Take-aways and Recommendations:
• Adult Education is measured and shows positive results. And it is a more cost-effective path to move to higher education than remedial/non-credit bearing courses at colleges.
• Even underfunded, RI's Adult Education system is functioning well and improving -- for the learners it's able to serve. But meeting demand is impossible without adequate funding.
• The "skills gap" in RI is real, but the gap primarily has to do with a lack of basic skills.
• Demand for Adult Basic Education would be lower if the state’s K-12 public schools could ensure that many more of their students had strong foundational skills grades 1-8.
• The characteristics of the large cohort of young people in ABE require further study.
