Accountability in Adult Basic Education: The Marginalization of Adults with Difficulty Reading

Federal accountability policies requiring rapid, measurable outcomes have increasingly shaped the nature and type of public literacy services available to adults. However, little empirical research has explored the impact of accountability policies on program practice in adult basic education, and almost no research has focused on the effect on services for adults who have difficulty reading. This ethnographically grounded research article explores one publicly funded adult basic education program’s efforts to comply with federal accountability policy and the impact these efforts had on services for adults with difficulty reading. Findings suggest that efforts to comply with accountability policies resulted in instructional practices that limited students’ opportunities for substantive engagement with reading and in program policies that excluded students who did not produce outcomes from participation. The findings also suggest that in the context of accountability pressures, student marginalization became normalized as an ordinary part of practice.