Findings From a National Survey of State Directors of Adult Education

Rima E. Rudd, Sc.D., Lucy Zahner, Ed.M., and My Banh, Sc.M.
Harvard School of Public Health

NCSALL REPORT #9
January 1999

State Directors of Adult Education were asked to consider health within the context of adult learning and to offer priority ratings for health as a content and as a barrier to learning. In addition, directors were asked to list barriers to incorporating health lessons in adult learning centers and to identify concerns or considerations that must be addressed. Additional commentary was invited.

The survey response rate was 88%. The state directors offered relatively high priority ratings for health issues, with mean ratings between 3 and 4 on a five point scale (1 indicating low priority and 5 indicating high priority.) The most frequently listed barriers were lack of curriculum on health and lack of teacher training. They identified a variety of concerns with a strong emphasis on integration of health and adult learning must attend to structural needs within the adult education systems and must maintain a focus on helping adults improve their reading and writing skills.

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