What's At Stake

What is Adult Basic Education?
Adult basic education (ABE) services teach adults who lack high school-level skills.

• ABE includes English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), General Educational Development (GED) programs and adult basic education (non-reader to pre-GED), with targeted services in Workforce Development, Family Literacy and Transition to Higher Education.
• ABE services include classroom instruction, one-to-one tutoring, computer-assisted instruction and distance learning.
• ABE services are delivered by a diverse provider network composed of community-based organizations (CBOs), local education agencies (LEAs), community colleges and correctional institutions.

Is there really a need for ABE services?
The need for ABE services is great.

• More than 1.1 million (1/3) of the state’s 3.2 million workers do not have the skills required to perform in the state’s rapidly changing economy and need ABE services. (MassINC, New Skills for a New Economy, 2001):


• 667,000 workers have a high school credential but still lack basic math, literacy, language and analytic skills to perform in the typical 21st century workplace.
280,000 are high school drop-outs who lack necessary skills.
• 195,000 are immigrants with limited English speaking skills who need to learn to speak English.

The consequences of poor skills for individuals, families, communities and the state are great.

• Families headed by adults without a high school diploma suffer severe economic consequences. (MassINC, The State of the American Dream in Massachusetts, 2002):
• Since 1979, earnings of full-time, year-round workers without high school diplomas decreased by 27% while full-time workers with a high school diploma gained 1.6%.
• 21.7% of families headed by high school drop-outs are poor.
• 55% of families headed by single women who are high school drop-outs are poor.
• Mothers who are enrolled in ABE programs spend more time with their children talking about school, helping with homework, going to school activities and meeting with teachers, all of which are essential for a child’s success in school. (National Center for Family Literacy)
• Adults with low literacy skills are half as likely as their more educated neighbors to vote. (National Adult Literacy Survey, 1992)
• 68% of the incarcerated adults and youth in Massachusetts have literacy levels below the 8th grade. (National Adult Literacy Survey, 1992; The Policy Information Center of Educational Testing Service)

What is the demand for ABE Services?
The demand for ABE services is far greater than the services available.

• Less than one out of two adults (49%) who tries to enroll in ABE services each year can actually enroll because there aren’t adequate resources to fund needed programs in the state. (Mass. Department of Education, 2003)
• 22,500 adults are currently on waiting lists for ABE services (non-duplicated count) because there aren’t adequate resources to fund needed programs in the state.
• Waiting lists vary from two to eight months for ABE, and six months to two years for ESOL.

Source: Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education (MCAE), 800-339-2498.