ARCS - The Adult Reading Components Study

Overview of the ARCS The Two ARCS Assessment Batteries ARCS Research Profiles The ARCS Relationship to this Website

From the Study Abstract
The National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS)^RR revealed that approximately 46% of US adults had limited ability to perform a variety of real-world literacy tasks. But little is known about what these low literacy adults might need in the way of instruction in order to improve their reading skills.

The ARCS was designed to provide useful portraits for both practitioners and policy makers of the various types or clusters of readers enrolled in US adult basic education (ABE) programs, including both native speakers and those in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes. For the study, 955 randomly selected learners (676 ABE and 279 ESOL) were interviewed and assessed at learning centers in Texas, Tennessee, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. They were given a battery of reading and language assessments to determine their instructional needs. Over half of this testing was done by local ABE and ESOL practitioners who were trained to administer the battery and conduct the interviews in a uniform manner.^RR

To see which assessments we used in the study as well as the 10 ARCS research profiles, please use the menu at the top of this page. The page entitled "The ARCS Relationship To This Website" will explain why there are differences between the ARCS profiles in this section and the 11 Comparison Profiles of ARCS participants that are on the match portion of this web site.

 Click here to go to the ARCS Test Batteries next.