Adult Education Quarterly

Members of a citizen group are described as aggressive and dynamic adult learners addressing complex problems. Their efforts to educate themselves and their community are described. Assistance that adult education agencies might have provided to this group and similar groups in the future as well as criteria for determining whether to do so are explored. The tradition of serving individual needs is contrasted with the benefits of assisting citizens engaged in addressing community problems.

Early in the Civil War, the Sea Islands near South Carolina and some 10,000 slaves fell into Union hands. Abolitionists saw an opportunity to aid these newly freed slaves. In what became known as the Port Royal Experiment, northern volunteers became teachers and plantation superintendents. This was perhaps the first federal involvement, though indirect, in adult basic education. Literacy education became an important aspect of the "Experiment," largely through William T. Richardson, a member of the American Missionary Association. He founded teaching in night schools for the freed slaves and promoted adult classes among A.M.A. teachers. His work with this unique adult population offers a provocative first-person look at a chapter in adult basic education's history.

This study sought to determine the benefits obtained by adults who study for and pass the General Educational Development (GED) tests. A self-administered questionnaire was constructed and mailed to a statewide random sample of recent graduates; the unadjusted response rate was 57.3% (N = 172). Analyses indicated that the percentages obtaining each of the twelve economic and noneconomic benefits measured were substantial. Using this data set, the twelve benefits were empirically reduced, by factor analysis, into four factors: job advancement, increased employment, improved self image, and further education. Subsequent cluster analysis suggests that there are five principal "types" of graduates, the first four each faring comparatively well on one of the four benefit factors and the fifth doing comparatively poorly on all factors.

The Practice Integrated Learning Sequence (PILS) is an office-based, practice-related Continuing Medical Education (CME) process that incorporates the practice of medicine into an educational program. In this research, the PILS process was used in an educational program for the management of hypertension involving 1,013 physicians. Program data suggest that the PILS process can help physicians assess their practice needs by evaluating their practice behaviors in comparison to objective criteria. The results suggest the importance of designing CME programs that facilitate physicians' use and development of self-directed learning skills, particularly self-evaluation.