A Survey of U.S. Education Policy Regarding the Education of Adults

Abstract

In the United States, adult and workforce education (AE) seems to be located, simultaneously, both everywhere and nowhere in particular. Ongoing shifts in national economic demands and changes in requirements for training and education have brought learning in the adult years into the federal public policy arena. Sometimes referred to as lifelong learning, AE has proven to be a somewhat vague concept as a basis for federal policy formulation, but its existence signals an important federal locus of responsibility for learning in adulthood. This historical examination of the AE policy domain offers a review of the formulation, and more specifically how AE policy has been framed, where AE policy originated, and its progression over time. Primary U.S. legislative documents, federal agency reports, and federal white papers spanning the years 1862 to 2014 were reviewed to present a survey of the AE policy area.

Adult Basic Education Under WIOA Title II Implementation: An Integrative Literature Review

“…The 1980s marked another consensus on a new era of adult education policy, emphasizing increasing accountability (Condelli, 2007;Merrifield, 1998) and human capital development. Within a context of high unemployment, a reduced role of the federal government in education, and a focus on adult literacy for economic well-being (Eyre, 2013;Roumell et al, 2020a), this period was considered "the literacy thrust" (Rose, 1991, p. 25). This is exemplified by the passage of the 1991 National Literacy Act, which positioned literacy as both a neutral set of skills and a lever of social justice (Belzer, 2017).…”

The Extent to Which Ageism Has Affected Lifelong Learning Settings: Perspectives From Practitioners in Taiwan

“…Lifelong learning is regarded as a learner-centered process of continuing education that allows older adults to receive learning opportunities in order to meet their personal interests and needs throughout their lives (Boeren, 2017;Laal et al, 2014). Similar to the progress of adult and lifelong learning in the United States (Roumell, Salajan, & Todoran, 2018), the developmental aspects of Taiwan's lifelong learning can be classified into three stages. According to the "White Paper Applicable to Senior Education Policies" published by the Ministry of Education in 2006, the chronological order of Taiwan's lifelong learning development stages are as follows: (1) private oriented, (2) social welfare oriented, and (3) lifelong learning programs conducted by government agencies (Ministry of Education, Taiwan, 2019).…”

An Analysis and Illustration of U.S. Adult and Workforce Education Policy

“…Second, policy refers to the extent of legislation, regulatory developments, and the instrumentalization of educational programs within the AWE polity and policy area. Policy development includes ongoing changes that are indicative for the broader policy field as a whole, including a variety of legislation over time that has influenced the policy area (Roumell et al, 2018). Policy density indicates the extent to which the identified policy area is addressed by governmental activities.…”

“…A policy domain is a collection of different societal and political wills and drives expressed by multiple actors who develop, instrumentalize, interpret, and implement policy through multiple sites and scales (Roumell, Salajan, & Todoran, 2018). We conceive of AWE policy as a broader public policy domain, so we did not focus on specific areas of legislation and programs (i.e.…”