Adult Education and Family Literacy

Resources for AEFLA Programs

Links to other Web pages and publications on topics relevant to adult educators. Click on a topic below to see the list of links compiled for that topic.

---

Assessment | Corrections | Goal Setting | ESL | ESL Bridge to Academics | Disabled / Learning Disabled | Math | Reading | EL/Civics | Health | History | Money | Parents/Children | Work | Technology | Newspapers/Current Events | Writing | Program Management | Retention | Workplace/Workforce | Post Secondary Transition | Professional Development | Youth in Adult Education | Literacy

---

Assessment

• Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles
  This website is a NIFL initiative, based on the Adult Reading Component Study, a NCSALL study that assessed the reading of 955 adult learners. Researchers tested participants individually on eleven skills (components) that contribute to reading ability. A list of scores for each learner became that individual's reading profile, illustrating his or her strengths and instructional needs. On this website, 569 Adult Basic Education (ABE) learners from the ARCS are grouped into 11 profiles. Each profile group shows a distinctive pattern and/or level of reading component skills. You can enter scores for your learner and be matched to one of the 11 ARCS-based profiles. You will find suggestions for instruction as well as information about the ARCS learners in this group that may relate to your learner. Although you will find enough information on the "Match A Profile" track to understand your learner's reading profile, the "Mini-Course" offers an opportunity to learn more about reading. You will find extensive information on the major reading components and assessment as well as sections containing references and downloadable resources. 
   
• LaRue Reading Skills Assessment for Pre-literate Students
  An assessment to help determine which skills need to be taught next, and whether a pre-literate student has the literacy skills needed to join a mainstream ESL class.

Goal Setting

• Adult Learner Goals Toolkit (pdf)
   
• Activities from the Goals Toolkit (All) (word)
   
• Activities from the Goals Toolkit (word)
 
• Our Language Goals (2 p.)
• Our Learning Goals (2 p.)
• What Are My Goals (4 p.)
• Goal-Setting Form (1 p.)
• Reading Goals Self-Assessment (1 p.)
• Writing Goals Self-Assessment (1 p.)
• Math Goals Self-Assessment (1 p.)
• Goals Self-Assessment (1 p.)
• My Goal Setting Interview (5 p.)
• Steps to My Goal (1 p.)
• Pulling Forward-Pushing Back (1 p.)
• Before and After I Reach My Goal (1 p.)
• Self-Assessment-Using English for My Telephoning Needs (1 p.)
• My Goals: Planning, Monitoring and Assessing (3 p.)
• AEFLA Goals Progress Record (1 p.)
• Teacher Evaluation of Learner Goal Work (1 p.)
• Basketball Goal Activity (1 p.)
• SPL 6 Advanced Learner Goals Worksheet (3 p.)
• SPL 6 Advanced Learner Goals Class Profile (3 p.)
   
• Goal Setting (pdf)
  Equipped for the Future (EFF) Hot Topics, Spring 2001.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Corrections

• Correctional Education: Assessing the Status of Prison Programs and Information Needs (pdf)
  MPR Associates; U.S. Dept. of Education, 2004.
  Drawing on existing federal data sources, this report presents indicators on the scale and effectiveness of correctional education programs offered in federal and state prisons. Documenting trends in inmate access to instructional programs, the characteristics of participants and the outcomes of program participants, each indicator is intended to provide readers with an understanding of the status of correctional education programs today and the context in which they are evolving.
   
• Corrections Education
  The September 2005 issue of NCSALL's Focus on Basics.
   
• Literacy Behind Prison Walls: Profiles of the Prison Population from the National Adult Literacy Survey (pdf)
  National Center for Education Statistics, 1994.
  This is one in a series of reports that look at the results of the National Adult Literacy Survey.  Provides an in-depth look at the literacy skills of prisoners incarcerated in state and federal prisons.
  Link to Executive Summary
   
• The Power of Work: The Center for Employment Opportunities Comprehensive Prisoner Reentry Program (pdf)
  Discusses the link between unemployment and recidivism. the four phases of the CEO reentry program; with case studies to illustrate early examples of how CEO’s model is being replicated and adapted.
  Link to online summary of the document
   
• Reentry Partnerships: a Guide for States & Faith-Based and Community Organizations (pdf)
  For state government officials and representatives of faith-based and community organizations who want to create and sustain collaborative efforts to reduce recidivism and to help people returning to the community from prisons or jails lead productive and law-abiding lives.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

ESL

• Activities for ESL Students
  This project of The Internet TESL Journal contains quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles.
   
• Cyberstep
  The Cyberstep Project was a multi-year effort to provide distance learning resources for adult basic learners and adult educators. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and was completed in 2002. From Cyberstep's Web page you can link to English for All--a free Web-based multimedia system for adults learning English as a second language--and other Cyberstep projects.
   
• Developing Phonemic Awareness: Resources (pdf)
  Resource handout from workshop presented at Denver/Metro Mini Conference, Feb. 2006.  The workshop introduced strategies and techniques to develop better phonological abilities and sound discrimination for ESL students to help them become more fluent and more literate.
   
• Effective Instruction for Adult ESL Literacy Students: Findings From the What Works Study (pdf)
  The study was designed to discover the factors that help ESL students develop their reading and communication skills. This summary of the study's findings is by Larry Condelli, American Institutes for Research.  See also A Conversation with FOB...What Works for Adult ESL Students, a Focus on Basics interview with Heide Spruck Wrigley, Content Specialist on the What Works Study.
   
• English Learner Movie Guides
  Each individual guide is a detailed synopsis of a popular movie that consists of the following: a summary of the plot, a list of the major characters, an extensive glossary of vocabulary and various cultural references, questions for ESL class discussion.
   
• ESL New Teacher Resource Guide
  Developed by the California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO)designed to introduce the most important aspects of teaching adult ESL.  For California programs, but much of the information is relevant regardless of location.
   
• The Internet Picture Dictionary
   
• The Internet TESL Journal for Teachers of ESL
  A monthly web journal containing articles, research papers, lessons plans, classroom handouts, teaching ideas and links.
   
• Listening and Speaking Activities for Adult ESL Learners: Correlated to the BEST Plus Assessment and CASAS Listening Basic Skills Content Standards (pdf)
  Colorado Department of Education, Adult Education and Family Literacy, Regional Assessment Trainings, 2007.
  This booklet contains 56 listening and speaking activities for use with adult ESL learners. The activities are organized according to the three scoring components of the BEST Plus assessment – Listening Comprehension, Language Complexity, and Communication. The activities are also correlated to the CASAS Listening Basic Skills Content Standards. Each activity in the booklet identifies the real-world purpose, the communication task, and a description of teacher preparation and classroom implementation.
   
• Making It Real: Teaching Pre-literate Adult Refugee Students (pdf)
  Effective practices for teaching preliterate adult refugees and techniques and activities that support these practices. It is divided into sections on teaching speaking and listening skills and reading and writing skills. Includes a checklist of language competencies that learners who are new to the language need to know, a section on teaching multi-level groups, and information on resources that teachers and service providers can use.
   
• Making Second Language Acquisition Principles Come Alive in the Adult ESL Classroom (pdf)
  Colorado Department of Education, 2007.
   
• Out of Your Seats!: Interactive Games for the Adult ESOL Classroom (pdf)
  Out of Your Seats! provides the ESL teacher with descriptions of seven basic “routines” for getting adult learners up out of their seats to practice English in interactive communication. The seven “routines” are: miming, line ups, races, cocktail parties, round robins, catching games and voting with your feet. Each routine in the booklet includes a summary of its primary use, a basic step-by-step procedure, facilitation tips, and suggestions for adapting the routine to multi-level instruction. More than 40 applications for the seven routines are described in the booklet.
   
