Design research (DR) methodology is often used to investigate the mathematical learning and trial the means of supporting it. We report on data from a larger DR study, in which we investigated how adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) continue to develop their numeracy in everyday activities. Previous analysis of data from this study…

This paper reports findings from a researcher-practitioner partnership (2015-18) that examined how adult education providers in Chicago, Houston, and Miami are designing and implementing career pathways (CP) programming, particularly for immigrants and adults with limited education. This Institute of Education Sciences-funded study was the first…

The author has been working in the literacy field with francophone adults in a minority setting and in a variety of capacities for twenty years, and considers himself a reflective and critical practitioner. He strives to understand the world of adult education and skills development based on his practical experiences and observations from the…

Because Literacy and Essential Skills are so important to economic development, it is vital to know the competencies needed by the educators who deliver Literacy and Essential Skills programming. Likewise, Literacy and Essential Skills are crucial for labour market attachment. Low-skilled work has been most affected by technological change. There…

This paper gathers descriptions on the use of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and essential skills cross Canada. IALS was developed as a population measure to lay out the distribution of skills and their relationship to other social and economic attributes. The information was taken from federal, provincial, and territorial…

Basic skills courses are designed to teach students certain basic academic competencies they have not mastered. However, very little research has examined the quality of instruction inside basic skills classes. This paper presents preliminary findings from observations in 13 California community colleges. The clearest finding is that…

European countries have set themselves 22 specific goals by 2014 to support their long-term vision for vocational education and training (VET). This report is a first step in understanding progress by mid-2012 towards these goals, endorsed in 2010 in the Bruges communique to help achieve the Europe 2020 agenda. Attention has clearly focused on…

On February 18, 2010, the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAAL) convened a Roundtable meeting of 19 leaders of local institutions identified by their peers as providing exemplary "adult education for work" service within a particular community or local labor market. The institutions are located in 16 states representing all…

This paper reports data from the evaluation of the numeracy component of a long-running educational intervention, covering the period from 2001 to 2008. "QuickSmart" is both an intervention and research project operating in Australian schools. It is a structured intervention program designed for middle-school students (ages 10 to 13…

It is no secret that America is at risk of losing its place as a world leader in education. Some 88 million adults in America need help with their English as a Second Language (ESL) and basic skills, yet the nation is currently providing services to only 3 million people. The Commission on Adult Literacy calls for bold change at the state and…

The speaker briefly covers the history of the "back to basics" movement, some of the practices that have helped create the movement, an alternative view of what is "basic" in education, and some of the oversimplifications and possible adverse consequences that might result from an unbridled back-to-basics movement. (Author/IRT)

Today's educators sometimes make unthinking hasty decisions based on a "Gallup Poll" mentality that holds that whatever the majority of the people want should be implemented. Educators, bowing to public pressure, are sometimes too quick to jump on any bandwagon. One such bandwagon is the current back to basics movement. Insofar as back…

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of children's measurement concepts and to outline implications of recent research on transitivity and counting. Discussion is confined to measurement of length and focuses on aspects of measurement outlined in the last two of Piaget's three measurement stages. It is argued that measurement…

The use of computers in teaching basic skills to special education students is examined. Six instructional techniques useful in teaching basic skills are outlined: information delivery, demonstration, drill and practice, problem solving, tutorial, and instructional games. A summary lists the contributions of technologies to effective learning,…

The Basic Skills Keyboards is a software program that features a variety of game files presented in ways tied to the cognitive deficits associated with autism. The program is based on the hypothesis that such students have problems with cause-effect, means-end, and personal agency, and would develop a working knowledge of these relationships via…