A comprehensive profile of the adult learner and his or her literacy performance was educed by examining factors that are manifestations of both the formal school experience and the environment. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the tenability of 10 research hypotheses that each included one of the 10 literacy subtests of the…

A study examined the degree to which former students of Pennsylvania adult basic education (ABE) programs are maintaining and using the literacy skills that they developed while participating in ABE programs. During the study, researchers examined former students enrolled in ABE programs in 1974, 1976, and 1978. After analyzing demographic data…

The Adult Performance Level (APL) project, which developed and validated a series of objectives for adult functional competency free from school-based notions of literacy, is the most widely accepted approach to adult literacy and adult literacy education in the United States today. Yet a review of the project and its impact reveals that the APL…

Intended especially for literacy workers, this monograph discusses the planning and organization of all the various approaches to the delivery of literacy work. It is divided into two main sections. The first part discusses the general principles of planning and organizing; it may be considered theoretical in nature. Its three chapters cover the…

A study examined the use of the Penn State Adult Literacy Courseware, which teaches sight vocabulary to beginning adult readers, in a volunteer tutoring situation with three male and two female unemployed adults whose average grade level in reading was 1.1. All students were white, their average age was 37, and the highest grade any of them had…

The true stories in this collection are based on the employment experiences of four people. Some of the stories were written in the context of their participation in the LaSalle Adult Learning Project. Some come from interviews that were then transcribed and edited into a form that could most easily be shared with other adult learners. A number of…

A study was undertaken during 1982-83 to determine the number of lesson-hours it took to raise the reading level one grade of students (16 years of age and older) enrolled in Project: LEARN, a nonprofit Cleveland program that provides free reading and writing lessons to older youth and adults reading at third-grade level and below. Among them are…

This document consists of eight sections. The first section contains the mission statement of the Goodwill Literacy program, a description of the program, statistics on literacy, and the answers to questions tutors are commonly asked. Section 2 contains statements from students in the program obtained in February 1988, a description of students in…

Changes in the workplace have raised the level of literacy needed by workers to full twelfth grade at least and outstripped manufacturers' ability to retrain workers. Even workers with high school diplomas may not be able to read. Although defined as literate, 40 percent of workers cannot meet the demands of the new technology. In order to achieve…

A study evaluated use of computer-assisted instructional (CAI) systems to deliver literacy training for Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) participants at the Texas Center for Adult Literacy and Learning. Participants, who were categorized as upper-level students (7th-12th grade equivalents) or lower-level students (0-6th grade equivalents), were…

Using 1989-90 Pennsylvania Department of Education Section 353 Special Demonstration Project funding, Fayette County Community Action Education Center students produced a booklet that includes biographies and photographs of successful program alumni. The booklet describes events in people's lives that contributed to their being undereducated and…

The Community Action Education Case Management program was developed in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, to provide 50 homeless, undereducated adults and their families with case management services. These services were to include: individual, group, and in-home counseling; advocacy; service coordination; and evaluation. During the program, 58…

Many countries have recently launched massive programs to promote nation-wide adult literacy, but while these efforts have been commendable, it has been observed that neo-literates who acquire literacy through such programs have great difficulty in retaining it; hence an urgent need to develop suitable programs of post-literacy and continuing…

Twenty-eight in-depth interviews were conducted with top executives in Philadelphia to discover issues and concerns about committing organizational resources over time to workplace literacy programs. Participants represented major organizations and institutions, both manufacturing and service. The executives reported that the manifestations of…

This booklet contains ideas and suggestions about what individuals and groups can do to promote literacy during and after International Literacy Year 1990. The central message of the booklet is that "you can make a difference." The booklet consists of two parts. The first, "Identifying the Issues," poses the problem of…