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Essay Instructions: You are to write a 1-page paper. Read the article below. Please respond to the 3 questions. State the question first and then continue to answer the question(s). *Do Not Use Outside Sources*

Thompson provides a historical overview of adult education in the United States. Historians of course can’t include everything in the fields past.

Questions:
1.What ‘should’ be included in adult education histories?
2.How is the purpose behind writing a history related to ideas about the purpose of the field?
3.Does knowing our history even matter?


ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES: TOWARD A BALANCED HISTORY: by Thompson

INTRODUCTION
History is often thought of as "the past" or as a record of the past; to view history from this perspective is to lose sight of the degree to which intentional selection and multiple motivations play a role in the construction of this concept, however. A more constructive view of history involves viewing it not as a subject for study but as a process of selecting and arranging evidence in order to interpret and explain human actions. Just as the actions and events of the past were determined by the personal biases and motivations of historical figures (major and minor), the written interpretation of those actions and events is based on the biases and motivations of the historian. The relevance of both doing history (to the historian) and reading history (to the student of history) comes from the resulting ability to more fully construct, understand, and evaluate past, present and future choices which a more complete understanding of this process brings ( Johnson, n.d.). Because human development is a continuous process in which the present is informed by both the known past and the projected future, adult education professionals must have a knowledge and understanding of the history of their field; only in this way will the professional decisions and choices they make have validity in more than a limited, time constricted sense. The standard histories of adult education provide an inadequate basis for present evaluations and decision making because they present only a limited, culturally biased assessment of what and who was important in the history of this field: a picture only of the "big trees".

This paper has three goals: 1) to review the standard history of adult education and the image of the field which it evokes; 2) to provide examples of "neglected histories" that exemplify alternative perspectives on the field; and 3) to discuss the importance of developing a more balanced history of adult education.

PART I: THE BIG TREES
Colonial Period
Several factors in the social setting of colonial America encouraged educational activities for adults. Many settlers were members of political or religious minority groups looking for increased opportunity, opportunity more likely to favor those with either increased practical knowledge or higher levels of formal education than had been available to common citizens in England and Europe. Protestant religious groups generally promoted literacy (although often defined as the ability to read only, rather than to read
and write) as a necessary tool for Bible reading and enhanced spirituality. Finally, the strong work ethic prevalent in the colonies encouraged education; the idea that ignorance begets idleness was a compelling argument for the need for intellectual development (Knowles, 1977). Standard historians of adult education cite Cotton Mather's Essays To Do Good (1710) as an early example of the promotion of adult educational activity in the New World. In these essays Mather discusses the importance of cooperative efforts to benefit society. He advises the organization of discussion groups to deal with current problems
and suggests the use of specific questions as the basis for discussion. Four of the questions proposed by Mather follow:
1. Is there any particular person whose disorderly behavior may be so scandalous and so notorious that it may be proper to send him our charitable admonition?
2. Can any further methods be devised that ignorance and wickedness may be chased from our people in general; and that domestic piety, in particular, may flourish among them?
3. Is there any instance of oppression or fraudulence, in the dealings of any sort of people, which may call for our efforts to prevent it in future?
4. Is there any matter to be humbly recommended to the legislative power, to be enacted into a law for the public benefit? (Mather,1710, p. 16-17).

In these questions we see an early, faint foreshadowing of familiar adult education concerns: self- actualization, the use of education to cure social ills, and a desire to influence social policy. Seventeen years later, Benjamin Franklin elaborated on Mather's idea in establishing a "mutual improvement" society, the Junto. This group based their discussions on questions almost identical to those proposed by Mather. Additionally, each member of the society was responsible for generating in turn a question on morals, politics, or natural philosophy. Every three months members were required to write and present an essay on any subject as a stimulus to group debate. Membership in the Junto, which existed for thirty years, was limited to twelve ( Grattan, 1955).

Several other institutions provided educational opportunities to adults in colonial America. Private vocational schools, the predecessors of modern commercial trade schools and business colleges, were the chief sources of vocational education for adults. Subscription libraries provided books for the intellectual stimulation of those adults who could both read and afford the subscription fees. Agricultural societies, first established in the mid-eighteenth century, provided a vehicle for the exchange of agricultural
knowledge (Knowles, 1977). The general trend during the colonial period was away from the theologically based knowledge that had previously been the focus of most educational activities toward more secular, liberal, and utilitarian knowledge. In attempting to improve on the social and political traditions of Europe, American colonists devised educational activities appropriate for a new society.

Diffusion Of Knowledge In The New Nation
The period between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War saw a variety of social changes that influenced both the availability and type of educational activities for adults in the United States. Universal male suffrage (limited, however, to white males) argued for a more educated citizenry. Western expansion led to fewer distinctions between social classes and thus to changed opinions as to what was considered appropriate levels and areas of study. The industrial revolution promoted competitiveness and upward mobility, thus motivating many individuals to raise their level of education in order to take advantage of new opportunities. The urbanization and high levels of immigration which accompanied industrialization resulted in social and political conditions which increased the need for educational activities and programs for adults (Knowles, 1977). Privately Sponsored Activities According to Malcolm Knowles (1980), adult education activities before the Civil War can best be characterized as attempts at the diffusion of general knowledge. The influence of the European Enlightenment on the perceived value and importance of secular and scientific thought resulted in the founding of numerous institutions for spreading this "new" knowledge. Among those early institutions were the:

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1780
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1791
Boston Mechanics Institute, 1826
Franklin Institute, 1828
Lowell Institute, 1836
Smithsonian Institution, 1846
First Public Library, 1848
Cooper Union, 1859

Although the mechanics institutes and mercantile libraries were established to serve only a limited population (young merchants and merchant's clerks and mechanics and apprentices), other institutions were intended to disseminate knowledge in philosophy, natural history, the arts, and the sciences to the general public. The delivery by outstanding literary, religious, and educational figures of cultural or educative lectures or lecture series was based on the idea that "lectures can play a creative role in adult life" (Grattan, 1955), an idea which still prevails today. Many of the voluntary associations and agencies which were established during this period provided educational activities for their clients or members. Groups devoted to specific "causes"--abolition, temperance, suffrage--also engaged in educational activities designed to recruit new members and to inform the general public about particular social or political issues.

Publicly Sponsored Activities
Opportunities for agricultural education increased during the era before the Civil War. Farmers Institutes under the jurisdiction of state boards of agriculture provided direct instruction to farmers about technological improvements in farming. The Morrill Act of1861 provided federal support for Land Grant Colleges to teach agricultural and mechanical arts to the local citizenry, thus bringing higher education into close contact with the problems and needs of the people. Public evening schools made their appearance in a "highly unstable and often rather informal" form in the second twenty-five years of the nineteenth century (Knowles, 1977,p. 27). These early schools were intended to serve boys who had been forced to leave school to work and adults who had never received an adequate elementary education.
The curriculum was in no way tailored to the needs of adult students, but was rather are petition of courses offered during the day (Knowles, 1977).

Lyceums
The first national adult education program was introduced in 1836. The Lyceum movement, initiated by Josiah Holbrook, was intended to aid in the general diffusion of knowledge and the advancement of education in the public schools. Holbrook enumerated the advantages of Lyceums:
1. The improvement of conversation
2. Directing amusements
3. Saving of expense
4. Calling into use neglected libraries, and giving occasion for establishing new ones
5. Providing a seminary for teachers
6. Benefiting academies
7. Increasing the advantages and raising the character of district schools
8. Compiling of town histories
9. Town maps
10. Agricultural and geological surveys
11. State collections of minerals (Holbrook, 1829)

Lyceum "exercises" were conducted "in several different ways, to suit the wishes and acquirements of those who compose[d] them" (Holbrook, p. 28). Oral reading, biographical sketches, conversation and questions on various subjects, and lectures were among the methods of sharing knowledge commonly employed by Lyceum members. By 1835 there were approximately 3,000 town lyceums presenting weekly lecture discussions .The national system faded out after 1839, but many town and county lyceums continued to flourish up to the time of the Civil War. After the War, other groups such as women's clubs and literary societies continued the practice of providing popular public lectures. The Lyceum movement can be credited with leaving several conceptual and methodological legacies to future adult education endeavors (Knowles, 1980).
Diffusion Of Organizations In The Maturing Nation
Between 1866 and 1920, the United States experienced tremendous physical, intellectual, and economic growth. Concurrently, the country changed from primarily agrarian and rural to primarily industrial and urban. New knowledge, new theories of social development, and changing social conditions combined to suggest the need for both more extensive and more varied adult educational activities than had been available in the past.

