Adult Basic Education means services or instruction below the postsecondary level for inpiduals:

1. Who have attained 16 years of age; and

2. Who are not enrolled or required to be enrolled in secondary school under State law; and

3. Who qualify under one or more of the following conditions:

   • Are unable to speak, read, or write in the English language

   • Do not have a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent, and have not achieved an equivalent level of education.

   • Lack sufficient mastery of basic educational skills to enable the inpidual to function effectively in society.

Students are not eligible for ABE services if they are enrolled in a public or private K-12 program – this includes public or private regular high schools, charter schools, ALCs and other alternative high school programs. 

*Independent Study for Diploma students are the only exception to this. These students must be referred to the program by their high school and must be attending high school full time to be dual enrolled.

Students who are enrolled in post-secondary institutions are eligible for ABE services if they meet two conditions:

1. They are not dually enrolled in a K-12 program (e.g. a PSEO student), and

2. Their standardized test results indicate they are below high school level attainment in one or more ABE-eligible content areas.

ABE Eligible Literacy Skills/Content Areas:

All students in state and federally funded ABE programs must be receiving instruction in at least one of the core content areas. Conditional content is supplemental to core content instruction. For example, students may receive instruction regarding computer skills if they are using the computer or software applications to assist them in learning the core content of writing.