The COVID-19 pandemic has been a shock to the economy and our way of life. Its effect on Adult ESOL learning has been equally disruptive, but ultimately, it has accelerated program innovation and transformation and possibly system level recalibration, potentially making learning more flexible and attractive to adult learners. Most importantly, ESOL providers stepped up … Continue reading The Ongoing Transformation of Adult ESOL Learning
Funding could be available to your adult education program if you advocate for it. As record levels of education relief funds flow into states, it’s critical for adult education leaders to understand what funds support adult education activities. Both ESSER and GEER funds can support adult education. ESSER is The Elementary and Secondary School Relief … Continue reading Adult Education Eligible for School Relief Funds: Act Now to Support Adult Learners!
Eight community colleges were selected in June, 2020, to participate in College Success for Single Mothers, a project led by Word Education’s National College Transition Network (NCTN) in partnership with Achieving the Dream and PERG Learning, with funding from ECMC Foundation. The goal of the project is to identify the needs of single mother* students … Continue reading Early Lessons from the College Success for Single Mothers Project
A January 2021 update to federal adult education performance accountability has opened up new ways to document learning in Integrated Education & Training and workplace education programs and new ways to show the impact of our work to our communities and other stakeholders. Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Hard to believe, but the Workforce Innovation … Continue reading A WIOA Career Pathway Promise Fulfilled (sort of)
Recent successes of Black Lives Matters and the racial justice movement have demonstrated the power of organized public action. They have inspired a swell of attention to issues of equity and interest in civic engagement. This new awareness has created the opportunity to expand our notion of how to ready adults for civic participation in … Continue reading English Innovations: Expanding Civics Education
The United States workforce has an equity problem. As wealth inequality surges, a closer look at the workforce indicates that all workers are not starting in the same place. Even when individuals have access to education and training, structural inequality underpins barriers to employment and success. In their report Race-Explicit Strategies for Workforce Equity in … Continue reading Advancing Equity in the Workforce with the 2Gen Approach
The education and career path for adult learners is often nonlinear. Like a spiral staircase, you might find yourself coming back to the same point on a circle — to the same organization, or to the same people — but on a different plane than before. Similarly, as adult educators, we can never predict where … Continue reading Reconnecting and Intersecting within Adult Education
Many of us choose to work in adult education to advance economic and social opportunity through education for adults whose limited foundational skills hold them back. Most of us recognize that foundational skills alone do not guarantee economic success, but they do improve the odds as an essential milestone in people’s education journey. In the … Continue reading What does commitment to equity and anti-racism mean in adult education?
English Now! learning circles like the ones offered at the Thomas Jefferson Adult and Career Education (TJACE) program are multi-level, learner-led groups for English language and digital literacy practice. Last spring when the TJACE learning circles migrated quickly to a distance learning format, we found, through trial and error, that the flexible learning circles model … Continue reading Six Tips for Hosting Virtual English Now! Learning Circles
Where Did We Begin? How did you come to teach in adult education? Was it “sideways” like many? Did you start out with a different career and somehow get connected to adult learners and were hooked? Adult educators are a diverse group with a range of backgrounds in a field that lacks common teacher preparation … Continue reading We’ve Come So Far: Returning to Fall Classes
