I recently had a request for adult literacy kits that could be checked out for use by public libraries. Although that is a great idea, it is not something that the Indiana State Library currently offers. So, I started searching the internet and found online resources that could be helpful for libraries wanting to start an adult literacy program or wanting to offer additional free online adult literacy resources.
According to a study completed by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies in 2019, 43 million people in the United States have low literacy skills. The good news is Indiana has one of the highest percentages for literacy rates at 92% giving it a rank of 12th-highest in the United States. But this doesn’t mean we should stop striving to raise literacy rates in our communities. Research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health that found a mother’s reading skill is the greatest determinant of a child’s future academic success and focusing on literacy education for mothers can pay off with dividends lasting into the future. Adult literacy lessons can also be geared to help English language learners.
The resources listed below come from the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy website.
ReadWorks
ReadWorks is a free supplemental resource that provides K-12 and adult educators with a library of curated non-fiction and fiction passages, as well as interactive vocabulary supports, text-dependent question sets and teacher guidance. They offer free webinars to help you get started implementing ReadWorks into your classroom.
Click here to view ReadWorks’ content.
Marshall Leveled Reading Program
This program offers an app that contains over 1,000 customizable, mobile-friendly reading resources based on the Reading Skills for Today’s Adults leveled reading library.
LINCS Learner Center – Adult Education and Literacy – U.S. Department of Education LINCS is an acronym that stands for Literacy Information and Communication System. It’s geared toward adult learners and offers a variety of learning options. Users can also learn math, science, English, job skills, how to become a U.S. citizen and ways to stay healthy.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed works with expert educators and TED speakers from around the world to offer high-quality, interactive, video-based lessons every day at no cost.
Click here to view the TED-Ed collections.
TeachRock
TeachRock is a standards-aligned curriculum designed to support arts integration using the history of popular music and culture to interest students through a variety of free lessons. Their lesson plans are arranged by grade, subjects, genre, activities and topics.
Click here for TeachRock lessons.
Unite for Literacy
Unite for Literacy offers a free digital library, with hundreds of books that are written in English or Spanish text and narrated in over 50 languages.
Hopefully, these resources will help libraries in their quest to expand adult literacy offerings.
This blog post was submitted by Kara Cleveland, Professional Development Office supervisor at the Indiana State Library.