According to Knowles (1980, p. 15), the period between the Civil War and World War I might best "be characterized as the diffusion of organizations" for adult educational activities. Each year saw the founding of several new organizations dedicated to personal or social improvement; most included a formal or informal educational component. Chautauqua And Correspondence Study Of the educational programs established during this period, Chautauqua Institution was undoubtedly the most ambitious. Founded in 1874 by the Reverend John Heyl Vincent, secretary ;of the Methodist Sunday School Union and Lewis Miller, a businessman, Chautauqua was originally conceived as a summer normal school for
Sunday school teachers (Grattan, 1955). The belief that a wide variety of liberal, secular knowledge would benefit the populace soon caused a shift in the emphasis of instruction, however. Literature, science, history, and other cultural subjects became the foundation of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, established in 1878.

Believing that education should come "alike to the door of want and of wealth"(Vincent, p. 63) and that "the whole of life is a school" (p. 72), Vincent, with the help of William Rainey Harper (who later became president of The University of Chicago) developed a national system of home study based on local study groups or individual study. Students read from the required reading list, prepared answers to instructors'
questions, wrote essays, and took final exams. Between 1874 and 1894, ten thousand local study groups were established. Over 300,000 students enrolled in the C.L.S.C between 1874 and 1918, and approximately 50,000 fulfilled the four year course of study required for graduation from the program (Grattan, 1955).The idea of study at home, or correspondence study, was adopted by other private
institutions. The largest of these, the International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1891. Many public universities also developed correspondence departments to serve students who were unable to attend classes on campus (Knowles, 1980).

Social Service Organizations
The second half of the nineteenth century was marked by the establishment of a variety of social service agencies, many of which incorporated the idea of using education to alleviate or solve social problems. The YMCA, originally established in 1851, experienced tremendous growth in the 1860's. The Association, which established libraries and offered evening classes for study and improvement, soon became known as the "college of the people" (Cremin, 1988, p. 92). By 1913, seventy three thousand
students, most of them adults, were enrolled in Y classes. Courses included elementary school subjects for boys and young men who had left school in order to work, courses in English and American citizenship for immigrants, and industrial courses to prepare students for various jobs. The YWCA, established a few years later, offered a similar program of formal educational activities which were divided between traditional women's subjects such a sewing and homemaking and vocational preparation in fields that had traditionally been closed to women: telegraphy, bookkeeping, and commercial art
(Cremin, 1988).

The College Settlement Association (1887) established settlement houses in urban neighborhoods in order to teach city-dwellers "to learn how to live together and to secure good living conditions"(Knowles, 1977, p. 66). Settlement houses were run primarily by college educated-women as a tool to energize the community into becoming an educative and curative force. Settlement workers rejected the traditional restrictive view of education as the transmission of knowledge from superior expert teachers to ignorant
learners. Instead, they believed in mutual education: a two-way exchange of knowledge. Although lectures were sometimes employed, primary emphasis was on discussion of topics interesting or important to adult neighborhood residents. As Jane Addams remarked, students did not want to hear about simple things; they wanted "to hear about great things, simply told" (Cremin, p. 175-76).

Public Institutions
Evening schools, which had begun tentatively in the first half of the nineteenth century, became more common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Knowles (1977) notes several trends relating to the development of evening schools during this period:
1. Enrollments and ages of participants increased
2. Americanization education was increasingly emphasized
3. Vocational offerings were expanded
4. The number of secondary and college courses increased with the advent of
Evening high schools
5. Experimental informal adult education activities began to be offered

By World War I, evening schools were an accepted part of the adult education scene, and were generally tax supported. University extension, an educational development with profound implications for adult education, was first instituted by the University of the State of New York in 1891. Although a few universities experimented in the late 1800's with the idea that state funded universities had responsibilities to its citizens other than the transmission of a cultural heritage to traditional college-aged youth, the extension movement did not gather much force until 1906. In that year the University of Wisconsin created a University Extension division which emphasized subjects concerned with the problems of the people of the state: problems relating to agriculture, industry, politics, and society. The goal of
university extension became carrying the University to the homes of the people...to give them what they
need--be it the last word in expert advice; courses of study carrying university credit; or easy lessons in cooking and sewing. University extension...offers the benefits of research to the household and the
workshop, as well as to municipalities and the state (Louis E. Reber, Director for University Extension, University of Wisconsin, 1907; cited in Grattan, 1955, p. 193).

The university extension movement was based on the idea that the knowledge coming out of public universities should benefit the public who financed its discovery and that education could be a means to the end of enhancing the quality of life for the average citizen.

Training In The Workplace
The beginning of the twentieth century saw the adoption of programs that viewed education as a means to another end: efficiency in the workplace. The idea of scientific management developed by Frederick W. Taylor in the 1880's was appealing to the business community, and employee education was seen as the best means of increasing the efficiency he promoted. Programs to teach business skills and methods and to promote discipline and obedience were adopted by many businesses and industries. The National
Association of Corporation Schools was organized in 1913 to help businesses develop programs. A typical program, such as that offered by the John Wanamaker Commercial Institute to Wanamaker employees, included courses in reading, writing, arithmetic, English, spelling, stenography, commercial geography, commercial law, and business methods. By offering educational programs, employers hoped not only to increase corporate efficiency but also to promote employee loyalty. Providing educational services to employees and, in many cases, to their families was part of the business world's effort
to forestall unionization. Employers hoped that provision of educational activities would lead not only to increased levels of technical skill but to the general advancement of Americanization and to stable family life, as well. Increased satisfaction and stability would obviate the desire of employees to organize (Cremin, 1988).

Governmental Involvement In Adult Education
Governmental involvement in adult education increased in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 specified that federal funds be combined with state monies to develop and implement a cooperative agricultural extension service. By this means scientific knowledge developed in the land grant colleges and agricultural experiment stations could be transmitted not only through courses at the colleges but also by way of demonstrations and publications to rural families. Programs were not limited to agricultural concerns, but rather dealt with all aspects of rural life; the goal of the Cooperative Extension Service was to help families attain greater ability in maintaining more efficient farms and better homes; greater ability in acquiring higher incomes and levels of living on a continuing basis; increased competency and willingness, by both adults and youth, to assume leadership and citizenship responsibilities; and increased ability and willingness to undertake organized group action when such will contribute effectively to improving their welfare (Knowles, 1977, p. 90).

By 1960 there were over 14,000 county agents, home demonstration agents, and subject matter specialists working with almost sixteen million families (55% urban, by this date), making this program the largest adult education endeavor in the world. The contribution of the Cooperative Extension Service to the field of adult education has been profound on both theoretical and methodological levels. The Service pioneered in the development of materials and methods tailored to adult learners; it perfected techniques of home visitation and demonstration; it developed methods for the systematic evaluation of educational activities; it actively involved adults in the planning and implementation of their learning projects; and it refined procedures for preparing and pretesting teaching aids, in-service training materials, reports of educational research, and subject-matter publications at appropriate reading levels. This practice of making the learner the focus of educational activities provided the basis for later adult education theory and practice (Knowles, 1977). World War I stimulated continued government interest in adult education. The Smith- Hughes Act (1917), passed in answer to the need for skilled workers in war industries, provided for federal funds to be combined with state and local fund for the expansion of agricultural, trade, and industrial education, principally through the public schools. "By introducing into our educational system the aim of utility, to take its place in dignity by the side of culture" (Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, 1917), this piece of legislation resulted in vocational education becoming a primary focus of adult education.

