Adult learners require supports and services to help them successfully transition into taking on the demands and expectations of college students. Transition programs have grown in popularity as a means to aid adult learners as they transition to higher education. Unfortunately, previous research on adult learner participation in transition…

This study investigated the types, use, and effectiveness of distance learning (DL) for General Education Development (GED) candidates in rural Pennsylvania. The research goal was to provide information for enhancing DL GED study options. Specifically, the study, which was conducted in 2009-2010, sought to: identify the types and use of GED…

The Plus 50 Initiative is a three-year initiative of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), launched in June 2008 and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was created to support a pilot group of two-year institutions to develop or expand campus programs that engage plus 50 learners. The overarching goal of the Plus 50…

The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Plus 50 Initiative (2008-2011), funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, was created to build the capacity of community colleges nationwide to develop programming that engages the plus 50 learner. The Initiative supported a pilot group of 13 two-year institutions to develop or expand college…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify, investigate, and describe the espoused Pennsylvania Principal Mentoring Network (PPMN) training program and protocols for the principals who served as mentors for newly hired principals in Pennsylvania. This study posed three research questions: (1) what was the espoused training provided…

As traditional classroom settings are transitioning to online environments, teachers now face the challenge of using this medium to promote effective learning strategies, especially when teaching older age groups. Because adult learners bring a different set of understandings and skills to education than younger students, such as more job and life…

The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Plus 50 Initiative is a three-year initiative launched in June 2008 and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was created to support a pilot group of two-year institutions to develop or expand campus programs that engage plus 50 learners. The initiative focuses on three types of…

The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Plus 50 Initiative is a three-year initiative launched in June 2008 and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was created to support a pilot group of two-year institutions to develop or expand campus programs that engage plus 50 learners. The initiative focuses on three types of…

The General Educational Development (GED[R]) Tests, established in 1945, helped determine soldiers' high school qualifications for the workforce, as they returned home from WWII. Because many soldiers dropped out of school to join the military, achieving a certain score on the test was a way for them to demonstrate that they had attained high…

The foundation and impetus for a sustained professional development program offering 44 graduate courses serving 641 FCS educators (approximately 50% returning participants) in Pennsylvania and the surrounding area were the six assumptions of Knowles related to the motivation of adult learners. Education researcher Malcolm Knowles asserts that…

This study examined power and authority in the student-instructor relationship in a restorative practices-based graduate program. This qualitative investigation utilized a narrative approach. Ten alumni of the International Institute for Restorative Practices master's degree programs were engaged in a one-time face-to-face interview and document…

In this qualitative study the primary researcher utilized research methods of heuristic phenomenology in order to better understand the experience of recovery for a group of male participants. The purpose of this study was to aid the primary researcher in better understanding his own experience of recovery from alcoholism, as well as to add to the…

This guide was developed during a demonstration project conducted in three diverse, multiethnic Western Pennsylvania communities to use older adult tutors as mentors to improve Head Start parents' literacy skills and ability to develop their children's literacy. The guide is intended to facilitate tutors' learning about family literacy and to give…

This handbook is an introduction to the topics that adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) program administrators need to know. The 77 articles by various authors are divided into 6 sections. "A Background for the ABLE Program Administrator" covers the definition of a program administrator, a guiding philosophy, a brief history of…

Developed to serve as a comprehensive human resource directory of adult educators in Pennsylvania, as a conceptual framework for adult basic education (ABE) in Pennsylvania and as a resource guide for ABE staff who wish to sponsor local inservice projects, this handbook provides general information about ABE, adult education services and linkages,…