• Picture-Based Activities for English Language Learning (pdf)
  Miller, Jane C.  Presented at CoTESOL Conference, November 2-3, 2007.
  This booklet contains 30 language learning activities using magazine pictures. The activities are organized by language skill – listening, vocabulary development, grammar practice, reading, writing, fluency and critical thinking. Tips are provided for how to obtain pictures and prepare them for classroom use, how to organize picture files, and ways to incorporate picture activities into a lesson plan. Notes about using picture activities with pre-literate learners, in multi-level instruction, and as preparation for picture-based adult ESL assessments are included.
   
• Practitioner Toolkit: Working With Adult English Language Learners
  Provides a variety of materials to help practitioners begin to meet the language and literacy development needs of the ELL students they serve through the following components: responses to Frequently Asked Questions; a first-day orientation guide; lesson plans; and research-to-practice papers on critical topics.  The Toolkit is a collaborative effort of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) and the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL).
   
• Project Connect
  Project CONNECT is a web site where adults enrolled in adult education classes can practice their English skills and learn about working, studying and living in the United States-all online using a computer with reading, writing, audio, video, Internet and e-mail activities. Teachers can set up online class groups, send and receive e-mail with their classes and review student work. Project CONNECT is password-protected; users must register using an access code to use this site. Teachers will also need an additional code to be grouped with their learners. Access and teacher's codes are available with the purchase of a license from KET, but you don't have to register to view a sample lesson or take an online tour of the web site.
   
• Recommended Textbooks for Use in the Adult ESL Classroom (pdf)
  A list compiled based on Colorado adult educators' recommendations for the FY05 ESL Supplemental Textbook Grant project.
   
• Teaching Reading to Adult English Language Learners (pdf)
  Teaching Reading to Adult English Language Learners: A Reading Instruction Staff Development Program was developed with a federal English Literacy and Civics Education grant from the Office of Adult Education and Literacy of the Virginia Department of Education. The purpose of this project was to develop and field-test a series of staff development workshops to support instructors of adult English language learners in constructing an understanding of the foundations of reading in a second language and appropriate reading instruction for adult second language learners. This workshop series is based on a review of the research literature on reading development among adult English language learners in the United States (Burt, Peyton, & Adams, 2003). The workshops can be tailored for instructors of low-level learners, advanced learners, and mixed levels of learners.
   
• Tools for ESL Lesson Planning (pdf)
  ESL and Citizenship Programs, Division of Adult and Career Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, 2004 (revised)
  The materials in this book were designed for both novice and experienced adult ESL teacher. They were written and field tested by over 30 adult ESL teachers from the Los Angeles Unified School District. Includes techniques and activities that are supported by different language acquisition theories: language as behavior-based, language as transaction-based, or language as structure-based. Several different methodologies are also represented, including the audio-lingual method, the communicative method and the natural approach.
   
• Understanding Adult ESL Content Standards
  Sarah Young, Center for Adult English Language Acquisition; Cristine Smith, National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, CAELA Brief, September 2006
   
• VOA (Voice of America) Special English
  The Special English Web site can be used as a tool to practice and improve American English. VOA Special English radio programs are broadcast every day of the year on the VOA network. Each broadcast starts with world news, followed by a short feature report and a 15 minute feature. Radio scripts from feature programs and the matching audio file of the text are available on the site, as well as RealAudio and MP3 downloadable audio files. Special English has a core vocabulary of 1500 words. It uses short, simple sentences that contain only one idea, in the active voice without idioms. Special English broadcasters read at a slower pace, about two-thirds the speed of standard English.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

ESL Bridge to Academics 

• Academic Word List
  The Academic Word List was developed at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The AWL was primarily designed to be used by teachers as part of a program preparing learners for college level study or for use by students to learn the words most needed for college level study.
   
• Helping Adult English Language Learners Transition into Other Educational Programs
  Transition strategies used to help learners progress beyond adult ESL classes to other educational and work opportunities. (Part IV, Practitioner Toolkit: Working with Adult English Language Learners, pp 71-78)
   
• Textbooks for Use in the SPL6 Adult ESL Classroom (pdf)
  A list compiled for the CDE/CAELA ESL SPL6 Project.
   
• The Transition from Adult Literacy ESL Programs to Academic Reading and Writing: Next Steps for English Language Learners
  By Lisa Gardner Flores, 2005-2006 TCALL Fellow, Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy & Learning
   
• Transitioning Adult ESL Learners to Academic Programs
  Rance-Roney, Judith, National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education (ED385173, 1995)
  This digest examines the differences between academic and adult ESL programs, and it suggests curricular and programmatic strategies to facilitate transitioning learners from adult ESL to academic English or to GED programs.
   
• Transitions
  The February 2004 issue of NCSALL's Focus on Basics.
   
• The World Comes to Tennessee: a Resource Book for Adult Education and ESOL Teachers of Advanced Level ESOL Students (pdf)
  A manual of best practices of ESL teachers to ensure success with advanced level students and strategies on transitioning from higher level ESL to other academic programs.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Learning Disabled

• Accommodating Adults with Disabilities in Adult Education Programs
  University of Kansas, Center for Research on Learning, Division of Adult Studies, 2nd edition, 2005. Adult educators' guide to accommodations, procedures, strategies, and legal information for helping students with disabilities succeed in their classrooms.
   
• Adult Symptoms of ADD/ADHD
  On the Helpguide Web site; Helpguide’s comprehensive articles are developed and reviewed by professionals in the fields of mental health and aging.
   
• Bridges to Practice
  A  national training program that covers disability law and the characteristics of learning disabilities (LD); screening and diagnosis of LD, including discussions of validity and reliability in instruments; choosing curriculum materials for instruction; using appropriate teaching methods; adapting the information from Bridges to other programs that serve adults. The Bridges to Practice guides are designed to help teachers, social workers, employment counselors, job coaches and others 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.
   
• Bridges to Practice Web-based In-service Training
  Free online in-service training module from the Florida Bridges to Practice project. This is the Introduction to LD training module.
   
• Bridges to Practice Web-based In-service Training
  Free online in-service training module from the Florida Bridges to Practice project.  This is the Merging Theory With Practice training module.
   
• Center for Alternative Learning and LD Resources
   
• A Difficult Puzzle to Solve: Adult ESOL Learners With LD
  Article by Robin Schwarz, in NAASLN Articles
   
• Empire State Screening
  The ESS is a brief assessment tool designed to help identify Spanish speaking adults with certain developmental cognitive disabilities. It consists of a series of questions, mostly about personal and educational history, that can be asked by anyone who is fluent in Spanish. Most of the questions can be answered with “yes” or “no.” The ESS is not a diagnostic test; it yields a numerical score indicating whether the examinee would likely benefit from a diagnostic evaluation conducted by a licensed psychologist.
   
• ESOL and Learning Disabilities
  Florida's Bridges to Practice Web site with links to research articles on LD and ESL learners.
   
• Glossary of LD Related Terms (pdf)
  Developed by Rochelle Kenyon, Ed.D. Project Director – Florida’s Bridges to Practice, October 2003.
   
• Guide to Learning Disabilities for the ESL Classroom Practitioner
  TESL-Electronic Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1, (April, 1994)
   
• Keys to Effective LD Teaching Practice
  This resource book was produced by the Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee in response to a need by adult education teachers for information, guidance, and strategies on how to work with adult students who have learning disabilities.
   
• LD Access/AECOMM Manual: Using Technology with LD Adults in Adult Literacy Programs, a Handbook of Issues, Methods, and Software Evaluations (pdf)
  The purpose of this manual is to provide practitioners in adult literacy with practical information to help them devise and deliver literacy instruction for adults with learning disabilities that includes a technology component. The goal is to provide information that will benefit adults who are reading at low levels of literacy.  Developed by the LD ACCESS Foundation and the Adult Literacy Program of the Fisher Landau Center for the Treatment of Learning Disabilities at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM).
   
