Although research on improving child literacy is converging, no such body of research exists for adult literacy. Yet the need is no less significant. This study extends the knowledge garnered with younger populations by determining the reading comprehension strategies most important to adults' success on adult literacy outcome measures and aligning them with previously researched interventions. According to an analysis of key adult literacy outcome measures (i.e., competency-based, standardized tests of literacy commonly accepted as reasonable proxies for the global construct of adult literacy: Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System [CASAS], General Educational Development [GED], and National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP]), adults should benefit from strategies that teach looking for clues in or generating questions about a text. Additionally, adults need to learn how to summarize and draw inferences in order to address higher-level literacy demands. Adult learners also need a metacognitive strategy to self-regulate reading behavior (e.g., choose a strategy to use, evaluate its effectiveness, and abandon and choose another strategy if necessary.) Furthermore, when using a competency-based standardized test, adult learners need to be coincidentally taught test-taking skills to reduce the test-related task demands and produce a better index of a learner's reading comprehension skills.

In this commentary, the authors move beyond digital literacy and take up the question of what digital citizenship means and looks like in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. To engage with questions of ethical practice, the authors begin with the International Society for Technology in Education framework for digital citizenship. They expand on these standards to argue for an awareness of the ethical questions facing citizens online that are difficult to encompass as a set of skills or competencies. The authors then take these considerations into a set of practical steps for teachers to nurture participatory and social justice-oriented digital citizenship as part of the curriculum. The authors conclude by noting the digital divide and social inequities that have been highlighted by the current crisis.

Authors featured in this department share anthropological perspectives and qualitative insights to redefine community in adolescent and adult literacy practice.