Dive Brief:
- Nonprofits like Goodwill are filling an adult education gap by establishing programs to help mature students earn high school diplomas.
- In Texas, for example, the Goodwill Excel Center lobbied the legislature to allow it to operate charter schools that provide adults aged 26-50 an opportunity to earn a high school diploma, rather than a GED that comes with lower wage potential, NPR reports.
- The center offers students life coaches who help them develop five-year plans, identify career options, and recommend continuing education programs, whether vocational certificates or alternative credentials, or two- or four-year degree programs.
Dive Insight:
The conversation about higher education — or adult education in general — often centers around a two- or four-year degree. And while the conversation is recently expanding to include alternative credentials and career certificates, little attention is paid to the 12% of the nation's adults who do not have a high school diploma or equivalent. Most recognize it is cheaper to focus on retaining students on their first try, but for the individuals who have passed the age of 21, few opportunities exist around education and employment.
Beyond that, however, the Goodwill story highlights the growing role of nonprofits and other non-traditional education providers in the K-12 and higher education spaces. Conversations abound over the failure of traditional schools to meet the needs of all students — be they students with special needs, children of military families or veterans, students who are parents themselves, low-income students, or simply those who have aged out of the traditional student profile. And while it is not enough for leaders of traditional schools to leave the education of these students to other providers, until funding catches up to the levels of school need, alternative education providers can help fill in the gaps.