@article{7010813108b948cfb80214cf39a03fc2,
title = "We Are What We Do: Adult Basic Education Should Be About More Than Employability",
abstract = "In this commentary, the authors review one area of federal policy, adult basic education policy, since its inception in the 1960s as an example of how educational policy can drift from its broad purpose as it responds to political, social, and economic forces. The authors argue that its current narrow focus on workforce development underestimates the challenges of improving employment and earnings outcomes. More important, it undercuts the value and benefits of skill gains that can accrue before participants are able to attain jobs that can improve their economic outlook. Analysis of adult skill assessments indicate that even small skill increases can have a significant impact on other important social outcomes. Thus, the authors call for broadening the goal of federal adult basic education programs from primarily workforce development to helping participants more effectively fulfill a range of adult roles and responsibilities.",
keywords = "6-Adult, College and career readiness, Legislation, Outcomes < Assessment, Policy, Policy study < Policy, mandates < Policy",
author = "Alisa Belzer and Jeounghee Kim",
note = "Funding Information: The NLA and WIA can be understood as providing much needed focus for the field after many years of funding authorizations that largely prioritized growing, developing, and becoming more stable (Rose, 1991; U.S. Department of Education, 2013) but without much specificity. Focus can be understood as a good thing, as it creates a sharper, richer, detailed, and more easily understood vision for the field. However, Belzer (in press) argued that the most recent federal statute funding ABE, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), legislated a move from focusing to narrowing opportunities for learning in ABE. WIOA is explicitly designed to create greater alignment within the workforce development system. This is evidenced in the requirement that a unified state plan be created by core programs funded by the WIOA: federally funded employment and training services under the U.S. Department of Labor and Adult Education, and vocational rehabilitation programs under the U.S. Department of Education. For the first time, states must submit a unified plan for serving clients within all core programs, and all core programs must use the same common outcome measures, which focus on participation in postsecondary education, training, employment, and earnings. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 International Literacy Association",
year = "2018",
month = may,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1002/jaal.693",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "61",
pages = "603--608",
journal = "Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy",
issn = "1081-3004",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "6",
}