The Adult Tutoring Program within the Literacy Center of West Michigan has been running monthly professional developments (PDs) (known as tutor in-services) for volunteer tutors since early 2021. All in-services fit into at least one of the categories of strategies, life skills, civics, next steps, or digital literacy. The team has been able to…

The adult literacy education field draws on research from several disciplines to support the work of educating the 40-44 million U.S. adults who lack the skills to obtain and maintain family sustaining work opportunities (Kirsch et al., 1993). Adult literacy research that documents the prevalence of low literacy in the adult population is useful…

Scholars of adult basic literacy curricular materials have argued that the skill-based, deficit-oriented approach of many such materials denies the interests and motivations of adult learners. Exploring why these kinds of curricular materials are prevalent in adult basic literacy education, this article focuses on the case of ProLiteracy, a…

Detailed interviews with four volunteer tutor/student pairs at the Stow Hill Adult Literacy Centre in Newport (England) found that peer tutoring substantially increased student confidence and reduction of anxiety about literacy problems and negative schooling experiences. Tutors also learned from the experience. (SK)

The Literacy Plus Project, begun in 1985, provides tutoring for English-speaking adults aged 16 and over who live in the Hayward (California) Public Library service area, and whose reading and writing skills are below eighth-grade level. During the 1988-89 program year, the program trained 84 tutors (goal: 100) using a program developed by the…

The Delta Adult Literacy Council, Inc. (DALC) is a volunteer, nonprofit organization that seeks to recruit, assess, train, match, and support volunteer tutors and adult new readers. Its accomplishments, its history as a literacy organization, and its tutor training process are described. The process of student recruitment and support involves…

The effects of an in-house workplace literacy program on an organization are examined. A small Canadian manufacturing plant that began a workplace literacy program called Learning in the Workplace in 1990 was the site of this case study research. The plant was CCL Custom Manufacturing, which specialized in household powder-based products. Four…

Delaware County (Pennsylvania) Community College received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to use college work-study students to teach literacy. The college cooperated with the Delaware County Literacy Council in order to train tutors and clerical personnel and place them in tutoring or program support functions. A total of 30…

Two literacy programs based at the State University of New York, College at Brockport (SUNY-Brockport) universities have achieved some success, but both programs have changed, for various reasons. University students have much to gain from their involvement in literacy programs, including the satisfaction of helping others, the opportunity to…

Identifies the immensity of the illiteracy problem, enumerates who are the functional illiterates, and explains what is being done by voluntary organizations such as Literacy Volunteers of America to eradicate it. Literacy Volunteers of New York City, the problem of financial support, and national awareness and progress are highlighted. (EJS)

Discussion of program established in 1977 by the Queens Borough Public Library and Literacy Volunteers of New York to combat the problem of adult illiteracy notes recruitment, training and retention of tutors, student intake procedure, cooperation with community organizations, special programs (math, writing, adult basic education), and program…

This final report of the Literacy Education for the Elderly Project (LEEP) provides a description and the results of the project designed to target literacy education to the older adult. The strategy of the two-year program, established in 27 sites nationwide, was to: (1) link the local level aging services network with the volunteer adult…

Materials are provided on an adult right-to-read program for Collin County developed by the Allen Independent School District Community Education department. Narratives by the district coordinator, program director, and volunteer director set forth administrative considerations, general guidelines, information on evaluations and tutor training, a…

Both a case study of a middle-aged Mexican migrant woman's attempt to learn to read and write and a personal account of the tutor's discovery of some of the social and psychological factors that kept her illiterate. Discusses methodology, materials, techniques, conflicting conceptions of literacy, and sociocultural expectations. (RDN)

This Final Performance Report provides information and data to the U.S. Department of Education for the federally-funded Library Literacy Program. The report includes the following sections: general information; quantitative data; and narrative report. The Chester County Library (Chester, South Carolina) serves a community of 25,000-50,000 people.…