Promising Breakthroughs: YearOne Evaluation Results of Breaking Through

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Promising BreakthroughsYear-One Evaluation
Results of Breaking Through

• Debra D. Bragg Elisabeth A. Barnett
• April 26, 2007
• Portland, Oregon

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OVERVIEW

• Breaking Through (BT) seeks to
• enhance the knowledge and skills of low-skilled
  adults enrolled in pathway programs
• promote policies that accelerate and support
  learning to improve educational and economic
  outcomes
• encourage community college leaders to support
  and promote educational opportunities for
  low-skilled adults.
• Funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
• Administered by JFF and NCWE
• 3-year project

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THE VISION

• Our funding is designed to expand the efforts of
  institutions that already are developing or
  implementing innovative practices and are
  displaying a commitment to creating accelerated
  pathways to advancement for low-skilled adults.
  Several different models, generated by the
  community colleges themselves, will be tested and
  evaluated in Breaking Through. The demonstration
  is designed to help knock down the walls
  between basic, developmental, occupational/technic
  al, and academic education in community colleges.

Jack Litzenberg, Senior Program Officer of the
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, BreakThroughs,
July 2006, p. 2
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GUIDING QUESTIONS PROCESS EVALUATION

• How did BT community colleges, along with JFF and
  NCWE, contribute to the development of pathways
  that improve outcomes for low-income, low-skilled
  adults?
• What barriers emerged in the development of these
  pathways, and how are they being overcome?
• To what extent do community college practitioners
  learn from each other during the process of
  implementing pathways associated with BT?

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GUIDING QUESTIONSINSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

• How have pathway programs addressed the four
  high leverage strategies
• Integrated institutional structures and services
• Labor market payoffs
• Accelerating the pace of learning
• Comprehensive supports
• Has BT (specifically, peer learning) enabled the
  leadership colleges to restructure, and has it
  enabled the learning colleges to lay the
  groundwork to restructure?
• Has BT increased the awareness of community
  college presidents and other leaders about
  promoting the success of low-skilled adults in
  college (and in the labor market)?

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METHODS

• Data collection at the annual NCWE Conference,
  October 2006
• Synopsis of learning college progress
• Field visits to leadership colleges to document
  implementation
• Adult pathways self assessment

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Career Pathways Self-Assessment Tool

• Career Pathways are intended to facilitate
  student transition from adult education programs
  to college and careers
• The Scale
• Planning goal setting, staff orientation, the
  formation of committees and teams, and the
  development of plans for the strategy.
• Development the strategy is being designed and
  field-tested.
• Initial Implementation the strategy is
  beginning to be carried out.
• Advanced Implementation the strategy is
  actively carried out and regularly reviewed to
  ensure its smooth operation.
• Institutionalization the strategy is firmly in
  place and demonstrates positive outcomes.
• Not Addressed (NA) indicates the characteristic
  does not exist in this partnership.

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Career Pathways Self-Assessment Tool (cont.)

• Breaking Through components
• Program design
• Integrated institutional structures and services
• Accelerated pace of learning
• Labor market payoffs
• Comprehensive supports
• Project evaluation and sustainability
• Leadership and organizational outcomes

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LEADERSHIP COLLEGESCommunity College of Denver

• PROGRAM
• Facilitates rapid progression through the
  FastStart developmental education sequence
• Emphasizes career exploration and initial career
  choice
• Supports students who demonstrate low literacy to
  enter college programs

• OCCUPATIONAL FOCUS
• Any
• INITIAL CREDENTIAL
• Any
• INITIAL MODEL
• Enhanced Preparatory Model

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LEADERSHIP COLLEGESPortland Community College

• PROGRAM
• Offers the MOTT (Moving On Toward Tomorrow)
  program with intensive and intrusive advising
• Includes cohort classes, mandatory advising,
  wrap-around and tutoring services.
• Incorporates intensive PD for MOTT advisors

• OCCUPATIONAL FOCUS
• Any
• INITIAL CREDENTIAL
• Any
• INITIAL MODEL
• Enhanced Preparatory Model

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LEADERSHIP COLLEGESSoutheast Arkansas College

• PROGRAM
• Receives extensive support from a CBO, the
  Southern Good Faith Fund
• Provides contextualized, accelerated
  developmental education curriculum, including a
  new state approved Practical Nursing Curriculum
  Track.

• OCCUPATIONAL FOCUS
• Health occupations
• INITIAL CREDENTIAL
• CNA-LPN-RN
• INITIAL MODEL
• Workforce-responsive Career Pathway Model

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LEADERSHIP COLLEGESCuyahoga Community College

• PROGRAM
• Focuses on improving academics while introducing
  core health care concepts
• STNA Prep advances students in the pathway until
  they achieve 8th grade levels
• Offers STNA Plus program.

• OCCUPATIONAL FOCUS
• Health occupations
• INITIAL CREDENTIAL
• State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA)
• INITIAL MODEL
• Bridge program

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LEADERSHIP COLLEGESOwensboro Community Technical
College

• PROGRAM
• Integrates low-skilled adult learners into
  employer-sponsored training programs
• Emphasizes workforce development linked to
  accelerated, modularized basic skills curriculum
  and student engagement
• Integrates adults into various training
  initiatives

• OCCUPATIONAL FOCUS
• Health, manufacturing, and business occupations
• INITIAL CREDENTIAL
• CNA-LPN-RN
• Team Leadership Certificate
• INITIAL MODEL
• Workforce-responsive Career Pathway Model

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LEADERSHIP COLLEGESCentral New Mexico Community
College

• PROGRAM
• Provides accelerated and contextualized adult
  basic and developmental education
• Facilitates clear pathways to construction
  apprenticeship programs
• Is managed and overseen by an Achievement Coach

• OCCUPATIONAL FOCUS
• Construction trades
• INITIAL CREDENTIAL
• Journeyman
• AAS
• INITIAL MODEL
• Apprenticeship model

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Program Design Features
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Leadership Support
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HIGH LEVERAGE STRATEGIES

• Integrated institutional structures and systems
• Accelerating the pace of learning
• Labor market payoff
• Comprehensive supports

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Integrated institutional structures and systems
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Accelerating the Pace of Learning
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Labor Market Payoff
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Comprehensive Supports
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Learning Colleges

• Cerritos College automotive mechanics, welding,
  machining, plastics, pharmacy tech, and health
• Community College of Southern Nevada nursing
  (CNA)
• Houston Community College energy, health
• LaGuardia Community College health
• Mott Community College nursing and allied
  health
• Northhampton Community College allied health
  sciences/health
• North Shore Community College child
  development, health
• Piedmont Community College health
• Tallahassee Community College construction
  trades
• York Community College ship building

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LEARNING COLLEGES LESSONS LEARNED

• Goals and Mott funding emphasize peer learning
• High value placed on participation in BT
  initiative
• Generally less advanced than leadership colleges
• Many also have practices of interest to other BT
  colleges.

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NEXT STEPS

• Document year-3 program implementation of program
  policy as well as institutional change
• Ascertain level of knowledge of BT within
  leadership and learning colleges and throughout
  the U.S.
• Document networking and sharing among leadership
  and learning colleges
• Assess the sustainability of programs within
  leadership colleges
• Facilitate outcomes assessment

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Contact Information

• Debra D. Bragg, University of Illinois at
  Urbana-Champaign
• dbragg_at_uiuc.edu
• 217-352-5129
• Elisabeth A. Barnett, Teachers College
• barnett_at_tc.edu
• 212-678-3719