The Accelerating Opportunity initiative helps our nation's lowest-skilled adults earn college credentials and enter higher-wage jobs faster by combining the Adult Basic Education and career and technical training they need into one integrated curriculum. Based on four years of designing and managing Accelerating Opportunity, Jobs for the Future…

Many adult learners have employment goals, from preparing to enter the workforce to improving skills that can lead to a better job. Resources in the Workforce Competitiveness Collection--research-based products and materials, and research papers--can help readers expand and improve work-based basic skills classes offered to adults. This paper…

Despite the transition requirements of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and a growing body of research in support of effective transition planning for learners with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), many adults on the spectrum remain without employment in large numbers. Even for those generally regarded as most capable, they…

Three case studies in adult literacy learning were conducted, with focus on instructional and policy issues. They came out of programs that, by state mandate, focus instruction around component skills through diagnostic tests, worksheets, and mastery tests. In Case 1, a learner managed to attend an adult basic education program regularly and…

This book looks at what makes adults participate in education and training, particularly in relation to work. It considers three kinds of incentives: to provide education and training, to accept learning opportunities, and to learn effectively. An introduction (Hirsch, Wagner) describes three potential conflicts that need to be resolved to bring…

This technical assistance guide contains information on adult learners and how they differ from learners who are children and the related program implications. The first section describes characteristics of adults that affect the attitudes adults bring to the classroom situation. These include bringing life experiences; having self-concept as a…

The nine papers in this volume represent a majority of the presentations at a conference that examined in detail employee development (ED) initiatives from Europe and North America. An introduction provides a contextual background to the vocational training and education debates characterizing policy development in the European and North American…

Current practice in postliteracy (PL) instruction was reviewed. In all cases, PL programs were considered programs of further learning. Some PL programs were concentrating on further developing literacy skills, whereas others were concentrating on skill training, group formation, or further education based on nonformal curricula. Although adult…

This booklet describes 26 projects funded by Pennsylvania (PA) Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABLE). Descriptions include title, purpose, impact, project outcomes, conclusions or recommendations, project continuation or future implications, product, project director, and descriptors. The following projects are profiled: AchievE:…

The recent frenzy over education--that is, children and schools--has obscured an adult learning crisis that will really put this nation's economy at risk between now and the beginning of the next century. The postindustrial economy demands a new kind of learning enterprise, focused on adults rather than children, on learning rather than education,…

Interweaving theory and commentary with case studies, this book explores a multifaceted approach to workplace education that develops workers' skills and integrates learning, language, and cross-cultural issues into work, communication, and management practices. Chapter 1 explores the changing world of work and implications for workforce skill…

There is a strong and growing argument for higher educational attainment in the United States. The jobs that are expected to support the economy in the coming years will depend on a skilled workforce that is able to learn and adapt quickly to new challenges. However, demographic patterns demonstrate that relying on the traditional K-16 pipeline to…

In July 2000, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 officially replaced the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). WIA requires individual assessment of skill levels and service needs and development of an individual service strategy for each youth participant. WIA requires all youth programs to make 10 program elements available to all…

This book traces the history of adult and continuing education in the United States from 1750 through 1990. The following topics are among those examined in the book's 12 chapters: literature, philosophy, and self-education in the 18th century; uses of knowledge in the antebellum period (law and learning, piety and learning, commerce and culture);…

This annotated bibliography lists 836 English language materials dealing with adult education in continental Europe that were written between 1975 and 1979. Organized by country, the bibliography deals with the broadest possible concept of adult education. Thus, it includes works devoted to vocational education for adults; adult secondary and…