Adult Learner Persistence

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Suggestions for Improving Learner Persistence: A List Generated by Texas Adult Education Program Directors, Coordinators, and Supervisors Who Participated in the NCSALL/TCALL Study Circle Meetings on Learner Persistence
From January 2005 through August 2005, twelve adult education program administrators from across the state of Texas participated in a study circle on learner persistence. The Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) in conjunction with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) facilitated the study circle meetings for adult education program administrators. During the course of the study circle meetings, participants read and actively discussed research related to learner persistence. Throughout the meetings the participants were encouraged to develop specific suggestions for ways that adult education programs could improve learner persistence. The following is a list of techniques and suggestions developed by the group. These suggestions are not necessarily endorsements of techniques by TCALL staff, NCSALL staff, or by study circle participants as a whole.

Using Research to Build Evidence-Based Programs: NCSALL - Connecting Practice, Policy, and Research [PDF:268KB]
College Station, TX: Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning. Presentation materials published on TCALL’s website were used by Beth Bingman in a session of the January 2005 conference of TALAE -- Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education. In the presentation, Bingman defined “evidence-based practice”; gave an overview of research done by NCSALL (National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy) on reading, professional development, and learner persistence; discussed implications of this research for programs; and offered strategies for using the research to build evidence-based programs.

College Bound Adult Website
The ABE-to-College Transition Project just launched a new website called College for Adults. The site guides adults through the whole college process applying to school, taking college placements tests, setting career and educational goals, picking majors, etc. It is an excellent resource for individual students as well as adult secondary classroom activities.

The Transition from Adult Literacy ESL Programs to Academic Reading and Writing: Next Steps for English Language Learners
During her year as a fellow at the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL), researcher Lisa Gardner Flores has chosen to research how to successfully transition English language learners into content area classrooms. She began her research work with a sample of teachers at a community college located in Washington State. Her research in Washington State is serving as a pilot study for subsequent work in Texas. In this report, Flores documents the research she conducted in Washington State and her findings after working closely with twenty practitioners to discover how they are addressing instruction across the language curriculum. While Flores’ research is specific to one state and practitioners at one community college, it is hoped that her findings from this initial pilot study will be useful more broadly for instructors and administrators working with ELL students across the country.