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Eight of the thirteen chapters describe investigations of adults' literacy skills based on analyses of the National Adult Literacy Survey. The studies describe how work contributes to literacy, associations between literacy skills and reading practices, reciprocal effects of education and literacy, gender differences in literacy abilities, the relationship between literacy and voting behavior, the literacy skills of adults having one or more learning disabilities, and the construct validity of the NALS. One chapter summarizes the major findings of the NALS and another discusses federal educational policies that shaped the NALS. Two additional chapters describe research programs pertaining to dimensions of literacy that are significant to a more comprehensive understanding of literacy in the United States: family literacy education and health care.
The National Adult Literacy Survey has provided literacy researchers and practitioners with a wealth of knowledge about American adults' literacy proficiencies.
Literacy for the 21st Century was developed with the idea that the NALS contains useful information to inform public educational policy, suggest new directions for literacy research, and assist in adult literacy education program development. The ideas presented in this book should enable policymakers, social leaders, and educators to more fully consider national assessment data, thereby prompting actions necessary to enable all citizens to achieve greater opportunities in their work and lives.
List of contents
Foreword by Paul Simon
Issues in Adult LiteracyIntroduction: Adult Literacy Research and the National Adult Literacy Survey by M Cecil Smith and Stephen Reder
Literacy in America: A Brief Overview of the NALS by Irwin S. Kirsch
Adult Education and Literacy Public Policy: What It Is and How It Is Shaped by Alice Johnson and Andrew Hartman
Dimensionality and Construct Validity of the NALS Assessment by Stephen Reder
The Contexts of Adult LiteracyWork, School, and Literacy by Jeremy D. Finn and Susan B. Gerber
Adults' Reading Practices and Their Associations with Literacy Proficiencies by M Cecil Smith and Janet K. Sheehan
Literacy Gender Gaps: Evidence from the NALS by Lynn Friedman and Ernest Deavenport
Literacy Habits and Political Participation by Richard L. Venezky and David Kaplan
Community College Literacy: Is the Middle Right? by Joseph Howard and Wayne S. Obetz
Literacy Selection and Literacy Development: Structural Equation Models of the Reciprocal Effects of Education and Literacy by Stephen Reder
Literacy Proficiency among Adults with Self-Reported Learning Disabilities by Susan A. Vogel and Stephen Reder
Broader Perspectives in Adult LiteracyFamily Literacy and Adult Education: Project FLAME by Flora V. Rodríguez-Brown and Maureen A. Meehan
Adult Literacy and Health Care by Joanne R. Nurss
Index
About the author
M Cecil Smith is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, Northern Illinois University.
