This guide contains strategies to help the reader create effective and accountable adult literacy programmes. The assessment tools in this book will help identify and evaluate the skill levels of learners, make changes to a program based on user's aptitudes and write thorough grant proposals.

For years, educators have turned to the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices (CRM) when it comes to assessment. Now for the first time, the modules are packaged into one resource to help teachers evaluate the quality and premise of their current assessment system.

The Adult Reading Toolkit (The ART) is a research-based resource for adult literacy. The ART answers questions such as: * What does current research say about teaching reading to adult learners? * How do I determine what my adult learners know and don't know? * How do I best teach them what they don't know or what they need to know? * What kind of meaningful or authentic materials are appropriate? * What other published curricula and software is available? The ART includes six chapters covering all five of the crucial components of reading. Each chapter includes key vocabulary, research findings, assessment ideas, instructional activities and decisions, use of authentic materials, recommended curricula and software. Table of contents: * Chapter 1: Phenomic awareness * Chapter 2: Beginning phonics instruction * Chapter 3: Intermediate decoding * Chapter 4: Fluency * Chapter 5: Vocabulary * Chapter 6: Comprehension * Toolkit (chapters 1-6) * Appendix 1: sound pack * Appendix 2: word pack * Appendix 3: sight word pack * Appendix 4: phrases and sentences for fluency and dictation.

Sets forth the definition of literacy and the framework that guided the development of the instruments for the NALS. Contents: overview of the NALS and survey samples; framework development (defining literacy, extending the literacy scales); development of the background questionnaire (scope, and administration); development of the simulation tasks (materials/structures, task difficulty, processes/strategies); state adult literacy surveys (state samples, background questionnaire); participants in the development process; and sample tasks.

Health literacy-the ability for individuals to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services to facilitate appropriate health decisions-is increasingly recognized as an important facet of health care and health outcomes. Although research on health literacy has grown tremendously in the past decade, there is no widely agreed-upon framework for health literacy as a determinant of health outcomes. Most instruments focus on assessing an individual's health literacy, yet the scope of health literacy reaches far beyond an individual's skills and abilities. Health literacy occurs in the context of the health care system, and therefore measures of health literacy must also assess the demands and complexities of the health care systems with which patients interact. For example, measures are needed to determine how well the system has been organized so that it can be navigated by individuals with different levels of health literacy and how well health organizations are doing at making health information understandable and actionable. To examine what is known about measures of health literacy, the Institute of Medicine convened a workshop. The workshop, summarized in this volume, reviews the current status of measures of health literacy, including those used in the health care setting; discusses possible surrogate measures that might be used to assess health literacy; and explores ways in which health literacy measures can be used to assess patient-centered approaches to care.

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) is a household survey conducted periodically by the Department of Education that evaluates the literacy skills of a sample of adults in the United Stages ages 16 and older. NAAL results are used to characterize adults' literacy skills and to inform policy and programmatic decisions. The Committee on Performance Levels for Adult Literacy was convened at the Department's request for assistance in determining a means for booking assessment results that would be useful and understandable for NAAL'S many varied audiences. Through a process detailed in the book, the committee determined that five performance level categories should be used to characterize adults' literacy skills: nonliterate in English, below basic literacy, basic literacy, intermediate literacy, and advanced literacy. This book documents the process the committee used to determine these performance categories, estimates the percentages of adults whose literacy skills fall into each category, recommends ways to communicate about adults' literacy skills based on NAAL, and makes suggestions for ways to improve future assessments of adult literacy.

Advancing Health Literacy addresses the crisis in health literacy in the United States and around the world. This book thoroughly examines the critical role of literacy in public health and outlines a practical, effective model that bridges the gap between health education, health promotion, and health communication. Step by step, the authors outline the theory and practice of health literacy from a public health perspective. This comprehensive resource includes the history of health literacy, theoretical foundations of health and language literacy, the role of the media, a series of case studies on important topics including prenatal care, anthrax, HIV/AIDS, genomics, and diabetes. The book concludes with a series of practical guidelines for the development and assessment of health communications materials. Also included are essential techniques needed to help people make informed decisions, advocate for themselves and their community, mitigate risk, and live healthier lives.