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…

This document contains a mission statement, goals, and strategies and recommendations prepared by the Arkansas Governor's Commission on Adult Literacy. Goals include increasing from approximately 29,000 to 100,000 the number of adult learners engaged in pursuing at least one higher functional level of literacy by 1992-93 and quadrupling the…

As a preliminary to developing criteria to meet quality control requirements of the National Literacy Act of 1991, this report analyzes four areas where state education agencies examine program quality: local program monitoring to assess compliance or promote program improvement; criteria used to evaluate local program funding applications;…

Information was collected about the current status of state literacy and basic skills efforts through a comprehensive survey of state literacy initiatives conducted in the summer of 1990. A total of 390 responses were received from the more than 400 surveys sent to governors' offices, state agencies, and Statewide literacy organizations. Results…

The process of developing indicators, measures, and standards of program quality can be considered a tiered, four-step process consisting of the following: (1) identification of topic areas important to program quality; (2) establishing the indicators that reflect quality for each area; (3) determining measures of the indicators; and (4) setting a…

As a preliminary to developing criteria to meet quality control requirements of the National Literacy Act of 1991, a study examined federal and state development of measures of program quality and performance standards for programs funded under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education…

The Louisiana Adult Education Program provides academic education for persons 16 years old and above with less than a high school education, with emphasis on decreasing the illiteracy rate in Louisiana. The program enrolled 44,515 students in literacy efforts in fiscal year 1986-1987. Approximately 33,000 students were tested. The average of the…

In its second year of operation (1986-87), the Missouri Coalition for Adult Literacy (MCAL) greatly expanded its scope and services. Factors contributing to this expansion include the attention generated by Project Literacy U.S. (PLUS) and the use of the Job Training Partnership Act as a funding source. Program accomplishments include the…

EQUAL (Educational Quality or Adult Literacy) is Pennsylvania's program improvement initiative that measures performance by the quality of education learners receive. For 3 years, Project EQUAL was piloted in adult education agencies throughout the state. Beginning in 1997, the pilot projects helped to develop a process for continuous program…

Four adult education programs serving homeless persons in Wisconsin were evaluated. Data were gathered through site visits, a review of program documents, and a survey of 43 homeless individuals served by the programs (7 percent of the total population served). Participants expressed very positive feelings about the programs. Many reported that…

An evaluation of the fifth cycle of operation of the Massachusetts Workplace Education Initiative had several purposes: (1) to identify the indicators of quality in workplace education; (2) to begin to design an evaluation system for each program; and (3) to assess the indicators of quality for workplace education programs against the national…

With the existence of 67 monographs and approximately 60 practitioners trained in action research in the western and central parts of Pennsylvania from project years 1995-98, the 1998-99 Section 353 project expanded the action research network (ARN) to include teachers, administrators, and researchers in the northeastern and southeastern parts of…

This report presents results from interviews with a sampling of experienced Equipped for the Future (EFF) users. Chapter I provides background and context for this initiative. Chapter II provides facts and figures from the field and presents questions posed and interviewees' views. The questions are as follows: (1) Why did you or your organization…

Consultations with and written submissions from practitioners and administrators provided the basis for this overview of adult basic education in Victoria, Australia. Based on the findings, recommendations were formulated to allocate new funds to improve programing. The recommendations center on these issues: (1) the need for greater understanding…

A North Carolina study examined the problem of adult illiteracy in Spring 1988. Secondary data for the service areas of eight community colleges chosen as study sites indicated that approximately 25 percent of North Carolinans aged 25 years and older had completed less than the ninth grade in 1980 and the majority of them were unemployed. A review…