This document resulted from a project undertaken to develop a set of program-specific and occupationally relevant performance (learning) objectives for the Ontario Basic Skills/Formation de Base de l'Ontario (OBS/FBO) program. It describes project activities, including a literature review in three related areas: understanding what literacy means,…

This booklet, which was written for literacy educators in Australia, examines selected research on adult literacy practices in rural families and communities and the implications of that research for adult literacy practice. The booklet begins with a discussion of literacy as social practice. The role of case studies in identifying factors…

This is the fourth paper published by The Centre for Literacy in its Working Papers in Literacy series, which present new perspectives on literacy-related issues relevant to researchers, to practitioners, and to policy-makers. This paper was written in 1998 as an advisory document to the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Agency (QCA) which manages…

A longitudinal study examined developments in preschoolers' understanding of literacy and numeracy, comparing learning models based on adult-child interactions or on children's learning processes at preschools with varied reflectivity levels. Children's understanding of symbols related to literacy and numeracy. Developments in their understanding…

This investigation examines school-family partnership relationships in rural and remote settings. The study highlights the teaching-learning relationships of classroom teachers, parents as instructors/supervisors, and students as they make sense of numeracy and literacy outcomes in distance education contexts. The case study data provide insights…

In 2001, with funding of $7 million, the Australian Government implemented the "Numeracy Research and Development Initiative"--one of several initiatives introduced by the Australian Government to support literacy and numeracy improvement. Other initiatives included the "National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy…

When describing the determinants of economic or social outcomes, economists often have a very simplified view of skill. Failure to take into account the fact that skill is intrinsically a multidimensional object may misguide both research and the design of social policy. In this paper, the authors analyse the consequences and determinants of…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has ushered in an era of increased accountability and assumed universal proficiency at a time when there is significant variability in children's abilities as they enter kindergarten. Despite NCLB's emphasis on the use of evidence-based practices to improve students' achievement, it explicitly recommends grade…

This report examines the prevalence of selected accomplishments and difficulties in a national sample of 4,423 children from 3 to 5 years of age who had not yet started kindergarten. The data were collected as part of the 1993 National Household Education Survey (NHES). The report focused on 2,000 children who had turned 4 by the end of 1992 and…

This guide, part of a series of workplace-developed materials for retraining factory workers, provides teaching materials for a workplace mathematics course. The course is a review of basic number concepts focused on helping participants to understand the meaning of numbers and arithmetic operations. The introductory materials include a course…

This learning pack, which was developed in Britain primarily for use with small groups of older adults who have had little formal education, contains nine self-contained units of learning activities dealing with topics related to older adults' everyday lives. The following topics are covered: techniques for organizing and running a group; myths…

This package contains student and teacher handbooks and a report summarizing a project during which the handbooks were developed as part of a numeracy education course for adult basic and literacy education students. Discussed in the project report are the following: development of the course's 7 numeracy education units, field testing of the…

The Environmental Improvement Project at Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting in Flin Flon, Manitoba, presented a unique opportunity for field observation and assessment. Field observation of the approximately 70 carpenters employed with various companies provided information on the types of communication used and the circumstances in which the…

To address specific workplace literacy needs within the steel fabrication sector in Manitoba, an organizational needs assessment was conducted training manuals were developed using literacy task analysis techniques. The organizational needs assessment assessed the general and workplace literacy tasks and demands of hourly workers at Dominion…

The joint UNESCO-UNICEF Monitoring Education-for-All Goals Project was launched in September 1992. The first phase of the project was implemented in five pilot countries (China, Jordan, Mali, Mauritius, and Morocco) with the express aim of providing national decision makers with practical tools for monitoring basic education in their countries and…