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United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 4.6 calls for all youth and a substantial proportion of adults to be able to read. Progress toward achieving this goal began after the World Conference on Education for All in 1990. Two decades after the conference, national governments, international donor agencies, and local and international nongovernmental organizations had built schools, trained teachers, and distributed textbooks. Though that work continues, the focus has turned to ensuring that "all children" learn to read. Achieving Target 4.6 requires reform of national education systems built up over the last three decades. This article reviews the literature that informs efforts to change education systems in ways that support early-grade reading. Now is the time to focus on reforming and strengthening the education systems that will achieve Target 4.6.

The United States Agency for International Development, World Vision, and the Australian government established All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD) to address problems that prevent children from gaining foundational reading skills. ACR GCD mobilizes the private sector, academia, and nongovernmental organizations in problem-solving dialogues that support the development, testing, and promotion of new solutions to these problems. It also advances EdTech innovation and research to improve reading outcomes for marginalized children in low-resource contexts to effectively build bridges over system constraints in ways that lower the risk of pilot-testing and eventual large-scale replication. This case study describes some of ACR GCD's funded innovations and its nontraditional approach to employing grant competitions (in which innovators propose solutions to broadly described problems) and prizes (in which innovators develop solutions to specifically identified problems). For innovations that have been evaluated, this article summarizes the findings on their impact on learning.

The world community committed to support universal access to basic education in 1990. Since then, schools have been built and teachers hired and trained. Twenty years later, many more students were in primary school, but learning assessments showed that most were not learning how to read well enough to use reading to learn. The world community turned its attention to improving instruction. As instruction improved, more students could decode words and read with improved speed and accuracy. However, reading comprehension was still low. Now is the time for the world community to come together and make a commitment that all students will learn to read with sufficient comprehension to use reading to learn.

This article describes two assessment tools that have been used to assess the reading skills of youth participating in alternative basic skills and livelihood skills training programs. The Rapid Assessment of Reading Skills (RARS) was developed to identify potential participants who needed to improve their reading skills before beginning training and to assign them to the proper level of basic reading instruction. The Out-of-School Literacy Assessment incorporates RARS into a more complex impact evaluation tool. Both assessment tools can also be used to inform program design, define benchmarks, and assess impact.

This article proposes a model for design of early-grade reading programmes that is based on research and the implementation of research findings. The model has three components: (1) schools should provide instruction in a language their students speak and understand; (2) teachers should employ instruction that is consistent with the current evidence-based theory of how children acquire and improve reading skills; and (3) students should spend sufficient time on task in direct instruction and reading practice to make meaningful progress. For each component, the article describes the ways in which reading programmes are trying to implement that concept and the evidence that supports those approaches. The article concludes with ways this programme model could inform policy and be improved by further research.

Since 1991, the U.S. has had a national research and development (R&D) center focused on programs that help adults to improve their language, literacy, and numeracy skills; to acquire a General Educational Development (GED) or other high school certification; and to transition into postsecondary education or training. For the first five years, that R&D center was the National Center for Adult Literacy (NCAL), and over the last 11 years, it has been the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL). Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) will end NCSALL's funding in July and has not yet shown an interest in funding a new center to replace it. This essay presents the author's opinion on why DOE should fund a new national R&D center, and what that center would do. The essay draws on five monographs that provide the evidence behind his opinions and that give credit to the many people who informed those opinions. For readers interested in exploring this topic further, the author has included the titles and URLs for those monographs at the end of this essay. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Gives examples of how research can inform practice in correctional education by building theory and providing evidence of impact. Describes information sources: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, National Institute for Literacy, ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, and National Center for English as a Second Language Literacy Education. (SK)

Analyzes data from evaluations of seven Nepalese literacy programs (five for adults and two for out-of-school children) using the same instructional materials and design. Examines dropout rates, female participation, language of instruction, skill acquisition, skill retention, changes in attitudes and knowledge, effects on elementary enrollment, and costs. (SV)

By following an accreditation model used in a college or university, funding agencies can be sure that adult basic education programs are following good practices rather than structuring their services to satisfy student assessment and outcome goals. (Author/JOW)

Discusses the application of Freireian models of reflection in program development on the learners' self-development of study materials for health education. Emphasis on the effect of participatory materials development process on critical analysis; Results reflective of the people and the language where health education programs are held.