In 2004, Boston Public Schools reported that more than 8% of its students dropped out of school that year. The city faced a crisis. Thousands of students were failing to earn a high-school diploma, a necessary credential for entrance into postsecondary education and/or the twenty-first century workforce. Factors driving students' decisions to…

In 1992, the Metropolitan Tulsa Chamber of Commerce in Oklahoma established a welfare-to-work program called Industrial Exchange, Inc. (IndEx). IndEx provides welfare recipients with a combination of education activities and work experience. By contracting with local companies to perform light manufacturing and packaging work at a central site,…

This document is the final report on Global 2000, a 3-year workplace literacy project during which 87% of the 805 employees of 10 Massachusetts manufacturing companies enrolled in workplace literacy classes offered by the Continuing Education Institute (CEI). A total of 61 classes were held and 41 employee-participants earned high school diplomas…

A study followed up 27 disadvantaged adult students (13 by interviews and student and tutor questionnaires, 12 by tutor questionnaires, and 2 by student and tutor questionnaires) who were identified as "ready to move on" from their adult basic education (ABE) program at Hackney Adult Education Institute and Hackney Reading Centre…

A study assessed the impact of the Career Intern Program (CIP) on participating students. (The CIP is an alternative high school designed to enable disadvantaged and alienated dropouts or potential dropouts to earn regular high school diplomas, to prepare them for meaningful employment or postsecondary education, and to facilitate their transition…

The outcomes and impacts of adult literacy education in the United States were examined through a qualitative assessment of the pertinent research conducted since the late 1960s. A comprehensive literature search identified approximately 115 outcomes and impacts studies. Of the 68 studies found to have an outcomes component, the 23 most credible…

This review of research is part of a larger project which identified exemplary community college programs that employ innovative curriculum and instructional practices in order to help low-skilled adults attain a family sustainable wage. The project goal was to identify best practices that are replicable at other community colleges. These programs…

The role of adult education in sustaining economic growth and expanding opportunity in Massachusetts was explored. The analysis focused on the new basic skills needed for a new economy, groups lacking the new basic skills, the demand for adult basic education (ABE), funding for ABE, building basic skills through adult education, ABE's costs and…

Minnesota's Youthbuild program helps at-risk youths gain useful job skills while building safe, affordable housing in their neighborhoods and working toward their high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) certificate. In 1999, the Minnesota Legislature appropriated 751,000 dollars per year in Youthbuild funds. The program…