Objective: This study examines the characteristics, course enrollment patterns, and academic outcomes of students who started their college careers in noncredit courses. Method: Drawing upon a rich dataset that includes transcript and demographic information on both for-credit and noncredit students in multiple institutions, this study explores…

Community colleges and Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABLE) programs developed partnerships to improve access to post-secondary education for adult learners and General Educational Development (GED) recipients. However, the number of students that use the GED to gain access to college is disproportionately low compared to the quantity of GED…

Given the changes made to the GED® test in 2014, one concern among state policy makers, adult educators, and GED® service providers has been the impact of these changes on students as well as teachers, staff, volunteers, and other GED® program stakeholders. Using a qualitative, case study research approach focused on one GED® test preparation site…

The second annual implementation report for the Accelerating Opportunity (AO) initiative in four states finds that: (1) colleges aligned pathways and supports with local needs; (2) students were satisfied with AO; (3) AO instructors grew more adept at team teaching; (4) colleges struggled to recruit adult education students; (5) states and…

This conceptual study examines the importance of relationships between teachers and students in court-mandated adult education settings. Although research has been done on the importance of relationships between teachers and incarcerated students, there have been no outstanding studies on the relationships developed between teachers and students…

Educators and Trainers both focus on adult learning theory when teaching. In the workforce, as well as in higher education, current literature pertaining to adult learners tends to lump all adults into the same category. Scant research exists that reviews the adult learner through a generational lens. This paper examines the elements that engage…

Adults who are undereducated or who lack basic skills are at a disadvantage in American society. Family literacy programs are often one of the last opportunities for adults to raise their level of education or develop skills which enable them to participate in different aspects of American society. This study explored the outcomes of adults who…

Online learning, according to a recent Department of Education meta-analysis (Means et al. 2009), is equal to and sometimes better than traditional face-to-face instruction, while hybrid education is best of all. Students seem eager to reap those online benefits; the March 2009 "Digest of Education Statistics" reports that the U.S. college with…

This paper presents findings from a study conducted by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University, on the outcomes of the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training program (I-BEST), developed by the community and technical colleges in Washington State to increase the rate at which adult basic skills…

To increase the rate at which adult basic skills students advance to and succeed in college-level occupational programs, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) developed the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training, or I-BEST. In the I-BEST model, a basic skills instructor and an occupational instructor team…

Ethnographic interviews with six adult basic education teachers showed that they (1) characterize students primarily in terms of psychosocial needs and (2) use implicit theories reflecting interpretation of those needs. Results demonstrate the complexity of the relationship between teacher beliefs and classroom practices. (SK)

The purpose of this paper is to consider how two distinct research methodologies differently structure for study the inputs, transactions, and outcomes of adult literacy programs. It is suggested that the appropriateness of a methodology for the study of adult literacy programs be determined by assessing the extent to which the methodology speaks…

Areas of concern for matching adult readers and programs are theoretical orientation (meaning based, code based, or interactive); programing factors (reading assessment, goal formation, affective factors, negative schooling attitudes, student interests, reading interpretations); and methodologies (phonics, whole word, neuro-impress, repeated…

A study was conducted to compare the Rhode Island Adult Basic Education (ABE) program with the ABE programs of other states and U.S. possessions. (The purpose of this study was to collect data on specific program variables which were not addressed by the National Advisory Council on Adult Education's 1978 Summary Report.) The data, pertaining only…