This document consists of a project report and tutor activities book from a project that was conducted for tutors associated with the Crawford County, Pennsylvania, READ Program. The project report describes how the commercial publications currently being used as tutor resource materials were examined to identify strategies appropriate for adult…

This independent learning packet, which is intended as a guide and tool for teachers, counselors, and tutors who work with members of the Spanish-speaking population, contains basic information about the Spanish language and Hispanic American culture. The packet begins with a brief pretest. Presented next is a discussion of Spanish as a world…

An evening adult literacy program was developed to provide pre-General Educational Development (GED) instruction to residents of a men's shelter who desired to become dry cleaners pressers. Because an intake assessment of the 32 enrollees revealed that only 34% of them were high school dropouts and more than 50% had some college background, the…

This document consists of the final report and teacher handbook from a project conducted to develop a curriculum of information, strategies, and activities for adult basic education teachers, tutors, and counselors to use in helping adult students improve their higher order thinking skills. Findings of a review of the available literature on…

This publication presents the stories of 10 men and women who overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to become self-supporting citizens of Pennsylvania. Their stories tell how, through their participation in Pennsylvania's adult basic education and literacy programs, they were aided in their successful struggles to enhance their reading and…

The Pennsylvania Adult Literacy Practitioner Inquiry Network (PALPIN) was developed to improve the practice of adult literacy teachers, tutors, and program administrators throughout Pennsylvania. The project to develop PALPIN was initiated in 1995-1996. The primary objectives for the PALPIN project's third program year were as follows: adapt and…

EQUAL (Educational Quality or Adult Literacy) is Pennsylvania's program improvement initiative that measures performance by the quality of education learners receive. For 3 years, Project EQUAL was piloted in adult education agencies throughout the state. Beginning in 1997, the pilot projects helped to develop a process for continuous program…

To help states learn from each other's experiences, this report focuses on what three states--Arizona, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania--are doing to improve and expand family literacy services. It also includes background information on family literacy, resources, and names and addresses of state directors of family literacy. The case studies show…

The result of interviews with literacy coordinators and library directors of literacy programs in representative libraries throughout Pennsylvania, this document encourages local libraries to develop adult literacy activities as an integral component of basic library service and provides program planners with guidelines and suggestions for…

The rural work force has lower basic skills to supply labor for new jobs with higher literacy demands. At all levels of education the rural population is at a disadvantage compared with the urban population. One out of five rural adults in Pennsylvania has not continued education past the eighth grade. Among the costs to businesses from employee…

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…

The International English Training for Adults Program is an intensive ESL (English as a Second Language) program for foreign students. Students in the program take 18 hours of classes per week, including Conversation Partners, a 3-hour course designed to give students an opportunity to practice using English with Americans in a structured,…

This document contains the final report of Project PAL (Pennsylvania Adult Literacy), designed to address staff development needs at a Pennsylvania adult literacy center, and three manuals: a tutor training resource manual for use by coordinators in developing a 9.5 hour tutor-training session, a tutor handbook for volunteers, and a coordinator's…

The Bethlehem Area Chamber of Commerce (Pennsylvania) developed a model network of nine Lehigh Valley Chambers of Commerce and two literacy coalitions to improve the literacy levels of a two-county area work force. A literacy coordinator conducted the following activities: (1) publicized program provider information; (2) encouraged company-based…

A test of job-specific literacy, called the McCoy Assessment of Worksite Literacy Abilities (MAWSLA), could not predict the job success of the 100 employees who took it. The 108-item test was based on literary tasks encountered by employees in the course of a routine day at McCoy Electronics Company, a 560-employee firm in Pennsylvania. The…