“They just don't invest in those students…" Adult literacy education and the shift to career readiness: Conversations with veteran educators in the US

Author Information

Jaye Jones, Lehman College, City University of New York

Submission Purpose

Main Conference

Type of Paper

Paper: Empirical

Abstract

The 2014 reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) – a major source of funding for adult education programs in the United States – meant even greater emphasis on workforce-focused skills in the classroom and intensified tracking of occupational outcomes. Concerns have been raised about how a move away from critical literacy has impacted some of the field’s most vulnerable learners, those at the lowest levels of literacy. This paper examines the experiences of veteran adult literacy educators to illuminate the impact workforce-focused policies have had on educational services for adult literacy level learners.

Keywords

adult basic education, adult education policy, workforce development, WIOA

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Recommended Citation

Jones, J. (2020). “They just don't invest in those students…" Adult literacy education and the shift to career readiness: Conversations with veteran educators in the US. Peer reviewed and approved by the AERC Steering Committee for the Adult Education in Global Times Conference. University of British Columbia. Canada. (Conference Cancelled).