California Adult Education Students Succeed

Purpose: Adult education in California serves over two million students annually through a multiple provider system of public adult schools, community colleges, libraries, community and faith based organizations, and correctional institutions. The California Adult Education Students Succeed project identifies learners who have reached their life goals as a result of their participation in the adult education system and are now active in their communities. The project disseminates the stories of these former students and the exemplary programs that assisted them.

How to Participate in the Success Story Project: Nominations may be submitted by any California adult education agency at any time. Go to the online nomination form. There are two nomination processing cycles per year. The next deadline is October 8, 2010. All nominations will be reviewed for completeness and for how closely they address the criteria stated on the nomination form. Incomplete nominations, nominations that don't address the criteria, and nominations of current students or very recent graduates will not be considered. Students with accepted nominations will be contacted for verification of the information and asked to submit a photo. A signed release will be obtained from the students before any stories are used, and no personal contact information will be distributed through the project.

Publicizing the Success Stories:

Web site
The Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN) maintains the California Adult Education Students Succeed Web page at www.adultedlearners.org. The page contains the learner success stories with a photo and information about the adult education agencies that nominated them. The site may be searched by agency, by county, and by program area.

Print flyers, newsletters, press releases
Student success stories will be available to use in a variety of local, regional, and statewide print publicity of adult education including flyers, newsletters, and press releases.

Videotape recordings
OTAN may capture stories of representative students on videotape for production of a DVD representing the successes of adult programs and learners in California.

Oral histories
Representative students and personnel from the adult programs may be interviewed for the California Adult Education Oral History project.