This good practice guide is based on research that looked at how to teach adult literacy and numeracy using a social capital approach. The guide suggests ways vocational education and training (VET) practitioners can adopt a social capital approach to their teaching practice. A social capital approach refers to the process in which networks are…

The Open Book, an adult literacy program in Brooklyn, from 1985-2002, remains, for many of the students and staff involved, a defining experience in their lives, a time that allowed them to see different possibilities, for themselves and society. In an attempt to preserve the field's collective historical memory, the authors in this chapter…

Literacy coalitions have been organized in various settings, from small towns and cities to counties and states. Coalitions are alliances "created for the purpose of joint action [and] drawn together by common interests." Literacy coalitions promote the power and pleasure of reading and stimulate community conversations about literacy.…

Over the past decade, the field of health literacy has advanced from providing limited tools for simplifying language into the basis for a viable theory of the complex relationship between knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and health outcomes, ranging from the individual to the societal level. While roughly a decade passed between what seem to be…

This study investigated the comparability of paper and computer versions of a functional writing assessment administered to adults 16 and older. Three writing tasks were administered in both paper and computer modes to volunteers in the field test of an assessment of adult literacy in 2008. One set of analyses examined mode effects on scoring by…

Drop-out from upper secondary school is considered a widespread problem, closely connected with youth unemployment. The aim of the current study was to examine whether parents' level of education predicted drop-out for 16-24-year-olds when accounting for basic skills. For this purpose, data from the Norwegian (n = 996) and American (n = 641)…

Action Learning can be effectively used in both large and small businesses and organizations by employees, stakeholders, or volunteers through this "learning by doing" approach to evaluate an issue or issues of importance to the organization. First developed in the 1940s, Action Learning has increasingly been used as a method to explore questions…

Each year, Iowa's 15 community colleges submit data on enrollment on the 10th business day of the fall semester. Some highlights from this report focus on: (1) Iowa's Community Colleges; (2) Fall Enrollment; (3) Fiscal Year Credit Enrollment and Demographics;(4) Online Credit Enrollment;(5) Joint Enrollment and Demographics; (6) Credit Student…

This report argues that this is a promising time for entrepreneurs and developers to enter the adult learning market. Economic and labor trends are applying unprecedented pressure on policymakers to think differently. Federal, and in turn state, policies are shifting. The adaptation of K-12 and postsecondary education technologies (ed-tech) to the…

Examining the efficacy of literacy improvement, general education development (GED) completion, and GED completers' perceptions of college readiness and social capital was the purpose of this study. The participant sample (n = 321), derived from the target population (N = 1050), consisted of former participants of Adult Literacy Education…

The informatics moment is the moment when a person seeks help in using some digital technology that is new to him or her. This article examines the informatics moment in people's everyday lives as they sought help at a branch public library. Four types of literacy were involved: basic literacy (reading and writing), computer literacy (use of a…

This study grew out of the realization that implicit literacy expectations between working class United Auto Workers (UAW) staff and professional class staff were complicating the filling out and filing of a position audit form. Professional class supervisors had designed the form as a measure of fairness, in that each UAW employee on campus was…

This paper analyses Botswana's commitment to lifelong learning policy and discusses how it can help the state achieve its vision for sustainable development. First, it argues that while Botswana is renowned for its economic success, it still fails to address positively such traditional challenges as poverty, unemployment and income inequality,…

In the early 1990s, UNESCO estimated that perhaps 97% of the world's 650 million disabled persons were unable to read or write, leading to significant efforts throughout the developing world to ensure that all children with disabilities attended school through "inclusive education" programmes. But what of the vast majority of persons with…

This "Pan-Canadian Snapshot" explores the competencies needed to work with adults participating in Literacy and/or Essential Skills (L/ES) programs in Canada. The purpose of the "Snapshot" is to: (1) lay a foundation from which to explore the topic of professionalism; (2) identify the types of supports that the L/ES workforce…