Competency-based testing and credentialing (CBTC) initiatives aim to address inequity in adult education by fundamentally changing how states use GED®, HiSET®, and TASC™ test scores to award and withhold high school equivalency credentials. However, CBTC is inconsistent with how developers intend states to use those scores. Accordingly, it falls…

The Federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Title II: Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) provides funding for states and territories to provide instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL), Adult Basic Education (ABE), and Adult Secondary Education (ASE) to adults in need of these literacy services. California State Budget Act…

This curriculum was developed to assist adult education teachers (especially in Kentucky) to prepare adults to function in today's society and that of the next century. Materials in the guide go beyond preparing adults to pass the General Educational Development (GED) test to preparing them with life skills. The curriculum includes traditional…

These two presentations discuss the National External Diploma Program (EDP) sponsored by the American Council on Education and its relationship to the Department of Labor's Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report and to the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS). The first presentation focuses on the…

The National External Degree Program (EDP) of the American Council on Education is an alternative way for adults to earn a high school diploma. EDP is a competency-based, high school level assessment system that credentials mature adults who have acquired their high school level skills through their life experience. It uses materials adults have…

The study compared two adult education standards used to determine Louisiana student eligibility for taking the General Educational Development (GED) test. Of the initial 590 students, 516 remained as study participants. The traditional standard, Standard 1, required the student to earn 13.0 on the California Achievement Test (CAT) with no area…

A comprehensive, needs-based portfolio assessment system was developed for use with adult basic education (ABE)/General Educational Development (GED) students at an adult education and job training center in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Consultation meetings were held with ABE/GED instructors, students, administrators, and counselors to identify…

This guide was developed to provide adult education teachers in Arkansas with a listing of competencies correlated with appropriate materials at each level. The guide helps teachers select materials to individualize student instructional plans. It provides a variety of alternatives such as books, workbooks, software, video, and suggested reading…

The articles in this issue include "Let's Talk about What This Means" (Duncan); "Dyslexia and Adult Literacy--Forging the Missing Link" (Kidder); "Competency-Based ESL, One Step Forward or Two Steps Back?" (Auerbach); " A Comparative Look at Adult Literacy Programs in Stockholm, London, and Boston" (Nickse);…

This curriculum module contains lesson plans and application activities that were developed to help adult students master the mathematics skills needed to earn a general high school equivalency diploma. Included in the module are materials designed to help students improve their understanding of mathematics and achieve the following objectives:…

These nine articles reflect the diversity of activities taking place in adult education and adult literacy in the Boston area. An introduction briefly describes each article; notes on the authors follow. In "A Different Third 'R'--Radical Math," Marilyn Frankenstein describes a mathematics course that, through content and method, both…

This curriculum module contains lesson plans and application activities that were developed to help adult students master the writing skills needed to earn a general high school equivalency diploma. Included in the module are materials designed to help students demonstrate effective writing and master specific objectives in the following writing…

This document lists the Ohio Department of Education's Adult Basic and Literacy Education revised indicators of program quality. A chart details the measures and performance standards for the following quality indicators: (1) students demonstrate progress toward attainment of literacy skills at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the…

This document expands upon the discussion of standardized tests in federal legislation and Department of Education rules and regulations, in order to guide practitioners in using these tests and alternative assessment methods more wisely. Amendments of 1988 that address the uses of standardized tests, the federal regulations that implement the…

This final report documents the development of a workplace literacy program for 100 employees of the Geriatric Authority of Holyoke, Massachusetts (GAH), a major nonprofit nursing home and rehabilitation facility. It describes how GAH employees received instruction in English as a Second Language, adult basic education, and General Educational…