Thursday, July 16, 2015
Boosting Adult Education in New York
In recent years, New York City and State policymakers have made k-12 education reform a top policy priority and invested significant resources in universal pre-kindergarten. This focus makes perfect sense given the increasing value of education in today’s economy. But with so many adult New Yorkers also lacking the basic literacy and educational skills for which today’s employers clamor, it’s time for policymakers to also take steps to improve adult education.
For too long, adult education has gone overlooked in discussions of economic and workforce development in New York. As just one indication of the state’s neglect, the main funding source for adult ed programs in the state has not been increased since 1995, even though the number of adult New Yorkers with limited basic literacy skills—and the number of immigrants with limited English proficiency—has skyrocketed over the past two decades....