Transcript Serving Low-Skilled Adults

Serving Low-Skilled Adults
Challenges, Opportunities and
Promising Practices in Michigan
February 24, 2012
Presenters
• Jenny Schanker, Associate Director
Michigan Center for Student Success
[email protected]
• Judith Taylor, Independent Researcher
Michigan Center for Student Success
[email protected]
• Jeremy Kelley, Project Manager
Jobs for the Future
[email protected]
Sponsors
Agenda
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MCSS Overview
State and National Context
Survey Results
Results from a Deeper Dive
Opportunities and Resources to meet
Emerging Challenges
Michigan Center for Student Success
Vision
The Center for Student Success provides state-level
support to Michigan’s 28 community colleges by
serving as a hub connecting leadership, administrators,
faculty, and staff in their emerging and ongoing efforts
to improve student outcomes, emphasizing linkages
between practice, research, and policy.
Michigan Center for Student Success
Guiding Framework
I.
Access &
Alignment
II.
Entry &
Intake
III.
Teaching
& Learning
IV.
Acceleration
& Progress
Priority Areas/Momentum Points
V.
Completion
& Success
Supply and Demand in Michigan’s
Labor Market
• Michigan’s annual number of HS graduates
will decline 12.2% by 2020
• Annual demand for college-educated workers
will increase by 4.2% by 2018
http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications_s
tates/files/Not-Kid-Stuff-Anymore_MI.pdf
Challenges for Adult Education
• Federal funding for adult education has declined
by 17% over the past 10 years
• Nationally, only 2 million out of an estimated
eligible population of 93 million are served by
adult education
• In Michigan, an estimated 692,000 adults lack a
high school diploma or GED while 33,000 are
served each year
http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/adul
t-ed-funding-enrollment-February-2012.pdf
Financial Aid Obstacles
• Pell Grant Changes:
– Income threshold for an automatic $0 Expected
Family Contribution lowered by $9000
– Ability to Benefit eligibility eliminated
– Duration of eligibility reduced from 18 to 12
semesters
http://edmoney.newamerica.net/blogposts/201
2/pell_grant_eligibility_changes_bring_savings_
for_the_program-62302
Breaking Through History
• JFF and NCWE launched • Six additional colleges
the initiative in 2005
formed the Michigan
with funding from the
network in early 2007:
Mott Foundation
– Grand Rapids
– Henry Ford
• Mott Community College – Lake Michigan
was part of the initial
– Macomb
Learning College cohort
– Saint Clair
– Washtenaw
Breaking Through Documentation
• Practice Guide:
http://jff.org/publications/education/breaking
-through-practice-guide/1059
• Scaling Up Case Studies:
http://jff.org/publications/education/achievin
g-ambitious-goals-case-studies-s/1230
• Leaving No Worker Behind:
http://jff.org/publications/education/leavingno-worker-behind-community-colle/1225
Purposes of Current Research
• Document the impact of Breaking Through in
Michigan
• Lift up promising practices happening at
colleges across the state
• Explore challenges and opportunities to
improve outcomes for this population
• Ensure alignment with other initiatives as
Michigan moves forward
Survey Methodology
• JFF/MCSS Collaboration
• 39 Questions
• Pilot Test with original MI BT colleges
October 2011: 7 responses
• Sent to remaining 21 colleges
November 2011:
– 13 additional colleges provided responses
– Total 20/28 (75%) as of 2/16/12
Key Findings: Aligning Programs
• 19 colleges report offering at least some
“stackable” credentials (mostly in Health Care)
• 13 colleges report that credential attainment
for low-skilled adults is a strong focus for them
• 9 colleges report programs specifically
designed to “bridge” adult learners into
pathways to certificate and degree completion
Key Findings: Accelerating Learning
• 17 colleges report offering “intensive” courses
addressing skill gaps (for both traditional and
non-traditional students)
• 11 colleges are integrating basic skills with
occupational instruction (largely in non-credit)
• 5 colleges report significant use of prior
learning assessments to reduce time to
completion for adult learners
Key Findings: Connecting to Employers
• 16 colleges report engaging employers to a
large extent through advisory committees for
career and technical programs
• 15 colleges report that they are significantly
engaged in regional efforts to link education
and training with employment
• 10 colleges indicate that their career services
office connects regularly with employers
Key Findings: Providing Support
• 17 colleges report working with community
partners to provide support services
