Indigenous communities have strengths and wisdom beyond Westernized culture's recognition and understanding. However, there continues to be significant difference in literacy and life skills between Indigenous and non-Indigenous adults. In this article, I reflect on a project that investigated how technology could best support adult literacy…

This article describes a Framework that can be used to help bridge the gap between theory and practice in adult learning. The Framework promotes practice informed by three strands important to adult literacy work: social theories of literacy, social-constructivist learning theory and principles of adult learning. The Framework shows how five key…

The adult basic education field in the United States has experienced an ebb and flow of interest and investment in "worker education" over the past three decades. Although the rhetoric around workplace basic skills tends to focus on such outcomes as productivity and competitiveness, some proponents of worker basic education see it as a…

Besieged by poverty, American Indians have historically trailed other minority groups in attending and finishing college. Many lack the literacy skills to succeed in college courses or job-training programs--natural routes to employment. But as the country focuses on increasing college attainment and reducing unemployment, basic education for…

As professional developers for the Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE) system in Ohio, the authors have focused their efforts over the last several years on more actively engaging adult basic education teachers as learners in the professional development they offer. By creating activities that engage teachers in active learning with their adult…

Low literacy levels in adult learners pose an educational and public health challenge to practitioners and the scientific community. Increasing demands placed on literacy can limit opportunities in the workplace and access to health-related resources, negatively affecting public health. Current estimates from the National Center for Education…

Critical pedagogy is an instructional approach to teaching that employs a theoretical framework by which social injustices are critiqued. This type of pedagogy encourages the learner to critique obstructions to the learner's full participation in society, and encourages critical collective action, through the engagement of the learner's…

What does it mean to provide community-based health education that respects adults of diverse cultures and ways of being in the world? How does one nurture meaningful learning opportunities that awaken possibilities as a catalyst for understanding, conversation, and action? In this article, nurturing place, sharing power, heart listening, talking…

When adult learners return to formal education after a period of absence, coping with change is a constant and often omnipresent challenge. As they come to break down previous barriers to success in an educational arena, many adult learners are able to change the perceptions they have of themselves as learners. Previously held assumptions are…

America is becoming a less educated nation (National Commission on Adult Literacy, 2008). While this is frequently measured through comparisons of the number of adults with college degrees, strategies to address sagging educational attainment statistics in the United States are typically focused on K-12 reforms--mostly through expanded definitions…

Proposes a problem-solving model of incorporating critical thinking into a basic literacy program. The author, an inmate, provides concrete steps of creating the curriculum by offering a description of two units that she developed. Relates the critical-thinking curriculum to developments in understanding of the reading process. (JOW)

The Basic Skills Improvement Program, adapted from a resource program model, serves learning problem adults unable to benefit from traditional adult education. Participants are evaluated through an interdisciplinary approach, and a short-term small group instructional program is designed for them. (CL)

This document describes a project conducted to develop an approach to competency-based adult education (CBAE) for Montana adult basic education (ABE) programs. As effort continued on the project, a series of competencies related to adult student outcomes in the areas of reading, mathematics, and language arts were developed. The processes involved…

Describes a literacy program for adults with learning disabilities that consists of five modules: basic reading, spelling, writing; intermediate comprehension and vocabulary; comprehension and interpretation; intermediate writing; and intermediate spelling. Discuses screening, placement, core curriculum, multisensory and discovery learning, and…

A project was designed to teach writing skills to adult basic education students in prison through the publication of a bimonthly newspaper. The target audience was any inmate in the Franklin County and Adams County Prisons in Pennsylvania; there were no restrictions on admittance to the program or to class size. Participation was voluntary and…