Transcript Fixing the Leaky Pipeline

Fixing the Leaky Pipeline
Working Poor Families Project
Academy on State Postsecondary Policy
Julie Strawn
Center for Law and Social Policy
[email protected]
June 2006
Four main leaks in pipeline for low income adults
• Adult education/English as a Second Language into
job training or other postsecondary programs—those
that do transition typically find they then must take
college remedial courses first
• College remedial education (sometimes called
developmental education) into for-credit college
coursework
• Non-credit workforce education into for-credit
certificate and degree programs
• Community college programs into 4 year programs
Transitions: adult ed/ESL and college remediation
• Accelerate, contextualize, support success
• Make transitions to postsecondary and
attainment of marketable credentials a central
goal of state adult ed/ESL policy—GED not
enough for family-supporting wages
• Align adult ed/ESL and college remediation
content with entry criteria for demand
occupational programs and crosswalk
assessments—goal becomes cutoff score for
next level of education in career pathway
Transitions: adult ed/ESL and college remediation
• Fund dual enrollment/dual credit models to
increase basic & job skills and attainment of
occupational credentials, in a compressed
timeframe
• Create “bridges” into occupational programs
by customizing adult ed/ESL and college
remediation to content of career pathways
• Shine light on transition rates from college
remediation into for-credit courses, connect
remediation to workforce education at
college—too often isolated on academic side
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Dual enrollment adult ed/ESL and job training:
WA’s I-BEST
WA state goal: Increase number of adult ed/ESL
students who reach “tipping point”
Piloted integrated job training/adult ed. model I-BEST
tracked results, decided to go statewide
State offering colleges 1.75 FTE to expand I-BEST to
take into account extra costs of two instructors,
coordinating instructions, additional student support
To do this have to rethink content/goals of adult
ed/ESL—not GED, not entering dev. ed, but rather
skills needed for next occupational program in pathway
All I-BEST programs have to be part of a one-year
certificate program or other occupational program with
proven ability to place grads in higher wage jobs
Dual enrollment adult ed./college remediation:
KY’s Adult Ed.-College Transitions Partnership
• State reform legislation gave adult ed. and comm. colleges
common mission around workforce dev., also federal adult
education goal of college transition
• Needed state leadership to send signal that collaboration
between colleges and adult ed was encouraged and allowed
• Convened statewide transitions workgroup, regional
meetings, sharing of models, ideas
• Crosswalk of college/adult ed assessments
• Funded joint transitions pilots with WIA Gov.’s funds,
expanded to four year institutions
• State goal of having 40% of GED completers go on to
postsecondary (12% originally, 22% in 2004)
KY’s Adult Ed.-College Transitions Partnership
Key features:
• Colleges refer students to adult ed for remediation
• Adult ed students can also choose this path
• Share web-based instructional software and assessments as
well as traditional curricula
• Help students without GED dual enroll in adult ed and
developmental ed
• Help students receive credit and obtain financial aid for
dev. ed. taught by KYAE
• Rebranding adult ed.: differing roles invisible to student,
e.g. adult ed.’s Education Enrichment Services in
Louisville appear to be part of the college
Bridge programs for low skilled adults
• Bridge programs help lower skilled adults gain
occupational credentials and access to further
training or jobs relatively quickly by-– Tailoring basic education instruction to general workplace
needs and to the knowledge and skills needed in a specific
occupation. E.g. bridge programs in manufacturing cover
blueprint reading, statistical process control. Those in health
care cover intro to human biology, vocabulary for health jobs.
– Preparing people to enter specific jobs and specific job
training programs.
– Covering “soft skills,” basic education skills, and specific job
skills needed for an entry level job in a career pathway.
Adult ed/ESL bridges into workforce education:
AR’s Adult Ed. Bridges into Career Pathways
• WAGE is adult education customized to prepare
individuals to enter specific occupational pathways
• Business, Education, EMT/Paramedic, Manufacturing,
Nursing and Allied Health, Welding
• In 2005 set aside $16 million of TANF funds to
expand WAGE career pathways model to 11
community colleges, start spring 2006
• IL also funding many adult education bridge
programs jointly with economic dev. agency
Connecting college remediation to workforce ed.
• Next frontier—states just starting to tackle this
• Interesting local examples, e.g. Mt. Hood Community
College (Portland, OR) “Summer Fast Pass”
• Fast Pass is a primer for career pathways < 6 months
• Schedule blocks of career program’s initial courses
packaged with college remediation in math, reading
and writing, and immediately earn 10-14 credits
• Fast Pass is eligible for Pell and other aid
• Students take Fast Pass in cohorts
• Wrap around services (if WIA or TANF eligible)
Transitions: noncredit programs to credit ones
• Guiding philosophy has to be to minimize “dead ends” –
may need to legislate this
• Create formal articulation agreements to award credit for
noncredit occupational training, e.g. OH Career-Technical
to Credit Transitions project, OK Co-Enrollment pilots
• Adopt WIA state policies that encourage training that is
part of a pathway
– Use state WIA funds to encourage local WIBs to fund training in
articulated career pathways and to work out agreements for giving
credit for non-credit training
• Adopt state incumbent worker/customized training policies
that encourage training that is part of articulated career
pathways that can lead to a certificate or degree
OH Career-Tech. to Credit Transfer
Major legislative incentives/catalysts:
• HB 95 (2003 – 2005) Colleges and
Universities working together to develop 38
Transfer Assurance Guides (TAGs)
• HB 66 (2005-2007) CT2 begins the process of
articulating agreed upon adult/secondary
career technical courses to state supported
institutions of higher education
OH Career-Tech. to Credit Transfer
1. Define learning outcomes based on industry
standards
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Faculty panels w/ representation all educational
partners
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Two pilots are currently underway
– Nursing
– Engineering Technologies (Electrical &
Mechanical/Manufacturing)
2. Institutions agree to the standard based outcomes
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All institutions will have the opportunity to review
the learning outcomes
OH Career-Tech. to Credit Transfer
4. Match courses/programs to the agreed upon learning
outcomes
5. Submit course/program materials based on learning
outcomes for review
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A formal submission process is being developed
5. Course/program review process
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Joint faculty panels review course/program materials for
equivalency of rigor and applicability to major
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Very valuable to have faculty panels but also a challenge for them
to agree on what is equivalent
Oklahoma Cooperative Alliances Pilots
• Beginning in 2005 adult students can earn college credit
transferable statewide while completing a program of study
or courses at OK Technology Centers. Starting as pilots,
goal is to go statewide.
• E.g. in Oklahoma City, students that enroll at the
Technology Center can co-enroll with OK City Community
College and earn college credit toward an Associate of
Applied Science degree program. The credits appear on an
OKCCC official transcript.
• Once co-enrolled in a cooperatively offered degree
program, students receive an OKCCC college ID and have
full access to all campus facilities and activities.
Fixing the pipeline for low income youth
• Dual enrollment for out of school youth
• Portland Community College Gateways to College.
Goal is to complete high school, earn associate
degree at the same time. Combines K-12 ADA $’s
with college FTE’s to enrich services.
• Integrated adult education, dev. ed. and/or
job training for out of school youth
• Center for Employment Training
• WA I-BEST, KY adult ed-dev. ed. partnerships also
can work for youth
Who will lead this work?
• Who will lead the ongoing work to promote
the vision, align policies and funds, and track
results across programs?
– Need ongoing, institutionalized state leadership for
this work and it is easier if the key programs are
within some overarching body that oversees the
system.
– E.g. WA’s Workforce Training and Education
Coordinating Board, KY’s Cabinet for Postsecondary
Education