May 27, 2004 -- Today the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy 
released Working Paper 4 in its series being issued as part of its 
task-force study of the role and potential of community colleges in 
adult education and literacy.  Called ADULT EDUCATION & LITERACY AND 
COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN KENTUCKY, the 89-page paper is by CAAL's 
Forrest P. Chisman.  Despite its length and density the paper is an 
easy read.  It is a journey into the intricacies and history of how 
the Kentucky system came to be what it is today and what factors 
account for its astounding success.  The paper describes and 
discusses Kentucky's adult education and community college systems in 
depth, as well as the linkages that have been developed between the 
two systems.

A Foreword to the paper points out some of the many features that 
make Kentucky a fascinating and instructive national model:  Kentucky 
requires, through explicit statewide policy, a seamless system of 
transitions from adult education to postsecondary education; its 
adult education service is basically learner-centered and 
competency-based; it is one of only a few states that invests heavily 
in workforce education; community college presidents consider adult 
education service to be part of their mission and generally do a good 
job of providing traditional adult education services; and the adult 
education and community college systems work together well through an 
array of linkages.

The research phase of the study was funded by Kentucky Adult 
Education; CAAL's community college project funders supported other 
activities required to bring the Kentucky report to publication: the 
Ford Foundation; Household International; the Lumina Foundation for 
Education; the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.; the Nellie-Mae 
Foundation; Verizon, Inc.; and several individual donors.

The paper is available in PDF form at the CAAL Web site, 
http://www.caalusa.org.  At the home page, scroll down the left 
column to publication item (4).  Readers may distribute at no cost 
and without prior CAAL permission as many copies of the PDF file as 
they need.  A limited number of bound copies are available directly 
from CAAL for $15 each (send a prepayment check to CAAL, which is tax 
exempt, along with a written request for the number of copies 
desired).

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Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
1221 Avenue of the Americas - 46th Floor
New York, NY 10020
212-512-2362, fax 212-512-2610
www.caalusa.org