1. California Department of Education
Choosing Change
CAEAA
January 29, 2009
Debra Jones
California Department of Education
Good morning,
I am truly honored to be here among you, the practitioners of adult education. We share the same roots. I began as a classroom teacher 25 years ago. But it was when I was 17 that I left California and moved to Alaska to work with a volunteer literacy program that served Innuits and Athabascans that were living in the city. And then in the early seventies when I worked with a community in Southern California that sponsored families of refugees from Viet Nam and every Wednesday night and Saturday morning we met to teach English and EL Civics classes – we called them “life in America classes.” Little did I know then that my personal passion would become my professional journey.

2. Employment Outcome Results
This is a chart about our students in

3. 872 Students Got Jobs 2007-08 Core Follow-up Outcome Achievement
Core Follow-up Outcome Measures
Number of Participants with Main or Secondary Goal
Number of Participants Included in Survey (Sampled and Universe)
Number of Participants Responding to Survey or Used for Data Matching
Response Rate or Percent Available for Match
Number of Participants Achieving Outcome
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
(F)
Entered Employment*
10,911
9,546
1532
16%
872
Retained Employment**
7,382
6,450
1172
18%
1089
Entered Postsecondary Education or Training****
6,778
5,660
1,034
438
And these are the numbers for07-08

4. C R I T I C A L R E A T I V

5. Dwell in possibilities… Emily Dickinson
And finally, I live with a sense of urgency that we have a window of an opportunity to position ourselves, to position adult education in this chaotic economy as the fort of strength. California adult education plays a critical role in addressing the unique and evolving needs of individuals and communities by providing adults with the knowledge and skills necessary to participate effectively as productive citizens, workers, and family members.
To get from here to there requires passion, creativity, and innovation. It is learning to dream in color.
as we learn to balance challenges unparralleled to what we have faced in many years.