Resources

Adult Literacy Facts
American Competitive Initiative
Health Literacy
Youth Literacy
Curriculum and Practice
Low-income Programs
Refugee Programs
State and Local Adult Literacy Programs
Federal Adult Literacy Programs
Employment Programs
Research and Reports

Adult Literacy Facts

Helping Adults Become Literate Fact Sheet
This publication contains an overview of the initial findings of the National Assessment for Adult Literacy and provides an overview of the steps the Department of Education is taking to increase adult literacy nationwide.
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/reading/adultliteracy.pdf

Adult Education and Family Literacy Program Facts
An overview of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA). This legislation, Title II of the Workforce Investment Act, is the is the principal source of federal support for adult basic and literacy education programs for adults who lack basic skills necessary to function effectively in society, a high school diploma, or proficiency in English.
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/aeflaprogfacts.doc

American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI)

American Competitiveness Initiative
America's economic strength and global leadership depend in large measure on our nation’s ability to generate and harness the latest in scientific and technological developments for real-world applications. These applications are fueled by: scientific research, which produces new ideas and new tools that can become the foundation for tomorrow’s products, services, and ways of doing business; a strong education system that equips our workforce with the skills necessary to transform those ideas into goods and services that improve our lives and provide our nation with the researchers of the future; and an environment that encourages entrepreneurship, risk-taking, and innovative thinking. By giving citizens the tools necessary to realize their greatest potential, the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) will help ensure an even brighter future for the next generation. The American Competitiveness Initiative funds increased professional development for teachers, attracts new teachers to the classroom, develops research-based curricula, and provides access to flexible resources for worker training.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2006/aci/

Health Literacy

Improving Health Literacy
The National Institutes of Healths’ web site on health literacy provides an overview of the issue and challenge of health literacy as well as a number of informational resources.
http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/ocpl/resources/improvinghealthliteracy.htm

Health Literacy Overview
The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has developed a web site devoted to health literacy. Health literacy is defined as the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. The web site includes tools for improving health literacy, government resources, and research.
http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/default.htm

Quick Guide to Health Literacy - The Quick Guide to Health Literacy is for government employees, grantees and contractors, and community partners working in health care and public health fields. The guide contains: a basic overview of key health literacy concepts; techniques for improving health literacy through communication, navigation, knowledge-building, and advocacy; examples of health literacy best practices; and suggestions for addressing health literacy in your organization. These tools can be applied to health care delivery, policy, administration, communication, and education activities aimed at the public. They also can be incorporated into mission, planning, and evaluation at the organizational level.
http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/quickguide/

Youth Literacy

Shared Youth Vision
The Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, along with the Department of Education, Department of Justice, Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Health and Human Services have formed a Shared Youth Vision Task Force. The Shared Youth Vision is working with decision-makers at the national, state, and local level to serve the nation's neediest youth to develop innovative approaches, enhance the quality of services delivered, improve efficiencies, and improve the outcomes for the neediest youth we serve.
http://www.doleta.gov/ryf/

Report: What State and Local Leaders Need to Know about Improving Literacy Skills for Out of School Youth
This guide, designed for state and local leaders, covers the challenge that out-of-school youth face and outlines strategies and programs to engage youth in literacy and education classes.
http://colosus.ncee.org/pdf/wfd/Literacy_Brochure.pdf

National Guard ChalleNGe
The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a preventive, rather than remedial, at-risk youth program that targets participants who are unemployed, drug-free and law-free high-school dropouts, 16 to 18 years of age. The core components of the program include citizenship, academic excellence (GED/high school diploma attainment), life-coping skills, service to community, health and hygiene, job skills training, leadership/follower ship, and physical training. The 22-week residential phase, which includes the pre-ChalleNGephase,is followed by a yearlong mentoring relationship with a specially trained member of each youth's community.
http://www.ngycp.org/

Museums And Libraries: Engaging America's Youth
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Youth Initiative page provides links to IMLS-funded projects that feature service to youth, Web resources on Youth Development, and information on our agency's initiative to shine a spotlight on the role libraries and museums play in youth development services.
http://www.imls.gov/about/youth.shtm

Curriculum and Practice

Bridges to Practice
Bridges to Practice is a program designed for adult students with learning disabilities. The program contains materials to help teachers, social workers, employment counselors, job coaches and others to recognize learning disabilities, learn how to implement a screening process in a program, and learn what to do when an adult has been diagnosed with a disability. The program consists of four guidebooks that contain the training materials, and a fifth book that is a trainer's manual.
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/ld/bridges/bridges.html

