This article reports on a pilot research project conducted in nine countries of Africa and Asia on some aspects of the impact that teaching literacy to adults has had on the lives of some adult literacy facilitators (ALFs). The small-scale enquiry was implemented by a team of twelve researchers in nine countries (Afghanistan, Botswana, Ethiopia,…

This study assessed the functional impacts of adult literacy programme among rural women participants in Ishielu Local Government Area (LGA) of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population of the study was made up of 115 adult instructors and 2,408 adult learners giving a total of 2,623. The sample…

This study examined African American students' persistence rates in an adult basic education and literacy (AEL) program by juxtaposing teacher disposition that predicts student retention in an AEL program with an AEL Integrated Education and Training program (IET) as a predictor of student success. The Teacher Attribute Survey was administered to…

Data from recent international conferences and existing studies show that adult literacy research questions pursued by academicians and those pursued by practitioners are markedly different. Research concerns expressed by these two groups, in both developed and developing countries, are based on different assumptions regarding the nature,…

Interest in the debate about quality management has grown substantially in recent years. Educators of adults want to improve their practices: they are searching for new ways of measuring success that are inclusive and which take account of views of different interest groups. This article examines the involvement of stakeholders in the management…

This project continued a 2-year project that had focused on development and implementation of training in content areas needed by staff from ABLE (Adult Basic and Literacy Education)-funded agencies in Pennsylvania. The project continued to coordinate the review and selection of training materials for professional development in designated content…

An evaluation was conducted of a summer institute on assessment in adult literacy held at the University of Pittsburgh. The summer institute was designed to enable program administrators and instructors to hear experts in the field of adult assessment discuss, in depth, the issues that are common to all adult literacy providers. Participants had…

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…

The experiences of adult educators in Massachusetts who have integrated a health unit into adult literacy classes were examined in an exploratory study. Over a 5-year period, 31 adult learning centers in Massachusetts received funding to incorporate health topics into their adult literacy curriculum. A total of 31 teachers from 24 of the sites…

The Philadelphia Mayor's Commission on Literacy undertook a project to develop and conduct collaborative training that would promote a more egalitarian relationship between teachers/facilitators and learners and greater learner input in the instructional planning process. A collaborative learning (CL) manual was developed, a 12-hour CL training…

This report provides an overview of projects funded under Section 353 of the Adult Education Act (1991) that support Ohio's efforts to develop individual growth and leadership in the field of adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) and program improvement. The programs profiled are grouped in the following categories: resource centers; ABLE…

The Greater Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Literacy Council (GPLC) is a volunteer-based literacy council that provides adult basic and literacy education services to the area's citizens. The GPLC conducted an action research project to determine whether adding monthly meetings for professional teaching staff and providing opportunities for interaction…

The Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network (PDRN), a multi-year research and development effort, tested an innovative method of connecting research and practice. Included in the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy 1995 proposal, it began with an advisory group meeting in 1996. In 1997, South- and Northeast regions…

The Pennsylvania Action Research Network project was initiated in 1995-1996 to provide Pennsylvania literacy educators with the following: a better method for taking published research findings and testing and adapting them in their own classrooms; a way to study their own research ideas on a daily-action basis; and a systematic way to share and…

From the perspective of the field of adult literacy, the year 1999 is best seen not as the penultimate year of the millennium but as the year bookended by the reauthorization of the National Literacy Act in late 1998 and the National Literacy Summit of early 2000. Both of those events represent a huge milestone, and 1999 may be regarded as the…