Although teachers continue to implement an array of best practices, learners identified as unsuccessful according to criteria may lack engagement to succeed in the current curriculum activities. Even as teachers continue to apply best practices in the classroom, data does not support continued improvement of student engagement and achievement of…

Schools face the dilemma of transforming both the trend of students dropping out of school and the associated negative socioeconomic outcomes into a positive path of persistence and school completion. Despite ongoing efforts of the federal and state government, as well as those of the local school districts, this problem continues to burden the…

A review of current literature identifies three growing trends. First, there has been an increase in legislatively mandated accountability that requires taxpayer-funded education and research programs be demonstrated effective by "scientifically based research." To receive federal monies programs must emphasize quantitative,…

The impact of the General Educational Development certificate (GED) on the earnings of high school dropouts who seek the credential were estimated. The estimates were derived by using several different types of estimation methods to analyze data linking Florida GED test information with quarterly earnings records collected by Florida's…

A teacher who teaches General Educational Development preparation to at-risk teenagers in a nonprofit alternative education program called FutureWorks conducted a study to identify those elements of FutureWorks that keep students coming to the program. The study included the following data collection activities: a consensus-building activity to…

The economic benefits of the General Educational Development certificate (GED) were examined through a review of four published papers and four unpublished working papers on the GED's benefits. Key findings were as follows: (1) a GED provides economic benefits only to low-skilled dropouts; (2) economic benefits of a GED appear over time--often…

This volume contains the four 1998 quarterly issues of this newsletter that present best practices, current research on adult learning and literacy, and information on how research is used by adult basic education teachers, counselors, program administrators, and policy makers. The following are among the major articles included: "Power,…

In Chapter Three, Marilyn Gillespie provides a summary of the research on writing instruction that has taken place over the last three decades. In her survey of writing research, she describes models of the writing process such as that developed by Flower and Hayes, who viewed writing as three cognitive writing processes: planning, text generation…

This document contains nine papers from a systematic, classroom-based study of multiple intelligences (MI) theory in different adult learning contexts during which adult educators from rural and urban areas throughout the United States conducted independent inquiries into the question of how MI theory can support instruction and assessment in…

This set of four newsletters contains articles to help adult basic education and literacy teachers connect research and practice. The following are among the articles included: "The Effects of Continuing Goal-Setting on Persistence in a Math Classroom" (Pamela Meader); "Do the Cognitive Skills of Dropouts Matter in the Labor…

The following are among 50 papers included: "The Politics of Planning Culturally Relevant AIDS Education for African-American Women" (Archie-Booker); "Developing White Consciousness through a Transformative Learning Process" (Barlas); "Executive Businesswomen's Learning in the Context of Organizational Culture"…