Western/Pacific Literacy Network (Western/Pacific Literacy LINCS)

The Western/Pacific Literacy Information and Communication Network System strives to be a premier Web-based resource for the literacy community. The primary goal of the Western/Pacific Literacy Network System is to establish an on-line interactive structure for increasing communication and sharing information about adult literacy among the eighteen western states and Pacific islands.

Located at the State Literacy Resource Center of California, the Western/Pacific Literacy Network covers nine time zones and numerous international telecommunication infrastructures. The states and Pacific islands in Region IV are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah,

Washington, Wyoming, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau.

 The Western/PacificLINCS is one of four regional technology hubs (the Ohio Literacy Resource Center, the Tennessee Literacy Resource Center at the Center for Literacy Studies, the New England Literacy Resource Center and the State Literacy Resource Center of California ) funded by the National Institute for Literacy.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org

 The other Regional Hub sites are:

 Region I Hub - Adult Literacy Technology Hub: http://Hub1.WorldEd.Org/
Region II Hub - Southern Literacy Communications Consortium: http://hub2.coe.utk.edu/
Region III Hub - Midwest Adult Literacy Network (M-NET): http://archon.educ.kent.edu/Midwest/index.html

National Institute for Literacy (NIFL)

The purpose of the Institute is to enhance the national effort to achieve full literacy by the year 2000 by creating a national support system for literacy and serving as the national focal point for interagency policy development, dissemination of information, technical assistance, program evaluation, and research and demonstration.

WWW Address: http://novel.nifl.gov/ 

America Reads Challenge in Region IX

The purpose of this website is to make available to interested individuals and organizations in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and the Pacific Islands information that will help them meet the America Reads Challenge at the state and local level.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/ar/home.html

The Center for Applied Linguistics

The Center for Applied Linguistics most often called simply "CAL". CAL is a

private, nonprofit organization that has been involved in applying research and information about language and culture to educational, cultural, and social concerns since 1959.

WWW Address: http://www.cal.org/

 Colorado Literacy Resource Center

The Resource Center serves as a clearinghouse of information and resources on adult basic skills and literacy, and as a link between practitioners and other information providers such as the National Institute for Literacy, National Center for Family Literacy, ERIC Clearinghouses, and the National Center on Adult Literacy. A comprehensive collection of materials is maintained which is accessible statewide through CARL.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/colorado/

 CNN San Francisco's Web Page

The Northwest US bureau for CNN Website that provides news coverage of all types for the CNN networks. This web site is filled with many different types of information including an interactive educational pages (Interactive Learning Resources) based on real newstories.

WWW Address: http://www.cnnsf.com/ 

Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System

The Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) is a non-profit organization that provides competency-based curriculum management, assessment and evaluation systems to education and training programs. These systems are learner-centered and are designed to meet the needs of adults and youth in today's multi-cultural society. CASAS has developed systems for ABE, ESL, employment preparation (ECS), workforce learning (WLS), special education plus developmental and learning disabilities, and secondary education (SDP).

WWW Address: http://www.casas.org/ 

Dave Sperling Presents.... Dave's ESL Cafe

Where Learning English is Fun! For ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World

Homepage at http://eslcafe.com/

ESL links page at http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/links2.html#homepages 

English as a Second Language Home Page

This home page is a starting point for ESL learners who want to learn English through the World Wide Web. Some people have created ESL learning materials for the Web. This home page links you to those ESL sites and other interesting places. The variety of materials will allow you to choose something appropriate for yourself.

WWW Address: http://www.lang.uiuc.edu/r-li5/esl/ 

ESL (English as a Second Language) TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) An interactive TOEFL testing site.

WWW Address: http://www.toefl.org/

ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education

Located at the Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE), the ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education (ERIC/ACVE) is one of 16 clearinghouses in the ERIC system. ERIC/ACVE provides comprehensive

information, publications, and services in adult and continuing education, all aspects of career education, and vocational and technical education including work force preparation.

WWW Address: http://ericacve.org/

ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication (ERIC/REC).

This site is dedicated to providing educational materials, services, and coursework to everyone interested in the language arts. It also offers lesson plans.

WWW Address: http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/ 

The Family Literacy Center at Indiana University

This site promotes family involvement in literacy--all types of family activities related to reading, writing, and general communication. The Center engages in research on family literacy, and it develops and disseminates materials (print, video, and audio) for parents and for parent educators.

WWW Address: http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/fl/menu.html 

Key To Community Voter Involvement Project

This site is dedicated to the education of new voters. It includes sections on How To Vote; The Easy Reader Voter Guide; How to be Heard and Make a Difference, and a teachers page.

WWW Address: http://www.otan.dni.us/cdlp/vip/home.html

LITERACY VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA, INC (LVA) is a national, nonprofit educational organization, operated by professionals, which delivers tutoring services through a network of more than 50,000 volunteers nationwide. LVA's mission is to reach adults whose literacy skills are very limited or non-existent and to provide volunteer tutors who can teach reading, writing and English speaking skills. LVA provides the professional training, materials and support that enables the volunteers to be effective tutors.

WWW Address: http://archon.educ.kent.edu/LVA/index.html

National Adult Literacy Database (Canada)

The National Adult Literacy Database Inc. (NALD) is a federally incorporated, non-profit service organization which fills the crucial need for a single-source, comprehensive, up-to-date and easily accessible database of adult literacy programs, resources, services and activities across Canada.

WWW Address: http://www.nald.ca/index.htm 

National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL)

The National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL), founded through a major grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), was established in 1990 to provide national leadership in research and development in the field of adult literacy. NCAL seeks to improve the quality of adult literacy programs and services on a nationwide basis by means of applied research and development and dissemination of the results.

