[Reading-hall-of-fame] Thomas Sticht to Receive Liferime Achievement Award

[Thomas Sticht]

*To: Reading Hall 0f Fame*


*March 15, 2025*


*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*



Media Contact:

Sharon Bonney

Chief Executive Officer

888.44.COABE

info at COABE.org



*Esteemed Leader in Adult Education To Receive Prestigious National Award *

*From the Coalition on Adult Basic Education*



Dr. Thomas Sticht, an influential policymaker, consultant, researcher, and
practitioner in adult education will be awarded a Lifetime Achievement
Award by the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) at it's
national conference, the largest convening of adult educators in the
world,  in Dallas, Texas on March 31st, 2025.


As an international consultant, Dr. Thomas Sticht has contributed greatly
to the field of adult education. For 25 years (1979-2003) he represented
the International Reading Association (now the International Literacy
Association) as a member of UNESCO's International Literacy Prize jury.
His additional contributions to adult literacy education include extensive
research and development on the oral and written language skills of adults,
diagnostic tests for learning-disabled adults, and the development of adult
education programs that integrate the teaching of basic skills with career
education. Perhaps one of Sticht’s greatest contributions has been his
research on literacy education for the U.S. Army on the listening and
reading skills of lower aptitude recruits which resulted in the creation of
the Army’s Functional Literacy program, which integrated and contextualized
basic skills education with Army occupational training and influenced the
formation of the National Workplace Literacy Program of the U.S. Department
of Education.



Sharon Bonney, CEO of COABE, states, "Thomas Sticht’s incredible research
contributions for the field of adult education are inspirational. His
storied career has impacted so many facets of society including  adult
learners in the military, adult learners and their children, and adult
learners in the workplace. We are honored to award Dr. Sticht the
prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award and thank him for his service.”


###



The Coalition on Adult Basic Education provides leadership, professional
development and advocacy for 82,000 educators, administrators, and
paraworkers in the field of adult education. COABE highlights excellence in
the field of adult education by presenting yearly scholarships, incentive
grants and prestigious national awards to feature best practices in the
field. Learn more at coabe.org.


Biographical statement for Thomas Sticht from the Reading Hall of Fame:



 Thomas G. Sticht worked as an International  Consultant in Adult Education
from 2000 to his retirement in 2013.  Earlier he served as President and
Senior Scientist at the Applied Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences, Inc. (the
ABC'S); Vice President of the Human Resources Research Organization
(HumRRO);  Associate Director of the National Institute of Education (NIE),
Visiting Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education;
Research Professor of Industrial Psychology at the U. S. Naval Postgraduate
School,  and visiting Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia
in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

 Sticht received the Ph. D degree from the University of Arizona, where he
specialized in experimental psychology. His research and development
efforts have focused on the application of cognitive science to the
literacy needs of under-served youth and adults. He formulated the
Functional Context Education approach to integrating vocational and
literacy education which has been used by the U. S. Department of
Education's National Workplace Literacy Program, in functional literacy
programs for the U. S. Army, Air Force, and Navy, and is included in the
federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014.

 He served on the National Governor's Association's Advisory Group for
Achieving National Education Goal 6 (adult literacy); the National
Commission on Working Women; the Secretary of Labor's Commission on
Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS); the National Commission on Testing and
Public Policy; from 1992-98 he was Project Coordinator for the San Diego
Consortium for Workforce Education and Lifelong Learning (CWELL), and in
1989-91 he  chaired the California Workforce Literacy Task Force
established by the California State Legislature.

 Internationally, Sticht served annually from 1979 through 2003 on UNESCO’s
International Jury for Literacy Prizes. He has consulted with government
agencies and other organizations in France, Germany, Wales, England,
Scotland, Northern Ireland, all 10 Canadian provinces, Ireland, Thailand,
Saipan, and New Zealand.

 In 1978 the International Reading Association (IRA) awarded Dr. Sticht the
Albert J. Harris Award for outstanding research on the assessment of
learning disabilities of adults.  In 1994 he was elected to the
Reading Hall of Fame. In 1997, the Reading Research Quarterly reported that
his research and the work of Paulo Freire were the two most influential
lines of research on adult literacy education in the last thirty years; in
2003 he was awarded UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Medal (Bronze) for his 25 years
of work on UNESCO’s International Literacy Prize Jury; and in 2013 he was
elected to the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.
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