Connect and Inspire
Collection of online communities of practice in education.

Dreamreader
This new and growing site provides reading lessons for ELL students from beginner to advanced. Lessons are complete with written material, audio/video, quizzes, and vocabulary worksheets, and can be completed entirely online or printed out to be completed in a classroom setting. Lessons keep students’ interest by covering a variety of topics.

ello
The English Listening Library Online (ello, for short) offers free listening activities for students learning English. Activities vary and include recorded interviews, videos, animated news stories, games, and more, each with supporting material such as vocabulary lists, captions, and quizzes.

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.

Truespel
This page will help with Learning and Practicing Truespel phonetics. They also have a convertor where you can past words and paragraphs for instant conversion to truespel phonetics.

TV 411
TV411 can help to improve reading/writing skills. Includes topics such as parenting, health and money.

Understanding What Reading is All About: Teaching Materials and Lessons for Adult Basic Education Learners

Vocabulary and Spelling City
Interactive games to help spelling and definitions.

We All Can Read
We All Can Read was developed for adults with very low reading skills. This site offers the first 28 lessons of the We All Can Read online program free.

Fact Sheet: Adolescent Literacy
This 2014 fact sheet details how a majority of students are leaving high school without the reading and writing skills needed to succeed in college and a career.

Improving Adult Literacy Instruction: Supporting Learning and Motivation (2012)
Alan M. Lesgold and Melissa Welch-Ross, Editors; Committee on Learning Sciences: Foundations and Applications to Adolescent and Adult Literacy; National Research Council
This describes principles of effective instruction to guide those who design and administer adult literacy programs and courses. It also explores ways to motivate learners to persist in their studies, which is crucial given the thousands of hours of study and practice required to become proficient. The booklet concludes with a look at technologies that show promise for supporting individual learners and freeing busy adults from having to be in a particular place in order to practice their literacy skills. Although this booklet is not intended as a "how to" manual for instructors, teachers may also find the information presented here to be helpful as they plan and deliver instruction.

Evidence-Based, Student- Centered Instructional Practices
Joy Kreeft Peyton, Sarah Catherine K. Moore, and Sarah Young, April 2010
This brief is written for teachers and program administrators seeking to implement evidence-based, student-centered instruction in programs and classes that include adults learning English as a second language.

Publications for Making Sense of Decoding and Spelling: An Adult Reading Course of Study
LINCS publications for teachers and adminstrators, lesson plans, and learner activity books on "Making Sense of Decoding and Spelling: An Adult Reading Course of Study".

Subgroups of Adult Basic Education Learners with Different Profiles of Reading Skills
MacArther CA, Konold TR, Glutting JJ, Alamprese JA, University of Delaware School of Education
The purpose of this study was to identify subroups of adult basic education (ABE) learners with different profiles of skills in the core reading components of decoding, word recognition, spelling, fluency, and comprehenship. The analysis uses factor scores of those five reading components from a prior investigation of the reliability and construct validity of measures of reading component skills.

Reading Component Skills of Learners in Adult Basic Education
MacArther CA, Konold TR, Glutting JJ, Alamprese JA
The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and construct validity of measures of reading component skills with a sample of adult basic education learners, including both native and nonnative English speakers, and to describe the performance of those learners on the measures.

Effects of a Structured Decoding Curriculum on Adult Literacy Learners'
Alamprese JA, MacAruthur CA, Price C, Knight D
Abt Associates Inc.
This article reports the results from a randomized control field trial that investigated the impact of an enhanced decoding and spelling curriculum on the development of adult basic education learners' reading skills.

Language Experience Activities for Adult Reading Instruction
Dianna Baycich, Ohio Literacy Resource Center, March 2002
If you are having trouble finding good low-level reading material for your adult new readers you might want to try using a language experience activity. The language experience activity is a reading strategy often used in primary and elementary grades but can easily be adapted successfully for adult low level reading instruction.

