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Program Improvement Cluster

Program Improvement Cluster

 

  
The adult education and literacy field has grown tremendously since Cora Wilson Stewart opened the first Moonlight School in 1911 to teach men who were going off to war to read and write so they could send letters back home. Adult education now includes a diverse range of programs and services that cater to specialized needs.  Programs such as family literacy, workplace education, health literacy, college transitions, and intensive English as a Second Language have emerged.  With this diversity also came the growing need for more flexibility to enable state and local programs to address the needs of their adult learners.  
Instead of statutory requirements, Congress substituted performance indicators.  We could choose the best way to structure and deliver program services as long as performance improved.  We had to get better every year at helping adults to improve their basic skills, earn a high school diploma or GED, obtain or retain a job, and enter postsecondary education or job training.
 
So our life changed from checking boxes that indicated, “Yes, we did what Congress asked us to do, “ to “How do we continually get better at helping adult learners succeed?”

 

  
       
A Joint Initiative of the National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium and ProLiteracy                                 © Copyright 2007