Adult Learner Transitions

Helping Adult Learners Make the Transition to Postsecondary Education.
Judy Alamprese. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Education, OVAE, 2005. Adults moving from ABE programs into higher education often face considerable challenges. This Adult Education Background Paper discusses the challenges ABE programs must address in developing and implementing transition services, provides examples of emerging efforts, and discusses the implications of this transformation for policy and practice.

Is it Time for the Adult Education System to Change Its Goal from High School Equivalency to College Readiness?
Alice Johnson Cain. Cambridge, MA: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, April 2003. Featured in the first and only issue of NCSALL’s Focus on Policy publication, this article describes a comprehensive research review by Portland State University’s Steve Reder, who argued that the adult education system should change its goal to successful transition to postsecondary education because a high school diploma or GED is no longer sufficient for success in the workforce.

Mapping Your Financial Journey: Helping Adults Plan for College.
National College Transition Network. Greenwood Village, CO: National Endowment for Financial Education, 2006. Booklet explains in plain language some of the basic financial ideas and skills that benefit every adult. It also covers some ways to fund adult education to make the most of their college experience. It’s not meant to include every financial issue, but rather to help adults get started on a path toward managing money that will last a lifetime.

A Model for Adult Education-to-Postsecondary Transition Programs.
Alice Johnson Cain. Cambridge, MA: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, April 2003. Featured in the first and only issue of NCSALL’s Focus on Policy publication, this article describes a program designed to help adult education students and GED graduates prepare to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

Passing the Torch: Strategies for Innovation in Community College ESL.
Forrest P. Chisman and Joann Crandall. Washington, DC: Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy, February 2007. Report examines innovative and successful non-credit ESL program strategies in use at five community colleges nominated as exemplary by a national panel of experts. Two-year study concentrated on generating learning gains, retaining students, and bringing about transitions to future education. Among many effective strategies examined are high intensity instruction, learning outside the classroom, and the use of “learner-centered thematic” curricula. Special attention is given to curricular integration, co-enrollment, vocational ESL (VESL) programs, and the Spanish GED. A main section of the report deals with costs and funding issues, and calls for substantially greater and more targeted funding for adult ESL. Clearinghouse distributes free copies in Texas ONLY. Also available online: www.caalusa.org/eslpassingtorch226.pdf [This is a PDF document NOT on the TCALL site. Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]

Paying Double: Inadequate High Schools and Community College Remediation.
Alliance for Excellent Education. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education, August 2006. Although this Issue Brief addresses the failings of high school education, the issues of having sufficient skills to succeed in the transition to postsecondary education or work apply to learners working toward and earning the GED as well.

Supporting Adult English Language Learners’ Transitions to Postsecondary Education.
Julie Mathews-Aydinli. Washington, DC: Center for Adult English Language Acquisition, September 2006. This brief focuses on one type of adult learner transition –– from adult ESL programs to postsecondary education. Author discusses research-based strategies for the ESL classroom to support students’ transitions, concluding with a description of program features that administrators might consider when supporting English language learners’ transitions.

Transitioning Adult ESL Learners to Academic Programs.
Judith Rance-Roney. Washington, DC: National Center for ESL Literacy Education, 1995. This ERIC Digest examines the differences between academic and adult ESL programs, and it suggests curricular and programmatic steps to facilitate transitioning learners from adult ESL to academic English or to GED programs.

Transitioning Adults to College: Adult Basic Education Program Models.
Cynthia Zafft, Silja Kallenbach, and Jessica Spohn. Boston, MA: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, August 2006. Paper describes five models that the staff at the New England Literacy Resource Center categorized through a survey of adult education centers with transition components, located around the United States. 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. Clearinghouse distributes free copies in Texas ONLY. Also available online: www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/op_collegetransitions.pdf [This is a PDF document NOT on the TCALL site. Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]

Using Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices About the GED and Your Future.
Sandra Fass and Barbara Garner. Cambridge, MA: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, November 2006. This 4-hour seminar introduces teachers and tutors to Beyond the GED: Making Conscious Choices about the GED and Your Future (a separate Clearinghouse Library title), which is a set of classroom materials designed for use in GED classrooms. The materials provide learners with practice in graph and chart reading, calculation, information analysis, and writing, while they examine the labor market, the role of higher education and the economic impact of the GED.

