This needs assessment documents important issues facing California’s adult education system. California, like the rest of the nation, is at a crossroads. Global economic conditions, an aging and increasingly diverse population, and critical challenges in the state's K-12 education system have created unprecedented pressures to focus on the education of adults as a means to strengthen the economy, build sustainable communities, and ensure that resources exist to serve those most in need. Inadequate attention to the education of adults will compromise the attainment of all of these goals.
As documented in the report, California's K-12-based Adult Education system is positioned to reach a population group that is becoming increasingly important in the context of these intersecting challenges: adults with gaps in critical skills who are no longer school-age, and yet not ready for traditional postsecondary education and training or sustainable wage employment. Working-age Californians are the engine of the state’s economy, yet many lack the skills demanded by California’s...