• 14 colleges indicate that they provide
“navigators” or advisors to both credit and
non-credit students to help them overcome
obstacles
• 11 colleges have systems in place to connect
with “stop out” students
Key Findings: Capacity Development
• Colleges report providing professional development to
increase capacity for serving low-skilled adults through
– Funding conference attendance
– Bringing consultants to campus
– Internal working groups or seminars on campus
• Colleges noted capacity gaps in
– Diagnosing and addressing student learning disabilities
– Effective teaching and service strategies for the lowestskilled adults
– Providing effective career planning and placement services
Key Findings: Policy Environment
• Institutional policy challenges cited:
– Articulation between credit and non-credit
programs
– Developmental education placement policies
• State or federal policy challenges cited:
– Financial aid regulations limiting access to Pell
Grants
– Cuts to funding sources such as WIA
Some highlights from a deeper dive
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St. Clair County Community College
Jackson Community College
Lake Michigan College
Grand Rapids Community College
Macomb Community College
Mott Community College
Going Deeper: Methodology
• Reviewed online survey results to
identify likely programs
• Conducted follow up phone interviews to
confirm
• Finally, site visits to six colleges (last
week)
Breaking Through in Michigan
• Mott Community College participated from
the outset in 2005
• Funds from the Mott Foundation supported
in-state peer learning meetings—any college
could attend and costs of attending national
peer learning meetings (up to six colleges)
• No implementation $$--colleges encouraged
to apply for state grants and apply Breaking
Through principles
Breaking Through, Non-credit, and the
MTECs
• These were the years of massive worker
dislocation in Michigan and state funding for
retraining at the post-secondary level
• By definition, Breaking Through students (low
skilled adults) couldn’t matriculate in forcredit programs—non-credit was the default
• MTECs were established to (among other
goals) reconnect unemployed workers in the
region to employers who did need workers
Three Themes Emerged from the
Going Deeper Research
• “Scaling up” of Breaking Through pilots is
happening
• The need to create clear pathways from noncredit to credit is becoming increasingly urgent
• Breaking Through programs have incubated
strategies with wider relevance for promoting
student success
“Scaling up” of Breaking Through Pilots
• There’s significant scaling up at the MTECs in
three colleges: Grand Rapids, Lake Michigan, and
Mott
• At GRCC and LMC, models developed in pilot
programs are now or soon will be how all
programs at the MTEC are offered; Mott isn’t far
behind
• Note: programs are constantly refining models
based on outcome data, changes in funding, etc.
Scaling Up: Key Features
While there is a lot of variation, the models
have certain features in common:
– Intensive up-front assessment
– Remediation for those who need it—some
contextualized, always linked to a technical
program
– Ongoing intrusive support
– Multiple certificates valued by regional employers
Scaling Up: the Role of MTECs
One administrator said “I view the MTEC as an
incubator, a venue for rapid prototyping.”
• Because MTECs are non-credit, new programs
can be put together quickly
• Most programs are short-term so there’s
outcome data for continuous improvement
• With supportive leadership, program features
can be attached to additional programs
relatively easily
The Need for Clear Pathways from
Non-Credit to Credit
• Breaking Through focused funds and attention
on non-credit options and on the importance
of advancement pathways to higher
credentials
• Interest from the Credit “side” may sharpen as
the traditional pipeline of high school students
shrinks
• Two colleges are innovating in this arena
Clear Pathways from Non-Credit to
Credit
Mott Community College
• The pioneer: started experimenting with
articulation, which a number of colleges have
since adopted
• A second approach blends non-credit and forcredit courses for a credential—invisible to the
student
• MCC may adopt mandatory placement, which
could impede students who seek additional
for-credit courses and credentials
Clear Pathways from Non-Credit to
Credit
Macomb Community College—a different
approach:
Non-credit workforce programs have been
detached from their old administrative
structure and attached administratively to
their logical for-credit department (health
care to health care, etc.). Staff have been
assigned (reassigned) to facilitate the
process.
