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2010 Why Adult Education Works Paper

Adult education programs in California provide valuable educational and workforce training services to over 300,000 adults each year. They help adults earn high school diplomas, learn basic skills, and gain job skills. They also help immigrants and parents support their children's education. Maintaining strong adult education is critical as 75% of future jobs will require postsecondary education, but only 61% of Californians will be qualified without further training. Adult education plays a key role in developing California's workforce.

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57 views

2010 Why Adult Education Works Paper

Adult education programs in California provide valuable educational and workforce training services to over 300,000 adults each year. They help adults earn high school diplomas, learn basic skills, and gain job skills. They also help immigrants and parents support their children's education. Maintaining strong adult education is critical as 75% of future jobs will require postsecondary education, but only 61% of Californians will be qualified without further training. Adult education plays a key role in developing California's workforce.

Uploaded by

smaceesl
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WHY ADULT EDUCATION WORKS FOR CALIFORNIA

Adult education programs, offered by K-12 school districts, provide valuable educational and
post-educational services to a broad cross section of California’s population and prepares both
adults and high school students for the workforce. Adult education programs are vital for the
educational and workforce development of Californians for the following reasons:

Expansion of Adult Basic Skills: Adult schools are currently serving 306,000 adults in adult
basic skills (ABE) and adult secondary education (ASE) courses. The California Department of
Education estimates that only 8 percent of the needed courses in basic skills are currently
being met by adult schools and the community colleges.

Gaining High School Diploma: There are 5.3 million adults in California who do not have a
high school diploma and 3 million who speak with limited English fluency. Additionally, almost
one-third of all students fail to graduate from public high schools within four years and more
operate at low levels of basic literacy that leave them unprepared for postsecondary education
or participation in the workforce.

Overcoming Poverty: Unemployed and under-employed adults, affected by poverty, are


unable to provide the support needed to ensure that their children are ready for school. These
children, and often the children they have, impose heavy costs on taxpayers by requiring social
services, in-home support, incarceration or institutionalization. Sustaining and further
developing a strong workforce preparation system needs to be California’s top priority.

Education for Immigrants: Immigrants are 35 percent of California’s workforce, compared to


14 percent nationally. Foreign-born residents are 4 times less likely to have a high school
diploma than native-born residents. Because this group constitutes approximately one-third of
those over 25 years of age — 8.3 of 23 million — foreign-born residents’ educational levels
have a significant impact on California’s educational profile, presenting challenges for the future
of the economy.

Basic Skill Development for Parents and Caregivers: Adults must gain foundational skills
not only in order to be productive in the workforce, but also to play key roles in their homes and
communities. Parents and community members, including those not currently in the workforce,
play an essential role in educating and motivating school-age children.

Postsecondary Education and Training: The Public Policy Institute of California projects that
California will “under-produce” college graduates and people with some level of postsecondary
training needed to meet growing workforce training demands. 75 percent of career occupations
will require at least some post-secondary education whereas only 61 percent of the population
will have this level of education.

Training for Replacement Generation: As the highly educated baby boom generation retires
in the period 2011 to 2029, they will be replaced in the workforce by those who are currently 18-
44 years old. Of the 5.3 million adults who lack a high school diploma, 2,900,000 (or 53
percent) are 18-44 years old. This is the critical population that will “replace” the baby boom
population in

2010
the workforce over the next 20 years. In addition, there are 3,774,611 Californians between the
ages 18-44 whose highest level of educational attainment is a high school diploma or GED.

Career Technical Education: The need for career technical education (CTE) services is
crucial if California is to maintain a strong economy. In 2008, 178,000 adults participated in
CTE through adult education programs. Of these, over 72,000 adult students were
economically disadvantaged, and over 14,000 were limited English proficient. Adult Education
plays a key role in local workforce development. As recipients of Workforce Investment Act and
federal Perkins funds, adult education is deemed a mandated partner in the Workforce
Investment Act One Stop Business and Career Center systems. Because adult education CTE
programs range from entry-level employment training opportunities to more advanced
technological or medical career training programs, it is important for these programs to be
maintained.

2010

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