Background/Context: Educational researchers have long sought to understand the factors that enable or constrain persistence in non-formal family literacy and adult education programs. Scholars typically posit three sets of factors influencing persistence: situational (learners' life circumstances), institutional (programmatic factors), and…

Practitioner inquiry groups formed by Pennsylvania adult literacy practitioners provide an alternative to traditional professional development. The network provides opportunities for sharing contextualized knowledge and acquiring new ways of practice. (SK)

A study was conducted to develop a set of instructor standards that describe high-quality teaching behavior for adult literacy teachers, program administrators, state staff, and stakeholders. The standards were created by a task force of 15 experienced adult literacy practitioners and reviewed and revised by focus groups of practitioners at seven…

A project was undertaken to design an information dissemination newsletter to meet the professional development needs of Pennsylvania's adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) practitioners. It was decided that an 8- to 10-page-long newsletter would be produced for 5 months that included information/articles from as many sources as could be…

A project was conducted to develop a summer institute for new (up to 2 years' experience) adult education teachers in Pennsylvania. During the first phase of the project, the institute was designed as a 3-day intensive training session consisting of 14 workshops (most presented twice), and teachers were recruited. The second phase of the project…

A project designed an operational system and develop a skilled pool of trainers, in conjunction with Pennsylvania's Regional Professional Development Centers (PDCs), to deliver high-quality, uniform training modules in needed content areas to adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) staff throughout Pennsylvania. Procedures for identifying,…

This project was developed to increase attendance at inservices and workshops that are provided to continue the training of tutors in the South Pittsburgh office of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council (GPLC). A questionnaire was designed and mailed to all (about 20) tutors in the area to obtain input about how prepared they felt, and whether…

A project produced and disseminated to adult basic and literacy education practitioners in Pennsylvania a newsletter containing relevant information designed to meet their professional development and awareness needs. It prepared and disseminated an 8-12 page newsletter for the months September 1993 through June 1994. Information contained in the…

This study was designed to include a segment of phonemic awareness in a multi-level English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom as learning progress seemed to be inhibited in part by a lack of understanding of the structure of the English language. A survey was developed and administered to measure student progress to establish a baseline.…

This project continued a 2-year project that had focused on development and implementation of training in content areas needed by staff from ABLE (Adult Basic and Literacy Education)-funded agencies in Pennsylvania. The project continued to coordinate the review and selection of training materials for professional development in designated content…

As part of a project to improve professional development for adult basic and literacy educators in Pennsylvania, a literature review was conducted of studies of professional competencies needed by adult educators. Extensive review of previous studies showed that hundreds of competencies had been identified. Some states also had generated their own…

Project APEX (Adult Practitioner Excellence) provided technical assistance to the Pennsylvania Department of Education in the development of a nominations form, procedures, and criteria for the new adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) practitioner excellence awards. It proposed a three-part nomination and selection system for determining…

This study focused on the problem of deaf and hard of hearing learners who have very low English literacy levels compared to their ability levels. Participants in the study were deaf and hard of hearing adult learners in the Adult Basic Education Program of the Center on Deafness in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This mixed urban-rural population had…

The Lycoming County Literacy Project based in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, examined both traditional and family literacy General Educational Development (GED) program participants to determine which programs produce the best results. GED test scores were collected from instructors teaching both traditional and family literacy GED participants. Test…

This document begins with a report describing a Northampton Community College project to develop a manual to help adult literacy providers understand how they fit into welfare reform. The accompanying manual consists of four sections corresponding to the project's four objectives. Section 1, intended to enable adult literacy providers to…