Adult basic education students face a number of challenges
related to their well-being. Their low literacy levels affect a
range of economic, education, workplace, and health outcomes.
Many of the high growth industry jobs indicate increasing
educational demands. Data have shown that higher literacy rates
are correlated with better wages. Today even entry-level jobs
are demanding an ever increasing level of literacy skill. The
role of adult basic education in strengthening reading skills is
central to the U.S. Department of Education's vision for adult
education. While significant advances have been made in
understanding the abilities young children must acquire to
develop reading skills, a relatively small body of research is
available on Adult Basic Education reading instruction. It has
been frequently stated that learning to read may be more
difficult after age nine; however, the factors that might
explain this are not well understood. The National Research
Council (NRC) Committee on Learning Sciences Stud