A 6-month study examined the attitudes of older, low-literate adults toward using computers to learn to read and tried to determine the effectiveness of Penn State Adult Literacy Courseware for beginning readers with older, low-literate adults at a community-based senior center. The students were 10 black adults, aged 66 to 86 and educated at the…

Community-based, or inmate-run, literacy programs are a significant alternative to literacy programs run by those outside the correctional institution. Such programs provide meaningful self-involvement and opportunity for the development of problem-solving skills for the inmates. Beginning in the spring of 1984, the Institute for the Study of…

The Louisiana Adult Education Program provides academic education for persons 16 years old and above with less than a high school education, with emphasis on decreasing the illiteracy rate in Louisiana. The program enrolled 44,515 students in literacy efforts in fiscal year 1986-1987. Approximately 33,000 students were tested. The average of the…

This document explains the Pittsburgh Literacy Initiative (PLI), what role it plays in workplace literacy, what mechanisms it has used, and what has been learned. Section 1 lists the five aspects of the initiative's mission: clearinghouse, screening center, program development, data collection, and literacy promotion. Section 2 describes the…

The basis for all computer-assisted instruction at the Continuing Education Learning Center at Jackson State University is the instructional techniques necessary for the success of at-risk adult learners who find traditional methods inadequate. Each learner is pretested for reading level for placement, and skill assessments are made to diagnose…

This report examines the literacy-related activities of organizations funded under Title IV, Section 402 of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). Section 402 is a special program within JTPA that delivers training, employment, education, and support services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The survey: (1) documents the various literacy and…

Adult basic education (ABE) in Hong Kong includes mostly basic Chinese, but also some arithmetic and English. The emphasis is on teaching learners life skills. Both government-run programs and partially government-subsidized programs run by voluntary agencies such as Caritas and the YMCA are common. A case study was made of the Caritas ABE Centre…

In the light of recent initiatives, new questions have arisen regarding the federal role in literacy. Although federal adult literacy efforts have been ineffective, the link between literacy and the productivity of the work force may justify a stronger national investment in literacy. Among the major federally supported literacy programs are the…

The need for and development of a program in English as a Second Language (ESL) and functional English literacy for nursing home workers are outlined, and suggestions are offered for others desiring to start such a program. Anecdotal information and a needs assessment, in combination with Massachusetts state standards for nursing home workers, led…

The age at which women marry and bear chldren can influence their health and well-being and that of their chi dren. This fact is at the heart of the analysis contained in this document which was a result of a study of the World Fertility Survey (WFS) and other data pertaining to global demographics. The document is comprised of seven sets of…

A research project used a Cornell University library search, online computer catalogs, the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database back to 1967, government publications, and Dissertation Abstracts International for the Social Sciences for the past 30 years to investigate the Federal Government's role in working to solve adult…

This annotated bibliography lists print, non-print, and organizational resources for use by directors and teachers of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs. Citations are presented in three sections: (1) General Purpose ESL; (2) English for Specific Purposes; and (3) Teacher Resources. The first section lists basic texts and integrated…

In 1984, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen undertook a nationwide literacy campaign, which mobilized the entire nation in an effort to reach an estimated 194,000 illiterate people, 77 percent of them women. The campaign plan demanded the full and active participation of formal school teachers and students at secondary level and above as…

This handbook presents annotated "snapshots" of 10 innovative family literacy programs, almost all of which were begun by an individual with a vision of a new way to solve a demanding educational problem. Profiles depict, in terms of background, characteristics, evidence of success, and advice to policymakers and practitioners, the: (1)…

The first section of this guide about literacy programs in Texas features background information about literacy, including a definition of literacy; literacy statistics; a fact sheet about literacy in the United States; developmental stages of literacy; Kohl's four stages of literacy; characteristics of successful programs; barriers to and methods…