Ongoing policy discussions concerning the post-2015 future of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals are providing the basis for renewed efforts to understand and improve learning and literacy in a global perspective. Aiming for a pathway towards better scientific understanding, this paper asks a central question: What research would be…

United Nations development goals have consistently placed a high priority on the quality of education--and of learning. This has led to substantive increases in international development assistance to education, and also to broader attention, worldwide, to the importance of children's learning. Yet, such goals are mainly normative: they tend…

Over the past decade, international and national education agencies have begun to emphasize the improvement of the quality (rather than quantity) of education in developing countries. This trend has been paralleled by a significant increase in the use of educational assessments as a way to measure gains and losses in quality of learning. As…

Over the past decade, international development agencies have begun to emphasize the improvement of the quality (rather than simply quantity) of education in developing countries. This new focus has been paralleled by a significant increase in the use of educational assessments as a way to measure gains and losses in quality. As this interest in…

Parents, educators, government ministers and policymakers in all contexts and countries around the world are concerned with learning and how to improve it. There are many reasons for this, but none is more important than the fact that learning is at the heart of success at the individual, community and global levels. Learning First is the title of…

Reviews three volumes that address national and international efforts to increase adult literacy. The books focus on: (1) case studies of literacy campaigns since 1560, and better known, contemporary mass education programs; (2) literacy work as a form of cultural politics; and (3) United Nations field-based literacy projects. (SV)

In the context of the UN Literacy Decade (declared in February 2003), the present paper suggests three parameters that should be considered when new tools for assessment are considered in less developed countries (LDCs), each of which poses a special challenge to international comparative literacy assessment, such as in the International Adult…

Discusses problems involved with surveying and assessing literacy rates in developing nations. Defines current debates over literacy measurement, classification, and surveying. Examines and questions current assumptions linking literacy policy and economic development. Describes models for surveying and measuring literacy and numeracy skill…

Although significant research on child development has been undertaken in the Third World, Euro-American paradigmatic limitations have prevented policymakers from applying the knowledge gained to child development programs there. Several suggestions are made for altering the situation. (PS)

Literacy and economic development are inextricably linked in the literature, often with little examination. There are five rationales for this relationship: economic objectives, social objectives, political objectives, endogenous pressures, and exogenous pressures. To achieve both understanding of literacy and improved literacy programming, better…

A global thematic study on literacy and adult education considered trends and innovations particularly salient during the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA) decade. According to the most recent UNESCO statistics, world illiteracy rates dropped over the last 20-30 years because of increased primary school enrollments, yet the actual…

The importance of research in literacy is that it provides some routes to greater efficiency in literacy provision. Research from the past shows how important reading and writing have been over the centuries. Literacy was often invested with social and moral power as well, and religious literacy was the predominant form of reading and writing from…

A critical need remains for a practical and low-cost methodology to bridge the gap between methodologies for assessment of literacy at the national survey level. At the program level, it must be able to be used effectively by those in developing countries with limited funds but major literacy problems. Etic (external, quantifiable,…

Three Internet-based adult literacy and adult education programs in Philadelphia were examined to identify ways Internet technology can be used to improve adult basic and literacy education. The Adult Literacy Technology Innovation Network (ALTIN) technology program, which began in the mid-1990s, provides basic instructional technology staff…