Performance Assessments for Adult Education


Book Description

In the United States, the nomenclature of adult education includes adult literacy, adult secondary education, and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) services provided to undereducated and limited English proficient adults. Those receiving adult education services have diverse reasons for seeking additional education. With the passage of the WIA, the assessment of adult education students became mandatory-regardless of their reasons for seeking services. The law does allow the states and local programs flexibility in selecting the most appropriate assessment for the student. The purpose of the NRC's workshop was to explore issues related to efforts to measure learning gains in adult basic education programs, with a focus on performance-based assessments.




Organization and Administration of Adult Education Programs


Book Description

Administrators of adult education programs work in dynamic and ever-changing environments. They are continually challenged with a myriad of issues related to program budgeting, marketing, strategic planning, funding, human resources, and other topics. With decades of real world experience in the field, Steven Schmidt and Susan Yelich Biniecki have developed a practical guide for those who are involved in the organization and administration of educational programs for adults. Whether you work in the human resource department of a corporation, a grass-roots community organization, a higher education unit, a consulting company, or any other type of organization that provides adult education, this book is for you. In a no-nonsense approach, Organization and Administration of Adult Education Programs: A Guide for Practitioners “talks” to you as an administrator about topics that are important to you. Guidelines, processes, and procedures discussed in the book can help to make you a more effective practitioner. Scenarios, role plays, and activities are also included for classroom use and personal reflection.




Needs Analysis and Programme Planning in Adult Education


Book Description

How to identify, analyse, and assess the various types of adult learning needs? How to develop programmes tailored to these needs? This study guide is written for postgraduate students preparing to become professional adult educators, as well as for those intending to plan educational programmes for adults. The book covers the various types of adult (learning)needs and provides hints on how to identify, analyse, and assess these needs. It presents typical challenges involved in performing such an analysis as well as theoretical considerations of the concept and types of needs, of diagnosing educational needs and their theoretical understanding. The author draws conclusions on how to develop programmes tailored to the needs identified. With a focus on practical concerns, she illustrates the necessary steps as well as the factors to be considered when designing an educational programme for adults, both in the planning stage and in the stages of implementation and evaluation. From the Contents: The Importance of Needs Analysis and Programme Planning in Adult Education Needs: Theoretical Considerations Fields of Needs Analysis in an Educational Context Methods of Needs Analysis in Adult Education Needs Analysis for Planning Educational Programmes Steps in Programme Planning in Adult Education




Planning Programs for Adult Learners


Book Description

Planning Programs for Adult Learners, Third Edition covers the development of adult education programs in clear, specific detail. This popular step-by-step guide contains information on every area of program planning for adult learners, from understanding the purpose of educational programs to obtaining suitable facilities to incorporating technology appropriately. For educators and practitioners for whom planning programs is a full-time responsibility or only a part of their jobs, as well as volunteers in a variety of organizations, will find this book to be an essential tool. Grounded in a variety of program planning models, the new edition includes: new refinements to the 11-component interactive model updated exercises and examples from new settings new material on the practical application of technology discussion of instructional and program evaluation a focus on critical managerial tasks a new chapter on exploring the foundational knowledge of program planning a new section on the ethical issues related to program planning




Planning Programs for Adult Learners


Book Description

Strengthen your adult education program planning with this essential guide Planning Programs for Adult Learners: A Practical Guide, 4th Edition is an interactive, practical, and essential guide for anyone involved with planning programs for adult learners. Containing extensive updates, refinements, and revisions to this celebrated book, this edition prepares those charged with planning programs for adult learners across a wide variety of settings. Spanning a variety of crucial subjects, this book will teach readers how to: Plan, organize, and complete other administrative tasks with helpful templates and practical guides Focus on challenges of displacement, climate change, economic dislocation, and inequality Plan programs using current and emerging digital delivery tools and techniques including virtual and augmented reality Planning Programs for Adult Learners provides an international perspective and includes globally relevant examples and research that will inform and transform your program planning process. Perfect for adult educators and participants in continuing education programs for adults, the book will also be illuminating for graduate students in fields including education, nursing, human resource development, and more.




