RISE Webinar: Exploring the Experiences and Skills of Young Adults in the United States

On February 6th, 2019, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) hosted two presentations on the experiences and skills of young adults in the United States:

The first presentation focused on the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), which is the fourth in a series of secondary longitudinal studies conducted by NCES since the 1970s to study young adult progression through high school and into young adulthood, with data on outcomes such as postsecondary education and early careers. 

The second presentation used data from the OECD’s Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) to discuss skills of U.S. young adults (those 16-34 at the time of the data collection) and draws on two reports written for the ETS Center for Research on Human Capital and Education. A brief introduction to the PIAAC database and NCES data products is followed by a discussion of the performance of U.S. millennials compared to that of their international peers. In addition, the presentation looked at the size and characteristics of low-skilled U.S. millennials and the implications of this for society more broadly.

RISE Webinar: PIAAC Prison Study

On February 22, 2017, AIR hosted a presentation and discussion on the report titled Highlights from the U.S. PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults: Their Skills, Work Experience, Education, and Training, which presents findings from the U.S. PIAAC 2014 Prison Study.

RISE Webinar: America’s Skills Challenge: Millennials and the Future

On February 24, 2016, the American Institutes for Research hosted a presentation and discussion on the growing inequality of opportunity in the United States and the impact this has on both skills acquisition and outcomes for current and future generations.

Using data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), the presentation explored the paradox for U.S. millennials (born after 1980, ages 16-34): while they may be on track to be our most educated generation ever, they consistently score below many of their international peers in literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments. Equally troubling is that these findings represent a decrease in literacy and numeracy skills when compared to results from previous years of U.S. adult surveys.