Our Mission and Purpose
COABE’s mission is to inspire educators so adults succeed and communities thrive. The Coalition on Adult Basic Education exists to provide leadership, communication, professional development, and advocacy for adult education and literacy practitioners to advance quality services for all adult learners.
Adult education has long been an integral part of our nation’s prosperity. Yet over the last decade, declining state and federal funds have led to declining numbers of adult learners who can access services. Of the 44 million adults with low basic skills, federally funded adult education currently assists 1.5 million of them each year to earn a high school equivalency, increase basic and employability skills, or improve their English language proficiency (Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act).
COABE represents the field of 65,000 adult educators and provides a variety of services, including professional development through annual, state-of-the-art national conferences, more than 50 webinars annually, and a peer-reviewed journal. COABE also recently launched an award-winning national public awareness campaign and an advocacy campaign that has enabled more than 153,000 connections with legislators since April 2017.
The Coalition on Adult Basic Education exists to provide leadership, communication, professional development, and advocacy for adult education and literacy practitioners to advance quality services for all adult learners. COABE represents the field of 65,000 adult educators and provides a variety of services, including professional development through annual, state-of-the-art national conferences, more than 40 webinars annually, and a peer reviewed journal.
COABE is organized to advance national and international adult education and literacy opportunities for all persons. One of the main purposes of COABE is to promote adult education and literacy programs, including Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, English for Speakers of Other Languages, Family Literacy, Skills Development, Workforce Development, and other state, federal, and private programs which assist undereducated and/or disadvantaged adults to function effectively.