• Learning Disabilities (pdf)
  Focus on Basics, Vol. 8, issue D, November 2007.
   
• Learning Disabilities (pdf)
  Winter 2007 issue of Progress (Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center)
   
• The Learning Disabilities Adaptations and Accommodations Guide
  A collection of materials with a specific focus: helping teachers, tutors, and program managers understand and creatively use appropriate adaptations and accommodations to help adults with learning disabilities (or the characteristics of learning disabilities) to meet their individual learning needs and achieve their real-life goals, from the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center, 2001.
   
• Learning Disabilities Training Video Series
  Eight 20-minute videos that can be viewed online to train adult educators working with LD adults.  All but one of the videos have a manual and PowerPoint support materials.  From the Ohio Literacy Resource Center and Ohio Dept. of Education.
   
• Literacy and Learning Disabilities Special Collection
  A NIFL LINCS Special Collection that provides access to information on LD issues important to adults with learning disabilities and their families; adult education teachers and tutors; Human Services, Vocational Rehabilitation, and One-Stop staff;  and employers.
   
• Materials from DAS (University of Kansas, Center for Research on Learning, Division of Adult Studies) Free, downloadable resources based on research in education, employment, and quality of life for adolescents and adults with disabilities.
   
• Reading and Learning Disabilities
  National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, Briefing Paper 17 (FS17), 4th Edition, 2004
   
• Reasonable Accommodations for People with Psychiatric Disabilities: An On-line Resource for Employers and Educators
  Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Boston University
   
• Self-Help for Adults with ADD/ADHD
  On the Helpguide Web site; Helpguide’s comprehensive articles are developed and reviewed by professionals in the fields of mental health and aging.
   
• Success in College and at Work: Students with Disabilities Tell Their Stories
  Four 7-9 minute videos that can be viewed online from the New England ADA Center.
  Students with disabilities share strategies to successfully stay in school, graduate and get jobs. Students reveal their struggles with self-reporting their disability, and negotiating accommodations in school and at work.
   
• A Teacher's Guide to Detecting Learning Disabilities
  Handout from the 2007 TESOL Convention; Ellen Lewin, Minneapolis Community and Technical College

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Literacy

• Basic Reading Skills and the Literacy of America's Least Literate Adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) Supplemental Studies (pdf)
   

---

Math

• AAA Math
   
• ABE and GED Numeracy/Mathematics Resources
   
• Changing the Way We Teach Math: a Manual for Teaching Basic Math to Adults
  Kate Nonesuch, Dec. 2006.
   
• EFF Hot Topics: Use Math to Solve Problems and Communicate (Winter 2005) (pdf)
   
• EMPower: Extending Mathematical Power, a Math Curriculum for Adults
   
• Figure This: Math Challenges for Families
  Designed to provide an exciting and family-friendly way to become more involved in learning math.
   
• Illuminations
  Illuminations is designed to provide standards-based resources that improve the teaching and learning of mathematics for all students.
   
• Lesson Plans Page: Math
   
• Math.Com: the World of Math Online
   
• Math in Daily Life
   
• Math in the Workplace
   
• MathIsFun
   
• Multiplication.com
   
• Numeracy (pdf)
  May 2008 issue of Focus on Basics.
   
• SABE Math Bulletin
  The SABES Math Bulletin provides ABE teachers ready access to important statistical and research data, as it seeks to introduce current research, math and numeracy concepts and policies to teachers who are often too busy working with students to search out and digest such works in their entirety. By highlighting key points and connecting concepts to everyday practice, the SABES Math Bulletin links ABE math/numeracy teachers with the broader world of ideas in an approachable manner.
   
• S.O.S. Mathematics
   
• TV411 Math
  Online math lessons in English and Spanish, and math games.
   
• Workplace Math Skills
  Math materials for the workplace intended to help identify training needs and document mastery of the minimum math skills needed for entry level workers seeking employment.  Includes assessments and keys, worksheets and keys, and instructor's notes.  From North Iowa Area Community College, 1999.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Reading

• Adult Education Reading Instruction
  Presents evidenced-based practices for teaching reading to adults in adult basic education and family literacy programs.  The suggestions for basic reading instruction with adults that are presented on this Web site are the result of an evaluation of the research conducted by the Reading Research Working Group (RRWG), a collaborative effort of the National Institute for Literacy and the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. This collaboration is part of NIFL's efforts to provide educators, parents, and others with access to evidence-based reading research, including research-based tools for improving literacy programs and policies for children, youth, and adults, through the Partnership for Reading.
   
• Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults: First Steps for Teachers (pdf)
  This book is an introduction to research-based principles of reading instruction for instructors in adult education and literacy classes. It is intended as a first resource for those with little knowledge of reading instruction and is written with the needs of teachers in mind—those who want to improve their ability to provide reading instruction for adults in family literacy and other basic education programs.  Developed by the National Institute for Family Literacy, 2005.
   
• Creating Authentic Materials and Activities for the Adult Literacy Classroom (pdf)
  This NCSALL publication provides guidance in moving toward contextualized literacy instruction and asks teachers to think about their own practice and to consider what might work best for them. This book is appropriate for practitioners in adult basic education (ABE), adult literacy, family literacy and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL).
   
• Everyday Life
  Interactive, situation-based lessons to teach functional literacy skills.
   
• From Assessment to Practice: Research-Based Approaches to Teaching Reading to Adults, Part 1
  Archived Webcast from the National Institute for Literacy (Sept. 28, 2007)
   
• Great Books: Book Reviews for Adult Reading and Writing Programs
  By the Readers to Leaders Project of Write to Read Alameda County Library Adult Literacy Program, February 2006. Reviews of books that adult learners have read and evaluated.
   
• How Should Adult ESL Reading Instruction Differ From ABE Reading Instruction?
  CAELA Brief, 2005.
   
• Learning to Read, Reading to Learn
  From the Fall 2000 issue of Field Notes by and for the Massachusetts Adult Education Community, or see the complete issue.
   
• QEd: Scientific Evidence for Adult Literacy Educators 
  A five-issue series for the adult education community containing ideas and information from the expanding scientific research base on how adults learn to read. The first issue tells the story of how researchers are applying high quality, scientific standards to adult literacy. National Institute for Literacy, 2007.
   
• Reading
  The May 1997 issue of NCSALL's Focus on Basics.
   
• Reading Skills for Today's Adults
  This project was designed to create leveled reading selections that are appropriate for and valued by adult learners. These materials, combined with the research-proven strategies of repeated reading and guided oral reading, aid in building learners' fluency and comprehension skills. The materials correspond to Casas 200 - 235. This project helps adults become better readers and more informed consumers, parents, employees, citizens and community members. The focus of these reading selections will be on topics such us: Civics, Employment, Housing, Health, School, Money, and Government.
   
• Recommended Trade Books for Adult Literacy Programs
  An ongoing project of the Ohio Literacy Resource Center that began as an annotated bibliography based on recommendations of a group of adult literacy professionals interested in promoting the use of authentic literature in adult literacy and ESL classrooms. In addition to a searchable database of recommended books, this site includes criteria for book selection, suggestions for searching the database, matrices that are intended to facilitate the use of thematic text sets in developing lesson plans, and ideas for using the books in adult literacy programs.
   
• Research-based Adult Reading Instruction
  A NCSALL professional development guide that provides all the steps, materials, and readings for conducting a 10˝-hour study circle for adult basic education and literacy practitioners. The study circle covers the latest research on reading instruction.
   
• Research Based Principals for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction
  This book represents the work of The Reading Research Working Group, a panel of experts on reading research and practice convened by the Institute and the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy to identify and evaluate existing research in adult literacy reading instruction and provide a summary of scientifically based principles and practices.
   