Distance Learning in Adult Basic Education: A Review of the Literature
Ramazan Gungor and Dr. Esther Prins, Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy
The purpose of this literature review is to provide background information about distance learning
(DL) in adult basic education (ABE), specifically, to identify program design and policy implications to inform the use of DE for GED® students in rural Pennsylvania. Adult educators have long sought to encourage greater participation in, and more equitable access to, educational opportunities for adult learners. This literature review examines how DE can help adult educators address issues of equity and participation, especially in rural areas with restricted educational opportunities. In Pennsylvania, for example, rural residents tend to have lower educational attainment and more limited access to adult education services than their urban counterparts

How Should Adult ESL Reading Instruction Differ from ABE Reading Instruction
Miriam Burt, Joy Kreeft Peyton, and Carol Van Duzer
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition - March 2005

Reading Practices Among Adult Education Participants
Center for Research on Learning, University of Kansas
This study extends the literature on the relation between reading practices and individual characteristics of participants in adult education who have low literacy skills. Reading practices describe individuals' reading frequency for different types of written material, such as books, newspapers, magazines, technical materials, and work documents. They discuss the implications of our findings for educators of adults when matching curricular materials to salient learner characteristics, which could enhance the learners’ persistence and success.

Adult Education in America: A First Look at Results from the Adult Education Program and Learner Surveys (2007)
The AEPS consisted of two surveys: the Program Survey, which collected information about the characteristics of adult education programs and the services they offered, and the Learner Survey, which assessed the literacy skills of learners in a sample of adult education programs.  The Program Survey covered the program year from July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002 and data collection for the Learner Survey took place from March through June of 2003.

Learning to Think, Learning to Learn: What the Science of Thinking and Learning has to Offer Adult Education (1999)
Jennifer Cromley and the National Institute for Literacy

The Relationship of the Component Skills of Reading to IALS Performance: Tipping Points and Five Classes of Adult Literacy Learners
John Strucker, Kentaro Yamamoto, Irwin Kirsch
The IALS is an un-timed literacy assessment containing real-world items embedded in a functional context. This has led some to argue that IALS performance is primarily a function of adults’ life experiences and their familiarity with the socio-cultural content of the items. In sharp contrast, this research suggests that well-known basic reading skills like word recognition and vocabulary play critical roles in real-life literacy performances, much as they do in more traditional academic, school-based literacy assessments. The good news about these basic skills is that, unlike life experience and cultural context, word recognition and vocabulary are readily teachable by ABE practitioners.

Online Communities of Practice in Education
This report is targeted to education leaders and stakeholders who are interested in exploring, starting, or strengthening online communities of practice for educators. It makes the case for broadening educators’ access to and participation in online communities of practice, which show strong potential to support professional learning and collaboration. 

Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic (2012)
Civic Enterprises, Everyone Graduates Center at John Hopkins University, America’s Promise Allilance, Alliance for Excellent Education. Sponsored by the Pearson Foundation.
This report shows that high school graduation rates continue to improve nationally and across many states and school districts, with 12 states accounting for the majority of new graduates over the last decade. Tennessee and New York continue to lead the nation with double-digit gains in high school graduation rates over the same period. The number of “dropout factory” high schools—and the number of students attending them—has also declined significantly over the last decade, particularly within suburbs and towns and in the South, and at a more accelerated rate within cities in recent years.

The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color: A Review of Research, Pathways, and Progress (2011)
The College Board Advocacy and Policy Center
Early in 2010, the College Board launched a report titled The Educational Crisis Facing Young Men of Color. This was the culmination of two years of qualitative research into the issue of the comparative and, indeed, in some cases, the absolute lack of success that males of color are experiencing traversing the education pipeline. These conversations, called Dialogue Days, engaged members of four groups — African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Americans — in a series of discourses designed to get at the issues confronting these young men as they followed or dropped out of the education pipeline.

Six Pillars of Effective Dropout Prevention and Recovery: An Assessment of Current State Policy and How to Improve It (September 2010)
Cheryl Almeida, Adria Steinberg, Janet Santos, and Cecilia Le
This report identifies six model policy elements that frame a sound legislative strategy for dropout prevention and recovery, and it assesses the extent to which recent state policy aligns with these model elements. Overall, 36 states and the District of Columbia have enacted new dropout legislation since 2002. While some states have moved toward adopting comprehensive dropout prevention and recovery policies, nearly all of them have a long way to go. Nearly one-third of the nation—14 states—have enacted no new laws aimed at increasing graduation rates in the past eight years.

