For nineteen years, Mercy Learning Center, a community-based literacy organization, has provided basic literacy instruction to low-income women in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During that time it has grown from three students and two tutors to 450 students, 155 tutors, and five full-time teachers. This growth has been affected by changes in welfare…

This Policy Brief takes a first look at a newly identified national population of GED holders, who are compared with their counterparts who received a high school diploma as well as with their counterparts who have no high school credential. The focus of these comparisons is on long-term postsecondary education outcomes. Because these…

This paper presents and evaluates a new procedure to classify examinees into meaningful categories based on their responses to (performance on) items comprising a test instrument. The proposed procedure uses the data analytic technique of cluster analysis to partition the examinee population into homogeneous groupings. This procedure was applied…

The term "community literacy" is normally used to denote a wide variety of off-campus, non-university, and even non-school educational settings, from adult education to family literacy to after-school children's reading circles in places like community centers and public libraries. One college educator uses his connection to a university…

Guam Community College provides basic skills education for adults who have less than high school education. In 1994, these services were provided at 11 sites by 20 administrative and support personnel, 70 teachers, and 6 counselors (88 of these work part time). In that year, more than 2,000 adults enrolled in programs to enhance their skills and…

The 71st Texas Legislature established pilot programs in a variety of areas. These areas include prekindergarten for 3-year-olds, academic programs for students below grade level, examination for high school equivalency, elementary at-risk students, school-age pregnancy and parenting, parent involvement and parent education, and technology…

Participatory classroom instruction, including project-based learning, is a teaching approach that can motivate students to learn, build the academic competencies needed to pass the General Educational Development (GED) Test, and instill the strong self-concept and interpersonal skills needed to succeed. Project-based learning actively engages…

Youth for Education and Success (YES) has contracted with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) (Texas) to provide a community-based alternative school for HISD students who have dropped out of school and are considered at risk. An evaluation of the program indicated that 9 of 118 enrolled students attained General Educational Development…

Intended for use by participants in the Ohio Preconference and the 1991 White House Conference on Library and Information Services (WHCLIS), this background paper on one of the three major WHCLIS themes examines Ohio's literacy problem and reviews the state's current literacy programs and funding sources. Definitions of terms, a brief history of…

An evaluation was done of New York City Public Schools' program ADVANCE (Adolescents Developing Valuable and Necessary Channels of Esteem), a U.S. Department of Education funded project that provided support to adolescents in Tier II transitional housing in Brooklyn (New York). Tier II housing provides temporary living space and on-site social…

This checklist was developed to be used for evaluating and enhancing the performance of established workplace education programs. With minor modifications, the document also may be useful for evaluating other types of training and education programs. Management, labor, and education partners may use the checklist as a stand-alone evaluation…

This checklist was designed to be used in developing new workplace education initiatives and enhancing established programs. The checklist is organized in four sections that cover the following topics: (1) program design and administration indicators; (2) participant achievement indicators; (3) program outcome indicators; and (4) evaluation tools.…

Some facts about the homeless population in Florida are the following: (1) 40,000 persons in Florida are homeless on any given day, with 40 percent of the total being families; (2) 65 percent are new homeless (not chronic); (3) 30 percent of the homeless are addicted to drugs or alcohol and 20 percent are mentally ill; (4) causes of homelessness…

The External Diploma Program (EDP) of the American Council on Education is an applied-performance, competency-based assessment program that provides credentials to skilled adults who have acquired their high-school-level abilities through their life experience. Through the EDP mature adults can do the following: demonstrate their abilities in a…

An existing 353 project that used professional staff as distance education contact persons for students in General Educational Development (GED) programs in rural areas was modified so that volunteer instructional aides (IAs) could serve as contact persons for GED students choosing the program's home study option. A home study packet to be used in…