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Dept. of Ed. Grants Georgia State University $10 Mil for Adult Literacy Center

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According to a report in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Georgia State University has landed a five-year $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to start a research center aimed at improving national adult literacy.

At GSU’s Center for the Study of Adult Literacy, researchers will study the underlying cognitive and motivational issues of adults who struggle with reading, GSU said. The center will also work on developing and piloting a reading intervention to improve literacy among this population.

The primary focus of the new research center is on adults reading at the third- to eighth-grade levels, examining impediments to reading and developing and evaluating a reading intervention to improve literacy.

GSU investigators include Daphne Greenberg, associate professor of educational psychology and special education, and principal investigator of the project; Lee Branum-Martin of the Department of Psychology; Chris Oshima of the Department of Educational Policy Studies; and Robin Morris, associate provost for strategic initiatives and innovation and Regents’ Professor of psychology.

According to the most recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy, about 43 percent of adults in the United States read at basic or below basic levels of literacy. And 44 percent of adults who read at below basic levels have incomes below the national poverty threshold.

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