A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Adult Competence

Priority: Understanding the changing requirements for adult competence in civic, work and social contexts and how these requirements affect learning and the futures of individuals in the nation.

After the dinner dishes are cleared, the children start their homework. Sometimes the older members of the household share the kitchen table with them. Dad has found an error on this month's credit card bill and needs to write a letter to the company. Grandma has folded back her newspaper and is reading an editorial about air pollution. Mom has brought some papers home from work and is looking at a series of pie charts. For many Americans, tasks like these present no problem. But according to the National Adult Literacy Survey, nearly one-half of American adults cannot read or write English well enough to write that letter or fully grasp that article, or use the information from those charts.⁵⁹

Many adults lack the wide range of competencies needed to negotiate everyday life and work in today's complex world. Most adults function in a variety of settings and need multiple competencies to meet the particular responsibilities and expectations associated with each one. Many adults need to master the sophisticated technologies that dominate today's workplaces. They need the practical information and varied skills required to choose a health insurance plan or complete a tax return, to locate and succeed at continuing training and education programs, to function effectively in their communities. These challenges are daunting for any adult, but for those who live in poverty or have weak educational backgrounds, they often seem overwhelming.

Responsibility for preparing Americans to succeed in the next century stretches well beyond the boundaries of homes and schools. Postsecondary institutions, including the full range of 2- and 4-year colleges and research universities, are being challenged to orient their curricula and instructional strategies to the needs of today's learners and tomorrow's workplace. These institutions are struggling to meet those challenges while preserving the independence and pursuit of knowledge for its own sake that have been so vital to American higher education.

Employers in every sector of the nation's economy are recognizing that high worker productivity hinges on the ability to create settings and incentives for continuous learning. More and more corporate decision makers are recognizing that when their workers lack important skills, they can't simply rely upon or blame schools and colleges; they have to make significant investments in education and create a corporate culture where learning is expected and rewarded.

But adult learning is not just a matter of increased productivity. Americans of every age need to acquire the kinds of skills and knowledge that will help them be better parents; better informed voters; and more active participants in the nation's civic and cultural life.

As a nation, we tend to focus on the first two decades of life, with relatively little attention on the next four or five decades. What does the nation need to know to ensure that at every stage of life, Americans have appropriate opportunities to learn? In coming years, educational researchers and practitioners will have an important role to play in addressing this question. They will need to consider all of the settings where adults learn: in college and university classrooms, on the job, in community-based adult education courses, at home, and in cyberspace.

Wide access to higher education is one of the great achievements of American democracy. But the quality of instruction across the broad spectrum of the nation's postsecondary institutions remains a problem. As in K-12 education, reform efforts have sometimes been paralyzed by the collision of conflicting impulses: the commitment to providing access to higher education for all Americans, including those who are under prepared, and the determination to set high standards and achieve excellence. In the realm of higher education, there is no consensus on what constitutes excellent teaching, and no systematic effort in place to improve pedagogy.⁶⁰

We need to understand how to develop "just-in-time" learning strategies that last a lifetime, so that learning opportunities can be structured and delivered exactly when the individual needs them--whether a young child in school or an adult in the workplace.

A dramatic development in higher education over the last three decades is the growth of community colleges. Thirty years ago, there were 1.3 million students enrolled in American community colleges.⁶¹ Enrollment figures rose rapidly in the late 1960s, as new 2-year institutions opened their doors on the average of one a week.⁶² Now, more than 5 million students are enrolled in 2-year colleges.

Community colleges face complex challenges. Compared to students in 4-year colleges and universities, community college students tend to be older. Almost one-half of community college students are over 25, compared with 30 percent of undergraduates in 4-year schools.⁶³ Students at 2-year colleges are slightly more likely to be members of minority groups, but Hispanic students are much more likely than other minorities to attend 2-year institutions.⁶⁴ Students arrive in community college classrooms with very different purposes and needs. Young adults may need organized, academic, discipline-based credit courses which will transfer to 4-year institutions. An executive may need to learn some Japanese. A homemaker who wants to start a business may need to know how to navigate the Internet.

