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Promising Practices: Increasing Intensity of Instruction in Volunteer-Based Literacy Programs
Research shows the following:
- approximately 100 hours of instruction are required for adult basic education/literacy students to achieve at least one grade-level equivalent increase
- with 150 hours of instruction, students have a 75% chance of making one or more grade-level increases
Programs that work through trained volunteer tutors find it difficult to provide this amount of instruction - especially since most volunteers are only available for 2 to 4 hours per week and many students drop out within the first few months. In addition, many potential volunteers are reluctant to make a long-term commitment and are increasingly interested in short-term project work. However, few programs know how to involve short-term of volunteers in providing or supporting instruction.
With the help of a grant from The UPS Foundation, ProLiteracy worked with three pilot sites during 2004-2006 to identify promising practices that would result in increasing intensity of instruction. One of the most effective practice was the use of short-term mini-courses students could take in addition to their core instruction.
The experiences and lessons learned by the pilot sites are documented in the following materials:
Promising Practices: Increasing Intensity of Instruction in Volunteer-Based Literacy Programs, a booklet that explains the practices, how they were implemented, and the results.
Click here for Acrobat PDF
Resources, samples of actual resources used by the programs and referred to in the booklet. The resources include recruitment flyers, descriptions of short-term classes, tracking forms, and sample curricula.
Click here for resources
Project Briefing, a four-page summary of the project and its key findings. Click here for Acrobat PDF
For more information:
Improving Learning Gains through Intensity of Instruction
A free self-paced online course designed to help program administrators outline an action plan for increasing intensity of instruction in their own programs. The course is available at Thinkfinity.org, an online education and literacy resource.
Active Teaching and Learning
A fee-based self-paced online course to help teachers and tutors learn how to apply active learning strategies in their teaching. Click here for New Readers Press Professional Development.
Using Active Learning Techniques with Adult Learners
An onsite workshop in full-day and half-day formats for teachers and tutors. Particpants learn about active learning techniques such as role-playing, case studies, graphic organizers, and learning games. To learn more: Click here for Active Teaching and Learning.
Questions or comments related to these materials or courses should be sent to info@proliteracy.org.
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