March 2009 Archive

Literacy Fair 2009 (March 25, 2009)

The Literacy Fair of Virginia will be held this year on May 21, 2009 at the John H. Daniel Campus, Southside Virginia Community College in Keysville. Once again we will be awarding prizes for the top student essays. For details about the conference, please click on this link: http://literacyfair.wordpress.com/

For details about the essay, please read the information below.

Essay topic: "Who has been the most influential person in your life and why?"

Essays must be submitted by April 17, 2009.

The format of the essay should be:

• one inch margins
• double spaced
• with twelve point Times New Roman font
• the essay should not exceed 2 pages

Note that essays longer than two pages or not following the format requests will not be read. Instructors and tutors may assist with editing.

FIRST PLACE ESSAY WILL RECEIVE $150! SECOND PLACE WILL RECEIVE $100!

There will be three categories with two winners in each category. Your teacher or tutor can help you decide which category you are in. This year we will require writers to be present to read their papers to win. We will notify winners in advance. All writers will receive a certificate.

Category Levels

• Literacy (up through 4th grade)
• Pre-GED (grade 5-8)
• GED Prep (grade 9-1

New England Learner Persistence Project (March, 23, 2009)

The New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) has just published the findings of action research done by 18 New England adult education programs that investigated persistence strategies in their varied contexts over the course of a semester. They implemented persistence strategies in one of four categories: intake and orientation, instruction, counseling and peer support, or re-engagement. Their interventions impacted 755 students resulting in significant improvements in the rates of attendance and course completions.

The New England Learner Persistence Project report can be found at http://www.nelrc.org/expertise/persist.html.