Publication: Focus on Research: Health and Literacy

• Garner, Barbara

Content-based instruction serves a dual purpose: learners
learn both basic skills and content. Learners' interests or
the goals of the program often serve to define the content.
Sometimes, "outside" agencies, such as the public health
department or the census bureau, create partnerships with
adult learning programs as a route of entry to the
population that they, too, are mandated to serve. The
Fannie Mae Foundation, a non-profit organization that
provides information about home buying to the public, for
example, supported the development and dissemination of an
ESOL curriculum on home buying. In Massachusetts, for the
past four years, a portion of the tax on tobacco has gone
to support the development of health-related activities at
a number of adult learning centers.