• Skilled Reading: Top-Down, Bottom-Up
  From the Fall 2000 issue of Field Notes by and for the Massachusetts Adult Education Community, or see the complete issue.
   
• Techniques for Teaching Beginning-level Reading to Adults
  In Focus on Basics, Vol. 5, Issue A,  August 2001
   
• Teaching Adults to Read (pdf)
  This Partnership for Reading publication describes strategies proven to work by the most rigorous scientific research available on the teaching of reading.
   
• Teaching Reading Skills: Tips From the Trenches
  From MIDTESOL Newsletter, 1997.
   
• Teaching Reading to Adult English Language Learners (pdf)
  Teaching Reading to Adult English Language Learners: A Reading Instruction Staff Development Program was developed with a federal English Literacy and Civics Education grant from the Office of Adult Education and Literacy of the Virginia Department of Education. The purpose of this project was to develop and field-test a series of staff development workshops to support instructors of adult English language learners in constructing an understanding of the foundations of reading in a second language and appropriate reading instruction for adult second language learners. This workshop series is based on a review of the research literature on reading development among adult English language learners in the United States (Burt, Peyton, & Adams, 2003). The workshops can be tailored for instructors of low-level learners, advanced learners, and mixed levels of learners.
   
• Top Titles for Adult New Readers
  Compiled by the Public Library Association's Adult Lifelong Learning Section.
   
• Understanding What Reading is All About: Teaching Materials and Lessons for Adult Basic Education Learners (pdf)
  This guide from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) offers a set of 13 lessons designed to help learners understand the components of reading that are part of becoming a more fluent reader, and to guide them as they work with the teacher to set their own goals for reading. The lessons can be used as an independent mini-course, or they can be integrated into an existing curriculum.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Special Topics

Links to web sites and publications for teachers and learners on topics of interest for theme-based instruction, life skills instruction, high-interest reading, and lesson plan ideas.

• Health, Wellness, Prevention, Nutrition
  
 
• Ask Me 3
• Assessing the Nation's Health Literacy
  Describes health literacy results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, published by the AMA Foundation, 2008.
• California Health Literacy Initiative
• Closing the Health Gap
• Consumer Health Materials in Spanish
• Culture, Health and Literacy: a Guide to Health Education Materials for Adults With Limited English Literacy Skills
  Developed by World Education in collaboration with the National Institute for Literacy with a grant from Metropolitan Life Foundation, 2000.  To be used in conjunction with the Health and Literacy Compendium (1999) (pdf)
• Easy to Read Health Materials (MedLine Plus: U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health)
• Easy-to-Read Publications (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
• Eat Well for Less
• Eating Well, Living Well: Nutrition Education for Adult ELL Programs
  A project of the California Nutrition Network for Active Healthy Families funded by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Food Stamp Program. The mission of the Network is to enable food stamp eligible California families to adopt healthy eating patterns as part of an active, healthy lifestyle.
• English for Health
  Online interactive activities from the Arlington Education and Employment Program's ReepWorld project.
• EthnoMed
  Contains information about cultural beliefs, medical issues and other related issues pertinent to the health care of recent immigrants
• Family Health and Literacy: a Guide to Easy-to-Read Health Education Materials and Web Sites for Families (pdf)
  This guide is designed to help integrate health and literacy education in family literacy programs.   Developed by World Education in collaboration with the National Institute for Literacy with a grant from MetLife Foundation, 2006.
• HEAL:BCC
  The HEAL:BCC Web site is designed to support teachers using the HEAL:BCC Curriculum, and to introduce others to breast and cervical cancer education materials for adults with limited literacy skills. From this Web site you can get many of the HEAL:BCC materials for free.
• Health and Literacy Partnerships (pdf)
  Focus on Basics, Vol. 9, issue B, September 2008.
• Health Care: Consumers and Patients
• Health Education and Adult Literacy: Breast & Cervical Cancer Curriculum
• The Health Literacy Environment of Hospitals and Health Centers
  National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) and Health and Adult Literacy and  Learning Initiative, Harvard School of Public Health, 2006
• Health Literacy Improvement
  Links to resources from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 
• The Health Literacy of America's Adults (pdf)
  Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, NCES 2006
• Health Literacy Reference Guide
• Health Literacy Resources
• Health Literacy Summit (Feb. 28, 2008)
• Health Literacy Toolkit: Better Communication for Better Care
  Rhode Island Health Literacy Initiative
• HealthFinder
• HealthFinder Espanol
• Healthy Roads Media
  The purpose of Healthy Roads Media is to provide access to basic health information for everyone, but especially for those who prefer information that can be heard or watched or is easy-to-read and those who do not speak English.
• Hmong Health
• How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label
• LaRue Medical Literacy Exercises
• Mexican Culture and Disability: Information for U.S. Service Providers
  From the series Rehabilitation Provider's Guide to Cultures of the Foreign-Born, containing general information about the culture, its values and recommended ways to interact with persons from that culture, by the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange.
• Multilingual Health and Safety Education Materials
• MyPyramid.Gov
• Navigating Healthcare (pdf)
  In Focus on Basics (Vol. 8, Issue C), November 2006.
• NHLBI Health Information and Publications
• NIBBLE: Nutrition Information Bulletin Board and Learning Experience for Adult Basic Education
• Nutrition Education for New Americans Handouts
• Pick Your Path to Health
• Picture Stories for Adult ESL Health Literacy
• Plain Language: Health Literacy
  In 1998, President Clinton issued an executive memo requiring agencies to write in plain language.  In 2004, an interagency task force working on behalf of the Office of Management and Budget called for federal websites to be written in plain language.  The Plain Language Web site provides information on writing in simple understandable terms, including specific "hot topics," such as this one on health care.
• Project Care
  Project Care is a website for high-intermediate to advanced English language learners who want to learn about caring for others while improving their communication with medical personnel. The website provides audio and video for listening practice, vocabulary development, project ideas and links to related-health information.
• Skills for Disease Prevention and Screening
  A NCSALL Study Circle Guide to prepare participants to help their students develop basic skills needed for engaging in disease prevention and screening activities.
• Skills for Health Care Access and Navigation
  A NCSALL Study Circle Guide to prepare participants to help their students develop basic skills needed for accessing health-related services and for navigating health care systems.
• Speak Up
  A patient-safety program with downloadable brochures on health care topics.
• Tools for Instructors: Health Literacy
  Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA)
• Virginia Adult Education Health Literacy Toolkit
  This Toolkit is a resource to help adult education instructors and administrators better understand the problem of health literacy as it affects their learners. Information and resources are provided to educate the educator about health care in the United States and cultural issues relating to health, and to simplify creation of health lessons and curricula for teachers and programs.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

