Other Reports/Articles

The Work-Based Learning Project Web site (USDOE, Division of Adult Ed/DTI) provides summaries of state investments in workplace education, at least as of 2004.

http://www.work-basedlearning.org/public.cfm

The Conference Board of Canada has researched the benefits of workplace education programs. The reports are available from their Web site:

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/education/reports/default.htm

Although the focus of these reports has been on Canadian companies, most of the lessons are said to apply to U.S. businesses.

This brief, published by the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, provides a concise summary of the challenges facing homeless students.

http://www.naehcy.org/introtoissues.pdf

The Working for America Institute, in consultation with unions and labor-management partnerships in advanced manufacturing, has developed a list of the most pressing workforce challenges affecting the sector. Education and training are key factors in all of them.

http://www.workingforamerica.org/documents/challenges.htm

This NCSALL Occasional Paper describes five models that the staff at the New England Literacy Resource Center at World Education, Inc., categorized through a survey of adult education centers with transition components from around the United States. This NCSALL Occasional Paper describes the five models (Advising, GED-Plus, ESOL, Career Pathways, and College Preparatory) and themes and recommendations that others contemplating adult transition services might find helpful. It also chronicles the experiences of four states (Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, and Oregon) in their efforts to institutionalize transitions for adults.

To download the paper, go to http://www.ncsall.net/?id=26

By Oct. 1, 2006, state and local welfare offices must figure out how to adjust to the changes in the welfare law that will reduce the the length of time people on welfare can devote to drug addictions programs, recover from mental illnesses — or takes classes, including adult education classes.

The Washington Post covers the changes in an article published on August 7th, 2006.

The article is available on the Web here for as long as the Post makes it available:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/06/AR2006080600879_2.html

Older Students Who Need Basics Pose Challenge
Systems Use Special Programs to Help Immigrants With Little Education in Their Native Countries

This Washington Post article from May 29, 2006 reports on education programs for immigrant high school-age students. The writer focuses primarily on Montgomery and Fairfax counties.

This Letter to the Editor by Tom Sticht, published in the San Diego Union-Tribune on January 25, 2006, and reprinted on the NIFL-FAMILY discussion list, argues that high quality parenting and adult education programs for young adults who are or are about to become parents is an even better investment than preschool:

New research, “Improving Literacy in America” (Yale University Press) has questioned the effectiveness of both child care and preschool programs that do not focus on improving parenting skills. Concerning child care, it says that “overall, parenting appears to be a more important source of influence on children’s development than is child care. …The contribution of parenting was about three to four times greater than that of early child care. …High-quality child care will not offset the negative effect of poor parenting, and poor-quality child care will not prevent success for children with effective parents.

Prepared for the United Way of Rhode Island, this Jobs for the Future report summarizes five of the nation's many work readiness certificates, which, in their words, are “representative of the diverse range of such initiatives in terms of target population, certification requirements, geography, and other factors: the WAGE Certificate Program, the Workforce Skills Certification System, the Work Certified Program, WorkKeys Career Readiness Certification, and the National Work Readiness Credential. The report highlights the benefits and costs associated with each, as well as issues that stakeholders should consider in determining which approaches would most benefit their state’s unique demographics, economy, and political landscape.

A Survey of Selected Work Readiness Certificates (Jobs for the Future, 2007)

This Los Angeles Times Op-Ed piece about the value of preschool by a professor of child development at the University of Minnesota, is written in response to the 2006 Proposition 82 debate in California, but contains some interesting statistics on the cost/benefit of preshool education.

Produced by the National Institute for Literacy (Institute) with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), this 30-minute panel discussion focuses on the economic benefits that accrue to holders of the General Educational Development (GED) credential. It is based on a review by John Tyler of eight recent (published and working) research papers on the GED. Several of these papers were authored by John Tyler, Richard Murnane, and John Willett, researchers with NCSALL whose work has influenced what we know about the economic benefits of the GED. Presenters include John Tyler, Sara Fass, and Sue Snider.

• To view in streaming format, go to: http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/webcasts/ged/webcast_ged.html
• To order a DVD for $5.00 from NCSALL, go to: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=675
• To order the DVD version from NIFL, send request with mailing address to: info@nifl.gov

Hometown Prosperity: Increasing Opportunities for DC’s Low-Income Working Families, a report by DC Appleseed and the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI) released in April 2008, describes working poor families with children in the District and the barriers they face to economic advancement, and lays out essential policy changes that could improve their situation. Adult education was noted as a major issue facing this population, and the report makes a number of recommendations on how to improve adult education, especailly as it relates to job training and postsecondary education.

Click here to link to report [PDF]

Teach the Mother and Reach the Child: Literacy across Generations is UNESCO International Bureau of Education report, first published in 1990, in which the authors claim that focusing adult literacy resources on women contribute not only to women’s development but also to the educational achievement of their children.