According to U.S. Census data, in rural Pennsylvania, 37% of adults did not complete higher school, and 21% did not go beyond 8th grade. As a consequence of present demographic and literacy trends, the proportion of the workforce with low levels of basic skills is growing. At the same time, a changing labor market is creating new jobs that demand…

This document describes the 10 winners of the 1990 ABLE Award, which recognizes outstanding adult students in Pennsylvania adult basic and literacy education programs. The award, given for achievement based on learning excellence (ABLE), is presented by the Pennsylvania Division of Adult Basic and Literacy Education Programs. The winners are…

The Adult Learner Competencies Project included literature and consultation with adult education practitioners in Pennsylvania to establish competencies that can be used by all Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABLE) providers in the state. The lists that were developed through the project, and which form the major part of this document, are…

A project was conducted to offer customized software to adult basic education (ABE) programs in Pennsylvania and to train the program participants on software customization principles. The project produced an updated list of software publishers and products that can be customized for adult education students. Workshops were presented on…

The School Library Media Services Division of the Pennsylvania Department of Education administered the operation of AdvancE as Pennsylvania's adult education clearinghouse. The goal of the project was to provide Pennsylvania's adult educators with prompt access to information and resources to help them implement the most effective administrative…

A pilot project was conducted to implement the Oregon A.I.M. (Assessment, Instruction, Mastery), a tutor program accountability system developed in Oregon, in 15 volunteer-based programs in Pennsylvania and to make recommendations on the usefulness of this system as a means of collecting and aggregating data on student progress for these and…

A 353 demonstration project was conducted in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area to provide adult literacy students with information concerning voting in local, state, and national elections. The project had two components: (1) development and presentation of a series of three learner voting workshops; and (2) creation and presentation of a hands-on…

A study examined the degree to which former students of Pennsylvania adult basic education (ABE) programs are maintaining and using the literacy skills that they developed while participating in ABE programs. During the study, researchers examined former students enrolled in ABE programs in 1974, 1976, and 1978. After analyzing demographic data…

Using 1989-90 Pennsylvania Department of Education Section 353 Special Demonstration Project funding, Fayette County Community Action Education Center students produced a booklet that includes biographies and photographs of successful program alumni. The booklet describes events in people's lives that contributed to their being undereducated and…

The Community Action Education Case Management program was developed in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, to provide 50 homeless, undereducated adults and their families with case management services. These services were to include: individual, group, and in-home counseling; advocacy; service coordination; and evaluation. During the program, 58…

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…

A project identified and established components related to adult basic education's role in school-to-work (STW) transition. It focused on developing a cognitive framework for competency-based adult employability classes, integrating adult basic and literacy education (ABLE)-funded programs into the Erie Area STW partnership, and establishing a…

A project was conducted to add computer-assisted instruction to a one-to-one adult literacy program conducted in public libraries in Bradford and Wyoming Counties of Pennsylvania. During the project, software was selected for literacy instruction in reading, mathematics, grammar, spelling, and English as a second language. Laubach Way to Reading…

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.…