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A study explored how adults perceived program learning; whether program learning helped them enact a particular social role; and whether they changed while participating in the program. For a year or more, researchers studied experiences of learning and change of 41 adult learners enrolled in three programs--at a community college, family literacy site, and workplace--intended to enhance English language fluency, content knowledge, and effectiveness in roles as students, parents, or workers. The research approach used a constructive-developmental perspective. Findings indicated adults changed in at least these three important ways: informative, transformative, and acculturation; cohorts were important to supporting and challenging adult learners; differences in complexity of meaning systems were not highly associated with level of formal education; and development level shaped adult learners' choices, preferences, and experience of program learning. Implications were that teachers and program developers should be prepared to engage developmentally diverse learners; awareness of meaning systems can inform teachers' expectations of learners; teachers should use a range of pedagogical approaches to collaboration; program designs should bring learning groups together at the same time, preserve the group's continuity, and have a common goal; and research regarding adult basic education teachers' ways of knowing would be beneficial. (YLB)

The first of three papers from this symposium on cross-cultural human resource development (HRD), "Determinants of Supply of Technical Training Opportunities for Human Capital Development in Kenya" (Moses Waithanji Ngware, Fredrick Muyia Nafukho) reports findings from interviews of technical training institute department heads in Kenya who identified these factors about the supply of training places: number of courses offered; amount of fees paid; and departmental capacity. (The supply of training opportunities is a major HRD issue in developing countries.) The second paper, "Dancing with the Cherokee: Reflections on Learning from the 2001 AHRD Globalization Pre-Conference" (Theresa J. Kraemer, Darren C. Short), reports the design of and participants' accounts from a visit to the Cherokee Nation, including new insights on the importance of identity and culture and the role of HRD in educating organizations about cultural ethics and globalization. The final paper, "Training Expenditures and Practices: Findings from the Netherlands" (Jan N. Streumer, A.A.M. (Ida) Wognum, C.H.E. (Kitty) Kwakman, Beatrice I.J.M. van der Heijden, Simone van Zolingen), reports findings from a survey of Dutch HRD managers who answered questions about training activities engaged in by employees in the work place. (Informal learning-while-working activities and short length formal training sessions are most popular; it is difficult to assign an exact cost figure to training; large companies spend more on training than do small companies; and the training function is moving upwards in organization hierarchies.) All three papers contain bibliographies. (AJ)

This symposium on adult learning and human resource development consists of three presentations. "Adult Learning Principles and Concepts in the Workplace: Implications for Training in HRD" (Margot B. Weinstein) reports on findings from interviews with restaurant employees who reported that training practices using adult learning principles increased their learning and made them feel more qualified and confident, valued and essential to the success of the organization, and increased their collaborative and problem solving skills. "The Legacy of Malcolm Knowles: Studying Andragogy Andragogically" (Mary Boudreaux, Thomas Chermack, Janis Lowe, Lynda Wilson, Elwood F. Holton III) describes the examination of a portion of Malcolm Knowles' personal correspondence and the subsequent creation of a database to index it. "Facilitating Learning with Graduate Students in Human Resource Development" (Barbara J. Daley) describes an investigation of the ways in which constructivist teaching strategies influence learning and examines the positive learning results experienced by graduate students who used concept mapping as a constructivist strategy. The second and third papers contain figures and tables. All three papers include substantial bibliographies. (AJ)

The percentage of adults aged 65 years or older is expected to increase from 12 percent of the population in 1980 to more than 21 percent by the year 2030. Since many adults stay involved with learning activities well into their 80s and 90s, educational organizations have a great opportunity to supply learning activities to this population. To take advantage of this opportunity, adult educators need to understand both the uniqueness of these older adults and the barriers they face. These unique characteristics and challenges can be organized into four categories: (1) physical challenges (changes in vision, hearing, muscular system); (2) cognitive challenges (decreased short-term memory, decreased ability to think abstractly, decreased level of concentration, and increased reaction time); (3) life-stage challenges, including loss of identity, self-confidence, and independence; changes in roles because of retirement; loss of spouse and close friends; life patterns and reasons for learning; role and effect of past education; and society's view of older adults and education; and (4) other barriers, such as inadequate transportation, fear of criminal elements, lack of encouragement at home, fear of new technologies, and lack of new technologies at home. Strategies to overcome these barriers and increase educational participation by older adults include recruiting "educational buddies" to support new students, having instructors touch base with students to provide encouragement, creating programs that emphasize fun in learning new technologies, and promoting available facilities, such as free computer laboratories. (Contains 10 references.) (KC)

