Adult Literacy in America - National Center for Education Statistics ...

Our thanks go to all those who carried out the enormous volume of
operations work — in particular, Debbie Giannacio, who ably coordinated the
receipt of the survey materials, followup activities, and quality control. She was
assisted by Kathy Miller, who also provided administrative support for the
project. We acknowledge the contributions of Joanne Antonoff, who helped
prepare the NALS proposal and whose memory we cherish.
We thank Don Rock and Kentaro Yamamoto of Educational Testing
Service, who directed the statistical and psychometric activities and provided
invaluable guidance on technical matters. Robert Mislevy helped us reflect
on statistical as well as philosophical questions, and we are grateful for his
contributions. Charlie Lewis, Neal Thomas, and Ming-Mei Wang were
available for statistical advice.
Norma Norris deserves special honors for conducting the statistical work
and managing the data analyses under impossibly tight deadlines. Her support
went above and beyond the call of duty, and we are grateful for her dedication
to the project. Additional thanks are extended to Jim Ferris, Dave Freund,
Tom Jirele, Bruce Kaplan, Jennifer Nelson, Inge Novatkoski, Kate Pashley, and
Lois Worthington, who shared responsibility for conducting the data analyses.
Thanks to John Barone for helping to oversee data analysis activities.
As this report took shape, many reviewers asked questions and provided
insights that helped us sharpen our thinking and writing. In particular, we wish
to thank Kent Ashworth, Paul Barton, Anne Campbell, Archie Lapointe, Peter
Mosenthal, and Ron Solarzano for their suggestions. We also appreciate the
thoughtful comments we received from the government’s reviewers, including
Nabeel Alsalam, Janet Baldwin, John Burkett, Ruth Childs, Mary Anne Nester,
Linda Roberts, Peter Stowe, and David Sweet.
Beverly Cisney provided invaluable assistance in word processing and
desktop publishing for this report. Her commitment to the project is appreciated.
We also extend many thanks to Susan Busfield, who designed and
prepared the tables and graphs for this report under the most difficult
deadlines. Thanks also go to the test development consultants, whose names
are listed at the end of the report, and to the individuals who scored the
responses to the assessment tasks.
Producing this report was a challenge, and it would not have been possible
without the excellent work of the ETS Publications Division. In particular,
we thank Robin Matlack, who conceived the beautiful design for the report;
Joyce Martorelli, who typeset the manuscript; Peter Stremic, who ensured that
the report met the highest standards; Fred Marx, who managed the production
stages; Kathy Benischeck, who coordinated the production process; and Kiyo
Toma,
who answered our technical questions. We thank editors Shilpi Niyogi and
Carol Carlson for their careful reviews of the manuscript.
Finally, we wish to thank the thousands of adults across the country who
gave their time to respond to the survey. Without their participation, this study
would not have been possible.
xx ......Acknowledgments
Irwin S. Kirsch Lynn Jenkins
Ann Jungeblut Andrew Kolstad