program design & management

What does this section include?

The strategies included in this category focus on designing and implementing adult education services to optimize learners’ motivation and ability to attend and persist.  The key strategies relate to putting in place structures, such as cohorts or learning pathways, and processes, such as student involvement at all levels or using program data to inform planning.  Adults’ affective needs for agency, community, competence, clarity of purpose, relevance and stability are useful in guiding the development of program policies and practices that support persistence.

What is the connection between program design and management and persistence?

Student persistence is often thought of as a challenge to be addressed through classroom-based improvements. Yet most persistence strategies need to be supported by program-level policies, structures, and practices. For example, the available research suggests that managed enrollment and reliance on student cohorts reduces classroom turbulence and yields greater persistence. This collection includes a variety of examples of how program design and management – from program offerings to staff training to attendance policies – affects persistence.

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