Community Literacy Summit

March 19, 2007Daphne Greenberg, PhDGeorgia State University

Palomar Hotel, Washington, DC

Literacy

“An individual’s ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential.”

The National Literacy Act of 1991

WHO ARE ADULT LITERACY STUDENTS?

We belong to all races, religions, ethnicities, genders, and live in all neighborhoods.

Some of us may be: employed recent high school dropouts non-English speakers prison inmates parents high school graduates people with special learning needs senior citizens

DIFFERENT TYPES OF INSTRUCTION

ESL Basic Skills Functional Skills Pre-GED GED Developmental/Remedial

DIFFERENT APPROACHES

Family Literacy Workplace Literacy Community-Oriented Literacy 1:1 Tutoring Small Group Instruction

LOCATIONS OF PROGRAMS

Community Colleges Community Based Organizations Work Sites Libraries Prisons Religious Institutions Housing Projects Homeless Shelters

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE GOALS OF ADULT LITERACY STUDENTS?

Functional (balancing a checking account; reading bus schedules)

Spiritual (reading the Bible) Pleasure (reading the newspaper;

playing word games) Family (reading to children; helping

with homework) Job/economic advancement (GED;

completing job applications)

Adult Education Target Population

More than 51 million adults, or approximately 23 percent of the adult population of the United States have not completed a high school diploma or equivalent (2000 Census).

women and men are equally distributed (about 50 percent each).

16-24: 29% 25-44: 26% >60: 29%

Findings from the Adult Education Program and Learner

Surveys

Federally funded programs 2.7 million adult learners are

served. On average, learners participate

under 100 hours over the course of a year.

Of those learners, about a third gained one or more educational levels during the year.

Are there significant improvements-pre to post?

Test N Pre MeanPost Mean sig.

Effect Size

BNT 179 30.40 34.46 *** 0.47

WJ Reading Fluency 179 35.20 40.86 *** 0.44

WJ Letter ID 178 50.02 52.39 *** 0.19

WJ Passage Comp. 179 23.51 24.97 *** 0.15

GORT Rate 177 24.32 26.11 *** 0.15

TOWRE Sight Word 178 61.59 64.25 *** 0.15

Blending 164 5.93 7.02 *** 0.12

Elision 163 6.36 7.36 *** 0.11

Are there significant improvements-pre to post?

Test NPre

MeanPost Mean sig.

Effect Size

GORT Comp. 176 15.34 21.09 *** 0.11

GORT Fluency 177 40.86 44.60 *** 0.10

PPVT 165 121.30 126.95 *** 0.09

Sight Word 164 25.57 27.17 *** 0.08

WJ Word Attack 179 14.23 15.52 ** 0.06

TOLD 164 7.96 8.80 ** 0.05

GORT Accuracy 177 16.54 18.49 ** 0.05

TOWRE Phonemic 177 21.81 22.99 * 0.03

Findings from the Adult Education Program and Learner Surveys About 75% of adults who attend adult

literacy programs are unable to meet “a minimum standard for success in today’s labor markets” (Sum, Kirsch, & Taggart, 2002, pg. 11). Therefore, more at risk for: lower paying jobs

and less likely to be offered: promotions

and job training opportunities

Strengths and Weaknesses Deficiency noted in phonological based

tasks Performance on oral language skills

more similar to children’s reading ages, than to adult ages

Poor integration of componential skills Difficulties in world knowledge and

reasoning tasks Relative strengths in sight word tasks

Assessment If our learners are interested, we need

to assess their strengths and weaknesses.

We need to share these results with learners in language they can understand.

We need to work with learners to create a plan that takes into account their test results, AND their goals

All of the above is CONTINUOUS!

Good assessment: Takes into account learners’ goals

- if don’t address them, learners will leave!

Tests various skills- readers with similar scores on a silent reading comprehension test still vary greatly in fluency, decoding, and vocabulary.

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Adult Learners Learning takes TIME!!!!!

- We need to be realistic about goals Many learners attend, stop, and then

come back, or go to a different location

- Therefore, we need to develop strategies that they can use to continue work on their own as self-study while away

Learner Issues

Child care Transportation Counseling

Program Related Issues

Very few full time staff. - Mainly part-time and volunteer.- Very few that are trained.

Many classes involve mixed skill levels.- Problematic for teachers and

learners.

What does the field need? Well trained teachers Ongoing classroom observations and feedback

provided to the teachers Ongoing assessment that takes into account

learner goals and various skills Direct, explicit instruction AS NEEDED in areas

such as word-reading, spelling, comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary

Sequential instruction so that one skill builds upon the other.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Finally…

Denton, Vaughn, & Fletcher, (2003) write that there is a need for “the provision of clear documentation of practices that are research-based and opportunities for teachers to access this information” (p. 203).

Finally…

Instruction should be based on “the integration of professional wisdom with the best available empirical evidence” (Whitehurst, 2002)

Finally…

Voices: Learners Teachers Program site administrators Community needs

How can this occur?

Need time Need support services Community involvement

MONEY

WHY?????????????

Health Workplace Intergenerational Democratic principles