Trends in Adult Education Staffing Patterns and Advanced Learner Outcomes

• In Event: Research on Adult Education Outcomes

Abstract

A greater proportion of full-time instructional staff has potential to not only strengthen adult education program capacity but also benefit adult learner outcomes. The purposes of this paper are to describe the recent trend in instructional staffing patterns and in outcomes among U.S. states using NRS data and to identify longitudinal relationships of instructional staffing patterns with advanced learner outcomes. When disaggregated by proportion of full-time instructional staffing, high-proportion states had proportionately more rural adult learners, more contact hours, and a higher PSE entry rate than did low-proportion states. Moreover, the longitudinal relationship of full-time instructional staffing with PSE entry appears to be gaining strength. With increasing governmental focus on postsecondary transitions, this relationship bears watching at the state level.

Author

• Margaret B. Patterson, Research Allies for Lifelong Learning