Improving Adult Literacy Instruction

Improving Adult Literacy Instruction PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309219590
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
A high level of literacy in both print and digital media is required for negotiating most aspects of 21st-century life, including supporting a family, education, health, civic participation, and competitiveness in the global economy. Yet, more than 90 million U.S. adults lack adequate literacy. Furthermore, only 38 percent of U.S. 12th graders are at or above proficient in reading. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction synthesizes the research on literacy and learning to improve literacy instruction in the United States and to recommend a more systemic approach to research, practice, and policy. The book focuses on individuals ages 16 and older who are not in K-12 education. It identifies factors that affect literacy development in adolescence and adulthood in general, and examines their implications for strengthening literacy instruction for this population. It also discusses technologies for learning that can assist with multiple aspects of teaching, assessment,and accommodations for learning. There is inadequate knowledge about effective instructional practices and a need for better assessment and ongoing monitoring of adult students' proficiencies, weaknesses, instructional environments, and progress, which might guide instructional planning. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction recommends a program of research and innovation to validate, identify the boundaries of, and extend current knowledge to improve instruction for adults and adolescents outside school. The book is a valuable resource for curriculum developers, federal agencies such as the Department of Education, administrators, educators, and funding agencies.

Improving Adult Literacy Instruction

Improving Adult Literacy Instruction PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309219590
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 504

Get Book Here

Book Description
A high level of literacy in both print and digital media is required for negotiating most aspects of 21st-century life, including supporting a family, education, health, civic participation, and competitiveness in the global economy. Yet, more than 90 million U.S. adults lack adequate literacy. Furthermore, only 38 percent of U.S. 12th graders are at or above proficient in reading. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction synthesizes the research on literacy and learning to improve literacy instruction in the United States and to recommend a more systemic approach to research, practice, and policy. The book focuses on individuals ages 16 and older who are not in K-12 education. It identifies factors that affect literacy development in adolescence and adulthood in general, and examines their implications for strengthening literacy instruction for this population. It also discusses technologies for learning that can assist with multiple aspects of teaching, assessment,and accommodations for learning. There is inadequate knowledge about effective instructional practices and a need for better assessment and ongoing monitoring of adult students' proficiencies, weaknesses, instructional environments, and progress, which might guide instructional planning. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction recommends a program of research and innovation to validate, identify the boundaries of, and extend current knowledge to improve instruction for adults and adolescents outside school. The book is a valuable resource for curriculum developers, federal agencies such as the Department of Education, administrators, educators, and funding agencies.

Poverty and Literacy

Poverty and Literacy PDF Author: Nathalis Wamba
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317978315
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
There is a mutual dependence between poverty and academic achievement, creative pedagogies for low-income pupils, school models that ‘beat the odds’, and the resiliency of low-income families dedicated to the academic success of their children. This book examines the connection between poverty and literacy, looking at the potential roles and responsibilities of teachers, school administrators, researchers, and policymakers in closing the achievement gap and in reducing the effects of poverty on the literacy skill development of low-income children. There are numerous suggestions about how to improve schools so that they respond to the needs of low-income children; some argue for school reform, while others advocate social reform, and yet others suggest combining both educational reform and social reform. Without a strong foundation in literacy, children are all too often denied access to a rich and diverse curriculum. Reading and writing are passports to achievement in many other curricular areas, and literacy education plays an important role in moving people out of poverty toward greater self-sufficiency post-graduation. Schools and home environments share responsibility for literacy skill development; in school, literacy equals the acquisition of reading and writing skills, but it is also a social practice key to social mobility. The achievement gap between low-income, middle-class, and upper middle-class students illustrates the power of socioeconomic factors outside school. This book was originally published as two special issues of Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties.

Learning Disabilities, Literacy, and Adult Education

Learning Disabilities, Literacy, and Adult Education PDF Author: Susan Ann Vogel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
In this book, experts in the fields of LD and adult literacy describe the characteristics, demographics, education, and employment status of adults with severe learning disabilities and discuss the laws that protect them in the workplace and in educational settings. Sample forms, checklists, resource lists, and examples from staff preparation programs are included.

Contested Spaces of Teaching and Learning

Contested Spaces of Teaching and Learning PDF Author: Janise Hurtig
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498581331
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Contested Spaces of Teaching and Learning examines the educational experiences of adults as cultural practice. These practices take place in diverse settings from formal educational contexts to institutionally interstitial realms to fluid and explicitly contested everyday spaces. This edited collection includes twelve richly rendered ethnographic case studies written from the perspective of practitioner-ethnographers who straddle the roles of educator and ethnographic researcher. Drawing on distinct theoretical framings, these contributors illuminate the ways in which adults engaged in teaching and learning participate in cultural practices that intersect with other dimensions of social life, such as work, recreation, community engagement, personal development, or political action. By juxtaposing ethnographic inquiries of formal and informal learning spaces, as well as intentional and unintended challenges to mainstream adult teaching and learning, this collection provides new understandings and critical insights into the complexities of adults’ educational experiences.