Assessment Strategies & Reading Profiles
The National Institute for Literacy Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles web site is based on the Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS), a study that assessed the reading of 955 adult learners. Researchers tested participants individually on eleven skills that contribute to reading ability. A list of scores for each learner becomes that individual's reading profile, illustrating his or her strengths and instructional needs. On this web site, 569 adult basic education learners from the ARCS are grouped into 11 profiles. Each profile group shows a distinctive pattern and/or level of reading component skills. It contains two tracks.The first is Match a Profile. On the Match a Profile track, scores are entered for each learner and are matched to one of the 11 ARCS-based profiles. It contains suggestions for instruction as well as information about the ARCS learners in this group that may relate to your learner. The second track, Take the Mini-Course, offers an opportunity to learn more about reading, including extensive information on the major reading components and assessment as well as sections containing references and downloadable resources.
http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/

Low-Income Programs

Food Stamp Program
The Food Stamp Program in the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, serves as the first line of defense against hunger. It enables low-income families to buy nutritious food with Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. With some exceptions, able-bodied adults between 16 and 60 must register for work, take part in an employment and training program to which they are referred by the food stamp office, and accept or continue suitable employment.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/

Head Start
Head Start serves the child development needs of preschool children (birth through age five) and their low-income families. The Head Start program has a long tradition of delivering comprehensive and high quality services designed to foster healthy development in low-income children. The Head Start program provides a range of individualized services in the areas of education and early childhood development; medical, dental, and mental health; nutrition; and parent involvement. In addition, the entire range of Head Start services are responsive and appropriate to each child's and family's developmental, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage and experience.
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) provides assistance and work opportunities to needy families by granting states the federal funds and wide flexibility to develop and implement their own welfare programs.The four purposes of TANF are: 1) assisting needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes; 2) reducing the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage; 3) preventing out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and 4) encouraging the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/
TANF Fact Sheet
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/opa/fact_sheets/tanf_factsheet.html

Refugee Programs

Office of Refugee Resettlement
The Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR’s) mission is to assist refugees and other special populations in obtaining economic and social self-sufficiency in their new homes in the United States. To do this, ORR funds and facilitates a variety of programs that offer, among other benefits and services, cash and medical assistance, employment preparation and job placement, skills training, English language training, social adjustment and aid for victims of torture.
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/

The Office of Refugee Resettlement Formula Grant Programs
The State Formula Social Services Allocations program funds a variety of refugee services to refugees, namely English language training, employability services, case management, social adjustment services and interpretation services. These services can include employment services, including the development of a self-sufficiency plan, job orientation, job development, job referral, placement, and follow-up; English language training; employability assessment services, including aptitude and skills testing; on-the-job training; skills recertification; day care for children; case management services; transportation, when necessary for participation in employability services; translation or interpreter services; and assistance in obtaining Employment Authorization Documents (EADs).

State and Local Adult Literacy Programs

America’s Literacy Directory
America's Literacy Directory is a national database of literacy programs available via the Internet and the National Institute for Literacy's toll-free number. The ALD connects employers, learners, volunteers, social service providers, and others to current information about literacy programs in all 50 states and the U.S. territories.
http://www.literacydirectory.org/

The Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS)
LINCS is a cooperative electronic network of the national, regional, state, local partners, including the National Institute for Literacy, five regional LINCS partners, representative organizations from 45 states and territories, 12 content development partners, and several major national organizations. The coordinated efforts of LINCS partners have provided a national infrastructure for literacy community to access the most comprehensive collection of family and adult basic skills research, teaching/learning and training resources.
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/

Federal Adult Literacy Programs

Child Development and Behavior Branch of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
This office supports research on psychological, psychobiological, and educational development from conception to maturity. The branch focuses such issues as reading, writing and related learning disabilities; language, bilingual and biliteracy development and disorders; adult, family and adolescent literacy; and mathematics and science cognition and learning.
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/org/crmc/cdb/

Division of Adult Education and Literacy, U.S. Department of Education
The Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) promotes programs that help American adults get the basic skills they need to be productive workers, family members, and citizens. The major areas of support are Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English Language Acquisition. These programs emphasize basic skills such as reading, writing, math, English language competency, and problem-solving.
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/index.html
DAEL National Activities in Adult Education and Literacy
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/proginit.html#adulted

The Big Read
The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.
www.neabigread.org

Employment Programs

Office of Adult Services
The Office of Adult Services, in the Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor, The Office of Adult Services is responsible for planning and developing overall policies, legislative proposals, goals, strategies, budgets, and resource allocations for the operation of comprehensive services to meet the employment need of businesses and workers in the workforce investment system, working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders, business, labor, and state and local governments.
http://www.doleta.gov/

Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) web site contains information on the latest initiatives within the agency including the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development Initiative (WIRED), the High Growth Job Training Initiative, the Community-Based Job Training Initiative, and the most recent Solicitations for Grant Applications.
http://www.doleta.gov/

Career Voyages
The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor joined forces to develop Career Voyages, a web site designed to assist students, parents, career changers, and career advisors in obtaining information on high-growth, in-demand occupations along with the skills and education needed to attain those jobs.
http://www.careervoyages.gov

Limited English Proficiency and Hispanic Worker Initiative
An overview of the Limited English Proficiency and Hispanic Worker Initiative which aims to improve access to federally conducted and federally assisted programs and activities for persons who, as a result of national origin, are limited in their English proficiency, including Hispanic individuals. This site includes information on Employment and Training Administration products and tools to assist in providing LEP services and recent grants awarded to support this effort.
http://www.doleta.gov/reports/dpld_lep.cfm

Alternative Education
Education programs, particularly alternative education programs, have taken on a new importance for workforce system efforts to create a skilled, well-trained and demand-driven workforce. This web site contains papers exploring alternative education and its role in preparing youth with the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century workforce.
http://www.doleta.gov/youth_services/Alternative.cfm

Workforce³ One
This web site offers the public workforce system, employers, economic development professionals, and education professionals an innovative knowledge network designed to create and support a demand-driven community, one that responds directly to business needs and prepares workers for good jobs in the fastest growing careers.
http://www.workforce3one.org/

One-Stop Career Centers
The core of the workforce investment system, the One-Stop Career Center, offers a variety of employment and training services to assist job seekers and incumbent workers. This web site includes a service locator and links to state One-Stop web sites across the country.
http://www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/onestop/ons-stop-system.cfm

America’s Career InfoNet
America’s Career InfoNet helps people make better, more informed career decisions with occupational reports and tools. Visitors can learn more about typical wages, skill requirements, employment, and education trends across occupations and industries via comparable national, state, and local labor information.
http://www.acinet.org/

Research and Reports

National Assessment of Adult Literacy
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) is a nationally representative assessment of English literacy among adults in the United States who are age 16 and older. Designed to measure functional English literacy, the assessment measures how adults use printed and written information to adequately function at home, in the workplace, and in the community.
http://nces.ed.gov/naal/

Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults: First Steps for Teachers
This guide for teachers includes information on understanding reading instruction for adult learners, alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Also included is information on conducting initial assessments as well as strategies for planning reading instruction curriculum.
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/applyingresearch.pdf

Teaching Adults to Read
This publication from the National Institute for Literacy is a comprehensive report on scientifically based research principles for adult reading including information on alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/teach_adults.pdf

Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction
The Reading Research Working Group (RRWG), a panel of experts on adult reading research and practice, was established by the National Institute for Literacy in collaboration with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. The publication, Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction, identifies and evaluates existing research related to adult literacy reading instruction in order to provide the field with research-based products including principles and practices for practitioners.
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/adult_ed_02.pdf

Language, Bilingualism and Biliteracy Development and Disorders; Adult, Family, and Adolescent Literacy
This research program has a special interest in increasing knowledge of language development and disorders, second language acquisition, and written language development and disorders in bilingual/multilingual children. These areas are important not only in the preschool and elementary school years, but also remain important throughout the lifespan. Therefore, this program also encourages research in adolescent, adult, and family language and literacy, with a special interest in minority and language minority populations.
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/org/crmc/cdb/prog_lbb/index.cfm

The Partnership for Reading
The Partnership for Reading is a collaborative effort by three federal agencies - the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the U.S. Department of Education – to bring the findings of evidence-based reading research to the educational community, families, and others with an interest in helping all people learn to read well. The Partnership's mission is to disseminate evidence-based research, a focus that makes it substantively different from earlier information dissemination efforts and clearinghouses.
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/

Adult Education Participation in 2004-2005 report
This report from the Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, presents selected data on adults’ participation in adult educational activities in the United States, excluding full-time college/university or vocational/technical credential programs, over a 12-month period from 2004-2005.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/adulted/index.asp

Working Paper: Adult Literacy: An International Perspective
From the Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, this report presents the first two chapters of a forthcoming larger report on adult literacy in the United States. The first chapter provides a comparison of the literacy levels of adults in 12 nations -- Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, Australia, Flemish-speaking Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The second chapter takes this same comparative view of the relationship between literacy levels and, respectively, employment, occupational status and income, across all but one of these nations.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=9733

Toward Equality of Access: The Role of Public Libraries in Addressing the Digital Divide
This paper studies the role public libraries have played in helping to narrow the digital divide.
http://www.imls.gov/pdf/Equality.pdf

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