Indicates that staff development is a fundamental part of adult basic education. Describes a staff development program used in New Mexico and makes recommendations for other programs. (JOW)

Hamilton's critique of the National Federation for Educational Research (NFER) study, Progress in Adult Literacy, addresses the conceptualization of literacy, flaws in the research design, school-oriented focus, and validity and reliability of tests used; she suggests a research strategy. Brooks summarizes NFER's response. (SK)

Staff development is needed to acquaint adult basic education (ABE) facilitators with the process of working with adults and with other challenges that confront the field. Challenges include changes in the General Educational Development (GED) test, introduction of computers, and the increasing enrollment of adult functional illiterates. (JOW)

"In Quest of the Quick Fix: Staff Development in the 'National Literacy Training Act'" (Quigley) argues that professional development programs must consider "literacy for what?""Foundations for Adult Learning and Development Policy" (Craig) evaluates a policy document of the Alberta Advanced Education Ministry. (SK)

This document, which is intended to assist adult literacy staff development and training personnel working at the state, district, and program levels, contains considerations and guidelines essential for an effective, comprehensive staff development and training program. Discussed in Section 1, which is an overview of staff development and…

Since staff are a key element in adult literacy programs, this document outlines requirements and actions for effective administrative and instructional personnel for such programs. Addressing first administrative personnel and then instructional personnel, the paper describes skill and knowledge requirements, and recommends actions to be taken…

Describes a staff development program designed to help Adult Basic Education/English as a Second Language teachers make their instruction more relevant to culturally pluralistic students caught up in the growing economic crunch. (JOW)

The papers written for this report deal with an analysis of volunteer and professional adult educators and with their training and continuing education. Papers include the following: "Adult Educators and Volunteers: A Partnership Strategy" (Russ Pacey, Susan Witter, and Barbara Bate); "The Professional Adult Educator: A Profile…

Basic issues in workplace education evaluation can be structured into five discussion questions. The first is who wants to know what information for what purpose. The "who" constitutes the program's stakeholders both at and beyond the program level. Further inquiry is then needed to determine what kind of information these stakeholders typically…

Two articles are presented relevant to media and adult learning. In the first article, "The Pedagogy of Communication: Conscientization through Mass Media," David G. Gueulette sets forth ideas derived from Freire's theory of literacy training and suggests means by which effective teaching strategies can be developed through popular mass…

This issue of Literacy Discussion explains the joint Arab strategy for illiteracy eradication and reviews Iraq's particular situation. The first of six articles traces literacy development in the Arab World leading up to the adoption of the Arab Literacy strategy at the 1976 Third Alexandria Conference in Baghdad, Iraq. It also presents…

The first of two conferences on adult literacy focused on what needs to be done to give all nonreading U.S. adults the chance to learn to read, write, and do basic math. The number of adults seeking help in learning basic skills far exceeds the capacity of current adult literacy services to help them. Barriers to remedying the problem include lack…

This document contains the following papers on practical applications of research on adult and continuing education: "Elderly Criminal Behavior: Linking Research to Practice," by Donald J. Bachand and Carl I. Brahce; "Father? Teacher? Friend? Instructor-Student Relationships in a Refugee Class," by Gary J. Bekker; "The Small Group: Understanding…