This theme issue focuses on the need for adult literacy programs, as well as recent innovations in literacy education. "Adult Literacy and Leadership: Current Innovations" (Aurelio M. Montemayor) describes an adult literacy outreach program in Texas, and discusses the importance of family literacy for parents' involvement in their…

Functional illiteracy is an urgent problem for the U.S. business and industrial communities. Employers can uncover literacy problems among employees by conducting analyses of the literacy tasks needed on the job and assessing the basic skill levels of their work force. The design of a basic skills training program should be based on clearly…

A study was conducted in the seven Acadian regions of Nova Scotia to identify the basic educational needs of the Acadian population, identify appropriate responses to those needs, and develop recommendations for adult literacy, basic education, and academic continuing education. Results are presented in this report, in both French and English. An…

A Canadian Bar Association Task Force on Legal Literacy explored the relationship between literacy and access to the legal system. A literature review revealed that little attention had been directed to literacy and use of the legal system. Three important findings emerged from 24 focus groups of current and former adult learners: virtually all…

Testing of skills in reading, mathematics, and English as a second language (ESL) was conducted at 12 programs for homeless people in California in 1992; 2,111 homeless persons were evaluated. Analysis of the data revealed that approximately 63 percent of the participants were male and 37 percent were female; 35 percent were between 20-29, 39…

In the past several years, almost all provincial and federal correctional institutions in Canada have established literacy programming. Current programming is organized in three potential combinations: peer tutoring, tutoring by community volunteers, and paid staff. Each strand has advantages and disadvantages. The Manitoba Literacy Office (MLO)…

The first of two volumes, this packet contains four learning exploration activities that hospital workers can use in a classroom setting to improve their reading skills. The instructor's manual contains information about reading instruction, teaching suggestions, and a pre- and post-evaluation, along with a syllabus for the 13-week course that…

The second of two volumes, this packet contains seven learning exploration activities that hospital workers can use in a classroom setting to improve their reading skills. The instructor's manual contains information about reading instruction and teaching suggestions. In the student workbook are activities designed to help students learn…

Project REACH (Regional Education to Achieve with Company) was a regional workplace literacy (WL) program designed to increase the levels of literacy, job performance/satisfaction/retention, productivity, and self-esteem of the work force of six businesses in the Saint Louis area and to foster the development of business-education partnerships for…

This instructional guide provides step-by-step techniques for using biblical materials in adult literacy instruction. Although the book is written from a Christian perspective, the techniques can easily be adapted to any religious material. Chapters 1 and 2 describe adults who want to learn specifically to read the Bible and volunteers who want to…

The Philadelphia Mayor's Commission on Literacy undertook a project to develop and conduct collaborative training that would promote a more egalitarian relationship between teachers/facilitators and learners and greater learner input in the instructional planning process. A collaborative learning (CL) manual was developed, a 12-hour CL training…

This document contains the final report of Project PAL (Pennsylvania Adult Literacy), designed to address staff development needs at a Pennsylvania adult literacy center, and three manuals: a tutor training resource manual for use by coordinators in developing a 9.5 hour tutor-training session, a tutor handbook for volunteers, and a coordinator's…

The Texas Agricultural Extension Service (TAEX) Literacy Initiative has three major components: literacy awareness, cooperation and coordination with other state agencies and organizations, and programmatic responses. During 1991, the TAEX Literacy Initiative addressed the literacy awareness component through these activities: writing a research…

This document is a two-part workshop resource manual intended to help trainers of literacy tutors and others to raise awareness of the particular needs of older adult literacy learners. Part 1 contains basic information on the topic of older adult literacy obtained from a review of the most current literature available and has a Canadian and,…

A participatory approach to adult literacy education aims at getting the learner to function at the highest level of responsibility possible regarding program activities; it demands an active approach. Characteristics of a participatory literacy program include the following: activities that emphasize what learners already know, learners…