In Canada, standardized assessments reveal a persistent literacy gap between boys and girls, with girls outperforming boys in reading.
The authors point to many factors that contribute to the gender gap in literacy, including test bias; differences in reading attitudes, behaviours and preferences; and limited availability of reading material that appeals to boys.
There are different purposes for reading leading to various levels of complexity. Complexity is based on how much processing of information is required to arrive at an accurate outcome. These levels range from level 1 (the least complex) reading relatively short texts to locating a single piece of information to level 5 (the most complex) interpreting dense and complex texts and making high-level inferences and using specialized knowledge.
This report uses data from the International Study of Reading Skills to describe in depth the reading abilities of the least-skilled adult readers in society and to identify the basic reading profiles of these adults, based on their strengths and needs in reading.
The Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES) is a competency-based test that uses problem sets and authentic workplace documents to assess essential sills proficiencies in three domains: reading text, document use, and numeracy.
The Learner Skill Attainment (LSA) Initiative, led by Ontario's College Sector Committee, was undertaken in early 2007 to develop a framework for measuring learner skill attainment in three key essential skills areas: reading text, document use and numeracy.
This portfolio assessment initiative has several lists of goals for students and teachers. It includes:
- personal goals
- reading progress checklist
- listening and speaking progress checklist
- writing progress checklist and,
- mathematics progress checklist
Finding Lost Luggage by Helen Woodrow is a story in the book Wayfering Journeys in Language, Learning and Culture, it is a collection of writings by ABE instructors and students in Newfoundland brought together for a "language awareness project", designed to explore attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about language and the teaching of language.
