This handbook is intended to provide teachers with background information about the writing skills needed by General Educational Development (GED) students as well as practical instructional activities for use in the adult basic education/GED classroom. A guide to using the ideabook explains the POWER format that involves Prewriting, Organizing,…

This booklet contains 10 success stories of Pennsylvania men and women who discovered adult education programs that gave them the tools to create a new life for themselves and their families. Their stories affirm the ability of each adult to use education to overcome great difficulties. Some overcame physical and learning disabilities. Some…

Estimates of the true extent of illiteracy among the United States's adult population vary widely. The Department of Education has estimated that there are 23 million illiterate Americans and an additional 46 million American who function only marginally in an increasingly technological society. Federal support for adult literacy began in 1965…

This article sets forth some ideas as starting points for the initial assessment of reading, particularly for those who are relatively new to adult literacy work. It describes materials to use, including choice of materials and levels of difficulty. Variables that affect a reader's performance are listed. Information is also provided on how to…

Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) was used as a tool for comparing the typical personalities of full- and part-time adult basic education (ABE) teachers, the correlation between interclass and intraclass relationships of the six personality types for full- and part-time ABE teachers, and the correlation between personality type and job…

Research provided a comprehensive descriptive analysis of the Iowa adult basic education (ABE) population. Data were collected through comprehensive interviews from a carefully drawn random sample (n=323) of those who completed less than 11 grades. A random subsample was followed up by telephone interview. The population was described on three…

Literacy data were collected on a 5 percent sample of the Republic of South Africa's 1980 population census. Approximately 5 million persons aged 20 or older were found to be illiterate. The racial breakdown of the literacy rate among the different population groups was as follows: Asians, 79.84 percent; whites, 97.18 percent; racially mixed…

The Tools of the Trade project was undertaken to offer comprehensive job search assistance to adult basic education students in the form of career awareness workshops. The workshops covered the following topics: completing job applications, writing resumes, filling out skill cards, interviewing for a job, analyzing the job market, following up on…

The purpose of the CEDS project was to assist funded resource centers in the collection and review of completed adult basic education special projects in Indiana. Successful special projects for 1976-81 that resulted in publication of products were identified by applying criteria presented in three instruments. Product reports were then obtained…

Project LIFTS (Learning Improvement through Teaching Strategies) was designed to serve adult basic education (ABE) students enrolled at Johnson County Community College (Kansas) who are diagnosed as having a specific learning disability. These students enrolled in Basic English, a pre-General Educational Development Test preparation class, and…

Teachers adapt and supplement a basic text to make up for inadequacies and to enrich, reinforce, and emphasize. One authority suggests these steps for adapting materials: assess and evaluate student needs and survey existing materials, decide what should be deleted or added, compile a list of potential uses of language and supply the means by…

A collection of lessons for beginning reading instruction in Hmong includes 22 lessons on (1) natural resources (soil, water, rock and stone, trees, non-flowering fruit trees, and flowering fruit trees); (2) Hmong agricultural practices (planting vegetable gardens, choosing seeds, seed development, corn, cuttings, and spreading and standing…

Teachers from 20 traditional literacy (teaching 3 R's) and 12 functional literacy (developmental oriented) centers in the Udaipur district of Rajasthan, India were studied. Data are analyzed regarding personal characteristics, educational background, the role of supervisors, teaching aids, social participation, recruitment and selections, student…