Opportunity For Improvement Proposal

The vast majority of employees seeking upward mobility within the workplace often pursue education as the most effective means of achieving these goals. (Kim and Baker, 2015). The adult student does not receive the same benefits as a traditional student on campus. The adult students apply for financial aid and qualify for student loans. The traditional students qualify for scholarships and grants. The adult student gave that the majority of adult learners are likely employed, their opportunity costs compared to those of a traditional student have substantially different aspects. (Kim and Baker, 2015). Adult learners’ educational pursuits are largely job-related, while conversely, traditional students’ jobs are not related to their field of study. (Kim and Baker,

According to Lundberg (2003), “adult students are one of the most rapidly growing segments of today’s college student population, making up approximately 40% of all college students” (665).

Traditionally adult learners are students who are pursuing education in either, college (undergraduate or graduate degrees), vocational or occupational programs, continuing education or noncredit courses, correspondence courses and tutoring, as well as courses and other educational activities provided by employers, community groups, and other providers ("Adult Learner," 2012). The average age of an adult learner is 25 years or older, it usually is a diverse group of people ("Adult Learner," 2012). These adult learners can be an independent student, employed full time, a person with dependents,

Being an undergraduate as an adult is strange. It’s at once unnerving and inspiring. It’s not a unilateral experience, but there are commonalities between adult students; there are a lot of them.

Adult students are simply people over the age of 25, who have elected to return to port-secondary education. They differentiate from your typical students in the facts that adult students, all things considered, have increased life responsibilities and face unique challenges. This research project explores the negatives, the positives what adult students face when returning to post-secondary education, and certain solutions. I analyzed recent research that deals with adult education and I included those results along with the results from a study I conducted in 2016, part two of this paper explains in detail the research I preformed.

The article “Measuring and Understand Student Retention” gives statistics and studies on retention in the United States. It also provides information on why students may be dropping out. There are three steps that were used to figure retention defining, measuring and support. The author uses sources such as colleges and studies to help support the article. This article interested me because it brought to my attention that there are many people that “drop out” of school. I will use this article in my research paper because it gives good statistics, strategies, and ideas that I wouldn’t have thought that affected retention.

Today's workers need to prepare with continuous job training, growth and development. Given the increased age, experiences and diverse lifestyles of the working population, it is understandable that adult education practices must move beyond the traditional model of teachers and learners, while new skills, working with local companies to match their needs and sending staff into factories and other workplaces to spread the word about state and federal retraining assistance. While trying to decide how to rebuild your life after loss of employment and lack of job opportunities following the current recession, or devastated from a divorce? Adult students faced with other struggles; studies have shown that older adult students face different hurdles, family problems, and poor self-image. These along with poor time management, weaker academic preparation and a need for remediation an increased focus on adult learners and their needs can help. (armour)

Yorke, M., & Longden, B. (2004). Retention and student success in higher education. Berkshire, England: Open University

Retention and student population is a topic that all universities and schools have discussed for many years. This is not a new topic of research for any education major or education provider to look at, but in recent years as the student populations have been on a steady decline, it has been a topic that has been a hot button topic, for both research and round table conference room discussions, as it relates to student retention once they have matriculated to a program. Being an administration at a for-profit college, I have had many of these discussions myself, looking at other research it is a critical point in the industry to determine what is driving students to drop out and what can be done to assist

David Deggs is an assistant professor in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas. He teaches coursework in adult learning theory and teaching strategies, program evaluation, and research methods. His research focuses on how community values affect educational attainment and adult learners in higher education.

Research has shown that retaining a student can often point them in a negative direction. Students can experience bad impacts in all areas

The intended target audience for the collection of retention data includes 60 adult learners, age 25 to 40 years old, which attend a higher

Many colleges and universities throughout the United States and several other countries face a common problem. Student retention is a growing problem across the nation for all ethnic groups and all ages. Each individual who chooses to drop out of school has their own personal reasons as to why they do. However, many drops out can be completely avoided. When students drop out they are not clearly thinking about how it’s going to affect their future, the future of their children and even grandchildren. Although there are several reasons as to why students drop out of school, we will be exploring a few as it relates to why student retention is a growing problem.

My impression of adult education has changed immensely. First and foremost, the first lesson learned that teaching adults are a separate, intensive, and long debated process. Portions of certain theories learned illustrated below. I have extended knowledge about Meizrow (Transformational Learning) and Knowles (Andragogy). The six key features of Adult Learners are:

Examples from Schatzberg-Smith (1989), Oaks (1995), and Clark (1994) illustrate the wide range of learner levels and applications. Adult students in community colleges who are academically underprepared (Schatzberg-Smith 1989) use them to record their study habits and attitudes; through journal dialog with a more academically skilled adult, they receive support, insight, and feedback; learn to connect the abstract and the concrete; and develop metacognitive strategies they will need for higher education.