• Financial Literacy, Money Management
   
  • Basic Intergenerational Financial Literacy
    Free downloadable activities for parents and older children from Verizon Literacy Campus.
  • Consumer Jungle
    Consumer Jungle provides consumer education curricula covering a variety of topics such as credit cards, transportation, living on your own, personal finances, telecommunications, and e-commerce fraud. Developed with input from teachers, students, and parents, Consumer Jungle delivers interactive games, activities, and relevant information directly to the home or classroom.
  • Family Focused Finances
    The intended audience for the curriculum is adults participating in a family literacy program. The goal of the curriculum is to increase the participants’ awareness of financial topics. The curriculum is divided into six units developed around the Equipped for the Future  and Workplace Foundation Skills frameworks. Each unit consists of the following: Key Vocabulary; Journal Topic; Activities; Self Reflection; and Interactive Literacy Activities for parents and children. A knowledge based pre test and post test is also provided to determine success. A supplement shows how the lessons integrate adult education, parent education, and interactive literacy activities.
  • Financial Literacy for Newcomers: Weaving Immigrant Needs Into Financial Education
    Lutherann Immigrations and Refugee Service.
  • Financial Literacy Lessons for ESL Students
    A financial literacy curriculum for ESL students, divided into 3 units: Basic Banking Services, Credit, Planning for the Future, and an additional lesson on Identity Theft. The lessons are most appropriate for Intermediate High students but can be adapted for other levels. San Diego Community College EL/Civics project.
  • Hands On Banking
    Interactive financial-literacy curriculum for students grades 4-12 and adults developed by Wells Fargo as a free community service.
  • Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy
    Jump$tart is a national coalition of organizations dedicated to improving the financial literacy of kindergarten through college-age youth by providing advocacy, research, standards and educational resources. Jump$tart strives to prepare youth for life-long successful financial decision-making.
  • Money Instructor
    Resources for teaching about money and other financial skills.  Some free stuff, some stuff that requires paid membership.
  • Money Smart
  • Money Talks
    Managing money and understanding the U.S. financial system are great challenges for newcomers to the U.S., however few financial literacy resources exist for adult ESOL learners. To fill the gap, and place economic power in the hands of students, the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center is developing a comprehensive new resource for teaching financial literacy skills to adult ESOL students called Money Talks. The project will result in an easy to use multilevel, multimedia financial literacy Toolkit for teachers. Lesson plans, materials, and a training module will be available both online and in print.
  • The Money Trap
    Annie E. Casey Foundation.
  • MyMoney.gov
    The U.S. government's website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education.
  • NEFE High School Financial Planning Program
    The NEFE High School Financial Planning Program® (HSFPP) was initiated in 1984 as a public service increase the financial literacy of America 's youth. The six-unit program provides teens with a greater understanding of and ability to manage their personal finances in the areas of goal setting, budgeting, and saving. The program uses unique games, simulations, case studies, and interactive exercises to provide hands-on experience for students to test and apply the financial principles and concepts being taught.
  • Practical Money Skills for Life
  • Project Money
    Project Money is a free service designed with input from adult learners to help other learners. This site does not provide any specific financial advice; the goal is to give students access to information in clear and simple language to help them make their own decisions.
  • Smart About Money
    National financial literacy campaign project that aimed at motivating Americans to get smart about their money.  Includes the basics of managing money through a 10-step process.  
  • Smart Money Personal Finance Worksheets
  • Understanding Taxes
  • Wise Up
    Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor's Women’s Bureau, Wise Up is a program connecting Generation X women with online resources to achieve financial security. Designed for a subset of Generation X women — ages 22 to 35—Wise Up features an interactive curriculum, suggestions from financial experts, and statistVerizon Literacy Campus (VLC) provides four free downloadable activities for parents and older children. cs on women and money.

  ^{| Back to Top |}

  ---

• History
   
  • America's Story
     
  • The Fabric of History
    This curriculum builds on students' interest in clothing and fashion statements by helping them a framework of important dates and events in U.S. history through an exploration of clothing and style in the years 1600-1980. The curriculum includes timelines, pictures, readings, formal and informal writing assignments, multiple choice practice, and suggestions for interpreting and synthesizing new information through visual, kinesthetic, and interpersonal activities
     
  • Lessons from the Holocaust: Educators' Resource Toolkit (pdf)
    Lessons from the Holocaust: Educators' Resource Toolkit
    This toolkit is a collection of resources, ideas, and suggestions for teaching important lessons from the Holocaust adult education students. It provides a framework of facts, readings, photographs, and maps on which to develop your own materials. The Toolkit is designed for educators who want to emphasize: the importance of community awareness; taking action against prejudice, discrimination, and acts of hatred; and social responsibility.
     
  • Oral History Project for Adult Education Classes

  ^{| Back to Top |}

  ---

• Parents and Children
   
  • Big Dreams: a Family Book About Reading
    This booklet from the NIFL Partnership for Reading is aimed at parents of children in preschool through 3rd grade. The simple text provides ideas for parents of all literacy skill levels to read with their children and find lessons for reading in everyday activities.
     
  • Colorin Colorado
    Bilingual web site with information for parents to help their children become good readers and successful students.
     
  • Dad's Playbook: Coaching Kids to Read
    Dad's Playbook tells the stories of 20 dads who are helping their kids learn to read. This NIFL Partnership for Reading publication also teaches dads about the five skills children need to be readers by third grade and helps dads incorporate reading into everyday activities.
     
  • e-Reader
    A web-based service from Aurora Public Library for young children. Children ages 3 and up can log onto the page from home or in the library to choose a picture book site to read, view, or listen to books. Books are available in English, Spanish, French, and other languages. There are four programs to choose from: Tumblebooks (for which the child at home will need an Aurora library card), the International Children's Digital Library, the Story Place, and Story Line.
     
  • Family Links from the LINCS Family Literacy Special Collection
    Links to resources for parents, caregivers, and kids.
     
  • Family Literacy Lesson Plans
    Lesson plans from the Oregon Family Literacy Guide (2001)
     
  • Healthy Start Grow Smart
    Booklets for parents of infants, newborn through 12 months, in Word and PDF and in English and Spanish.
     
  • Intergenerational Literacy Activities Notebook
    The Intergenerational Literacy Notebook is a collection of thematically based activities for adults and their children to complete together. A majority of these activities are designed for English language learners and are life skills based. Science and social studies activities primarily target the ABE / GED learner.
     
  • Literacy CyberSpace: Family Literacy Instruction: Helpful Web Sites for Parents
    Literacy CyberSpace is a Web site for adult students to improve their reading, language, and math skills. There is also information on how to get and keep a job, and ways that parents and their children can learn together.
     
  • Navigating the American School System
    An ESL curriculum for non-English speaking or LEP parents of school children.
     
  • P.A.R.E.N.T.S.: Parental Adults: Reading, Encouraging, Nurturing, Teaching, Supporting Program Guide
    Resources for parents and caregivers to support their children’s early learning by Jane Curtis, M.A.
     
  • Parents and Children Together Online
    Features original stories and articles for children, suitable for reading aloud. A special section for parents features resources on issues related to children's development and literacy learning, as well as reviews.
     
  • Talking About Wordless Picture Books
    Developed by the National Center for Family Literacy, this resource provides guided activities that help parents build and practice English conversation skills. Following the tutoring sessions, parents are encouraged to use these strategies with their children at home.

  ^{| Back to Top |}

  ---

• Work
  
• Idea Book: Integrating Work Skills and Basic Skills (pdf)
  A 207-page teacher-to-teacher collection of communication, decision-making, interpersonal and lifelong learning skills lesson plans by Tennessee adult educators. The appendix includes skills identified in the SCANS Report and information about the Equipped For the Future (EFF) Standards and Framework.
   
• Workforce Education Learning Activities Bank (LAB)
  The Workforce Education LAB is an interactive resource of work-related basic skills lessons for use by instructors in the workplace or in traditional adult education programs and by adult learners. The LAB is a part of the Southern LINCS special collection of resources on workforce education.
   
• Workplace Essential Skills
  24 free online lessons that can stand alone or reinforce skills learned with the PBS Video/DVD/TV series. The lessons are written at a pre-GED level.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Technology

• AdultEdTeachers.org
  A collection of tools for the adult educator designed to enhance and improve instruction, help integrate technology into the classroom, and assist in activity and lesson planning.
   
• Adult Learning Activities
  Stories for adults to build reading and life skills on a variety of topics with online vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, and writing activities; each story has a listening component, some include a video component. From the California Distance Learning Project for Adults.
   
• Adult Literacy Education Software Recommendations
  Free and commercial software list compiled by David Rosen based on personal and teacher recommendations.
   
