This digest focuses on measuring literacy in the United States. Various reports and surveys offer conflicting data on the extent of illiteracy, but it is generally agreed upon that the rates are alarmingly high. Information provided in this digest highlights the problem of defining literacy and the limitations of various approaches to measuring…

Male and female high school graduates are being enlisted as Educational Corpsmen for a two year period of military training and educational services in rural Iran. (LH)

A report and recommendations endorsed by the New York State School Boards Association concerning the problem of functionally illiterate students leaving school are presented as an official position paper. Recommendations are made in the areas of local action, action to be undertaken by the commissioner of education, state action, federal action,…

Documents and journal articles featured in this nine-item annotated bibliography concern the role of library and information services in developing and expanding literacy at all levels in an increasingly information-oriented society. Citations were selected through a computer search of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database.…

Aimed at tutors with some experience of adult literacy work, this handbook offers information and advice that should help them adapt their teaching approaches to meet the needs of partially sighted students. It outlines the situations that are likely to arise during the tutoring situation with an explanation of common sense procedures and simple…

This replication guide describes the Indiana solution to the adult illiteracy problem--the inception of the Indiana Adult Literacy Initiative and the formation of the Indiana Adult Literacy Coalition. These four strategies promoted by the Initiative for developing and implementing programs are cited: volunteerism, public-private sector…

The 20 essays in this collection are based on a project undertaken by the California Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Model Literacy Project in 1983-85. (The goal of the project was to institute changes within the CCC to enhance the literacy of corpsmembers.) Essays describe innovative approaches to literacy education, analyze bureaucratic…

A study examined United Way's role in solving illiteracy. Concerns of four major constituencies were identified. University representatives saw illiteracy as threatening the social well-being of those affected and seriously damaging the principle of equal opportunity. Business persons felt that illiteracy threatened the nation's competitive edge…

Literacy must not be thought of as an elitist concept where only a privileged few are entitled to a formal education, but as a humanistic concept promoting human culture. A recent study found that by the year 2000 a majority of all new jobs will require a postsecondary education. All indications are that many students will continue to enter…

Designed to encourage newspaper involvement in adult literacy and to assist in launching newspaper literacy campaigns, this handbook complements the American Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation's slide/video media show. The handbook is in five sections: (1) The Challenge; (2) Why Become Involved in Literacy? (discussing personal and social…

This volume accompanies a study of community-based approaches to literacy education for adults. It provides profiles of 26 community-based educational institutions that provided study data. Each profile provides name, address, and telephone number; contact; other project sites; institutional description; mission/purpose; approach; skills…

Intended to help users of the Laubach Literacy Center find information about adult illiteracy, this guide contains information sources describing existing literacy programs (both basic illiteracy and functional illiteracy); publications about adult illiteracy from the state, national, and international perspectives; and sources and conditions of…

Statistics indicating that the problem of illiteracy is lessening mask a greater problem--that of functional illiteracy. Functional illiterates may have some reading and writing skills but are not able to apply them as functioning members of society. A 1975 study using the most sophisticated instrument that had ever been used to determine…

This is a congressional hearing on H.R. 11, a bill to extend several expiring education programs. The focus is on the Adult Education Act, a program that provides grants to states to help provide basic skills to illiterate adults and adults without a high school diploma. The text of H.R. 11 is provided. Testimony includes statements, prepared…

An appreciation for the diverse meanings ascribed to the concept of literacy is fundamental to the affirmation of literacy in human lives. Literacy is something interpreted. Its presence is visible in lives, yet literacy remains an invisible, measureless phenomenon. In the fullness of being literate, there is humanness-wakefulness, liveliness and…