Community-based Literacy Program Research Articles

Transforming lives through a literacy program: An exploration of adult learners’ experiences

Nearly one-quarter of American adults have low-level literacy skills. Existing research provides a great deal of quantitative information about skill levels and attainment, but little information exists that highlights the contextualized experiences of adult learners. In this phenomenological study, we explored individual adult learners’ experiences in a community-based literacy program. A purposive sample of eight adult learners participated in semi-structured interviews. The study shows that the tutors’ caring and understanding attitude towards the learners, friendship relationships between the tutors and learners, and the tutors’ use of individualized interventions for their learners were vital in shaping their positive learning experience. The study also highlights how the learners’ motivation and support system played in helping them persist in the program. The literacy program transformed their lives and meant “a chance” for making a change.

Building Trust and Cultivating Connection, Leadership, and Empowerment in a Community‐Based Program

AbstractIn this chapter, the former and current directors of adult education at the Arab American Association of New York (AAANY) discuss strategies from their shared process of fostering community, student leadership, and empowerment in AAANY's community‐based literacy program. Amid the challenges for learners and the program connected to the 2016 election and a limited funding landscape, the authors share ways in which students and staff worked together to celebrate, connect, and learn from each other.

Becoming Literacy Leaders: Teacher Candidates Initiate a Community-Based Literacy Program

This paper presents a case study of a community-based literacy program that was initiated by teacher candidates. Program goals, purposes and opportunities for ongoing learning beyond coursework and practicum are explored. Key themes for discussion include: literacy as social and life-long; moving beyond print literacy; capitalizing on strengths; freedom in planning and freedom from assessment; feedback from the community; and, the opportunity to become literacy leaders. Mentorship roles are explored, along with questions for ongoing reflection and conversation.

Perspectives of Five Library and Information Studies Students Involved in Service Learning at a Community-Based Literacy Program

Literacy education may be a stronger issue today than ever for public libraries in serving those who lack access to print and electronic sources because of limited literacy skills. Case studies of five library and information studies (LIS) students who participated in an interdisciplinary service learning course on community service and literacy are presented in this article. The students worked closely with adult learners in a community literacy agency and attended class once a week to discuss their experiences and their reactions to the readings and lectures. Their problematic experiences and insights are examined through sources such as their journals, reflection papers, and interviews. Findings and implications about how LIS students learn about the unique learning and communication styles of adult learners who have different backgrounds from themselves, the ways they perceive the roles of the public library in the lives of adult learners, and for integrating literacy education with service learning into LIS education are presented.

The effects of a community-based literacy program: One-year follow-up findings

Researchers have become increasingly concerned about whether behaviors that have been successfully changed through intervention programs are maintained after completion of the intervention. Project PRIMER (Producing Infant/Mother Ethnic Readers) is a community-based program designed to teach low-income parents techniques for promoting literacy at home. The initial effects of Project PRIMER were that parents who were assigned to the intervention group increased their literacy behaviors significantly more than parents in the control group, and children in the experimental group had significantly higher language production and conceptual development scores than children in the control group. Follow-up data were collected one year after the intervention was completed to determine whether the behaviors modeled to the parents were maintained and whether children in the intervention and control groups still differed in their tests scores. One hundred ninety-four of the 277 participating families were located one year later. Few of the significant differences initially produced were maintained. These results suggest that booster sessions are necessary to maintain changes in both parents and their children. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The effects of ethnic similarity on tutor–tutee interactions

The effects of ethnically matching tutors and mothers participating in Project PRIMER (PRoducing Infant/Mother Ethnic Readers), a community-based literacy program, were investigated. It was hypothesized that mothers ethnically matched to tutors would show increased satisfaction with the program, greater increases in literacy-promoting behaviors, and decreased attrition. It was also hypothesized that their children would show greater progress in conceptual knowledge and language production. Tutors were trained to teach Head Start parents techniques to increase language development in their children. During each instructional visit, tutors introduced literacy tips to mothers, modeled reading, taught an abstract concept, and sang a song with the mother and child. Tutors also took the mother and child on four library visits. Mothers' satisfaction with the tutor was assessed, and their progress was measured by scales assessing reading, teaching, and library behaviors at both pre- and post-assessments. Children's gains were assessed via standardized tests of conceptual knowledge and language production. The results indicated that there was no advantage of matching tutors and tutees on ethnic similarity. The implications of these findings for the use of indigenous paraprofessionals is discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Analyzing attrition in a community-based literacy program

Attrition presents a challenge for research, especially when it affects groups differentially. The present study used the strategy proposed by Cook and Campbell (1979) to investigate attrition in a community-based literacy program. The relationship of attrition to person-centered and program-centered variables, and the interactions between person-centered and program-centered variables were examined in 287 Head Start families. Thus, data from this program were used to illustrate methods for examining attrition and determine its effects. This examination revealed differences among the intervention groups in the pattern of attrition. There were interactions between intervention program-centered characteristics and person-centered characteristics of the participants that could affect the validity of the study and limit the generalizability of the results. Suggestions for dealing with these problems and preventing attrition are discussed.

Workplace literacy program model in an urban medical center nutrition services department

The Department of Nutrition Services at University Hospitals of Cleveland implemented a basic skills development program to upgrade reading, writing and math skills for all departmental employees to be consistent with educational level requirements of the job description. The assessment of basic skills was administered through Project: Learn, a voluntary community-based literacy program. The assessment results showed department-wide average performance scores of grade 7 reading level and grade 3 writing level. The department-wide average score on a grade 6 math level test was 52.5%. Of the 280 departmental employees, 235 (84%) participated in the assessment, and 151 (64%) of the participants were identified as needing basic skills upgrade in at least on the of 3 areas, and 98 (42%) having needs in all 3 areas.