The Economic Benefits from Halving the Dropout Rate: A Boom to Business in the Nation’s Largest Metropolitan Areas (January 2010)
Alliance for Excellent Education
This article presents the findings for each of the forty-five metropolitan areas that together encompass the nation’s fifty largest cities, as well as aggregated findings across these areas. These findings are powerful reminders that entire communities are impacted by the educational outcomes of their youth, and they underscore the notion that the best economic stimulus package is a high school diploma.

Seven principles for systematic repair of English spelling, their rationale and how they can be applied (July 2005)
This paper sets out a way to remove the present unpredictability of present English spelling that combines the advantages of minimal change in the appearance of present spelling, systematization by principles, and a phonemic spelling for learners. It keeps accessible our heritage of print, past and present, while matching spelling more closely to the needs and abilities of readers and writers, learners and English language learners, using both visual and auditory reading processes, and improving visible relationships of English and international vocabulary.

In a Time of Scarce Resources: Near Term Priorities in Adult Education (July 25, 2012)
Forrest Chisman and Gail Spangenberg, Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
In a Time of Scarce Resources highlights the best thinking of key leaders in adult education, and prompts us all to focus on the issues of curricular intensity, staff development, and technology if we are to serve the adults who so need our services. This is a must read for practitioners to help us collectively gather momentum, concentrate our efforts, and improve outcomes for our students. CAAL continues to provide important, insightful, and substantive leadership to advance the adult education and literacy community.

Seven Pioneering Adult Literacy Educators in the History of Teaching Reading with Adults in the US (February 2005)
Tom Sticht
Starting with slavery, adult and family education has always been prominent in the United States. This article addresses methods in teaching reading with adults and the prominent innovations in reading instruction introduced by the seven pioneers listed.

Pedagogies of Change: From Theory to Practice
This paper describes the pedagogical approach used by an adult education program in El Paso, Texas that offers Spanish literacy and GED to Mexican immigrants. The paper briefly articulates the theory that has led the program to offer native language literacy and GED instruction rather than teaching literacy and GED in English.

The Rise of the Adult Education and Literacy System in the United States: 1600-2000
In the last decade of the twentieth century nearly 40 million people enrolled in the programs of the U.S. Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS)1 (Sticht, 1998). This article addresses trends and startups beginning with the colonial period through the new millennium.

The Adult Education and Literacy System in the US: Moving from the Margins to the Mainstream of Education (Feb 2000)
This article reviews funding and patterns in adult education in the 20th and 21st century, focusing on societal demographics.

How Words Cast Their Spell • Spelling is an Integral Part of Learning the Language • Not a Matter of Memorization

Functional Context Education - Making Learning Relevant
Functional Context Education is an approach to education that is based upon a cognitive science theory of cognitive development, learning, and instruction. The theoretical framework and the principles for applying this framework to the task of instructional development are discussed in this notebook.

Functional Context Education - Making Learning Relevant in the 21st Century
The concepts of Functional Context Education, developed within the field of adult literacy education, are being widely disseminated on the internet. Several online databases provide a wide range of resources for adult educators and others and include information about Functional Context Education theory and principles for embedding or integrating basic skills with relevant content subject matter.

The Path of Many Journeys, The Benefit of Higher Education for Native People and Communities
Access to quality education in general, and higher education in particular, is key to closing the economic and social gap. Historically, higher education has been the main driver of improved social mobility, personal welfare, and economic prosperity. However, traditional forms of western higher education have often been unsuccessful with
American Indian populations owing to the striking differences in western and American Indian traditions, pedagogical approaches, and measures of success. Investment in higher education, especially in higher education suitable for the American Indian context, is crucial to bridge the divide between American Indians and the rest of the nation.