Further federal support was necessitated by the Depression and World War II. Adult education programs developed by the Works Progress Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Tennessee Valley authority served many thousand unemployed adults (Knowles, 1980), and the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, popularly known as the G.I. Bill of Rights, popularized higher education by financing the higher education of thousands of adults (primarily men) who would not otherwise have
considered a college education possible (Cremin, 1988). The 1960s were a time of increasing federal legislative and financial support for adult education. The Area Redevelopment Act of 1961 and the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962 provided training for those persons who became technologically unemployed or who were affected by shifts in labor demand. The Economic Opportunity
Act (1964) established the Adult Basic Education program to provide people eighteen years of age and older a chance to develop the reading, writing, language, and mathematical skills necessary to find employment. Administered by the U.S. Office of Education after 1966, this program provided funds to state and local educational agencies for instruction, employment and training of qualified teachers, and for development and implementation of curricula and techniques appropriate for adult students (Knowles,
1980).

In 1975 Senator Walter Mondale introduced the Lifelong Learning Act, intended to support research and development, teacher training, curriculum development, development of techniques for teaching and counseling adults, and the identification of the educational needs of the elderly population (Knowles, 1980). Mondale was elected vice-president in the next election, and Congress passed the Act. However, adequate funding for the implementation of its proposals was never approved. Governmental commitment to financial support for education decreased during the Reagan administration; only the ABE program maintained its level of funding. As a result of the redefinition of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) to the Job Training Partnership Act (JPTA) the balance of support for training and retraining programs shifted from the government to private industry (Stubblefield and Keane, 1989).

Institutionalization Of Adult Education
Stubblefield (1988) characterizes the period between the two World Wars as a time of institutionalization of adult education, a period during which a primary focus was to determine the direction adult education should take as a new agency in American life. The establishment of the American Association for Adult Education (AAAE), financed by the Carnegie Corporation; increased research on adult learning; and establishment of graduate programs in adult education combined to precipitate a change in direction for adult education; it was no longer "a movement oriented primarily toward social reform" but rather a "more purely educational undertaking…a profession" (Cotton, 1964, p. 81). This change in focus was the source of considerable disagreement within the field. On the one side were those who, like Morse A. Cartwright and Lyman Bryson, foresaw danger in identifying adult education too closely with social action. The other side was represented by Eduard Lindeman, Alexander Meilke john, and others, who regarded adult education as a means of making adults intelligent about their situations in life in order that
they could apply what they learned to improve society (Stubblefield and Keane, 1989). Cotton (1964, p. 84) suggests that what emerged from this conflict was a "sophisticated and mature" orientation toward the goals and potentialities of adult education, an orientation which viewed the development and implementation of "socially significant", rather than social action, programs as the "ultimate objective" of adult education. That this debate remains unresolved today is evidenced by the current special topic
AEDNET forum initiated by Jack Mezirow. Mezirow characterizes adult education as a field envisioned by our founders and past leaders as one of great promise for democracy, social justice, equality, freedom and community development by helping adult learn how to more effectively participate in critical discourse on public issues and in collective efforts to improve their communities and make our social institutions more responsive to citizen needs (Mezirow, 1990, p. 1). He continues by expressing profound concern over the "drift" of the field from its early social commitment to its current "market-driven" state and calls on the professoriate of the field to actively foster a consensus on and efforts toward social goals by defining priorities and allocating resources.

The Image Of Adult Education
A reading of the standard histories of adult education gives a hint of the uphill battle facing Jack Mezirow and his supporters. While he views the social action programs of the past as "one of our proudest legacies", the historians of the field virtually ignore them. Little more than passing mention is made of women educators and their contribution to the field, of education in socialist movements, of the education of African American adults, or of worker's education (Cunningham, 1989). Additionally, programs which could be viewed from a modern perspective as culturally imperialistic or oppressive (assimilation of American Indians, Americanization of immigrants) are reported with no discussion of related ethical questions. As a result of the subjective choices made in reporting an image emerges from these standard histories of a field established, developed, and practiced almost exclusively by white, middle-class males for the purpose of implementing their view of the good society.

PART II: THE UNDERBRUSH AND THE VINES
Adult education was defined in 1936 by Lyman Bryson as "all activities with an educational purpose that are carried on by people engaged in the ordinary business of life" (Bryson, 1936, cited in Grattan, p. 3); the ethnocentric biases of adult education historians have left many of these activities unreported or undervalued, however. Examination of some of these activities and programs can provide useful perspectives on the field . What follows is merely a representative sampling of "neglected" adult education histories; no claim to comprehensiveness or cohesiveness is intended. That the people
and programs described here would have as strong a claim to a place in the history of adult education as have the "big trees" of the standard histories seems obvious. As W. E. Williams pointed out in his survey of the British adult education scene earlier in the century, "the big trees [are] far from being the only valuable parts of the forest....much of the true vitality of the forest [is] to be found elsewhere" ( Williams, 1934, cited in Grattan, 1955).

Neglected Histories
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson was a learned reader of the Bible, mother of 12, and mid-wife who held weekly meetings in her home to discuss the minister's sermons. Sister's Anne's influence grew among the women of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and women soon started bringing their husbands to participate in the discussions. Sister Anne's fate differed from that of Cotton Mather, a later discussion leader: male community leaders halted the talks and Hutchinson was excommunicated and banished. She was later killed by Indians (Sochen, 1974).

Adult Education Among Quakers
Quaker's have long been pioneers in women's and adult education. Among Quakers, parents were held responsible for the education of their children; for this reason the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was, by the middle of the eighteenth century, providing schooling for poor parents whose lack of education made them unable to properly educate their children. In 1778, Anthony Benezet, a Philadelphia Quaker, established a grammar school for the purpose of educating rural women who were responsible for providing their children with a basic education. After 1790, women ministers began advocating advanced education and teacher training for women to enable them to “assume responsibility for educating the poor, blacks, and women, even at advanced levels" (Schwager, 1987).

Black Literary Societies
Free blacks established many literary societies in the early and mid 1800's. Some of the expressed purposes of these societies were: the stimulation of reading and the spreading of useful knowledge by providing libraries and reading rooms, the encouragement of expressed literary efforts by providing audiences as critics and channels of publication for their literary productions and the training of future orators and leaders by means of debates(Porter, 1936, p. 557).One of the most ambitious of these organizations, the Phoenix Society (1833) of New York City, was "designed to be the soul of the entire [black] population and their friends in the city." Its goal was "to promote the improvement of the colored people in morals, literature, and the mechanical arts". Projects included a library, reading room and exhibition hall; historical and scientific lectures; ward societies for mutual aid in the community; and an evening school for adults (Porter, 1936; p. 555-56).The development of these societies was necessitated by the race relations of the time. Blacks were generally unwelcome in white literary societies. In Massachusetts, for example, Charles Sumner and Ralph Waldo Emerson canceled an engagement to speak at a local Lyceum when it became known that black patrons were not granted the same privileges as whites. Although most of these societies were short-lived, they served several positive purposes during their existence: they helped to disseminate knowledge among a poorly educated population; they encouraged many Blacks to start private libraries; they trained individuals for community leadership; and they were frequently the background for the organization of schools for Blacks. In all of these activities, Black organizers provided ample evidence of an ability to develop and implement self-educative activities.

Freedmen's Schools
Following the Civil War, schools to teach the children of freed slaves were established by several public and private organizations. By 1870, over 3,000 teachers--white and black teachers from the North and white teachers from the South--were engaged in this effort. Although the overwhelming majority of the teachers were female, leadership and supervisory positions were reserved for males. This policy was strictly enforced, even in cases in which women were better suited by credentials, experience, or
temperament to lead (Jones, 1979).

