Pennsylvania Literacy Corps - About Us

About Us

The Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education

The Pennsylvania Literacy Corps is administered by the Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education, PA Department of Education, and supported by a portion of PA Adult Literacy Act, 1986 (PA Act 143) funds. The PA Literacy Corps establishes collaborative partnerships between higher education institutions and providers of adult basic and literacy education for the purpose of engaging college students in local efforts to help overcome the illiteracy problem in the Commonwealth—there are four million adults in Pennsylvania who are in need of help to improve their basic skills.

PA Literacy Corps Grants

PA Literacy Corps grants are awarded to local adult literacy-higher education partnerships to support the training, placement, and supervision of college students as adult literacy volunteers. College student tutors enroll in a college-credit course that prepares them to work with adults who are in need of basic skills and may be pursuing their GED, studying English as a Second Language, enrolled in family literacy programs, and/or developing job readiness and job advancement skills. College students are matched with adult learners and tutoring activities are supervised by adult literacy and higher education partners. In order to complete the Literacy Corps course successfully, college students must volunteer a minimum of 40 hours. However, many college students continue to volunteer beyond their Literacy Corps requirement. Moreover, many have redirected their career plans to enter the field of adult education as a result of the Literacy Corps experience-some have actually been hired by the adult literacy programs in which they volunteered.

The Need for Well-Trained Volunteers

Research on the characteristics of productive volunteers suggests that higher education is associated with increased levels of volunteering. The PA Literacy Corps is a partnership that connects higher education to adult literacy issues and engages college student volunteers in solving the problem of adult illiteracy

Literacy Corps tutors offer adult basic and literacy education providers:

Increased instructional resources, enabling providers to serve more adult learners.
More flexibility in delivering a greater range of available services.
More individualized and intensive services.
Lower cost of services.

Literacy Corps tutors offer adult basic and literacy education learners:

More individualized and intensive instruction, which leads to greater gains.
More flexibility in scheduling services, at convenient times and in convenient places, which increases opportunities for learner participation.
One-to-one instruction, which encourages learners to participate.
Personal attention and support, which increases learner motivation and retention in services.

Many Literacy Corps tutors volunteer significantly more hours than the 40 required to successfully complete the Literacy Corps course.

History of the Literacy Corps Model

Model Literacy Corps is a modern application of an ancient idea. Throughout history students have been asked to help other students and, in so doing, have learned themselves. Joseph Jourbet, an early 19th-century philosopher, once remarked that "to teach is to learn twice"; Aristotle employed student leaders or "archons" in his teaching; and colonial and one-room rural schools often relied on peer tutoring. Literacy Corps equips college students with the skills they need to tutor adult learners and support local literacy efforts while providing them with an opportunity to learn as they volunteer.

The Literacy Corps concept originated in 1969 at the University of Miami. Norman Manasa, an undergraduate at the university, initiated the development of a program to allow college students to receive credit for volunteer tutoring. Twenty years later, the Washington Education Project, under Manasa's direction, solicited corporate funds to support the establishment of similar volunteer tutoring programs in 12 different colleges and universities. The colleges offered credit-bearing courses to train college students to tutor in classroom settings under the supervision of a teacher.

The Washington Education Project caught the attention of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass) and, under his sponsorship, the Student Literacy Corps (SLC) was established by means of the Student Literacy Corps Assistance Act of 1988. SLC grants were awarded to colleges and universities to start campus Literacy Corps programs in which college students performed six hours of volunteer tutoring a week under the supervision of a classroom instructor. Like the Washington Education Project, SLC college students enrolled in a credit-bearing course designed to prepare them for their volunteer service project.

The Pennsylvania Literacy Corps is another adaptation of the Manasa's Literacy Corps concept. In 1988, the PA Literacy Corps was established by PennSERVE: The Governor's Office of Citizen Service with funding provided through Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry. In July 1995, responsibility for the PA Literacy Corps was transferred to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, under the direction of the Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education.

Penn State College of Education ©2000
Pennsylvania Literacy Corps
Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy
Dr. Sheila Sherow
208 Rackley Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-3777
sms20@psu.edu