August 21, 2009


Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills in Adult Basic Education


Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education


Today many states and the federal government are looking at universal
preschool as a means of raising achievement levels of children in the K-12
system and increase high school graduate rates. The primary arguments for
universal preschool have focused on the research showing that preschool
education produces large returns to investment (ROI).


Now research by Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman suggests that
ROI to preschool education results not so much from the improvements the
programs make in children’s cognitive skills (language, literacy) but
rather from non-cognitive skills. In an interview with Heckman in June of
2005 by the Minneapolis branch of the Federal Reserve Bank. He stated,


Quote " Enriched early intervention programs targeted to  disadvantaged
children have had their biggest effect on non-cognitive skills: motivation,
self-control and time preference

 Non-cognitive skills are powerfully
predictive of a number of socioeconomic measures (crime, teenage pregnancy,
education and the like).”End quote


This distinction between cognitive and non-cognitive skills has been
illustrated with young adults who have wanted to enlist in the military
services. Generally, military policy rejects the enlistment of non-high
school graduates (NHSG) because, compared to high school graduates (HSG),
because they have high rates of failure to complete their full term of
service. However, in some cases NHSG have been permitted to enter the
military and research has indicated that if they were willing to delay
coming into the military for up to seven months after they were qualified,
instead of insisting on coming in as soon as possible, then their
completion of their term of service was about the same as that for HSG.


Other research indicated that non-cognitive skills could substitute for as
much as 50 percentiles in cognitive skills. In this research, NHSG below
the 30th percentile on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT-a literacy
and numeracy test) who waited for seven or more months to enter into the
military after they were qualified had completion rates of around 68
percent compared to 72 percent of HSG who scored above the 80th percentile
on the AFQT but wanted to enter as soon as they were qualified.


In these studies then, the non-cognitive skills (motivation, self-control,
time preference) identified by Heckman appear to have been almost as
important as completing high school and/or having high cognitive skills in
influencing the persistence of these young NHSG adults in fulfilling their
military obligations satisfactorily.


Numerous studies of adult basic education (ABE) have found that
non-cognitive skills are the major outcomes of ABE. Almost universally,
studies of ABE outcomes report that adults feel better about themselves,
they overcome learned helplessness, they feel more motivated to succeed in
life, and, importantly, these positive non-cognitive skills often modify
adults’ behaviors with their children.


Research by Wider Opportunities for Women found that mothers enrolled in
basic skills programs reported that they spoke more with their children
about school, they read to them more, they took them to the library more
and so forth (Van Fossen & Sticht, 1991). In one visit to a single mother’s
home, the mother’s second grader said, "I do my homework just like Mommy"
and thrust his homework into the researcher’s hand. This type of
non-cognitive, motivation skill development in the child was obtained for
free as a spin-off of an adult basic skills program.


More and more it is being recognized that while cognitive skills (e.g.,
literacy) are necessary for success in K-12 and higher education and in
fields of work, they are not sufficient. Additionally, attention is being
focused on the assessment and development of non-cognitive skills with
children and adults (e.g., ETS, 2009).


It seems likely that the field of ABE could also benefit from more attention
to non-cognitive skill identification, development, and assessment, too.
Given the relatively brief periods of time that adults can devote to
attendance in programs, and the generally modest gains they make in
cognitive skills (literacy, numeracy), a focus on non-cognitive skills
might form the basis for a more appropriate determination of the ROI to
ABE, for both the adults and their children.


References


ETS Policy Note (Winter 2009). Vol. 17, NO. 1 (www.ets.org)


Minneapolis Federal Reserve (2005, June). Interview with James. J. Heckman.
(http://minneapolisfed.org/pubs/region/05-06/heckman.cfm)


Van Fossen, S. & Sticht, T. (1991, July). Teach the Mother and Reach the
Child: Results of the Intergenerational Literacy Action Research Project of
Wider Opportunities for Women. Washington, DC: Wider Opportunities for
Women. (www.wowonline.org).