Many of the teachers operated night schools for the purpose of educating the newly freed black population in the knowledge and attitudes necessary for them to be assimilated into their proper place in American society. This goal caused considerable resentment among Southern whites, who viewed these teachers as an "invasion force “attempting to recreate Blacks in their own image in order to control the power of the Black vote, and thus the destiny of the South (Morris, 1981).Tuskegee Normal And Industrial Institute
Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee in 1881 to provide industrial and teacher training to Black men and women. Other courses of study included English, reading, composition, mathematics, geography, history, government and law, bookkeeping, natural science, philosophy, music, and religion. Classes were held during the day for students able to attend full time; night classes were available for those who worked during the day (Gyant, 1988).Washington, with the assistance of George W. Carver, also established the Tuskegee Agricultural Experiment Station. This Movable School Project traveled around rural Alabama to teach men and women new agricultural methods, animal husbandry, home gardening, disease prevention, and improved methods of food preparation. Additionally, students from the school went into rural areas to teach adults to read and to understand the value of education for themselves and their children (Gyant, 1988).

Tuskegee Woman's Club
The Tuskegee Woman's Club was founded by Mrs. Washington for the purpose of promoting the "general intellectual development of women." Although as exclusive in membership as many of its white counterparts, the Club became actively involved in community affairs. A plantation settlement that included Sunday school classes, organized boys' and girls' clubs, sewing classes for girls, mothers' clubs, and newspaper reading clubs for the men was established in 1898. A public library and reading room was
started in 1901, and the Town Night School a few years later. This school provided the opportunity for many men and women to receive academic and industrial training(Neverdon-Morton, 1982).The Club served as a vehicle for community self-help, as well. Woman's Club members began to engage in home visits in Tuskegee in order to teach women how to better care for their families and maintain their homes. Mothers' meetings to discuss home management, child care, and marital concerns were held every week. When black women began increasingly to seek the right to vote, political education was added to the program to insure that they could vote as informed citizens (Neverdon-Morton, 1982).The Bryn Mawr Summer School For Women Workers In Industry The Bryn Mawr Summer School, established in 1921 through the combined efforts of women leaders in labor and education, was based not on a narrow, utilitarian view of workers' education but rather on a belief in the rights of all individuals to self development in terms of both culture and economic value. The purpose of the program was to offer young women in industry opportunities to study liberal subjects and to train themselves in clear thinking; to stimulate an active and continued interest in the problems of our economic order; to develop a desire for study as a means of understanding and of enjoyment in life. The Summer School was to be committed to no particular theory or dogma; discussion and teaching were to be free and open to enable students to gain insight into the problems of industry and into their potential to help solve those problems (Constitution of the Bryn Mawr Summer School, 1922).The statement of purpose and the original curriculum--economics, English, history, literature, hygiene, science, and music appreciation--reflected the liberal educational
philosophy of President M. Carey Thomas and the Bryn Mawr College trustees, a philosophy that placed major emphasis on the development of the intellectual powers of the mind rather than on pragmatic approaches to immediate problems. By implementing a program the purpose of which was not merely to instruct workers in identifying the sources of and solutions to their own job-related problems but also to introduce them to “new fields of thought and interest" (Smith, 1929), the Summer School made a unique contribution to the field of workers' education. That the program was at least partially successful in reaching the goal of "liberating"--in the traditional educational sense—the working women who attended the School, is reflected in the words of one student, a garment worker: "It was light when my feet touched the soil of the campus. It was light again when girls of different parts of America and from various industries addressed each other in an old-friendly way. It was light when the dark heavenly bodies were pointed out and introduced. It was light when the strange sounds of foreign language became familiar and sweet. It was light when the teacher and pupils analyzed the control of wages and the means of production. "It will be light, strong, and warm, light for humanity." (quoted in Smith, 1978, p. 156).

Highlander Folk School
Many adult education activities have evolved out of community initiatives; Highlander Folk School is a good example of this type of program. Established in 1932 by Miles Horton, Highlander's purpose was to help people find their own answers to the problems which faced them and to gain greater control over their lives: in other words, to empower the common people. Early programs, which included courses in psychology, cultural geography, revolutionary literature, and current economic problems, as well as seminars on how to promote social change, were focused on labor reform; throughout the 1930's Highlander's staff and students worked to create equality of opportunity within the labor movement. By
the 1950's, general acceptance of the right of labor to organize and improving economic conditions influenced a shift in the emphasis of Highlander's efforts; "[c]onquering meanness, prejudice, and tradition" as a prerequisite to an orderly transition to an integrated South became the new focus of the Folk School's programs (Adams, 1980, p. 225).

Stubblefield and Keane (1989) suggest that the most important contribution made by Highlander was the development of citizenship schools to teach Blacks literacy and an understanding of the white power structure and their rights in a democracy. In the tradition of helping oppressed people help themselves, operation of the schools was turned over to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1961.

An Alternative Image Of The Field
Awareness of the "neglected" histories of adult education results in a picture of the field quite different from that projected by traditional histories; the resulting image is not one of practitioners striving for professional maturity and sophistication but rather one of ordinary people striving together for individual and societal improvement. By looking "beyond institutions to the popular social movement, grass roots education, voluntary associations, and communities producing and disseminating knowledge as a human
activity" (Cunningham, 1989, p. 34), adult education can be perceived as a field more concerned with the ends than the means.

PART III: THE NEED FOR A BALANCED HISTORY OF ADULT EDUCATION
In 1964 Webster Cotton wrote about periods in the development of the field of adult education in which considerable "intellectual ferment" was aroused among educators by contemplation of questions "as to where adult education should be going, why and how best to get there" (p. 80). Twenty-five years later, adult educators are still asking these questions; however, adequate answers depend on the answer to another question: where have we been? Questions regarding goals, ethics, philosophies, and policies need to be answered by individuals and by groups in the field, but the answers must be informed not only by
current theory and practice but also by a knowledge of the history of the field. Any attempt at planning--"a systematic attempt to shape the future"--must involve knowledge of and a shaping of the trends and events which emanate from the past (Rothwell, 1951, cited in Johnson, 1973). Writing a history involves selecting and arranging evidence to interpret and explain the past. The process of selection is essentially a subjective one, although our sincere goal may be "scholarly objectivity"; who we are, where we have been, and where we hope to go influences us, consciously or unconsciously, in any such evaluative process. Two factors make standard histories of adult education inadequate for the purpose of informing present policy construction, decision making, and action. First, their authors, in the process of selecting and arranging events, have omitted or undervalued populations whose activities and achievements should have earned them recognition equal to that afforded the field's heroes. To revere Franklin's twelve-member Junto while ignoring Black literary societies, which were more extensive in both size and goals, for example, leaves standard historians open to a charge of ethnocentric bias which should have no place in a field which prides itself on reflecting a universal human activity. Second, standard histories have consistently ignored the ethical questions involved in the "forced" adult education of groups such as Native Americans and immigrants. Respect for and pride in the past should not preclude recognition and discussion of such questions. To ignore the successes of minority or counter-hegemonic groups and to overlook the failures of the prevailing hegemony robs the field of information and perspectives necessary to make informed decisions in the present. The standard histories and the neglected histories project different images of adult education; both are necessary for a complete understanding of the field. Once we have a clearer understanding of where we all have been, we will be better prepared to address the questions of where we should be going and how best to get there.

Essay Instructions: Select two policy areas or three such as welfare reform, education reform and the NCLB legislation, and health insurance reform, Write an essay in which you (1) identify three general points about the policy making process that are part of the “multiple streams” framework or the “advocacy coalition” framework and that you consider particularly interesting, and (2) use the two or more policy examples to illustrate how these points are supported or contradicted by the facts in these cases.

