The California Council for Adult Education (CCAE) has been an important adult education professional organization since the 1940s, representing administrators, teachers, support staff, students, and friends of California adult education. The collection includes print and photographic records of the State Office and managers, the State Board and officers, and the regional Sections, and it covers a fifty-six year period from 1944-2010. The archival files, especially those related to legislation, are potentially significant to researchers.

The California Council for Adult Education (CCAE) was formed in the 1940s with the leadership of George C. Mann, Chief of the Bureau of Adult Education, then California State Department of Education (SDE). The organization has six sections, geographic regions that have been adjusted over the years with population changes. Membership includes administrators, teachers, support staff, students, and friends of California adult education. There are some institutional members and some local chapters sponsored by large school districts. CCAE sponsors annual state and section conferences for professional development and networking. The outstanding contributions of adult educators, support staff, and supporters of adult education are recognized at the conferences. Legislative advocacy is an important part of CCAE's mission. CCAE employs a lobbyist and has been effective in initiating and sponsoring legislation that advances adult education and in fighting legislation that threatens to have a negative impact. A significant staff development initiative, the GED Academy, has been sponsored by CCAE for over twenty years. State management has varied over the history of the organization. During the first twenty years the Adult Education Chief of the California State Department of Education was also the Executive Director of CCAE. During succeeding years, management at the state level varied from a part-time Executive Secretary working from home to full time office personnel maintaining a state office in Sacramento with a part-time Executive Director, typically a retired adult education administrator. The organization gave up its state office in Sacramento in June 2010, but maintains a Web site, a large statewide membership, an energetic legislative effort, and state and section conferences.

Twenty-nine file storage boxes + seven photo album boxes

The materials in the California Council for Adult Education (CCAE) Collection have been donated to the California Adult Education Archives and are not subject to copyright restrictions. Publications should properly reference the Archives and CCAE. See Preferred Citation.

The collection is open for research by appointment. Please call the Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.