Trends in research on participation in adult education have reflected social changes, shifting from sociodemographic surveys toward emphasis on understanding motivation for participating. Participation has been studied primarily from the perspective of service providers, gathering data on participants or dropouts. Since the 1970s, researchers have…

What can employers assume about the literacy skills of General Educational Development (GED) program graduates? A subsample of 1,012 young adults, aged 21 to 25, selected from the Young Adult Literacy Survey (YALS) was used to study this question. The sample consisted of all Caucasians, African-Americans, and Hispanics in the following categories:…

Inquiry-centered staff development requires that adult literacy practitioners (adult educators, tutors, and administrators) function simultaneously as learners, researchers, and reformers performing the following actions: forming research communities within program or across program sites; using literature and their own experiences to investigate…

This report describes presentations and discussions at a seminar to bring together research initiatives in the area of functional literacy and to explore appropriate ways of developing policy-driven research in all countries. Opening remarks by representatives of the European Community, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,…

This handbook brings together information on the who, what, where, when, why, and how of adult basic education (ABE) research in Australia. Chapter 1 describes the ABE Research Project that developed this handbook. It summarizes the rationale and context for the project, describes its aims and content, provides details of the information gathering…

Effective teaching in adult basic education (ABE) is especially complex and difficult due to context--specific factors that function synergetically to impede success in teaching and learning. These distinctive attributes include open enrollment, irregular attendance, time on task, student diversity, and teacher characteristics. Research concerned…

This bibliography is designed: (1) to bring information together on research on family roles in literacy acquisition and on parent involvement programs; and (2) to present a range of models, resources, and approaches that English family literacy program designers, curriculum developers, and teachers can use in developing their own programs. The…

The nine papers in this document represent the final report of a workshop on research on literacy in developing countries. It is noted in the introduction by Kenneth King that research in literacy tends to be performed by persons who are also literacy activists and that the problem of motivation seems to be central to most literacy research. It is…

NCSALL's (National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy's) Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network (PDRN) set out to create and support systematic partnerships between practitioners and university researchers to better connect research and practice, with the ultimate outcome of improved practice, policy, and services for…

Focus on Basics is the quarterly publication of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. It presents best practices, current research on adult learning and literacy, and how research is used by adult basic education teachers, counselors, program administrators, and policymakers. Focus on Basics is dedicated to connecting…

The first phase of a persistence study used research as a tool to develop advice for practitioners on how to help adults persist in their studies. The study team defined persistence as adults who stay in programs for as long as they can, engage in self-directed study when they must drop out of their programs, and return to programs as soon as the…

This study focused on the problem of deaf and hard of hearing learners who have very low English literacy levels compared to their ability levels. Participants in the study were deaf and hard of hearing adult learners in the Adult Basic Education Program of the Center on Deafness in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This mixed urban-rural population had…

This document contains six papers describing program-based research from rural literacy program in Ontario, Canada. Some of the reports describe action research from pilot projects. The papers raise questions about responding to the special challenges of rural needs, such as whether there is an additional expense to providing service of equal…

This summary reports on a research project that looked at the relationship of whole language instruction to adult basic education (ABE) learning. It begins with the background of the three research projects. This section discusses the staff development program that enabled teachers to understand whole language, its principles, and its strategies…

The three studies reported in this document are part of an ongoing attempt to understand how the world of illiteracy and literacy programs appears to those who have either refused to attend or decided to drop out of adult basic education (ABE). Situational or institutional barriers account for some of this non-attendance; they do not, however,…