(WELFARE REFORM)

??????Of the 9.7 million uninsured parents in the United States, as many as 3.5 million living below
the federal poverty level could read-
ily be made eligible for Medicaid under current law.
?URBAN INSTITUTE
Brief 24, April 2012
Welfare Reform
What Have We Learned in Fifteen Years?
Sheila R. Zedlewski

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is the only federal means-tested cash safety net program for poor families with children.1 TANF was created in 1996 to replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), in effect for 60 years.2 Its passage was part of the sweeping Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, designed to improve the lives of low-income families.
During its 15-year history, TANF has oper- ated in good and bad economic times. What have we learned since its passage? Has the caseload changed substantially? Has the program increased family self-sufficiency? Do we know how to move families into jobs and how to provide critical train- ing and education for disadvantaged parents? How does the program work within the larger safety net? What do we know about family outcomes associated with TANF? What don’t we know?
This brief draws primarily from a set of research briefs that address these questions
(box 1).3 The briefs extract lessons for state
and federal policymakers from the best avail- able research. This synthesis, augmented by the research briefs, provides the required background for those interested in the program, as well as ideas for how to strengthen it.
What Is in the TANF Legislation?
Most elements of the original TANF legislation remain in place today. The program was reauthorized only once through the 2005 Deficit Reconciliation Act (DRA), and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) enacted emergency funds to shore up states’ programs during the Great Recession.
The key provisions of TANF include giving states primary responsibility for TANF design
within broad federal requirements (table 1). Federal rules require states to meet work partici- pation rates (or face financial penalties), prohibit using federal dollars to fund a family’s cash assis- tance for more than five years (with some excep- tions), and provide federal block grant funding fixed in 1996 with a maintenance of effort (MOE) requirement for states. Elimination of federal eligibility for documented immigrants in the United States less than five years was a funda- mental part of the legislation.
The TANF reauthorization strengthened the original work requirements by more narrowly defining allowable work activities and specifying the number of hours that could be spent in each activity. While the new requirements restricted states’ flexibility by defining the types of activi- ties and the hours certain activities can count, the final federal rules helped states meet their new obligations by allowing them to count hours rather than days of participation and expanding the types of assistance credited toward MOE requirements. The DRA also required states to apply work participation requirements to more of their caseloads, and it updated the basis for credits that can reduce states’ required work participation rates.
The ARRA provided $5 billion in emergency federal funding for states with a 20 percent match requirement. Funds could be used for cash benefits, emergency assistance, subsidized jobs programs, or supports to help families find work. ARRA also modified the basis for calculating caseload reduc- tion credits, temporarily ameliorating states’ work participation requirements.
State program rules vary considerably within broad federal rules, leading to extreme variation in the size and make-up of caseloads across the country. Generally state TANF programs can be

