- Meeting the needs of adult learners: an overview of the math skills gap in the United States, the need for high-quality adult education and training experiences, and how the Power in Numbers initiative has addressed these challenges.
- The opportunity in OER: an introduction to OER and its potential benefits for the classroom, including reducing cost and increasing efficiency.
- Making OER work for you: an outline of three actionable steps for educators to easily use and adapt OER for their specific needs.
- How to get started: a list of recommended OER resources, tips and best practices.
- Lessons learned: a real-life case study from Affordable Learning Georgia on how adopting OER saved textbook costs and increased success for its university students.
- ABE/ASE Curriculum
- Career Pathways Contextualized Bridge Curriculum
- Entrepreneurial Contextualized Bridge Curriculum
- Healthcare Contextualized Bridge Curriculum
- IT Bridge Contextualized Curriculum
- Manufacturing Contextualized Bridge Curriculum
- Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL) Contextualized Bridge Curriculum
- Annotated PowerPoint presentations
- A mathematics observation tool
- Two math classroom videos
- A Video Resource Package that includes descriptive annotations of the two classroom videos, lesson plans, and a sequence of planned activities
- Other supplementary video-viewing resources
- Critical Mathematical Concepts and Skills
- Mathematical Progression and Connections
- Reasoning and Communicating with Mathematics
- Quality Mathematical Tasks
- Each dimension provides users with criteria to assess the degree to which curricula contain critical mathematical content and effective instructional strategies to support student learning. Each criterion includes questions to guide the search for evidence of instructional effectiveness in a curriculum. Each dimension also provides additional attention to how well curricula support ELs accessing core academic content. Such support allows ELs to meaningfully participate in Adult Basic Education classes to prepare for college and beyond.
- Build instructors’ capacity to align their teaching with the demands of state standards, including instructional supports for ELs to access core academic content.
- Develop adult educators’ understanding of when existing curricula should be replaced, modified, or supplemented. That includes retaining strong standards-aligned curricula for high levels of student learning.
- Provide adult educators with opportunities to work together to define what standards-based instruction should look like.
- Supply adult educators with the knowledge and skills required to conduct curriculum reviews and train others on the process.
- Support states’ current and long-range curriculum needs so all instructors will have the tools to improve student outcomes.
- Completed evidence-based observation rubrics that include descriptive annotations identifying observed lesson elements as well as instructor and student actions that support high levels of learning;
- Detailed mathematics lesson plans that identify targeted standards, learning goals, and a sequence of planned activities;
- See examples of strong, standards-aligned lessons in a variety of settings;
- Hear from the videotaped instructors and participating students about the teaching and learning;
- Use the annotated instructional examples to better understand the video lessons and the evidence of desired instructor and student actions;
- Guide targeted professional learning for instructors working with students in various standards-based contexts;
- Support the use of the SIA classroom observation system in all programs statewide.
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Abstract:
This introductory guide for educators is part of the Power in Numbers initiative, funded by the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). Power in Numbers aims to help adult learners receive the higher-level math skills they need to succeed. This guide provides educators with step-by-step instructions for identifying, reviewing and remixing high-quality OER.
Improving Math Instruction with Open Educational Resources is an introductory guide that provides step-by-step instructions for identifying, reviewing and remixing high-quality OER. This resource is aimed at adult learning educators interested in exploring open educational resources (OER) for the adult classroom. The insights are drawn from the experiences of educators who hail from 21 states and a variety of classroom types—including community colleges, community centers, correctional facilities and local education agencies. The guide is comprised of five sections:
Benefits and Uses
This introductory guide is aimed at adult learning educators and administrators interested in exploring open educational resources (OER) for the adult classroom. The guide includes a list of actionable tips and recommended online resources for educators getting started with OER. Educators and administrators can also present this guide when hosting OER meetups or discussions.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2019
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Abstract:
Adult English learners (ELs) may need numeracy instruction to navigate daily life or understand health information, so this paper examines numeracy skill levels and home skill use of adult ELs in Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 2012/2014 data and recommends implications for EL numeracy instruction.
Research on adult English learners (ELs) typically (and appropriately) focuses on language-related skills. However, adult ELs may need numeracy instruction to navigate daily life or understand health information. Little is known about how ELs use numeracy skills at home and connections of skill use with related electronic numeracy skills. The purpose of this paper is to examine numeracy skill levels and home skill use of adult ELs. Employing Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 2012/2014 data, the paper begins with identifying adult ELs’ numeracy skill levels. The relationship of skill level with skill use is then analyzed to determine how six discrete groups of ELs at various skill levels employ numeracy skills, and to describe characteristics and backgrounds of each group for adult education instructors and interested stakeholders. The paper concludes with recommended implications for instruction from Curry’s (2017) instructional guide based on the PIAAC Numeracy Framework.
Benefits and Uses
This research expands on earlier 2012 and 2014 findings reported by the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). It addresses further useful variables related to the needs of ELs to acquire numeracy and math skills.
Adult educators may find this report useful in different ways, depending on the role they play in the field and on the needs of the population they serve. All readers working in adult education, whether they serve ELs or native speakers of English, will benefit from the Abstract and initial remarks, which offer a useful summary of the purpose of the study in meeting the researched numeracy skills required by adult English learners (ELs) in the United States. Readers who do not serve ELs will also recognize the benefit to native English speakers in addressing the needs described in this study.
The Abstract and the introductory remarks that follow, define the difference between numeracy and math skills and provide a review of the related at-home needs faced by most lower-level Els and even native English speakers in programs. Those needs better define curriculum topics that should be addressed more in teaching ELs. Administrators can draw from this analysis to design programming to address the numeracy skill needs of English learners. Curriculum developers will find specific details to integrate into curriculum segments.
The article abstract describes the organization of this report. The report initially defines the term EL as “immigrant adults with low English language skills in speaking, listening, reading, and/or writing, [who] may seek to learn English to enhance their ability to communicate with, among others, neighbors, coworkers, child caretakers, and doctors in English.” That definition is not always clearly defined as such in later references to ELs, but generally, the research addresses the numeracy needs of selected adults, ages 25 to 74 years, first-generation immigrants, who experience challenges with English proficiency. Although that definition is limited, adult educators will find that the lessons learned and the recommendations made as a result of this study will provide implications for additional adult learners, including native English speakers in some cases.
The details relating to each aspect of the research are addressed in response to three questions:
1. What are average numeracy skill levels and numeracy at-home use rates of adult English learners (ELs) in the aggregate?
2. Controlling for education attainment, family background, and health, how does numeracy at-home use of adult ELs predict numeracy skill levels?
3. How does numeracy at-home use of adult ELs differ among discrete groups based on covariates (from Research Question [RQ] 2) and numeracy skill levels? What are descriptive characteristics of each group?
This report includes tables and charts showing the types of numeracy skills surveyed, the characteristics of six groups in relation to several issues (education, health, income, and more), and the results found in each listed aspect. The details presented in these tables and charts may serve adult educators in the US with (1) data to support proposal requests for budget items relating to those findings and (2) useful lists of skills that programs may want to address in integrating numeracy and health topics in language instruction, both for EL’s and native English-speaking students lacking literacy skills. Proposal writers will find the data reported useful in supporting proposals to fund related instruction. Future researchers will find helpful guidance in developing further data to pursue studies to deepen and expand the field's knowledge of adult English learners' numeracy skill needs.
The actual description of the study, conducted to expand on data already provided by PIAAC on the topic, will be useful to other researchers who wish to also use the final section, Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Research, as a guide to provide further data to programs in integrating numeracy and math into instruction. The Reference List will also provide future researchers and other authors with resources to develop further instructional tools to promote numeracy and math instruction in adult education programs.
The Implications for Practice Engagement and Health and the Implications for Instruction sections will be more significant and useful to instructors and curriculum developers who wish to integrate English language instruction with numeracy and health topics leading to improving the lives and educational opportunities of Els in the United States. Since numeracy skills are not often addressed in English classes, one hopes that instructors will be motivated to integrate these essential skills into instruction, and they will find helpful ideas in this resource on how to do that.
Most findings in this research are not likely to add a great deal of actual knowledge about ELs the field, since practitioners tend to be very familiar with the fact that ELs face numeracy and math challenges in their lives although they don’t often have students practice those skills in instruction. However, Table 1 provides helpful reminders of items that ELs face in their daily lives, some of which may be new to practitioners. Perhaps not so widely recognized among practitioners is the relationship of numeracy needs to health needs, expressed in Table 2. As a result, practitioners might consider integrating functional health-related computations (reading prescriptions, interpreting dosages, and more) into their language instruction. In addition, since this research found that learners with low numeracy skills also often face health-related issues, instruction might also include helpful strategies for maintaining good health in stressful environments.
