The principal aspects that characterize the illiteracy problem in 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries and the achievements of 22 currently established literacy programs were determined through a 1981 UNESCO study. The purpose of this study was to obtain data useful in the planning of future literacy programs. Section one identifies…

This document provides a framework for local education agencies to monitor, support, and evaluate basic skills provision for adults. It sets out a general approach to evaluation based on three crucial factors in basic skills provision: inputs, process, and outcomes. It suggests some possible program indicators for basic skills, including average…

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…

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…

Discusses the history of Russian literacy from Kievan Rus, through the Muscovite period, the Imperial period, and the postrevolutionary Soviet Union. Presents tables of literacy levels for various periods. Discusses evidence, theories, and problems with historians' assumptions. Concludes that, until recently, little impetus existed for the bulk of…

The development of reading ability among adults is compared with that of children. Discussed are the characteristics of adults at each developmental level, instruction for skill enhancement, difficulties experienced at various levels, a historical overview of literacy needs and standards, and the growing recognition of dyslexia in adults.…

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…

This study focused on the identification and description of environmental characteristics and their relationship to basic skills exposure. The objectives of the study were to identify the major factors that characterize environments in which learning is intended to occur, and to delineate patterns of co-exposure to basic skills and environmental…

A study was conducted to improve the link between basic skill instruction and entry into various vocational training programs. Data were collected from the following sources: current professional literature; developers and publishers of adult basic education (ABE) instructional materials; consultations with experts in the fields of adult literacy,…

Possible ways of conducting research examining the changing context of workplace basic skills policy in the United Kingdom were explored. First, workplace literacy was examined from the perspective of its role in the U.K. government's lifelong learning agenda, and existing research in workplace literacy policy and related studies were reviewed.…

An analysis was conducted of the results of a formative evaluation of the LiteracyLink "Workplace Essential Skills" (WES) learning system conducted in the fall of 1998. (The WES learning system is a multimedia learning system integrating text, sound, graphics, animation, video, and images in a computer system and includes a videotape series, a…