Purpose of the Study

Why Study Our Most Successful Students?

The participant sample in this study is not representative of Pennsylvania’s or any other states’ ABE population. This was the intent. By stud ying our most successful students, we expect to illuminate adult education outcomes these learners experienced over time; outcomes that cannot be measured in the here and now by grade level achievements. Furthermore, we hope to identify adult learner characteristics that lead to achievement. With further study, we may determine whether these attitudes and behaviors are inherent, instilled as a product of adult education programming or inculcated as a result of instructional modeling in an atmosphere of collaborative learning.

There are many cogent reasons for studying these successful students. First of all, long term data are available. Success Stories booklets which date from 1978 provide detailed information about adult learners who enrolled in ABE programs as early as 1968. We know the challenges they faced as youngsters, the reasons some dropped out of school and why others never attended school at all. We know when they enrolled in classes and why they chose to partic ipate. We have information about their basic skills entry levels and how long it took them to achieve their goals. Furthermore, there is documentation regarding the personal, classroom and community accomplishments that entitled them to be considered outstanding adult learners.

The research undertaken in Learning for Life will provide a long term perspective that has been missing in adult basic education participant research. It will describe how these adult students applied skills and attitudes learned or inculcated in the classroom to their daily lives over a period of five, 10, 20 or 30 years. The literature informs us that ABE involvement raises participants’ self-esteem and enables them to secure entry level jobs. Learning for Life will take this one step further. It will provide information on participants’ long term benefits in regard to advanced training and education, high- level employment and perceived quality of life. It will demonstrate wider-ranging benefits that accrue in terms of children’s school performance and graduation levels. It will examine enhanced self- image that engenders service to family, classmates and the community. It will also describe problems areas participants see as inherent in basic and higher education.

Learning for Life is not intended to evaluate the effectiveness of ABLE programs but to present participants’ histories and reflections upon their backgrounds, program experiences and the consequences thereof. Its primary purpose is to inform practitioners and stakeholders as to the long-term influence of ABLE programs upon successful participants’ attitudes and lifestyles. By selecting successful participants, we establish benchmarks toward which programs, practitioners and participants can strive. We also identify roadblocks that even the most successful have difficulty in surmounting.

The underlying principle guiding this research is respect for the validity of each participant's opinions. The prevailing presumption is that guiding principles for practice and policy can be subsumed from the commonalities that arise. Toward that end, the following questions will be explored: