Adult education's mission is a critical one. It seeks to provide the large and diverse population of adults who lack basic skills, a high school credential, or English language skills with the competencies they need to be productive workers, family members, and citizens. Federally funded adult education serves learners in three types of programs:…

Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 directs the federal government to conduct a national assessment of adult education, including activities to understand the extent to which adult education strategies positively affect learners. A systematic review of the research on the effectiveness of particular strategies in adult…

The literacy problem in the Cleveland area and recommendations for dealing with it are presented in this booklet. Beginning with a definition of literacy and a discussion of the human costs and economic consequences of illiteracy, the booklet advocates reducing adult illiteracy, eliminating basic skills deficits, and improving communications…

The essays contained in this document, which launches the University of Georgia Education Initiative, attempt to address Georgia's need for increased literacy in realistic and constructive terms. Taken together, these essays constitute an agenda for action--a challenge to all those who wish to provide Georgians with the quality education they…

This volume is part of a series that is designed to promote stronger ties between the educational resources in the Northeast and Midwest and the economic development process. The discussion identifies steps that businesses, education communities, and public policymakers can take to define literacy standards and raise basic competency levels in…

According to U.S. Census data, in rural Pennsylvania, 37% of adults did not complete higher school, and 21% did not go beyond 8th grade. As a consequence of present demographic and literacy trends, the proportion of the workforce with low levels of basic skills is growing. At the same time, a changing labor market is creating new jobs that demand…

This document summarizes the first report of the Study of Academic Instruction for Disadvantaged Students, a 3-year investigation of curriculum and instruction in elementary schools serving high concentrations of poor children. (The first report constitutes volume 2 of a projected series). Recent scholarship, theory, and experimentation in the…

Describes the Parent and Child Education (PACE) program, a statewide family literacy program in Kentucky that promotes positive attitudes toward schooling and academic achievement. PACE focuses on parents' basic skills, children's learning skills, and parents' child care skills. (FMW)

The Army's Basic Skills Education Program (BSEP) was studied to consider whether it was properly designed to determine the basic skills needed in Army jobs and to be effectively implemented. Information and reports on BSEP were reviewed, and three major commands were selected for evaluation. In designing the program, the Army did not identify the…

The Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit (ALBSU) analyzed draft plans, required by the Education Reform Act 1988, from about 40 percent of the local education authorities (LEAs) in England and Wales to identify basic skills and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provisions for adults. Topics of concern were the maintenance of programs…

This document comprises nine commissioned papers and four literature review chapters that are part of the first report of the Study of Academic Instruction for Disadvantaged Students, a 3-year investigation of curriculum and instruction in elementary schools serving high concentrations of poor children. (A summary of this report is presented in…

A study examined the nature and extent of adult literacy needs in the American labor force. Data for the study were collected from a review of the literature, site visits to nine industry-based training programs, and consultation with a technical panel of experts. Input from company managers, instructors, and trainers familiar with the…

Nine industry-based adult literacy programs across the country were studied to identify exemplary training programs and practices that business and industry trainers, planners, and policymakers and individuals in the public education sector alike could replicate in designing adult literacy programs. Training programs offered by the following…

This document discusses the need to increase the amount of U.S. international funding that goes to basic education. Because U.S. foreign aid programs are reviewed prior to a new fiscal year, this paper suggests that people can make a difference by working to raise the profile of basic education and by encouraging U.S. policymakers to increase…

Promotes the development of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) programs as a way of educating illiterate parents and nonreading adults in general. Notes several programs of this nature already in operation around the nation. Describes some nonthreatening courseware that is being used to recruit more adults into such programs. (TW)