ProLiteracy Publications

Going to Scale: A Guide for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating Local Program Improvement Initiatives
Going to Scale is a useful resource that guides readers through an eleven-step program improvement process. This resource is divided into eleven "tasks" or steps for program improvement. This helpful guide was written by Dr. Lennox McLendon and Kathi Polis, and published by the National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium (NAEPDC).
A pdf of the guide is available here.

Promising Practices: Increasing Intensity of Instruction in Volunteer-Based Literacy Programs
ProLiteracy America worked with three volunteer-based adult literacy programs over several years to identify ways that programs can increase intensity of instruction and improve learning outcomes by:

· increasing the number of hours of instruction for students
· using active learning principles to make better use of instructional time
· involving volunteers in more instruction-related roles to support these efforts

Click here to download the free booklet that describes these promising practices and for samples of the resources the pilot programs used. This project was funded by The UPS Foundation.

Promising Practices: Reducing Waiting Lists in Adult Education and Literacy Programs
ProLiteracy America worked with twenty-three adult education and literacy programs to identify promising practices that help reduce student waiting lists. In addition to the booklet, two videos: The Write to Read Program and A Community Partnership (require high speed Internet connection), and the resources referred to in the booklet are available here.

State of Adult Literacy
State of Adult Literacy 2007
State of Adult Literacy 2006
State of Adult Literacy 2005
State of Adult Literacy 2004
State of Adult Literacy 2003

U.S. Adult Literacy Programs: Making a Difference
After talking with literacy and adult educators throughout the country, ProLiteracy America staff decided that it could help by providing local programs with a survey of research about the effects of low literacy and the outcomes that are achieved by people who participate in adult education and literacy programs.
This report is available here.

ProLiteracy America Annual Statistical Report
We are pleased to share with you the 2005-06 ProLiteracy America Annual Statistical Report. This report is based on data received from the ProLiteracy America Annual Affiliate Report.
This report is available here.

ProLiteracy Worldwide International Update
Each year, ProLiteracy Worldwide's International Programs Division produces a report on its new partnerships, collaborations, and program development. To view the latest report and learn more about the social change these programs bring to developing areas all over the world, click on the link below.
International Programs Update (PDF)

Verizon Workforce Literacy Booklet
ProLiteracy was asked by Verizon Communications to be its partner in producing Workforce Literacy: Equipping Your Workforce for the 21st Century. The 16-page booklet was written for business people. It makes the case for investing in workers' basic education and outlines how basic education planning and provision can pay off for companies. Literacy providers offering workforce literacy services find it a useful business education tool.
This report (PDF) is available here.
(This file is approx. 8MB in size and may take considerable time to download on a low-bandwidth connection.)

U.S. Adult Literacy Statistics

National Assessments of Adult Literacy (NAAL 2003)
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is conducting a nationally representative assessment of the English language literacy skills of American adults age 16 and older. The NAAL 2003 will provide the first assessment of the nation's progress in adult literacy since 1992. To learn about what is being measured, the main purpose, and how the data will be collected, go to http://nces.ed.gov/naal/ and download the three-page brochure.

International Adult Literacy Statistics

United Nations Literacy Decade 2003-2012
More than 861 million adults do not currently have access to literacy. The Literacy Decade will focus on the needs of adults with the goal that people everywhere should be able to use literacy to communicate within their own community, in the wider society, and beyond. To learn about adult and youth illiteracy rates by country and region, click on statistics on this page: http://www.unesco.org/education/litdecade

Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALLS)
The ALLS is a large-scale, comparative survey that goes beyond previous international studies. In addition to the literacy skills measured in the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), ALLS is designed to identify and measure a broader range of skills in the adult population (age 16-65) in each participating country.
http://www.ets.org/all/survey.html

International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS)
The IALS was a 22-country initiative conducted between 1994 and 1998. In every country, nationally representative samples of adults aged 16-65 were interviewed and tested at home, using the same literacy test. The main purpose of the survey was to find out how well adults use information to function in society. Another aim was to investigate the factors that influence literacy proficiency and to compare these among countries.
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/facts/IALS.html

Links to other Adult Literacy and Education Resources

Adult Literacy & Technology Network
http://www.altn.org

American Association for Adult and Continuing Education
http://www.aaace.org

American Council on Education & GED Testing Service
http://www.acenet.edu

American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/

BoardSource
http://www.boardsource.org/

Center for Applied Linguistics
http://www.cal.org

The Center for Literacy Studies. University of Tennessee
http://cls.coe.utk.edu

Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication
http://reading.indiana.edu/

Commission on Adult Basic Education, Inc. (COABE)
http://www.coabe.org/

Community Partnerships for Adult Learning (C-PAL)
http://www.c-pal.net/

Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
http://www.caalusa.org

The Educator's Reference Desk
http://www.eduref.org/

Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy & Goodling Institute
http://www.ed.psu.edu/isal

International Reading Association
http://www.reading.org

Learning Disabilities of America, Inc.
http://www.ldanatl.org/

NALS Synthetic Estimates of Adult Literacy
http://www.casas.org/lit/litcode/

National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center
http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/

National Alliance of Urban Literacy Coalitions
http://www.naulc.org/

National Center for Family Literacy
http://famlit.org/

National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy
http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~ncsall/

National Center on Adult Literacy
http://ncal.literacy.upenn.edu/

National Council of State Directors of Adult Education
http://www.naepdc.org

National Institute for Literacy
http://novel.nifl.gov/

National Institute for Literacy's LINCS
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/search/search.html

Pfizer's Partnership for Clear Health Communication
http://www.askme3.org/

SCALE Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education
http://www.readwriteact.org

TESOL Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
http://www.tesol.org

Thinkfinity
http://www.thinkfinity.org/

United Way of America
http://national.unitedway.org/

U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/

U.S. Office of Vocational and Adult Education
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/index.html

Voice for Adult Literacy United for Education (VALUE)
http://literacynet.org/value/

World Education
http://www.worlded.org