Success Stories

Healthy Minds: Nurturing Your Child’s Development.
Zero to Three and American Academy of Pediatrics. Washington, DC, 2003. What do we really know about how a young child develops? What can parents do to best support their child’s healthy development and growing brain? Some of the answers are in this series of Healthy Minds handouts. Each handout is based on findings from a report from the National Academy of Sciences that examined the research on child and brain development to establish what is known about the early years. These hand-outs based on the report were developed to coincide with well-baby check-ups. Thus, two-page handouts (one in English and one in Spanish) are provided for: 0 to 2 months; 2 to 6 months; 6 to 9 months; 9 to 12 months; 12 to 18 months; 18 to 24 months; and 24 to 36 months. Each handout summarizes key findings and suggests how parents might be able to use the research findings to nurture their own child’s healthy development. Handouts are reproducible for nonprofit, educational purposes, provided the content and format are not changed. Clearinghouse at TCALL distributes free copies to Texas educators only. Report is also available online: http://www.zerotothree.org/healthyminds/

Preschool: America’s Best Investment.
National Institute for Early Education Research. New Brunswick, NJ, 2004. Seven-minute video features Dr. Steven Barnett of NIEER in a preschool reviewing the latest research supporting preschool as a good investment. The economic analysis of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40 indicates a 10 to 1 payoff for quality preschool. Other statistics from the study are an eighty percent less likely chance of having been arrested, fifty-nine percent earn more money, and less need for special services in those who attended quality preschool. Also discussed in the video are the “sounds and look of written language” in the pre-school experience and the development of social/emotional patterns and self-regulation. This presentation can be useful in advocating for early education as an investment with economic benefits for society. Texas family literacy educators can request a free copy on either DVD or VHS tape.

Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL): A Research-Based Tool.
David K. Dickinson, et al. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, 2001. Article describes (and includes) the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL), an instrument that measures skills identified as critical in the New Standards for Speaking and Listening (Tucker & Codding, 1998) for children ages three through five. In five to ten minutes and without prior training, teachers can assess an individual child’s current standing with respect to skills that research has identified as critical for literacy acquisition. Skills assessed include language, reading, and writing abilities. TROLL has been used with over 900 low-income children, is reliable, and has strong internal consistency. Its validity has been established in numerous ways; TROLL correlates significantly with scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Early Phonemic Awareness Profile given to the same children by trained researchers. Clearinghouse at TCALL distributes free copies to Texas educators only. Report is also available online: http://www.ciera.org/library/reports/inquiry-3/index.html — scroll down page to find title.

Worker-Centered Learning: A Union Guide to Basic Skills AFL/CIO Working for America Institute.
Washington, DC: Working for America Institute, 1999. This guide outlines the process of creating effective educational programs in response to workers’ needs. While written for union leaders, it includes basic information about assessing worker literacy (a far more complicated matter, the manual notes, than just determining what grade level a person is reading at) and setting up adult learner-centered programs that might be of use to adult educators and employers as well. Clearinghouse at TCALL distributes free copies to Texas educators only.

Health Literacy Beyond Basic Skills: ERIC Digest No. 245.
Sandra Kerka. Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, 2003. The relationship between health and literacy is often discussed in terms of the health-related problems that may be associated with low literacy. However, health literacy is an issue that spans education and age levels. This Digest looks beyond adult basic education to address issues of health and literacy for all adults and educational responses to them.

Stop Smoking Now: Reasons Not to Smoke When You’re Pregnant.
Beverly Hills, CA: The Reiner Foundation, 2003. Rob Reiner hosts this 20-minute video emphasizing the reasons a woman should stop smoking before or when pregnant. Video provides support, guidance, and information about resources to help resist the urge to smoke. Clearinghouse at TCALL distributes free copies to Texas educators only.

Virginia Adult Education Health Literacy Toolkit.
Kate Singleton. Richmond, VA: Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center, July 2003. Resource is designed to help adult education instructors and administrators better understand the problem of health literacy as it affects their learners. It supports creative approaches to helping learners increase health literacy as they engage in sound, productive adult basic literacy, GED preparation, and ESOL instruction. Information and resources educate the educator about health care in the U.S. and cultural issues relating to health, and simplify creation of health lessons and curricula for teachers and programs. Toolkit includes extensive web and print resources, including links to health curricula created by and for adult literacy and ESOL programs, and reproducible teaching materials. Clearinghouse at TCALL distributes free copies to Texas educators only.

Blending Face-to-Face and Distance Learning Methods in Adult and Career-Technical Education: ERIC Practice Application Brief No. 23.
Michael E. Wonacott. Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, 2002. Both face-to-face and distance learning methods are used today in adult education and career and technical education (CTE), and both methods have their individual strengths and limitations. With the increase in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for distance learning, adult and CTE programs use a blend of both methods in order to maximize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages of each. This Brief reviews the literature on combining traditional classroom instruction with distance learning via ICT and offers suggestions on how the two methods can be effectively blended in adult and CTE programs.

