We document and disseminate various results, trainings, and resources from our research, programs, and projects.
The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) is committed to conducting and disseminating research that is used to improve the practice of adult basic literacy education. As part of this effort, NCSALL has developed the Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network (PDRN). This network of practitioner leaders builds research connections between…
This study created a typology of adult literacy programs across the United States that describes the distribution of programs along two dimensions: relevance of materials, referred to as life-contextualized/decontextualized; and control of decisions, referred to as dialogic/monologic. This information provides a data-based description of an array of adult literacy program models currently operating. Of the…
Adult basic education (ABE) has long been viewed by many educators and policymakers as a tool for addressing social and economic problems. Now, in a context of global economic restructuring, changes in work and employment, and the largest immigration to the USA since the early 1900s, ABE must demonstrate its success in terms of student…
Focus on Policy is a NCSALL publication. Its purpose is to synthesize research findings and highlight policy implications of these findings. Focus on Policy forgoes the usual academic conventions to provide its readers with an easy-to understand summary of research. This first issue explores the value of a GED credential, the need to help GED…
For this issue of Focus on Basics we assembled a team of editors who represent both sides of the health and literacy partnership, including a doctor, a medical librarian, a professor of adult education who works in health and literacy, and a literacy specialist new to health and literacy. As a group we experienced many…
Numeracy, more than prose and document literacy, is the skill most associated with employability, according to a national literacy survey as quoted by Myrna Manly, a numeracy expert based in California. Numeracy matters. It matters to individuals and to the nation. Manly artfully lays out the case for strengthening numeracy in adult basic education (ABE)…
It’s fitting that the final issue of NCSALL’s Focus on Basics is filled with reports from NCSALL researchers across the country. Harvard-based John Strucker starts us off. Although adult basic education (ABE) students often have sporadic attendance, their interest in learning doesn’t waiver. If we provide more structured curriculum, he suggests, students will be able…
"Do ask, they’ll tell” is a good way of describing much of the research shared in this issue of Focus on Basics. How do adult learners feel about themselves? What works for them in terms of reading instruction? What do they read outside of class? What keeps them engaged in class? Researchers from the NCSALL…
According to the US Department of Education’s Report to Congress for the year 2002-2003, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) students make up 43 percent of the learners served by USDOE-funded adult basic education programs, and 52 percent of the ESOL learners are at beginning levels. So it comes as no surprise that NCSALL’s…
Workplace education programs are partnerships between literacy providers and employers. In theory, these partnerships bring more resources into the system and make education more accessible to employed learners. They are maturing partnerships. Questions of “How do we get employees to enroll without feeling a stigma?” have given way over time to questions about program longevity,…
World Education strives to build lasting relationships with partners across diverse geographic regions and technical sectors to produce better education outcomes for all.
