This tip sheet has been developed to assist libraries with the Minimum Standards for Rhode Island Public Libraries.

Standard 40: The library supports adult new readers, providing access to specialized collections, referrals to literacy programs, and other services to meet local needs.

What is Adult Education?

• Adult Basic Education
• High School Graduation/Equivalency
• English as a Second Language
• Vocational/Worksite Training
• Citizenship Training

Adult Education enables persons above the age of mandatory school attendance to acquire the basic knowledge and skills needed to become informed, responsible and productive citizens. This is accomplished through programs, courses of study, training, instruction and other learning, experiences, and counseling and other services. Services are tailored to the needs of adult learners. In RI, over 100 programs provide group study, individual teaching or tutoring, and computer-assisted education located in schools and libraries, community-based organizations, community centers, and workplaces. LVA-RI lists the programs through its website.

From an Adult Education Fact Sheet compiled by a RIALC member

• Research shows that less than half of all preschoolers are read to daily. This has a direct effect on a child’s reading ability. The educational level of the parent indicates the educational level the child will reach. If parents do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent by age 25, their children are likely to be raised in poverty.
• Over 100,000 Rhode Islanders are foreign-born with 5,000 new immigrants arriving each year. About 40% of recent immigrants have great difficulty reading and writing in English.
• 76% of the people who are unemployed lack basic literacy skills. Even with high unemployment, American industry cannot find enough employees with basic skills to fill empty positions. 43% of Rhode Islanders rank in the lowest levels of literacy which is much lower than the level needed to compete in today’s global economy. High school dropouts earn an average of $6,000 less per year than those who complete high school. In lifetime earnings, that represents a $2 billion loss to them and also to the state’s economy.

Literacy Organizations in Rhode Island

• Literacy Resources/Rhode Island (LR/RI)
  http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/
  Established in February 1997, to expand existing capacity of Rhode Island’s adult education community, increase educators’ and learners’ capacity to use and interact with on-line technology, and assist in improving delivery of services to adult learners, thereby strengthening adult education provisions across the state. LR/RI is practitioner driven.
  
  
  • Includes advocacy and legislative activity such as RI’s adult education plan
  • Includes Standards in the state.
  • Includes Adult Learners’ Bill of Rights legislation passed in 1999.
  • Includes bi-weekly bulletin to inform practitioners of news, events and a call for participation.


• Rhode Island Adult Literacy Council (RIALC)
  http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/
  The Council was formed in August 1983 to coordinate public awareness efforts in support of adult literacy activities. In 1984, Governor J. Joseph Garrahy officially established the council as a subcommittee of the Rhode Island Education Commission. Membership is open to all individuals and organizations who share in the state purposes of the Council.
• Rhode Island Adult Education Commission
  A commission appointed by the governor, composed of representatives of the state legislature, the education community, learners receiving services, businesses, libraries, state departments, and organized labor. Established in 1979, the Commission advises the governor and other officials on the implementation of the state plan for education, ensures that adult education laws in RI are adequate, promotes the development of programs and services, and studies delivery of adult education in RI.
  
  For more information, call 222-2708.
• Literacy Volunteers of America-Rhode Island, Inc. (LVA-RI)
  http://www.lvari.org/
  LVA-RI provides support services to local Literacy Volunteers of America affiliate programs which provide individual and small group tutoring in Basic Literacy or conversational English to adults. LVA-RI also provides statewide literacy information and referral services, and sponsors adult education staff development events and activities.
  • Includes the Directory of Adult Literacy Programs in Rhode Island.
  • Includes LVA-RI affiliates are located in libraries and other public buildings. On the LVA-RI homepage, go to LVA-RI Community Affiliates.
  • Includes information on becoming a tutor. On the homepage, go to Becoming a tutor.
  • Includes information on special events such as conferences. On the homepage, go to Upcoming Training & Events.


• Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative: Family Literacy Programs
  This program is a statewide collaboration between seven public libraries - Coventry Public, Cranston Public, East Providence Public, Pawtucket Public, George Hail Free Library in Warren and West Warwick Public. Its mission is to provide learner-centered literacy programming for Rhode Island families facing social, economic, and educational barriers because of limited English language skills.
  
  For more information, call the Providence Public Library, Family Literacy Programs at 455-8041. A website is under construction.

Regional/National Literacy Organizations

• Literacy in Libraries Across America
  http://www.ala.org/literacy/
  An initiative of the American Library Association and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, it is a $4 million, three-year national initiative designed to strengthen library-based adult literacy programs.
  Includes curriculum and instruction, technology, assessment, tutor issues and learner issues.
• The Adult Literacy Resource Institute (A.L.R.I.)
  http://alri.org/
  A.L.R.I. is a program and staff development center for adult literacy/basic education and English for speakers of other languages programs in the Greater Boston area. It is part of the Graduate College of Education at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
  
  
  • Includes curriculum resources ( go to Services, Library)
  • Includes link to the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)

For more information contact:

Ann Piascik, 222-5776