Expanding Access to Adult Literacy with Online Distance Education.
Eunice N. Askov, et al. Cambridge, MA: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, February 2003. Report examines the potential of online learning to meet the educational needs of adult learners. It identifies a number of issues central to making distance education succceed in adult education. One chapter explores the state of Pennsylvania’s experiment with the use of distance education for adult basic education students. An appendix introduces Project IDEAL, an effort to create resources for a consortium of states to help them implement and assess a variety of distance education models. Clearinghouse at TCALL distributes free copies to Texas educators only. Report is also available online: http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/op_askov.pdf (Download Adobe Acrobat to view this file.)

Video-Based Distance Education for Adult English Language Learners: ERIC Q and A.
See Sylvia Ramirez and Lynn K. Savage. Washington, DC: National Center for ESL Literacy Education, July 2003. Distance education involves “any formal instruction in which a majority of the teaching occurs while educator and learner are at a distance from one another” (Verduin & Clark, 1991, p. 19). Today a variety of technologies are used to deliver content at a distance including videos, telecourses, video conferencing, correspondence courses, and Internet-based instruction. Video-based distance education is a popular form of distance education. It utilizes pre-produced videos, requires minimal technological skills on the part of the teacher and the learner, and can be structured to facilitate independent home study and periodic one-on-one or group instruction. This brief identifies advantages and challenges with using video-based distance education for adult English language learners, describes implementation alternatives, and suggests practical implementation strategies.

Evaluation of Screening Devices for Identifying Learning Disabilities in Low-Income Spanish-Speaking Adults: A Report to the State of New York.
David A. Abwender. Albany, NY: SUNY-University Center for Academic and Workforce Development, February 2005. The Empire State Screen, a learning needs screen for Spanish-speaking adults, is included as a two-page appendix to this report. Developed as part of a project to investigate Spanish-language screening tests for learning disabilities in adults, the Empire State Screen includes eight yes/no background questions and eleven yes/no questions about the adult’s experiences at home, school, and work. It takes only about 10 minutes to administer and score. Although the Empire State Screen will be investigated further in New York, data collection thus far indicates that the test made the correct diagnosis 83% of the time even though administered by frontline social service personnel, suggesting its potential usefulness in identifying low-income Spanish speakers who would benefit from additional diagnostic evaluation. NOTE: The Empire State Screen is not a diagnostic tool. It is only a screen intended to identifying those at risk for LD and those who do not show signs of LD. Clearinghouse at TCALL distributes free copies to Texas educators only.

How Should Adult ESL Reading Instruction Differ from ABE Reading Instruction?
Miriam Burt, Joy Kreeft Peyton, and Carol Van Duzer. Washington, DC: Center for Adult English Language Acquisition, March 2005. This brief summarizes the research base on adult English speakers learning to read and the suggestions for instructions from these studies. Then, using findings from a synthesis of research on adult English language learners learning to read, it describes how these learners differ from native English speakers, and how these differences should affect instruction.

Open to Interpretation: Multiple Intelligences Theory in Adult Literacy Education: Findings from the Adult Multiple Intelligences Study.
Silja Kallenbach and Julie Viens. Cambridge, MA: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, May 2002. From the Executive Summary: “Introduced by Dr. Howard Gardner, MI [multiple intelligences] theory offers a specific conceptualization of intelligence, elements of which may have implications for classroom practice. ... The overall purpose of the AMI Study was to improve adult literacy practice ... [and] investigated the following question: How can MI theory support instruction and assessment in Adult Basic Education (ABE), Adult Secondary Education (ASE) and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)? It was designed to provide professional development for adult literacy educators and to recruit and support a small group of these educators as research partners.” Clearinghouse at TCALL distributes free copies to Texas educators only. Report is also available online:
http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/report21.pdf (Download Adobe Acrobat to view this file.)

Teaching Style vs. Learning Style: ERIC Myths and Realities No. 26.
Bettina Lankard Brown. Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, 2003. Teaching and learning styles are the behaviors or actions that teachers and learners exhibit in the learning exchange. Teaching behaviors reflect the beliefs and values that teachers hold about the learner’s role in the exchange (Heimlich and Norland 2002). Learners’ behaviors provide insight into the ways learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the environment in which learning occurs (Ladd and Ruby 1999). Over the years, questions about the congruence of teaching and learning styles and the potential for flexibility in their use have surfaced: Do the teaching styles of teachers match students’ learning styles? Can individuals learn effectively when instructional delivery does not match their preferred learning style? Can teaching and learning styles be adapted or modified? These and similar questions are explored in this Myths and Realities.