Academy of Hope Board Retreat

Beyond Basic Skills: Building Pathways to Credentials for Adult Education StudentsMarcie Foster, Policy Analyst, CLASP

Academy of Hope Board RetreatWashington, D.C.

April 21, 2012

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CLASP: Policy Solutions that Work for Low-Income People

• CLASP develops and advocates for policies at the federal, state and local levels that improve the lives of low-income people.

• CLASP managed and provided technical assistance for the Shifting Gears initiative, a six state effort to increase the number of adults and youth who receive postsecondary and industry credentials that employers value.

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Today’s Agenda

• Understanding the career pathways approach and the national imperative for adults to achieve postsecondary and career success.

• Discussing developing a new adult education paradigm.

• Understanding core elements of pathways and bridges.

• Discussing potential next steps/barriers to success for D.C./AoH.

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Increase in demand for higher educated workers

and continued payoff for a postsecondary credential (social, economic, health,

intergenerational)

Decrease in the number of HS

graduates (traditional source of higher-

educated workers)

Need to provide more and better opportunities for adult

students and workers to upgrade their skills and access postsecondary

education.

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Student Outcomes Remain Poor or Unreported

Enter Postsecondary0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

50 124

3808

D.C. Adult Education Student Outcomes

Meet Goal Have Goal Total Enrollment

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A New Adult Education Paradigm

Current New Focus on Postsecondary and Career Success

Focused on the GED as the ultimate goal.

Focus on preparation for college and career success.

Sequential approach lengthens the time to a degree.

Accelerated and integrated program models shorten the time to a meaningful credential.

Students left to their own devices outside of class, may receive “light advising.”

Robust and wraparound supportive services.

Open entry/exit course offerings. Managed enrollment or “cohorts.”

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What Works in Basic Skills Transition and Eventual Postsecondary Completion

Clear, tightly structured paths through basic skills, noncredit and credit postsecondary coursework. Contextualization may accelerate student learning.

The sooner students enter a program of study, the more likely they are to complete a credential.

Financial aid critical for access and success; other benefits for low income students can supplement it.

Student services also critical and can be embedded into transitions efforts.

The more remedial classes students must take, the less likely they are to complete a program of study. Similarly skilled students who opt-out even do better.

Source: Community College Research Center, Assessment of Evidence Series, 2011.

Career Pathways: Seamless Transition and a Greater Likelihood of Success

Adult Basic Education/English

Language Instruction

Short-Term Occupational

Certificate

Long-Term Certificate

2-Year Associate’s Degree

4-Year Bachelor’s Degree

Bridge Program

Progressively Higher Employment Opportunities

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Student Voices Video

California Career Advancement Academies initiative: • Student perspectives on pathways programs, contextualized learning, integrated academic and career technical education, the cohort experience and student supports.

http://www.careerladdersproject.org/videos/career-advancement-academies/

A National Movement

• At least 10 states have significant career pathway efforts aimed at adults or out of school youth.

AR, CA, KY, IL, MA, OH, OR, VA, WA, WI

• Half a dozen states have career pathway bridge initiatives

IL, IN, MD, MN, OH, OR, WA, WI New Gates’ Accelerating Opportunity grants will expand this. Some states have focused state adult education plans/RFP’s on this.

IL, IN CA new ABE strategic plan moving in this direction. WA, NE, IA have passed career pathways legislation. MD, MN in the

works.

• Hundreds of local, career-focused basic skills bridge programs, according to 2010 WSC bridge survey. Little uniformity.

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Career Pathways Bridges: Key Elements

Combine basic skills and career-technical content.

Contextualize basic skills and English language

content with occupational skills training.

Use new or modified curricula, with identified learning targets for both

academic and occupational content.

Change how classes are delivered.

Support student success through enhanced student services.

Connect to local employer and community needs by engaging key partners in design and

implementation of bridges.

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Early Results of Career Pathways and Bridges are Promising

• Illinois Bridge Programs (2,436 students): 89% of students completed the bridge program. 92% of those who completed went on to higher education or a new job.

• Minnesota FastTRAC (1,139 students): 67% of students enrolled in FastTRAC ABE bridge courses completed and moved into an

integrated course. 88% of students in integrated, credit-bearing FastTRAC programs completed their initial

course. 

• Wisconsin RISE (Regional Industry Skills Education (14 of 16 colleges have a RISE bridge): Colleges report 90% of students complete postsecondary certificates. RISE students’ math skill gains exceed those of students in standard math instruction (based

on pre/post testing at several locations). Students express high degrees of appreciation and satisfaction with integrated instruction in

the career pathway bridge approach.

In traditional programs, by comparison, only an average of 25 percent of working learners lacking basic skills complete all of their remedial coursework and only four percent complete a degree or certificate within five years of enrollment.

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Bridges for Learners at All Levels

Lessons from State and Local Experience

• Think about the whole pathway from the beginning. o Can focus on building out different parts at different times but need to

have complete vision from the beginning in order to avoid gaps.

• Create capacity to collect the right outcome data from the beginning. o Hard to measure outcomes retrospectively and hard to sustain and

scale up innovation if lack any evidence about whether it works.

• Figure out the end game for sustainability from the beginning.o Private and public special grants might jumpstart innovation but it will

end when the grants end unless thought is given up-front to which ongoing funding streams can support new models.

• No one partner at the local level can pull this off alone. o All the community college silos (career-tech ed., developmental ed.,

student services, academic depts.), workforce development, and adult basic education need to be involved, as should employers and CBO’s.

Potential Challenges in D.C./AoH

• Connectivity between systems (adult education, CTE, postsecondary, workforce)? Ability to bridge silos.

• Volunteer-based culture.

• Dichotomous labor market. Are “middle-skill” jobs readily available?

• Very high number of adult learners with below 9 th grade level skills.

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Developing a Bridge Strategy: Key Questions

• What partners are missing from AoH’s bridge model? Who can you bring to the table?

• What is your funding model? What new resources can you bring in/modify to meet the unique needs of bridge programs (e.g. staff development, supportive services, braided funding management)?

• Do you know what industries/jobs are in demand in D.C. and what credentials students need to obtain them?

• What level of student are you serving? Can you serve others/lower-level learners?

• GED 2014: What are your plans? What challenges does this represent?

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Thank you!

Marcie Weadon-Moreno Foster

Policy Analyst, CLASP

[email protected]

Basic Skills Bridges: Four Guiding Questions/Criteria

Do you have a benchmark and goals? How will you know if it worked?

Does it build relationships (among students, between students and staff/faculty, and among staff/faculty from different parts of college)?

Does it change faculty and staff (ABE, CTE, dev. ed., academic, student services, financial aid) perceptions of basic skills students, of each other, and of

their respective roles?

Does it change students’ perceptions of their own possibilities and abilities?

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Federal Focus on Pathways• Cross-Agency Competitive Grants

DOL’s TAACCCT grants Workforce Innovation Fund Career Pathways TA Institute (resources at learnwork.workforce3one.org)

• Technical Assistance Four recent DOL and DOE guidance letters, plus a joint letter between

Ed/HHS/Labor on supporting career pathways. Adult Career Pathways Training and Support Center (OVAE) ISIS (ACS - HHS)

• Federal Legislation. American Jobs Act Both Republican and Democratic House WIA Reauthorization Proposals,

Senate Democratic Proposal. New Career-Technical Education Blueprint from DOE