Today's employers are turning to colleges and universities to help them ensure that workers are keeping up with the changing realities and demands of the modern workplace. A recent survey showed that human resources officers' top two concerns for the next decade are maintaining the skills needed by workers and managing change. Corporate leaders are concerned that a decade from now, the "shelf life" of most job skills will be only 1 to 3 years.⁶⁵

Digital Family Rooms Electronic learning is gradually transforming many classrooms across the nation. But adults as well as children can benefit from educational software. As they pursue continuing education and try to upgrade their skills, they stand to gain tremendously from the vast resources now available on the Internet. But not all Americans have easy access to these tools. Two out of three adults do not have a computer at home. Nine out of ten adults whose family income is less than $20,000 have no computer at home. A number of efforts are now under way across the nation to expand the access of adults and children, especially those living in low-income communities, to the information, training, and job possibilities available with today's telecommunications. The idea is to make technology available in easily accessible public places such as community centers, malls, and churches. Digital family rooms, located where people live, are proliferating. They can be found in New York City's Lower East Side settlement houses, neighborhood programs like "Plugged In" in East Palo Alto, California, or the Edgewood Terrace project in a high-rise public housing complex in Washington D.C. Campus of Learners is one such program that is geared to adult learners. Established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and supported with private funding, Campus of Learners provides computer technology in college-like settings right in housing projects. In its first year, the project is expected to operate at 12 to 15 sites each will be linked with a local college or university, and will be able to "downlink" a variety of courses. In some cases, communities are mobilizing to expand their residents' access to technology. Some are developing their own neighborhood networks through Free Nets. Examples include the Electronic Village in Blacksburg, Virginia, and La Plaza in Taos, New Mexico. Various cities are experimenting with ways to link schools, community institutions, and homes--including the homes of low-income residents. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, funding from the National Science Foundation has supported the creation of a citywide network for use by schools and community organizations. In addition, public libraries in many towns and cities introduce patrons to the vast resources available through the Internet, providing both the equipment and training needed to take advantage of them. These efforts are all experimental, and educational researchers--working closely with program patrons and community members--will play a key role in coming years in evaluating existing programs and guiding future initiatives.

Responding to these challenges, the nation's largest corporations have, over the last decade, begun to build up their training capacity. The percentage of American workers who have received training to improve their current job skills rose during the 1980s from 35 percent to 41 percent.⁶⁶ In 1990, the Commission on the Skills of the American Workplace estimated that American companies spend some $30 billion per year on training; other sources set this figure much higher.⁶⁷

To meet the learning needs of tomorrow's workforce, employers could benefit from research aimed at improving the training they provide. Many human resource policies and practices were designed for a younger, more homogeneous work force, competing in a different world.

Although we know some of the competency requirements generated by workplaces, we know very little about developing the other adult competencies required to live in the complex America of the 21st century. We will be required to deal with changing political and social realities. Computers and new information technologies will create a shrinking, fast-paced world of global competition. Innovations in medical technology and genetic engineering will change the meaning of life, as we struggle to maintain personal values and ethics. What sorts of competencies will Americans need? How will they acquire them?

To build on what we know, we need research that addresses such questions as:

What instructional strategies have been found to be most effective in postsecondary institutions?

Which mechanisms have been most effective in encouraging faculty to adopt these strategies? Which kinds of ongoing professional development, geared to improving instruction, would be accepted and effective on college and university campuses?

How can our knowledge of the different ways that adults learn be used to help them acquire skills necessary for work, community, and cultural life (for example, reading skills, computer skills, and fine arts)?

How do adults learn? Do theories of learning developed for children and adolescents apply to adults? What are the most effective instructional strategies for teaching adults new skills?

How can community colleges meet the challenges of conflicting demands?

How will the diverse mission of community colleges be affected by the trend toward universal K-14 education? How can harmony best be established between new school-to-work missions and general education? What have community colleges discovered to be the best means for quality control in curriculum and delivery systems under conditions of multiple mission?

How can employers, community organizations, cultural institutions, and institutions of higher education collaborate on research that would shed light on the ways of knowing and learning that characterize a diverse adult population?

What kinds of work schedules, joint ventures with colleges or universities, and mentoring arrangements would allow adults to pursue education while working full time? Which approaches to basic, continuing, and remedial education offer most promise at the postsecondary level? How can postsecondary institutions better use pre-collegiate outreach programs to preclude the need for remedial education in college? What lessons can be learned from other countries about adult education in a variety of settings in these and similar partnerships, and how should their benefits be evaluated?

How can new technologies, including on-line learning opportunities, enhance both equity and excellence in postsecondary and adult education?

How can communities help to close the gap between technology "haves" and "have-nots"? How can on-line course work help adults gain the knowledge and skills they need without isolating them?

How will we understand the changing requirements for adult competencies in civic and social life?

How will these requirements affect adult learning? Who teaches adults these competencies? What happens to people who don't meet such requirements?
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[Learning Beyond the Classroom]

[Chapter 3: Putting the Priorities to Work]