Critical issues facing adult literacy practitioners include (1) competing perspectives about education vs. jobs; (2) ideological dilemmas about the individual vs. social change philosophy and adult learners' values; (3) educational dilemmas about program goals and purposes under welfare reform; and (4) ethical dilemmas. (SK)

Reviews research on literacy skills and demographics of welfare recipients, characteristics of adult basic education programs, and literacy program goals and outcomes under welfare reform. Notes that, although educational credentials or training dramatically improve employment outcomes, welfare reform deemphasizes education and training. (SK)

In the Alberta research in practice project, literacy educators initiated participatory approaches with groups of adult learners and conducted research about projects. In the process, they learned about participatory approaches, their practices, and themselves. (Author/JOW)

This paper draws on the experience in Guinea, Sierra Leone and South Sudan, to explore how the methodology and modalities of community based participatory literacy can interrelate and combine with those of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. The paper considers how transformative models of literacy, such as those of Freire, REFLECT, the…

This paper reports on a longitudinal study that examines how a national reform introduced in England in the field of adult literacy, language, and numeracy is affecting teachers. The paper focuses on the use of a mixed methodology to explore teachers' attitudes to the reform and how these change over time. The quantitative strand includes the…

The field of adult literacy is complex. This complexity poses many challenges for literacy programs. This paper addresses the challenges of collaboration, diversity, attendance, assessment and professional development as they apply to adult literacy programs. Recommendations for increasing the success of literacy programs are provided.

The Adult Education Program Study (AEPS) was conducted to provide comprehensive information about federally funded adult education programs and the skills of participants enrolled in those programs. The study had two primary goals. The first was to gather and disseminate information about the programs that constitute the adult education system in…

The ethnographic literature on literacy is marked by a characteristic divide between 'ideological' and 'autonomous' positions, the former being associated with the sociocultural approach adopted within the 'New Literacy Studies' (NLS) and the work of Brian Street, and the latter with the work of Jack Goody. The polarization between the approaches…

A stratified random sample of 1,500 state legislators from 12 states was surveyed regarding their perceptions and knowledge of issues in reading instruction. The states were selected to provide a balanced mix of state sizes, state budget sizes, and geographic regions. Within states, legislators were selected to balance districts. Both mail surveys…

This newsletter reviews two books about family literacy in the United States. The first, "A Survey of Family Literacy in the United States" (edited by Lesley Mandel Morrow, Diane H. Tracey, and Caterina Marcone Maxwell), is a reference guide for educators and policymakers that includes the following: brief descriptions of programs for children and…

This bibliography is a listing of literacy learning materials (137 items), curricula documents (6 items), reference documents (19 items), and resource materials (16 items). All were developed in Manitoba (Canada). Ordering information and a list of abbreviations and acronyms are included. The bibliography was compiled for the National Literacy…

The issue of evaluation in adult literacy is addressed in this paper. It is assumed that evaluation is a necessary and vital function in an adult literacy program because it helps administrators understand their efforts, increases information available about a program's functioning, builds an image, and facilitates the discovery of information on…

This digest reports on findings from recent literacy surveys and interprets these findings in light of theoretical and definitional issues involved in estimating literacy; examines approaches commonly use to measure literacy and enumerates concerns about the limitations of these approaches in linguistically diverse contexts; and concludes with a…

In recognition of the needs of adults whose native languages are other than English or who possess minimal literacy skills in English, the National Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights gave a grant to the Literacy Volunteers of Washington County, Rhode Island for tutors to develop lessons on the Bill of…

This report discusses the place of numeracy in adult education, examines conceptions of what numeracy and numeracy provision might include, and explores links between literacy and numeracy provision. Section A takes a critical look at how much attention is being paid to mathematics education in adult education/adult literacy programs and addresses…