??PERSPECTIVES ON LOW- INCOME WORKING FAMILIES
?An Urban Institute Program to Assess Changing Social Policies
?BOX 1. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program—Research Synthesis Brief Series
All briefs are available at http://www.urban.org/welfare/TANF.cfm.
?1. “TANF Recipients with Barriers to Employment,” Dan Bloom, Pamela Loprest, and Sheila Zedlewski.
2. “Disconnected Families and TANF,” Pamela J. Loprest.
3. “TANF Child-Only Cases,” Olivia Golden and Amelia Hawkins.
4. “TANF and the Broader Safety Net,” Sheila Zedlewski.
5. “TANF Work Requirements and State Strategies to Fulfill Them,” Heather Hahn, David Kassabian, and Sheila Zedlewski.
6. “Improving Employment and Earnings for TANF Recipients,” Gayle Hamilton.
7. “Facilitating Postsecondary Education and Training for TANF Recipients,” Gayle Hamilton and Susan
Scrivener.
8. “The TANF Caseload,” Pamela J. Loprest.
These briefs were funded through a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation of the Administration for Children and Families, and can also be found on their web site.
?states: 30 percent of the national TANF caseload lives in California.
TANF program rules, the economy, and other safety net programs affect caseloads. Studies document that declining unemployment and the strong economy in the late 1990s contributed to the post-TANF caseload decline. TANF policy explained roughly 20 percent of the decline. Changes in other policies, primarily expansion of the earned income tax credit (EITC), also reduced caseloads. While there has been little rigorous study of caseload trends during the most recent recession, most experts believe that TANF is less responsive to an economic downturn than its predecessor.
Research also shows that specific TANF poli- cies can significantly affect caseloads. In fact, most TANF changes have tended to reduce caseloads, including declining real benefits, mandated work activities, and diversion policies that require sub- stantial evidence of job search or offer a one-time payment in lieu of enrollment. Sanctions either eliminate a case or create a child-only TANF unit. Time limits reduce caseloads, although so far only modestly, since most do not stay on long enough to reach the limit. On the other hand, policies that allow TANF recipients to retain more of their earn- ings and still receive a benefit increase caseloads.
The caseload decline reflects both an increase in the number of families leaving welfare (exits) and a decrease in the number entering (entrants). Studies show that declining TANF entries play
an important role in caseload decline, although
?characterized by shrinking real benefits, strate- gies that divert families from enrolling, sanctions that penalize families for failing to meet program requirements, and benefit time limits. For exam- ple, 30 states paid maximum TANF benefits at less than 30 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) in 2008, compared to 17 states in 1996.4 Only one state’s benefit exceeded 50 percent of the FPL in 2008, compared with 10 states in 1996. Diversion strategies, not part of the pre- TANF entitlement program, were used in
42 states in 2008 to provide short-term assistance or simply discourage enrollment. States also use sanctions amply. For example, 22 states now impose full family sanctions (elimination of the entire benefit) the first time a family fails to meet program requirements. Such a sanction was not allowed in the AFDC program.
How Has the Caseload Changed?
Caseloads have declined dramatically since passage of TANF (figure 1). The steepest decline occurred shortly after passage of TANF during a period of strong economic growth. In her TANF research brief, Pamela Loprest explains that caseloads have increased somewhat following the 2007 recession, although the number of families receiv- ing assistance remains below prerecession levels. Caseload trends have varied across the states; some declined more than 80 percent between 1997 and 2010 and others, only 25 percent. As
a result, the caseload is concentrated in a few
??2
?An Urban Institute Program to Assess Changing Social Policies
?TABLE 1. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program: Federal Legislation
Legislation Purposes Key provisions
?Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
of 1996, establishing TANF through 2002
Provide assistance so children could be cared for in own homes or homes of relatives.
End parental dependence on government benefits by pro- moting job preparation, work, and marriage.
Discourage pregnancies outside of marriage.
Encourage formation and mainte- nance of two-parent families.
Strengthen work requirements. Increase family self-sufficiency. Improve reliability of work par-
ticipation data and program integrity.
Emergency funding for state TANF programs in response to recession beginning in 2007.
Give states primary respon- sibility for program design.
Set state work participation rates within 12 categories of activities. Set minimum hours/week to count as participating.
Award caseload reduction credit allowing states to reduce requirement by % of caseload reduction since 1995.
Set time limits on federal benefits.
Fund fixed block grants and require state maintenance of effort (MOE).
Grant bonuses for reducing illegitimacy, achieving high performance.
Define 12 work activities. Define methods for report-
ing and verifying work. Include all families in work
participation requirement. Change the caseload reduc-
tion credit by moving base
year to 2005 from 1995. Broaden expenditures that
count toward MOE. Eliminate bonuses and
establish grants for healthy marriage.
Award $5 billion with state 20% match required.
Increase TANF assistance. Increase short-term benefits. Subsidize employment.
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, extending TANF through fiscal 2010
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, effective through fiscal 2010
?Sources: Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, Pub. L. No. 104-193, 110 Stat. 2105, (1996); Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-171, 120 Stat. 4 (2006); American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Pub. L. No. 111-115, 123 Stat. 115 (2009).
of adults on welfare in 2009 had been on for four years or more. We know little about how many not currently on TANF have accumulated years toward their time limits. We also know little about rates of return to welfare. Some evidence shows that returns declined somewhat between 1997 and 2002 after a two-year period of exiting, but we don’t know whether this has continued during a weaker economy.
??increasing exits explain most of the decline in the program’s early years. TANF “take-up” rates, defined as the share of eligible families that enroll, have declined from 79 percent in 1996 to 36 percent in 2007 (the latest data available).
Similar to patterns found in studies of AFDC, the time spent on welfare remains fairly short for most families with adult recipients. For example, administrative data indicate that only 12 percent
??3
?An Urban Institute Program to Assess Changing Social Policies
?FIGURE 1. TANF Caseload and Composition: Millions of Families, Selected Years 4.6
???69.2%
7.7% 23.1%
Single-parent family Two-parent family Child-only cases
?2.3
2000
61.5%
4.0% 34.5%
2.0
2004
54.0%
2.5% 43.6%
1.7
2009
47.3% 4.5% 48.1%
?????????????????1996
Source: Table 3, Characteristics of TANF Active Cases, Various Years. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/character/.
?Child-Only TANF Cases
As shown in figure 1, in 2009 child-only cases, those without a parent eligible for benefits, make up about half of the TANF caseload, compared with about one in five just prior to TANF imple- mentation in 1996. Only 800,000 adults received TANF cash assistance in 2009. Two-parent fami- lies remain a small share of the caseload—5 per- cent in 2009 compared with 8 percent in 1996. While the large increase in child-only cases can be attributed to declining numbers of parent families on TANF, it is critical to understand that in half of TANF cases only the children receive benefits.
Olivia Golden and Amelia Hawkins explain that child-only cases have generated little research given their importance to TANF. About 4 in 10
of these families do not include a parent, and two-thirds of children in nonparental cases live with a grandparent. The 6 in 10 child-only TANF families with parents present include parents ineligible due to citizenship rules (42 percent), par- ents receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and therefore ineligible (34 percent), and sanctioned parents (10 percent).5 The child-only shares of cases and the share in each subcategory vary widely across states. Some variations can be explained by state policy or demographic charac- teristics, but no systematic analysis exists.
Golden and Hawkins describe important connections between nonparental child-only units and the child welfare system. State-specific
?studies have documented that one-third to one- half of these cases involved child protective ser- vices to some degree. Studies have also suggested particular concerns about these children’s well- being. Federal and state policies affect how these TANF cases form by whether local agencies seek kin to care for maltreated children and whether kin can be licensed as foster parents who receive caregiver subsidies as permanent guardians or adoptive parents. These subsidies would typically make them ineligible for TANF.
Child-only units created through parent ineligibility present different questions. Children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants are automatically citizens and eli- gible for TANF if their parents’ resources are low enough to qualify. (Some states also fund ben- efits to the parents.) In most states, parents who receive SSI disability payments are not themselves eligible for TANF (because the SSI benefit is too high), but their children may be. And states that sanction parents but not their children for some or all rule violations create child-only units. Unlike parents in other child-only cases, sanctioned par- ents may count as work eligible and be included in states’ work participation calculations.6
Characteristics of Parents Receiving TANF
The characteristics of adults receiving welfare have changed little since passage of TANF. Pamela Loprest reports that some state-specific studies
??4
??application requires extensive documentation of disabilities and, sometimes, multiple hearings. States may connect recipients to legal services
or other providers to help them through the process. A few TANF programs have their own medical assessments that mimic those used by SSI to ensure applicants have a high probability of eligibility. States typically exempt TANF recipi- ents applying for SSI from work activities, which could jeopardize their approval. However, federal rules count SSI applicants in states’ work partici- pation rate calculations. Some states move SSI applicants into separate state-funded programs so they do not count in the participation rate, and so the applicant’s waiting time does not count against the TANF time limit.
How Do States Meet the Work Participation Requirements?
In most states, work is TANF’s primary focus.
Heather Hahn, David Kassabian, and Sheila Zedlewski describe how most states have met the DRA requirements, despite the weakening econ- omy. States adopted multiple strategies, such as creating more unpaid work opportunities, keep- ing working families in the caseload longer, and moving some families into solely state-funded programs (SSFs) outside of TANF.
Since its inception, TANF has required states to engage at least half of all TANF families with a work-eligible individual and at least 90 percent of two-parent TANF families with two work-eligible individuals in work or work activities. Nearly
all TANF adult recipients are classified as work eligible.7 While states can exclude certain groups from these requirements, federal regulations require states count all work-eligible adults in the participation rate.
With a couple of exceptions, work-eligible TANF recipients must participate in work activi- ties for at least 30 hours a week, including at least 20 hours in a “core” activity (including employ- ment) and the remaining hours in core or “non- core” activities (such as education). Single parents with children under age 6 must participate for
a total of 20 hours per week, and teen parents count as participating as long as they are attend- ing school. The DRA carefully defines allowable core and noncore activities and in some cases limits the amount of each activity that can count. Post-DRA regulations allow states to count hourly equivalents toward these requirements. Many states had to set up new systems for reporting and verifying hours of participation to meet the new requirements.
?find evidence of increases in health problems, and administrative data show small increases in the Hispanic and Native American shares of recipi- ents. The share of noncitizen cases has declined.
When TANF first passed, many hypoth- esized that parents in the program would become an increasingly hard-to-employ group as the more work-ready recipients moved into jobs. Yet, the share of the TANF adult caseload with barriers to employment has remained fairly constant.
