RE: Adult Education

I concur with  Mr. Radcliff's suggestion that we " think constructively about ways to achieve the intended objectives, to better serve the huge numbers of California adults who want educational services, and to do so in a cost effective manner".   I am the administrator for Irvine Adult School serving  2800 students annually.  These are students who choose to attend our classes, although we have a very large community college in our city.  Our administration consists of 4 full-time employees, myself included, and two part-time employees.  I participate in all aspects of program development and operation.  I assist with placement testing in our ESL program, I register students, I visit classrooms regularly, I counsel students, I hire teachers and conduct staff development, to name a few of my numerous responsibilities. This is not much different from my colleagues at other adult schools affiliated with K-12 districts.  
There is a common saying across adult education.  "Students vote with their feet".  Adult school administrators are by nature responsive to student needs because if they weren't, the classes would be half-full or empty.  Every dollar earned by adult schools must be matched with student attendance hours in classes.  This is accountability at its best.
Adult schools have done an amazing job of providing maximum educational opportunities with limited resources and unfunded mandates.  Perhaps our administrative style should take the credit and serve as a model for other adult education providers.