The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) funded Manhattan Strategy Group and Abt Associates to conduct the Advancing Innovation in Adult Education project. The goal is to inspire and promote the development and use of innovate approaches in adult education that can result in high quality services…

For adults with low incomes and potential first-generation college-goers, enrolling in college can be challenging. The U.S. Department of Education-funded Educational Opportunity Centers (EOCs) provide supports to help navigate some of the barriers to enrollment, including assistance with completing college and financial aid application processes,…

This chapter focuses on the transitional experiences of youth with dis/ability labels and highlights how a critical orientation to dis/ability can inform adult educators.

This chapter frames the transition to adulthood in the context of the moving from formal educational settings to the often less-structured learning that occurs in workplace settings. Although schooling may end, learning continues.

Although reentry education is well documented as an evidence-based, cost-effective approach to preparing incarcerated adults for release (Davis et al. 2014), education services offered by correctional facilities often are disconnected from community-based education programs and other support. This lack of communication and coordination can make it…

Nebraska's Employment First (EF) program allows parents who receive TANF cash assistance to pursue education and training that improves their ability to secure employment and long-term economic success. A parent must negotiate and sign an Employment First contract, facilitated by a case worker, between the participating parent and the state of…

Veterans enrolled in college face unique challenges compared with those of traditional students. Their experiences and perspectives, coupled with battling stereotypes and entering an unstructured college setting, contribute toward what can be a difficult transition. Student veteran organizations, veteran resource centers, veteran-specific…

Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 directs the federal government to conduct a national assessment of adult education, including activities to understand the extent to which adult education strategies positively affect learners. A systematic review of the research on the effectiveness of particular strategies in adult…

As community colleges face increasingly tight budgets and calls for a renewed focus on improving student outcomes in the form of graduation rates, colleges must address the concept of access. How much access to higher education can they continue to provide low-skilled students in adult education and similar programs? One way to ensure access to…

The role of universities in contributing to lifelong learning is likely to undergo significant change in the next few years as the higher education sector grapples with the government's overhaul of university funding. Opportunities for progression to university for those studying outside of A-levels are particularly uncertain in the emerging…

This article features the Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) which serves as the founding credential in the six states and one locality in the Career Readiness Certificate Consortium (Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C.). The Career Readiness Certificate was developed by the small consortium…

Three teacher educators worked at a US community college with two adult education staff on a grant-supported project bridging high school dropouts from adult education to employment. The teacher educators' apparently simple task of facilitating grant participants' engagement with action research became confusingly challenging. The consultants…

To enhance state-level adult education and employment policy, in 2007 the Joyce Foundation began the Shifting Gears (SG) initiative to assist six states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin) to integrate adult education, workforce development and postsecondary education policies and improve job opportunities for low-skilled…

Black Hawk College (BHC) is a comprehensive community college serving all or part of nine counties and a population of approximately 224,510 residents in a mostly rural area of north-west Illinois. This practice was fully developed and implemented for the Shifting Gears (SG) initiative during the 2007-08 academic years. Heeding BHC's strategic…

The following program description, literature review, and theoretical bases demonstrate the andragogical soundness of the two projects and a club of the Monterey Adult Transitions Program. The Bistro Project began as a suggestion of an Associate Superintendent, who ran a similar project in the Boston area. The Greenhouse Project began as a…