Non-Credit to Credit, cont.
A few of the challenges:
• Remediation MCC strategies: the Learning
Center and Achieving the Dream innovations
in developmental education
• Advising/support Program plans for noncredit students will reside on Datatel to
support advisors & counselors and teach noncredit students how to use Web Advisor
Breaking Through: Incubating Student
Success Strategies
There’s increasing pressure to improve for-credit
students’ rates of attaining a credential—the area
that MI Breaking Through programs have been
refining
Challenges:
• The number of for-credit students is much higher
than the MTECs’
• Breaking Through programs are resource
intensive, and funding is shrinking
• Less flexibility
Breaking Through: Incubating Student
Success Strategies
Still, some ideas are emerging
Caveat: the site visits were just last week
• A modified/augmented admissions process that looks
for a range of skills and experience, a strong interest
(“major”), and demonstrated initiative
• Multi-faceted assessment (interest, aptitude, skills)
that helps students figure out what they want to do
early on
• Intensive (intrusive) advising
• Material presented in short chunks with opportunities
to demonstrate success
Emerging Priorities
• Articulating between non-credit and credit
programs
• Implementing alternatives to traditional delivery
of developmental education/aligning with A.B.E.
• Expanding supports for career decision-making,
life skills, etc. to a broader population
• Increasing prior learning assessment to decrease
time to completion
• Connecting more robustly with employers and
the local labor market
Opportunities and Resources
• Under the umbrella of MCSS, several national
funders are bringing resources to help
Michigan address these priorities.
• In addition to supporting participating
colleges, MCSS will disseminate lessons
learned from these initiatives across the state.
Lumina’s Adult Degree Completion
Initiative
• Four-year initiative with 19 grantees, targeting:
– Dislocated and underemployed workers
– Students who completed credit bearing courses but failed
to test out of a remedial sequence before leaving college
– Adult students that have earned articulated credit
• Support strategies
– Build on and expand large-scale strategies already in place
– Implement strategies for large-scale efforts that have been
planned or piloted
– State policy and system change efforts
ACPP Description
• Three states, each of which have existing
networks of Breaking Through colleges
– Michigan
– North Carolina
– Kentucky
• Pass through funding will support state team
convenings
– Construct a policy-change framework
– Develop a work plan
– Ensure that the work plan is enacted to effect policy
ACPP in Kentucky
• Workforce Transitions Committee
– Target population: reenrolling incumbent worker
trainees
– Non credit to credit articulation
– Standardized prior learning assessments
– Recommendations for data collection policies
ACPP in North Carolina
• Student Data System Analysis
• Non-Credit to Credit Articulation
• Professional Development for College Staff
ACPP in Michigan
• Managed by JFF and MCSS
• A Pilot Program to Align Community
College Non-Credit and Credit Offerings
• Leveraging Lessons from Project WinWin
• Analyzing and Disseminating Labor
Market Data
• Gubernatorial and Legislative
Engagement
More Initiatives
• Project Win Win
– 9 colleges identifying “near completers”
• Benefits Access Pilots
– 2 colleges connecting students with public
benefits
• Credentials that Work
– Real time labor market data
• AtD/BT Alignment Initiative
– Further scaling of strategies that work
Upcoming Events/Communication
Forums
• More on ACPP: Webinar March 9 1:00-2:30
– BT Network watch email for details
• Breaking Through Network Meeting at GRCC April 13 1:004:00
– Registration details at mcca.org
• MCSS Monthly Newsletter
Follow us online:
• MCCS blog:
http://micenterforstudentsuccess.blogspot.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/MCCACSS
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MichiganCenter-for-Student Success/300637479987811?sk=wall
Questions?