In 1987, the department of Rio San Juan was declared the first "illiteracy-free territory" in Nicaragua, since it had reduced its rate of illiteracy from 96 percent in 1979 to 3.7 percent. This regional literacy crusade was made possible by the facts that the necessary facilities had been provided; a network of consultative committees…

Global figures that reveal the magnitude of the problem of illiteracy in the world disguise great disparities. For example, most of the illiteracy in the world is in developing countries. Therefore, it is preferable, and more appropriate in terms of numerical importance, to concentrate the analysis of illiteracy on developing countries. Such…

This book is a compilation of 12 articles and papers on topics of relevance to adult education in India. "Nonformal Education in the Learning Society" highlights the importance of this type of education. "Adult Education in India" presents one educator's views about this topic, the size and dimensions of the problems, and the…

There are more than 4 million small businesses across the country that provide more than half of private sector employment, generate 47 percent of the gross national product, and generate two out of every three new jobs in the United States. Because small businesses provide the majority of new workers with their first work experience, they are at…

The ways states are improving their literacy services for adults with disabilities were examined through a national survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) and National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and case studies of three states: Oklahoma, Illinois, and Connecticut. The OVAE/NIFL…

Ohio's mission in the 1990s is to prepare youth and adults to make informed choices and to enter, compete, and advance successfully in the changing work world. One way to measure Ohio's progress is to examine the Ohio vocational system and its direct relationship to the National Education Goals presented in America 2000. Goal 1 is readiness for…

This report is an overview of the changes occurring in society and the workplace today, with a prediction of how those changes will affect employment in the future in the United States and especially in Indiana. The report is organized in five sections. The first section summarizes the demographic, economic, and social changes that are presently…

This document contains seven papers about and from the International Seminar on Women's Education and Empowerment, which was convened to give women educators and researchers from diverse sociocultural backgrounds an opportunity to examine collectively different education practices and their theoretical implications for empowering women. The…

An examination of data pertaining to the participation of adult residents of New York in the Adult Literacy Education Program during 1981-82 revealed that many of the 85,400 adults served by the program moved from being illiterate and unemployed or on welfare to being employed and independent of public assistance. The majority of those…

The National Institute for Literacy's Equipped for the Future initiative was undertaken to achieve customer-driven, standards-based reform of adult literacy and lifelong learning through a broad, national consensus-building process. The initiative's six stages are as follows: (1) build consensus on the knowledge and skills adults need to fulfill…

The advent of the "information age," and the electronic communication technologies that are part of it, was supposed to replace print. However, this has not been the case, as the amount of print materials being produced and read has increased along with the electronic equipment. Far from replacing established media and communication…

This information sheet describes General Curriculum Options, one of four streams or subject areas offered in the Certificates in General Education for Adults (CGEA) in Australia. The first seven learning outcomes are based on seven key competencies: collecting, analyzing, and organizing information; planning and organizing activities;…

In order to explain the role that the university can play in the struggle against illiteracy, a distinction must be made between "social" illiterate people, who are dominated by oral tradition, and functional, or "uneducated" illiterate people, who usually know how to read and write, but without having sufficient understanding…

Post-literacy is all the means and activities that allow persons who have recently become literate to make use of their skills and to increase and deepen the knowledge acquired. There are many kinds of literacy. What they all have in common is the merciless test of the durability of literacy's effect: After 1, 2, or 5 years, what will the…

This eight-chapter monograph deals with the requirements for providing education for all. Four interrelated themes are examined: developing a supporting policy context, mobilizing resources, building national technical capacity, and strengthening international solidarity. The first chapter gives an overview of these themes. Chapter 2 considers how…