EFF Reading Project: developing tools to help adult and family literacy programs integrate research based reading instruction

Teaching Adults to Read With Understanding: Research-Based Instruction with EFF, a professional development course for adult and family literacy providers, is now available. To schedule the course for adult and family literacy programs, contact Diane Gardner (dgardner@utk.edu) at the EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance.

This intensive professional development course is the product of the Equipped for the Future Reading Project, a two year partnership initiative of the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). Further information on the EFF Reading Project follows the course description.

Teaching Adults to Read With Understanding: Research-Based Instruction with EFF.

Teaching Adults to Read With Understanding prepares adult educators and family literacy service providers to integrate research on the teaching of reading into EFF's purposeful and contextual approach to instruction. This approach builds adults' capacity to use skills and knowledge - including reading - to accomplish goals in their lives.

Teaching Adults to Read With Understanding consists of four workshops, ideally conducted over a period of several months. The workshops are two days in length, and the entire workshop can be customized to meet individual client needs.

• Session One, Introduction to Read With Understanding, introduces the EFF approach to standards-based education, explores the Read With Understanding Content Standard and Performance Continuum, introduces the elements of reading examined by the Reading Research Group and the National Reading Panel, and begins the process of program planning using EFF.
• Session Two, Supporting Readers at EFF Levels 1and 2, explores the EFF approach to instruction that is purposeful, transparent, contextual, standards-based and informed by assessment. This time participants focus on beginning level learners, learning ways to assess and teach research-based reading using the Read With Understanding Content Standard and consistent with the findings of the RRG and NRP. Of particular interest are the reading elements of alphabetics and comprehension.


• Session Three, Supporting Readers at EFF Levels 3-6, continues the EFF approach from previous sessions. This time participants focus on building students' ability to Read With Understanding using the EFF Framework and Teaching/Learning Cycle. Emphasis moves to the reading elements of fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.


• Session Four, Putting It All Together, provides participants with an opportunity to refine their understandings of the Read With Understanding Content Standard, the research-based reading elements, and EFF's approach to standards-based education.

Teaching Adults to Read With Understanding incorporates resources developed for the EFF Reading Project. One of these, Reading Research Notes, contains brief descriptions of research findings for alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. A sampler of other resources can be found in the Fall, 2003 EFF Hot Topics newsletter.

The EFF Reading Project

The Equipped for the Future (EFF) Reading Project was a partnership of the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL).

The ultimate goal of the EFF Reading Project was to improve the quality and results of adult and family literacy programs so that parents are able to

• Enhance their own literacy skills
• Develop the knowledge and skills they need to assist their children's reading development
• Advocate for their children's success in school

A development team of training specialists from EFF and NCFL

The EFF Reading Project Development Team used the reports of the National Reading Panel (grades K-3) and the Reading Research Working Group (adult education) to define evidence-based reading instruction. Each report focuses on four areas of reading instruction - alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension - and identifies effective practices for teaching children or adults to read.

The Project Development Team studied how these four areas of reading instruction correlate with the EFF Content Standard: Read With Understanding and with the other elements in the EFF Framework to support adults in pursuing their personal and parental goals. Based on their studies, the Team developed a training model that includes three training workshops with programs over an eight-month period, with onsite technical assistance between the workshops.

To ensure a quality product, the EFF Reading Project identified and convened a Reading Expert Advisory Group and a Practitioner Advisory Group to consult with the development team and provide input regarding the development of the training model and materials. Abt Associates conducted an external evaluation of the pilot project; the results of this evaluation were instrumental in guiding revisions after the initial pilot project.

EFF Reading Project pilot

A pilot to test the effectiveness of this professional development model began in August 2002 with two cohorts of family literacy programs participating. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (Family and Child Education program) and organizations from four states (Delaware, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) were partners in this effort, supporting a total of ten local sites.

All programs participating in the pilot include teams consisted of the adult educator, parent educator, child educator, parent and child interaction leader, and program administrator. Teams worked together to create a program-wide action plan to customize the application of approaches they learned in the trainings. Throughout the pilot program, participants shared teacher- and program-created materials and approaches with each other, and these were collected and incorporated into the final training and materials developed by the project.

Teaching Adults to Read With Understanding: Research-Based Instruction with EFF is the revised product of the EFF Reading Project. To schedule the course for adult and family literacy programs, contact contact Diane Gardner (dgardner@utk.edu) at the EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance.