Greg: Below is an online syllabus of reports of mine that might be of
interest in your search for important figures in adult literacy education.
See especially reports 1.1, 3.2, and 4.3 for major contributors to some of
the major to adult literacy education. Happy name hunting! Tom Sticht

Adult Education and Literacy in the United States:
A Syllabus and Resources for an Online Course of Self-Study

Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education

Each year many people start work in adult education and literacy development
without much background in the field. Others who have worked in the field
for a while may wish to deepen their knowledge of the field. To give people
a chance to learn more about the field and its history, policies, practices
and issues that it deals with I have developed this syllabus for
self-study. It provides guidance to 12 reports of mine which are available
for free downloading online. Reading one report a week will provide a one
semester, 12 week course of self-study. Except for number 1.1, these
resources are located online at www.nald.ca at the Library pages for the
site. To find any of these resources use the links provided below or search
the www.nald.ca Library or use the about.com links (see above).

NOTE: The syllabus is now available online at
http://adulted.about.com/od/adultbasiceducation/a/sticht.htm and you can
click on titles of reports to download. A brief bio is also at
http://adulted.about.com/od/adultbasiceducation/a/sticht_3.htm

The online syllabus, links, and bio are courtesy of Kimeiko Hotta Dover
About Adult & Continuing Education    http://adulted.about.com

www.About.com  About.com is part of The New York Times Company

Syllabus and Resources

Part 1: History of and Perspective on the Adult Education and Literacy
System (AELS) of the United States

1.1. The Rise of the Adult Education and Literacy System in the United
States: 1600-2000.
A 400 year history of activities leading to the Adult Education Act of 1966
and the emergence of the present day AELS with organizations and
individuals involved in this rise.
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=576

1.2. Beyond 2000: Future Directions for Adult Education.
Looks at social, demographic, science, economic and technology trends with
implications for the AELS; examines government and legislative trends with
implications for the future of the AELS.
http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/beyond/Beyond.PDF

1.3. The Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the United States:
Moving From the Margins to the Mainstream of Education.
Includes the growing value of the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS)
in the new millennium; value of AELS for improving adults' and children's
health, learning and schooling; need for mainstreaming the AELS in U.S.
education; strengthening the AELS.
http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/sticht/AELSinUS/inUS.PDF

Part 2: Testing, Assessment, and Accountability in the AELS

2.1. Adult Literacy in the United States: a Compendium of Quantitative Data
With Interpretive Comments.
Presents a developmental theory of literacy and history of and items from
standardized tests in the U.S. including military tests from World War I to
1990s and all mass literacy tests for adults from 1930s to the National
Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1993, which is similar to the NAAL of 2003.
Presents data on relationships of parents’ education to the literacy of
their children; relationships of adult literacy to occupations; and samples
of pre- and post-test gains for over 30 programs, including longitudinal
growth curves for some programs.
http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/adlitUS/adlitus.pdf

2.2. Testing and Accountability in Adult Literacy Education: Focus on
Workplace Literacy Resources for Program Design, Assessment, Testing, &
Evaluation.
Provides knowledge resources for designing, delivering and evaluating
workplace literacy programs; discusses testing and accountability in adult
literacy programs in the Workforce Education Act of 1998 still in effect as
of 2007; determining how many adults are lacking in workforce literacy: the
national and international adult literacy surveys.
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/sticht/testing/testing.pdf

Part 3: Curriculum Theory With Case Studies of Applications to Adult
Education and Literacy Programs

3.1. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant (1997 edition).
Eight chapters including The Power of Adult Literacy Education, Some
Challenges of Diversity for Adult Literacy Education, Views On Contemporary
Cognitive Science, Introduction to Functional Context Education, Functional
Context Education and Literacy Instruction, and four case studies in
applying Functional Context Education to the design of programs that
integrate (or embed, contextualize) basic skills and vocational or
parenting education (workplace literacy, family literacy).
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/context/context.pdf

3.2. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant in the 21st
Century (2005 edition).
Functional Context Education (FCE) materials available online in several
nations, the Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALL) survey, National Adult
Assessment of Literacy (NAAL) survey, FCE in historical perspective,
(1860-Present) including Paulo Freire and Learner Centered, Participatory
Literacy Education. Methodologies used in adult literacy research for
determining what is relevant to youth and adult learners; five case studies
illustrating the application of FCE in parenting, vocational training, and
health literacy.
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/fce/FCE.pdf

Part 4: Listening and Reading Theory and Practice With Adult Learners

4.1. Auding and Reading: a Developmental Model.
This is the first book applying modern cognitive science to oracy (listening
to and speaking language) and its transfer to literacy development with
children and adults. It presents an early version of Gough's "simple model
of reading" stating that Reading = Decoding + Comprehension (measured by
listening). It provides an extensive review of research on language
development, relationships of listening to reading, and the evaluation of
four hypotheses derived from the simple model presented in the book.
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/sticht/aar/aar.pdf

4.2. Teaching Reading With Adults.
This paper discusses literacy as the mastery of graphics technology. It
shows how the basic elements of the graphic medium - its relative
permanence, its ability to be arrayed in space, and its use of the
properties of light - work together to permit literates to generate (write)
and access (read) massive collections of knowledge; to analyze and
synthesize discrete information into coherent bodies of knowledge, and to
perform complex procedures with accuracy and efficiency.
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/sticht/jan02/teach.pdf

4.3. Seven Pioneering Adult Literacy Educators in the History of Teaching
Reading With Adults in the United States.
Throughout the 20th century both Synthetic and Analytic methods of teaching
reading were favored by different adult literacy educators. Favoring the
Synthetic or "code" methods are  Harriet A. Jacobs, J. Duncan Spaeth and
Frank Laubach. Favoring the Analytic or "meaning making " methods are Cora
Wilson Stewart, Paul Witty, Francis P. Robinson, and Septima Poinsette
Clark. This paper discusses teaching innovations introduced by each of
these pioneers in adult literacy education.
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/sticht/feb05/seven.pdf

Part 5: Policy Papers

5.1. Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy: Investing in the
Education of Adults to Improve the Educability of Children.
This paper argues for education policy that recognizes that literacy is
transferred across
generations from parents to their children. Therefore, we need to have a
much larger
investment in the education of youth and adults who are parents or who will
be parents. Adult literacy education affects multiple life cycles. An
extensive review is presented of research on early childhood education,
relationships of parent's education to children's literacy, parenting and
preschool effectiveness, and other issues.
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/sticht/06dec/06dec.pdf

5.2 Reforming Adult Literacy Education: Transforming Local Programs Into
National Systems in Canada, the United Kingdom & the United States.
Activities are underway in these three nations for transforming adult
literacy education from a variety of disparate programs into organized
systems of education for adults. Activities include: 1. Scale of Need:
determining how many adults are in need of adult basic skills education. 2.
Access to Provision: determining how many adults are aware of, have access
to and enroll in adult literacy education provision. 3. Nature of
Provision: determining the nature of the delivery system of adult literacy
provision. 4. Quality of Provision: determining the need for improved
quality. 5. Accountability of Provision: improving methods for determining
student learning and other outcomes.
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/sticht/reformin/cover.htm

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net