The National Institute for Literacy's Program Leadership and Improvement Discussion List is a forum for adult education leaders to discuss issues related to program improvement. This Discussion List and the Program Leadership and Improvement Special Collection are meant to work together to promote ongoing program improvement. While materials in the Special Collection may serve as a springboard for discussion, list discussion can also help to expand the Special Collection.

The NIFL-PLI list has four primary goals:

• To foster and support innovative leadership in adult education by creating a forum for leaders participants to discuss issues related to continuous program improvement.
• To create an online mechanism for the diffusion of the resources contained in the Program Leadership and Improvement Special Collection.
• To inform the development of the Program Leadership and Improvement Special Collection through information sharing and in-depth discussion of "what works" from the perspective of list participants.
• To encourage open discussion and sharing among practitioners on program improvement issues.

List parameters:

• While some leaders in adult education might view lobbying as an avenue to program improvement, discussions of this nature cannot take place within the context of a federally funded discussion list. Please review the policies and procedures regarding NIFL discussion lists at: http://www.nifl.gov/links/discussions/list_guidelines.html.
• Because the Program Leadership and Improvement list encompasses many areas for which LINCS discussion lists already exist (e.g. assessment, professional development, Equipped for the Future), it is important that the focus of this list remain solidly with the goals stated above. To that end, the facilitator encourages participants to continuously re-examine the relationship of the current discussion to program improvement and to make that relationship explicit whenever possible.

NIFL-PLI is sponsored by the National Institute for Literacy and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. It is managed by Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13, an educational service agency in southeastern Pennsylvania, through a contract with the Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee. Sandy Strunk, Supervisor of Adult and Family Literacy Education for Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13, is the list facilitator.

For more information about this list, contact Sandy at sandy_strunk@iu13.org or (717) 519-1006.