How-To's

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Adult Students: Recruitment and Retention
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M. Wonacott, Practice Application Brief No. 18, ERIC Clearinghouse of Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, 2001
Reviews research on adult learner persistence and provides guidelines for recruiting and retaining adult learners.
http://calpro-online.org/eric/docgen.asp?tbl=pab&ID=108

Bringing the Research Together: Developing a Comprehensive Retention Strategy
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MWB Education Consultants, Inc.
Designed for community college programs, this retention strategy checklist also can be used by adult education programs. Provides administrators, instructors, counselors, and support staff a guide to improving persistence through program intake, orientation, policies and procedures, assessment, program planning, content, instruction, classroom environment, support services, and follow-up activities.
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Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults
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R.J. Wlodkowski, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998
Revised edition offers culturally responsive practical advice and strategies to enhance adults' motivation to learn. Looks at theory and research on how motivation affects instruction and highlights the integration of motivational strategies into lesson plans.

Available for purchase from:
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787995207.html

Recruitment and Retention in Adult Education Programs
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The Central Illinois Adult Education Service Center (CIAESC)
This manual addresses possible reasons for the drop in the retention rate for adult learners and for their academic failure and offers procedures for identifying those most at risk of dropping out. The 200 strategies in this manual are designed to empower learners, establish group cohesion, facilitate the identification of goals, and encourage participation. Strategies are categorized as follows: User-Friendly Strategies, Responsive Strategies, Empowering Strategies, Personal and Relevant Strategies, and Interactive Strategies.
http://www.cait.org/ciaesc/library/JSP/detail.jsp

Research to Practice: Increasing Retention Through Student Success
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K. Malitz and S. Nixon-Ponder, Ohio Literacy Resource Center (OLRC)
A brief examination of adult learner retention. Describes techniques used by programs to improve learner attendance.
http://literacy.kent.edu/Oasis/Pubs/0200-11.htm

Study Circle Guide: Adult Student Persistence
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National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL), 2005
Detailed instructions for three study circle sessions for adult education practitioners to discuss NCSALL and other studies’ research findings on adult student persistence and strategies to improve recruitment and retention.
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=896

California Adult Learner Persistence Project
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Outreach and Technical Assistance Network (OTAN)
Designed for California adult education programs to evaluate their attendance and persistence data and develop strategies for program improvement. Also links to research, discussion lists, and professional development opportunities on learner persistence.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ae/ir/persistproject.asp