A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

       FOR RELEASE                                        Contact: David Thomas     August 20, 1996                                             (202) 401-1576

Harvard University, World Education Selected for New Center on Adult Learning and Literacy

The mission of the center will be to improve the quality of educational programs that serve adults. The focus will be on adults who score in the two lowest of the five levels of literacy skill as measured by the National Adult Literacy Survey, and on those who do not speak English or do not have a high school diploma.

"An estimated 90 million Americans fall within this target group." Riley said. "These are men and women whose opportunities are often severely limited by their lack of solid reading and math skills. How can we most effectively reach out and give them a hand up?"

The Education Department's Office of Educational Research and Improvement is funding the center, with $2.5 million in fiscal year 1996 and an anticipated total of $12.5 million over the next five years.

The center will provide practical advice to teachers, tutors, and adult education leaders who are working to improve literacy in local communities throughout America. It also will constantly seek advice about what works and what issues need to be addressed by involving adult learners, practitioners from local communities, and local, state and national leaders in this important field. This agenda will advance theory and produce concrete steps to improve adult instruction and learning.

The proposed research of the center was developed from the input of 450 adult learning and literacy practitioners from around the country.

The agenda focuses on four main questions:

How can the motivation of individual adult learners be sustained and enhanced?

How can classroom practice be improved?

How can staff development more effectively serve adult learning and literacy programs?

What impact does participation in adult learning and literacy programs have on an adult's life and how can this impact be assessed effectively?

The center will have an extensive dissemination system of national publications, electronic news and discussion, and a practitioner network.

The new research center will be a collaboration between the Harvard Graduate School of Education, which has an international reputation for excellence in educational research, and World Education, a nonprofit agency known for its work in improving practices in adult learning and literacy programs. The University of Tennessee's Center for Literacy Studies will be a partner in the work of the center.

John P. Comings, Harvard Graduate School of Education, has been named director the center. He will be assisted by Cristine A. Smith , World Education, and Mary Beth Bingman, University of Tennessee.

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