Transitions into Postsecondary

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Transitions into Postsecondary

• Working Poor Families Project
• Academy on State Adult Education Policy
• Julie Strawn
• Center for Law and Social Policy
• jstrawn_at_clasp.org
• June 2007

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Why focus on postsecondary transitions?

• For low skilled adults, thats where larger
  economic payoff is. 1 year of college 10
  increase in earnings (as true for GED holders as
  it is for high school grads)
• Getting a GED alone does increase earnings but by
  less than a high school diploma. (Really only
  pays off for dropouts with lower skills and for
  immigrants.)
• Past assumption by states and by adult ed.
  students is that GED best route to good jobs and
  to postsecondary
• 2001 survey of why people took GED, 30 said
  employment, 66 said further education.
• Only 12 completed gt 1 year of college in first
  decade after earning GED, 3 got at least AA
  degree. Over long run 30 have some postsec. ed.
  but no degree 8 have BA or higher.

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Tyler and Lofstrom study, NCSALL 2006
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If not GED, what should states focus on?

• Four main gaps in workforce education system
• Adult ed./ESOL into job training or other
  postsecondary programs.
• And even GED grads. who transition find they then
  must take college remedial courses (about 85)
• College remediation (developmental education)
  into for-credit college coursework
• Non-credit workforce education into for-credit
  certificate and degree programs
• Community college transfer to 4 year college

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If not GED, what should states focus on?

• Create more options in adult ed/ESL that reflect
  students goals and offer a targeted way to get
  there
• Have to be careful not to close one gap only to
  leave students falling through another one
• Think about low skilled/limited English
  population in your statewho are they? what
  kinds of postsecondary or job opportunities make
  the most sense for them?
• Tailor your states transition strategy(ies) to
  these groups needs.

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Three broad types of transition prgms.

• Bridge programs
• Sequential Move into postseconday after
  completing adult education/ESL bridge
• Goal is to bridge gap between initial skills of
  students and what they need to enter
  postsecondary ed. or training or work, sometimes
  accelerated
• Can have an occupational or an academic focus
• Various bridge models are aimed at different
  populations, e.g. bridges for low skilled adults
  without GED into occupational training, bridges
  for GED grads. into academic college programs,
  etc.

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Three types of transition programs

• Bridge programs, cont.d
• Occupational bridges typically cover soft
  skills, basic education skills, and specific job
  skills needed for an entry level job in a career
  pathway
• Occupational bridges tailor and contextualize
  adult ed/ESL content 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.

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Three types of transition programs

• Concurrent programs
• Concurrent students enroll in adult ed/ESL and
  postsec. ed. and trg. at the same time but each
  are taught separately.
• Content of adult ed/ESL and postsecondary program
  may or may not be connected.
• Can have academic or occupational focus. E.g.
  VESL, college remediation, CT adult ed
  transitions model.

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Three types of transition programs

• Integrated programs
• Adult ed/ESL content embedded in the
  postsecondary education or training program
• Can be academic or occupational in focus
• Probably the most expensive, hardest of the three
  transition models to pull offbiggest payoff?
• Often use co-instruction, one adult ed/ESL
  instructor, one occupational or academic faculty
• Rewrite curricula, extensive professional
  develop.
• Have to overcome policy and institutional
  barriers to dual enrollment/dual credit

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Key elements local transition models

• Align adult ed/ESL and college remediation
  content with postsecondary content
• Crosswalk assessments and curricula,
  contextualize if possible, make the end goal of
  adult ed/ESL the skills needed for next job or
  next level of education in career pathway. State
  can facilitate this.
• Shorten the timeline
• dual enrollment/dual credit, integrated programs,
  accelerated programs (e.g. Fast Track GED,
  College Review courses aimed at passing Compass,
  Accuplacer, Accelerated Dev. Ed. etc.)

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Key elements local transition models

• Have close, ongoing, personal connections with
  employersbut be selective about partners
• Input into program design and content
• Internships, workplace learning
• Company employees as faculty
• Support success with wrap around supports
• Case management, career exploration, college
  success courses, academic advising, financial
  aid, child care, transportation, peer support.

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Connecticuts College Transition Initiative

• State RFP, college prep model based on New
  Haven Advanced Adult Education Program
• Nine transition pilots funded
• Local written agreements between adult ed.
  provider (K-12) and its postsecondary partner(s)
• Local collaborative interagency planning team
• Development of a student referral process for
  students who have 16 or more credits or students
  with a score of 2,500 on the Practice GED Test
  and/or other specifically defined program
  criteria.
• Alignment of academic assessments between
  transition program and postsec. institution.

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Connecticuts College Transition Initiative

• Partnerships between adult ed. and postsec. must
  provide at a minimum
• dual or concurrent enrollment for academic and
  technical courses
• academic and career-related counseling combined
  with other student support services
• Help with admissions and financial aid process
  for transition students.
• State provided professional development and
  convened meetings to share challenges, successes.
• State plans next to align transitions curriculum
  with entry requirements to states 12 community
  colleges.

