Eureka Area Regional Focus Workgroup 3
College of the Redwoods, Eureka Main Campus
September 5, 2014, 11:00 AM
Room AT 103
Workgroup 3: Short-term Career Technical Education (CTE) and Apprenticeship
Attendees: Julia Peterson, Brenda Syverson, Lilach Assayag, Dave Lonn (Phone)
Lunch and Introductions
Review of Workgroup Activity
Discussion of Apprenticeship: CCC offers a 1-year program. About half leave due to
disciplinary issues. The other half are eligible for an Internal Career Development
Program, which places them with sponsoring employers, such as CalTrans and the
Forest Service. What can we provide for the 50% who do not graduate, to get them
back onto a career pathway? There is a need to develop, and integrate into CTE,
curricula which extend beyond the specific training program, preparing students for
other options, such as further higher education or more generalized employment. Many
students seek out CTE and apprenticeship opportunities in order to avoid college, which
they see as irrelevant to their current interests and career goals. How do we market
college as something other than college?
82% of CR students test into remedial Math or English. 54% of CR students are over 24
years of age. There may be significant problems with assessment testing. For example,
many students do not take assessment seriously, or may be otherwise impaired at the
time of testing, and do not take advantage of the many refresher options available.
Perhaps a fast review before the test would be helpful. CR is currently developing a 3
hour Fast English Refresh class, but, like other available review resources, it is doubtful
that students will willingly participate. How do we motivate students who do not want to
learn? Students lack maturity, and don’t believe that preparation and review will make a
difference in their placement. The more remedial classes someone has to take, the less
likely they are to graduate. Students need help to break down ambitious educational
goals into smaller, carefully planned, achievable objectives. This level of planning helps
students to better manage their credit limits and financial aid opportunities. Currently,
orientation and advising precede testing and registration. How can we make the
advising process more effective? How do we help students meet their basic needs,
overcoming barriers such as housing, food, transportation, and childcare?
Transportation is a very big issue, and a recurring theme in all of the Workgroups.
Distance Education is one possible solution, but presents its own set of challenges and
difficulties, such as access, student self-discipline, and lower overall success rates.
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Students who already face many life challenges may be discouraged by the ordinary
trials of online information management. Two-way Telepresence is currently being
implemented at CR, and will allow for face-to-face interaction between instructor and
student, via mobile phone. Northern Humboldt UHSD is currently hosting college credit
classes in Advanced Calculus, Psychology, English, Astronomy, and 2 other subjects,
for both community members and local high school students from McKinleyville and
Arcata. These are not AP classes, but full-credit, fully transferrable college courses.
Noncredit classes are more suitable for programs like CCC and DHHS, where students
need the flexibility to work around unpredictable schedules and life events without being
penalized or stigmatized by the demands of credit classes.
Regional Comprehensive Plan Objectives
Objective 3: Plans for consortium members and partners to integrate existing programs
and create seamless transitions into postsecondary education or the workforce.
How do we help people weave existing resources and opportunities together into a
comprehensive approach to their journey into postsecondary education and sustainable
employment? How do we market outcome-based training without the stigma of higher
education? “This is the place where I go to become a tradesperson,” as opposed to
“college.” We need to “lead with the job,” and not with the training.
The California Department of Education website (http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ct/ and
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ct/pt/) is a valuable resource for information on clearly defined
model career pathways. It seems that, as an adult education consortium, we need to
define the most beneficial CTW pathways for potential employees in Humboldt County,
and focus on developing those pathways, starting in high school, continuing through
graduation, and on to community college or other postsecondary education. Adult
education classes can facilitate transitions and help students navigate their pathway
over an extended period of time. Equipping students with marketable skills and
sustainable employment in the short term increases their overall capacity to pursue
further postsecondary education. Defining our CTE pathways will go a long way toward
determining what classes we should offer in adult education.
The next step in this planning process should support the development and
implementation of hands-on, results-oriented CTE curricula, with a focus on appealing
to the interests and abilities of kinesthetic and visual-spatial learners. Defining practical
short-term goals, such as obtaining professional certification or licensure, can begin the
process of motivation to develop an interest in academic subjects for these students.
Helping students make the connection between their personal and family economic
needs and aspirations and the evolving educational requirements of the workforce is
imperative. Creating stackable credentials breaks long-term achievement down into
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manageable, relevant short-term objectives, providing opportunities for
accomplishment, which increase student confidence and motivation.
What trades are in demand in this region? The Humboldt County Targets of Opportunity
report, the Humboldt County Comprehensive Development Strategy, and information
from the Chancellor’s Office (Doing What Matters for Jobs and the Economy) present
conflicting information on projected job growth and development in this region.
Apparently, different data analyses have led to different conclusions. The Chancellor’s
Office report is based on a more regional approach to job growth. We know that a great
percentage of graduates of certain programs, such as Nursing, will stay in the area, but
some will go to Redding or Willow Creek. The Redwoods region remains geographically
unique and isolated, unlike most of California, where daily freeway commuting is
relatively common. Targets of Opportunity is very clear and well suited to drawing up
the career pathways we are developing.
Objective 5: Plans to employ approaches proven to accelerate a student’s progress
toward his or her academic or career goals, such as contextualized basic skills and
career technical education, and other joint programming strategies between adult
education and career technical education.
Noncredit Workforce Development classes fit right into this Objective, offering classes in
basic skills, soft skills, and hands-on job readiness skills, such as resume writing and
interviewing. Workforce Development focuses on how to get a job, and how to keep a
job. Integrating basic skills and soft skills into all CTE curricula encourages students to
make the connection between education and sustainable employment, and supports a
student’s comprehensive educational pathway. Additionally, communication skills, such
as how to have a conversation with supervisors or managers, can be contextualized into
every aspect of CTE programming. Employer polls consistently indicate that strong
communication is universally regarded as essential to employee retention and
advancement. From teaching basic personal hygiene, to helping students overcome
extreme reactions to criticism, necessary soft skills can be woven into career training.
How do we accelerate student progress to maximize resources, and keep students from
getting bogged down in remedial education? Tangible, incremental, short-term rewards,
such as attractive certificates and resume updates, can hold students’ interest, enhance
self-esteem, and increase motivation to keep moving along a pathway. Marketing CTE
opportunities to potential students may be complicated by misperceptions and biases.
There is a perception that certain words, “career,” for example, are emotionally loaded,
imply an impossibly long commitment, and may discourage some learners from
pursuing even short-term goals.
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Objective 6: Plans to collaborate in the provision of ongoing professional development
opportunities for faculty and other staff to help them achieve greater program integration
and to improve student outcomes.
There is a need to train adult education faculty to teach to different styles of learning,
and to sensitize them to the special needs of returning and non-traditional students.
Ongoing diversity training is essential, perhaps through Humboldt Mediation’s
interpersonal skills workshops. Professional development should be presented through
collaboration and cooperation among consortium participants, and based on successful
model programs. Peer mentoring among faculty is another potentially valuable
approach to ongoing professional development and enrichment. CCC stands out as an
example of workforce diversity. Shadowing CCC crews in the field could provide “hands
on” diversity training within a collaborative framework. Efforts like this might be
supported by ongoing diversity and sensitivity seminars, hosted by the various
consortium entities on a regular basis.
Objective 7: Plans to leverage existing regional structures, including, but not limited to,
local workforce investment areas.
The consortium region has an abundance of available facilities for CTE and other adult
education. Locating classes in proximity to identified adult learner populations reduces
travel times and distance, which helps to improve overall enrollment and attendance.
Travel distances are a significant barrier in this region, and public transportation is an
existing regional structure which must be improved to better serve these populations.
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