In spite of the difficulties present in documenting exact figure son the age group 16-18 enrolled in adult programs, we can clearly see an increasing trend through information available. A number of factors can be identified as those leading to this trend and can be summarised as below:
1. The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (Title II of the Workforce Investment Act) lists requirements that define "adult" as people who have are 16 years old or above and are not enrolled or required to be enrolled in a secondary school under the state law. This therefore opens the door for other states to make available programs that are practical alternatives for youth (Smith 2002).
2. Then there is the educational reform movement in the country that has increased requirements for high school graduation and is not supported by necessary services for who are at a risk of dropping out (Beckwith 2002; Hayes 2000).
3. The alternative programs created by school districts are not sufficient to cater for high school dropouts and there is a big lack of knowledge about alternative programs. Besides, some of these alternative programs fail to meet the needs of certain high school dropouts (Beckwith 2002; Cochran 2000; Hayes 2000).
4. There is a lack of understanding that excellent literacy and math skills are required to pass the GED and there is a false perception that GED can be a "quick fix" for high school dropouts (Beckwith 2002).
Programmatic Response
The response to increasing youth enrolment is varied. This essay will now explore the general challenges and questions faced by adult education programs, followed by a review of two such programs that have tried to address the needs of the youth.
Of course it is quite a challenge to serve both adults and youth in the same program. However, research indicates that although mixing youth and adults may indeed have many positive aspects, in many cases it may not be so beneficial (Hayes 2000). For example, several programs do not possess the resources to conduct separate classes for the younger group and a large number of students from this group can have a negative impact all students (Hayes 2000; Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning [MAAL] 2001). The reason is that very often high school dropouts are not ambitious and may not have any motivation for a positive future (MAAL 2001) and therefore may require extra attention. This may case neglect of the adult students (O'Neil 2000). Moreover, its is perceived that even though mixed groups can prove to be richer and more dynamic, they can hinder the learning process if there are any age-based cultural clashes (O'Neil 2000, p. 22). Young students may reflect their social and cultural upbringing and may not realize that some of their actions/behaviour may be considered as disrespectful or rude (Dirkx 2002).
One of the studies of the role of youth in adult literacy programs conducted by Hayes (2000) shows that many programs used mix of different strategies to address the debate between integration and separation. In some cases the disruption caused by the younger crowd had led the programs to conduct separate classes. However most programs studied were in favour of integrating the two age groups in their classes by using strategies like keeping a low proportion of youth and separating them from their friends in classroom seating. Moreover, certain programs even developed some written attendance and behavior policies the young students had to accept before getting admission to classes (ibid.; Smith 2002).
Then there is also some concern over the appropriateness of teaching methods and instructional materials. The concerning question is whether the same materials and methods can be used for both youth and adults? The study by Hayes (2000) discovered that the adult education programs did not make many changes in instruction methods to specifically cater to the needs of younger students. It was found that many respondents thought that adult education should be made more responsive to cater to the needs of younger students as it will lead to individualized and self-paced instruction (p. 97). However, many young students are not served well by a format that stresses on individual work, neither by content that they don’t consider as relevant (MAAL 2001). In a study of focus groups done by MAAL (2001) it was evident that younger students preferred having youth-oriented learning materials and also wanted to have group instruction in addition to individual interaction with their teachers (Herring 2001). They also said they wanted caring and understanding teachers who could relate to their lives (Herring 2001; Malcolmson 2001; Ovens 2002).
There are not enough descriptions of the ways in which federally funded adult education programs are serving the younger students. However, we are reviewing two programs with certain research components that offer some insight on how their initiatives impact young students. The first program studied is FutureWorks (Cochran 2000) that shows how such programs could initiate change. The second program studied is the Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning (2000, 2001) which has published information demonstrating through example how changes could be incorporated in a system.
FutureWorks - is a GED preparation program located in Virginia County, specially designed for teenagers who are academically at risk. It specially enrols and recruits students who have failed in other education programs or have not made it at any one of the four high schools in the Virginia County. In their courses, in one session only ten students, mostly women, are taught by a teacher and an assistant. In a study done by Cochran (2000), some relevant program characteristics were identified by students as follows: supportive climate (like teacher advocacy and informal climate in the class), respect for individual needs (individualized instruction, class of small groups, shorter days/week); and alternative opportunities (like permission to use meet their goals through non-traditional routes). The interviewed students – both former ad current – felt that they needed their friends, families and the establishment to believe in them and their future success (ibid., p. 3). They all indicated that they did not want to avoid school education but were instead looking for alternative ways to pursue their learning.
Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning (MAAL) - in Kansas city (Missouri), the Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning (MAAL) discovered that students belonging to age group 16-21 represented nearly 50% of the total enrolment in its programs. Thereafter it decided to adopted the approach of youth cultural competence (YCC) in order to better serve this age group. They believe that YCC allows them to use the icons and values present in the youth culture, for example teen music and film and heroes as well as perceptions about sex and drugs. These in turn become valuable teaching tools to be used to serve young students who in the past may not have responded well to the traditional ABE [adult basic education] methods" (MAAL 2001, p. 2). Through their partnership with the Youth Development and Research Fund (YDRF), MAAL has been successful in providing professional development of the principles and practices used by YCC as they used by the teachers in their programs. And the results sown by these programs using the YCC approach have been very positive and encouraging. For example, one of the programs reported a very positive increase in the retention rate of young adult learners - from 39% to 95% enrolled in a teen-only group, besides showing a three times increase in the GED pass rate. One more program showed an increase in retention rate from 40% to 75% after adopting YCC principles. MAAL advocates the use of YCC principles in many ways - like training and professional development, giving support grants to programs implementing YCC principles, continuous technical assistance from YDRF and frequent program site visits by the YDRF staff (MAAL 2002).
Conclusion
This paper has summarised the trend of increasing youth enrolling for adult education programs and the various factors leading to this trend. Thereafter it has analysed whether such a trend is healthy for the learning process in these programs or whether these impact negatively on all students. It is evident that some adult education programs have responded rationally to cater to the needs of younger students by adapting their strategies. However, at the policy level, there are certain questions that need addressing, for example, if the federally funded education programs should indeed be serving young teenagers (ibid.; Smith 2002) and if adult education programs even now continue to serve as a safety net for those young students who have not fared well in traditional modes of high school learning (Beckwith 2002; Hayes 2000). Thus these adult educators can in future help address these questions by working hand-in-hand with policymakers so that viable alternatives are created that can positively impact the learning process of young students in adult education programs.
References
Beckwith, E. J. "What's Up with the Rapid Increase of Young People in GED & Adult Education Programs?" STW Programs & Issues 1, no. 1 (2002): 3-15.
Cochran, E. Future Works: An Alternative Avenue to Success. Practitioner Research Briefs, 1999-2000 Report Series. Arlington: Virginia Adult Education Research Network, Arlington Public Schools, 2000. (ED 445 240)
http://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/Elizabeth_Cochran.pdf
Dirkx, J. M. "Generational Difference and the Problem of Identity in the Adult Education and Community College Classroom." In Proceedings of the 21st Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing and Community Education, DeKalb, Illinois, October 9-11, 2002, edited by R. A. Orem, pp. 114-119. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University, 2002.
http://www.cedu.niu.edu/reps/Document/Midwest_Conference_Papers_part1.pdf
Hayes, E. "Youth in Adult Literacy Education Programs." In Annual Review of Adult Learning and Literacy. Vol. 1, edited by J. Comings, B. Garner, and C. Smith, pp. 74-110. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~ncsall/ann_rev/vol1_3.html
Herring, M. "Focus Groups for Young Adults." Unpublished paper prepared for Youth Cultural Competence. Kansas City, MO: Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning, March 2001.
Malcolmson, J. D. "What Works in Youth Literacy and Why?: A Literature Review and Discussion." Unpublished paper prepared for Youth Initiatives Directory, Human Resources and Development Canada, October 2001.
Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning. "Why Young People Aren't Succeeding in Adult Education." In Bringing It Home. Kansas City, MO: Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning, March 2000.
http://www.KCLearningWorks.org/documents/bringing_it_home.pdf
Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning. "Teen Dropouts Increasingly Falter in Adult Education Programs." Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning News, Second Quarter, 2001. http://www.KCLearningWorks.org/documents/layout_june_pages.pdf
Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning. Youth Cultural Competence Professional Development Initiative. Kansas City, MO: Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning, 2002.
O'Neil, F. "The NMIT Youth Unit: Diverse Programs and Pedagogical Challenges." In Literacy for Youth: Programs, Problems and Perspectives, edited by J. Sanguinetti and M. Jones. Melbourne, Victoria: Language Australia, Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium, and Victorian Centre, 2000. (ED 442 938) http://www.staff.vu.edu.au/alnarc/docs/lityouth.pdf
Ovens, C. Literacy for Youth: What Counts as Success in Programs for Youth At-Risk. Melbourne, Victoria: Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium, 2002. http://www.staff.vu.edu.au/alnarc/publications/02OvensJune2002.pdf
Sanguinetti, J. "Youth Forum Workshop Groups: Issues and Challenges." In Literacy for Youth: Programs, Problems and Perspectives, edited by J. Sanguinetti and M. Jones. Melbourne, Victoria: Language Australia, Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium, and Victorian Centre, 2000. (ED 442 938)
http://www.staff.vu.edu.au/alnarc/docs/lityouth.pdf
Smith, H. V. "The Challenge of Teens in the Adult Education Classroom." Literacy Links (Newsletter of the Texas Center for Adult Literacy and Learning) 6, no. 4 (June 2002). http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/newsletr/jun02/jun02c.htm
