Effects of Mandatory Basic Education for Adult AFDC Recipients

Only small education effects were found for a large-scale program requiring participation in basic education by adult welfare recipients without a high school diploma or with low reading or math pretest scores. Positive results found in some of the research sites suggest that, with a focused pro-gram effort, GED certificates and improved achievement test scores may be obtained for individuals with pretest scores that are relatively high for this population. Raising achievement levels and in-creasing GED receipt appreciably among the many welfare recipients with lower pretest scores will require substantially improved program effectiveness. Poor basic skills are a fundamental problem for many adults who live in poverty and receive wel-fare. A strong correlation between education and income levels has been well documented (e.g.