and literacy projects are financed by federal grants to the states. The quantum of funds allocated to each state is arrived on the basis of a formula set up by Congress.

1. L. Verhoeven. Modeling and promoting functional literacy. Functional literacy: Theoretical issues and educational implications (pp. 3-34). (Philadelphia, John Benjamins, 1994), 62

States then dispense finances to suitable local units to impart adult education and literacy benefits. During 1999, 44.5% of adults 17 years of age and more joined in some mode of adult education program. 1.1% took part in a basic education project; 9% in English as Second language course, 9.3% in non-regular post secondary education; and 22.2% joined in profession or job-oriented disciplines.3 During 1999, 14.7% of adults 17 years of age and higher having 8th standard or less education involved themselves in some mode of adult education program. 25.6% among those with some learning between 9th and 12th standard (non-diploma); and 34.8% of them having a diploma undertook an adult education program. 4

To Educational administrators planning is an integral part; it is also important to adult literacy program directors. The job of preparing the courses of study, employing personnel, joining pupils, and producing graduates needs planning of some type. Slevin identified the distinction between the procedure of planning in a decided manner and carrying it out in a disorderly manner. "Planning is a vital and core function of each manager. If you do not plan, you grow to be crisis manager; replying to instead of governing the mainstay of your job" 5. Nelson mentioned that "educational institutions and other philanthropic organizations have not been ardent in the past in determining their precedence and attaching themselves in the stream of the future convinced of their path." 6

3. Digest of Education Statistics, 2001, Table 359

4. Digest of Education Statistics, 2001, Table 359

5 D.P. Slevin. Management functions: What to do and when. In G. Zaltman (Ed.), Management principles for nonprofit agencies and organizations. (New York: American Management Associations, 1979), 15

6 J.B. Nelson. Planning: Establishing program goals and strategies. In A.W. Rowland (Ed.), Handbook of institutional advancement. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1986), 54

However, in the business world, managers concerned with propelling the totality of their businesses, determining their precedence and attaching themselves in the stream of future have attained victory with employing the strategic planning technique. Strategic planning could be an important instrument for educational administrator who wants to rejoin to the constantly mounting demands perplexing their programs. The necessity of planning strategically assumes great importance in a fast changing milieu. In more than a decade, educational administrators have been grappling with mounting costs and meager returns. The consequential monetary limitations are happening at a period when public condemnation of the educational efficiency has reached its zenith. Apart from that, added burdens like health care, crime deterrence and lessening, and lowering of deficit are wielding more strain on public spending. 7

Demands for these purposes are competing for funds meant for educational programs. Therefore, advanced and cautious educational administrators have found and continue to be on the prowl for planning and management methods, which will make sure of their programs, and also augment their presence and efficacy. Out of the methods popularly commended as appropriate and supportive to educational administrators is strategic planning. McCune stated that "a small number of intuitive school superintendents researched with strategic planning with different amounts of success" and that "a projected 500 school districts now engage in some type of strategic planning."8

7. Allen M. Tough. The adult's learning projects:...

(Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1979), 55
8. S.D. McCune. Guide to strategic planning for educators. (Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1986), 31

Bryson's statement on strategic planning is a "regulated endeavor to create basic conclusion and acts that form and steer what an organization (or other bodies) is, what it accomplished, and the reasons of doing it."9 Simerly appends that strategic planning "is a method that provides concentration to designing, carrying forward the designs, and examining plans for bettering organizational or program decision making."10 Strategic planning is not disorganized, but an organized endeavor with chronological actions to be made. If performed rightly, strategic planning will effect in quantifiable development or intensification for adult literacy programs.

Pennington and Greene revealed in the beginning that studies based on the supremacy of one method to planning over any other are hard to find.11 The writing is stuffed with guidance for program planners with everyone acknowledging that it is not an ultimate remedy or formula for every program. It also offers recommended advantages by Kowalski, models of planning by Caffarella, Cervero and Wilson, Houle, Knowles and Sork, a history of program planning by Nowlen, studies on adult learning projects by Cross and Tough and methods to evaluate adult education programs. Scanty, Buskey and Sork revealed in their explanation of program planning models possess theoretical clarification.12 (9. J.M. Bryson. Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1988), 5

10. R.G. Simerly. Why continuing education leaders must plan strategically. In R.G. Simerly (Ed.), Strategic planning and leadership in continuing education (pp. 1-12). (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1987), 1 (11. F. Pennington and J, Green. Comparative analysis of program development processes in six professions. Adult Education, 1976) 12 (12. T.J. Sork and J.H Buskey. A descriptive and evaluative analysis of program planning literature, 1950-1983. Adult Education Quarterly, vol 36, no. 2, 1986) 92.

A model devoid of a theory might also be a model that has not been experimented and proved which can make the naive planner unsuccessful. A particular structure that is renowned and comprises everything is Houle's Design of Education. Houle's structure comprises of two components: classifying the educational program and going through the works in the structure. His positional categories comprise personalized education, group education, formation of an institutional educational blueprint, and group education design for the public. Out of his framework Houle states, an individual might start with any part and progress to the other in any order. Houle attempted to achieve a general structure that liberates itself of the linear models. Although Houle's model appears exhaustive, the matter of perspective and power appear to thwart the experienced function in certain examples of Houle's model. 13 Cervero and Wilson on the other side of the coin deal with exterior limits in the form of power. They put planning and social perspective and employ critical theory to base it. Planners require a worldwide built-in system of planning that involves the various and generally concurrent responsibilities, decisions and alterations taken in the dying moments, and contradictory benefits. 14 model like that might contain in Caffarella's interactive model. Caffarella has meticulously analyzed the program-planning model from the earlier days and accepted the disapproval of experienced program planners into consideration to devise the interactive model. Similar to Houle, Cafferella offers her ideas in the shape of supposition.15 Her ideals and performances reverberates Knowles 16 and addition of steering moral choices and contradicting principles and faiths conform Cevero and Wilson's sentiments.

13. Houle, C.O. The design of education. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996) 60

14. Cervero, R. And Wilson, A. Planning responsibly for adult education: A guide to negotiating power and interest. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994) 31

15. R.S. Caffarella. Planning programs for adult learners: A practical guide for educators, trainers, and staff developers. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002) 15

16. M. Knowles. The adult learner: A neglected species. 4th edition. (Houston: Gulf Publishing Co, 1990), 72

Subsequently Tyler has found out that program evaluation should decide if the program has altered the behavior of students or not. The assessment Tyler expresses, ought to happen anywhere near the opening of the program, one near the closing stages of the program and one at certain time period after end of the program happened in the later part of 1970s when programmers understood that assessment needs understanding the minds of the applicants -and inside the social structure in which they are acting -and determining what is happening in the manner of thoughts, feeling…