• Anywhere Anytime Learning
  Massachusetts ABE Distance Learning Project - a statewide partnership formed to develop, test, and document the use of telecommunications technology to deliver basic education to adults.
   
• Basic Computer Skills Curriculum
  Lesson modules covering basic computer skills developed by computer teachers from Adult Basic Education programs in the St. Paul Community Literacy Consortium.
   
• The Beehive
  The Beehive is an information resource provided by the One Economy Corporation, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. The Beehive focuses on life events, and gives basic information on topics such as money, health, jobs, school and family.
   
• CESOL: Computers and English for Speakers of Other Languages
  This Web site is for teachers who are interested in integrating technology into primarily the adult ESOL/ESL/EFL classroom.
   
• City Family Magazine
  Online current events and life skills topics for ABE and ESL learners.
   
• Colorful Clothesline
  An online lesson created to introduce level 1 ESL students to clothing, colors, and color patterns. Students can test their knowledge of colors and clothing.
   
• Computer Classroom Guide
  From the Northwest Regional Literacy Resource Center.
   
• Computers in Action
  Computers in Action is a series of stand-alone lesson plans for teachers using computers in the ESL classroom.
   
• Cyberstep
  The Cyberstep Project was a multi-year effort to provide distance learning resources for adult basic learners and adult educators. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and was completed in 2002. From Cyberstep's Web page you can link to English for All--a free Web-based multimedia system for adults learning English as a second language--and other Cyberstep projects.
   
• FirstFind.Info Library
  Easy to find, easy to use web sites in plain and simple English, arranged by topic.
   
• GCFLearnFree
  Free online beginning computer tutorials and classes; also math and life skills.  In Spanish and English.
   
• Get Real: Guidelines for Evaluating Technology Resources for Electronic Adult Literacy
  Project GET REAL is a state leadership professional development activity funded by a grant from the Nevada State Department of Education, Workforce Investment Act, Title II (Adult Education and Family Literacy). It was developed in response to and cooperation with adult education administrators in Nevada.
   
• Handbook of Distance Education for Adult Learners (pdf)
  This Handbook, developed by Project IDEAL (3rd ed., 2004) is intended to help teachers and administrators design and deliver distance education programs for adult basic learners using a variety of instructional delivery models and curricula. Project IDEAL is a consortium of states working to develop effective distance education programs for adult learners.
   
• Harnessing Technology to Serve Adult Literacy
  Web site to help ABE/GED/ESL teachers and learners use computers, television, audio and video cassettes, and other electronic technology to solve learning and instructional problems.
   
• How to Buy and Use a Computer: a Plain English Resource for Adult Basic Education Students
  Helpful information for ABE and ESL students who are curious about buying a computer. Explains some of the jargon and shows how computers work and how others use them.
   
• Instructional Technology
  Resources for integrating technology into the classroom from New York's Literacy Assistance Center.
   
• Internet Learning Tutor
  Tutorial for understanding how to use the Internet for work and in daily life.
   
• Learn the Net
  Tools for understanding the Internet and Web for novices.
   
• Learning Ladder: Computer Basics Module
  This introduction to computers and the Internet is part of a workplace literacy curriculum for early childhood educators
   
• Lesson Plans
  A variety of ABE, ESL, and GED online lesson plans on the Adult Education page of public TV station WNET 13/New York.
   
• REEPWorld
  A project of the Arlington Education & Employment Program (REEP), Arlington, Virginia, funded by an English Literacy and Civics Education (EL/Civics) grant in 2004-2005. The goal of this project is to provide adult English language learners with level-appropriate, web-based activities that target life skill areas, while also preparing students to use the Internet as a tool for learning and participating in their communities. The lessons contained in this Web site are intended for adult English language learners and were designed with low-proficiency and low-literacy learners in mind.
   
• Simple English Wikipedia
  A free online encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
   
• Surfing for Substance
  A professional development guide to integrating the WWW into adult literacy instruction.
   
• Teaching Basic Computer Skills
  Resources for teaching basic computer skills to ESL learners.
   
• Tech Ladder Certification Program
  A State Leadership project that offers support for improving technology knowledge and skills for Colorado adult educators.
   
• Tech21 Training Modules
  The training modules available here are meant to be resources for professional developers who want to help adult education programs implement a variety of technology-related literacy and adult education products. They have been produced by adult education professional developers. It is the goal of TECH21 to provide these professional development training materials free-of-charge to the adult education professional community.
   
• Technology in Today's ABE Classroom: a Look at the Technology Practices and Preferences of ABE Teachers
  highlights from a technology survey of the Northeastern U.S. conducted in 2003 by Jeff Carter and World Education staff.
   
• TV411
  TV411, sponsored by the Adult Literacy Media Alliance, is an interactive website where adults can strengthen their literacy and math skills while reading about practical topics. The reading level is intermediate to advanced.
   
• WebQuest
  From the Sacramento County Office of Education, these support materials are for adult learners in advanced ESL, ABE or GED classes. The Teacher Page of each WebQuest lists the CASAS, SCANS and EFF competencies or skills addressed by the tasks included in the WebQuest. Each WebQuest includes a vocabulary list and activities to support vocabulary instruction.
   
• WebQuests
  These WebQuests for Adult Learners are online activities which include: an introduction, a set of jobs or tasks, a step-by-step guide, a page that tells the learner how they will be evaluated, a set of vocabulary activities and extra activities to do with children; from the NIFL LINCS Technology Training Special Collection.
   
• Webquests and Webtasks
  Self-directed online exercises for adult learners from the Four Corners Virtual Professional Development Resource Center

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Newspapers/Current Events

• The Key: a Newspaper for New Readers
   
• Learning Resources
  The Learning Resources site offers web-delivered instruction using current and past CNN San Francisco bureau and CBS 5 - KPIX (CBS Broadcasting) news stories. Each module includes the full text of each story and interactive activities to test comprehension. The learner can choose to read the text, listen to the text, and view a short video clip of the story. Each module is designed for ease of use so the learner can use it independently. The instructor can also incorporate any story into class activities and lesson plans.
   
• Newsweek Education Program
   
• Post-News Education
   
• USA Today Education

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Writing

• Making It Clear: a Clear Language and Design Screen and Checklist
  Canadian Labour Congress, 2007.
   
• Memorias del Silencio: Footprints of the Borderland
  BorderSenses, in collaboration with El Paso Community College Community Education Program, is a project designed to bring writing workshops to farm workers and their families.  The objective of the project was to bring creative writing workshops into GED courses for migrant farm workers and their families, with the idea of improving their writing and written skills. The result was an improvement in their test scores, their understanding of literature, and the publication of their writings. This book contains stories that speak of the work in the fields of the U.S., and of conditions of immigrants.
   
• SABES Writing Theme: Websites
  SABES (System for Adult Basic Education Support) is the professional development system for adult educators in Massachusetts.  The SABES Web site includes web-based resources for teachers and learners.
   
• Teaching Literacy Through Creative Writing
  LIFT-Missouri's writing program developed for low-income, low-literate parents in family literacy programs.
   
• Teaching the Writing Process to Adult Learners (pdf)
  Colorado Dept. of Education, 2006.
   
• Writing
  Fall 2004 issue of Field Notes by and for the Massachusetts Adult Education Community.
   
• Writing Instruction
  The December 1999 issue of NCSALL's Focus on Basics.

^{| Back to Top |}

Program Management

• Observing and Providing Feedback to Teachers of Adults Learning English
  addresses three types of observations: formal, walk-through, and alternative. Each type is described, and examples are provided for implementation within a collaborative approach to supervising teachers working with adults learning English. Center for Applied Linguistics, March 2009.
   
• Reducing Waiting Lists in Adult Education and Literacy Programs
  A ProLiteracy project to identify and disseminate promising practices that programs can use to help reduce the number of students on waiting lists. 
   
