LEARNER PERSISTENCE

Learner persistence is the underpinning for academic progress that results in positive outcomes and an improved quality of life for adult learners. NELRC’s work on learner persistence is a direct response to the expressed need and interest by adult educators in New England to address learner persistence.

• The New England Learner Persistence project aims to expand our collective knowledge base and practical resources from which all adult education programs can benefit.  The New England Literacy Resource Center designed a process that drew on existing research, primarily by the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) and associated promising strategies, and engaged adult education programs as research partners in adapting and testing those strategies for their program contexts.   A total of 18 adult education programs from five New England states participated in the action research project. Their interventions impacted 755 students resulting in significant improvements in the rates of attendance and course completions They implemented persistence strategies in one of four categories: 1) Intake and Orientation; 2) Instruction; 3) Counseling and Peer Support; or 4) Re-engagement.
  Download pdf of the report here.
  
  
• The Managing Stress to Improve Learning project, directed by Lenore Balliro, will help adult learners deal with chronic stress and other psychological barriers to learning and classroom attendance by promoting mental health and creative expression. The project is intended to enhance, not replace, the content of a program’s curriculum.  It will draw from a variety of disciplines, such as mind/body practices, music, movement, visual arts/crafts, creative writing, and drama. This two-year project is funded by Jane’s Trust. Teachers and counselors who work in ESOL, ABE, GED/ASE, family literacy, or adult college transitions in Greater  Boston, Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont are eligible to apply to participate. The deadline is July 31, 2010. Download the project application here.

• Taking Action to Stay in School (fall 2008) issue of NELRC’s Change Agent magazine offers writings by adult learners about what helps and hinders their efforts to persist in their studies.  How do students support each other to stay in school? How do they work together to find personal and collective solutions? How do they inspire, motivate, and encourage each other to balance a multitude of demands so that they can stay in school? 
  Download the issue at http://www.nelrc.org/changeagent/backissues.htm

We offer workshops, keynotes, and consultations in improving learner persistence. Please contact:

Andy Nash
Staff Development Specialist
anash@worlded.org

Please see Andy’s bio.

Lenore Balliro
Managing Stress to Improve Learning Project Director
lballiro@worlded.org

Please see Lenore’s bio.