Unemployment wage data were evaluated to assess employment, job retention, and wage progression for graduates of Community Jobs (CJ), a short-term public job creation program for the hard to employ in the state of Washington. The following were among the findings: (1) 66% of all participants were employed after graduating from CJ; (2) 53% were employed at the end of the first year after graduation; and (3) participants' income increased while in CJ, and those employed a year after CJ had more than doubled their pre-CJ income. Among the results of surveys and focus group data from program participants, employers, and caseworkers collected to evaluate the quality and performance of CJ were the following: (1) over 90% of participants and supervisors felt positively about CJ; (2) 85% of participants reported that CJ had prepared them for work; (3) 39% of supervisors were concerned with participants' barriers to work; and (4) participants placed great value on self-esteem gained from CJ. The evaluation highlighted the need for increased job readiness training before participants reach work sites, more intensive assistance in the transition to unsubsidized work, and increased communication among stakeholders. (There are 29 figures and tables, and 54 footnotes and endnotes. The following items are appended: study methodology; wage data tables; survey forms; comparison of program participant experience and job prospects; focus group protocols; focus group attendance by location; and an outline of the scope of the CJ program.) (AJ)

This document contains information about and from a study of the experiences of 41 adults enrolled in adult basic education/English for speakers of other languages (ABE/ESOL) programs that was conducted to determine what their learning meant to them and to identify strategies for developing a new pluralism in ABE/ESOL classrooms and teaching to multiple "cultures of mind." Chapter 1 situates the study's approach within the context of the ABE/ESOL literature. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the study methodology and the developmental perspective underpinning the study. Chapters 3-9 consist of the following reports that emerged from the study: "Our Developmental Perspective on Adulthood" (Nancy Popp, Kathryn Portnow); "A Developmental View of ESOL Students' Identity Transitions in a Urban Community College" (Deborah Helsing, Maria Broderick, James Hammerman); "'Becoming What I Really Am': Stories of Self-Definition and Self-Expansion in an Even Start ABE/ESOL Family Literacy Program: A Developmental Perspective" (Kathryn Portnow, Ann Diamond, Katie Pakos Rimer); "'Not I Alone': The Power of Adult Learning in the Polaroid Cohort" (Eleanor Drago-Severson, Jennifer Garvey Berger); "'We're Trying to Get Ahead': A Developmental View of Changes in Polaroid Learners' Conceptions of Their Motivations for Learning, Expectations of Teachers, and Relationship to Work" (Eleanor Drago-Severson); "Competence as a Developmental Process" (Nancy Popp, Lisa Boes); and "Towards Meaning-Centered Considerations of Policy and Practice: Summary and Implications." Most chapters contain substantial bibliographies. A standardized measures analysis report and developmental skill matrices are appended. (MN)

The Equipped for the Future (EFF) initiative asked adult learners to describe the knowledge and skills needed to fulfill their roles as parents, citizens, and workers and identified these four purposes: to provide access to information; to give voice to their ideas and opinions, to take action to solve problems, and to provide a bridge to the future by enabling them to continue to learn. These needs were used to develop a model--called the EFF Quality Model--which is the subject of this publication. The model identifies critical elements in the process of system reform, including the following: (1) the tools EFF has created to facilitate system reform; (2) the research EFF has drawn upon to create those tools; (3) the program practices expected to be implemented as a result of the use of those tools; and (4) the short- and longer-term outcomes that represent the real goals of system reform. Program practices featured in the model include a purposeful and transparent approach to education, a contextualized approach to curriculum and instruction, a constructivist approach to teaching and learning, an approach to assessment based on cognitive science research on adult learning and the development of expertise, and a systematic approach to accountability and program improvement based on meeting student and national goals. (Contains 23 references.) (KC)