What the experts say
This resource makes a useful distinction between numeracy skills and mathematics with numeracy being the skills employed in one's daily life such as budgeting or measuring medicine correctly compared to abstract mathematics concepts.
It also addresses a very big gap in adult education: numeracy and math instruction among English Language Learners. Experienced adult-education practitioners have long recognized the lack of numeracy and math skills among low-level learners. However, there has not been a strong movement to date to encourage the acquisition of numeracy and math skills in instruction among ELs. Practitioners recognize that the many English learners seeking to earn a high school equivalency diploma do receive math instruction once their English skills are at an adequate level; however, numeracy is not always a routine focus in English language classes. In fact, the need for numeracy skills has often been overlooked. Instruction often limits practice to the language needs of ELs without much attention to helping them integrate numeracy and math into practice, including math terminology, which can vary considerably among different countries.
This study expands on very useful findings from the 2012 and 2014 report published by the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The analysis of PIAAC data focused on English learners suggests there is a need to offer programming related to numeracy skills to a subset of adults who seek English language instruction. The recommendation made here is to integrate numeracy skills drawn from PIAAC's Numeracy framework into instruction for English learners. The resource provides a helpful list of numeracy and lower-level math skills, especially related to financial literacy, that students regularly use at home and that instructors should integrate into practice. English instruction typically focuses on learners' needs, so incorporating aspects of numeracy makes sense. In that regard, more than teaching ELs to make doctor appointments for themselves or their children, for example, instructors might do well to teach them how to measure doses and physical data using the U.S. mathematical system and terminology. This resource includes a Table 1 list of Items for At-Home Use of Numeracy Skills, which might come in handy in developing curricula. As noted, English teachers would benefit from training on ways to effectively address the numeracy needs of adult English learners while math instructors would benefit from how to adapt instruction to make it accessible to English learners.
One newer concept exposed in this research is the well-connected data showing the relationship between low literacy and numeracy skills to the health needs of ELs. In addition to adding financial numeracy and/or basic math into plans, instructors might also integrate health topics into instruction, including related computations that might be helpful to students. Under the section “Implications for Instruction,” several ideas on actual practice are shared.
Readers playing different roles in adult-education programs will find different aspects of this resource helpful, from using the very detailed research information in proposals, to making curriculum changes to include numeracy/math/health skills, to integrating segments in instruction that encourage learners to not only speak the language of math but apply numeracy/math skills in solving problems that will help them improve the quality of their lives as immigrants or as other adult learners in the United States.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2020
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Abstract:
This Open Educational Resource Book it covers whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percentages in trade professions.
The Math for Trades: Volume 1 textbook is an open source textbook, freely available online. Math for Trades: Volume 1 introduces the building blocks for math which will ready students for more advanced math needed to continue their trades education. The book includes whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percents, all contextualized to different trades, thereby also introducing relevant vocabulary and scenarios. The material is presented from a trades perspective with easy-to-understand examples and video explanations accompanying questions. Each lesson includes practice questions and quizzes to reinforce learning. There are additional Practice Tests included in the last section of the book. Lastly, practice questions answers are provided so that students can check and revisit material, as needed.
The access page includes instructions for students on how to access and use this text book. Users can read the book online or download it in PDF, eReader and Kindle versions.
What the experts say
This Open Educational Resource Book it covers whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percentages in a very procedural method. Many of the problem sets are given in a context that most adults will understand. A book that can be used in Adult Education Mathematics Classes for additional practice has three strengths. First, the approach into each topic is written with friendly language, putting students at ease. For math phobic individuals, this approach might be preferable. Second, many topics were first presented visually to begin to develop some conceptual understanding of topics. Third, the assessment questions were, for the most part, very trade related and required some higher order thinking skills.
