In 2000, federally funded public adult education programs provided basic skills training and English language instruction to over 2.6 million students, or about 1.5% of the U.S. adult population. By 2021, enrollment had plummeted to under 900,000, or less than 0.4% of adults. What explains these declines? This policy brief describes the evolution…

A growing body of research provides evidence that quality early childhood experiences can affect a host of life outcomes. Equally well documented is the variation in the quality of prekindergarten (pre-K) programs offered to children. In this study, I use a fuzzy regression discontinuity approach to evaluate the efficacy of transitional…

This article describes two decades of workplace basic skills efforts in the United States (mid 1980s to early 2000s). Private- and public-sector groups defined the problem of inadequate basic skills in the incumbent workforce. They raised awareness of this problem as it affected various segments of the workforce and diverse industries. They…

The Pathways for Academic Career and Employment (PACE) program is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of programs that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic and employment training to ensure gainful employment and…

In the United States, approximately one in ten adults -- nearly 36 million people -- lack basic literacy and numeracy skills, while 27 million adults lack a high school diploma. Over the last decade, new models for adult education have emerged that integrate basic skills education with workforce and college-readiness training. These integrated…

The pathways for academic career and employment program (PACE) is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of projects that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic and employment training to ensure gain. This is the fourth…

The pathways for academic career and employment program (PACE) is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of projects that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic and employment training to ensure gain. This is the third…

The Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) continues to build and expand opportunities for adult education students to transition into college and the workforce. Through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the ICCB will better align services with the core partners to assist students in accessing career pathway instructional and…

The federal government and private foundations for education have established postsecondary credential completion as a national imperative. Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) model was developed to increase the rate at which basic skills students advance to and succeed in college-level occupational programs,…

Prompted by the need for leaders able to turn around chronically low-performing schools, states, universities, education groups, and school districts in the US have initiated a variety of principal development programs. Some programs focus on enhancing the skills of experienced administrators, while others target talented teachers and even…

The 1989 New York City Pupils with Compensatory Educational Needs (PCEN) Summer Remediation Program met or exceeded each of its objectives. The program comprised basic skills and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) courses, serving 12,785 students in 880 classes in the regular high schools and an unspecified number of students at 73 off-site…

Funded by the federal government under Title II-B of the Job Training Partnership Act, Minnesota's 1990 Summer Youth Employment and Training Program (SYETP) served 6,138 young people. The state Minnesota Youth Program (MYP) was authorized by the Youth Employment Act of 1977 and delivered in conjunction with the federally funded SYETP. Surveys were…

This publication describes many of the basic skills improvement programs and activities ongoing in the state of Wisconsin. The efforts included were identified through a statewide survey in which administrators and staff members of the programs provided the information included in this volume. Programs described are grouped in the following…

In 1974, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia created the developmental studies program in response to a growing number of entering freshmen who were inadequately prepared for curricula assuming mastery of the basic skills. Early attempts to evaluate developmental programs in Georgia simply used standard survey techniques to…

Many youth face the following educational and economic barriers to success: (1) increased high school dropout rates; (2) adolescent pregnancy; (3) chronic unemployment; (4) poverty; (5) drug abuse; (6) suicide; and (7) crime and delinquency. The Atlantic Community College (New Jersey) Youth Corps Program, a successful conservation and service…