National Literacy Secretariat - Project Funding 2000-2001 (Alberta)

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Mr. Dennis Fendall
ALBERTA ASSOCIATION FOR ADULT LITERACY
332 - 6th Avenue South East
Suite 605
Calgary, ALBERTA
T2G4S6
(403) 263-3643

Literacy Help Line of Alberta - Database Expansion and Outreach Project

Alberta Association for Adult Literacy (AAAL) will expand the database for their Literacy Help Line which has successfully provided a vital link for coordinators, students, volunteers, researchers, and others interested in literacy, and will increase the organization's capacity to reach out to the general community. In partnership with Literacy Coordinators of Alberta and National Adult Literacy Database, AAAL will develop a survey tool to update resources and information on services; incorporate family literacy and programs on Aboriginal Peoples into their database; and redesign their telephone log sheet. To do this, AAAL will conduct surveys and interviews to reflect the changes in different kinds of literacy programs now available; build linkages with the Family Literacy Centre and Aboriginal literacy groups; develop a more efficient system to maintain accurate telephone statistics; provide better access to the deaf population through their TTY equipment; and develop plain language Help Line posters for extensive distribution. The success of the project will be determined by the increase in usage of the Help Line and by the level of satisfaction expressed by stakeholders. In addition, an evaluation committee made up of literacy practitioners and representatives from partnering organizations, will conduct the evaluation of the survey tool.

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Mr. John Blevins
ALBERTA ASSOCIATION FOR ADULT LITERACY
332 - 6th Avenue South East
Suite 605
Calgary, ALBERTA
T2G4S6
(403) 297-4969

Moving Ahead Together (Supplement)

This supplement will support Alberta Association for Adult Literacy to host a three-day planning meeting from April 19-21, 2001 and assist provincial literacy organizations to focus on the direction and vision for a comprehensive literacy movement in Alberta. Participants will work together to create a stronger voice for literacy in the province, improve coordination and communication among literacy organizations, and plan for a more responsive and accountable literacy community. Evaluation will be done through feedback from participants and through successful completion of objectives.

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Mr. Ken Gibson
ALBERTA FOOD PROCESSORS ASSOCIATION
250, 259 Midpark Way SE
Calgary, ALBERTA
T2X1M2
(403) 201-1044

Demonstrating innovative approaches to essential skill services for the agri-food industry

The Alberta Food Processors Association (AFPA)'s mission is to provide services that enhance, promote and inform Alberta businesses. In partnership with NorQuest College, AFPA proposes to bring educational expertise and access to workplace education in order to provide assistance to those workers who most require essential skill development. They will form a steering committee with representation from labour, industry and education which will oversee activities such as: developing self-study materials for low and moderate level literacy; assess worksite training to make recommendations and aid implementation of training and literacy strategies; develop integrated training materials in partnership with Food Safety program and preparation of literacy support material. A consultant will then complete the projects defined by the Advisory Committee and act as a liaison with industry to ascertain literacy and training needs and provide for these requests as they are presented. The learnings of the workplace development consultant will be shared with other jurisdictions, and the output interventions may be shared with other companies. The activities and events will be evaluated by the advisory committee members.

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Ms. Carolyn Dieleman
ALBERTA WORKFORCE ESSENTIAL SKILLS STEERING COMMITTEE (AWES)
8th Floor, Commerce Place
10155 - 102 Street
Edmonton, ALBERTA
T5J4L5
(780) 427-5717

The Alberta Workforce Essential Skills Steering Committee (AWES)

The Alberta Workplace Essential Skills Steering Committee (AWES) is a joint labour- management-government-education group that promotes the development of a highly literate, effective, confident and innovative workforce in the Province of Alberta. This project will address three objectives: 1) Building new partnerships and sector contacts, such as working with the Alberta Food Processors, Association and Alberta Forest Products Association. This objective will see AWES working with at least one province wide sector council to put workplace literacy on their agenda. 2) Support practitioners training and development and networking. This objective includes providing opportunities for professional development, increasing access to resources and promoting some AWES developed tools across the country. 3) Raise Awareness, Marketing and Promotion. AWES will promote and raise the profile of workplace literacy by developing a brochure, updating the display materials and organize and host a "stakeholder think tank" with all major Alberta workplace literacy projects. A written report on all these activities will be submitted to the National Literacy Secretariat.

