This article examines the educational leadership of the first African American female principal in Richmond, Virginia: Mrs. Ethel Thompson Overby. It seeks to ascertain, through a historical framework utilizing critical race theory, how this particular educational and instructional leader conceptualized academic achievement given the context of…

The role of functional literacy, linked to employment, leads to a narrow view of rural learners' need both economically and socially. The drive for individuals to take responsibility for their own learning and development is, indeed, a good thing. However, the burden of guilt felt by those who are unable, or unwilling, to achieve the standards set…

An important area in the learning and development of individuals with disabilities is the acquisition of independent, age-appropriate leisure skills. Three adults with autism and mental retardation were taught to access specific Internet sites using backward chaining and most-to-least intrusive prompting. The number of independent steps completed…

Definitions of literacy that focus solely on reading words provide too narrow a framework for many students with severe disabilities. Obtaining information from the environment may be accomplished in a variety of modes, such as visual literacy, which is the ability to discern meaning conveyed through images. A component of visual literacy is…

In the modern world, skimming through information quickly and finding the important nuggets of knowledge from amongst the information overload is an essential skill. One way to train oneself for this kind of literacy is reading on the internet, which requires continuous assessment of search results and specifying searches. In this article a…

Tests of a sample of 106 welfare recipients in Arkansas found that 53 percent were literate, contrary to the federal assumption that most recipients are illiterate. Concludes that specific job training and specific occupational literacy, rather than general literacy, programs would best meet the needs of the unemployed. (DM)

Purpose: There is limited amount of research that constitutes non-traditional curricula implemented within an institutionalized context of developing countries. An attempt is made in this project to gain a clearer understanding of a non-traditional early learning program within an orphanage campus setting of Ladyville, Belize, Central America.…

A 12-step procedure was used in teaching five minimally literate, male juvenile offenders to read and interpret prototypes of road signs displaying words, and a 5-step procedure for interpreting a sign without words. All students' correct responses in reading and interpreting signs increased and were maintained during subsequent post-checks.…

Presents model using elements of status, social group or speech community, and values for treating literacy as a sociolinguistic phenomenon and in support of bilingual education. Uses Navajo and medieval Jewish languages as examples. (BK)

Examines the performance of Moroccan children on a series of common household literacy tasks, and whether their performance on these tasks was related to school literacy skills, school experience, and other factors. Finds that although the children had learned many skills relevant to household literacy tasks, they demonstrated only partial…

A survey of 53 probation services in England and Wales and visits to 13 revealed unsystematic provision of literacy services in correctional rehabilitation, conflicting perspectives on how literacy should be defined and taught, and ambivalence about the role of probation officers as punitive or preventive. (SK)

A test measuring document, prose, and quantitative literacy of out-of-school youth in Guyana found that only 11% had high levels of functional literacy, a literacy rate much lower than usually reported. Failure to represent the situation accurately prolongs the lack of political will to deal with the issue. (SK)

The first of two articles addressing the issue of user documentation for computer software discusses the need to teach users how to read documentation. The second presents a guide for writing documentation that is based on the instructional systems design model, and makes suggestions for the desktop publishing of user manuals. (CLB)

The central focus of this study was to develop a prototype occupational interest inventory for functionally illiterate adults and to develop a microcomputer version of the prototype. (JOW)

Traces the progress of a beginning adult reader along the literacy continuum shown by child readers. Provides suggestions for teaching reading and writing to beginners which build on a learner's personal experiences and knowledge of language. (ARH)