To amend the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to strengthen adult education.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill modernizes adult education and workforce development programs by incorporating digital literacy and information literacy skills into the curriculum. It creates a new 'college and career navigator' program that places trained advisors in libraries and community organizations to help adults access education and job training.
Who Benefits and How
Adult learners benefit from expanded digital literacy training and improved access to career guidance services. Libraries and community-based organizations receive grant funding to hire career navigators. States gain flexibility to pilot innovative performance measurement systems rather than being locked into rigid federal metrics. Adult education providers benefit from increased federal funding (from $15M to $25M for national activities).
Who Bears the Burden and How
State agencies face new transparency requirements to publicly document non-federal matching fund sources and distribution. Adult education programs must adapt curricula to include digital and information literacy components.
Key Provisions
- Creates library-based and community-based college and career navigator grants
- Adds digital literacy and information literacy as core adult education components
- Increases national activities funding from $15 million to $25 million
- Allows states to pilot alternative performance accountability systems for up to 5 years
- Requires public disclosure of matching fund sources and distribution
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Strengthens adult education programs by modernizing workforce development with digital literacy skills, creating library-based career navigators, and allowing states to pilot innovative performance systems.
Key Policy Areas
Education, Workforce Development, Libraries
Primary Purpose
Strengthens adult education programs by modernizing workforce development with digital literacy skills, creating library-based career navigators, and allowing states to pilot innovative performance systems.
Policy Domains
Title I - Workforce Development Activities
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Adult learners seeking career guidance
- Libraries
- Community-based organizations
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal budget (grant funding)
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Title II - Adult Education and Family Literacy
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Adult education providers
- State education agencies
- Adult learners with learning differences
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- State agencies (transparency requirements)
- Adult education programs (curriculum updates)
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Jack Reed
D-RI | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Young) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Adult education programs, Adult learners and educators, Adult learners who are English learners
Adult learners seeking workforce skills, Job seekers in underserved communities, Jobseekers and unemployed workers
Eligible agencies, State and local workforce boards, State and local workforce development boards
Positive-direction: State and local workforce development boards
Negative-direction: Eligible agencies, State and local workforce boards
Community-based organizations providing career services
Workforce development professionals and career counselors
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Education
- "eligible_agency"
- → State agency responsible for adult education
- "eligible_provider"
- → Local adult education provider
Note: 'The Secretary' refers to Secretary of Labor in Title I (workforce development) but Secretary of Education in Title II (adult education)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
An individual with extensive knowledge of workforce development programs, postsecondary programs, Federal student aid, and case management who supports persons accessing services by providing tailored guidance and facilitating access to services.
The level required for placement in college-level course work, rather than placement in developmental education, as demonstrated by achievement of a designated score on a placement test.
Intentional, simultaneous enrollment in more than one one-stop partner program, as a strategy for leveraging resources and eliminating duplication of services.
Skills associated with using technology to find, evaluate, organize, create, and communicate information; and developing digital citizenship and responsible use of technology.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology