Volume 4, Issue D ::: April 2001
Current Research in Adult Learning and Literacy
by Jessica Mortensen
Foremost among the goals of both this
publication and the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy
(NCSALL) is to provide information that is accessible and relevant to the field
of adult basic education and by so doing connect research and practice. To
further improve this link, we have compiled the following tables which detail
research projects currently being undertaken within the fields of adult learning
and literacy.
This article represents information gathered from a network of organizations who are affiliated or in contact with NCSALL or whose researchers have previously contributed to this publication. It is by no means comprehensive of all of the research being completed. Table 1 outlines studies being conducted by NCSALL at its partner institutions and other facilities as indicated. Table 2 describes ongoing research projects being completed by institutions other than NCSALL.
If you have further information about studies
which have not been included in the following charts, please contact us so that
we can add them. While the amended information may not be published again in
Focus on Basics for some time, we will be posting these descriptions on our web
site and updating it as we become aware of other research.
To alert us about other projects, please contact Jessica Mortensen, (617)
482-9485 or jmortensen@worlded.org. For more specific information about
individual projects than is provided here, please contact
the project directors listed below.
Table 1. NCSALLStudies
Note:
an * indicates a NCSALL partner institution
National Center for the Study of Adult
Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)
Harvard Graduate School of Education
101 Nichols House · Appian Way · Cambridge, MA 02138 · (617) 495-4843
· ncsall@gse.harvard.edu
- Adult Development - A test of the hypothesis that coping with the demands of adult life requires a qualitative transformation of mind analogous to the change from magical thinking to concrete thinking required of the school-age child or the development from concrete to abstract thinking required of the adolescent. Project Director: Robert Kegan
- Adult Reading Components - A portrait of the instructional strengths and needs in reading of adults enrolled in adult basic education and English for speakers of other languages classes. Project Director: John Strucker
- Learner Persistence - An exploration of the factors that support and inhibit the persistence of adult learners in adult basic education, English for speakers of other languages, and adult secondary education programs. Project Director: John Comings
World Education*
44 Farnsworth Street · Boston, MA 02210 · (617) 482-9485 · ncsall@worlded.org
- Adult Multiple Intelligences - An
examination of how the Multiple Intelligences theory can support and enhance
learner-centered instruction and assessment in ABE, ESOL, and ASE programs.
Project Directors: Silja Kallenbach and
Julie Viens, Harvard University
- Staff Development - An investigation of current practice, best strategies, and effective models for statewide staff development and a study of the impact and cost-effectiveness of the three most common approaches to staff development for ABE teachers. Project Director: Cristine Smith
Center for Literacy Studies
University of Tennessee*
600
Henley Street · Suite 312 · Knoxville, TN 37996-2135 · (423) 974-4109 ·
ncsall@utk.edu
- Assessment of Outcomes - Research on the types of impact that participation in adult learning and literacy programs has on adults' lives, ways to assess this impact, and measures of instructional outcome that predict that impact. Project Directors: Beth Bingman and Brenda Bell
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers University*
10
Seminary Place · New Brunswick, NJ 08903 · (732) 932-7496 · hbeder@rci.rutgers.edu
- Teaching and Learning - An identification of the teaching and learning models used in adult literacy classrooms as part of a wider study that examines the impact that participation in adult learning and literacy programs has on adults' lives and communities. Project Director: Harold Beder
Portland State University*
P.O. Box
751 · Portland, OR 97207-0751 · (503) 725-3999 · ncsall@pdx.edu
- Longitudinal Study - The construction of a national longitudinal data collection structure that follows adult learners over a long period of time to look at patterns of participation, impact, achievement, and factors that lead to successful learning. Project Director: Stephen Reder
Harvard School of Public Health
SPH3 330
· 677 Huntington Avenue · Boston, MA 02115 · (617) 432-3753 · rrudd@hsph.harvard.edu
- Health and Adult Learning and Literacy - An exploration of the mutual benefits of introducing health topics into ABE, ESOL, and ASE classes which will build a focus of attention within both the health and adult learning communities on the value of cooperation. Project Director: Rima Rudd
Brown University
Education
Department · Box 1938 · Providence, RI 02912 · (617) 432-3753 ·
john_tyler@brown.edu
- GED Impact - An investigation of whether or not the acquisition of the certificate of General Educational Development (GED) improves labor market outcomes for school dropouts. Project Directors: John Tyler with Richard Murnane and John Willet, Harvard University
Michigan State University
Department
of Teacher Education · East Lansing, MI 48824 · (517) 432-4840 · vpgates@msu.edu
- Adult Literacy Program Typology - A sorting of the different kinds of
literacy programs in operation across the US that places programs in a framework
and serves as the foundation for further studies of which kinds of programs best
encourage adult learners to read and write outside the classroom.
Project Director: Victoria Purcell-Gates
- Literacy Practices of Adult Learners - An examination of how adults in literacy classes use literacy skills in their everyday lives, the relationship between the degree and type of everyday use of print to the degree of literacy growth, and the types of intervention that might best increase the degree of everyday literacy activity. Project Director: Victoria Purcell-Gates
Table 2. Other Studies
Abt Associates, Inc.
4800
Montgomery Lane · Suite 600 · Bethesda, MD 20814 · (301) 718-3168 · judy_alamprese@abtassoc.com
· www.abtassoc.com
- Evaluation of Effective Adult Basic
Education Programs and Practices - An investigation of first-level
learners' development of reading skills, this study is examining 35 ABE
programs nationally to determine the types of learner characteristics,
instructional methods, and organizational practices that affect the amount
of improvement that adult learners make in their reading skills or
reading-related behaviors after participating in adult basic education
programs.
Principal Associate: Judith Alamprese - Leadership for Program Effectiveness
- A project which will design and test strategies for developing state and
local leaders in adult education. A
part of this project is the Northwest Quality Initiative, in which state and
local adult education staff from this region of the United States are
working together in a program improvement process designed to enhance the
quality of instruction and support services provided to adult learners.
Principal Associate: Judith Alamprese - Process Study of Families that Work -
A process study of Families That Work (FTW), one of the components of
Washington state's WorkFirst initiative.
Abt's study is examining the types of family literacy services that
FTW grantees provide and the types of data they collect in order to assess
the organization, instructional, and support factors that are associated
with grantee's activities.
Principal Associate: Judith Alamprese - Study of the Family Independence (FII)
pilot sites - A process study of 10 pilot sites that the National
Center for Family Literacy has funded to adapt their family literacy
services to address the needs of existing and former welfare clients.
Abt's study is focusing on the strategies that the pilot sites have
used to build and organization infrastructure, develop interagency
coordination, and provide integrated instructional services to family
literacy participants.
Principal Associate: Judith Alamprese
NCFL Contact: Jeff Tucker (see below for contact information)
National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL)
325
W. Main Street · Suite 200 · Louisville, KY 40202 · (502) 584-1133 ·
jtucker@famlit.org · www.famlit.org
- Evaluation of the Head Start Family Literacy
Project - Working collaboratively with Abt Associates (see above for
contact information) NCFL research staff are collecting survey data from
training participants at the Head Start Quality Improvement Centers to
measure the progress toward project objectives and to improve the overall
quality of training for local Head Start providers.
Contact: Jeff Tucker - Impact of the "UPS Careers for Families
Project" sites - NCFL research staff members are currently examining the
impact of the various strategies utilized by the UPS Careers for Families
Project sites to move recipients into the workplace and out of poverty.
These strategies include wage subsidies, work-focused training,
support systems, and transition services.
Contact: Jeff Tucker
RMC Research Corporation
1815
N. Fort Myer Drive · Arlington, VA 22209 · (703) 558-4823 · stromans@rmcarl.com
- Promising Practices Network - A component of
the National Center for Family Literacy's Head Start Family Literacy Project,
(see above for contact information), RMC Research Corporation has been
contracted to develop the Promising Practices Network, which will conduct action
research within selected Head Start programs to document approaches to family
literacy and to provide technical assistance to enhance the capacity of Head
Start programs to deliver high-quality family literacy services and engage in a
process of continuous improvement.
Contact: Sharron Stroman
American Institutes for Research, Pelavin
Research Center
1000
Thomas Jefferson Street · Washington, DC 20007 · (202) 944-5331 ·
Lcondelli@air.org · www.air.org
- "What Works" Study for Adult ESL Literacy Students - The American
Institutes for Research is conducting a major study for the Department of
Education of ESL programs serving adult learners who have low levels of literacy
in their native language. The
purpose of this study is to identify ways in which programs can provide
effective instruction to improve the English language skills of ESL literacy
students. Results of the study will be used to develop indicators and establish
benchmarks of program effectiveness.
