Youth in Adult Basic and Literacy Education Programs :: Adult Education Minors Youth Essays

Youth in Adult Basic and Literacy Education ProgramsWherever boastful educators gather, whether at conferences, meetings, or in e-mail discussion groups, a demeanor out on many minds is the challenge of increasing snatchs of teen daters enrolled in heavy(p) education classes. (metalworker 2002, p. 1). The increase in the number of youth under the term of 18 enrolling in federally funded full-grown basic and literacy education programs is a trend that is putting increasing pressures on programs designed to serve an adult population (Hayes 2000). A number of questions and issues surround this trend and administrators and teachers view it from antithetical perspectives (ibid. Smith 2002). After reviewing some of the trends and factors that are contributing to an increase in youth enrollment, this Digest provides an overview of how programs are responding to the challenge of serving young adults. Documenting the ignoreMuch of the evidence related to the trend of youth under the age of 18 enrolling in federally funded adult education programs is anecdotal in nature. Documenting the extent of the trend is difficult due to the way in which federal statistics on age of program participants have been compiled and variation in call down policies (Hayes 2000). Fiscal Year 2000 was the first and most recent year that the number of participants cured 16-18 is shown as a separate stratum in the postulate statistics compiled by the Division of Adult Education and Literacy in the U.S. Department of Educations mapping of Vocational and Adult Education in that year, 16% of the total participants were in that category (http//www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/AdultEd/2000age.html). Prior to FY 2000, youth aged 16-18 were included in the category ages 16-24 in 1999, 35% of participants were in that category. In 2000, the number of participants aged 16-18 (16%) have with the number aged 19-24 (25%) totaled 41%, indicating that, overall, the number of younger participants is on the increase, but it is not possible to tell if the increase is among youth aged 16-18. State policies regarding at what age individuals may take the General educational Development (GED) test as well as who is eligible to be served by adult basic and literacy programs vary some states have much liberal policies that allow 16-18 year-olds to enroll in programs as a way of preparing for the GED so that they can complete high school (Beckwith 2002 Hayes 2000 Smith 2002). Figures from the GED Testing Service reveal something about the number of youth who potentially may be enrolled in federally funded programs.