The rate of student departure from adult literacy programs is as high as 80% within the first 12 months (Porter, Cuban, & Comings, 2005). An examination of the literature reveals two perspectives concerning learner persistence: a "control perspective" and an "acknowledgement and accommodation perspective." The control…

Understanding the origins of poor literacy and numeracy skills in adulthood and how to improve them is of major importance when society places a high premium on proficiency in these basic skills. This edited collection brings together the results of recent longitudinal studies that greatly extend our knowledge of what works in raising skill…

A study sought to apply the Navy's Academic Remedial Training (ART) program to illiterate adults by concentrating on intensive reading instruction. Administrators from the City of Memphis selected 16 participants based on employee interest and need. They were primarily middle-aged, black males with four years of education who earned between…

This study addresses the impact of functional adult literacy on the empowerment of women in the absence of formal schooling. It examines whether the effects of functional literacy are exclusively content specific or whether there are gains going beyond the obvious benefits and extending to other spheres of everyday functioning, such as…

A reading immersion program was conducted for 23 Memphis Defense Logistics Agency employees using the Navy Reading Improvement Program. Participants ranged in age from 30-71 and in schooling from 7 years of formal education to some college. Pretesting with the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests yielded scores ranging from 3.0 to 7.4 with a mean…

A study was conducted to determine if visualization could be used as an organizational tool to help adult education students improve their reading comprehension by helping them to see the structure of what they are reading in a sort of verbal picture of organized ideas. Following a review of research, which identified five areas in which…

The purpose of the study is to describe the status of literacy training programs in the military services during the summer of 1971 and develop suggestions for more effective training. A prologue provides information on the scope of the general literacy problem. Data were obtained through questionnaires, interviews, record search, and observations…

In an effort to determine the effectiveness of Lakeshore Technical Institute's (LTI's) Developmental/Remedial Reading Program, a comparative analysis was made of the grade point averages (GPA's) of 20 students who participated in the program and 24 students identified as having reading skills deficiences who did not participate in the program.…

To determine the effect of attention to affective needs on the success of adult literacy programs, researchers analyzed data from 400 programs nominated by advisors to the National Adult Literacy Project (NALP), and selected a sample of 15 for the field research. The sample programs included three military, three prison, three English as a second…

Project ALMS (Adult Literacy Mission Support) was designed to improve the communication skills of semi-literate or illiterate adults, help participants become more self-sufficient, provide an ongoing program for other such individuals, and provide a manual of guidelines and suggestions for other programs. Three groups were established to make a…

To measure the effectiveness of the Basic Skills Education Program (BSEP) reading curriculum--eight reading skill modules employing military job-specific reading materials and used by the U.S. Army in Europe (USAREUR)--and to provide information for improving it, a study examined 183 soldiers from 38 European posts who were enrolled in the BSEP…

The study is intended to begin the process of collecting, coordinating, and disseminating basic information about adult literacy projects and classes in England. Spanning the years 1950 to the present, the data are based on questionnaires sent to all listed adult literacy projects in England. Following a review of the history, background, and…

The final report of a demonstration project in individualized adult education in rural areas of Arkansas, which took place during the period of July 1974 through December 1975, is presented. Program goals included: (1) to recruit and retain rural male adults who are operating at less than a fourth grade educational level, with emphasis on the…

The project was assigned with the purpose of providing adult basic education directors in Regions 1, 2, 5 and 10 of the U.S. Office of Education with the technical capability of using staff and volunteers to organize and manage the training of volunteers to tutor adults in basic reading and writing. Two training workshops were conducted in each…

A visually oriented educational model that was originally developed for use with children was adapted for use with adults in an adult basic and literacy education class. The four-step visual literacy model required students to perform the following actions while reading an entire novel: visualize, inquire, read, and apply. A General Educational…