WWW Address: http://ncal.literacy.upenn.edu/

National Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy (NCSWL)

The mission of the Center is to improve understanding of how writing is best learned and taught--from the early years through adulthood. The Center supports research projects examining how students learn to write, how teachers can best help students who come from an increasing diversity of cultural backgrounds, how writing can be used more effectively across the curriculum, how larger social forces (such as ethnic background, relations with family members, social class, and the neighborhood) affect success in school, how we might develop better ways to assess what students are learning, and how new technologies and new demands in the workplace affect the literacy skills students need to learn.

WWW Address: http://www-gse.berkeley.edu/research/NCSWL/csw.homepage.html

National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE)

NCLE is the only national clearinghouse focusing on literacy education for adults and out-of-school youth learning English as a second language. NCLE's most important job is responding to questions by providing resources and referrals. Each year, thousands of ESL practitioners, program administrators, students, and policymakers contact the clearinghouse requesting information.

WWW Address: http://www.cal.org/ncle/ 

Rural Clearinghouse for Lifelong Education

The Rural Clearinghouse for Lifelong Education and Development is a national effort to improve rural access to educational providers working in rural areas in several ways:

WWW Address: http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~rcled/ 

State Literacy Resource Center of California

A statewide literacy support network administered by the State Collaborative Literacy Council (SCLC). The SCLC is a multi-agency collaboration which is responsible for planning and implementing the state literacy resource program in California.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/slrc/ 

Workplace ESL Instruction: Interviews from the Field

Just as the workplace itself is changing, ESL educators need to change in order to be successful in workplace ESL instruction. They need to learn new skills. They need to learn about specific jobs and how work is done in the private sector. They need to learn about creative problem solving and team-based management. They need to do research in their communities to learn who needs workplace ESL instruction and who is willing to fund it. They need to find creative ways of fostering collaboration among businesses for workplace ESL program support. And they need to learn to sell themselves and their product.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/esl/wp/home.html

Focus on Learning Strengths and Styles

Excellence for All: Focusing on Learning Strengths is a project which has explored the ways in which adult learners with low literacy skills learn most effectively. It features an instructional model which strengthens the emphasis on understanding a student's learning styles by applying the Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University to basic skills instruction.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/diversity/

Learning to Learn... with Style

Learning to Learn... with Style is designed to be adaptable to various class structures. It can be used with whole classes, in small groups, or on an individual basis. The information presented is intended to be accessible to a wide variety of adult learners. However, learning styles theory has not been validated with second language learners; cultural and linguistic factors could interfere with the satisfactory use of this learning styles package.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/lp/learn2learn/home.html

Teaching from a Hispanic Perspective: A Handbook for Non-Hispanic Adult Educators

This handbook is geared toward non-Hispanic ESOL teachers who teach Hispanic adult education students. The issues addressed in this handbook are intended to ease the tension caused by the cultural misunderstandings between the Hispanic adult student and the non-Hispanic ESOL teacher. Also, since this handbook is presented as an evolving document, ESOL instructors and other interested readers are invited to add to the individual topics discussed.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/lp/hperspectives/

Teaching and learning with Native Americans: A Handbook for Non-Native American Adult Educators

This handbook is geared toward for Non-Native American Adult who teaches Native American adult education students.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/lp/namericans/

Adult ESL

This site is dedicated to providing adult ESL curricular materials and resources, news in the field, and a forum for adult ESL issues. This collection is a collaboration between the National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) and the Western/Pacific LINCS project. It is supported by funds from the National Institute for Literacy's LINCS project.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/esl/

Science and Technology

The initial intended audience for this page is the practitioner in adult literacy programs. This special collection will allow instructors to develop and incorporate into their teaching and learning processes a series of inquiry-based activities in the context of science and technology. A second audience will be adult learners and their families: a special section will target scientific resources for families and family literacy programs. This collection is a collaboration between the National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) and the Western/Pacific LINCS project. It is supported by funds from the National Institute for Literacy's LINCS project.

WWW Address: http://literacynet.org/science/

Correctional Education Resources

WWW Address: http://cls.coe.utk.edu/corr_edu/

SCOPE 

o More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level --far below the level needed to earn a living wage. The National Adult Literacy Survey found that over 40 million Americans age 16 and older have significant literacy needs.

o The National Literacy Act defines literacy as "an individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals, and develop one's knowledge and potential." 

LITERACY & CHILDREN 

o As the education level of adults improves, so does their children's success in school. Helping low-literate adults improve their basic skills has a direct and measurable impact on both the education and quality of life of their children.

o Children of adults who participate in literacy programs improve their grades and test scores, improve their reading skills, and are less likely to drop out. 

LITERACY & POVERTY

 o Forty-three percent of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty; 17 percent receive food stamps, and 70 percent have no job or a part-time job.

o Workers who lack a high school diploma earn a mean monthly income of $452, compared to $1,829 for those with a bachelor's degree.

 EFFORTS TO PROMOTE LITERACY

o The federal government provided $361 million for adult education programs in 1996. This funding enables millions to participate in basic education programs that help people help themselves.

o Federal adult education funds leverage an additional $800 million each year in state funds for literacy, and millions of dollars in private funding.

For additional information, please contact:

Paul Heavenridge
Director
Western/Pacific Literacy Network
Western/Pacific Literacy LINCS
(National Institute for Literacy Information aNd Communication Network System)
State Literacy Resource Center of California
1086 Eighth Street
Oakland, CA 94607-2697 

o PHONE: (510) 834-0735 & 834-7835
o FAX: (510) 832-5021
o EMAIL: pheaven@literacynet.org
o URL: http://literacynet.org

Prepared by: Western/Pacific Literacy Network 7/98