Millions of adults in the United States lack the necessary literacy skills for most living wage jobs. For students from adult learning classes, we used a lexical decision task to measure their knowledge of words and we used a decision-making model (Ratcliff's, 1978, diffusion model) to abstract the mechanisms underlying their performance from…

The extant literature offers little to describe the processes for screening students in adult basic education (ABE) programs for potential learning disabilities, referring adult students for diagnostic assessment, or barriers to obtaining diagnostic assessment for a learning disability. Without current documentation of a learning disability, ABE…

Literacy has become an important predictor of well being in old age. Being literate in today's society demands a myriad of functional abilities, which, when absent, can have dramatic health, economic, and social consequences. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for defining literacy within an increasingly technological society,…

The Ohio Adult Literacy Survey, like the National Adult Literacy Survey of which it is a part, aimed to characterize adults' literacy skills in English based on their performance on diverse tasks that reflect the types of materials and demands they encounter in their daily lives. To gather information on the literacy skills of adults in Ohio,…

The Workplace Literacy Skills and Training Inventory was created as a needs assessment instrument to determine existing programs and services and current needs at workplace sites. Subjects were 64 representatives from businesses in Greene County, Ohio, randomly selected from the yellow pages. The framework for the inventory consisted of 16 skills…

Presents findings from a two-year evaluation of a family literacy program in rural Appalachian Ohio. Demonstrates positive results for both impact/outcome and process objectives. Highlights an extensive network of interpersonal and interagency relationships that maximized resources and supported families as they changed. Suggests the importance of…

A two-part survey of Ohio employers of JTP (Job Training Partnership) Ohio Title IIA participants asked 497 employers about: (1) their attitudes and opinions toward JTP Ohio and their participation in JTP programs (272 responses) and (2) employment and earning data for Title IIA participants who worked in the firm after ending their JTP training…

The Ohio State Literacy Survey, which assessed Ohio adults' literacy skills according to their performance on tasks reflecting the materials/demands encountered in daily life, was administered to a sample of 1,568 persons aged 16 years or older who were randomly selected from Ohio's approximately 8.3 million adults. Each participant received…

Formative, in-process evaluation results can be used to refine or "fine tune" Even Start programs. The assumption is that the programs have obtained comprehensive and appropriate empirical data on the assessment of the program as a whole as well as its specific goals. This six-step model uses evaluation data to improve program delivery.…

To investigate the initial experiences of the various Even Start programs in Ohio following approval and funding, a project developed a survey instrument and sent it to Even Start program directors. The survey asked directors open-ended questions aimed at getting a general description of each program and a discussion of the issues and concerns…

To investigate the initial experiences of the various Even Start programs, a project developed a survey that was sent to program coordinators in Ohio. It asked open-ended questions to get descriptions and perceptions of situations that preceded turning point events and the turning point events themselves. Data from eight programs highlighted their…

Six reporters in diverse areas looked at how their communities were responding to adult literacy, basic skills, and workplace literacy programs. This guide contains six reports, three in each of its two parts: (1) Reporting on Welfare Reform--Is the Story Literacy or Decent Jobs? and (2) Reporting on Literacy Programs--Is There a…

Having low literacy skills could impact everything from reading a newspaper and balancing a checkbook to wise consumer decisions and job advancement. This study estimates adult literacy measures for Cuyahoga County, Ohio and its municipalities. It is also important to have a sense of how many children are at risk for developing literacy problems…