Life is richer when a person genuinely feels a sense of self-respect, pride, achievement, confidence, stability and good health - and can impart these assurances upon future generations. Literacy is the first step toward providing under-resourced individuals with the opportunity to realize these invaluable qualities - and lead a richer life.
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In order to more effectively convey our function in the community, R.E.A.D. Chattanooga has renamed our organization to RE:START - The Center for Adult Education.
Adults from all walks of life hit distractions along the way as they enter adulthood - challenges such as becoming pregnant, caring for an ailing family member, and the need to work for an income are just a few of the reasons a person can get sidetracked. The name RE:START, then, implies that an individual can pick up where he or she left off at any time, and that there is a educational program available at little or no cost to assist with this process.
For nearly 50 years, RE:START - The Center for Adult Education has helped scores of adults improve language arts and math skills. But complete education doesn't stop there. In order to realize the full potential of these basic skills, adults 17 and older must be able to effectively apply them toward becoming a more productive worker, family member and community citizen.
RE:START has expanded our scope of services to include self sufficiency and quality of life initiatives, job readiness training, and social services that not only help prepare individuals for the workforce, but also help place them into an environment conducive to a normal, beneficial daily routine.
RE:START works closely with local educators, business leaders, government entities, social services and civic organizations to provide greater access to adult education services. Whether it's preparing for the GED® test, improving math skills for a trade, understanding health information, or mentoring for day-to-day challenges - RE:START provides complete adult education, from literacy to life.
Definitions of Literacy
Provided by RE:START for Lyndhurst Foundation Grant
Literacy, as defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is “the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning to enable an individual to achieve his or her goals, to develop his or her knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in the wider society."
Literacy as defined by the Chattanooga Literacy Coalition (10/2003) is “to read to comprehend to process to analyze to achieve to grow.”
Functional literacy is defined as an individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals, and develop one's knowledge and potential.
Illiterate is defined as one who cannot read or write at all.
Functionally illiterate is defined as one who has a basic grasp of literacy (reading and writing test in his or her native language), but with a variable degree of grammatical correctness, and style. In short, when confronted with printed materials, functionally illiteracy adults cannot function effectively in modern society, and cannot adequately perform fundamental tasks such as filling out an employment application; understanding a legally-binding contract, following written instructions; reading a newspaper article; reading traffic signs; consulting a dictionary; or understanding a bus schedule. Functional illiteracy also severely limits interaction with information and communication technologies (e.g. using a personal computer to work with a word processor, a web browser, a spreadsheet application, or using a mobile phone efficiently).
Critical literacy is defined as “The practice of helping learners to make sense of what they are learning by grounding it in the context of their daily lives.
Everyday Literacy or “Quality of Life” Literacy is defined as the day-to-day tasks typically involving instrumental goals such as retrieving specific information, following a set of directions, writing to share or record information, and transferring information from one source to another. Examples include reading classified ads in search of a job; completing a form at an employment center; looking at a bus schedule to determine the latest time the bus departs; reading a map to find the intersection of two roads and reading a newspaper article to keep in touch with current events.