Workforce Expectations for the 21st Century: The Adult Education Imperative

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Workforce Expectations for the 21st Century The
Adult Education Imperative

• Beto Gonzalez, Acting Assistant Secretary
• Office of Vocational and Adult Education
• U.S. Department of Education

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National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)

• Representative sample of 18,000 adults ages 16
  in 2003
• Used texts typically encountered in everyday
  life, such as
• Balancing a checkbook
• Filling out a job application
• Finding information in a news article

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NAAL Results Below Basic

• No or limited proficiency in English and/or
• 8th grade level skills and below
• 14 percent of all adults (ages 16)
• 16 million adults ages 16 49

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NAAL Results Below Basic

• 55 non-native English speaker
• 56 no high school credential
• 51 employed
• 79 held a job within the last 3 years

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NAAL Results Basic

• 9th to less than 12th grade skills
• 29 percent of all adults (ages 16)
• 38 million adults ages 16 49

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NAAL Results Basic

• 16 non-native English speaker
• 42 GED or high school diploma
• 56 employed
• 88 employed within the last 3 years

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NAAL Skills Gap
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Adult Education and Family Literacy Act

• 564 million in FY 06
• Formula grants to states, competitive grants to
  local providers
• 2.7 million participants
• English Literacy (44)
• Adult Basic Education (40)
• Adult Secondary Education (16)

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Adult Education and Family Literacy Act

• Providers are school districts (55), CBOs (24),
  and community colleges (17)
• Most instructors are part-time
• 803 average cost per participant

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Adult Education and Family Literacy Act
Accountability

• Measurable gains in literacy skills using
  standardized tests
• Other participant outcomes
• Attain GED/high school degree
• Enroll in postsecondary
• Enter employment
• Retain employment

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Adult Education and Family Literacy Act
Accountability

• Adult Basic and Secondary Education
• 38 advanced 1 or more educational levels (i.e.,
  2 grade level equivalents)
• 45 earned GED or diploma
• English Literacy
• 36 advanced 1 or more educational levels
• Other outcomes
• 30 entered postsecondary
• 36 entered employment
• 63 retained employment

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A Shared Vision for Adult Basic and Literacy
Education

• Adults will have the opportunity to improve their
  basic and literacy skills in high-quality,
  research-based programs that will equip them to
  succeed in the next step of their education and
  employment.

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American Competitiveness Initiative

• Provide job training that affords more workers
  and manufacturers the opportunity to improve
  their skills and better compete in the 21st
  century
• Attract and retain the best and brightest to
  enhance entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and
  job creation in America by supporting
  comprehensive immigration reform

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Strategic Partners for a Competitive Workforce

• Partnership with U.S. Department of Labor
  established to update our education and training
  systems to address todays workforce needs.
• Convene a series of industry specific forums
  involving community based teams comprised of
  educators, grantees, and business leaders to
  begin the process of collaboration to improve how
  we educate adults.

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Investments in Research

• Ten million dollars has been invested in
  scientifically based research, since 2001, to
  identify effective interventions for teaching
  adults
• Improve math instruction
• Testing new interventions for ESL adults with low
  basic skills in both English and their native
  language
• Improve reading instruction

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Adult Literacy Research Network

• Working at 80 sites in 16 states, the Adult
  Literacy Research Network is testing how proven
  reading instruction for children can be adapted
  to accelerate learning by adults

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Increasing Technical Assistance and Professional
Development

• Doubled the investment in the Center for Adult
  English Language Acquisition (CAELA) to provide
  technical assistance and professional development
  to improve instruction for ESL learners
• Student Achievement in Reading (STAR) project
• The Adult Education Coordination and Planning
  project provides intensive technical assistance
  to six states to improve collaboration among
  state agencies supporting adult education and
  workforce training

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STAR Project

• Disseminate evidence-based reading practices
• Design a pilot project for improving classroom
  instructional practice by using a toolkit that
  translates research into practice
• Assist six states in designing and implementing
  systemic reform in reading instruction based on
  the toolkit

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More Options for Learning

• Expanded the Project IDEAL initiative (AdultEd
  Online) to provide assistance for distance
  learning to all states
• Created online toolkits to help educators and
  business leaders design and implement work-based
  adult education programs (www.work-basedlearning.o
  rg)
• Working in partnership with the National
  Association of Manufacturers to identify notable
  employer-based models for improving English
  language proficiency of immigrants

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Transitioning into the 21st Century Economy

• Developing ways to support adult learner career
  paths
• Adult Basic Education to Community Colleges
  Transitions Project

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Adult Basic Education (ABE)to Community Colleges
Transitions Project

• Identify programs, practices and strategies that
  successfully facilitate transitions from ABE to
  enrollment in credit-bearing community colleges
• In November of 2005, convened a community college
  working group of experts to lay the foundation
  for new initiatives
• National Symposium to be held in 2006 to report
  on project findings

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DAEL Websitehttp//www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/
ovae/pi/AdultEd/index.html