Earning power is directly related to educational achievement. Reading is the foundation of all academic learning. According to the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey almost one half of those scoring in the lowest level of reading proficiency live in poverty (i.e., they are potential or actual welfare recipients). Nearly half of all welfare recipients never finished high school, and many of these people have serious reading deficiencies. Education is their only hope yet they cannot read well enough to further their education or compete in the job market. Special instruction and materials are required for these adults. Computer-based training (CBT) offers an inexpensive way to provide that education. We propose to develop CD-ROM-based diagnostic and instructional material that will allow self-paced individual instruction with real-time diagnostics and reporting for adults with marginal reading skills. The CBT system will automatically diagnose their level of reading competence, identify their individual problems, and introduce the specific type of remedial instruction needed based upon their level of competence.Summary of anticipated results and implications:Literacy is a necessary but not sufficient condition for educational and workplace success. Improving the reading skills of those Welfare-to-Work candidates who have marginal literacy can greatly improve their chances of successfully furthering their education and competing in the job market. This would result in many benefits to society and especially to these individuals.
Potential Commercial Applications:In addition to over 4 million Welfare-to-Work candidates, there are nearly as many out-of-school young adults who have dropped out of school. Add to this the over 5 million people under correctional supervision (70% of whom perform at the two lowest levels of reading proficiency), and it becomes clear that the number of people who could benefit from improved reading skills is very large, and the societal benefits are potentially enormous. An inexpensive CD-ROM-based instructional system could be made available to large numbers of these people through Welfare-to-Work programs and a number of civic and business organizations.
