This chapter reflects on the educational, socioemotional, and relational impact of a critical literacy and trauma-informed reading discussion group for women of color, highlighting the collective sense of knowledge, awareness, and resistance nurtured through the group process.

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…

This article reviews the research literature on political impacts linked to adult literacy. Despite the enormous importance of literacy, few studies exist on their interconnection. The majority of quantitative studies indicate higher levels of political participation by former adult literacy program participants compared to their non-participant…

Explores causes of adult illiteracy and examines the effectiveness of adult literacy programs. (MM)

Reviews research that presents the criteria by which adult literacy program effectiveness can be assessed. (MG)

Examines the current status of adult literacy programs in rural areas. Discusses the goals of rural adult literacy programs and the types of programs reported to be effective. Discusses the needs of adult illiterates in rural areas and the conditions that support--or limit--the widespread influence of effective programs. (MG)

Noting that, generally, low-literate adults in Labrador and Newfoundland (Canada) are being helped only through the altruistic efforts of literate volunteers, this paper argues that adult literacy must be professionalized and become an integral part of the education system. The paper begins with a brief discussion of the definitions of literacy,…

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…

The Kansas Volunteer Tutor Utilization (KV-TUTOR) project was undertaken to explore some of the possibilities of using volunteer tutors in adult basic education (ABE) programs. A volunteer structure was developed at 16 local ABE programs throughout the state. KV-TUTOR actively promoted these volunteer systems by contacting (through letters, phone…

The first year of the "Operation New Horizons"--Right to Read--Adult Reading Academy Project, sponsored by the Northeast Alabama State Junior College in Rainsville, Alabama, is evaluated in this report. (The objectives of the project, which began on July 1, 1975, centered on (1) developing a reading academy which would help eliminate…

An intergenerational literacy program addresses the needs of adult students enrolled in remedial reading classes at a community college. Their classroom behavior marked by passivity or anxiety, these students are usually able to derive the surface meanings of familiar text, but demonstrate little analytic or reflective thinking about what was…

The 1996-97 school year marked the third year of a 4-year grant from the Texas Education Agency's Division of Adult and Community Education for funding the ASPIRE/Even Start program operated by Communities In Schools-Central Texas Inc. (CIS). The broad purpose of Even Start is to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy in families by…

This ERIC digest examines states' goals of rural literacy programs and the types of programs that have proven effective in the past. It includes several definitions of literacy applied by effective rural literacy programs. It also examines the conditions that support or limit widespread influence of effective programs in rural areas. The level of…

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…