National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)
| The pace of change in our civic, work, and family lives requires every American to continue their learning long after they leave school or college, but millions of Americans face barriers to success as lifelong learners. High levels of basic skills are critical, but almost 40 percent of the U.S. adult population have very low skills and an additional 50 million have skills that may be insufficient. Postsecondary training and education are essential to every Americans career, but millions of Americans do not have the high school diploma needed to enter these programs. In addition, the U.S. has a significant population of adults who need to improve their English skills. The mission of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL, pronounced nick-saul) is to conduct the research, development, evaluation, and dissemination needed to build effective, cost-efficient adult learning and literacy programs. NCSALL is a collaborative effort between the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and World Education. NCSALL is funded by the U.S. Department of Education through its Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), and OERIs National Institute for Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning (PLLI). Along with OERI, NCSALL coordinates its work and collaborates with the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and the Department of Educations Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE). The theme that unifies the research and dissemination strategies of NCSALL's five-year effort, which began in 1996, is improvement of the quality of practice in educational programs that serve adult learners. The Center's unique features include:
Every effort made by NCSALL is guided by its focus on improving practice. This priority ensures that NCSALL's efforts and products will be immediately useful to teachers, program directors, counselors, volunteers, staff developers, and policy makers working in or with educational programs that serve adults who score in the bottom two of the five levels of basic skills identified by the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), have limited English language proficiency, or do not have a high school diploma. This encompasses adult basic education (ABE), English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), and adult secondary education (ASE) instruction in the full range of programs, including but not limited to adult learning centers, family literacy, volunteer tutoring, workplace literacy, libraries, and correctional facilities. The research supported by NCSALL builds on the existing work of researchers at HGSE and World Education and at other universities around the country. During the grant period, the Center will establish a network of research partnerships similar to the collaboration between HGSE and World Education. The Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee will be the first partner. Later in the grant period, two new partners in the Department of Educations Mid-West and West regions will be established. The Centers research is seeking answers to four critical questions that emerged as the research topics of primary importance to the field in a study conducted by World Education in 1994. The projects outlined below employ a variety of research methodologies, from classical quantitative and qualitative approaches to teacher inquiry and participatory action research. 1. How can the motivation of individual adult learners be sustained and enhanced? To advance theory, address barriers to continued participation, and develop strategies to build on the internal motivation of adult learners, NCSALL is investigating the positive and negative forces operating on the motivation of learners who are now in programs. This question is being addressed by three research projects. John Comings is leading a study of the forces that compel an adult student to persist in an adult learning program and those that impede commitment to learning. Richard Murnane, John Willett, and John Tyler are studying the impact of learner motivation on GED completion and exploring the links between the GED, human capital development, access to post-secondary education or training, and earnings. Robert Kegan is testing an original hypothesis on adult development that suggests that successful coping with the demands of adult life may not be gained by the acquisition of particular skills, techniques, or information mastery alone, but by support for the growth and transformation of the adult's mind. All of this research has implications not only for the structure and content of adult learning and literacy programs but for post-secondary education practice and for the life-long learning of all Americans as well. 2.How can classroom practice be improved? To help improve classroom practice, NCSALL is examining a variety of questions related to the teaching-learning process in reading, writing, math, and English. This research will provide insights into how to target curriculum, materials, and methods to the specific needs of individual students. NCSALL is conducting four studies that contribute to knowledge in this area. John Strucker is testing a number of theoretical propositions about adult reading difficulties, such as problems with decoding, fluency, vocabulary, or comprehension, that underlie the functional difficulties profiled in the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). Silja Kallenbach of World Education and Julie Viens of HGSE are collaborating on a participatory research project that is examining the relevance of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory to adult learning and literacy. Victoria Purcell-Gates is examining how adults acquire literacy skills outside the classroom and what types of interventions provided by adult learning communities increase the degree of everyday literacy activity. Rima Rudd is studying the impact on both adult learning and health behaviors of using health content in instruction. This study will also examine the links between positive health outcomes and literacy skill acquired in adult learning and literacy programs. 3.How can staff development more effectively serve adult learning and literacy programs? To help policy makers and staff development professionals build effective and comprehensive staff development systems, NCSALL is conducting research on the impact of existing staff development practices. This research, led by Cristine Smith of World Education, is investigating which of the three most common approaches to staff development used in adult learning and literacy systems -- workshops, study circles, and practitioner research -- have the greatest impact on educators. Additional work will review best practices in professional development among staff development systems throughout the country. 4.What impact does participation in adult learning and literacy programs have on an adult's life and how can this impact effectively be assessed? To better understand the impact of adult learning and literacy programs, NCSALL will examine existing approaches to the assessment of outcomes and impact. This research is contributing to the building of an overall framework for defining the goals and objectives of these programs. Mary Beth Bingman and Brenda Bell of the University of Tennessee and Hal Beder of Rutgers University are collaborating on a study that will identify outcomes from participation in adult learning and literacy programs and develop an approach to measuring these outcomes.Using a representative national sample of adult learners, John Comings is launching a longitudinal study on adult learner behavior and change that will examine learner motivation, classroom practice, and the role adult basic education plays in learners' lives. This study will provide an empirical foundation for the development of a comprehensive theory of life-long learning. This initial, four-pronged research agenda grew out of a collaborative and inclusive process. NCSALL is continuing to build its agenda collaboratively through the a National Leadership Network and a National Leadership Group. The Network provides an electronic forum through which a broad cross-section of adult learners, practitioners, administrators, scholars, and policy makers discuss, formulate, and prioritize a research and development agenda that takes into account findings from the Center's research and emerging problems and issues in the field. The data provided by the National Leadership Network is synthesized and analyzed by a representative body, the National Leadership Group, which is also comprised of adult learners, practitioners, administrators, scholars, and policy makers. This Group is connected electronically with each other and with the larger Network. Over the five years of the grant, the National Leadership Group, with input from the National Leadership Network, will articulate a vision and plan for improving the field of adult learning and literacy and help to define the role NCSALL and other research and development institutions should play. In addition, the National Leadership Network provides one of the forums in which NCSALL will explain and promote the role and importance of research to the field. NCSALLs Dissemination Initiative focuses on ensuring that the results of research reaches practitioners, administrators, policy makers, and scholars in adult education as well as in other disciplines. NCSALL produces two national publications. Focus on Basics, a quarterly, addresses themes of critical importance to practitioners, discussing present research, providing examples of best practices, and reviewing materials and resources. NCSALL also publishes an annual academic review of commissioned articles, the Annual Review of Adult Learning and Literacy, which aspires to be the journal of record in the field of adult learning and literacy research. In addition to its two national publications, the Center will also build a national network of practitioners, the Practitioner Network, which will field-test and comment upon the products of the Center and serve as a resource to promote these products within their states. Members of the Practitioner Network also serve as researchers in several NCSALL studies. NCSALL also uses the existing Internet connections of NIFL's LINCS, and disseminates its products through clearinghouses, such as NCLE and ERIC, and through journals and commercial publishers. NCSALL is directed by John Comings, who has 25 years of experience in the field of adult learning and literacy. He is assisted by senior faculty at HGSE and professionals and scholars at World Education and other institutions around the country. This group of scholars and practitioners ensures that research informs practice, that practice informs research, and that policy is linked to both. At the end of five years, the Center will have established links to institutions and practitioners across the country. It will have carried out a cohesive agenda of research relevant to improving the quality of practice in educational programs that serve adult learners and, using an innovative, multi-faceted approach, disseminated its findings widely. In addition, adult learners, practitioners, administrators, policy makers, and scholars will share a common vision and agenda that they participated in developing and will participate in implementing.
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