In Canada, there are few long-term developmental education studies of adult basic education (ABE) students. This lack of studies impedes the understanding of ABE students' complex motivations, their diverse challenges, and their exceptional achievements. This 5-year cohort longitudinal panel study used interview data augmented by quantitative…

Adult basic education (ABE) scholars, practitioners, and policymakers have long debated the purpose and outcomes of federal ABE policy. Although the current policy, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), became law in 2014, there is no comprehensive analysis of the diverging perspectives on WIOA implementation. This integrative…

This article presents findings from a participatory evaluation of alumni groups--Think Tanks--affiliated with the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. Think Tanks are cocurricular settings wherein participants develop and apply skills and capacities valuable within and beyond the context of meetings. Data come from nine focus groups convened in…

Immigrant students are served in adult basic education programs across the country. This includes internationally trained professionals who often face nonrecognition of their foreign credentials and experience, leading to underemployment and a devaluation of skills. This article explores this issue from the perspective of a local program at…

The study focuses on the language learning experiences of adult migrants from refugee backgrounds with limited educational experiences before migration. This group is often referred to as LESLLA learners; LESLLA is an acronym for Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults. The study used Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) -- a…

Since the Texas Legislature has mandated, via the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, to provide best practices for using technology for developmental education, we report on a solution used at College of the Mainland (Texas City, Texas) for satisfying that mandate. The solution was to use a common 'master' template in a learning management…

This essay tracks and expands upon critical exchanges with graduate students in a course for adult educators, highlighting conflicting perspectives among participants on the relative value of theory in enhancing practice. An underlying focus of the course consisted of comparing constructivist and cognitive perspectives on learning theory and their…

This study explores the relationship between scores and educational placement levels on two academic mathematics assessment systems: The Tests of Adult Basic Education 11/12 mathematics (TABE-M) and the Texas Success Initiative Assessment mathematics (TSIA-M). The data set consisted of scores, placement levels, and demographic information for 152…

This study sought to examine the pre-task planning and post-task revising practices of adults with low literacy and how those practices affect overall writing quality. Seventy-six adults with low literacy composed essays in response to a prompt and were given time for pre-task planning and post-task revising. Results showed that participants with…

This article presents the findings of a comparative study of values-based adult learning and education (ALE) fields; specifically, in Austria, critical-emancipatory adult basic education; Scotland, learner-centered, community-based adult learning; and South Tyrol, Italy, the "Winterschule," a radical-critical popular education format. We…

This article is written for educators and others interested in creating high-quality adult basic skills development systems in both developing countries and other nations. It presents case studies of two Indigenous-language adult literacy/numeracy projects in rural villages in The Gambia between 1976 and 1983. The first project was based at the…

This article is written by two researchers and a teacher involved with the development and implementation of a web-based intelligent tutoring system for adults reading at elementary levels. A description of the tool is provided, followed by some of the challenges faced in designing, developing, and using the tool in adult literacy classrooms.

Amidst diminishing federal investment in Adult Basic Education (ABE), there is growing interest in return on investment (ROI) as an economic rationale to support ABE funding. Against this backdrop, we provide an overview of the ROI concept and methods and the empirical evidence on ABE program impacts to broaden the discourse among practitioners…

Returning to education to complete Grade 12 or improve high school grades after a period away can be an overwhelming and or anxiety inducing event for many students. Upon their return to education, many factors contribute to student persistence relating to completion in Adult Basic Education (ABE). It is essential to understand these factors to…

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…