The Reintegration Academy was founded in 2009. It was the first program of its kind in the United States to bring a group of parolees to a college campus for an extended period for academic programming. Since its inception, the Reintegration Academy has collaborated with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Division of…

Technology has become a way of life since March 2020 and the statewide shutdowns after the COVID-19 pandemic. People who had gotten by without ever having to use the internet, much less turn on a computer, had to learn quickly to change and adapt. The administrative team of Fontana Adult School realized the need to help students with basic digital…

Moving suddenly from on-site, in class, traditional instruction to school closure (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and reopening within 2 weeks in a virtual model was difficult, but we did it. Moreno Valley Community Adult School did not see COVID restrictions as an obstacle to instructional delivery, but as an impetus to pivot into the future and…

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…

At Fontana Adult School, they saw a need to create a strong, unified student group on campus to help them not only promote their school and the services they offer the community, but also to improve their school climate and understand student needs better. At the end of 2018, they created a student leadership team on their campus, and it has made…

Participating in activities such as being involved in school life and practicing leadership skills are as important for immigrant learners as studying English. We surveyed 33 student volunteers and analyzed testimonies of nine staff members to investigate how English as a second language (ESL) student volunteers' engagement and leadership…

Adult education is a field that needs teachers that exhibit social justice dispositions in their classrooms. As the students in these classrooms are predominantly people of color, the teachers who support them in the pursuit of their educational goals need to have a deeper understanding of their culture and backgrounds in order to enable trust and…

In the last two years, the nation's workforce development boards have focused on job training and placement in the face of many challenges related to the changing labor market, a global pandemic, and an economic shutdown. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) spoke with five workforce development board directors from across the…

Immigration is a cornerstone of American growth and success. More than 1 million immigrants arrive in the United States each year, looking for opportunities to build a better life and become a part of their new communities. Facilitating immigrant integration is central to maintaining a cohesive social fabric and strong communities. Adult schools…

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly shifted the delivery of teaching and learning, particularly for adult English learners (ELs) and international students enrolled in US institutions. This study investigates EL perspectives of their English instructors during the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to remote learning in the spring of 2020 through a…

Faced with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, California's adult education programs found innovative ways to pivot and continue serving students. With the support of the California Department of Education and its state leadership projects, adult educators embraced new technologies, virtual modes of professional development, and adapted…

Since 2016, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO), with generous support from Lumina Foundation, has been working with states to explore establishing "promise-type" aid programs for adult students (adult promise programs). SHEEO is currently working with 15 states to implement adult promise programs through…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, an adult noncredit program in the California Community College system partnered with Ease Learning to help convert face-to-face courses to an online modality. Subsequent data revealed a misalignment in the courses' Student Learning Outcomes and Instructional Objectives which became a barrier to student success. Wile's…

Given the current lack of connection between people and the natural environment, the goal of this research was to explore if and how an educational program could impact an individual's sense of place, and environmental stewardship attitudes and behaviors. To address this question, I examined these impacts with a cohort of participants in the UC…

Though culturally relevant educational leadership has been practiced for more than 20 years, marginalized students from culturally diverse communities continue to be underserved. Additionally, other educational programs outside of traditional K-12 school environments are far less likely to have educational administrators who have any experience or…