Notes problems in using reading tests intended for children when testing adults; attempts to clarify some of these problems by making explicit the assumptions implicit in the practice of using children's reading tests with adults. (GT)

The feasibility of tutor-based assessments in cognitive skills, functional literacy, and literacy-related self-confidence was studied through assessment batteries completed by 38 tutors from curriculum-based or learner-centered literacy programs for adults. It is recommended that such assessments be incorporated into tutor training workshops to…

Diagnostic/prescriptive techniques can match adult reading students with appropriate content materials. The Directed Reading Activity is a structured approach that introduces concepts and vocabulary, teaches or reviews specific reading skills, prepares for reading, encourages discussion of content, and follows up on information and skills…

Discusses Kentucky's efforts to increase adult literacy through the New Books for New Readers program in which scholars were asked to write books emphasizing adult topics with a reading level of third to fifth grade. Describes the process through which the target audience is involved in the creation of books for the program. (KO)

A case study of the Bob Steele Reading Center in Connecticut demonstrates problems inherent in participatory literacy education when the learners, the program's culture, and the sociocultural context are not grounded in the participatory democratic ethic. (SK)

Describes how a language experience approach was used in a workplace literacy program for adult immigrant railroad workers in Australia. Describes how the workshop built on participants' developed oral skills and life experience to create texts that were relevant, interesting, and comprehensible to these learners. (SR)

Areas of concern for matching adult readers and programs are theoretical orientation (meaning based, code based, or interactive); programing factors (reading assessment, goal formation, affective factors, negative schooling attitudes, student interests, reading interpretations); and methodologies (phonics, whole word, neuro-impress, repeated…

In 1993-94, a random sample of 547 individuals authorized to perform marriages in Australia (marriage celebrants) and 560 couples from across Australia who had married in 1993 were surveyed regarding their views of premarriage education (PME) and the factors enhancing/inhibiting participation in PME programs (PMEPs). Of the marriage celebrants,…

Concerns over the high incidence of divorce and domestic violence have prompted many Australian churches and some nonchurch agencies to offer premarriage education programs (PMEPs) to couples planning to marry. Unlike past PMEPs, which were often didactic, Australia's present-day PMEPs tend to be learner-centered programs that encourage…

A follow-up study was conducted to gather data on the employment and earnings of the 1993 graduates of Guam Community College's various programs. A total of 464 graduates were surveyed, including the following: 114 of the college's 189 secondary education program graduates; all 26 apprenticeship program graduates; 36 associate of science degree…

This textbook examines the theory and practice of adult and continuing education. The following topics are among those discussed in 11 chapters: rationale for provision of education for adults (nature of contemporary society and the individual); conceptual framework for adult and continuing education (changing concept of education; teaching,…

This report of a workshop on various aspects of adult learning and education contains the following papers: "Take This Job And Shape It: Using Journal Writing to Enrich Your Professional Life" (David Shallenberger, Phyllis Walden); "Assessing Math Skills of Adult Learners" (Betty Hurley Lawrence); "Using Visual Arts for Cultural Analysis: Adult…

Best practices in trade union-sponsored adult guidance programs were identified through five case studies in the United Kingdom and one in Denmark. The case studies from the United Kingdom focused on the following: a partnership between local trade unions and a city center education guidance service supported by a local college of further and…

The Adult Diploma Program is a high school equivalency program that is operated as a partnership between the Continuing Education Institute in Watertown, Massachusetts, and five area businesses. In early 1997, 36 of the program's 40 graduates were surveyed regarding their activities since graduation and their views of the program's usefulness to…

This book contains 13 papers on the socioeconomic development, legal, gender, philosophical, and human rights dimensions of state governance within the context of social, economic, and political processes in Sierra Leone and Kenya. The Political Literacy and Civic Education (PLACE) Project, which was sponsored by the British Overseas Development…