In this article Karla Walker describes how her division developed new curriculum to help adults earn their High School Equivalency Diplomas (HSEDs). The division's goals were to: (1) shorten the time students took to complete the program; (2) develop transition to college or employment; (3) allow for poverty-informed decisions within the program;…

Adult students are more anxious about writing for school, less familiar with academic conventions, and more likely to drop out than younger students. For students learning to move between personal, work, and academic discourse communities, the ongoing and explicit writing instruction argued for in the research of Sternglass, Herrington and Curtis,…