Basic education is essential if societies and economies are to thrive and become sustainable in challenging times. However, many people have never had an opportunity to benefit from education and many others leave the initial phase of education without attaining the level of proficiency in literacy and numeracy needed to participate fully in…

Establishing adult career pathways is challenging, complex work. In Minnesota, a new professional development initiative provides ABE managers with a facilitated, supported, year-long cohort as they work to create or strengthen a career pathway program in collaboration with WIOA partners in their localities. In this article, the rationale, design,…

Teaching graduate students to conduct evaluations is typically relegated to evaluation methods courses. This approach misses an opportunity for students to collaboratively use evaluation skills to explore content. This article examines a graduate course, Issues in Adult Basic Education, in which students learned evaluation methods concurrently…

In order to meet the needs of evolving school leaders, university professors and others who provide professional development must rethink and expand their roles. Based on experiences as instructors in a leadership development program, the authors had the opportunity to explore and understand more fully how leaders grow. This article describes our…

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of a word study literacy approach on the spelling ability and self-efficacy of adults in a county jail. Forty-four inmates participated in the word study intervention that provided them with hands-on learning. The word study intervention was conducted in four separate sessions (September,…

This monograph presents an overview of experiential learning from five perspectives. Following a history of experiential learning in 20th century adult education, the essay first offers a summary of the reflective constructivist view of experiential learning. The constructivist approach is taken by educators seeking to enhance the process of adult…

Uses Dewey's concept of growth as "the ability to learn from experience" to discuss the learning histories of three male literacy learners. From this perspective, their progress toward goals, rather than achievement, is the primary focus. (Contains 30 references.) (SK)

Based on a successful program for women conducted by Lutheran Settlement House in Philadelphia, this guide outlines step-by-step procedures for conducting educational field trips for students in adult basic education programs. The guide offers suggestions for identification of cultural, historical, and social resources that would provide valuable…

Describes use of experiential education for teaching mathematics as component of job training for single, unemployed women in Washington, D.C. Stresses value of practice-oriented curriculum, group work, and self-paced study. Concludes that student involvement fosters student reasoning and self reliance. (TES)

This document makes the case for assessing prior learning and offers practical advice on how to do it within British English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and adult basic education (ABE) programs. Following an introduction, it is explained that a person's prior learning is obtained through prior study or life experiences. The next section…

This module is the second of five integrated professional development modules for adult literacy and basic education (ALBE) personnel. This module is in the form of a 6-hour workshop, the purposes of which are to provide an experiential approach to ABLE program planning, to empower participants as curriculum developers, and to raise awareness of…

This Skills and Knowledge Profile is designed to help adults identify the wide range of skills and experience they have and give themselves credit for what they have learned outside school. It can be used for training and education programs, education proposals, and for self-assessment. Using checklists, short-answer formats, and line drawings,…

Defines competency-based adult education as activities providing coping and life skills, functional literacy, mastery learning, external or alternative high school diplomas, and educational credits for life experiences. Discusses activities in relation to federally authorized Adult Basic Education, minimal testing, Adult Performance Level…

The Skills and Knowledge Profile (SKP) is a tool developed in Canada to document learning styles and strategies of adult learners. The instrument was developed as a systematic approach to capturing the learning styles of unemployed and employed adults across sectors. It is made up of these six sections: (1) Learning Access and Personal…

This document provides European social partners' responses to the Commission's memorandum on lifelong learning. Part 1, Opinion of the European Center of Enterprises, makes comments and proposals related to the memorandum's six key messages, which are new basic skills for all; more investment in human resources; innovation in teaching and…