November
3 is the 40th Anniversary of the Signing of the Adult
Education Act.
In
1966, Congress enacted the federal Adult Education Act (AEA)*
which expanded the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act. EOA
established the Adult Education Program in which
instruction in reading and writing English was an
allowable option for states; AEA added services to those
with limited English speaking proficiency.
Although it has its origin in the Economic Opportunity
Act of 1964, adult basic education was established as a
distinctive program with the passage of the Adult
Education Act of 1966. This legislation established the
authorization for the Adult Education program in the
Office of Education, and expanded the program to include
adults with limited English proficiency. Since 1966, the
AEA has been amended many times. The National Literacy
Act (NLA) of 1991 amended the AEA and authorized several
new programs. Major provisions included the creation of
the National Institute for Literacy, the establishment
of state literacy resource centers, and a requirement
for the U.S. Department of Education to develop model
indicators of program quality to guide states in
developing their own indicators for improved program
evaluation. The NLA was repealed by Title II of the
Workforce Investment Act--Adult Education and Family
Literacy Act (AEFLA).
In FY
1967, total enrollment in adult education programs was
approximately 400,000 learners. In program year
2004-2005, enrollment had reached nearly 2.6 million
learners. The federal appropriation for adult education
in FY 1967 was approximately $26.3 million dollars. The
FY 2006 allocation is almost $554 million dollars.
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/anniv40/press.html
Sources:
ERIC
and the Adult Education Act: 25 Years of Collaboration.
ERIC Digest No. 107 (1991)
History of the Adult Education Act, a Brief Legislative
History of the AEA. Gary Eyre for the National Adult
Education Professional Development Consortium
Cheryl
Keenan, Director, Division of Adult Education and
Literacy (DAEL), AEState Directors listserv, 11/1/2006
