Literacy development stages to support instruction and assessment is a comprehensive and concise description of literacy growth from emergent literacy to highly advanced literacy. 

There are five stages in the framework. Adult learners in foundational learning programs are likely working in the middle three stages (i.e. Stages 1, 2 and 3).  Learners don't progress through all stages and could meet their goals within one or two stages. But educators need the bigger picture so they can situate learners and plan instruction. 

Descriptions of emergent literacy (Stage 0) and advanced disciplinary literacy (Stage 4) help educators gain a comprehensive understanding of literacy development. 

Aligned with each stage are:

• OER assessments that you can use during intake and learning sessions or courses. 

• OER instructional resources for teaching reading and writing that you can use to develop learning sessions or courses.