In this webinar, Dr. Carol Tomlinson of the University of Virginia presented the research base supporting the practice of differentiation and described the characteristics of effective differentiation. She led a discussion of how quality preparation can build and strengthen teachers' knowledge and skills in implementing differentiated instruction…

Highlights concerns reading professionals might have regarding the use of volunteer tutors to attack the problem of adult illiteracy in a modern industrial nation. (HOD)

This introductory article presents the three tenets undergirding the selection of papers in this issue on a sociocultural perspective for literacy research in children with learning difficulties. The three tenets include learning as a cultural phenomenon; learning as arising in contextualized, holistic, and meaningful activity; and the social…

This commentary on EC 603 155, which discusses enhancement of literacy skills in young children with learning disabilities, focuses on the cognitive/metacognitive mix in intentional learning, reasons for children's faulty self-regulation, changes in strategic behavior in reciprocal teaching over time, and power and knowledge of teacher and child…

The author focuses on literacy among students--those still in school or recently graduated. She discusses literacy trends among elementary, high school, and college students; uses of literacy trends; results of a 1980 National Assessment of Educational Progress study; developmental changes in individuals; and reading disability, dyslexia, and…

These proceedings contain four papers. In "Identifying Learning Disabilities in Correctional Facilities," Ronald E. Fritsch and Donna D. Tynan discuss two types of learning disabilities that may affect incarcerated youth: developmental (problems in attention, memory, perception, thinking, and oral language) and academic (problems in reading,…

This article draws together three papers (EC 603 155, EC 603 157, and EC 603 158) on metacognitive theory in literacy, writing, and mathematics acquisition of children with learning disabilities. Topics discussed include self-regulation, the reciprocal relationship between self-regulated learning and motivational beliefs, and the classroom role of…

Attributes much of "illiteracy" and "learning disability" in Canadian schools to factors such as parents' social class, definitions of literacy, and validity of readability measures. Iceland's tradition of family responsibility for early childhood education, status for national authors, and home exposure to reading might be…

Michael Marquet of New Zealand left school 10 years ago, not able to read or write and with a serious speech problem. He had spent 9 years in a special class and had learned very little. He had completed 2 years of high school and left at the end of the fourth form, at the age of 15 and with no qualifications. However, he had participated in a…

Discusses the application of Britain's National Literacy Strategy for pupils with special educational needs, especially the additional guidance recently published which suggests ways of including these students in the "literacy hour" or conducting "parallel" groups. Continuing questions raised by teachers of students with…

Drawing from the literature on reading research and theories, this paper discusses the problems of community college students with severe reading/writing deficits, reviews the advantages and limitations of various approaches to reading instruction, and suggests a new method of word decoding. First, the paper explores the difficulties facing the…

This collection of papers focuses on working with adults who have special needs. In her paper entitled "Literacy and the Visually Handicapped," Janice E. Mason examines ways in which strategies for meeting the needs of visually handicapped persons can be integrated into literacy programs. "Singer and Listener: Basic Education Work…

The Virginia 1999-2000 Learning Disabilities Training and Dissemination (LDTD) project was undertaken to improve educational services to adults with learning disabilities. During the project, learners and tutors from six community-based literacy programs across Virginia volunteered to share their experiences as they participated in pilot testing…

The first meeting of the National Literacy Summit 2000 convened 150 leaders from adult education and literacy and other related fields for a 2-day intensive working meeting to begin building a national consensus on how to move adult and family literacy forward in the 21st century. Comments and suggestions offered by summit participants were…