The adult basic education program at South Tyneside College in England involves the use of computer technology and partnership with vocational staff to ensure that the program is relevant. Student commitment and motivation have improved. (JOW)

Outlines the benefits of Goal Attainment Scaling, which involves setting measurable short- and long-term goals, developing a scale, and defining indicators. Demonstrates its use in a program to train college students as volunteer literacy tutors and in a family literacy program. (SK)

Reflections of an enterprise-based literacy teacher highlights three focal areas of workplace learning: (1) critical thinking/reflection/problem solving; (2) contextualized learning; and (3) attitudinal. A workplace teacher must have knowledge and understanding of culture gained through action, feedback, reflection, and theorizing. (SK)

Cognitive Enrichment Advantage is a student-centered literacy education method used in Canadian prisons. It emphasizes the teacher's role as mediator of learning; its 12 building blocks of thinking and 8 tools of learning embody a constructivist approach. A goal is fostering independent and interdependent lifelong learning. (SK)

Describes the work of an Australian adult literacy and basic education teacher who mixes research and practice and a professional development project undertaken in the United Kingdom that was inspired by her work. (SK)

Outlines the deep and complex challenge faced by Mexico in its quest for closer economic integration with so-called advanced economies. Discusses extensive poverty and illiteracy, and the systematic exclusion of many people from access to the very kinds of learning required by Mexico's economic project. Argues that extraordinary efforts and…

A study to determine the extent of differences between inmates who used computer-assisted instruction and those who received traditional instruction in a prison education program found no differences in posttest scores. Possible explanations included attitudes toward testing, motivation, teacher support, dynamics of prison culture, and software…

Describes the FORECAST readability formula for adults working with job materials, which was developed in the early 1970s. Suggests that it is a better measure of who wants and needs basic skills than the International Adult Literacy Survey. (JOW)

Prison inmates (n=71) were randomly assigned to an experimental group (computer-assisted and traditional instruction) or control group (traditional only). The study attempted to avoid flaws of similar research by using the same traditional instructors, same length of instruction, and posttest administration after 4 weeks. No differences in reading…

Discusses resiliency programming as an alternative approach to program development for incarcerated adults, and describes a pilot project in a Georgia prison, Leadership Development, that uses the concept of resiliency to frame inmate education. Discusses implications of this model of correctional education. (SLD)

Discussions with 26 Nebraska adult basic education practitioners, 14 survey responses, and interviews with 3 administrators obtained their views of the impact of welfare reform. They have concerns about the emphasis on economic over individual development, the quality of education and training for welfare recipients, time limits on learning, and…

Review of 23 studies on the effectiveness of computers in adult literacy and basic education indicated that just under half found statistically significant improvements in reading scores. Many studies evidenced design flaws, lacked clear descriptions of the research, or were hampered by classroom-related difficulties. (Contains 31 references.) (SK)

Suggests that action research provides ownership and often results in a sense of efficacy by engaging practitioners in the change process. Describes the practitioner-based movement in professional development and program improvement in Pennsylvania. (JOW)

One of the Millennium Development Goals declared by the United Nations in 2000 was to reduce by half the population of people living in extreme poverty, by 2015. Adult education can and should contribute significantly to this development goal. Nevertheless it has hardly been explored so far in the national Poverty Reduction Strategies Papers. In…

Adult learners of English as a second language who speak Chinese (n = 30), Japanese (n = 28) or Spanish (n = 46) as a first language (L1), and a comparison group of native speakers (n = 22) read sentences that contain: (a) ungrammatical "wh"-extractions that violate island constraints; and (b) grammatical long-distance Subject and Object…