The purpose of this self-study guide is to help adult literacy education providers collect, organize, and analyze evidence that they can use to improve program performance. It was designed to help educators consider which types of evidence to collect and which components of adult education instruction may be important for evaluating…

As nonprofit adult literacy programs are often the only options for low-income Latin American immigrants in North America, problems accompanying these programs affect the ability of immigrants to benefit from them. North American nonprofit adult literacy programs often struggle due to the difficulties inherent in using volunteer instructors (often…

One of the greatest challenges in education today is to adapt and respond to a linguistically and culturally diverse world, and to combat social disintegration and discrimination. Participatory and collaborative action research represents an empowering and emancipatory approach to this challenge because the "target groups" become…

Each month, the Literacy Information and Communication System ("LINCS") will feature one of the three LINCS Resource Collections--Basic Skills, Program Management, and Workforce Competitiveness--and introduce research-based resources that practitioners can use in their adult and family literacy programs and classrooms. This edition features the…

Coalitions have key roles in helping their communities accomplish the following: (1) Track the level of literacy in the community; (2) Use that information to help identify what, and how much, literacy assistance is needed; (3) Assess the extent to which community literacy programs are meeting the need, including how well existing literacy…

In this update, Linton provides a report on what transpired during the invitational technical assistance training meeting for State adult correctional education programs titled "Making Data Work for You," which was hosted by the Department of Education a year ago. As a key part of that training, States shared their efforts to utilize…

Analyzes the extent of adult illiteracy in the United States and identifies the major problems and needs found in the literature and in interviews with adult learners. Recommends ways to improve educational efforts and discusses what is known about effective adult literacy programs. (CJH)

This document provides summaries of conference papers and discussions at a workshop focused on improving the quality of literacy education in developing countries. The workshop was attended by 20 project leaders and observers from 11 countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, India, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and…

Presents the results of a survey of adult basic education (ABE) literature from 1977 to l983 and offers suggestions on the design of future ABE programs. (AEA)

This article describes how the practitioners in one small adult literacy program selected particular research findings upon which to establish a core of instructional tenets. It discusses the teacher's need for such a core, useful research, and principles for adult literacy instruction. (CT)

Presents three tenets from the research for adult literacy instruction: (1) improvement in one literacy skill should mirror improvement in others; (2) instructors should facilitate, not control, learning; and (3) students should be able to transfer classroom learning to their daily language encounters. Includes ideas for application. (CH)

Suggests that action research provides ownership and often results in a sense of efficacy by engaging practitioners in the change process. Describes the practitioner-based movement in professional development and program improvement in Pennsylvania. (JOW)

This guide contains 55 articles written by adult basic education (ABE) practitioners in Pennsylvania suggesting ways to improve teaching and program administration in the field. The guide is organized into four parts: (1) working together for program improvement, (2) teaching and learning, (3) developing as a professional and (4) appendixes (high…

An evaluation of the VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) Literacy Corps was conducted to provide a description of the Literacy Corps, numbers of persons served, strategies used, volunteer activities, and project results; to determine the degree to which the program is meeting its goals; and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the…

Literacy and work force preparedness are two of the most important issues facing education today. Findings of nationwide studies show that reading and writing performance of students is inadequate. One of every eight current workers reads at the fourth-grade level or lower. The nation's economic future will be determined by the quality and…