Library Literacy Programs for English Language Learners.
Eileen McMurrer and Lynda Terrill. Washington, DC: National Center for ESL Literacy Education, September 2001. Because federally funded adult programs often have waiting lists to serve the needs of adult English language learners, public libraries have been increasing resources and programs to meet the literacy needs of immigrant adults and their families. This ERIC Digest summarizes the history of public libraries and library literacy programs; describes current delivery models; and discusses initiatives in library literacy, profiling one successful public library program that serves adult English language learners and their families.

Planning for Volunteers in Literacy: A Guidebook.
Noemi Aguilar, et al. Louisville, KY: National Center for Family Literacy, 2006. Guidebook was developed to help programs increase their capacity to effectively use volunteers to expand the services they’re able to offer to families in need. Seven chapters address such questions as: How do you determine whether volunteers are needed? Is volunteer labor really “free”? What is the best way to recruit and place volunteers in appropriate roles in a family literacy program? Clearinghouse distributes free copies in Texas ONLY. Also available on NCFL Website: http://www.famlit.org

Constructing Achievement Orientations Toward Literacy: An Analysis of Sociocultural Activity in Latino Home and Community Contexts.
Lilia Monzó and Robert Rueda. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, 2001. Minority children are often thought to lack an achievement orientation. In this report, CIERA researchers discuss the home and community contexts of Latina/o immigrant children in a low-income community in Southern California, to demonstrate how sociocultural factors interact to produce motivation. Findings reveal that even among demographically similar families, a diverse set of constraints and affordances are at play which significantly impact students’ achievement orientations toward literacy and schooling.

Family Matters Related to the Reading Engagement of Latina/o Children.
Angela Arzubiaga, Deborah Moody, and Lilia Monzó. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, 2002. This article reports on the relationship between ecocultural (Weisner, 1984) features of 18 Latina/o families and their children’s motivation to read. Five ecocultural features emerged as salient in families’ daily living: immigration, culture and language, nurturance, instrumental, and workload. Nurturance, for example, related to how much children valued reading, culture and language related to how children viewed themselves as readers.

Improving the Reading Achievement of America’s Children: 10 Research-Based Principles.
Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement. Ann Arbor, MI: CIERA, University of Michigan School of Education, 1998. This document is pertinent to family literacy practice because on its list of ten research-based principles for fostering early reading, number one is “Home language and literacy experiences that lead to the development of key print concepts”.

Promoting Reading Among Mexican American Children: ERIC Digest.
Y. I. Murray and J. Velazquez. Charleston, WV: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, 1999. Stories are most meaningful and best able to promote literacy when they speak to a student’s world. Good books can help children develop pride in their ethnic identity, provide positive role models, develop knowledge about cultural history, and build self-esteem. However, Mexican American students in the United States often do not experience literature in this way. This Digest identifies key challenges, recommends classroom strategies, provides literature selection guidelines, and suggests reading lists for various grade levels.

Strategies to Involve Families of English Language Learners.
Felicita Sanyet. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative, 2005. When parents are involved in their students’ schools, student performance and behavior improves. But due to culture and related issues, the parents of English language learners are less likely to become involved in their children’s schools. In the teacher workshop for which these session materials were created, teachers explored ways to overcome barriers to including all parents in the school.

Talking About Wordless Picture Books: A Tutor Strategy Supporting English Language Learners.
Janet M. Fulton. Louisville, KY: National Center for Family Literacy, 2006. This resource describes a culturally sensitive instructional strategy designed for tutors working with low-intermediate English language learners who have preschool children. It describes guided activities that help parents build and practice English conversation skills. Following the tutoring sessions, parents are encouraged to use these strategies with their children at home. Clearinghouse distributes free copies in Texas ONLY. Also available on NCFL Web site: http://www.famlit.org

ToolKit for Hispanic Families: Resources to Help Students Succeed in School.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2006. Five-page resources in both English and Spanish include: You and Your Elementary School-Aged Child; A Challenging High School Education for All; You and Your Preschool Child; Tips for Helping Children Learn to Read; School Success for Your Child; and No Child Left Behind: Help for Students and Their Families. Clearinghouse distributes free copies in Texas ONLY. Also available online: http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/2006toolkit/index.html