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Adult Education Administrator's Manual

Instructional Services
Special Populations

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The TANF program provides adult education instruction to recipients of TANF. Recipients of TANF benefits are required to participate in adult basic education and job training programs as a condition for eligibility. The overall aim of the program is to move TANF recipients into self-supporting employment, thereby reducing the number of long-term welfare recipients.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

is the federal welfare reform legislation that governs the TANF cash assistance program. As a result to several trends in welfare delivery, the Texas reform waiver includes adult education as a work activity to assist participants in becoming self-sufficient. The 77^th Texas Legislature required that priority be given to adult education funds intending to provide appropriate training to TANF recipients.

The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy found that 35 percent of TANF recipients read at Grade Level 1 and 41 percent read at Grade Level 2. Because of their low literacy skills, it is unrealistic to assume that all TANF recipients can easily find full-time jobs, full-year jobs. Moreover, the research predicts that even if all TANF recipients could find full-time, they would still earn less than the income level needed to provide subsistence living for their families. They emphasize the acute need for basic skills training and education for both current and former welfare recipients.

As with all adult education programs, collaboration and coordination is critical to successfully serving TANF recipients. TANF recipients must be referred to adult education programs by local workforce development board contractors, one-stop workforce centers or Texas Department of Human Services (TDHS) eligibility workers or fit the eligibility definition. The definition adds flexibility and includes the following:

Because of the increased flexibility in the use of TANF funds, adult education is seen as an integral activity of serving TANF recipients and former recipients. Adult education programs may now serve the following populations with the funds:

1. CHOICES Participants: Adult education programs may continue to serve TANF recipients participating in the CHOICES program administered by the Texas Workforce Commission in collaboration with workforce development boards, and one-stop workforce centers. This pre-employment service must emphasize workforce preparation and integrate it as the content of skill acquisition.
2. Exempt TANF Recipients: Adult education programs may serve TANF recipients who are exempt from CHOICES participation (recipients not currently required to participate in CHOICES). This service must also integrate workforce preparation with adult education services, and may include parenting skills, mentoring, life skills, and services to adults with learning disabilities.
3. TANF Recipients who live in areas where CHOICES is not fully available: This service, too, should integrate workforce preparation with adult education services, and may include parenting skills, mentoring, life skills, and services to adults with learning disabilities.
4. Families that include a child living at home are deemed eligible for TANF-funded adult education services if a family member receives any of the following forms of assistance : Food Stamps, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, Child Care and Development Fund, or Free or Reduced Priced Lunch Program.
5. Former TANF Recipients : In collaboration with the Texas Department of Human Services (TDHS) and workforce development entities, adult education programs may serve former TANF recipients who have gone to work through post-employment education opportunities. This service, too, must integrate adult education with employment retention skills related to keeping and advancing in a job. Adult education services to former TANF recipients may be offered at the work site and TANF funds can be used.
6. Individuals Attempting to Avoid Welfare : In collaboration with TDHS, adult education may serve individuals referred by TDHS who are attempting to avoid welfare. Such service may include job preparation skills and other education services that will enable persons at risk of needing TANF benefits in the future to remain financially independent.

Coordination with DHS and TWC such entities must be on-going to ensure that a consistent client flow exists, that an appropriate mix of services is available to address the client’s service plan, and that necessary support services are available for all participants.

TANF recipients frequently have barriers in their lives that result from a lack of equal access to opportunities and impede educational achievement. In addition to financial barriers, TANF recipients may exhibit a high level of learning disabilities and may need screening and diagnosis in order to enhance their educational progress. In such a situation, collaboration with agencies that provide such diagnosis, such as the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) or a university that provides assessment services, is critical to success.

A large percentage of TANF recipients may be in abusive domestic situations that preclude learning. Adult education programs need to work with partners to identify these barriers and develop solutions for removing such barriers so that the recipient has a better opportunity to move toward self-sufficiency. TANF funds may be used for supportive services necessary so that the student is able to focus on learning.

The emphasis of the adult education program for TANF recipients is on work-related basic skills. All adult education components, whether ESL, ABE, or ASE, should integrate academic skill development (reading, writing, listening, speaking, and mathematics) within the functional context of work-related issues. This includes addressing not only those barriers which hinder people from acquiring jobs, but also those obstacles which often impede an individual’s ability to retain or advance in a job. Goal setting, problem solving, decision making, and communication skills are examples of some functional context skills that can be included in academic teaching.

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