Fifteen literacy programs, structured as partnerships between Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Service Delivery Areas (SDAs) in Texas and nonprofit literacy councils, were reviewed. Interviews were conducted with students, tutors and instructors, program directors and other staff, and partners to study program effectiveness in establishing…

The Bidwell Training Center, Inc., in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, evaluated the effectiveness of IBM's Principle of the Alphabet Literacy System (PALS), an interactive instructional program to teach adolescents and adults writing and reading skills. Bidwell's goal was to use PALS to teach large numbers of adults who read below the fifth-grade level.…

This study of social capital employs data from the Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning (LSAL), funded by the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) and conducted at Portland State University to increase understanding of the learning process of adults with limited formal education. It provides longitudinal data on…

The National Coalition for Literacy's (NCL's) stated goal is to serve as the national leadership organization of the adult literacy field. However, NCL's organizational structure severely limits its ability to muster the personnel resources or raise the money required to fully perform the leadership functions required of a national coalition. The…

This primer on the state role in adult education and literacy (AEL) looks at how well the states are performing their leadership functions, current commitment, and how to improve their leadership capacity and commitment. Section I is an introduction. Section II explains how the adult education and literacy system (AELS) functions as part of the…

This paper discusses the use of telephone surveys as a substitute for, or addition to, the use of door-to-door surveys in assessing adult literacy ability. Part 1 addresses issues of validity in adult literacy assessment, including the concepts of construct or inferential validity and action or use validity. Part 2 is a review of related research…

Knowing and learning about students' lives are an essential part of teaching reading to adults. Student journals provide a way for teachers to know and respond to students' personal histories. Adult learners must value themselves and the knowledge they already possess in adult basic education and other realms. (SLD)

An Edmonton (Alberta) adult learning center developed a participatory education program that integrated literacy development with health promotion. Low-income women learned skills and strategies to access health information and resources, as well as related literacy and language strategies, and subsequently reported improved eating and exercise…

In response to high demand for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction among the community's Chinese-speaking population, the Quincy School Community Council (Massachusetts) developed the Take And Give (TAG) program, in which graduates of the highest-level ESL classes were trained as peer tutors for students at the lowest instructional…

What has been learned from the study of relationships between abilities and outcomes learned in college and those abilities as they are performed at work is summarized to infer principles that should inform a national system to assess the higher order thinking and communications skills of college graduates in support of the National Education Goal…

College-level assessment efforts in New Jersey are described. For more than a dozen years, students in public colleges and universities in New Jersey have been assessed using a common statewide instrument, the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test. This test assesses reading, writing, and mathematics skills of entering college students as…

An evaluation was done of New York City Board of Education's Project, Parent Resources and Education Program (Project PREP) for 1989-90. In its first year of funding, the project served parents of students of limited English proficiency at South Bronx High School by aiming to increase parents' literacy and awareness of sources of assistance and to…

This report details the evaluation of Target 2000, a South Carolina parent education program that involves parent and literacy training as well as social services for children and parents, and that is intended to increase parents' effectiveness as the primary teachers of their preschool children. The evaluation process described was shaped by the…

In 1983 the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs received a grant to increase Indian participation in Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs at community colleges in Hoke, Scotland, Halifax, and Warren counties. There were 135 Indian adults recruited in the 4 counties--68% female and 32% male. Ages ranged from 18 and younger (6%) to over 60…

This document was produced by the authors based on their research for the report, "Social and Economic Benefits of Improved Adult Literacy: Towards a Better Understanding," and is an added resource for further information. The original document is a feasibility study which explores the frameworks and methodologies available for…