Most young people face challenges on the road to a college degree. They must make important decisions about career preparation, financing a college education, and how college and work fit together to ensure income security while in school. These challenges often seem particularly daunting for two groups of students: opportunity youth (OY)--the 5…

Quinsigamond Community College's (QCC's) Adult Community Learning Center is located in Worcester, Massachusetts, and offers ESOL and ABE/GED classes to students who reside in Worcester and the surrounding towns (urban area). Its ABE/GED program has historically had low retention and persistence. Students often left before the end of the year or…

Seventeen Massachusetts programs involving schools and communities working together to support the educational success of linguistic minorities are described. The programs represent a cross-section of efforts in the state serving a variety of language groups. Program focuses include: (1) supplemental support and resources for Cambodian students;…

This document is the result of two years of intensive, dedicated work by a remarkable team of nearly two dozen researchers. It takes the first steps on a long overdue journey to fully understanding the realities and promise of ESL program service in community colleges across the nation. The report offers an in-depth look into several community…

In much research, learners' perspectives tend to be considered in light of a program's expectations or U.S. society's definitions of learner needs, rather than considering how learners would define and make sense of their own experiences, hopes, and needs. In contrast, this study considers learners' meanings as the fundamental starting point for…

The authors carefully followed for a year or more the inner experiences of learning and change of 41 ABE/ESOL (Adult Basic Education/English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners from all over the world. They were enrolled in three distinct U.S. programs (a community college, a family literacy site, and a workplace site), each oriented to…

The role of adult education in sustaining economic growth and expanding opportunity in Massachusetts was explored. The analysis focused on the new basic skills needed for a new economy, groups lacking the new basic skills, the demand for adult basic education (ABE), funding for ABE, building basic skills through adult education, ABE's costs and…

How do ABE/ESOL (Adult Basic Education/English for Speakers of Other Languages) programs shape adult learners, and how do adult learners, in turn, shape their programs? Beyond the acquisition of important skills (such as greater fluency in the English language) what are the bigger internal meanings for adults of participating in ABE/ESOL…