Dan Bloom, Pamela Loprest, and Sheila Zedlewski report that, generally, studies find most adults receiving TANF have at least one barrier to employment, including low educa- tion, limited work experience, mental or physical health challenges, and caregiving responsibilities for special needs children. Nationally representa- tive and state-specific studies generally find that about 4 in 10 adults on TANF have multiple barriers. Most barriers are associated with lower employment, and the likelihood of work declines as the number of barriers increases.
Programs that identify and serve TANF recipients with barriers to employment are com- plex. States often provide a range of services apart from work supports, including intensive case management, rehabilitative services, job coach- ing, support groups, and referrals. Many create individual plans geared to overcoming multiple, varied challenges.
The literature shows that some services help move these recipients to work. Interventions
that have been tested and rigorously evaluated fall along a continuum of service strategies, from models focused on work experience to those focused on treatment. Evaluations of eight post- TANF interventions conclude that most achieved at least some positive impacts. For example, pro- grams focused on employment that include a mix of job preparation and work experience show small increases in employment, sometimes last- ing for several years. Programs focused primarily on treatment succeed in their immediate goal
of increasing participation in substance abuse
or mental health services. However, increases in treatment participation do not typically translate into better health or employment outcomes. Some evidence suggests that expensive, intensive case management models that include small caseloads and a home visiting component hold promise.
As part of states’ strategies for serving the hard-to-employ, many help TANF recipients apply for SSI, the federal program for low-income persons with disabilities severe enough to pre- vent work. The complex, time-consuming SSI
??
??Caseload reduction credits can lower the required participation rates. Credits can be earned either by reducing the TANF caseload relative
to a base year or by contributing more than the required MOE on TANF-related activities. The DRA changed the base year from 1995 to 2005, substantially reducing this avenue for achieving credits since most of the TANF caseload declined in the years just after TANF passed. However, excess MOE credits have increased. A state can deduct from its participation requirement the number of cases that could be funded with excess MOE dollars.8 This has allowed many states to earn enough credits to meet their work participa- tion rates. Just prior to the DRA, 17 states met their rates through caseload reduction credits alone, compared with 21 states in 2009.
States employ numerous strategies to achieve these work participation rates. Most states count a combination of job-related education and train- ing and employment activities. Creative strategies include keeping working families in the caseload and removing nonworking families. More gener- ous earned income disregards or small monthly supplements for families with earnings high enough to otherwise disqualify them increase
the share of the adult caseload with earnings.
Full family sanctions cut nonworking families from the caseload. Moving hard-to-employ and two-parent families into SSFs also reduces the nonworking part of the caseload. Diversion strat- egies that offer a short-term cash payment in lieu of enrollment or that require substantial proof of employment search before enrollment also keep nonworking adults off the caseloads.
The national all-families’ work participa- tion rate has ranged between 31 and 35 percent for most of TANF history.9 Individual states’ all-families rates ranged from 10 to 68 percent in 2009. Yet, most states were able to meet the fed- eral requirements by combining these work par- ticipation rates with caseload reduction credits.10
What Employment and Education Programs Increase Self Sufficiency?
Policymakers often want to know what strategies would help TANF parents or those with similar characteristics move into employment and long- term self-sufficiency. Gayle Hamilton synthesizes a large body of evidence evaluating such strate- gies, and Gayle Hamilton and Susan Scrivener describe the effectiveness of initiatives to increase postsecondary education and training.
Employment models. Rigorous research shows that both work-first and education-first strategies
?can increase work and earnings compared with having no program, even after five years. But mandatory job search gets people into jobs sooner, and education-first strategies do not ultimately increase likelihood of holding a good job or even more jobs. Mixed strategies that combine high-quality program services (such as training, case management, and support services) delivered by community colleges with a strong employment focus work best. The literature shows a clear role for skills enhancement, partic- ularly when credentials are earned, but job seek- ing and work along with education and training are important.
Other research examines the effectiveness
of subsidized work models that use public funds to create or support temporary work opportuni- ties. These experiments have typically targeted very disadvantaged individuals. The results sug- gest these programs have boosted employment
in the short run but rarely in the longer term. Transitional jobs programs—defined as providing a temporary, wage-paying job with support ser- vices and some case management—may also cre- ate useful work opportunities and reduce welfare receipt. However, the one available rigorously- evaluated program did not improve longer-term unsubsidized employment or earnings.
Other interventions focus on sectoral training initiatives that connect employment programs
to specific businesses and industries through integrated skills training. One study that rigor- ously tested the effects of such training for low- income individuals (all of whom had completed high school or GED) showed promise based on increased employment and earnings in a two-year follow-up period.
Many studies show that supplementing low-wage workers’ earnings can promote employ- ment, and longer-lasting effects may be attain- able. Effects are larger when these incentives are combined with job search services. These studies also show that wage supplements can affect work hours since individuals can work less and still maintain income, suggesting an important trade- off in designing incentives.
Other initiatives seek to increase job reten- tion. Current and former TANF recipients have trouble maintaining employment and consistently earning wages. Programs such as job search assis- tance after a job loss, job coaching, and assistance in accessing work supports such as food stamps and child care may increase employment reten- tion and earnings. Evaluation results have been mixed. Numerous programs have lacked proven impacts, but others showed success. Financial incentives for employment retention along with
??
??promise. Low-income parents in such programs were more likely to attend college full time, earn better grades, and earn more credits. They also registered for college at higher rates.
What Other Services Does TANF Provide?
All discussions about hard-to-employ TANF recipients, work participation rates, and initia- tives to increase employment or education miss
a large part of the TANF program. In fiscal year 2009, states spent 73 percent of TANF funds (federal and state MOE) for purposes other than cash assistance, compared with 30 percent in fis- cal year 1997 (U.S. GAO 2011, 8). This “non- assistance” includes spending that furthers TANF goals, such as child care, transportation, refund- able tax credits, short-term assistance (including diversion payments), and employment programs. Some spending directly helps current and for- mer TANF cash assistance recipients and some
is directed to a broader population that never received TANF.
A large share of states’ nonassistance spend- ing (about 30 percent in 2009) gets categorized as “other” on federal reporting forms, and states were required to provide additional detail on this spending in 2011 (U.S. DHHS 2011). The early results indicate that most goes toward child wel- fare payments and services (25 percent). Other spending is divided across a wide range of activi- ties, including emergency assistance, domestic vio- lence, and mental health and addiction services.
Many low-income families served through the TANF block grant are not reflected in the caseload counts. There is a wide range of non- assistance spending across states: California spent 62 percent of expenditures on assistance for TANF recipients (including cash payments, child care, and transportation), compared with only 20 per- cent in Wisconsin.
How Does TANF Fit with the Broader Safety Net?
Sheila Zedlewski shows how TANF often serves as a portal to other safety net benefits for low- income families with children. Families that enroll in TANF typically get enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid automatically, and work- ing recipients receive child care subsidies. Most families receive these benefits when they transi- tion off TANF, although rules vary across the states. As noted, TANF programs may help those with significant disabilities apply for SSI.
?job coaching, and close ties between providers or staff and employers seem to work best.
Education models. Whether TANF should promote increased education, particularly post- secondary education, to help recipients to reach self-sufficiency is a long-standing debate. As noted above, the DRA limited how much educa- tion can be counted as a work activity, consistent with results showing that education before job placement does not work better than job place- ment alone. DRA limited vocational training to 12 months for a given recipient, and training and education directly related to employment can only count when combined with 20 hours in a core work activity.
Arguments for increasing education derive from evidence showing more education leads
to higher earnings. Over the last 25 years wages have increased for those with college or more, wages for high school graduates have remained stagnant, and wages for high school dropouts have fallen. People with an associate’s degree or who completed a certificate program earn more than those with only a high school diploma or GED. Since only one-third of low-income work- ers with children have more than a high school diploma and one-third are high school dropouts, many seek to increase education among this population.
Gayle Hamilton and Susan Scrivener con- clude that the evaluations of models focused on increasing postsecondary education for low-wage workers contradict the broader evidence that more education increases earnings. Initiatives that aim to increase postsecondary education and train- ing typically test whether training occurs and whether the increased education increases earn- ings. Results for recent models that target TANF recipients by combining referrals to community college or training with at least 20 hours a week
of paid work are not encouraging. For individuals with a high school diploma or equivalent, add- ing education to mandated work when compared with a typical work-first program had little or no effect on participation in education or training
or completion of certificates or diplomas. On the other hand, sector-based training models that tar- get individuals with specific aptitudes for specific occupations (such as health care or information technology) and assist with job matching did increase those who began and completed train- ing. Sector-based training programs also increased earnings, although gains were generally modest.
Other programs aim to help those already enrolled in community college stay in school. Performance-based scholarship programs that pay students if they meet academic benchmarks hold
??
??TANF itself represents a relatively small part of the safety net. Medicaid, SSI, SNAP, and the federal EITC expenditures (even considering only the portion focused on families with chil- dren), far exceed spending on TANF. In 2009, 81 percent of TANF families also received SNAP, 98 percent received Medicaid, and 16 percent received SSI. Nonetheless, TANF families com- prise relatively small shares of these programs. They make up about 19 percent of all SNAP households with children and 14 percent of the SSI awards to nonelderly individuals.
Other important parts of the safety net
for TANF families include child care subsidies, Workforce Investment Act (WIA) services, and child support enforcement. TANF parents who work are guaranteed subsidies for child care; other low-income parents not on TANF may also qualify. Rules vary tremendously across states. The latest administrative data indicate that 9 percent of all TANF cases receive child care subsidies. (Since only half of TANF cases have a work- eligible adult and about 30 percent of them engage in work activities, the share requiring child care is relatively small.)
