Resources for Adult Basic Education

"High School 21+ is a competency-based high school equivalency program for adult learners 21 and older who do not have a high school diploma or equivalency. "

"The National External Diploma Program (NEDP) is an applied performance assessment system that assesses the high school level skills of adults and out-of-school youth. The NEDP evaluates the reading, writing, math and workforce readiness skills of participants in life and work contexts."

This document presents data by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) on adult and youth literacy in 151 countries and territories from eight regions: Arab States, Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe, South and West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. The document summarises the most recent literacy rates and estimates of the illiterate population, and presents historical trends since 1985 and prospects for 2015. For 18 countries, data based on an assessment of reading skills are provided. The analysis is accompanied by a description of UIS methodology in the field of literacy statistics, including the definition of literacy, data sources and calculation methods. A statistical annex contains six tables and 151 figures with literacy data.

"The 'basic skills' of literacy and numeracy are among the most fundamental attributes of human beings and their civilization, lying at the root of our capacity to communicate and live and work together, to develop and share knowledge, science and culture. Their contribution to workforce skills have increasingly been recognized as critical to economic success, while evidence on gaps in adult basic skills and the link with economic and social outcomes has also been growing, both at national and international level (e.g. International Survey of Adult Skills of 1994-98 and Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey of 2003-2007). Most tellingly, there has been a belated realization that despite universal basic education in advanced countries, some adults have slipped through the net, leaving them with very weak literacy and numeracy. All of these factors underline the importance of the OECD's new international Survey of Adult Skills."

This Global Report on Adult Learning and Education builds on strong foundations. Since the first International Conference on Adult Education in 1949, UNESCO Member States have convened every twelve years to discuss the state of adult education in their countries. In 1976, the UNESCO General Conference approved the Recommendation on the Development of Adult Education, confirming that "access of adults to education, in the context of lifelong education, is a fundamental aspect of the right to education, and facilitates the exercise of the right to participate in political, cultural, artistic and scientific life."

"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 General Assembly resolution 217 A as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. "

"Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of persons, imposed by law. In some countries the education needs to take place at a registered school. Other countries allow the education to happen outside of school, for example via homeschooling."

"Educational Attainment in the United States: 2014 - Detailed Tables"

"The United States Federal government is supporting the use of open educational resources to provide equitable access to quality education."