Each of the five articles in this special issue gets "into the weeds" in terms of studying actual classroom or school implementation of evidence-based or promising practices. Virtually all confront the issue of logistics and establishing an infrastructure for ensuring adequate implementation. In general, those studies that ask teachers…

In "Beyond the Common Core: Examining 20 Years of Literacy Priorities and Their Impact on Struggling Readers," Cassidy et al. (2016) suggest that the emphasis on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS, National Governors Association [NGA] Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010) has had…

This essay is a personal reflection on the implementation of "Creating Critical Viewers," a national media literacy program sponsored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), an industry association, in 1995. The television industry's decision to develop a media literacy curriculum in the 1990s was a powerful…

This critical essay discusses the challenges and prospects for the reform of school-based literacy programs. It begins with an overview of the effects of a decade of test-driven accountability policy on research and teachers' work, noting the continuing challenges of new demographics, cultures and technologies for literacy education. The case is…

Core principles of successful workplace literacy programs are relevance, integration of literacy and job skills, flexibility, continuity, and shared ownership and accountability. Success often involves complex negotiations to balance needs of employers, employees, and educators. (SK)

Canada's National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) develops innovative partnerships to involve voluntary and national organizations, governments, business, and labor in a national effort to make Canada a more literate society. The two main objectives of the NLS are to promote a variety of opportunities for people to improve their reading and writing…

In a series of reforms started in 1998 and formalized with the 2000 introduction of the Blueprint for Student Success, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) implemented a wide-ranging series of reforms designed to boost the literacy skills of students. This article provides an overview of the reforms, assesses the contributions made by the…

A Massachusetts family literacy project, the Northampton Family Literacy Project, is described, in which adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners enrolled in a community educational center in order to learn English as their children enrolled in a child care program at the local library. Both groups were involved in language activities,…

About two-thirds of the 963 million people in the world who cannot read and write are women, according to the United Nations. Women who are illiterate cannot pass on literacy skills to their children. The United Nations proclaimed 1990 International Literacy Year and conducted conferences for literacy. Education for women and girls was designated…

A literacy program incorporating adult learning principles was designed using functional materials and an appropriate methodology, and the feasibility of this program was assessed in an adult basic education setting. Analysis of achievement data indicated that the application of adult learning principles to adult literacy resulted in effective…

A review of research indicates that current beginning reading practices typically emphasize discrete skills that fail to take advantage of young children's emergent literacy abilities. Suggestions for strengthening the match between young children's emergent literacy and instructional experiences are offered. (RH)

This publication presents a collection of materials on the German experience with literacy education. A timeline offers a brief account of adult literacy in the Federal Republic of Germany. "Literacy as a Problem in the Federal Republic of Germany" identifies the causes and impacts of "second-order illiteracy" (the loss of…

The U.S. workplace needs to be transformed. Corporations should replace an approach to production and service that pits labor against management with an approach that unites management and labor in the pursuit of enhanced quality, enhanced responsiveness to the customer, and enhanced productivity. Human resource development is critical to this…

This document reports oral and written testimony of witnesses at three Congressional hearings on eliminating illiteracy held in spring and summer, 1989. Witnesses included Senators Paul Simon, Howard Metzenbaum, Nancy Kassebaum, Strom Thurmond, Thad Cochran, and Orrin Hatch; Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos; literacy program managers and…

This document is designed to engage workplace educators in thinking about the ideas and issues that the BEST [Better Education Skills Training] team have found to be important in shaping how they conduct their workplace education program. Its format is that of answers to questions that shape program planning and implementation. Students'…