Adult education cannot be accountable to learners or to policymakers without the ability to track learning of individuals, to demonstrate what has been learned, to compare learning across programs, and to judge learning against external standards.

To address outcome based performance standards as required by the Workforce Investment Act (WLA —P.L. 105-220), the National Reporting System (NRS, 2000) mandates state collection of the core measurements of verified employment and education. Student demographics that comprise ethnicity, age and gender as well as status measures such as student employment, student disability, and the receipt of public assistance are also included. Furthermore, the NRS suggests conducting optional follow- up surveys in the areas of reduction in welfare benefits, completion of work-based learner projects, involvement in children’s literacy or educational endeavors, and acquisition of citizenship skills including voting and participation in community affairs. The compulsory time period for the collection of these outcomes ranges from any time within the program year to one year after program completion. And therein lies the fallacy.

Adults do nor learn or earn in isolation. Their dreams and goals are vulnerable to the everyday happenings that make up the fabric of life: a child is born, a parent dies, a promotion is earned, an illness occurs, a marriage is celebrated or terminated, a factory closes, a house is purchased, an income is lost, a scholarship is earned and on and on. As this study explores partic ipants’ basic and continuing education, employment, family and community involvement, we learn how each component impacts upon other slices of life. Participants do not travel a swift straight freeway to a foreseeable future. They meander along multiple pathways in pursuit of the American dream.

In requiring that ABE programs report learner progress in terms of scales or levels, the NRS is perpetuating the past. The “metaphor of levels” as critiqued by Sticht (11/14/99) is not merely inappropriate for adults; it represents the vestigial remains of a standardized industrial society. As we embark upon a new millennium, it is time to change the paradigm. In an age where information abounds, the acquisition of language and numerical competency must be taught hand-in-hand with the critical reasoning skills needed to select appropriate content and the power to transform learning into action.

Toward that end, the Equipped for the Future (EFF) project of the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) has taken a generative field-based approach to developing content standards that specify the knowledge and skills required to fulfill 21st century adults’ responsibilities as workers, parents and family members, citizens and community members (Stein, January 2000). Examining this same issue from the converse side, The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) has funded longitudinal impact studies (Bingham, Reder) to explore the variety of “real- life” changes that occur in adult learners’ lives when they participate in adult literacy programs and to ascertain how to effectively assess this impact. Beder (1999) reports the following implications for policy:

1. More and better outcome and impact research is needed.

2. Long-term benefits need to be investigated since it is estimated that cumulative gains in education and income would not begin to accrue until five or more years after completion of adult literacy education.

3. The definition of basic skills is crucial to accurate measurement.