Adult Learner Persistence
This resource contains both evidence-based research and practice-based materials that can help guide the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of career pathways programs.
The website provides tools, models, strategies, and research about ways to help adult students stay on their learning paths. The site grew out of work done by 18 programs doing action research through the New England Learner Persistence Project. On this website, the findings, and the growing set of research, models, and tools that is emerging not only from the New England work, but from programs and states across the country are shared. There are links to several reports including the Making It Worth the Stay which presents the findings from the original New England Adult Learner Persistence Project. Findings are grouped by both category of persistence strategies (Intake and orientation, instruction, counseling and peer support, and re-engagement) and by adults’ affective needs (Sense of belonging and community, clarity of purpose, agency, competence, relevance, and stability).
The purpose of this resource is to allow advisors and counselors to help identify areas where they can to increase student persistence.
This resource was reviewed and vetted through the Designing Instruction for Career Pathways initiative of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education under Contract No. ED-CFO-10-A-0072/0001.
