Understanding and Teaching the At-Risk Adult Student: Strategies to Improve Retention and Success

If you are looking for a clearly written road map to building an effective classroom with at-risk adult students, then Ms. Mierzwik’s excellent book, Teaching At-Risk Adults is one resource you must have. This book is full of relevant examples and practical tools for managing a classroom full of at-risk grown adults, each of whom brings their own experiences, biases, values, idiosyncracies, addictions, fears–in short, their baggage–to class each day. Particularly helpful are the Points to Remember that she includes at the end of each chapter; a short, bulleted list chock full of practical guidelines that work in ANY classroom, with any age group, collectively they provide a primer for successful teaching with tough populations. I highly recommend this book!

In a technically comprehensive yet practical delivery, Teaching at Risk Adults serves the much needed function of explaining educational, cognitive behavioral, and motivation theory with high risk adults. It provides today’s professional educators an opportunity to better understand modern education theory, barriers for high risk learners, as well as the evidence based principles and practices needed to effectively impact high risk adults. This book is a must read for professionals who want to enhance their ability to impact student motivation for change, decrease difficult classroom behaviors, and ultimately develop a style of delivery which enables a safe, effective, and impactful learning environment for at risk adults.

Ms. Mierzwik has written a clear, concise text that identifies the at-risk adult student, outlines their learning needs, and gives clear direction on creating effective teaching strategies. The book is well organized, and the bulleted summary of each section captures the essential elements for training teachers who elect to enter this challenging field. The cited source documentation provides excellent direction for those who want to delve further into specific areas researched by this author. As a former state-wide administrator of correctional education programs, I wish I had such a resource for pre-service training. This book is a “must” for teachers, curriculum developers and administrators who work in this alternative field.

This book competently addresses explicit skills every teacher needs when teaching all adult students, especially those who are considered at-risk. In the spirit of creating life-long learners who are ready to tackle the rigors of the 21st century skills, Diane’s writings help teachers help adult students who are at-risk master the art of life-long learning.

What a great book for the corrections education professional! Diane clearly has mastery over the material. What I like best is how she brings it to life with character studies of her past students. It almost reads like a novel.

Diane Mierzwik has been an educator for over 25 years, teaching all grade levels, serving as a program coordinator for adult education and a mentor teacher for others. She is the author of several books and articles. www.dianemierzwik.net