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Ms. Christine Mowat
FAMILY LITERACY SOCIETY OF ALBERTA
9913 - 108 Avenue
Edmonton, ALBERTA
T5H1A5
(780) 421-7323

Laying The Foundation: Training for Family Literacy Practitioner

The Alberta Centre for Family Literacy, through Prospects Literacy Association, will develop and pilot Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) tools for family literacy practice; foundational training in family literacy; training in specific models of family literacy practice; and ongoing support to practitioners delivering programs in their communities throughout Alberta. The initiative will be developed in consultation with AAAL, LCA and family literacy practitioners. PLA tools developed will determine which aspects of family literacy background a practitioner already has and which aspects are yet to be acquired. The five-day foundational skills curriculum and training developed for 60 practitioners will include information about literacy, adult and children learning, good practice, facilitation skills, and community collaboration and development. The literacy training on specific training models will be offered to those who have completed the foundation skills training. Each of the 60 persons receiving the training will receive 4 hours of ongoing support through an online Family Literacy Training Conference. An external evaluation will assess all aspects of the project, and will include detailed feedback from the 60 trainees.

Partners, Programs and Evaluation: Phase Two

Prospects Literacy Association will implement and evaluate their family literacy model developed and piloted during Phase 1 of the project. The model, an intensive family literacy initiative, adapted from the highly successful, UK-based, Basic Skills Agency's model, will focus on adult literacy, pre-school education, and parent-child sessions; and will be offered to 100 families over eight programs, at one urban and one rural site in Alberta. Each session will run for 96 hours for a twelve-week period, and will target parents with low literacy skills and their pre-school children. In addition, Prospects Literacy Association will partner with University of Alberta's Centre for Research on Literacy to facilitate the longitudinal study of the model. To do this, the staff will work with an Advisory Committee and other sub-committees to review data from research findings, revise curriculum and staff training program, and set up delivery sites. A comprehensive evaluation report will be published and distributed to provincial literacy coalitions with regular updates posted through electronic conferencing and provincial literacy newsletters.

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Mr. Randy Boissonnault
FAMILY LITERACY SOCIETY OF ALBERTA
9913 - 108 Avenue
Edmonton, ALBERTA
T5H1A5
(780) 421-7323

Family Literacy Foundation : An Inter-provincial Project

In response to an urgent need for training, The Family Literacy Society of Alberta, working with representatives from each province and territory, will adapt the "Foundational Training in Family Literacy" for delivery across the country. To do this, the Society will consult extensively with experts in the field and family literacy practitioners; revise the first draft of the Foundational Training Manual; develop a Facilitators' Guide to accompany the Manual; and train 40 facilitators from across Canada. In addition, the Society, working together with the Fédération canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français, will provide opportunity to the Francophone literacy community in Canada to compare their needs within the context of the Foundational Training Manual. An evaluation process will be put in place from the very beginning of the project. Success will be measured through an increase in capacity of the field and through the successful adaptation and development of the Training Manual and the Facilitators' Guide.

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Ms. Maureen Sanders
FAMILY LITERACY SOCIETY OF ALBERTA
9913 - 108 Avenue
Edmonton, ALBERTA
T5H1A5
(780) 421-7323

Laying the Foundation: Training for Family Literacy Practitioner

The Alberta Centre for Family Literacy, through the Family Literacy Society of Alberta, will develop and pilot Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) tools for family literacy practice; foundational training in family literacy; training in specific models of family literacy practice; and ongoing support to practitioners delivering programs in their communities throughout Alberta. The initiative will be developed in consultation with AAAL, LCA and family literacy practitioners. PLA tools developed will determine which aspects of family literacy background a practitioner already has and which aspects are yet to be acquired. The five-day foundational skills curriculum and training developed for 60 practitioners will include information about literacy, adult and children learning, good practice, facilitation skills, and community collaboration and development. An external evaluation will assess all aspects of the project, and will include detailed feedback from the 60 trainees.

