A Shared Purpose -
Adult and Developmental Education Programs at
 Community Colleges

By Dr. Hunter R. Boylan
Director, National Center for Developmental Education

In the early years of the twenty-first century, providing educational opportunity is still a morally valid objective.  But it has also become an economically valid objective.  Research is consistent in showing that there is a direct relationship between the economic development of a nation or region and the educational attainment of its citizens.[i]

We should be concerned, then, that there is currently no systematic national approach to providing the educational opportunity needed by our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.  Although there are many efforts to provide them with educational opportunities, these efforts tend to be random and disconnected.  An example of this is the lack of collaboration between adult and developmental education programs on community college campuses.

Adult education programs provide high school, English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL), and other academic preparedness skills instruction to adults who lack high school diplomas or basic language and literacy skills.  Developmental education programs provide instruction and support services to postsecondary students who are underprepared for college-level work.   In any given year, more than two million adults are taking developmental courses at our nation’s community colleges.[iii]  Similarly, in any given year, more than fourteen million adults are participating in adult education and English as a second language (ESL) programs.[iv]

The adults served by these two educational programs are often among our nation’s poorest and most disadvantaged.  These are adults who, without additional education, are likely to be consigned to either welfare or low-skill, low-paying jobs.  They will either consume tax revenues or contribute little to these revenues.

If these adults are to have any hope of participating fully in the American society and economy they will need to develop basic skills - they must learn to read critically, to communicate effectively, and to solve a variety of mathematical problems.  Adult and developmental programs develop these skills and, in the process, expand the opportunities available to our weakest, poorest, and most vulnerable citizens.  Unfortunately, these programs are usually isolated from one another.  They rarely collaborate and are rarely integrated at the institutional level. It is not unusual, for instance, to have adult and developmental programs located in the same building on the same community college campus with neither program having any idea of what the other is doing.  Such isolation undermines the efforts of both programs.

A secondary purpose of the CAAL study was to identify best practices in adult and developmental education collaboration.  We anticipated that identifying and disseminating these practices would contribute to improved performance of students participating in adult and developmental education programs.

• Pre-college advising,
   
• Diagnosis and assessment,
   
• College orientation workshops, and
   
• College study strategies workshops.

Adult and developmental educators working together can also insure that the exit standards for GED courses are consistent with the entry standards for basic college level work.  This facilitates a more seamless transition between adult education and college programs.  This, in turn, contributes to making educational opportunity a reality by facilitating the transition between lower and higher levels of education.

Through a survey of 1200 community college presidents we found several community colleges that not only had adult and developmental education programs working collaboratively but that also had positive outcomes for both programs. Programs at these institutions had high GED completion rates and a comparatively high percentage of GED completers making the transition to college.

• None of the study programs had a hierarchical administration.  Instead, they had relatively flat
  organizational patterns.  A single administrator was usually responsible for both programs.
   
• The leaders of these programs all shared a collaborative approach to program management.  Problems were addressed collectively and solutions agreed upon through consensus.  In interviews each of the leaders expressed the view that their primary job was to insure that their faculty and staff had the resources to do their jobs properly.  They did not view their role as having to “supervise subordinates.”  As a result, adult and developmental education faculty perceived themselves to be empowered to make professional decisions regarding student learning.  This appeared to contribute to high morale and productivity among faculty and staff.
   
• The successful programs in our study had an intensely learner centered focus.  They usually had written statements of a learner centered philosophy which were widely distributed and posted in program offices and included in syllabi.
  
  These statements also represented the philosophy used for program design and decision making.  Program faculty and staff were expected to make decisions based on what was best for the learner.  They tended to treat all students as valued members of the institutional learning community.  Careful hiring practices, combined with an instilled sense of shared values, tended to help ensure that everyone in the program shared this learner-centered focus.
   
• Collaboration is facilitated when those who are working   together are housed in close proximity.  At the study institutions, the adult and developmental education programs were housed in the same department and shared the same facilities.  In addition, these facilities were usually housed in some of the better office and classroom spaces on campus, helping to make both staff and program participants feel that their presence was not merely tolerated, but that it was important.
  
  During interviews, adult and developmental educators at study institutions stressed that sharing the same office, laboratory, and classroom spaces encouraged collaboration.  It also encouraged discussion of common issues and problems, and reinforced shared knowledge of new or innovative teaching and problem solving techniques.
   
• One of the variables that appeared to contribute to collaboration at study institutions was the fact that adult and developmental educators had common credentials.  The people hired to teach adult education courses had the same credentials as those teaching developmental courses, usually a masters degree in a content area, adult education, developmental education, or a related discipline.  Those teaching adult education courses were qualified to teach developmental courses and vice versa.  In fact, many of the instructors at these institutions taught both adult and developmental education courses, thus representing a more cost effective use of faculty resources.
  
  In addition, the adult educators received the same salaries, status, and benefits as other professionals at the college.  Because of their credentials and status the adult and developmental educators saw each other and were seen by others as professional equals.
   
• Some of the programs in our study administered both the Test for Adult Basic Education (TABE) and the college assessment instrument (usually the COMPASS or the Accuplacer) to GED students.  This enabled them to ascertain not only where students fell along the TABE distribution but also what skills they would need to develop for success in college.   This latter factor also helped prospective college students participating in GED programs understand how prepared (or unprepared) they were for college level work.
  
  The TABE was also administered to developmental students who failed developmental classes.  This enabled program personnel to determine if students might be served better by participating in adult education courses rather than developmental courses.  This use of common instruments for both adult and developmental students enabled program personnel to make better placement decisions.
   
• In all of the study programs, faculty and staff paid very close attention to the language used in describing students.  College and program publications were reviewed by teams of faculty to insure that the language used in describing students and programs was positive and affirming.  Syllabi and other course materials were regularly reviewed by faculty to insure that the language used was inclusive of all students.  New and adjunct faculty were trained to use affirming and inclusive language in courses and advising.  For instance, they were trained not to use such phrases as “You should have learned this in high school” or “if you’d worked harder, you wouldn’t have to be here.”  Instead, faculty were trained to accept student skills at whatever level they were found, without judgment.  They were taught to regard and treat adult and developmental students - in the words of a program director at Albuquerque TVI - “as one of the future graduates of our college.”

Consequently, these programs represent the “last chance” to change lives through education, a chance that is improved through collaboration.  Collaboration between these programs can increase the likelihood that a person’s “last chance” is also a good chance.  Such collaboration is likely to be more successful when both parties enter into the relationship as equal partners and emphasize their shared values.  It should be noted, however, that collaboration does not imply that either adult or developmental education programs can replace the other.  Both are necessary to address the needs of those poorly served by the national educational opportunity system that has emerged over the past four decades.

Adult and developmental education programs are an essential but unacknowledged component of this system.  They are essential because they serve adults from the lowest socio-economic stratum. They are often unacknowledged for the same reason. It is absolutely imperative, therefore, that we forge new partnerships between adult and developmental education programs as part of the effort to raise the educational attainment of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. There are many components of this challenge. Greater collaboration between adult and developmental education programs is, however, one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to promote the educational opportunity essential for our nation’s continued economic and social success.