Adult Illiteracy in the United States

Adult Illiteracy in the United States PDF Author: Carman St. John Hunter
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description


Tracking Adult Literacy and Numeracy Skills

Tracking Adult Literacy and Numeracy Skills PDF Author: Stephen Reder
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135903298
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
Understanding the origins of poor literacy and numeracy skills in adulthood and how to improve them is of major importance when society places a high premium on proficiency in these basic skills. This edited collection brings together the results of recent longitudinal studies that greatly extend our knowledge of what works in raising skill levels, as well as the social and economic returns to improvement. Many fundamental research questions in adult education involve change over time: how adults learn, how program participation influences their acquisition of skills and knowledge, and how their educational development interacts with their social and economic performance. Although a growing number of longitudinal studies in adult basic education have recently been completed, this book is the first systematic compilation of findings and methods. Triangulating findings from different methodological perspectives and research designs, and across countries, this text produces convergence on key conclusions about the role of basic skills in the modern life course and the most effective ways of enhancing them.

Adult Literacy in America

Adult Literacy in America PDF Author: Irwin S. Kirsch
Publisher: Department of Education
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The National Adult Literacy Survey profiled the literacy of U.S. adults based on their performance on tasks reflecting materials and demands of daily life. Data were gathered through interviews with a random sample of 13,600 people over 16, a survey of 1,000 adults in each of 12 states, and interviews with 1,100 prison inmates, making a total of 26,000 adults surveyed. Participants completed a series of literacy tasks and received proficiency scores on three scales measuring prose, document, and quantitative literacy. They were categorized in five levels. Major findings were as follows: (1) 40-44 million adults were at the lowest level, of whom 25% were immigrants, 62% did not complete high school, and 19% had visual difficulties; (2) 50 million at level 2 had difficulty with higher reading and problem-solving skills; (3) most at levels 1-2 rated their reading/writing as well or very well--they could meet most needs with limited skills; (4) 61 million were at level 3, 34-40 million at levels 4-5; (5) young adults were less proficient than those surveyed in 1985; (6) older adults were more likely to have limited skills; (7) many minorities and prison inmates were more likely to be at levels 1-2, due to fewer years of schooling or limited English proficiency; (8) higher levels correlated with being employed, working more weeks, and having higher wages; and (9) 41-44% of level 1 and 4-8% of levels 4-5 were in poverty. (Appendices include definitions and 31 data tables. Document includes 13 other tables and 26 figures.) (SK)

The Wiley Handbook of Adult Literacy

The Wiley Handbook of Adult Literacy PDF Author: Dolores Perin
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9781119261421
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description
Examines the widespread phenomenon of poor literacy skills in adults across the globe This handbook presents a wide range of research on adults who have low literacy skills. It looks at the cognitive, affective, and motivational factors underlying adult literacy; adult literacy in different countries; and the educational approaches being taken to help improve adults' literacy skills. It includes not only adults enrolled in adult literacy programs, but postsecondary students with low literacy skills, some of whom have reading disabilities. The first section of The Wiley Handbook of Adult Literacy covers issues such as phonological abilities in adults who have not yet learned to read; gender differences in the reading motivation of adults with low literacy skills; literacy skills, academic self-efficacy, and participation in prison education; and more. Chapters on adult literacy, social change and sociocultural factors in South Asia and in Ghana; literacy, numeracy, and self-rated health among U.S. adults; adult literacy programs in Southeastern Europe and Turkey, and a review of family and workplace literacy programs are among the topics featured in the second section. The last part examines how to teach reading and writing to adults with low skills; adults' transition from secondary to postsecondary education; implications for policy, research, and practice in the adult education field; educational technologies that support reading comprehension; and more. Looks at the cognitive processing challenges associated with low literacy in adults Features contributions from a global team of experts in the field Offers writing strategy instruction for low-skilled postsecondary students The Wiley Handbook of Adult Literacy is an excellent book for academic researchers, teacher educators, professional developers, program designers, and graduate students. It's also beneficial to curriculum developers, adult basic education and developmental education instructors, and program administrators, as well as clinicians and counselors who provide services to adults with reading disabilities.

Time for the U.S. to Reskill?

Time for the U.S. to Reskill? PDF Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Publisher: OCDE
ISBN: 9789264204898
Category : Adult education and state
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This study identifies key lessons about the strategic objectives and directions which should form a frame for policy development in the US, including policy on adult learning and schooling.

Adult Literacy and American Identity

Adult Literacy and American Identity PDF Author: Samantha NeCamp
Publisher: SIU Press
ISBN: 0809333597
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
The release of U.S. census data in 1910 sparked rhetoric declaring the nation had a literacy crisis and proclaiming illiterate citizens a threat to democratic life. While newspaper editors, industrialists, and officials in the federal government frequently placed the blame on newly arrived immigrants, a smaller but no less vocal group of rural educators and clubwomen highlighted the significant number of native-born illiterate adults in the Appalachian region. Author Samantha NeCamp looks at the educational response to these two distinct literacy narratives—the founding of the Moonlight Schools in eastern Kentucky, focused on native-born nonliterate adults, and the establishment of the Americanization movement, dedicated to the education of recent immigrants. Drawing on personal correspondence, conference proceedings, textbooks, and speeches, NeCamp demonstrates how the Moonlight Schools and the Americanization movement competed for public attention, the interest of educators, and private and governmental funding, fueling a vibrant public debate about the definition of literacy. The very different pedagogical practices of the two movements—and how these practices were represented to the public—helped shape literacy education in the United States. Reading the Moonlight Schools and the Americanization movement in relation to one another, Adult Literacy and American Identity expands the history and theory of literacy and literacy education in the United States. This book will be of interest to scholars in literacy, Appalachian studies, and rhetoric and composition.