Project Director: Larry Condelli
Subcontract Manager: Heide Wrigley, Aguirre International (650) 373-4923
- National Reporting System for Adult Education
- The NRS project will
establish a national accountability system for adult education programs by
identifying measures for national reporting and their definitions; establishing
methodologies for data collection; developing software standards for reporting
to the US Department of Education; and developing training materials and
activities on NRS requirements and procedures.
Project Director: Larry Condelli
Research Triangle Institute
P.O. Box
12194 · Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 · (919) 541-6313 · BGE@rti.org
· www.rti.org
- Implementation of the Workforce Investment Act: Adult Literacy and
Disability Perspectives - An examination of the Workforce Investment Act's (WIA)
implementation from the perspectives of the Rehabilitation Services
Administration and the Division of Adult Education and Literacy (USDOE) and the
ways in which the WIA affects interagency collaboration and the delivery of
vocational rehabilitation and adult education services.
Project Director: Barbara Elliott
Royce and Royce, Inc.
1938
Crooked Oak Drive · Lancaster, PA 17601 · (717) 569-1663 · sjroyce@earthlink.net
- Learning for Life: A Longitudinal Impact Study of Pennsylvania's
"Adult Education Success Stories" -
A qualitative and quantitative longitudinal study of 70 successful ABLE
participants over a period of time ranging from nine months to 22 years. The
study was designed to measure and identify academic, life style, and attitudinal
changes that occurred as a result of ABLE participation.
Project Director: Sherry Royce
Center for the Study of Adult Literacy
Georgia State University
University
Plaza · Atlanta, GA 30303 · (404) 651-0400
- Black Female GED Graduates - An examination of the experiences of black
women who have been successful at achieving the certificate of
General Educational Developmemt. The qualitative aspect of the study
allows the women to reflect on their goals before the GED journey in class and
the reality that they have lived since achieving the diploma.
Director: Joanne Kilgour Dowdy (404) 651-0403 - Linking Low Literate African-American Elderly Adults with Computer-Based
Mammography and Breast Cancer Information - An investigation of the
feasibility and efficacy of introducing African American elderly adults in adult
literacy programs to computer based mammography and breast cancer information.
Project Director: Daphne Greenberg - Underlying Word Reading Skills of Low Reading Adults - A series of
small studies designed to uncover the underlying linguistic, phonological, and
orthographic skills of adults who read below the fifth grade level.
Director: Daphne Greenberg
U.S. Department of Education
Rehabilitation Service Administration
Mary E.
Switzer Building · 330 C Street SW · Washington, DC 20202 · (202) 205-9883
- Vocational Rehabilitation and Adult Basic Education Services
-A
longitudinal study of 8,500 Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VR) clients over
three years at sites in 37 states. The project will test the results of
providing Adult Basic Education services to VR clients.
Contact: Harold Kay
National
Center on Adult Literacy
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia,
PA 19104 · (215) 898-4539 · ginsburg@literacy.upenn.edu · www.literacy.org
- Evaluation of the Pennsylvania Workforce Improvement Network
- NCAL is conducting an evaluation study of the impact of a new
statewide program designed to help adult basic education providers develop a
centralized, market-driven system of services for employers and incumbent
workers.
Contact: Lynda Ginsburg
Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy
The Pennsylvania State University
102 Rackley Building · University Park PA
16802-3202 · (814) 863-3777
- Evaluation of Pennsylvania's Family Literacy Programs - A
multi-year evaluation of Pennsylvania's family literacy programs to determine
the effectiveness of the programs in serving eligible families, building local
partnerships to support family literacy services, and providing family literacy
instruction of sufficient intensity and duration to produce positive educational
outcomes for participating adults and their young children. Results from the
evaluation will guide development of performance indicators (standards) for
family literacy programs and inform Pennsylvania's family literacy program
performance initiative.
Project Director: Barbara Van Horn (814) 865-5876
About the Author
Jessica Mortensen is a Staff Associate at World Education in Boston and member of NCSALL's dissemination team.