CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Community colleges account for 34 percent of the adult education enrollments in states participating in this study. Although adult education remains primarily the responsibility of K-12 systems across the country, an increasing number of states are placing

responsibility for administering adult education with their community colleges. Based on the data gathered by this study, it is not clear what effect this has on adult education programs. However, the large and growing role of colleges in providing adult education service indicates that it is important to develop an in-depth understanding of what that effect may be.

States in which high numbers of adult education students are served by community colleges enroll more Hispanic students than do other states. A possible reason, although the data collected in this study does not prove this, is that those colleges offer more ESL services.

Although state directors generally believe that community college adult education

students are similar to those enrolled by other providers, the findings of this study suggest that differences may exist in some states. A more detailed analysis of program offerings as well as the NRS data on student levels and outcomes may help to identify other ways in which governance or provision of adult education by community colleges influences service delivery, management, student outcomes, and other important variables.

Although community colleges play a large role in adult education, there is evidence from this research, as well as other CCRC research on community colleges (Bailey and Morest, 2004), that the adult education and community college systems have not devoted the time or resources necessary to optimize their relationship. Personnel in both systems may not be aware of the large role that the colleges are already playing in adult education for a number of reasons.

1. Although adult education enrollments comprise a significant percentage of total community college noncredit enrollments (15 percent), the percentage apparently is not large enough to establish adult education as a priority for many college leaders. (Total fall credit enrollment in community colleges in 2000 was about 5.7 million [NCES, 2002, Table 173] and noncredit enrollments were another 5 million or so. Adult education enrollments at community colleges are probably around one million.)

2. Because adult education programs are usually classified as noncredit, they may be overshadowed by credit earning degree and certificate programs that usually generate larger revenues for colleges.

3. Neither community colleges nor adult education systems collect data on their students sufficient for many kinds of program evaluation.

State adult education officials ought to know more than they presently appear to know about one of their largest provider organizations. In only a few states – such as Oregon, Iowa, North Carolina, and Washington – were adult education officials found to have substantial knowledge about adult education at community colleges. Although this study asked state officials for various types of information about the scope of community college involvement in state systems relative to other providers, those officials were not able to provide even basic breakdowns of race by provider.

One topic on which it is highly important to develop a more thorough understanding of the role of community colleges in adult education is the contribution the adult education system makes to postsecondary transitions. At present, states collect and report this information with considerable inconsistency. Because the percentage of students making transitions to postsecondary education reported by most states is based only on those who report postsecondary education as a goal, the results neglect potentially large numbers of adult education students who make transitions after achieving their proximal goals of acquiring high school diplomas or jobs. In many states, students are not tracked

longitudinally. As a result, the only data available about their future educational attainment is limited to their status at the end of a single year of enrollment.

Since its inception only a few years ago, the NRS seems to have successfully moved adult education systems in the direction of collecting reliable data on enrollments. But there was considerable difficulty acquiring data for this report because the NRS does not require states to categorize enrollments by provider. Clearly, more needs to be known about the roles of the various provider organizations that offer adult education.

This report should serve as a call to government, researchers, colleges, and other interested parties to identify more fully methods of data collection and forms of data so as to enable fuller, deeper analysis. It should also underscore the need for additional resources to support that work on an ongoing basis.

References

Bailey, Thomas, and Vanessa Smith Morest. Forthcoming. The Organizational Efficiency

of Multiple Missions for Community Colleges. New York, NY: Community College

Research Center, Columbia University.

Bogart, Q. J. (1994). “The Community College Mission”. In Baker, G. A., III. (Ed.), A Handbook on the Community College in America: Its History, Mission, and Management

(pp. 60-73). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

CASAS (2003). Adult Basic Education and Community Colleges in Five States: A Report from the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) to the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy. New York, NY: Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy.

Cohen, A. M., and F. B. Brawer, (1996). The American Community College. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Education Commission of the States (ECS) (November, 2000). State Funding for

Community Colleges: A 50-State Survey. Denver, CO: Education Commission of

the States.

Lewis, Laurie, and Elizabeth Farris, (1996). Remedial Education at Higher Education Institutions in Fall 1995, Bernie Greene, project officer. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Government Printing Office.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2002). Digest of Education Statistics, 2002. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.

Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) (2003). A Blueprint for Preparing America’s Future. The Adult Basic and Literacy Education Act of 2003: Summary of Major Provisions. Available: http://www.ed.gov/policy/adulted/leg/aeblueprint2.doc. Phillipe, K. A. (2000). National Profile of Community Colleges: Trends and Statistics, 3rd Edition. Washington DC: Community College Press, a division of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Appendix A

Descriptions of Adult Education by State ABE Directors

State ABE GED and

Adult Secondary ESL Vocational and Workplace Education Other

AL X X X X Preemployment training (soft skills, leadership