Literacy Facts & Resources

2010-2011 Program Year Achievements

  • Recruited, trained and utilized 120 NEW volunteers.
  • Served over 300 adult students
  • Worked with 275 active adult tutors
  • Pre and post tested 178 students; 71% showed at least one level improvement!
  • Volunteers provided over 16,000 hours of tutoring and other volunteer work.

Out of the active students in 2010-2011…

  • 6 obtained a job
  • 26 retained their current job
  • 4 improved their current job
  • 1 earned their GED!
  • 82 gained employability skills
  • 7 entered other education or training
  • 14 increased involvement in their children’s education
  • 23 increased involvement in community activities
  • 2 registered to vote
  • 13 obtained US citizenship
  • 3 obtained a drivers license
  • 32 advanced a level in curriculum series
  • 127 improved scores on standardized tests

*numbers reflect student achievements as reported by tutors

Fast Facts on Illiteracy

  • 1 in 5 residents of Erie County is functionally illiterate.
  • 1 in 3 residents of the City of Buffalo is functionally illiterate.
  • On a national level, for every $1 spent by Literacy Volunteers to tutor adults, $33 in economic benefit is returned to the overall economy. (Economic Impact Analysis conducted by AT Kearney, 1999)
  • Parents who can’t read are likely to have children who can’t read well.
  • 61% of low-income homes have no books in them.
  • Between 41-44% of adults with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty. (Based on federal poverty guidelines)
  • New York State funding for adult literacy has been frozen at the same level since 1988.
  • 60% of prison inmates are illiterate.
  • 85% of juvenile offenders have reading problems.
  • 76% of adults on public assistance are illiterate or unable to read more than the simplest of texts.
  • Welfare recipients with the lowest educational skills stay on welfare the longest.
  • For the first time ever, nearly one-fifth of America’s children speak a language other than English at home.

 

Tutor Resources

All Tutors Resources:

http://lincs.ed.gov/lincs/resourcecollections/RC_skills.html -  Literacy Information and Communication System – US Department of Education – great articles and research about adult literacy education

http://literacynewyork.org/ -  Literacy NY – Literacy Volunteer’s state agency

http://www.coabe.org/ -  Coalition for Adult Basic Education

http://www.proliteracy.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=191&srcid=-2 -  Literacy Volunteers national accreditation agency

http://ugeton.com/weblinksLVBEC -  Literacy Volunteers’ database of activities, sorted by Basic/ELL, level and skill area

http://thinkfinity.org/ -  Provides training courses, tutoring materials, activity ideas.

http://www.ncsall.net/ -  National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and literacy volunteers

http://literacyconnections.com/ -  Information for tutoring adults, tips for first-time volunteers, provides activity ideas, suggest reading lists.

http://www.englishforeveryone.org/ -  Free printable worksheets for basic literacy and ELL students

http://www.brainpop.com/ -  Fabulous activities of all kinds for kids and adults!!

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/ -  Great site with all sorts of free worksheets!!

 

Basic Literacy Tutor Resources

http://www.readinga-z.com/ -  Leveled readers and lots of lesson plans on phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/ -  Great site for games and activities

http://literacytools.ie/home.cfm - online games, printable activities, tutor information

http://literacy.sals.edu/ -  Great activity ideas and information on tutoring adults.

http://ldonline.org/ - Learning disabilities

http://ldanatl.org/ - Learning Disabilities Association

http://ncld.org/ – National Center for Learning Disabilities

http://interdys.org/ -  International Dyslexia Association

 

ELL Tutor Resources

http://www.eslgold.com/for_st/strategies.html –  English learning strategies

http://esl.about.com/od/teachingenglish/u/teach.htm – Lesson Plans

http://www.englishclub.com/ -  Free online resources

http://www.stickyball.net -  Resources for ELL tutors – grammar, phonics, dialogues, idioms, etc.

http://www.rong-chang.com/ -  Online ELL activities, games, etc.

http://www.english-grammar-lessons.com -  Grammar lessons

http://www.literawcynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html -  CNN writing samples

http://www.manythings.org -  Interesting things

http://a4esl.org -  Activities for ELL students

http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm?category=2451 -  Lesson Plans

http://www.dailyesl.com -  ELL conversation

http://iteslj.org/questions -  ELL conversation

http://prosites-eslflow.homestead.com/icebreakersreal.html-ELL Conversation

http://www.eslflow.com/pronunciationlessonplans.html- ELL Pronunciation

http://www.ehow.com/how 4549513 teachpronuncation-esl-learners.html- ELL Pronunciation

Share