• Supporting and Supervising Teachers Working With Adults Learning English
  Discusses the knowledge and skills that administrators need in order to support and supervise teachers of adult English language learners and provides a model of collaborative supervision. Center for Applied Linguistics, March 2009.

^{| Back to Top |}

Retention/Persistence, Intensity and Duration

• The ABCs of Retention
  Literacy Basics.  Community Literacy of Ontario. 
   
• California Adult Learner Persistence Project

From the California Department of Education; a Web site that local programs can use for planning change strategies that might result in enhanced persistence rates.  Has both an interactive and a view-only option.
 
• Effects of Instructional Hours and Intensity of Instruction on NRS Level Gain in Listening and Speaking
  CAL Digest, December 2007.    
   
• Helping Adults Persist: Four Supports
  From the March 2000 issue of NCSALL's Focus on Basics, by John Comings, Andrea Parrella, Lisa Soricone
   
• Learner Persistence in Adult Basic Education (pdf)
  
Updated May 2006. 389 pages. This Study Circle guide addresses issues of learner persistence, motivation, and retention in adult basic education (ABE). Based on findings from the NCSALL Adult Student Persistence Study, participants engage in an examination of their own interests and experiences with learner motivation and retention and examine strategies of other practitioners.
Link to Web page for this document
 
• Learner Retention
  Literacy Training Network, Minnesota LINCS
   
• Making it Worth the Stay: Findings from the New England Adult Learner Persistence Project By Andy Nash and Silja Kallenbach. New England Literacy Resource Center, 2009.
   
• Managed Enrollment: A Process Not a Product
  This article describes MiraCosta (CA) College’s slow and deliberate move to Managed Enrollment, including the challenges, successes, faculty and student perceptions, and the retention and promotion results. The article concludes with recommended steps for implementing managed enrollment.
   
• One Day I Will Make It
  The Wallace Foundation funded the Literacy in Libraries Across America (LILAA) initiative from 1996 to 2002 to help library-based literacy programs nationwide increase the persistence of their adult learners, and commissioned a study of the initiative from MDRC and the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. The participating libraries were granted resources to develop and implement persistence strategies that included improved instruction, more varied and more extensive social supports, and technology upgrades. This is the final report (2005). Other reports in the series are:

 
• So I Made Up My Mind (2000)
  This is the first of several reports on the efforts of five leading public library-based literacy programs to improve learner persistence through a variety of programmatic, operational, and support service strategies.
• I Did It For Myself (2001)
  This report illuminates the important role public libraries play in providing adult literacy services.  Improving student persistence is a major challenge.  Program staff must develop specific approaches to improving persistence, must find ways to implement these approaches, and must improve the monitoring of individual progress.
• As Long as It Takes (2003)
  The findings in this interim report are that literacy programs need to build on two types of goals: specific “instrumental” goals to realize longer-term aspirations and broader “transformational” goals that entail major life changes; and that learners benefited from different types of sponsors — individuals who provided and support.  Learners saw library literacy programs as caring and respectful; programs need to preserve this personalized atmosphere while emphasizing more intensive participation.
   
• Pathways & Outcomes: Tracking ESL Student Performance
  Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy, 2008.
  This study’s primary focus was on the persistence, learning gains, and transition to credit studies, and the success in credit courses of non-credit ESL students. It also examined various features of City College of San Francisco’s ESL program that affected these variables.
   
• Persistence Among Adult Education Students Panel
  This 30 minute video focuses on persistence in ABE, ESOL, and GED programs, and features a NCSALL study entitled, "Supporting the Persistence of Adult Basic Education Students." Dr. John Cummings presentation examines student persistence in adult education programs. He presents a working definition of persistence, examines existing research, and describes NCSALL's three-phase study of the factors that support and inhibit persistence.
   
• The Power of a Cohort and of Collaborative Groups
  From the October 2001 issue of NCSALL's Focus on Basics, by by Eleanor Drago-Severson, et al. 
   
• The Relationship of California Adult ESL and ESL-Citizenship Reading Performance to Amount of Instructional Time
  Illustrates the relationship between student performance on CASAS reading tests and the amount of instruction learners received.
   
• Retention (pdf)
  Themed issue of Progress, Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center's  newsletter), Fall 2004
   
• Retention Resources
  Researchers in the San Diego Continuing Education system surveyed high retention teachers and students, and found consistent themes. They established a collection of best practice Word documents that high retention classes use.
   
• Sponsors and Sponsorship
  From the October 2002 issue of NCSALL's Focus on Basics, by John Comings and Sondra Cuban.
   
• Staying the Course: Factors Influencing Enrollment and Persistence in Adult Education (pdf)
  By Michelle Tolbert, MPR Associates; funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education.
  Examines who enrolls and does not enroll in adult education programs, identifies subpopulations needing assistance with basic skills, and describes promising practices used by programs to target subpopulations and to motivate and retain learners.
  Link to HTML version

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Workplace / Workforce Education

• What are Factors to Consider When Planning For, Setting Up, and Evaluating a Workplace Program for Immigrant Workers?
  CAELA FAQ.
   
• Workplace Instruction and Workforce Preparation for Adult Immigrants
  CAELA Brief.  Miriam Burt and Julie Mathews-Aydinli, Center for Adult English Language Acquisition, Center for Applied Linguistics, September 2007.
   
• Work-Related Learning Guide for Family Literacy and Adult Education Organizations (pdf)
  Jobs for the Future produced this guide in collaboration with the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). It provides assistance for family literacy and adult education organizations that are considering ways in which work and learning can be integrated in their educational programs.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Post Secondary Transition

• Adult Education and Postsecondary Success (pdf)
  NCAL Policy Brief, Sept. 2007; prepared for the National Commission on Adult Literacy by Stephen Reder. 
   
• Breaking Through: Helping Low-Skilled Adults Enter and Succeed in College and Careers 
  A multi-year demonstration project that promotes and enhances the efforts of community colleges to help low-literacy adults prepare for and succeed in occupational and technical degree programs. The project is a partnership of Jobs for the Future (JFF) and the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE).
   
• Bridges to Careers for Low Skilled Adults
  Women Employed, 2005.  This 125-page guide provides concrete guidance on how to develop and implement "bridge programs," which help adult students improve their basic skills and succeed in college. The guide contains information and interactive worksheets that program developers and managers can use to help with program design, curriculum development, funding, implementation, and evaluation.
   
• Career Gateway Supports Adult Student Transitions
  Fieldnotes for ABLE Administrators, 2006.
   
• Challenges in Assessing for Postsecondary Readiness (pdf)
  Prepared for the National Commission on Adult Literacy by Daryl F. Mellard and Gretchen Anderson. Division of Adult Studies, Center for Research on Learning, University of Kansas, 2007.
   
• Changing Courses: Instructional Innovations That Help Low-Income Students Succeed in Community College
  A paper that looks at curricular and program redesign strategies being used in community colleges today to speed advancement from lower levels of skill into credential programs and to shorten the time commitment that earning a credential demands of students; presents a framework for understanding the range of experimentation with program and class reformatting and redesign, and identifies programs that exemplify promising approaches.  MDRC and Jobs for the Future, 2003.
   
• College Entry Level Expectations (pdf)
  From Colorado Commission on Higher Education.  Outline of competency categories that parallel college general education categories and Colorado college faculty expectations of all new freshmen students in: Communication, Mathematics, Humanities, Social Science, and Science.
   
• College in Colorado
   
• Colorado College Opportunity Fund
   
• College Transition for Adult Students
  Transition resources especially for adult students, set up like a college campus.
   
• The GED and Beyond
  April 2003 issue of NCSALL's Focus on Policy.
   