Developing Programs in Adult Education


Book Description

The Second Edition of Developing Programs in Adult Education will serve as an indispensable guide for current and prospective adult educators in planning, designing/implementing, and evaluating/accounting for adult education programs. Like the successful First Edition, this revised and expanded volume presents a conceptual programming model that draws from many concepts, constructs, and theories generated by adult educators and other scholars in closely allied disciplines. The updated model, field tested and validated, enhances and elaborates on the complex contextual relationships and processual actions represented in the original. The authors offer illustrative applications within varied organizational contexts and provide a panorama of both macro- and micro-perspectives and actions of a program planning process, with examples from various fields of adult education practice. This innovative text is the definitive authority on one of the few theoretical models of the programming process based in systems theory merged with the practice ecology of adult education.




The Adult Learner


Book Description

How do you tailor education to the learning needs of adults? Do they learn differently from children? How does their life experience inform their learning processes? These were the questions at the heart of Malcolm Knowles’ pioneering theory of andragogy which transformed education theory in the 1970s. The resulting principles of a self-directed, experiential, problem-centred approach to learning have been hugely influential and are still the basis of the learning practices we use today. Understanding these principles is the cornerstone of increasing motivation and enabling adult learners to achieve. The 9th edition of The Adult Learner has been revised to include: Updates to the book to reflect the very latest advancements in the field. The addition of two new chapters on diversity and inclusion in adult learning, and andragogy and the online adult learner. An updated supporting website. This website for the 9th edition of The Adult Learner will provide basic instructor aids including a PowerPoint presentation for each chapter. Revisions throughout to make it more readable and relevant to your practices. If you are a researcher, practitioner, or student in education, an adult learning practitioner, training manager, or involved in human resource development, this is the definitive book in adult learning you should not be without.




Effective Adult Learning


Book Description

Provides an overview of principles and practices in facilitating educational programs for adults, with chapters on characteristics of adult learners, adult learning principles and teaching methods, advisory groups, and needs assessment. Details aspects of planning, conducting, evaluating, and funding adult programs, and discusses selecting educators and distance learning. Designed as a practical reference for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students interested in planning and conducting educational programs for adults. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Advancing Human Assessment


Book Description

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license.​​ This book describes the extensive contributions made toward the advancement of human assessment by scientists from one of the world’s leading research institutions, Educational Testing Service. The book’s four major sections detail research and development in measurement and statistics, education policy analysis and evaluation, scientific psychology, and validity. Many of the developments presented have become de-facto standards in educational and psychological measurement, including in item response theory (IRT), linking and equating, differential item functioning (DIF), and educational surveys like the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Programme of international Student Assessment (PISA), the Progress of International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In addition to its comprehensive coverage of contributions to the theory and methodology of educational and psychological measurement and statistics, the book gives significant attention to ETS work in cognitive, personality, developmental, and social psychology, and to education policy analysis and program evaluation. The chapter authors are long-standing experts who provide broad coverage and thoughtful insights that build upon decades of experience in research and best practices for measurement, evaluation, scientific psychology, and education policy analysis. Opening with a chapter on the genesis of ETS and closing with a synthesis of the enormously diverse set of contributions made over its 70-year history, the book is a useful resource for all interested in the improvement of human assessment.




Improving Adult Literacy Instruction


Book Description

A high level of literacy in both print and digital media is required for negotiating most aspects of 21st-century life, including supporting a family, education, health, civic participation, and competitiveness in the global economy. Yet, more than 90 million U.S. adults lack adequate literacy. Furthermore, only 38 percent of U.S. 12th graders are at or above proficient in reading. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction synthesizes the research on literacy and learning to improve literacy instruction in the United States and to recommend a more systemic approach to research, practice, and policy. The book focuses on individuals ages 16 and older who are not in K-12 education. It identifies factors that affect literacy development in adolescence and adulthood in general, and examines their implications for strengthening literacy instruction for this population. It also discusses technologies for learning that can assist with multiple aspects of teaching, assessment,and accommodations for learning. There is inadequate knowledge about effective instructional practices and a need for better assessment and ongoing monitoring of adult students' proficiencies, weaknesses, instructional environments, and progress, which might guide instructional planning. Improving Adult Literacy Instruction recommends a program of research and innovation to validate, identify the boundaries of, and extend current knowledge to improve instruction for adults and adolescents outside school. The book is a valuable resource for curriculum developers, federal agencies such as the Department of Education, administrators, educators, and funding agencies.