The OECD's Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) represents a comprehensive international comparative assessment of the information processing skills of adults vital for the full participation in social and economic life in the 21st century. PIAAC is now in its second cycle and continues a series of international…

According to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act of 2014, literacy refers to "an individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English, compute, and solve problems [emphasis added], at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of the individual, and in society" (Title 2, §203). Yet, according to…

The Australian Council for Educational Research's submission to the Australian Government Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training's Public Enquiry into Adult literacy and its importance highlights the importance of these skills to Australia's well-being and economy, and calls on the government to continue participation in an…

Governments and other stakeholders have become increasingly interested in assessing the skills of their adult populations in order to monitor how well prepared they are to meet the challenges of the new information world. The current paper provides an overview of the conceptual framework for the assessment of numeracy developed for the OECD's…

Governments and other stakeholders have become increasingly interested in assessing the skills of their adult populations for the purposes of monitoring how well prepared they are for the challenges of the new information world. The current paper provides an overview of the conceptual framework developed for the assessment of problem solving in…

Photonovels look like comic books but contain photographs instead of drawings. Because photonovels combine pictures and everyday language, adult ESL learners can use them to communicate their thoughts and ideas. Photonovels can also be an aid in learning spoken and written English. This article describes a photonovel project that one of the…

Describes an effective literacy program in two hospitals, which benefited both the employer and employee by empowering participants to solve problems, think critically and creatively, and make decisions. Discusses criteria for effective workplace literacy programs, the program's framework, and program evaluation. (RS)

This document contains the final report and manual from Project Network, an experimental learning program that allowed adult literacy learners to interact via the Internet. The classes consisted of instruction in the following areas: basic keyboarding, simple networking techniques, accessing America Online, sending and receiving electronic mail…

Describes the design and use of SCORE (Sales and Customer Service Occupational Readiness Education), courseware developed by AT&T to provide midliterate adult customer service representatives with computer-assisted instruction. Topics addressed include job simulations; skills in reading, writing, math, problem solving, and critical thinking;…

A project geared to adult educators in rural central Pennsylvania addressed the topics of recruitment and retention of students in adult education programs in order to help the educators find solutions to these problems. Seminars conducted twice during 1993 covered the following topics: methods of recruitment, overcoming text anxiety, curbing the…

This final report of an 18-month workplace literacy project (a partnership of Mercer County Community College, a large automobile components parts manufacturer, a hospital, a physics laboratory, and a chemical plant) contains the following: (1) and introduction; (2) a performance report on nine goals of the program; (3) a schedule of…

With the existence of 67 monographs and approximately 60 practitioners trained in action research in the western and central parts of Pennsylvania from project years 1995-98, the 1998-99 Section 353 project expanded the action research network (ARN) to include teachers, administrators, and researchers in the northeastern and southeastern parts of…

West Virginia Northern Community College provided workplace literacy education and training for employees of Weirton Steel Corporation and Union Carbide Corporation. For Weirton Steel the training included 4,040 hours of instruction in fundamental literacy skills (reading, writing, speaking, and math), oral and written communications (including…

A partnership between Glendale Community College, Rio Salado Community College, and Digital Equipment Corporation provides literacy instruction to employees at Digital's Phoenix plant; from their experience are derived recommendations for those considering similar arrangements. The partnership's definition of literacy included critical thinking,…

Popular theatre that speaks to the common man in his own language and deals with directly relevant problems can be an effective adult education tool in the process Paulo Freire calls conscientization--a process aiming to radically transform social reality and improve people's lives. It can also serve as a medium for participatory research. Popular…