A New National Approach to Career Navigation for Working Learners
Vickie Choitz, Louis Soares & Rachel Pleasants
This paper details both the inadequacy of the career navigation assistance now available and why the United States needs a new approach. The first section describes the urgent need, which has been exacerbated by recent trends in the economy. The second section showcases promising models of career navigation that have emerged—created by community colleges, employers, labor unions, public workforce systems, and community-based organizations—but remain small boutique enterprises. The third section envisions a more robust national approach to career navigation services for working adults and explores both design principles and challenges. Finally, the paper recommends next steps and federal policy actions that would move us closer to achieving that vision.

How Effective Are Different Approaches Aiming to Increase Employment Retention and Advancement?
Richard Hendra, Keri-Nicole Dillman, Gayle Hamilton, Erika Lundquist, Karin Martinson & Melissa Wavelet
Using a random assignment research design, the ERA project tested the effectiveness of programs that attempted to promote steady work and career advancement for current and former welfare recipients and other low-wage workers, most of whom were single mothers. The programs –– generally supported by existing public funding, not special demonstration grants –– reflected state and local choices regarding target popula-tions, goals, ways of providing services, and staffing.

Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018
Anthony P. Carnevale, Nicole Smith & Jeff Strohl
This report sets out to provide a detailed forecast of jobs and their education requirements for two reasons:
First: The ability of individuals to connect education, training, and careers has become key to employability and to attaining and maintaining middle class status.
Second: In spite of its growing importance, our ability to match education alternatives with career options is woefully underdeveloped.

Teaching Adults to Read
The pack introduces some key concepts on the teaching of reading to adults including phonics, effective teaching and learning, and working with mixed ability groups. It is a rich resource for professional development uses as well as for individual tutors who are looking for inspiration.

Good Practice Guide: Bringing a Social Capital Approach Into the Teaching of Adult Literacy and Numeracy
This good practice guide is based on research by Jo Balatti, Steve Black and Ian Falk, who examined how adult literacy and numeracy education and training can be delivered using a social capital approach. The guide describes strategies to assist vocational education and training (VET) practitioners to adopt this type of approach to their teaching, particularly the teaching of literacy and numeracy.

Journal Writing as a Tool to Enhance Adult Literacy Processes
Vinitha Joyappa
This article chronicles the experience of an adult literacy tutor that uses journal writing as a tool.

To Read or Not to Read
National Endowment for the Arts
This study shows startling decline in how well and how much Americans are Reading.

English Spelling Problems
This website addresses sight words, learning to read, doubled letters, long vowel sounds and other problems.

Adult Learning Activities
This is a free site from the California Distance Learning Project to build reading and life skills in working, law and government, family, school, health, housing, money, science, services, and nature.

Textmapping

Free Online COMPASS Practice Tests

Learning Better Together: The Impact of Learning Communities on Student Success

Media LIbrary of Teaching Skills

Sherow Tutor Flipbook
The Flipbook is divided into five sections: Introduction, Reading Instruction, Writing Instruction, Math Instruction, and Teaching/Learning Strategies. Each section includes guidance for teaching a variety of skill topics.

Left Brain/Right Brain: Pathways to Reach Every Learner
By better understanding our own neurological strengths and weaknesses, we can adapt our lessons to reach all of our students.

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...For Teaching ELL, ESL & EFL
Blog by Larry Ferlazzo with daily tips on Adult Learner resources and websites.

Awesome Stories
This site offers video and text stories on various subjects geared toward adult learners. Users will need to register, but registration is free.

Applying Research in Reading Instruction First Steps for Teachers
This book seeks to build adult literacy instruction of scientifically based reading research and provides guidance on how to use it in the classroom

Teaching Adults to Read
This resource contains research-based principles distilled into a 20 page pamphlet.

Reading Profiles
On this website, five components are presented to identify different patterns of reading strengths and weaknesses: word recognition, spelling, word meaning, silent reading comprehension and oral reading rate.

TV 411: Reading
This interactive lesson helps to teach the fundamentals of reading the newspaper. Students will learn how to find information in a newspaper as well as figure out the main idea of articles.

Identifying and Solving Reading Error Patterns
September 16, 2010