Adult Education is Evolving through Theory, Legislation, and Innovative Practice via CLASP

Adult Education is Evolving through Theory, Legislation, and Innovative Practice

#AEFLWeek

CLASP: 9.26.2018 by Judy Mortrude

Adult education provides the skills people need to thrive in their families, communities, and jobs. As we celebrate Adult Education and Family Literacy (AEFL) week, it is useful to look back at how the program has evolved over the last 50 years through theory, legislation, and innovative practice.

Congress first began investing in adult education in 1966 when it passed the Adult Education Act. Since then, researchers and policy experts have worked to better refine our understanding of what works in adult education. Much of that work is grounded in adult learning theory like Malcolm Knowles’ four principles of andragogy

➧adults need to be involved in planning and evaluating their learning;

➧experience, including mistakes, is the basis for learning;

➧immediately relevant learning is most interesting to adults; and

➧adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-centered

and Thomas Stitch’s concept of functional context education In testimony to Congress, Stitch said:

We could be teaching … literacy skills within the context of natural sciences, life sciences, but we don’t do that, because there’s the myth that says literacy is something you first get and then have to apply. Of course that is totally wrong. You get it while you apply it.

Stitch was persuasive and so from 1988 to 1994, Congress invested $120 million in adult education through the National Workforce Literacy Program, a work-based program aimed at improving adults’ workplace literacy skills. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush signed the National Literacy Act, calling it a major step toward the goal of adult literacy and lifelong learning. And in 1998, Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which created the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) and established the one-stop system to align adult education with other local education and workforce partners.

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Most recently, in July 2018, CLASP convened state education and workforce development leaders, national organizations, advocates, funders, and federal agency staff to share perspectives on four critical areas of career pathway work:

Career Pathways & Guided Pathways

Coming Soon

Increasing the use of Ability to Benefit

Leveraging career pathways to advance racial equity

Measuring success through career pathway research

The briefs highlight lessons from the convening, new research, and offers new perspective on what’s working, what isn’t, and collaboration opportunities for states to provide better career pathways.  READ MORE >>