In introducing a concept, the text provided visual models in an attempt to address conceptual understanding. It would be helpful to follow-up that up with questions where students could show a representation of what was happening in a problem. There is also little effort to show visually fraction or percent operations. No number lines, no estimating, no thinking about what the processes meant and when to use them. Rather the text is heavy into procedures with no underlying connection to why these procedures work. Procedural skill and fluency are more than just memorizing steps. They are understanding deeply what it means, for instance, when you divide by a fraction. Instead the student is presented with more procedures and little or no connection to models or why the procedure worked.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2020
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Abstract:
Illinois Community College Board, Division of Adult Education & Literacy, has designed several comprehensive model contextualized curricula, which includes instructions for use, supplemental materials, lesson plans, and related resources. Illinois Community College Board, Division of Adult Education & Literacy, has designed several comprehensive model contextualized curricula, which include:Publication Year
2020
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Abstract:
The Standards-in-Action (SIA) 2.0 classroom observation system teaches you how to observe effective teaching and learning practices that reflect the crucial instructional advances in literacy. The training and tools deepen educators’ understanding of the intent and meaning of your state mathematic standards through teacher-friendly tools. They strengthen practitioner knowledge about vital literacy content and research-based instructional strategies and their usefulness with English learners (ELs).
StandardsWork, Inc. produced the Standards-in-Action (SIA) 2.0 mathematic classroom observation system under contract ED-91990018-C-004019 with the U.S. Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education for the SIA project, 2018–2023. The classroom observation system is designed to be formative and forward-looking for administrators, teacher trainers, and instructional leaders—where the observer is invested in the instructors’ success. The observation training tools measure whether lesson content is rigorous and relevant for the level defined by the state-adopted standards. The tools also focus on ensuring activities productively engage students and connect to students’ funds of knowledge. One additional Core Action applies when ELs are in the classroom. It identifies strategic scaffolds that provide ELs access to lesson content. The ready-to-use training materials include:
Publication Year
2023
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Abstract:
The Standards-in-Action (SIA) 2.0 State-Based Curriculum Review Training offers a range of resources that state and facility administrators and instructors can use to assess the quality of their existing mathematics curricula or instructional materials. The reviews will ensure curricular alignment with state-adopted mathematics standards, the key instructional shifts, and high levels of adult learning and development.
StandardsWork, Inc. produced the Standards-in-Action (SIA) 2.0 State-Based Curriculum Review Training for Mathematics under contract ED-91990018-C-004019 with the U.S. Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education as part of the SIA project, 2018–2023. The training teaches adult educators how to evaluate the quality of their existing instructional materials in relation to their state-adopted standards and the key instructional shifts in mathematics. The Curriculum Review Training resources deepen practitioner knowledge about mathematics content, research-based instructional strategies, and a curriculum’s effectiveness with English learners (ELs). The training materials are framed by four college- and career-ready instructional dimensions:
Publication Year
2023
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Abstract:
These four classroom videos and accompanying materials are designed to provide adult educators with models of effective standards implementation. Through these Standards-in-Action (SIA) videos, adult educators can identify instructors employing effective teaching and learning practices in mathematics required by challenging academic standards.
These four SIA classroom videos and associated lesson materials are designed to support adult educators in implementing the instructional shifts required by college and career readiness (CCR) standards in mathematics. The videos can be used for independent study or as part of a professional learning community or professional development program. They can also accompany the SIA classroom observation system.
SIA Video Resources Packages One and Two for Mathematics provide additional guidance and visible evidence of CCR standards-aligned lessons. They include:
Benefits and Uses
Through these videos and accompanying materials, adult educators can:
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
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Publication Year
2023
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Abstract:
Uncover the transformative role of mathematical identity in learning and cognition. Learn practical strategies to empower math learners, foster confidence, and cultivate a positive math identity. Attend this webinar to gain tools to reshape learners’ negative perceptions, improve assessment outcomes, and develop a positive mathematical identity for lifelong learning. Original webinar date: January 12, 2026 Webinar recording link: https://youtu.be/BvVIqgtYKYw Presentation slides link: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__docs.google.com_presentation_d_1UICT3alE4sXGso8Q4odDAg8E1ivcrAEiqXxQR1byEZY_present-3Fusp-3Dsharing&d=DwMFAw&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=Qe6dWbQvbEUFUfDU85WPRW5M70qpnDHw3KlvWNJnB10&m=FvWt9lufgBaH51T705lMv02Axc2oYKPr_l4FKHfcPlAsxPPUx041VgAludUcFXgd&s=DiETHw-URuocihZB-8uXzexAKZUJVVb8Sn0uUaAB8lY&e=