Literacy center will address social problems

Illiteracy is rarely seen among students at prestigious institutions of higher learning, but University researchers have been awarded a grant to take a closer look at its effects outside the ivory tower. According to Daniel Wagner, the Director of the National Center on Adult Literacy, the University was chosen to receive the grant over eight other applicants selected by a confidential review panel. "According to United Nations figures, the U.S. is ranked 48th in the world in literacy," said Thelma Rheese, Executive Director of the Mayor's Commission on Literacy in Philadelphia. And in the face of these concerns, the U.S. Department of Education established the NCAL at the University in 1990 with a grant for $10.2 million. Wagner described NCAL as "the federal government's think tank for research issues in adult literacy." Rheese, who coordinates the adult literacy programs in the city and has worked with University faculty members to develop literacy programs, said city officials are "very excited that Penn was selected as the location of the center." She added that she admires the University's approach to literacy research. "They have a stance that recognizes the practitioners as actual researchers. They are not an ivory tower," Rheese said. "They use the experience of actual practitioners. That is so healthy and unusual." Wagner said that the center will fill a long-time vacancy in the field of adult literacy. "The fact that we are the first major adult literacy research center in the country -- and in the world -- is saying something," he said. "In any field, researchers often play the role of the third leg on a three-legged stool, where the other two legs are the policy-makers and the program specialists. In the field of literacy, there has been no research leg on the stool. There has been no journal on adult literacy and no research center until now." Wagner said that increased research into literacy will make adult literacy programs more effective. "Students in literacy programs have varying degrees on education. Furthermore, their needs and goals are different. Some go because they want to read books to their children. Some go because they want a high school diploma. For some people who work in industry, promotions are tied to success in literacy programs," he said.

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