As more students enter postsecondary education without the numeracy and literacy skills necessary for success, Ontario colleges are facing a challenge. While enrolment-based funding drives the colleges to seek growth to ensure financial stability, the quality assurance mechanism leads them to divert millions of dollars from their operating budgets…

In this chapter, the author explores the overlap between adult literacy programs and community colleges by examining the literacy skills of postsecondary education students, the remedial/developmental programs that serve them, and the effectiveness of these programs and adult basic education in helping students succeed. As he notes, to obtain…