Barriers to Access in Public Adult Literacy Education

Abstract

This qualitative research article explores barriers experienced by a group of African American and Latinx adults who sought to enroll and stay enrolled in a publicly funded literacy class and how these barriers were related to policy. Barriers included (a) an inadequate number and type of available classes, (b) a lack of community awareness of classes, and (c) institutional procedures that determined class eligibility. Barriers were created as practitioners attempted to comply with government accountability policy and funding requirements. These findings provoke questions about whether accountability policies promote inequitable access to public adult literacy services for racially minoritized adults.

Accountability in Adult Basic Education: The Marginalization of Adults with Difficulty Reading

“…We discussed their thoughts and feelings about their progress, classroom instruction, testing, and TLC’s attempts to produce outcomes. Students’ perspectives of events described in this article are explored more thoroughly by Pickard (2019).…”

“…“Adults identified as basic-level readers” is intended to indicate those students whose program-administered standardized reading assessments place them in the Beginning ABE Literacy, Beginning Basic, or Low Intermediate Basic levels, as defined in federal accountability standards (Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy, 2016). Although close to 50% of adults entering public ABE programs score at these levels, it is important to note that these tests are not always accurate reflections of learners’ reading skills (Pickard, 2016, 2019). Many adult learners take these assessment tests after being out of school for years, and their scores reflect the time and distance away from formal educational settings.…”

“…Although Condelli (2007) suggested that initial concerns about federal accountability regulations encouraging “creaming” in adult literacy programs were unfounded, his conclusions conflict with what empirical qualitative research has demonstrated. In fact, this practice is a reality in some contemporary programs (Belzer, 2003; Pickard, 2019). In Belzer’s (2003) multicase study of 24 programs in six states, some participants reported feeling pressure to only accept students who could “boost program statistics in favorable ways” (p. 36).…”

“…In Belzer’s (2003) multicase study of 24 programs in six states, some participants reported feeling pressure to only accept students who could “boost program statistics in favorable ways” (p. 36). Pickard (2019), from the same data set as this study, analyzed how accountability policy created barriers to ABE program access that may disproportionately affect racially minoritized adults and adults who are identified as having difficulty reading.…”

Adult Basic Education Under WIOA Title II Implementation: An Integrative Literature Review

“…Since WIOA became law in 2014, scholars have explored relevant topics such as the historical evolution of U.S. federal adult education policy (Belzer, 2017;Roumell et al, 2019), accountability (Pickard, 2021a(Pickard, , 2021b and family literacy under WIOA (Clymer et al, 2017). Nevertheless, due to WIOA's recency, the field has yet to produce a comprehensive literature review on the implementation of this policy.…”