Johan Uvin has plans to improve and expand adult education, including helping those students transition into jobs.

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, September 8, 2005

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

CENTRAL FALLS -- Rhode Island has its first director of adult education, a signal that the state wants to forge stronger links between a more educated work force and the economy, Governor Carcieri announced yesterday. In addition, $3.85 million in grants was awarded to 23 community organizations for adult basic education and literacy.

"Education is inextricably linked, in my mind, to economic well-being," Carcieri said at a news conference yesterday at the headquarters of Progeso Latino, the state's largest Latino community organization. "It is important that people have the skills to support themselves and their family, and adult literacy is a key component of that."

Johan Uvin, who has held key positions in work-force development and adult literacy programs in Massachusetts and abroad, began his $105,000 a-year-job Tuesday, and will report directly to Peter McWalters, Rhode Island's commissioner of elementary and secondary education.

Dutch by birth, Uvin trained as a teacher in Europe, coordinated education programs in Sierra Leone and Belgium and received two degrees from Harvard University -- a master's degree in international education and a doctorate in educational administration, planning and social policy.

Most recently, Uvin served as vice president of Commonwealth Corporation, an economic development organization in Boston, where he secured grants and conducted studies on how participants in work-force development programs fared in the workplace.

Uvin said he came to Rhode Island because of the state's renewed commitment to adult education, illustrated by the governor's adult literacy task force, which has worked for two years with various state agencies, philanthropies and community organizations. He called the initiative "a real turning point for adult basic education in Rhode Island."

He laid out a four-part plan to improve and expand adult education in Rhode Island: improving adult education curriculum and standards; helping adults transition into jobs; making sure classrooms and programs are well run; and getting a handle on how many people are in the system and how many need adult education.

The state Department of Education estimates about 10,000 adults are enrolled in basic education and literacy classes at various agencies and institutions around the state, but the need is far higher, officials say.

"Change will not be easy, but the status quo for adult education is not an option," Uvin said, adding he plans to reward successful programs and shut down ineffective ones.

ADULT EDUCATION programs in Rhode Island include basic English and math skills for English and non-English speakers, family literacy programs for parents of young children, literacy programs for welfare recipients, and programs that integrate literacy skills with workplace training for entry level jobs.

"It's really about trying to improve people's lives," Carcieri said. "At the end of the day, people want to feel productive. And they need the tools to make that happen."

Erick Barrios said adult education classes worked for him.

Barrios came to the United States four years ago from Bolivia, where he had been a banker for a dozen years.

He got assembly and data entry jobs here -- jobs that didn't require English. But Barrios knew that would have to change in order for him to build a better life for his family.

In 2003, Barrios, now 35, began taking English classes at Progreso Latino. Within a year, he had received a general equivalency diploma from high school, and got a better job as a machine operator at Day-O-Lite, a fluorescent light manufacturer in Warwick.

He is making more money and plans to continue studying English at the Community College of Rhode Island's Lincoln campus. Barrios also wants to become a U.S. citizen.

"My life is going better," he said yesterday after the news conference. "My friends are not only Spanish people, but people of all different cultures. English is the universal language."

Staff writer Jennifer D. Jordan can be reached at: jjordan [at] projo.com