Abstract

The level of success of the Mexican INEA (National Institute for the Education of Adults) academic program implemented in the U.S. has never been examined. INEA developed five goals for its students in the U.S. that supplement the general goals that the program has for all its students in Mexico. The 5 supplementary goals are to provide access to a basic education which will improve the quality of the students' lives, to improve their employment opportunity, to advance their proficiency of Spanish in order to assist them in learning English, to increase their involvement in their children's education and to stimulate self-esteem and pride in the Mexican culture. This single case study assessed, through the perspectives of its students, the extent to which INEA met these goals at its Palomar College Plaza Comunitaria. Assessment of goal success was a stated objective of INEA. Data were collected through responses to student interviews in which the participants offered perspectives to ten questions relating to INEA's supplementary goals, their level of success and their relationship to the students' personal goals. The INEA program in the U.S. is taught in entirely in Spanish with the aim of providing the means for Spanish-speaking adults to receive a Mexican diploma at the primary and secondary academic levels. Mexico provides the curriculum and instruction in Spanish, and entities in the U.S. provide the venues. From the responses of the participants, the researcher coded the data into categorical concepts and developed grounded theories as propositions to explain the relationship between the levels of success regarding INEA's program goals and the students' motivations for involvement in the program. The conceptual hypotheses developed from the data indicated a limited level of success at meeting the students' educational needs. INEA's curriculum, although well-developed, suffers from logistical hindrances, of which some are self-created, and others that are the result of INEA's lack of understanding of its students' personal motivations for participating in the program. The grounded theories offer propositions for INEA to consider as a means for program improvement.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Dissertations (EdD) -- Educational technology; Instituto Nacional para la Educación de los Adultos (Mexico); Adult education -- Evaluation; Mexican Americans -- Education; Education, Bilingual

Date of Award

2012

School Affiliation

Graduate School of Education and Psychology

Department/Program

Education

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctorate

Faculty Advisor

Gen, Ray;

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