This guidance supersedes the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) Program Memorandum (PM) 20-2 published May 10, 2023, and rescinds OCTAE PM 17-7 "WIOA Annual Performance Report Submission," published September 12, 2017, developed jointly by the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education (the Departments). Through this…

This memorandum provides the statutory requirements, procedures, and State plan submission instructions for each eligible agency (State) to receive its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 grant award under the "Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006," as amended by the "Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st…

This compendium presents comprehensive information from the surveys for the full report "Linking Adult Education to Workforce Development in 2018-19: Early Implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act at the Local Level. Evaluation Report. NCEE 2023-001r" (ED626771), and serves as a supplement, which provides in-depth…

In this essay, I argue that our recent pivot toward digital learning, in addition to the social discontent and economic turbulence exacerbated by the pandemic, requires a re-imagining of how we "do" adult and workforce education (AWE) policy. First, I briefly describe the 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA) policy.…

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…

For more than 70 years, the federal government has supported efforts to improve adult literacy and other basic skills. Many adults need help with basic skills like reading, writing, mathematics, and English proficiency to succeed in the American workforce. Congress has long provided resources to help individuals address these educational…

These appendices supplement the full report "Linking Adult Education to Workforce Development in 2018-19: Early Implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act at the Local Level. Evaluation Report. NCEE 2023-001r" (ED626771). They provide additional information about the analyses conducted for the report and present…

This program memorandum informs states that the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education (the Departments) have determined it is appropriate and reasonable for the Department of Labor (DOL) to begin assessing performance for two performance indicators under Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) title I and III core programs for Program…

Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) is a form of adult language education that teaches communicative skills in the context of preparing learners for a particular vocation. Despite their pedagogical and logistical benefits for adult language learners, such programs are uncommon today. This literature review traces the emergence and…

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify how funds provided under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), may be used to pay for the costs of child and dependent care and transportation when adult learners need this assistance to participate in adult education and…

Employment is foundational to young people's successful transition into adulthood, yet many youth with lived experience in the foster care system struggle to obtain employment that provides a living wage. Youth with foster care experience typically do not have the same contacts and connections to employment opportunities as youth who have not been…

Adult basic education's role, from the beginning, has been about serving people with foundational skill needs. The author, Judy Mortrude, agrees with the argument that adult literacy education needs to be repositioned within a new framework of lifelong and life-wide learning, a framework in which new policies are formulated, programs are designed…

Organizations advocating for federal, state, and local level support for adult education have long relied on the power of individual story to influence both public perception and public policy. They have developed training programs, provided advocacy toolkits, and organized visits with policy makers in order to promote and sustain awareness of the…

Dr. Jacobson's analysis of "hard to serve" is well founded, especially from an academic and theoretical perspective, yet the author is left wanting. Is the solution to merely change the language, the terminology of the legislation, or the terminology used by policy makers as well as practitioners? Are these adults hard to serve or ill…

In 2014, the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) thrust adult educators into a dramatically new landscape of service expectations and partnership requirements to increase the ability of providers to meet the employment needs of students and employers. The coronavirus pandemic created an accelerating demand for adult education…