This non-experimental qualitative bounded case study (Yin, 2014) examined how secondary school instructors and learners perceive smartphones' impact on learning in the GED classroom in an urban school in New York City (NYC). The study assessed how GED learners and instructors in an urban NYC government-funded high school equivalency program…

This article describes strategies used by the author in intermediate level reading, writing and social studies-history GED classes in Harlem and the Bronx. Since four out of five of the New York State TASC exams are based on reading, I assign extensive reading and discussion, as well as strategies for answering multiple-choice questions. In…

Academic success among adult learners is a significant concern across all of New York's boroughs, with the Bronx being particularly affected. This study aimed to examine the barriers to academic success among adult learners in the Bronx. The research utilized secondary data obtained from a previous assessment conducted at an adult learning program…

The goals of placement reform and the elimination of developmental education at community colleges were to decrease the misplacement of students and to provide students with quicker access to college-level courses to improve retention and student success rates. However, the new placement reforms may be preventing some nontraditional students from…

The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in career and technical education (CTE) as a way to engage students, help people build the skills necessary to succeed in a technologically advanced economy, and meet employer demand for workers. MDRC--which has a three-decade history of developing and evaluating CTE programs, including a landmark…

This article revisits questions on the utility of identity in literacy studies. Following a review of the range of conceptions of identity and framings of its uses, we argue that "identity-as-position" is needed as a pragmatic tool in the field of literacy studies, and grounds responsive critical literacy practices. Drawing on a…

There is a lack of standardized instruction among the different General Educational Development (GED) preparatory programs in the country as a result of different state requirements for taking the GED exams. As such, the purpose of this quantitative non-experimental correlational study is to examine if scores of students on GED Ready Opt and the…

The signifier "alternative" in education has largely shifted from progressive or humanizing pedagogies to deficit framings requiring alternate graduation criteria. This development is part of broader neoliberal educational reform efforts that disrupt longstanding conceptions of teachers' roles. This study serves to investigate long-term…

Culturally-responsive pedagogies require moving beyond blanket assumptions about learners to focus deeply on local meaning-makings. This narrative analysis case study examines the ways a 20-year-old African American man challenges the negative educational identity with which he is forced to contend as he navigates a large and complex urban public…

Family Rewards was an innovative approach to poverty reduction in the United States that was modelled on the conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs common in lower- and middle-income countries. The program offered cash assistance to poor families to reduce immediate hardship, provided they met certain criteria related to family health care,…

The progressive Austin H. MacCormick school is located on Rikers Island, New York City's corrections complex. This school issues the most General Educational Development diplomas, with the highest passing rate, of any program within the 14-jail system that has custody of over 140,000 inmates annually. (Author)

This report presents a description and evaluation of the Auxiliary Services Program. This program provided counseling, remedial math and remedial reading instruction, and high school equivalency study to Title I students who were two or more years below grade level. Eleven day and evening centers located in various boroughs in New York…

High numbers of high school students are leaving New York City public schools without graduating. Some school officials are encouraging students to leave regular high school programs, despite their being of school age and have the right to receive appropriate literacy, support, and educational services through the public school system. This report…

Discusses the Young Adult Learning Academy (YALA) in Manhattan, which offers an opportunity for school dropouts to get an equivalent of a high school degree and partake in job preparation programs. Describes the role of technology and the Youth Internship Program which trains students to work in day-care centers. (AEF)

The Bilingual Program Resource and Training Center, in its first year of a new three-year funding cycle, provided instruction in English as a second language (ESL), native language development, and basic education, in addition to a job counseling and placement component, to approximately 1,900 students of limited English proficiency (LEP) at 16…