adult education

Adult Education in the U.S. Department of Education’s Draft Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2018

/ The Old Crank

Every four years, the U.S. Department of Education releases a new strategic plan. A draft is released first in order to get input from the general public and key stakeholders. The draft plan for 2014-18 was released last Friday. You can take a look at it here.

I’ve pulled out the language that most directly relates to adult education. Most of it, unsurprisingly, is under the one goal that explicitly references adult education: “Goal One: Postsecondary Education, Career and Technical Education, and Adult Education.”

Under this section, the Department says it must “ensure that all students—recent high school graduates and adult learners alike—are well prepared for college and careers, help more of them enroll in postsecondary education, and increase the number of those who complete programs of study with a degree or certificate.” (my emphasis)

In the very next paragraph, in a discussion that seems aimed more at higher education, the Department asserts that “students deserve to know that, whether they enter a college, university, postsecondary career training program, or adult education program, the credential they earn will be affordable and its value will be recognized as an indication that they possess the necessary knowledge and skills for success in the workplace and in life.“ (my emphasis) However, I didn’t see anything later on that describes what they mean by an “affordable credential” in an adult education context, or how to ensure that the value of such a credential is recognized.

This section also notes the need for the reauthorization of key federal legislation, including the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), (the largest source of federal adult education funding), “in order to support the implementation of more rigorous high school standards and postsecondary and adult education reforms that will increase student achievement and career and civic success.”  (my emphasis)

Weirdly, there are no “indicators of success” for adult education under this goal. Increasing degree attainment among 25-34 year olds comes closest, but this wouldn’t be a particularly accurate indicator of success for adult education specifically, since this cohort wouldn’t necessarily all be products of the adult education system.

Moving on to the objectives under Goal One: under Strategic Objective 1.1, the plan proposes to “close the opportunity gap” by increasing access to college and/or workforce training, “especially for underrepresented and/or underprepared populations (e.g., low-income and first-generation students, English learners, individuals with disabilities, adults without high school diplomas, etc.).”  (my emphasis) It notes that many students are ill-prepared for the “academic rigor” required for postsecondary success—and then turns specifically to discuss the adult education population, and adult education programs:

The Department is… concerned about the sizable number of adults who lack foundational literacy and numeracy skills. Because of this, too many adults cannot enter or complete a postsecondary education or training program. Data on educational attainment and skills show that there are at least 30 million Americans without basic literacy skills in need of educational credentials for work. The social and economic consequences are severe for these adults and their families, as well as for their communities, where large numbers of low-skilled adults can limit economic development. The current adult education system is not equipped to handle this challenge, serving less than 3 percent of the need. The Department will work to transform this system and create an adult learning infrastructure that better meets the demand for high-quality English language, literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills. This infrastructure must accommodate the increased demand for skills from industry and business, as well as for services that may result from comprehensive immigration reform. (my emphasis)

Interestingly, there is no discussion as to how or whether such infrastructure should accommodate the needs articulated by the customers of these services, or a strategy to identify those needs.

The discussion then turns to standards, proposing the adoption of internationally benchmarked college- and career-ready standards so that high school students “graduate with the competencies needed for postsecondary success.” But there is no suggestion that adult education standards should be adopted in order to achieve similar competencies for students coming out of adult education, despite the fact that postsecondary success is clearly articulated earlier as a critical outcome for adult education students.

Adult literacy is also discussed under Strategic Objective 1.3:

The success of the American economy and culture—as well as our national security—depends on the talent of all Americans. The President is committed to increasing the number of students earning degrees and credentials through postsecondary education and has encouraged every American to complete at least one year of education or workforce training beyond high school. One-third of postsecondary students drop out within four years without completing a degree or certificate, and more than 30 million adults function at low literacy levels that inhibit their ability to succeed in college and the workforce. Ensuring that all Americans have the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in college and in the workforce will require higher standards of educational excellence, leading to dramatically improved high school and adult education outcomes, which, in turn, will lead to postsecondary outcomes that produce more graduates with certificates and degrees. (my emphasis)

Here again, adult education—in this case adult education outcomes—is framed as an element of an overall objective related to college access/completion.

