Rather than viewing youth as an isolated and alienated subculture, it is more useful to view the needs of youth as largely determined by where and how they live, and to recognize that they differ from one another just as adults do. Professionals and volunteers in community youth programs need to understand how the youth they work with experience…

Although about 53% of public higher education students are enrolled in community colleges, the proportion of students with disabilities served by the community colleges is about 71%. According to a 1995 survey of 672 community colleges across the United States, approximately 8% of students reported a disability and about half of those requested…

This digest focuses on the evolution of beginning teacher induction programs over the past two decades, and discusses the reasons why such programs are essential to the professional development of teachers. An overview is presented of existing induction programs, and observed outcomes of these programs are briefly discussed. In considering what…

The Adult Education for the Homeless (AEH) program was initiated with funds provided through the McKinney Act of 1987. During its first 4 years, the AEH program served over 100,000 homeless adults. In 1991, 34,000 adults participated in AEH programs in 31 states; nearly half were women. Approximately 60% of those served were between the ages of 25…

In the past, employer-provided, job-specific training for new employees and continuing education for those who wished to advance in their jobs were often sufficient to keep abreast of technological changes. This is no longer the case, however. The substantial monetary and time expenditures associated with retraining programs that are begun only…

Planned mentoring programs, which purposefully link disadvantaged youth with someone older and more experienced, have become a popular means of providing adolescents with adult contacts, counselors, and role models. Mentoring programs vary widely in their objectives, and in the duration, frequency, and intensity of the planned relationship. The…

Reduced training costs, worldwide accessibility, and improved technological capabilities have made Web-based training (WBT) a viable alternative to classroom instruction. WBT enables businesses to cut their training costs. Efficiency of operation is another major advantage of WBT. The flexibility of time, place, and programs offered via WBT…

This digest reviews the role of community colleges in delivering remedial education. With demand for remediation increasing, community colleges are under pressure to provide, with very limited financial resources, the bulk of developmental courses for students. In finding effective solutions to this dilemma, policy makers should consider a broad…

Increasingly, adult educators are using narrative and stories for many reasons, including their deep appeal, satisfaction, and cultural transcendence. As a fundamental structure of human meaning making narrative is a valuable classroom tool in that it can enable students to understand life events, personal actions, and solidify identity formation.…

Recent educational approaches that have career and technical education (CTE) components have integrated work-based learning (WBL) with traditional academics. Among positive effects of the association between WBL and secondary students' educational outcomes are: (1) increased attendance, (2) decreased dropout rates, (3) increased number of academic…