Substance Use and Trauma Among Adult Education Students in the United States

Adult basic education (ABE) programs in the United States serve millions of students annually to help them achieve high school equivalency, English proficiency, and other skills. These skills are necessary for upward mobility and competitiveness in the labor market, which is important for ABE students who are disproportionately affected by racial/ethnic disparities and poverty. Among learners who are not in ABE programs, substance use and trauma affect student outcomes. Similar research is limited among ABE students. Understanding the influence of these factors among ABE students can better inform interventions. The current study, grounded in Stress and Coping Theory, examined rates, risk factors, and gender differences for substance use and trauma among 286 ABE students. Results indicated that trauma is prevalent and associated with substance use, substance use suggests a need for brief counseling, and there were gender differences in substance use behaviors. Recommendations for interventions among ABE programs are discussed.

People, Policy, and Praxis

Freirean pedagogy in adult education programs that embrace an open dialectic can be responsive to situations where ambiguity in policy implementation results in discrimination and disenfranchisement. The case presented below comes from my experiences as an educator in a Freirean, Spanish-language, high school equivalency (HSE) program in New Jersey during significant national changes to HSE credentialing in 2014. It describes policy implementation in the local context within the relationships between governing institutions, service organizations, and the people policies are meant to govern. The case constructs a narrative for the relevant policy environments and actions at the time through the assemblage of primary sources, such as policy documents and internal organizational reports, as well as an analysis of 25 news reports and commentaries taken from 2013-2014. I argue that all policies, even those initiated at the national level, are ultimately enacted locally through the dialectic relationships between policy makers, administrators, program staff, and students at a variety of public and private organizations. I show how Freirean approaches to program design and operation respond to political, policy, and programmatic complexities to address discrimination and disenfranchisement. In conclusion, I discuss implications for educators seeking to adopt a Freirean framework into their own program design and implementation. These include the development of local praxis within an analysis of larger oppressive structures, thoughtful design and critical flexibility to work closely with students in program operation, and engagement in dialectic relationships with existing or potential collaborators.

Young Cassavapreneurs Indonesia: Strategi Pembelajaran Kewirausahaan “Lawang Lima Sampeureun Jaga” di Desa Benteng

Young Cassavapreneurs Indonesia (YCPI) is a program that aims to address problems such as the utilization of cassava that is not yet optimal, the importance of instilling the spirit of creative entrepreneurship in youth, and low education of Benteng villagers. Benteng Village locates in Ciampea, Bogor District. The objectives of this program are 1) Increase the entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and attitudes of students pursuing high school equivalency and open-school in Benteng Village; 2) Improve the economic value of cassava which is the potential commodity of Benteng Village, and 3) Establish a new small enterprise based on local wisdom. Primary sources of data are from interviews and questionnaires. The methods used are the House Model Horovitz and Ohlsson-Corboz and the Balanced Scorecard method. The House Model concept divided into three parts: specific goal and partnership (roof), Lawang Lima Sampeureun Jaga (middle), and the process of teaching and learning activities (foundation). Overall, the YCPI Program, which consists of 9 performance targets and 15 key indicators, has reached the target of 100%. Pretest, posttests, and also the evaluation of increasing knowledge, skills, and attitude of students are the factors of the successful YCPI program. The pre-test and post-test results showed the percentage of the learning outcomes of the participants ≥3 was 100% or there was an increase in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the students as a whole after the program ended.

Fostering Student Work-Based Experiences Through Service-Learning

This case study explains how a complete overhaul to the national high school equivalency test posed a significant organizational challenge to Grace Centers of Hope, a nonprofit based in Pontiac, Michigan in the United States. All adult clients participating in Grace Centers of Hope's one-year drug and alcohol recovery program who are without a high school diploma or equivalent are required to take in-house adult basic education classes to prepare for taking the high school equivalency test. Faced with the need to completely redesign their existing adult basic education program, Grace Centers of Hope reached out to Designers for Learning, an instructional design and performance improvement consultancy that matches nonprofits with instructional design students in service-learning projects. The resulting 100% virtual e-service-learning collaboration among volunteer college students, their faculty sponsors, and other advisors provided Grace Centers of Hope with educational resources to support the organization.

Authoring Self: GED Students Transforming Their Identities in a Composition Makerspace

In this case study, I examine the ways adult learners improve skills and practices around communication, problem-solving, motivation, self-esteem, and technology through engagement in a makerspace curriculum focused on composition. A primary objective is to provide insight into the various ways that adult education environments can incorporate innovative practices of teaching and learning to prepare students for a standardized high school equivalency test and beyond. The patterns in the data revealed that makerspaces for the focal participants predominantly supported nonacademic skill development, particularly learning from mistakes, the importance of learning from each other, and identifying as a learner to aid in one’s learning.