The authors carefully followed for a year or more the inner experiences of learning and change of 41 ABE/ESOL (Adult Basic Education/English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners from all over the world. They were enrolled in three distinct U.S. programs (a community college, a family literacy site, and a workplace site), each oriented to enhancing greater English language fluency, increasing content knowledge, and improving effectiveness as workers, parents, or students. The authors' purposes were to gain a better understanding of how these adults perceived program learning; how, if at all, program learning helped them to enact a particular social role; and how, if at all, these adults changed while participating in the program. In addition to the many better understood forms of diversity that are present in an ABE/ESOL classroom, and which good teachers strive to recognize and include (differences of gender, age, race, cultural origin), their study suggests the importance of another form of diversity--a new kind of pluralism--namely, the differing meaning-systems or ways of knowing which adult learners bring into the room. All three of the study's major findings revolve around the importance of this new variable for thinking about teaching and learning in the ABE/ESOL classroom. The major findings are: (1) Varieties of Change for ABE/ESOL Learners; (2) The Power of the Cohort in Adult Learning; and (3) A New Pluralism: Varieties of Meaning Systems Among Adult Learners. (Contains 1 footnote.) [This is a companion document to "Toward a New Pluralism in ABE/ESOL Classrooms: Teaching to Multiple "Cultures Of Mind"" reports. For the main report, see ED508683. For the research brief, see ED508684.]

The impact of adult learning-within-relationship on transformative learning and social change agency was explored in a descriptive case study of the learning experiences of 20 adults who identified themselves as significantly transformed by their participation in a doctoral program. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify the learning processes and conditions that facilitated the changes acknowledged by the learners. A cross-case content analysis of the interviews revealed the following major themes: (1) transformation and identity; (2) learning-within-relationship; and (3) linking personal transformation to transformation in social change actions. The interviews demonstrated how learning-within-relationship emerges from and underscores nearly every learning experience recounted by the study participants and how it illuminated learning with others as both context and process as a key factor in critical reflection and transformative learning. The following key themes emerged as characterizing the context and process of learning within relationship: (1) relationships across differences of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, and class that challenged existing frames of reference; (2) acknowledging and working with affect, compassion, and trust; (3) the role of the unique relationship between participant/learner and teacher; and (4) application of learners' new ways of knowing and learning to interactions in their social worlds. (Contains 18 references.) (MN)

A study examined how one group of marginalized women, the incarcerated, construct their sense of self. Using the notion of nonunitary subjectivity to analyze life history narratives, the study demonstrated how they create and sustain thematic coherence in their sense of self and how they manage contradiction, primarily through constructing a split self and by positioning themselves within discourses they see as advantaging them. Data were collected in two ways from 24 women incarcerated in Texas whom prison school faculty considered to be reflective, capable of human growth, and socialized to prison life. Ten were African-American, 7 were Hispanic, and 7 were Anglo. Life history interviews were conducted with each women. They were unstructured interviews done in two or three sessions of approximately 90 minutes each. After the interviews were completed, group meetings were held weekly for two hours over the course of a year. The cases of two women were studied in detail. For each, major events of her life were summarized, overarching themes in her narrative were identified, and a segment of her interview was examined in which she was in dialogue with herself about her life. Findings indicated two strategies dominate the way women manage contradiction. The first was to construct a split self, a conscious division of their subjective experiences and feelings that enables them to organize contradictory elements and manage them. The second was to position themselves within discourses that they see as advantageous to themselves, such as portraying themselves as"good mothers," whatever the reality of their mothering. (Contains 19 references.) (YLB)

In an attempt to understand the intellectual experiences of women returning to the education system to learn mathematics, data were collected from 11 women in 2 adult mathematics class in Australia who were early school leavers between the ages of 35 and 50 with between 1 and 4 children ranging in age from 2 to 17. Participants were interviewed after three weeks of class observation and at the end of the courses about their perceptions of mathematics; the role of the learner, teacher, peers, and assessment in their learning; as well as their reasons for returning to study; their previous school experience; and the influence of parents on their schooling. One of the motivating factors for returning to study mathematics for 7 of the 11 participants was to support their children academically, including wanting to be a good role model and wanting to break the cycle of learning difficulties. Findings suggest that having older children at home can encourage adult learners to verbalize their mathematical thinking; that when the home academic environment improves so do the benefits for children's mathematical achievements; and that women's intellectual growth may be intimately connected to being able to support their own children's development. (The document includes 2 case studies and discussion of them, as well as 15 references.) (MO)

