The integration of technology into adult literacy promises both exciting and problematic times, especially with regard to curriculum evaluation. Different evaluation approaches have various strengths and weaknesses. A particular strength of the adversarial approach is a well-rounded evaluation with both positives and negatives identified; its main…

Ensuring that language tests for adult English language learners are appropriate, valid, and reliable is a challenge. Performance-based assessments are complex to develop and implement. Yet, because the focus of assessment, both in the National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS) descriptors and in the Department of Education's definition…

Learning to read in English is difficult for adult English language learners. Teachers know that their learners come from diverse backgrounds, have different experiences with literacy in their first languages, and have various reasons for learning English. They also know that there is no simple recipe to help their students become proficient…

Supplementing a guide published in 1995, this annotated bibliography contains 80 one-page listings of books for adult learners in adult basic education (ABE) and General Educational Development (GED) programs. Arranged in alphabetical order by author, each listing includes the following: title, author's name, illustrator's name, date of…

Three case studies in adult literacy learning were conducted, with focus on instructional and policy issues. They came out of programs that, by state mandate, focus instruction around component skills through diagnostic tests, worksheets, and mastery tests. In Case 1, a learner managed to attend an adult basic education program regularly and…

This study uses the Benefit Incidence Analysis to examine the distribution of public spending across different socioeconomic groups before and after the government of Malawi made great changes in educational policy in 1994. Primary education was made the top priority with increased spending on education and primary school fees abolished. The…

The FLITE (Family Literacy Involvement Through Education) program is a partnership between a public school in the Bronx, New York, and the City University of New York that brings together two federal funding streams (FAMILY FIRST: Family-School Partnership Program and Even Start) to provide adult literacy, parenting education, and early childhood…

This issue of "Linkages" addresses skills that literacy programs can include in their curriculum to teach self-advocacy to adult learners with learning disabilities. Articles include: "Consumers Empowering Consumers" (Noel Gregg and Cheri Hoy); "Self-Advocacy: Practical Advice to the Adult with LD" (Pat Boyd); "Disclosure: It's a Matter of Choice"…

India has made considerable progress toward universal primary education but has the dubious distinction of having the highest illiteracy rates in the world. Stringent endeavors are being made at the national, state, and district levels to eradicate illiteracy through mass approaches and programs. Extension is recognized as the third dimension of…

This collection of writings is the culmination of students' study in the Worker Education Program's (WEP) workplace literacy classes. The WEP is a joint labor/management project of the Service Employees International Union Local 285 and unionized health care employers in Massachusetts that offers a range of education, job training, and career…

This final performance report for the Sanford Library Association's Project Literacy U.S. (PLUS) begins with quantitative data. Background information on the community is then provided. Actual accomplishments are compared to project objectives for 1991-92 in the following areas: (1) continuation of individualized literacy instruction or promotion…

The Adult Learner Competencies Project included literature research and consultation with adult education practitioners in Pennsylvania to establish learner competencies that could be used by all adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) providers in the state. During the project, existing and emerging lists of adult learner competencies were…

The four papers that make up this document report on poverty issues as they pertain to adults with learning disabilities. "Programmatic Response to Welfare Clients with Learning Disabilities" (Glenn Young) describes steps in the Learning Disabilities Initiative that works with federal agencies, states, local governments, and nonprofit…

A study to examine literacy programs for women in rural villages in India interviewed all program directors and staff and some women involved in nongovernmental (NGO) projects in the Pune area. NGO officials were universally disenchanted with government programs. NGOs' goals varied from preschool education in the villages to agricultural reform to…

This module, which may be used as the basis for a workshop or as a special topic unit in adult basic education or English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) courses, discusses how and why to get involved in political and community life in the United States. Topics covered include the following: local political involvement, writing letters, reading the…