WIA provides employment services (job search and preparation, training and education) that are typically available to low-income indi- viduals outside of TANF. Some states have strong connections between their TANF and WIA programs to create a more streamlined employ- ment support system, while others simply refer TANF clients to WIA agencies. In general, few low-income workers receive WIA employment services owing to limited and declining funds ($3 billion in 2009).
The Office of Child Support Enforcement funds programs to locate parents, establish paternity and support orders, and collect sup- port payments. These services are available automatically for families receiving TANF assis- tance and for other families upon request. The program distributed $26 billion in child support payments in 2009, an important source of sup- port for custodial parents. In 2009, 14 percent of TANF parents received some child support income.
A small share of unemployed TANF parents receives Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits. When TANF first passed, many hoped that more low-income parents with children would qualify for benefits as they gained more work experience. UI benefits would then reduce the need for cash welfare benefits. While the share of unemployed single parents receiving UI benefits has increased, it is still only 30 percent (Nichols and Zedlewski 2011).
?Studies show that low-income families rarely receive all of the safety net benefits for which they are eligible. Complex program rules and inter- actions often make it difficult to learn about eli- gibility and access services, and participation rates vary across programs. Studies documenting post- TANF coordination of benefits show that some states use several structures such as colocation
of services, but service delivery in most states is uneven. Studies document that the complexity of forms and regulations, hassles and hurdles to get on and stay on the rolls, and unfriendly offices all contribute to low participation.
How Have Families Been Affected?
Most research on the effect of TANF on family and child outcomes concludes it has had few measureable effects. A 2009 book edited by James Ziliak summarizes these findings: Rebecca Blank’s chapter outlines what we know about work and welfare participation (see above in the discussion of caseload decline), health and health insurance, child outcomes and child care usage, and family composition and fertility. One caveat is that most reviewed studies reflect only data through 2000 and 2002; in two cases, data carry through 2004.
Blank’s review of the evidence concludes that welfare reform reduced health insurance coverage, but the effects on single women were quite small. Also, any evidence of the impact of insurance changes on health outcomes is limited.
Blank also concludes that children’s outcomes do not appear to be significantly affected by wel- fare reform. Some evidence suggests that young children do slightly better if child care subsidies allow newly working parents to place children
in formal child care settings. One motivation of welfare reform was the hope that moving moth- ers into work would increase children’s aware- ness of the value of education and the need to prepare for work, but little evidence supports or refutes these claims. Evidence of any effects of welfare reform on marriage is also quite weak. Cohabitation has increased, but this is likely because single mothers have more need to share incomes. Research continues to show minor effects of welfare reform on fertility.
More recent attention has focused on dis- connected families, a potentially negative effect of welfare reform. As Pamela Loprest explains, many pointed to caseload declines and increases in working single parents as evidence of TANF’s success. Yet national and state studies also began to note that a significant minority of former
??
??recipients did not leave welfare with employment. Coupled with declining TANF enrollment, con- cerns were raised about families “disconnected” from the labor market and cash public assistance (TANF or disability benefits).
One national study estimates that one in five recipients who left TANF in the past two years were disconnected. Among all low-income single mothers, estimates range from 17 to 26 percent. While incomes are low, child support is one important source of income. Many also receive SNAP or housing assistance.
Studies also show that disconnected families are more disadvantaged than other low-income single-mother families. They have a high rate of barriers to work, such as physical and mental dis- abilities. Many live with other adults (about one- third with a cohabiter and one-third with relatives and friends) and one-third live alone. Studies that include cohabiters’ income show that these families typically still have incomes below poverty.
While the evidence on the length of time spent as a disconnected family is scant, some research indicates that many families move in and out of this state, but a substantial minority are dis- connected for long times For example, one study finds 17 percent of disconnected single-mother families were disconnected for an entire year.
Summing Up
TANF is a very different program than its pre- decessor that primarily paid cash benefits to very low income parents with children:
1. The nature of the caseload and focus of spend- ing have changed dramatically.
???? Only half the TANF caseload—about
800,000 families—includes parents receiving benefits. Child-only units
make up the rest. While 6 in 10 of these families include ineligible parents (due to receipt of disability benefits, immigration status, or sanctioned status), 4 in 10 do not. Children in these families live with relatives (mostly grandparents) or legal guardians.
???? Over 7 in 10 TANF dollars pay for services that do not count as assistance or affect
the caseload counts. Low-income families with children may receive emergency cash intended to divert them from enrolling, child care or transportation assistance, or even a refundable state EITC. In some states TANF dollars help fund child welfare programs.
?2. TANF programs usually focus on moving par- ents who receive benefits into employment.
???? Federal regulations require states to meet
work participation rates of 50 percent
for all families. States employ numerous strategies to count adult recipients in work activities, including incentives that allow parents to keep some TANF benefit when working and penalties that remove nonparticipating families from the case- load. States, on average, only reach a
30 percent work participation rate. The remainder of the requirement is met through credits earned through caseload decline and monies spent on services for low-income families in excess of states’ MOE requirement.
???? About 8 in 10 parents on TANF have at least one barrier to employment, and 4
in 10 have multiple barriers (poor mental or physical health, lack of a high school diploma, limited work experience, or care of a disabled family member). States often have specialized services for the hardest to employ, although effective solutions seem illusive.
3. Strong evidence is scarce on strategies that move families to self-sufficiency.
???? Rigorously evaluated programs to increase
employment or education among TANF recipients or similar populations have not held much promise, especially in terms of long-term employment or earnings increases.
???? Evaluations of both types of interventions suggest that models combining work with skills training and targeting specific indus- try needs work best.
4. TANF serves as a portal for access to other safety net programs.
???? While TANF families do not make up
large shares of other safety net programs, they do tend to receive other benefits, especially SNAP and Medicaid, to aug- ment TANF.
???? Despite increased labor market experience among single mothers over the last decade, few qualify for UI.
???? While some studies conclude that connec- tions across safety net programs should
be better coordinated, TANF’s assistance with access to disability benefits, SNAP, subsidized child care, and employment and child support services fills a critical need for low-income families.
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??When Congress finally tackles the next reauthorization of TANF (originally due in 2010), it needs to recognize that TANF does not provide much regular cash assistance. Instead, the program lives up to its name of “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.” Families in need are more likely to receive a helping hand than what many think of as a welfare check. The program’s nature leads to concerns, especially in a weak economy, about parents who cannot find a job or who have a disability and do not qualify for other income supports. The share of low-income single par- ents classified as disconnected from work and cash assistance will likely continue to increase without new reforms.
We could strengthen the safety net through proposals to expand UI coverage for more job losers, offer broad support for specialized training connected to employer needs, subsidize jobs with targeted support services, and guarantee regular, but temporary, cash assistance for families that have no other income. ARRA funded subsidized jobs programs, and states showed they could quickly gear up effective programs. The DRA focused states’ resources on counting work activities rather than developing and testing programs that effectively move parents into jobs. TANF reauthori- zation should learn from these experiences.
Rep. Gwen Moore (D–WI) has introduced the Rewriting to Improve and Secure an Exit Out of Poverty Act (the RISE Act) to overhaul TANF. The bill includes numerous improvements such as updating and indexing of the block grant funds, eliminating time limits on types of work participation (such as education), and eliminat- ing full family sanctions. These proposals, along with other ideas based on 15 years of experience, should be debated to strengthen TANF and the safety net for vulnerable families.
Notes
1. The other means-tested cash assistance program, Supplemental Security Income, serves individuals with serious disabilities.
2. AFDC was created in 1935 through Title IV of the Social Security Act.
?3. The research briefs were developed under contract to the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
4. This summary of rule changes is taken from Zedlewski and Golden (2010).
5. The numbers do not add to 100 percent because 14 per- cent of these families cannot be categorized.
6. States may disregard an adult penalized for refusal to work in that month, unless the adult has been penalized for more than 3 of the last 12 months (U.S. DHHS 2011).
7. At state option, single parents of children under age 1 may be excluded. Child-only families are not included.
8. The excess MOE credit is deducted from the number of cases required to participate in work activities.
9. The two-parent rate has averaged between 40 and 50 percent.
10. In 2009, eight states failed to meet the all-families rate but nearly all avoided penalties by providing reasonable cause or submitting corrective compliance plans to HHS.
References
Nichols, Austin, and Sheila Zedlewski. 2011. “Is the Safety Net Catching Unemployed Families?” Perspectives on Low-Income Working Families brief 21. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. http://www.urban.org/url. cfm?ID=412397.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. 2011. “Engagement in Additional Work Activities and Expenditures for Other Benefits and Services. A TANF Report to Congress.” Washington, DC: Administration for Children and Families.
U.S. Government Accountability Office. 2011. “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Update on Families Served and Work Participation.” GAO-11-880T. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Zedlewski, Sheila, and Olivia Golden. 2010. “Next Steps for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.” Perspectives on Low-Income Working Families brief 11. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. http://www.urban.org/url. cfm?ID=412047.
Ziliak, James, ed. 2009. Welfare Reform and Its Long-Term Consequences for America’s Poor. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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??This brief is part of the Urban Institute’s Low-Income Working Families project, a multiyear effort that focuses on the private- and public-sector contexts for families’ success or failure. Both contexts offer opportunities for better helping families meet their needs.
The Low-Income Working Families project is currently supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation.











(EXAMPLE 2)

(No Child Left Behind)Required reading: Andrew Rudalevige, “No Child Left Behind: Forging a Congressional Compromise,” in Paul Peterson and Martin West, eds., No Child Left Behind? (Brookings Institution, 2003)


Richard Kahlenberg, editor, Improving on No Child Left Behind, Century Foundation Press, 2008, Chapter 1.




Adolino and Blake, Comparing Public Policies, Chapter 10.
Additional Optional Readings: Paul Mann, Collision Course: Federal Education Policy Meets State and Local Realities, CQ Press, 2011.


??Required reading: John Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies, ‘Epilogue,” pages 231-248.


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