Adult learners don't discuss equity

I have just attended a CAEPA conference in Denver, CO, where a few presenters addressed equity and cultural issues in Adult Ed environments. One presenter pointed to research that shows that equity is not directly addressed in depth, if at all, among learners. It might be mentioned, but issues are not generally "dug into."

Do you know of resources or practices that might promote those discussions with adult learners? What is the value of doing so? Leecy

Comments

Hi, Leecy -

Thanks for sharing your experience around talking about equity in adult education.  I'll be attending OCTAE's upcoming symposium on the topic (See below).  I'm interested in what research your colleague in Denver was referring to in his presentation.  If you share it with us here, maybe we, as a community, can take a closer look at the contributing factors and come up with a list of questions that I will try to locate answers to at the symposium.

Best,

Mike Cruse

 

 

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) is hosting the National Advancing Equity in Adult, Community College, and Career and Technical Education Symposium, on October 31, 2016, in Washington, D.C.

OCTAE is hosting this symposium to engage thought leaders in secondary, post-secondary, and adult education to advance solutions to issues of equity and access. Additionally, this symposium will provide an opportunity to inform more responsive policies and programs in career, technical, and adult education and at community colleges.

This is OCTAE's first convening of external stakeholders around equity in adult, community college, and career and technical education. This symposium and subsequent symposia will focus on five equity pillars: Leadership and Policy, Performance Accountability, Research, and Evaluation, Innovation and Improvement, Social/Cultural Competency, and Advocacy and Awareness.

There is no registration fee for the symposium. Click here for more information, and to register.  

Location:  Washington, DC Date:  Monday, October 31, 2016 - 8:00am to 5:00pm

Hello Leecy and Mike,

I wonder how CAEPA and OCTAE are defining equity. I assume OCTAE's focus is education equity, and I will be eager to hear how that term is used at the conference on October 31st. Leecy, how was equity defined at CAEPA?

Incidentally, for those who may be interested, there is a new national group, so far primarily adult educators who are interested in education and economic equity, concerned with reduction of poverty and income inequality, and also improving the quality of education opportunities for adult basic skills learners. For more information, take a look at the website for the Open Door Collective .

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

Mike and David, I was late to the session, meeting with the keynote speaker, Micki Lewis, who moved from the entertainment and promotion business after falling in love with human services, and Adult Ed specifically. Quite a gal. The director of the Adult Ed program in Cortez, Ann Miller, and I wanted her input on how to find $ to sustain that program since Micki is also a pro grant writer. One of her strongest suggestion was that Ann connect with a university and recruit a doctoral student to conduct research on the program, which is small, but super innovative and technically efficient. After that, she says, the program will qualify for new funds as a research-based program! Thought I would share that great idea.

Now back to this discussion. The presentation was called "Building Equitable College and Career Guidance Systems." "To serve learners, we must focus on the perpetuation of dominant culture values in educational environments and consider the impact of hegemonic systems, influences on postsecondary education, and application of 21st century skills." The session discussed "practices/processes for inequities and shared guidance on adjusting to better serve diverse students". All to say that in this session, equity related to cultural and other factors shared by diverse students in education.

The research cited was conducted by the presenter herself for her EdD dissertation. Interestingly, the presenter was Dr. Tricia Johnson, Adult Education Director for the state of Colorado! I asked her for an article summarizing her research, and she is going to try to get me something that won't conflict with the upcoming publication of her work. Once she does that, I asked her to submit her work to the Resource Collecting. As soon as I get anything, I'll come back here and post it for us to discuss further. Leecy