This publication is the first of several planned reports for the Literacy in Libraries across America (LILAA) initiative, a four-year study that will explore the efforts of five leading public library-based literacy programs to improve learner persistence through a variety of programmatic, operational, and support service strategies. The five…

Emphasizing the need to increase literacy among older people in rural areas in Kenya, the author points out that these people have already demonstrated their ability to learn in other skill areas and suggests approaching literacy by way of vocational skills or help in developing small businesses. (SA)

Describes the establishment of adult education programs on "moonlit nights" by Cora Wilson Stewart, Superintendent of Rowan County Schools in Kentucky (1904-1912). Over 1,200 adults signed up the first year to take such courses as vocal music, reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, and drills. From this activity the Illiteracy…

Describes British program in which adult illiterates are taught individually in the tutor's home. (SP)

The author has a new approach in teaching adult literacy. He states adult literacy is the ability to learn through written communication." Students should be treated as adults not kindergarten children. (MR)

Near illiterates were draft exempt until the Army discovered it could teach them to read and write well enough to be fit for the service with the multimedia system described in this article. (LS)

As a result of a pilot project (in Rio de Janeiro) of functional literacy for adolescents and adults by television, 90 percent of the students in experimental tele-classes" became literate with 36 broadcasts of 20 minutes each, distributed over three months three times each week, supported by 50 minutes of discussion and other activities…

Discusses the failure of traditional schooling in the Hispanic community. Marginal communities structure education very differently from traditional schooling and learning progresses at an incredible rate. Too often administrators fail to see the need for nontraditional programs that meet the needs of a particular group. (JOW)

Suggests that the appropriateness of a methodology for the study of adult literacy programs be determined by assessing the extent to which the methodology speaks to the information needs and context complexity involved. (JOW)

Reports results of preliminary analyses of intelligence and achievement in an adult tutorial project. Incarcerated adult illiterates volunteered to participate in a peer tutoring program wherein they received 27 hours of structured tutoring. Significant achievement was demonstrated in all areas; significant correlations were noted between IQ…

Analyzes low literacy levels among Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) applicants in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Discusses how cutbacks in CETA funding will adversely affect attempts to decrease illiteracy among unemployed, low-income, urban adults. (GC)

Chronologically traces the development of literacy programs for adults in public libraries from their beginning in the nineteenth-century to the situation we find today. (Author)

Discusses the Fifth UNESCO International Conference on Adult Education held in Hamburg, Germany, July 14-18, 1997. Describes four of the workshops held there: (1) Literacy Education and Social Development; (2) Literacy and Technology; (3) Literacy and Basic Skills for Community Development in Industrialized Countries; and (4) Literacy for…

Fourteen Texas community literacy programs received Job Training Partnership Act funds to form local partnerships. The collaborations enabled them to provide comprehensive, coordinated services to educationally disadvantaged people. The enhanced visibility of the programs enabled them to obtain additional funding after the initial grants ended.…