In reviewing the Army Continuing Education System in 1979, the Assistant Secretary of the Army found a basic skills program based on traditional academic level goals was inadequate to meet the Army's requirement to provide functional, job-related basic skill education. Combining the shrinking manpower pool and projected basic skill deficiencies of…

A functional reading program, as distinct from the standard middle school reading program, specifically ensures that all students will acquire the reading skills necessary for survival in our society. Survival reading behaviors to be achieved include the ability to read labels on packages, to locate references in a newspaper, or to translate…

Adult literacy programs must provide individuals with the essential knowledge and skills which enable them to function effectively within their environments. The goal of adult literacy programs must be to enable students to become less dependent on others, which is also the goal of most adult students. Administrators of adult literacy programs…

The development and implementation of the Dallas Independent School District's Basic Objectives Assessment Test (BOAT) are described. Beginning in 1979, this minimum competency test was administered system-wide to all students in grades 8-12 (except for those enrolled as special education students), and beginning in 1983 it will be used in…

The United States lacks uniform popular definitions of "literacy," remediations, or consensus for national standards. Factors beyond the control of educational and political structures continually modify and dominate discussions of illiteracy and strategies of remediation. In most advanced cultures, alienation and functional illiteracy…

In Malawi, adult literacy deserves immediate attention in order to promote health, family planning, and productivity. While policy commitment for adult literacy promotion has not been lacking, intensified action has been. In 1979 the government accepted the Unesco Mission Report to undertake a functional literacy program on the successful…

Two separate research projects were undertaken in Georgia and Texas to examine the current and future needs of older adults for functional literacy and to analyze the involvement of adult basic education (ABE) programs to better serve those needs. The projects involved literature reviews; mail-out surveys; and one-on-one interviews with senior…

After an analysis of 1990 Philippines National Statistics Office data showed a high incidence of illiteracy among women in the fishing villages, a project, Community Learning Approach (CLA), was developed to raise the literacy level. It was designed as an alternative delivery system of educating women in 24 villages for functional literacy and…

Although competency-based adult education (CBAE) has been practiced by teachers for centuries, the term was defined more fully and formal programs were developed around 1971. One of the prime forces in the growth of CBAE was the Adult Performance Level (APL) project at the University of Texas, a project that defined CBAE and produced suggested…

The National Adult Literacy Initiative calls for a collaborative effort among the public, private, voluntary, and military sectors to address more effectively illiteracy through adult education. One of the first points in the initiative calls for continued educational services funded by the federal government and administered by the states. Other…