“The active and open participation of learners in designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating policies and programs – and in lobbying and advocating for literacy – is essential.” – Report on Literacy Practitioner and Learner Visioning Conference

The Big Picture

• There is a perceived need for better strategies or more resources around:
  • assessment methods
  • flexible, learner-centered delivery systems
  • experiential and applied, non-academic learning
  • learning disabilities
  
  
  

• Drawing out those with the most serious literacy issues is a continuing challenging.

• Particular sensitivity is required around the expectations we give to and have of adult learners.

Up Close

The following summarizes what we learned from the literacy practitioners’ and learners’ visioning conference, our two telephone surveys, and our community consultations.

Better Assessments and Research…

• Several of the people we spoke with expressed the need for in-depth diagnosis as to why someone has a literacy challenge and suggested the province needs to develop an intake guide to evaluate such things as hearing, sight, right- or left-brained dominance, etc. One estimated that 80% of low literacy learners are kinesthetic/tactile learners – but they are not assessed in a way that accommodates different learning styles.

• School District representatives told us that there is a need for early assessments, new strategies and measurement processes, and a need to better analyze the reading process. They also said there is a need for more in-service training for teachers so they better understand how to teach reading.

• In one community, an employment counselor described his community as not doing a very good job of evaluating and responding to the needs of those with mental health issues (eg. bipolar disorder, chronic depression, schizophrenia). Those among this group who also have low levels of literacy are particular susceptible to “falling through the cracks”.