Adult Learning

Image of adult student in lab

Adult learners include those with little education who want to improve their literacy skills to help them transition to college, immigrants who want to learn English, students who have dropped out of school and want to get their secondary credential or take the high school equivalency tests, and adults seeking to improve their employment skills.

Adult Education Research and Technical Assistance Center (AERTAC)

The Adult Education Research and Technical Assistance Center (AERTAC) at AIR conducts research and provides technical assistance to states and local programs to improve the adult education system by promoting quality instruction and support services through better professional development, evaluation, strengthening accountability, and increasing the use of promising practices such as technology in instruction. Our projects help improve adult learners’ basic skills and English language ability to enable them to obtain secondary and postsecondary credentials, succeed in postsecondary education, and become more employable.

Latest Work

Project

Studying Teacher Effectiveness in Adult Education

Despite the important role that adult education can play in students’ lives, research on teachers of adult education is limited. AIR produced four research briefs to provide descriptive information about the characteristics of teachers in adult education and to explore whether teacher characteristics are associated with student achievement in adult education.
19 Sep 2017
Brief

Adult Education Attainment and Assessment Scores: A Cross-National Comparison

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies is a multi-domain adult skills assessment designed to understand how individuals’ education, workplace experiences, and other background factors relate to cognitive skills in the domains of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments. This brief highlights differences between several countries in the average literacy and numeracy scores for adults at different levels of education attainment and compares gaps in literacy and numeracy scores.
Topic: 
Adult Learning and the Workforce, Adult Learning
6 Sep 2017
Spotlight

Literacy Around the World

September 8, 2017 is International Literacy Day. Founded to actively mobilize the international community and to promote literacy as an instrument to empower individuals, communities, and societies, it is now celebrated around the world. Learn more about the projects, people, research, and in-country technical assistance that are contributing to the effort.
Topic: 
Reading and Literacy, Adult Learning, P-12 Education and Social Development, Technology for Teaching and Learning, International, International Reading and Literacy
Project

Nevada Adult Education Professional Development

The state of Nevada has put into place a system of adult basic education that addresses the needs of its adult learners. To support the education programs that serve adult learners, in 2017 the Nevada Department of Education enlisted AIR to manage and run its statewide system of adult education professional development.
Project

National Study of the Implementation of Adult Education Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) Program, authorized under Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), is the main source of federal support for adult basic and literacy education programs for adults who lack basic skills, a high school diploma, or proficiency in English. National Study of the Implementation of Adult Education Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is the first study in the evaluation of WIOA Title II, and will collect data for the first time in over a decade on how adult education programs are providing services under AEFLA.
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