What are the differences between the characteristics, program experiences, and program outcomes of young adults in Georgia’s adult education system who do and do not have foster care backgrounds?
Current and former foster youth are more likely to leave school early and less likely to obtain a high school diploma than other young people. Low levels of skills and other barriers contribute to more joblessness, lower wages, and lower rates of postsecondary enrollment among former foster youth. Adult education programs, supported under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, can provide less-trained and out-of-school foster youth with skills and training that can lead to high school equivalency credentials, postsecondary schooling, and better jobs. The programs also offer a means of reaching and connecting foster youth with other services.
David C. Ribar, Thomas Goldring, Daphne Greenberg, and Elizabeth Tighe examine data from Georgia’s public adult education system from July 2017 to June 2023, documenting and comparing the characteristics, program experiences, and program outcomes of adult learners under the age of 24 years (“young adult learners”) who do and do not identify as currently or formerly being in the foster care system.
The analyses show that learners with foster care backgrounds have a higher representation of women, Black, and Hispanic individuals. In addition, young adult learners with foster care backgrounds are, on average, one year younger than learners without foster care histories. Learners with foster care backgrounds enter the adult education system with less formal schooling and lower skill levels than other learners. They also confront more barriers to employment and are more likely to be single parents and to experience homelessness. They are more likely than other learners to attend classes provided by public school systems and less likely to attend classes provided by community organizations or technical colleges. Young adult learners with foster care backgrounds attend class for approximately the same number of hours as other learners but are less likely to earn high school equivalency credentials.
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