In the book's preface, Lee Bash, dean of the graduate and professional studies program at Averett University in Virginia, admits that the notion of best practices "seems to resonate for adult programs and institutions in a way that might not have seemed conceivable a few short years ago" (xiii). Surely, the changing demographics of undergraduate education have led to a rapidly increasing number of academic programs aiming to capture non-traditional learners. With adult learners "a new majority in most colleges and universities" (Brewer 24), institutions ranging from the traditional "bricks and mortar" to on-line enterprises compete for a growing population of mobile, more practically-minded students who shop for the best educational deals.

In this context, a book of "best practices" takes on new dimensions. In this market-driven context, following "best practices" will lead to enrollment growth, higher retention rates, and increased revenue for cash-strapped institutions. Many of the articles focus on key programmatic issues of central importance to adult education administrators. Organized into five sections, "Laying the Foundations for Best Practices," "Defining Moments in Adult Learner Programs," "Faculty Development: A Key to Instructional Effectiveness," "Technological Applications," and "Adult Education Includes Senior Learners," the book's contents offer concrete, practical advice on issues such as forming strategic partners with local businesses, recruiting and admitting new students, and creating successful advising programs. New program directors, in particular, might find the book's case studies and "lessons learned" sections at the end of each article useful in helping to think through their own emerging programs.

To their credit, many contributors to this volume acknowledge the "increasing commercialization of higher education" (Pietrykowski 44). In her essay "Program Planning and Review in Adult Higher Education," Patricia Brewer reminds practitioners of the need to focus on "what it means to learn in adulthood" and "to understand the theoretical underpinnings of the teaching/learning experience" (28, 29), aspects that may be lost in a market-driven quest for student revenue. Her gimlet-eyed view of many adult education programs is useful for administrators to own up to: Without "reinterpreting the nature of teaching, learning, and student services, adult programs become little more than cash cows for supporting traditional programs" (28). Ultimately, it is Brewer's words in this collection that are the most important for all administrators to keep in mind when assessing their new or existing programs.

Ultimately, however, I am disappointed in this book. Who is the intended audience? "Best practices" for whom? As Bash writes in the preface, the text is geared to "administrators and faculty"(xi). However, with only two articles devoted to technology and few, if any, articles that directly address teaching and learning, neither seasoned administrators nor faculty would be likely to find this volume of "best practices" useful, especially when considering the large number of recent books that deal with every aspect of adult education, including distance education, the sine qua non of many such programs. New program administrators, the most appropriate audience for this book, would benefit from regarding this volume as a place to start thinking about the nuts and bolts of their own programs, not as the final word in adult learning.

Patrice K. Gray
Fitchburg State College