Adult Education Opportunities.

Overview & Synopsis

In recent years, many dramatic changes have occurred in the field of adult and continuing education. Enrollments in the Federal adult basic education (ABE) effort alone have increased from 536,000 in 1970 to over 2.5 million students in 1985, with over one-fourth of these participants being Black or Hispanic. In 1985, Congress has reauthorized the legislative mandates for the adult vocational education programs, the national literacy effort has continued its efforts to bring the issue of adult literacy to national focus, and private sector involvement and support have continued in all areas of adult education. Included among the many projects in the area of adult education currently receiving support from the Department of Education (DOE) are the following: ADVOC-NET, a telecommunications network designed to increase cooperation among leaders in adult and vocational education; the National Literacy Awareness Campaign, an effort to recruit volunteer leaders and tutors; and the Federal Employee Literacy Training (FELT) Program. In addition, DOE has established a number of task forces to examine ways of enhancing opportunities in adult education. Two particularly noteworthy task forces are one focusing on ways of infusing entrepreneurship education throughout the U.S. educational system and another that is involved in devising ways to increase the Nation's defense preparedness by raising basic skills levels among members of the Armed Forces to meet military job needs. (MN)