The evolving role of work in society and the factors driving emerging trends in work were examined to assist career development practitioners in helping individuals deal with life-role balance. Donald Super's life-space theory was presented as a framework for adult career development and used as a backdrop for discussing how adults can crystallize their life-role identities, develop life-role readiness and adaptability, and move from role conflict toward life-role integration. Life-role salience and the contextual influences on life-role behavior were shown to be particularly useful for addressing life-role readiness. The behavior of planning was deemed especially important because it reflects awareness, which is the first step in coping with the developmental tasks associated with any life role. Life-role planning portfolios were recommended as an effective tool that career educators and career counselors can use to help people develop the behaviors of planning, exploring, information gathering, decision, making, and reality testing. Career educators and counselors were urged to remember that people differ in terms of which roles are most viable and salient for them and that personal, structural, and cultural factors such as gender expectations, social class, discrimination, personal choice, and family expectations influence individuals' levels of commitment to and participation in life roles. (Contains 57 references.) (MN)

This paper describes the Pathfinders program in New York (New York), which works to facilitate the full integration of adults with developmental disabilities into workplaces and neighborhoods. The paper is organized around the question of whether students graduating from special education can find paid and volunteer work in community settings, become involved in social and recreational activities in their neighborhoods, and develop new friendships and associations in these settings. Discussion focuses on the concept of "capacity thinking," which stresses five ideas: (1) building a capacity view of the individual; (2) challenging deficiency thinking; (3) discovering opportunities; (4) increasing expectations; and (5) advocating for necessary resources and services. Other principles include person-centered work and development projects, making space to work outside the current system of special education and adult services, investing in renewal, forum creation, and person-centered planning. Excerpts from participants' comments on their experiences illustrate the paper's ideas. (Contains 14 references.) (DB)

This final report presents conclusions of a study of culturally appropriate employment goals in individual written rehabilitation plans (IWRPs) for American Indians with disabilities. It focuses on goals other than competitive employment and reviews national statistics on work status at closure from all state agencies and 18 tribal VR (vocational rehabilitation)projects. Results are also presented from focus group interviews with state and tribal VR counselors who have experience with placements involving alternatives to competitive employment. Factors in the success of and barriers to the success of these programs are discussed. Certain work status alternatives to competitive employment, especially self-employment, unpaid family worker, and homemaker, are suggested as appropriate for clients living in rural reservation communities. Recommendations urge: (1) recognition of the cultural importance of alternatives to competitive employment; (2) workshops highlighting effective and appropriate uses of the alternatives to effective employment; (3) fully informing clients about legal alternatives to competitive employment; (4) encouragement of self-employment solutions; (5) consultation involving the whole family unit; (6) case studies of successful examples of sheltered workshop programs; and (7) outcome assessments of unpaid family worker and homemaker placements. Four appendices provide additional data on the study's small businesses, focus groups, and data collection instrument. (Contains 35 references.) (DB)

Daily activities and social contact were studied as influences on the life satisfaction of elderly people. It was considered that all activities might not be equal and that individuals who participate in more active activities and who have more active social contacts would score higher in life satisfaction than those who engage in inactive activities and who have fewer, less engaged social contacts. Data for a sub-sample of 1,835 men and women were extracted from a survey conducted for the National Council on Aging. Participants were aged 65 or older. Questions that related to daily activities and a life satisfaction scale were selected from the questionnaire. Independent t-tests indicated that individuals who engage in active versus inactive activities reported higher life satisfaction; however, any social contact contributed to reported life satisfaction. The findings can be used to educate the caretakers of the elderly and to design effective institutional programs. (Author/KC)

The primary purpose of this paper is to illuminate how a school principal employed three identifiable leadership initiatives to support adult learning within the context of her school and to show how her own thinking about her leadership practices on behalf of teacher learning changed and developed over time. A discussion of current efforts to support teachers' professional development draws on the literatures from staff development, principal leadership, and adult development. Following this is a review of a four-year ethnography. Specifically, a description of the three main initiatives practiced by the principal (teaming, providing leadership roles, and collegial inquiry) to support adult development. Next is an examination of this principal's perspective on the value of engaging in reflective practice and how this context created a space for her to reflect on her leadership. Highlighted are how her thinking about her leadership practices on behalf of supporting teacher learning changed during the four years of this research. Lastly, are suggested some possible implications of developmental theory with regard to principals' practices in relation to supporting adult development in schools. Interviews and observations with the principal and her teachers, administrators, and staff were analyzed. Findings illustrate how adult developmental theory might be bridged to leadership practices aimed at supporting the development of the mind (transformational learning). (Contains 3 tables and 54 references.) (Author/MLF)

