Institute Overview

The Literacy Institute was established in 2003 as a partnership between the Virginia Literacy Foundation and Virginia Commonwealth University to conduct research and development projects in the area of literacy across the lifespan. It incorporated the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center (VALRC), a nationally recognized provider of professional development and resources for adult educators, which has been operating within the School of Education for more than 25 years. In addition, new programs and projects have been initiated, most notably three Early Reading First projects funded by the U. S. Department of Education (USED). These are the only Early Reading First grants ever to have been awarded in Virginia. Further, The Institute shares with only one other organization in the nation the distinction of having received three ERF grants.

During the first six years of operation, The Literacy Institute has received over $20 million in grants and contracts. The three Early Reading First grants have combined total budgets of nearly $12.5 million. The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center and associated smaller projects funded by the Virginia Department of Education account for over $1 million in funding annually. Other funding sources have included the following:

• STAR Grants from the United Way of Greater Richmond and the Richmond Chamber of Commerce to evaluate literacy instruction in community-based early childhood programs
• EL-Civics to develop curricula and instructional materials to support ESOL instruction
• Food Stamp Employment and Training Program and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to establish a distance learning center for adult education students statewide
• Governor’s Productivity Investment Fund to create and pilot PlugGED In, a contextualized GED and technology career path program
• Virginia Literacy Foundation in partnership with the Robins Foundation to conduct family literacy programming for the Northside Reading Fundamentals project

• In 2006, The Institute hosted an international forum on low-educated second language and literacy acquisition that attracted over 80 participants from the United States and four other countries; it also published the Proceedings of the Forum on Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition.
• In 2007, VALRC’s three professional development programs in math for adult education teachers were among only 14 cited as exemplary and worthy of further evaluation in a nationwide study funded by the USED.
• VARLC, in collaboration with the Office of Adult Education and Literacy of the Virginia Department of Education, submitted successful proposals for two highly competitive national projects funded by the USED: Standards in Action and the Center for Adult English Acquisition’s professional development project.
• The Institute’s management and staff have served on a variety of boards and committees at the state and national levels, including the Southern Regional Education Board, National Institute for Literacy’s LINCS Partner Group (Region 3), Virginia Department of Correctional Education Academic Advisory Board, Capital Area Workforce Investment Board, and the State Board of Education Adult Education Advisory Board. Dr. Mark Emblidge has served as President of the State Board of Education since 2006.

A key to the success of The Literacy Institute has been the willingness to work collaboratively with faculty from the School of Education as well as other schools within the university. In addition, Institute staff work with representatives of agencies and organizations at the state and local levels to develop project ideas and to identify funding sources. Working with strong partners whose knowledge, skills, and experience complement one another has been a goal of Institute management from the beginning.