U.S Department of Education
Adult Education and Literacy
The Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) administers programs that help adults get the basic skills they need including reading, writing, math, English language proficiency, and problem-solving to be productive workers, family members, and citizens.
Our office provides funds to states for adult education and literacy programs. The amount each state receives is based on a formula established by Congress. States, in turn, distribute funds to local eligible providers to develop, implement and improve adult education and literacy activities. Adult education and literacy activities include:
- Adult education;
- Literacy;
- Workplace adult education and literacy;
- Family literacy activities;
- English language acquisition activities;
- Integrated English literacy and civics education;
- Workforce preparation activities; and
- Integrated education and training.
Individuals and local providers should check with their state offices for more information on how to obtain funding for adult education and literacy programs. Visit the Department’s grant page for more information about other opportunities
Adult Education and Literacy Resources
The LINCS Resource Collection contains high-quality multimedia instructional resources, informed by research, for use by adult educators. The resources in the collection are limited to items that have completed a rigorous internal and external review process conducted by subject matter experts and have been recommended and approved by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE), Division of Adult Education and Literacy. The resources have a sound theoretical framework and an application to the adult education field. Search the collection by category, keyword, date and more.
Coursera
Coursera offers nearly 2,000 free adult education courses from some of the world’s most respected and prestigious universities. It is the place to go if you’re interested in college-level courses but don’t want to spend the money or enroll in a university. They don’t count toward degree credit, but they are just as challenging as any college course.
LearnThat.com
LearnThat.com offers free online classes for adults in four categories: business, lifestyle, personal finance, and technology. With a range of video-driven courses, Learn That offers practical life and business skills to help you achieve your goals.
Learn2Type.com
Learn2Type.com is a perfect place to brush up on your typing skills, a vital skill in today’s tech-centered world. You can use this site to learn how to type faster for free.
This is a perfect resource for beginners as well as those who can already type but want to improve their speed and accuracy. Learn2Type can help you realize greater success in school or at work and it’s a good resource for tweens and teens just learning to type, too.
Open Culture
Open Culture, a fascinating repository of some of the best content on the web, has assembled an ongoing database of free texts ranging in subject from Biology to Physics. The list is updated on a regular basis.
MIT Open Courseware
MIT has offered free, open courseware for several years now, and along with these free classes come free college textbooks. You’ll have to search for specific classes and/or titles of books on the site in order to find what you’re looking for. Overall, there’s a lot of free content available here on a wide variety of subjects.
Textbook Revolution
Run by students, Textbook Revolution offers free books organized by subject, license, course, collections, topic, and level. This site is easily searchable with a healthy amount of subject matter available.
Flat World Knowledge
Flat World Knowledge is an interesting site that offers college and university texts free of charge, mixed with other applicable resources that serve as supplements. All of the books are free to view online within your browser.