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KYs Adult Ed.-College Transitions Partnership

• State reform legislation gave adult ed. and comm.
  colleges common mission around workforce dev.,
  also at that time new federal adult ed. goal
  added for college transition
• Needed state leadership to send signal that
  collaboration between colleges and adult ed. was
  encouraged, 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)

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KYs Adult Ed.-College Transitions Partnership

• KCTCS-KYAE partnership included
• Colleges referred students to adult ed. for
  remediation
• Adult ed students could also choose this path
• Shared web-based instructional software and
  assessments as well as traditional curricula
• Helped students without GED dual enroll in adult
  ed. and developmental ed.
• Helped 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

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KYs Adult Ed.-College Transitions

• The Education Enrichment Services Center in
  Louisville appears to be part of the college
• The Center is a partnership between adult
  education, the community college and two local
  universities. Co-instruction, shared curricula,
  assessments, college waived dev. ed. tuition.
• Outcomes to date
• EES has jointly enrolled 5,000 students
• 88 of them have bypassed at least one college
  developmental education course, estimated savings
  to students of 400,000 in tuition costs in
  2005-2006 alone.
• 72 of students retained

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2007 KY Adult Ed. to Career Pathways Initiative

• Builds on statewide Career Pathways initiative
  that began in 2003 and focuses on remediation
  piece of the pathway
• Local teams submit proposals each team must
  include at least 1 instructor each from dev. ed,
  adult ed., general ed., and career/tech. ed.
• Grants fund curricular redesign and integration
  of remediation, workforce dev., and academic
  transfer coursework. E.g. contextualization,
  chunking, flexible delivery, on-line learning,
  workplace learning.
• Funding covers professional development,
  technical assistance, and faculty stipendsall
  aimed at creating integrated remediation
  customized to specific occupational career
  pathway.

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WAs Integrated Basic Skills and Skills Training
(I-BEST)

• WA state goal Increase number of adult ed/ESL
  students who reach tipping point
• State offered 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/ESLnot GED, not entering dev. ed, but rather
  skills needed for job and next occupational prgm.
• All I-BEST programs must be part of 1-year
  certif. program or other occup. prgm. with proven
  ability to place grads. in higher wage jobs.
  Std. is wages gt 12 an hour (gt than 14 an hour
  in Seattle).

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WAs Integrated Basic Skills and Skills Training
(I-BEST)

• I-BEST pairs ABE/ESL instructors with prof./tech
  instructors in the classroom to provide
  integrated basic skills and job training.
• Goal is to earn a for-credit occupational
  certificate AND raise basic skills/English to
  level needed to take next career and educational
  step.
• Instructors co-teach 50 of the time, other half
  of the time teach the same students
  contextualized basic skills and job training
  separately. Pilot programs ranged from 1-3
  quarters.
• I-BEST students earned 5 times more college
  credits and 15 times more likely to complete job
  training than traditional ESL students.

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ARs Adult Ed. Bridges into Career Pathways

• Based on local partenership in Southeastern AR
  between CBO and 2 community colleges
• WAGE is adult education customized to prepare
  individuals to enter specific occupational
  pathways. E.g. 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, began spring 2006
• Parents with incomes lt 200 of poverty are
  eligible

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Oregon Pathways for Adult Basic Skills

• Initiate adult ed. systems change that is
  sustainable with formal links to postsec. ed. and
  to One-Stop Centers vision is for this to become
  the way the whole system operates
• Six Development Sites currentlycurriculum and
  module development, pilot testing, curriculum and
  module revision, more sites will be added
• Integrate occupational information that is
  focused on OR high-demand occupations
• Health Services (e.g., medical assisting, medical
  records)
• Industrial Engineering Systems (e.g., welding,
  construction)
• Business Management (e.g., marketing/sales)

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Oregon Pathways for Adult Basic Skills

• The initiative will result in
• A series of courses (bridge, pre-bridge, and
  career/college readiness) with lesson plans based
  on a standard format that are ready for use by
  other ABS faculty
• A Teachers Guide for each course that will
  facilitate instructors delivery of OPABS courses
  
• Advising modules on topics that can facilitate
  ABS learners transition to postsecondary
  education, training, and/or work
• A module on referral of ABS learners to One-Stop
  services

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Transition models for out of school 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 FTEs 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

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Key elements state transition strategy

• Create champions for changeespecially college
  presidents and employers.
• Make transitions to postsec. and attainment of
  marketable credentials a central goal of state
  adult ed/ESL policy and related policies.
• Program and labor market data across agencies is
  key, share with local partners
• Bridge cultural divide between programs through
  outreach and education efforts to staff and
  administrators, do cross-agency professional
  development.

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Key elements state transition strategy

• Connect pilots of transition approaches to state
  policy change. For example, policies on--
• Assessment (entry/exit criteria, concordance
  tables)
• Curricula development and approval
• Dual enrollment/dual credit
• Lack of funds for essential activities such as
  student supports and curricular redesign
• More creative use of state spending on adult
  ed./ESL?
• Align related policies, e.g. incumbent
  worker/customized trg. programs, TANF, child care
• What is the business model for going to scale?

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Key elements state transition strategy

• Direct extra funding and leadership toward
  transition efforts that work across agencies and
  address gaps in services, recognize diversity in
  student needs, and have family-supporting jobs as
  an end goal.
• Some transition efforts look only at one
  programs piece of the puzzle and look only at
  education outcomes.
• Others are one size fits all
• Others aim too low, e.g. prepare students for
  dead-end, low-wage jobs.
• Track outcomes, highlight cost/benefits, scale
  up what works. E.g. I-BEST costs gt 9,000 per
  student

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Percent of adult ed./ESL going on to college
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National initiatives addressing these issues

• Breaking Through 7 local leadership colleges
  in AR, CO, KY, NC, NM, OH, OR.
• Bridges to Opportunity CO, KY, LA, NM, OH, WA
• Shifting Gears MN, IL, IN, WI, MN
• New OVAE Career Pathways Initiative
• Apply framework of career pathways from Perkins
  Act (high school to college model) to adult
  education. http//www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/sectec
  h/factsheet/abepathways.doc