Preparing Adult English Language Learners for Rigorous College and Career Readiness Standards

The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education’s (OCTAE) is engaged in ongoing efforts to ensure that all adult students, including English language learners (ELLs), can obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for employment and self-sufficiency. This project built upon tools and material developed from earlier OCTAE investments, to produce resources to help adult education programs expand their basic capabilities to adopt and implement college and career readiness standards in adult education.

The project had four key components:

• Working closely with subject matter experts to identify college and career readiness-aligned English language proficiency (ELP) standards for adult education to help promote high levels of content and language learning among adult ELLs.
• Reviewing the degree of alignment between the identified ELP Standards and the National Reporting System accountability framework for English as a Second language (ESL).
• Revising where necessary the NRS educational functioning level descriptors for ESL.
• Developing three asynchronous online modules that introduce the ELP Standards and support adult educators’ initial implementation of these standards.