Low-skilled adults in literacy in English are those with skills insufficient to complete tasks requiring comparing and contrasting information, paraphrasing, or making low-level inferences. Low-skilled adults in numeracy in English are those who would have difficulty making calculations with whole numbers and percentages, estimating numbers or…

This article seeks to make sense of the seeming contradiction that the number of degrees awarded annually and the attainment rate of the adult population in the US have both grown, even as the country has fallen behind many global competitors on the latter indicator. Two reports issued in 2012---one by the Pew Research Center, the other by the…

This report has been prepared in direct response to the Action Plan on Adult Learning "It is always a good time to learn" (European Commission, 2007), and, more specifically, to its stated objective of increasing the opportunities for adults to achieve a qualification at least one level higher than they previously held. The document…

This article summarizes mental retardation/developmental disabilities (MR/DD) spending since 1977, with emphasis on spending from 1995-2000. The change in state economic conditions, from strong growth in recent years to fiscal constraints in 2002, is addressed. Tables provide data trends in MR spending by type of placement and state and changes in…

Using the qualitative research method known as folknography, the authors led a research team to the heart of Illinois farm country to ask the question "What are the perceptions of the people of the Midwest concerning math and math education?" A review of the literature includes Canadian and Australian references on the topic, as well as…

In 1989, 682,728 people (7% less than in 1988) took the Tests of General Educational Development (GED Tests). Approximately 68% earned scores sufficient to qualify for the GED diploma awarded by their jurisdictions. Departments and ministries of education in the United States and Canada awarded 376,879 credentials (down 13% from 1988) based on GED…

In part stimulated by the information needed by the Private Industry Councils (PICs) under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Amendments (1978), a growing number of groups and agencies have conducted surveys of local employers to gather various types of occupational data. Such activities may be useful and productive, if the data collection…

The educational attainment of the adult population is examined, along with the fields in which adults received degrees, and their earnings in those fields. Figures from the Survey of Income and Program Participation are compared for 1984 and 1987. More adults (78%) had high school diplomas in 1987, and about 23% had earned a postsecondary degree.…