• Going to College
  The Beehive.  Sponsored by One Economy Corp., a nonprofit group that seeks to bring the benefits of broadband Internet access to the poor, public-interest Web site with easily accessible information about public safety, emergency services, education, health and economic opportunities.  Also in Spanish.
   
• Helping Adult English Language Learners Transition into Other Educational Programs (pdf)
  Transition strategies used to help learners progress beyond adult ESL classes to other educational and work opportunities. (Part IV, Practitioner Toolkit: Working with Adult English Language Learners, pp 71-78)
   
• Helping Adult Learners Make the Transition to Postsecondary Education (pdf)
  By Judy Alamprese, Abt Associates; funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Discusses the challenges ABE programs must address in developing and implementing transition services.
National College Transition Network
This Web site was developed as a joint effort by the New England Literacy Resource Center and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to provide an online resource for Adult Basic Education providers who wish to implement an effective college transition program in their community. Includes presentations from the National College Transition Network Transition Strand of COABE 2005.
 
• Helping Adult Learners Succeed: Tools for Two-year Colleges (pdf)
  The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, 2007.
   
• Pathways & Outcomes: Tracking ESL Student Performance
  Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy, 2008.
  This study’s primary focus was on the persistence, learning gains, and transition to credit studies, and the success in credit courses of non-credit ESL students. It also examined various features of City College of San Francisco’s ESL program that affected these variables.
   
• Policies to Promote Adult Education and Postsecondary Alignment (pdf)
  Prepared for the National Commission on Adult Literacy by Julie Strawn, Center for Law and Social Policy, September 28, 2007 (rev. 10/18/07)
   
• Preparing for the Transition to Postsecondary Education or Training
  Fieldnotes for ABLE Staff, 2007.
   
• Returning to Learning: Adults' Success in College is Key to America's Future (pdf)
  Lumina Foundation for Education, March 2007.
   
• Students with Disabilities Preparing for Postsecondary Education: Know Your Rights and Responsibilities
  U.S. Dept. of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 2002, revised March 2007.
   
• Students With Learning Disabilities Transitioning From High School to College (pdf)
  Highlights From an Achievement Gap Symposium Co-Sponsored by ETS and the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Policy Notes, Vol. 15, no. 2, Fall 2007.
   
• Supporting Adult English Language Learners' Transitions to Postsecondary Education
  CAELA, Sept. 2006
   
• Transitioning Adult ESL Learners to Academic Programs
  CAELA, 1995
   
• Transitioning Adults to College: Adult Basic Education Program Models
  NCSALL Occasional Paper, August 2006
   
• Transitions (pdf)
  The March 2005 issue of New England Literacy Resource Center's Change Agent.
   
• Transitions (pdf)
  The Fall/Winter issue of Field Notes.
   
• Transitions
  The February 2004 issue of NCSALL's Focus on Basics.
   
• Transitions (pdf)
  The Fall 2007 issue of Progress (Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center)
   
• What Every Student Should Know About Federal Aid (pdf)
  American Council on Education, 2005.

^{| Back to Top |}

---

Professional Development

• AdultEd Online
  Free site dedicated to helping teachers learn how to better use technology in their classrooms or to reach learners studying at a distance. The site provides self-assessments that teachers can use to measure their strengths and weaknesses in these areas. The site also has references that teachers can use to learn more about areas they would like to improve.
   
• Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
  A service of the National Institute for Literacy and the Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee, in partnership with the Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers. The purpose of this list is to provide an on-going professional development forum to build a network of professional developers to share information and communicate fresh ideas and promising practices; provide professional development for professional developers based on needs or interests; and contribute the voice of the field in shaping policy initiatives.
   
• The CAELA Guide for Adult ESL Trainers (pdf)
  The Center for Adult English Language Acquisition at the Center for Applied Linguistics, 2007.
  Prepared for professional developers and training staff to use in training novice and experienced teachers of adult English language learners, this guide contains resources for preparing and implementing professional development activities such as coaching, peer mentoring, study circles, and workshops for local program staff. It also provides information on how to use the CAELA Web site as a resource for professional development activities and references for additional training materials. Topics selected for inclusion in The CAELA Guide are based on the needs articulated by the states that participated in the CAELA initiative to increase state capacity for providing professional development to local adult ESL program staff. The materials were developed, piloted, and revised over a 3-year period (2005–2007).
   
• The Characteristics and Concerns of Adult Basic Education Teachers (pdf)
  NCSALL Research Brief, November 2003. 
  Download the full report (NCSALL Report #26, November 2003, 204 p. (pdf) )
   
• Colorado Adult Education Professional Development System
   
• Discussion on Evaluating the Effectiveness of PD
  The Adult Literacy Education Wiki (The Adult Literacy Education Wiki is a free, online environment for practitioners, researchers, adult learners and others who are interested in the connections between research, professional knowledge, and practice in adult basic education, adult secondary education, and English language learning.).
   
• Does Adult Educator Professional Development Make a Difference? (pdf)
  By Sandra Kerka.  Myths and Realities, no. 28.  ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, 2003. 
   
• Evidence-based Practice: a Workshop for Training Adult Basic Education, TANF, and One Stop Practitioners and Program Administrators (pdf)
  National Center for Literacy, National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, and National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium, 2007.
  A one-day workshop to assist practitioners and administrators understand evidence-based practice and develop strategies for continuously accessing, understanding, judging and using research.
   
• Evidence Based Practice: Practitioner Research Reports
  Literacy Training Network, Minnesota LINCS
   
• Framework for Quality Professional Development for Practitioners Working With Adult English Language Learners (pdf)
  CAELA (Center for Adult English Language Acquisition Network), Center for Applied Linguistics, 2007.
   
• How Teachers Change: a Study of Professional Development in Adult Education (pdf)
  NCSALL Research Brief, November 2003.
  Download the full report (NCSALL Report #25, November 2003, 193 p. (pdf) )
   
• Online Professional Development for Adult ESL Educators
  CAELA Brief, Nov. 2005.
   
• Practitioner Research as Staff Development: a Facilitator's Guide
  Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center, 2003.
   
• Practitioner Research Training
  This NCSALL practitioner research training guide provides comprehensive instructions for facilitating a 31-hour training that guides practitioners through an investigation of a problem related to reading. The practitioners conduct the research in their own classrooms. This guide provides all the necessary materials and clear instructions to plan and facilitate a four-session practitioner research training.
   
• Professional Development for Experienced Teachers Working With Adult English Language Learners (pdf)
  CAELA (Center for Adult English Language Acquisition Network), Center for Applied Linguistics, 2010.
   
• The Professionalization of Adult Education: Can State Certification of Adult Educators Contribute to a More Professional Workforce? (pdf)
  National Institute for Literacy, State Policy Update, August 2000.
   
• Reflective Practice in the Professional Development of Teachers of Adult English Language Learners
  CAELA Network Brief, October 2008.
   
• Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change: Implications for Adult Basic Education
  Adult Literacy PD Discussion List, July 9-13, 2007.
   
• Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change: Implications for Adult Basic Education
  In: Review of Adult Learning and Literacy, Vol. 7.
   
• Tapping Online Professional Development Through Communities of Practice: Examples From the NIFL Discussion Lists
  Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal, Fall 2008. 
   
• What Beginning Teachers and Tutors of Adult English Language Learners Need to Know
  From the Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA)  

---

Youth in Adult Education

• Career Planning Begins With Assessment: A Guide for Professionals Serving Youth with Educational And Career Development Challenges (pdf) 
  National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for Youth, Institute for Educational Leadership, revised edition, 2005. Guide for professionals working with youth and young adults in the workforce development system.
   
• Integrating Youth into Adult Literacy Programs
  April 2006 issue of Literacy Links containing articles that offer practical advice, activities, research, and information on meeting the challenge of teaching youth in adult education classrooms.