Adult education doesn’t really come up again until Goal 4, which concerns equity:

The Department is committed to pursuing equity at all stages of education, from birth through adulthood, in institutions of early learning, K–12 schools, career and technical and postsecondary education, as well as in adult education, and workforce development programs. The Department’s goal is to ensure that all—not just a subset—of the nation’s children, youths, and adults graduate high school and obtain the skills necessary to succeed in college and/or to pursue a meaningful career. (my emphasis)

And that’s basically it. Surprisingly, there is no mention of adult education under the section concerning technology, and nothing in the plan at all related to parental involvement/engagement, let alone family literacy or strategies to strengthen the role of parents in preparing their children to be school-ready. It’s conceivable I missed something because I read it through pretty quickly, but I don’t think so.

It’s hard to read the plan and not come away with the impression that the Department views adult education primarily in terms of how it relates to postsecondary attainment. Even here, however, there are places where adult education isn’t particularly well-integrated into the plan. For example, under Strategic Objective 1.3, the plan pledges support for programs that increase postsecondary persistence and completion, with a commitment to “provide funding for and disseminate information on strategies that foster successful transitions, including transitions between secondary and postsecondary education, two-year and four-year colleges and universities, postsecondary education and employment, and/or postsecondary pathways within or across career fields.” (my emphasis). Note that there is no specific mention her of the transition from adult education to postsecondary, or career pathways strategies in adult education contexts.

If you or your organization are interested in submitting a comment on the draft, you have until Friday, October 4th, 2013 at 5pm (EDT) to do so. Send your comments to strategicplancomments@ed.gov.

Steal This Speech

/ The Old Crank / 1 Comment

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was at the South Baltimore Learning Center yesterday for a press event to kick off Adult Education and Family Literacy (AEFL) Week in Maryland. As is my usual habit, I wrote a short speech and then mainly just spoke ad hoc when it came time for me to actually talk. The speakers in front of me were all terrific and covered a lot of what I wanted to say—and better than I would have.

Nonetheless, I thought I’d go ahead and post my written speech in case it’s of interest to anyone. If you think any of the points here are useful, feel free to use or adapt.

I just want to talk to you a little bit about why this week is important and why speaking out about your work—whether you are staff, a volunteer, or a student—is so important.

Of course, as you’ve heard today, there is a lot of good news in adult education. But part of my sad duty this morning is to report to you that, in general, public support for programs like this one is not as strong as it was just a few years ago, and is still on a downward trend:

  • Federal funding for adult literacy and adult education is lower in terms of real dollars than it’s been in over a decade. For years we used to say that federal funding for adult education covered just 3% of the need. Now it’s 2%.
  • State funding also took a significant hit during the Great Recession. Historically, state and local funding for adult education was significantly higher than the federal share, now it’s just a little more than half. It’s great that there was an increase in the adult education budget here in Maryland this year, but in the aggregate, across the country, state investment is below pre-recession levels.
  • Meanwhile, the most significant source of federal funding, the Workforce Investment Act, is a decade overdue for reauthorization.

It’s not just adult education—many of you are probably aware that there have been significant cuts to what’s known as the discretionary side of the federal budget over the last several years. Federal funding for education, in particular, has taken a substantial hit. I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon, at least in terms of the traditional source of federal funding for adult education . It’s really hard to imagine, in the current political environment, that any of us are going to be seeing substantial increases to the budget for WIA, for example. More likely our advocacy work will be focused on protecting the funding we have from further cuts.

Nonetheless, in my view it remains critically important to stay connected with what’s going on with federal legislation, and to remain ready to engage federal policymakers when opportunities arise, even in this crazy environment. Because they do arise.