SUPPLEMENT: The supplement will enable the Centre for Family Literacy to consult with practitioners to assess future training needs in specific skill areas and finalize the family literacy training strategy.

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Ms. Veronica Park
LITERACY COORDINATORS OF ALBERTA
332 - 6th Avenue South East
Room 528
Calgary, ALBERTA
T2G4S6
(403) 297-4995

LCA/AAAL Joint Training Initiative

The Literacy Coordinators of Alberta (LCA) and the Alberta Association for Adult Literacy (AAAL) will collaborate on a three-day training event for approximately 300 literacy workers, students, administrators and community members from across the province. In addition to a wide range of workshops focusing on literacy practice, the event will offer a publishers' display, the popular "Computer Café", and a demonstration on First Class Client (FCC) featuring literacy-related software and electronic conferencing services currently used by both organizations. The project will be evaluated through participant feedback and the coordinator's report submitted to members of the steering committee.

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Ms. Veronica Park
LITERACY COORDINATORS OF ALBERTA
332 - 6th Avenue South East
Room 528
Calgary, ALBERTA
T2G4S6
(403) 297-4995

Literacy Materials Resource Centre Revitalization/Travelling

The supplement will enable Literacy Coordinators of Alberta (LCA) to consolidate their Resource Centre project and develop a provincial model of resource collection for literacy practitioners. To do this, LCA will complete their collections' policy and strategic plan; set up an electronic forum on First Class; and offer training workshops on collection development to Coordinators. In addition, LCA will run regular features on new resources in their newsletter and electronic media, and partner with out-of-province literacy organizations to share materials. The project will be evaluated through telephone surveys, level of interest and requests for materials, and through an ongoing review of the Resource Centre's Vision statement.

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Ms. Veronica Park
LITERACY COORDINATORS OF ALBERTA
332 - 6th Avenue South East
Room 528
Calgary, ALBERTA
T2G4S6
(403) 297-4995

IALS Lifeskills Survey 2002

Literacy Coordinators of Alberta (LCA) will work in collaboration with Statistics Canada and Community Programs, Adult Learning Division, Alberta Learning, to produce statistical reports based on expanded sample sizes in Alberta, as supplement to the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS). IALSS is a joint project of the U.S. and Canadian governments and the Organization for Economic and Community Development (OECD) to produce estimates of change in the literacy proficiency of the adult population in Canada since the 1994 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) study. Through the purchase of an over- sample of 700 cases, this project will help to provide reliable literacy profiles of the level and distribution of literacy, numeracy, analytic reasoning and problem-solving skills of the adult population in Alberta. The degree of participation in the process and improved measurement and interpretability of skill levels through enhanced data will form the success indicators for the project.

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Ms. Veronica Park
LITERACY COORDINATORS OF ALBERTA
332 - 6th Avenue South East
Room 528
Calgary, ALBERTA
T2G4S6
(403) 297-4995

Research in Practice in Adult Literacy Research Gathering

Literacy Coordinators of Alberta, the Centre for Research on Literacy and the Learning Centre in Edmonton have been working to develop a Research in Practice in Adult Literacy Network in Alberta. This project involves 11 literacy educators who are learning from and about research and who are doing research themselves. The research gathering will provide an occasion for literacy educators to share their research, learn about research processes, build and strengthen links among field-based and university-based literacy practitioners and researchers, and identify potential research opportunities. Participants will include literacy practitioners and educator-researchers from Canada and abroad and academics and university-based researchers who work in the area of literacy. The gathering will take place in Edmonton at the University of Alberta.

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Dr. L.S. Beauchamp
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA - FACULTY OF EDUCATION
845 Education South
University of Alberta
Edmonton, ALBERTA
T6G2G5
(780) 492-2984

The Directory of Canadian Adult Literacy Research in English

The Centre for Research on Literacy at the University of Alberta will work with the National Adult Literacy Database to undertake three main activities: (1) update the directory, which was initiated in a previous project, with research published up to 2002 and improve the search capacity of the directory; (2) promote the directory to the literacy and research communities through a variety of communication methods; and (3) analyze the directory to identify gaps in Canada's literacy research.

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