There is huge participation by foreign-born adults in the adult education system, with English language learners (ELLs) comprising about 45% of the over 2.3 million adult students in the system, many of whom are transitioning to varied academic and workforce destinations.

The Transitioning English Language Learners (TELL) study identified models for transitioning ELLs and implications for programming that included recommendations for curriculum and instruction, program design and evaluation, professional development and teacher training, and state and local policy. This report from the first phase of the study reveals that TELL (as an area of inquiry) is in its developmental stages and that programs continue to modify programmatic and instructional strategies to best support TELLs. The preliminary findings form the basis of emergent propositions related to the above questions and themes that will need to be further examined with the six programs to be studied in the second phase of the study.