OTTAWA, ONTARIO Nov. 28, 2002 Research into frameworks that have been created to describe and organise adult numeracy skills is underway at the Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) Program of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. The work is being carried out with the guidance of university professors whose areas of expertise lie in math and adult basic skills. The project is funded by the National Literacy Secretariat and Ontario’s Ministry of Colleges, Training and Universities.

The project’s final research report will identify the existing knowledge base in this area of adult numeracy, and build on it to create a theoretical foundation for policy, practice and further research in the field (Setting the Agenda: The Ontario Literacy Research Strategy, 2000). Frameworks that have been developed for adult basic education programs will be analysed (e.g., the numeracy and mathematics stream of Australia’s Certificates in General Education for Adults, England’s Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum, the United States’ Equipped for the Future content and assessment standards and Ontario’s numeracy matrix in Working with Learning Outcomes). The numeracy frameworks behind standardized adult basic skills tests e.g., the TABE and CASAS in the United States) and large-scale surveys (e.g., the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey) will also be analysed.

The report will describe how these frameworks were developed and why, as well as how they are organised and how they are to be used.

This research may be of interest to:

• people in the field of literacy and basic skills who are developing numeracy frameworks;
• academics and researchers who are interested in numeracy research, accountability systems, or basic skills curriculum development; and
• LBS instructors who are interested in adult numeracy.

The research report will be available in the summer of 2003. It will be available electronically on www. nald.ca, and in hard copy from the Literacy and Basic Skills Program of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (free while supplies last, and then at the cost of photocopying) and from the AlphaPlus Centre in Toronto (for borrowing).

To contribute information, to ask for information, or to reserve a copy of the research report, please contact Lisa Hagedorn at lisa_hagedorn@ocdsb.edu.on.ca or (613) 547-9782.