ENDNOTES

¹According to the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, 40 million American adults (ages 16 and older) are functioning at the lowest level of literacy, and 90 million function at the two lowest levels. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education reports that more than 2.7 million adults were enrolled in AEFLA-funded adult education programs in 2001; approximately one-third of them in adult basic education, one-fourth in adult secondary education, and nearly half in English literacy (back to text)

²PLATO is an adult education system, available in Web-based and CD-ROM formats, with curriculum in reading and writing, math, social studies, science, English literacy, work skills and life skills. (back to text)

³Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 supports adult education services within One-Stops; Title III provides funding for One-Stops and ABE for individuals eligible for unemployment compensation; and under Title IV Rehabilitation Services, Vocational Rehabilitation Services may refer clients to ABE as part of a rehabilitation plan. (back to text)

⁴Under TANF, states may develop personal responsibility plans for recipients to identify education, training and job placement services, including ABE, needed to move into the workforce. Job skills training or education related directly to work could count toward a state's participation rate. (back to text)

⁵The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 incorporates the Literacy Involves Families Together (LIFT) Act of 2000, which supports family literacy activities. (back to text)

⁶Louisville, Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky State 2000 Census data for Jefferson County, and the Kentucky Adult Literacy Survey; San Diego County, READ/San Diego Fact Sheet, April 4, 2003; Holyoke, Juntos Adult Basic Education Collaborative, The City of Holyoke, Massachusetts Statement of Adult Basic Education Assets and Needs Draft, January 31, 2003. (back to text)

⁷According to the National Institute for Literacy's Bridges to Practice, literacy programs may not discriminate against individuals with disabilities when admitting them to a program or providing them with services. Adults have the right to choose whether or not to disclose their disability status. If adults expect disability-related accommodations, they have the responsibility to make their disabilities known, to provide appropriate documentation, and to request specific accommodations. Programs cannot selectively screen individual adults without their informed consent; they can, however, assess every adult who enters a program for a learning disability. Regulations concerning learning disabilities are found in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997 (PL 105-17, formerly PL 94-142), the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (PL 93-112). (back to text)