A significant demographic shift in community colleges reveals that more than half of enrolled students are adults aged 25 and older. In response, states are instituting reconnect programs aimed at recruiting and reengaging adult learners. Despite these initiatives, existing processes and practices within community colleges often inadequately…

As higher education institutions across Colorado continue to address the impact of COVID19 on enrollment and identify practices that promote student success and institutional sustainability, many are focusing their attention on the enrollment of adult learners. The Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) has actively engaged in building…

With an increasing immigrant population in the United States, higher education institutions and community organizations offer a variety of adult English as a second language (ESL) courses. Given that English language learners (ELLs) come from various backgrounds, they face unique challenges. Thus, it is pivotal that adult ESL instructors…

The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) developed the Adult Learner Leaders for Institutional Effectiveness (ALLIES) Framework to help guide institutional policies and practices in their work to support adult learners. This document begins by describing the Framework's series of planning and operational domains through which…

Mass incarceration in America is a moral, economic, and societal crisis with serious implications for many men of color and high school non-completers who are incarcerated at proportionally higher rates than Whites or college graduates. For the formerly incarcerated, engagement in adult learning, whether high school equivalency (HSE) or college,…

Workers are remaining in the labor force at older ages; and, despite their desire to work, those without jobs face unprecedented durations of unemployment. Many of the unemployed lack current skills for jobs in demand and need to either upgrade their skills or be trained for a new occupation to become re-employed. An aging workforce combined with…

This paper presents assessments by students actively engaged in a recently redesigned Doctor of Education (EdD) program, delivered at a research-extensive university participating in the the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), to prepare leaders for a statewide system of community and technical colleges. Because a unique feature of…

The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Plus 50 Initiative is a three-year initiative launched in June 2008 and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was created to support a pilot group of two-year institutions to develop or expand campus programs that engage plus 50 learners. The initiative focuses on three types of…

The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Plus 50 Initiative is a three-year initiative launched in June 2008 and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was created to support a pilot group of two-year institutions to develop or expand campus programs that engage plus 50 learners. The initiative focuses on three types of…

Community colleges are undoubtedly aligned in the most strategic positions to affect social and economic change. Numerous factors are playing a part in the shifts felt throughout higher education today. From the recent economic recession that continues to provide America with more displaced workers, unemployed and underemployed adults to the…