Wagner, Daniel A

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  • Publication
    What Happened to Literacy? Historical and Conceptual Perspectives on Literacy in UNESCO
    (2011-05-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    For more than six decades, UNESCO has dedicated itself to be the international agency leader in literacy, even though other aspects of educational development have received greater attention and resources by the broader international community. Resources for UNESCO's literacy work have not increased, and its programmatic activities have been increasingly debated when seen in relationship to the scope of literacy challenges across the globe. Moving forward in a time of restricted budgets will require UNESCO to strengthen itself as a professional innovator and thought leader.
  • Publication
    Basic Skills in Adult Education and the Digital Divide
    (2000-01-01) Ginsburg, Lynda; Sabatini, John; Wagner, Daniel A
    Traditionally, basic adult education has had a particular concern with the skills of literacy and numeracy, seeing these as essential for entry to the world of work. Adult education teachers may therefore be reluctant to adopt ICT, unsure of the part it should play, and worried about the time it takes away from the development of these basic skills. As we enter the 21st century, however, ICT has already become a necessary and important component of adult education. Formal and non-formal education are being delivered at a distance via technology — particularly the Internet — with the promise that learning can take place at any time and in any place.
  • Publication
    To Read or Not to Read: The Enduring Question of Low Adult Literacy in America
    (1995-10-25) Wagner, Daniel A
    In 1990, America's governors reached a historic consensus on a set of national educational goals as targets for the year 2000. Among these national goals was that " ... every adult American shall be literate." While this goal was widely applauded by those in the literacy community, much more national attention (and nearly 15 times the budgetary resources) has been devoted to the other goals that focus almost exclusively on improving the formal K-12 school system. Now, with the new Adult Education Act, welfare-reform legislation pending in Congress, and renewed debate over the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the troubling (and enduring) question of low-literate Americans is back in the news.
  • Publication
    Literacy and Adult Education: Thematic Studies
    (2000-04-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    The 1990 World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA) in Jomtien, Thailand, included adult literacy as one of its six major worldwide goals. Although the complete elimination of illiteracy by the year 2000 was adopted as a goal of UNESCO and a significant number of its Member States in the Udaipur Declaration of two decades ago, the Jomtien Conference scaled back such promises, and chose a more modest, and theoretically achievable, goal of cutting illiteracy rates in half by the year 2000. The reasons for this reduction in targeted goal were numerous. As this report describes, important gains have been made in literacy and adult education over the decade since Jomtien – in various places and using various methods – but the overall literacy situation remains one of the major concerns of the twenty-first century.
  • Publication
    Measuring Literacy through Household Surveys: A Technical Study on Literacy Assessment and Related Education Topics through Household Surveys
    (1989) Wagner, Daniel A; Srivastava, A.B.L.
    This study on Measuring Literacy through Household Surveys is one of a series of technical studies undertaken by the Statistical Office of the United Nations in Pursuance of the National Household Survey Capability Programme, to assist developing countries in the organization of household surveys.
  • Publication
    Des évaluations simples, rapides et abordables: Améliorer l'apprentissage dans les pays en développement
    (2015-01-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    Cet ouvrage, initialement publié en anglais par l'Institut international de planification de l'éducation de l'UNESCO (IIPE-UNESCO) et le Partenariat mondial pour l'éducation (PME), rejoint les préoccupations de plusieurs États et gouvernements de la Francophonie, qui font face au défi de la qualité de l'éducation. Á l'heure du bilan des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement et de ceux de l'Éducation pour tous – qui s'achéveront en 2015 – et malgré les remarquables progrès effectués, depuis le Forum de Dakar en 2000, la scolarisation primaire universelle et la qualité de l'éducation dispensée demeurent des préoccupations majeures.
  • Publication
    Review of S.A. Ashraf, New Horizons in Muslim Education
    (1987-02-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    Between 1977 and 1982, a series of four world conferences on Muslim education were held in various Muslim countries that all dealt with aspects of how contemporary Muslims can maintain Islamic values in the modern educational world. Ashraf was one of the principal organizers of these conferences and contributed a key-note address for each one. The present small volume is a collection of these papers, which range from the general nature of the Islamic education to the development of curricula, new textbooks, and new teaching methods.
  • Publication
    Supporting Home Language Reading through Technology in Rural South Africa
    (2018-03-01) Castillo, Nathan M; Wagner, Daniel A
    This paper describes a short-term longitudinal study in South Africa, with children in grades 1-3, some of whom received a multimedia technology reading support program in one of three home languages and English (through exisiting computer labs in schools). Findings reveal a positive and significant impact on local language reading acquisition among children with multimedia support. The study shows that effective literacy support can help struggling rural learners make significant gains that will help them complete their schooling. The ability to accomplish a full cycle of primary school with fully developed reading skills has significant implications for life-long learning.
  • Publication
    Literacy and Cultural Differences: An Afterword
    (1995) Wagner, Daniel A
    Within the educational research community, social, cultural, and linguistic interpretations of group differences have become increasingly prevalent. Whether one considers infant care, women at work, or IQ scores, there is no shortage of research that describes the various social attributes that "must have" led to such differences. As a number of chapters in this volume have indicated, a cultural explanation seems far more palatable—and allows for more societal intervention—that predecessor biological (read racial) claims. Yet, what do we really know about how societal interventions can take place effectively in a given educational domain or for individuals with different cultural and ethnic experiences? One obvious conclusion from the chapters in this volume is that literacy work across ethnic diversity needs a grounding in both cultural diversity and in-depth cultural understanding. The differences in literacy development within the African-American community, and as contrasted with other ethnic groups in the United States, are becoming increasingly clear.
  • Publication
    Literacy Campaigns: Past, Present, and Future. Review of Robert F. Arnove and Harvey J. Graff (Eds.), National Literacy Campaigns: Historical and Comparative Aspects; Paulo Freire and Donaldo Macedo, Literacy: Reading the Word and the World; Ali Hamadache and Daniel Martin, Theory and Practice of Literacy Work: Policies, Strategies and Examples
    (1989-05-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    The topic of literacy seems to be returning to the top of the development agenda. Since the 1960s, with UNESCO's Experimental World Literacy Programme (EWLP), there has been a drift away from large-scale literacy programs for development, if not in the minds of Third World educators, then at least in the minds of development planners in major policy-making centers such as the World Bank, UN agencies, and bilateral funding agencies. Perhaps this was due to the problems of EWLP (described in A. Gillette's chapter in Arnove & Graff) or simply to economists' reactions to literacy as a "basic human right," which may have struck policymakers as not sufficiently linked to development outcomes such as economic growth, improved agricultural practices, and so forth. At least part of the resurgence of interest in literacy stems from the realization that illiteracy is not just a Third World problem; attention to and research on illiteracy in North American and Europe have been growing rapidly over the past several years (see L. Limage's chapter in Arnove & Graff).1 The present volumes are primarily focused on the "campaign" and mass education dimensions of literacy. Each volume addresses national and international efforts to achieve greater literacy among adult populations, principally in Third World countries.