Congratuations, Sharon Darling! NCFL’s president has received the E-Chievement Award from Etown, a nationally syndicated radio program. She was interviewed recently by radio personalities Nick and Helen Forster, during a taping of the Etown show. To listen to the interview, click here.

A set of free videos on our website introduce two research-based reading comprehension strategies to adult learners—coding text and question-answer relationship (QAR). Each video is about two minutes long.  The videos present some strategies that you can use with your learners who need to improve their reading comprehension.

Wilder Women: The mother and daughter behind the Little House stories
The New Yorker has an interesting story about the creation of the Little House series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. (Thanks to for the link.)

How Web-Savvy Edupunks Are Transforming American Higher Education

There’s still time to enroll in Penn State’s online course, Adult Literacy (ADTED 457), a three-credit undergraduate/graduate level course offered online through Penn State’s World Campus for graduate or undergraduate credit. Class runs September 2 – December 2, 2009, and registration is already underway.

This course allows you to focus on your own area of interest within the field of adult basic and literacy education, including, but not limited to, family literacy, workplace literacy and workforce development, health literacy, financial literacy, and information literacy.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report to a U.S. Senate subcommittee included NCFL’s Toyota Family Literacy Program.

The report on English language learning notes that TFLP operates in 75 locations across the country and has developed family literacy programs that focus specifically on English language learners, with support from Toyota and the National Center for Family Literacy.

Thinkfinity on Xtra Normal
We found this great movie-making tool through a Thinkfinity video that was created on the site. Click here to view the video that touts the free lesson plans and tools available to teachers and parents on Thinkfinity.

NCFL has an exciting opportunity for an ESL professional who has experience in Early Childhood Education!

Another exciting announcement this week-- NCFL will distribute $30,000 in funding to libraries that are pioneering programs to families through the Libraries and Families Award. Funding for the program will come from Better World Books’ Libraries Discards & Donations program, a free service that helps libraries manage their unwanted books.

NCFL is excited to announce that we are the national nonprofit partner selected for the Fast Break to Reading program sponsored by Pitney Bowes and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA)! The initiative encourages young students to read throughout the summer and track their minutes at http://www.wnba.com/fbtr/. The goal is for youth to collectively reach one million minutes of reading time --- and we’re more than halfway there!

Peter Reynolds lit up the sky (literally!) at this year's NCFL Conference, and we are excited to announce his star continues to rise. Peter is one of five finalists for Entrepreneur Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year!

Peter led us on a journey with his 21st Century Learners' Constellation at the Tech Savvy Banquet. With the help of Greg Forbes Siegman, Peter helped each of us find what inspires us. He is using that same creative talent through his work at Fable Vision, a company he founded with his twin brother, Paul.