The United States faces an increasing gap between the skills possessed by its workforce and those that are necessary to succeed in the 21st century economy. This gap poses a threat to the financial wellbeing of low-skilled American workers and their families and to the nation's long-term economic growth. Recognizing the threat posed by these…

The United States economic recession is now in its third year and continues to have a serious impact on the American higher education system, including Illinois' public community colleges. Illinois community colleges are seeing increases in enrollments while at the same time seeing significant decreases in state funding. The purpose of this…

Institutional performance was a topic given considerable attention by the Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Florida's Community College System responded to the challenge by committing to increase performance-based funding allocations from less than 2% to 5% of total state appropriations. Results of the analysis indicated that…

This report examines the various adult basic skills programs in operation in California, and explores program funding and structure, enrollment and demographics, and to the extent data allow, program outcomes. This measure is presented as part of the Commission's Performance Accountability Framework for California postsecondary education. Among…

The Project for Adult College Education (PACE) is a general education core curriculum designed for working adults. PACE students receive approximately half the classroom hours in each subject area that they would in a traditional classroom. The balance of time is devoted to viewing course-related instructional television and participating in…

In fall 1992, the Iowa Department of Education began pilot tests of the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS), an assessment system evaluating reading, math, and problem solving in a life skills context for adult remedial programs. This document provides reports from the nine community colleges that served as test sites, describing…

A study was conducted to determine to what extent community college-based adult basic education/general educational development (ABE/GED) programs reflect program characteristics addressed in the professional literature; to identify a general state of the art for the college delivery of ABE/GED services; and to understand better the current and…

The Workforce Education and Development Off-Campus Degree Program of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale allows military and civilian students to complete bachelor of science degrees in education with a major in work force education and development at 1 civilian site and 16 military bases throughout the United States. Approximately 1,000…

To address the expanding need for child care workers and the increase in older adults requesting job training, Generations Together (GT) developed two year-long projects to implement child care training for older adults at community colleges nationwide. The first project involved replicating a GT-developed child care curriculum and…

Papers from numerous research areas in the adult education field are presented. The proceedings contain thirty-five papers, five symposia, one alternate symposium, and eighteen alternate papers. Among the papers included are "A Comparison of Approaches to Measuring Outcomes in Adult Basic Education,""A Critical Analysis of Hill's…

The Annie E. Casey Foundation's Jobs Initiative is a six-city workforce initiative aimed at helping disadvantaged adults earn their way out of poverty. Between 1995 and 2002, the initiative enrolled more than 17,000 adults and placed 8,090 people in jobs. Most Jobs Initiative participants were working 18 months after enrollment in the program, and…

Florida's Workforce Development Education (WDE) Program was subjected to an evaluation and justification review to determine its benefit to the state and evaluate its systemwide performance. The following components of Florida's WDE program were evaluated: career and technical education (CTE); adult education programs; and continuing education…

Some welfare experts and policymakers advocate providing education and training to prepare welfare recipients for jobs that will eventually help them leave poverty (the "work first" approach), whereas others advocate placing welfare recipients in jobs immediately whenever possible. Although the Personal Responsibility and Work…

This document presents seven papers prepared by experts in the field of adult education on the issues related to developing and implementing quality indicators from the perspective of their program areas or organizational affiliations. "Indicators of Program Quality for Adult Basic Education" (Mary Williams) addresses the appropriateness of…

The Road to Success (RtS) program was designed to introduce hard-to-employ adults with learning disabilities and other cognitive barriers to ways of learning that are will enable them to learn the skills and knowledge they will need as employees and in their everyday lives. Originally developed to serve welfare recipients in Kansas, RtS was…