Texas Adult Education Standards Project (TAESP)
Focus Group Interview Findings

by
Lesley Tomaszewski, Don Seaman, Chia-Yin Chen, and Elaine Demps

INTRODUCTION

During the fall of 2004, the Texas Adult Education Standards Project (TAESP) housed at the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL), conducted focus group interviews throughout Texas. Ninety six adult learners enrolled in adult education programs and 75 adult education practitioners were interviewed. The purpose for conducting these focus group interviews was to determine the needs of adult learners in Texas.

Previous to this study, the TEASP staff had surveyed adult education practitioners who had used the Texas Standardized Curriculum Framework (TSCF). One finding from this survey was that the TSCF did not address the needs of adult learners. To develop adult education content standards for Texas, the needs of adult learners needed to be identified.

METHOD

In September 2004, the TASEP invited adult education practitioners in Texas to participate in regional focus group interviews conducted by the TAESP staff. This invitation was sent to all of the program directors listed in TCALL’s Directory of Literacy Providers in Texas and to three TCALL moderated listservs, Texas Adult Literacy Directors and Administrators, Teachers Only, and Texas Curriculum Implementation. Interested adult education practitioners were asked to complete an online survey by October 1^st. A copy of the interest form can be found in Appendix A. A total of 116 adult education practitioners completed the online form and submitted by the deadline. Table 1 represents the geographic representation by Getting Results Educating Adults in Texas (GREAT) Center Region of those adult education practitioners that completed the online interest form.

The online interest forms were complied by the Texas Adult Education Standards Project (TAESP) staff to determine the interview dates and locations. After the dates and locations were determined, the TAESP staff contacted the interested adult education practitioners to invite them to participate in the focus group interviews and to notify them of the locations, dates, and times of the interviews. The adult education program directors were also asked to provide the name of an adult education teacher who would be willing to have his/her class interviewed.

The research question guiding this study was, “What are the needs of adult learners?” Specifically, what did they need to be successful workers, family members, and community members? To answer this research question, the TAESP staff interviewed both adult learners enrolled in adult education programs, as well as adult education practitioners. Two different interview schedules were developed to use during the focus group interviews, one for the adult learners (Appendix B) and another one for the adult education practitioners (Appendix C).

The participating adult learners were asked to complete a Consent Form (Appendix D) and a Student Survey (Appendix E) before the interview began. The TAESP staff used the Student Survey to collect descriptive data about the adult learners participating in the focus group interviews. At the end of the interview, they were asked to complete paperwork to receive compensation for their participation in the study. The Consent Form (Appendix F) and the Student Survey (Appendix G) were translated into Spanish and available for the Spanish speaking adult learners to complete.

The adult education practitioners were asked to complete a Consent Form (Appendix H) before the start of the interview. They were not asked to complete a survey with demographic information. After the completion of the interview, the adult education instructors were asked to complete paperwork to receive compensation for their participation in the study. Administrators and GREAT Center representatives were not compensated.

The interview times varied among the focus group interviews. The adult learner interviews averaged 60 minutes, with the shortest interview at 30 minutes and the longest interview at 90 minutes. The adult education practitioner interviews averaged 90 minutes, with the shortest one at 45 minutes and the longest one at 120 minutes. The interviews in English were transcribed by the TASEP staff and the professional transcription company, Ubiqus Reporting. The three interviews that were conducted in Spanish were transcribed into Spanish by Ubiqus Reporting and two native Spanish speakers. They were not translated into English.

After the interviews were transcribed, qualitative analysis was used to analyze the focus group interviews. The two groups of focus group interviews (the adult learners and adult education practitioners) were analyzed separately. After coding the data, similar codes were grouped together to create categories which resulted in the findings presented later on in this paper. Dr. Jennifer Sandlin, a qualitative methods expert at Texas A&M University, was consulted to confirm the findings of the TAESP staff.

ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS

For the purpose of this study, two assumptions were made. One assumption was that the adult learners were aware of their needs and that they would be able to articulate them. The second assumption was that the adult education practitioners were aware of the needs of the adult learners in their programs.

The major limitation of this study was that the findings for the focus group interviews could not be generalized past the individuals interviewed. Since an assumption of qualitative research was that the study cannot be replicated, no generalizations could be made. However, transferability of the findings could occur if there were shared characteristics. This meant that if the individuals interviewed were representative of the adult learners and adult education practitioners in Texas, then the findings might transfer and similar findings might be found when interviewing other adult learners and adult education practitioners in Texas.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 171 individuals participated in the 22 focus group interviews conducted during Fall 2004. Of the 171, 96 were adult learners enrolled in an adult education program and the remaining 75 individuals were adult education practitioners. Table 2 shows the breakdown of adult learners and adult education practitioners by GREAT Center region.

In total, there were 13 focus group interviews conducted with adult learners. At times, Adult Basic Education (ABE) students and Adult Secondary Education (ASE/GED) students were interviewed together because they were both taught by the same adult education instructor. Out of the 96 adult learners, 35 were enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class, 25 were enrolled in an ABE class, and 36 were enrolled in an ASE/GED class. All of the adult learners were at various stages of their course work. Table 3 summarizes the demographic information of the adult learners interviewed.

Of the 75 adult education practitioners interviewed, 7 were Texas GREAT center representatives and the other 68 were a mix of adult education program administrators and adult education instructors. The practitioners’ focus group interviews’ number, GREAT center region, and location are summarized in Table 4.

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