Reading Focus of Annual Adult Education Institute

Contact: Contact: Kay Hyatt at (207) 581-2761

ORONO, Maine — Some of the country’s most notable adult reading researchers will address participants at the Maine Adult Education Summer Institute, scheduled for June 23-25 at the University of Maine.

Leaders such as Sondra Stein, director of the Equipped for the Future adult learning standards development project at the National Institute for Literacy, and Gail Lawson, president-elect of the Commission on Adult Basic Education, will be among national experts presenting at the annual institute for Maine’s adult education teachers and staff.

This year’s theme is “Reading Research and Practices for Adult Education.” According to the National Adult Literacy Survey, an estimated one in five adults in Maine lack the literacy skills required to effectively function as workers, parents and community members. The institute is a professional development event for Maine’s adult and community education programs that offer reading instruction to adult learners.

The summer institute is conducted by the Center for Adult Learning and Literacy (CALL), part of the UMaine College of Education and Human Development, CALL is the resource center and professional development service provider for the Maine Adult Education System and works with approximately 130 adult and community education programs, located in more than 200 communities.

“CALL recognizes the national priority of adult education programs providing quality, research-based instruction, and we want to make sure that Maine Adult educators have the latest and best information available,” says Center Director Evelyn Beaulieu.

Workshop sessions on adult reading strategies, programs and issues range from “Kinetic (Movement) Approaches to Teaching & Learning” to “The Literacy Practices of Adult Learners,” an overview of a five-year national study.

Media are welcome to all of the sessions. Institute headquarters will be in the lobby of the D.P. Corbett Business Administration Building. The institute program is on the Web.