This literature review explores competing views of the relationship between adult literacy and U.S. economic difficulties. Trends in public policy, legislation, labor forecasting, and workplace training from the 1960s to the present are reviewed. Consequences of the perceived gap between workers' skills and national economic needs are discussed.…

This article reviews research on the effectiveness of the Individualized Curriculum Sequencing Model for teaching social interaction skills to young children with handicaps. The approach involves teaching social skills and other functional behaviors during varied situations throughout the day using a distributed trial training format. (Author/DB)

This paper reviews the literature on functional assessment in the behavioral treatment of aggression in persons with mental retardation or developmental delays. Increased use of functional assessment and skill training is noted but no concomitant decrease in the use of intrusive procedures. (Author/DB)

This investigation analyzed goals from the Individual Educational Programs (IEPs) of 54 high school students with diagnosed reading disabilities in basic skills (decoding and/or word identification). Results showed that for 73% of the students, the IEPs written when they were in high school failed to specify any objectives regarding their acute…

This study investigates the impact of activities done in the basic education sub-sector by a consortium of four non-government organizations in four provinces in Afghanistan from January 2004 to June 2005. The evaluation uses the project objectives and components as the evaluation framework, and data collected through survey questionnaires,…

This article provides a synthesis of research in which parents provided academic instruction to their own children. The effectiveness of parent tutoring in 37 studies was examined across grade level, basic skill area (e.g., reading, math), training feature (e.g., treatment length, availability of consultation), treatment fidelity, type of…

Reviews research on student assessment and placement, focusing on problems and questions; methods of assessment; establishing cut scores; and evaluation of course placement systems. Includes an extensive bibliography. (LAL)

Discusses findings from a survey of 286 public school teachers in major American cities which indicated that students' lack of basic skills is a major problem in teaching. Teachers also expressed concern over lack of community and administrative support, lack of necessary financial resources, and shortage of qualified personnel in the teaching…

There exists a controversy as to whether or not minimal competency testing in the area is a sound educational practice. A review of reading research in three areas, developmental reading, functional reading and recreational reading was conducted to provide data relevant to the controversy. (RD)

Literacy education is modeled along a continuum moving from a technical conception of literacy to a conception of literacy as praxis, or critical literacy. These competing models are contrasted, and special emphasis is given to one adult basic literacy organization that is managing to humanize the process. (Author/BJV)

While the assessment movement has spanned more than two decades, there is great variation in its degree of implementation among community colleges throughout the country. Building on literature in the field, this chapter discusses and gives examples of concepts and major areas involved in the assessment of student learning at the institutional…

This study estimates the incidence, characteristics, and patterns of change over time of illiteracy in Morocco. The study compares the results from direct literacy assessment to the conventional methods of self-reported literacy. This effort has provided more detailed, objective information with which patterns of literacy skills in the country may…

Since colonial times, definitions and estimates of illiteracy in the United States have been debated. The Census Bureau's major indicator is number of years of schooling completed. However, average grade-level attainment is high, whereas estimates of levels of reading ability remain low. In addition, these measures are inadequate for adults. A…

Education of the gifted and talented, from the perspective of Botswana's past and present national and educational development, is reviewed. There is a need to balance much needed education for gifted students (who may become the country's leaders) with the basic education needs of the majority of Botswana's citizens, many of whom lack basic…

This lecture addresses the exploration of algebraic fundamental competence by examining the Austrian Computer Algebraic Systems (CAS). Data are used to support answers and conclusions related to two questions that explore the role that instrumental understanding plays in supporting a high level of relational understanding and the idea that…