Queens Library positions itself as the largest, most accessible and most welcoming venue for free adult education. Serving a multilingual population of which almost half are born outside of the U.S., there is ample need for ESL, of course. Coupled with a national crisis in high school graduation rates, the opportunity to provide a gateway to lifelong learning is almost limitless. Until recently, however, the library took an informal approach to helping adults prepare for high school equivalency. We provided some preparation through our Adult Learner Program, but it was intended to be easy-breezy and not intimidate. New York State is changing its high school equivalency diploma program to a common core-based, online exam. The purpose is to include digital literacy skills in the curriculum, as well as prepare students better for success. Students in Queens Library’s Adult Learning Program traditionally move to other providers for the final phases of their exam preparation and the library did not have the opportunity to offer additional support services. By becoming a pilot site for the new online exam and hopefully, a permanent test site, the library is able to offer additional services, such as ESL or benefits support, in order to give adult learners a fuller spectrum of services. Additionally, Queens Library’s Adult Learner Program becomes a one-stop resource and the lifelong library usage becomes more valuable.

New York State has begun shifting to a new Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC), aka, the High School Equivalency exam. Additionally, NY State is hoping to move most students to an online test within the next few years. Queens Library applied to pilot the new exam. The library is the perfect low-anxiety setting for this: adult learners do not associate the library with previous failed attempts in school, there are no classrooms per se. Students benefit from a peer group with the same needs, without the stigma of a remedial education setting. To set students up for success, students first register for an assessment test at Queens Library’s Adult Learning Center. If they are in need of additional instruction, Queens Library is able to offer workshops and/or online prep tools in any of the common core areas: math, social studies, science, reading and writing. In order to take the test online, the students must also be computer literate. They may also take advantage of ESL training, or directed into benefits that remove the barriers to learning. For instance, if a parent says s/he cannot take a preparation workshop because they need child care or they have to miss class due to a landlord problem, the library is able to assist through referrals to partner service providers. It is a much more holistic approach to adult education, where we are able to help adults achieve that life- and economy-changing diploma.

Queens Library's Adult Learner Program has served 6,000 - 7,000 literacy and ESL students annually. As a provider of the high school equivalency exam and preparation, Queens Library is more firmly established in the adult education world. This is important as a funding tool: libraries may (ridiculously) be considered to be expendable in times of economic stress, but education is never considered expendable. Queens Library already has standing in the community as a provider of lifelong learning, from emergent literacy for adults and children. This give the library additional opportunities to bring students further along in their adult educations. It also gives us the opportunity to follow through with adult students, to assess outcomes and to offer more support and additional library-based programs and services. Queens Library’s goal is to be the single source for all information and learning needs.