Factors affecting African American and Latin@ students' persistence in adult education programs

The purpose of this qualitative study is to gain an in-depth understanding of factors Latin@ and African American students perceive as contributing to or impeding their persistence in adult education programs such as Adult Basic Education (ABE), the General Education Diploma (GED), Adult High School Diploma (AHSD) or Career Technical Education (CTE). A total of 20 participants (12 Latin@ and 8 African American) from Silicon Valley Adult Education (SVAE) volunteered for face-to-face, individual interviews. The qualitative data analysis revealed four major themes of importance to students in their success: (1) learners' self-motivation and goal setting; (2) quality and relevance of program; (3) support from families and communities; (4) the teacher-student relationship. The findings show that self-motivation and goals were the most influential factors positively affecting Latin@ and African American students' persistence in the adult education programs such as ABE, GED, CTE or AHSD. All participants, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, age, or socioeconomic status perceive that obtaining these adult education skills and credentials provides them opportunities for getting a job, attending college, helping their children in school, and becoming contributing members of their families and communities. In addition, all participants indicated that the adult education programs offered by SVAE such as ABE, GED, CTE and AHSD are relevant to their goals, with the majority of them expressing satisfaction