I’ll give you an example from this past year: immigration reform. Although the chances for comprehensive immigration reform seem to be dimming, the bill passed by the Senate early last summer contained significant resources to implement an immigrant integration strategy, including additional money for adult English instruction. I actually worked on a proposal last spring with the National Skills Coalition that would go even further, providing hundreds of millions of additional dollars for English language instruction without increasing the cost of the bill.

Again, while prospects for comprehensive immigration reform are not looking so hot right now, last March it seemed quite possible that it might actually happen. It was important that adult education was at the table during this process. We did in fact have an influence in shaping that legislation.

So, again, it’s very important not to entirely give up on the federal side. Opportunities do arise, and sometimes it’s difficult to predict when they will occur.

My second point is related to the first, and that is, in order to seize on such opportunities when they occur, we have to be able to demonstrate to policymakers that there is a sizable constituency for these services and that our students are successful.

With limited resources available, it probably makes sense to focus most of your outreach and advocacy efforts right here in Baltimore, and statewide. The opportunities to influence public policy on this issue are probably greater right now at the local and state level than at the federal level. But even if your focus is local,  you are actually helping us strengthen our hand up on the Hill and with the administration—by documenting those success stories and supporting student leadership—so we’ll be ready when the opportunities in Washington do arise.

It’s important to remember adult education is actually one of the great success stories of our education systems. Programs like this one and other around the country get results that should be the envy by K-12 and higher education. And I know that many of you students have overcome significant obstacles in order achieve that success. We need you to tell your story. With each success story that finds its way to the Hill, we build our influence and strength with policymakers.

We’ve heard the return on investment argument and that’s good. There is clearly a big potential return on a greater public investment in adult education. But remember that every group that receives funding from the federal government is making a return on investment argument. Legislative staff probably hear this argument from constituents about one program or another every day. So simply making the theoretical return on investment argument is probably not going to be enough. I think real change is only going to happen when we can also demonstrate, in very large numbers, that the people in adult education are, in fact, successful. Lawmakers are most interested in investing in actual success, not in theoretical returns.

That to me is one of the reasons why it’s so important that we continue to ask Congress to recognize Adult and Family Literacy week, and to continue to do things like grow the House adult literacy caucus, and continue to build relationships with staff who work on this issue. They need to hear from you—and about you—in greater numbers than ever before.

National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week Begins Today

/ The Old Crank / 1 Comment

I’m heading to Baltimore today to join Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) for an event at the South Baltimore Learning Center in recognition of National Adult Education and Family Literacy (AEFL) Week.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) recently introduced, for the fifth year in a row, a House resolution designating the week of September 23-29, 2013 as AEFL Week. (Rep. Sarbanes is a supporter.) Meanwhile, in the Senate, for the third year in a row, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) have introduced a bipartisan resolution that does the same.

Programs and state/local governments around the country have also passed resolutions recognizing AEFL week, and there will be events all week to recognize the work of adult and family literacy programs and students nationwide.

The First Adult Charter School Opened in D.C. in 1998, Not Today

/ The Old Crank

(Updated Below)

From today’s POLITICO Morning Education:

FIRST ADULT CHARTER SCHOOL OPENS IN D.C. — The first adult charter school in Washington, D.C. to offer educational services and skills training opens today. The Community College Preparatory Academy teamed up with Pearson to help adults move from high school into postsecondary education and careers. The school plans to serve about 150 students in its first year and up to 300 students by its third year.

The news that D.C. is welcoming its first adult charter school today will certainly be of interest to these guys, who got their charter way back in 1998. Not a big deal, but it’s important to recognize that charters in D.C. have been serving adults for quite some time.

More on D.C. charters and adult education here.

UPDATE 9/18/13: Politico has clarified their story, noting that the Community College Preparatory Academy is the first charter school to offer adult education in Southeast D.C.

UPDATE 9/18/13 (2): Fixed link to the Carlos Rosario School.