This report focuses on the research aspects of the Equipped for the Future (EFF) project that works toward system reform for adult literacy and lifelong learning. Section 1 describes the EFF process 1993-97, the impetus for EFF, and approaches to system reform. Section 2 explores the research processes EFF uses to build a framework that could support system reform. Section 3 discusses the following conceptual threads that shape the EFF framework: (1) purposeful view of learning; (2) rooting of education in the context of lives; (3) application, not possession, of skills; and (4) adult development as transformation. Sections 4-6 describe processes used and sources of data collected to create the framework. Assumptions guiding the research are examined, and the credibility and significance of findings are discussed in terms of both theory and practice. Section 4 focuses on consulting with adult learners to determine purposes for learning. Section 5 addresses mapping the roles of effective citizens, workers, and parents. Section 6 discusses identifying key skills and knowledge of effective role performance. Section 7 reviews the following two main areas in which EFF has important implications: (1) contributions to the integration of theory and practice; and (2) commitment to a participatory process for system reform. Four appendices are included: (1) Planning Projects, 1995-96; (2) Structured Feedback Process, 1996-97; (3) Documentary Sources for Skills and Knowledge Database, 1997; and (4) EFF Generative Skills Descriptions (revised, May 1999). (Contains 38 references). (YLB)

This paper discusses the use of telephone surveys as a substitute for, or addition to, the use of door-to-door surveys in assessing adult literacy ability. Part 1 addresses issues of validity in adult literacy assessment, including the concepts of construct or inferential validity and action or use validity. Part 2 is a review of related research that has used telephone and mail surveys to assess the cognitive abilities of adults. Part 3 discusses the theoretical model of literacy that the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) and International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) have used and how that model can be modified to incorporate a developmental and componential model of literacy that also includes the oral language aspects of literacy given in the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998. Part 4 addresses several issues about the use of telephone and mail surveys, including concerns about using these survey methods in such a way as to make continuity in trend data from previous surveys of adult literacy possible. Appendixes include 69 references and a summary of an empirical study of the proposition that at a certain stage adults' comprehension of language can be assessed as well by listening as by reading. (Author/YLB)

The impact of travel on older adults was examined through semi-structured interviews of a purposively selected sample of eight individuals ranging in age from 56 to 89 years. The interviews were designed to determine whether interviewees' travel had resulted in any transformative learning experiences. The participants (three Caucasian married couples, one Caucasian single woman, and one African American single man) were selected for the study because they were frequent travelers, and it was thought that they would likely have had significant travel experiences. All were college educated, financially responsible, and involved with their children and grandchildren. None of those interviewed demonstrated any evidence of a perspective transformation resulting from their travels. Nor did the interviews reveal any truly disorienting dilemmas that would likely bring about such transformation. Nevertheless, there was clear evidence of change in the meaning schemes of the study participants. The following four themes emerged from the interviews: (1) a new perspective on "all that we know"; (2) a changed sense of self; (3) disruption of assumptions as a result of new experiences; and (4) a deepened sense of understanding or complexification. (Contains 28 references.) (MN)

These narrative accounts follow a group of young adults searching for meaning during the ten years after their college graduation, and offer insights into how higher education might create conditions for this search to occur during college. This longitudinal study is based on interviews with 39 participants at various points during their undergraduate, graduate, and/or early working years for a 13-year period beginning in 1986 when they entered college. All participants were traditional-age students attending state institutions with a liberal arts focus. The primary focus of the college phase of the study was on epistemology, or students' assumptions about the limits, certainty, and criteria for knowing. Phase 2 of the research explored development after college. Sections of the paper examine the implications for educational practice of holistic education and the developmental dimensions of the search for meaning. Interview data inform discussions of complexities encountered in the search for meaning; realization of the need to search for meaning; construction of internal authority and meaning; and solidifying internal meaning-making. Interview responses were analyzed using grounded theory methodology. A final section discusses the creation of educational contexts for internal meaning-making. (Contains 21 references.) (CH)