Breaking Through:
Building Opportunity and Changing Lives
Dr. Darlene G. Miller, Executive Director – NCWE
Nate Anderson, Senior Project Manager, Jobs for the Future
Dr. Stacey Sherwin, Director Office of Institutional Effectiveness
Salish Kootenai College
Donna Davis, System Director Workforce Solutions
Kentucky Community and Technical College System
AGENDA
 What is Breaking Through
 Kentucky Breaking Through
 Tribal Colleges Breaking Through
 Accelerating Opportunity
 Kentucky Accelerating Opportunity
 Questions
WHAT IS BREAKING
THROUGH?
 A career pathway redesign initiative for advancing
more low-skill adults (<8th grade) into and through to
professional/technical degree programs.
 A multi-site, multi-state initiative aimed at impacting both
practice and policy
 A framework for developing effective career pathway
programs in pre-college and college-level programs that
improve completion
WHAT IS BREAKING
THROUGH?
 Partnership between National Council for
Workforce Education and Jobs for the Future
 Funders Include:



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Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Walmart Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation
BREAKING THROUGH
PARTICIPANTS:22 STATES,
43 COLLEGES
Tacoma Community College, WA
South Seattle Community College, WA
Northwest Indian College, WA
Portland Community College, OR
Grand Rapids Community College
Henry Ford Community College
Lake Michigan College
Macomb Community College
Mott Community College
St Clair County Community College
Washtenaw County Community College
Salish Kootenai College, MT
Little Big Horn College, MT
Sitting Bull College, ND
York County Community Co
North Shore Community
Leech Lake Tribal College, MN
LaGuardia Community College, N
Comanche Nation College, OK
City College of San Francisco
Cerritos College,
Community College of Denver
College of Southern Nevada
Central New Mexico
Community College
Cuyahoga Community
College, OH
Gateway Community Technical College
Owensboro Community Technical College
Southeast KY Community Technical College
Southeast Arkansas
Community College
Houston Community College System
St. Phillips College
South Texas College
Northhampton County Community Co
Piedmont VA Community College
Davidson County Community College
Forsyth Technical Community College
Durham Technical Community College
Pitt Community College
South Piedmont Community College
Pamlico Community College
Tallahassee Community College
BREAKING THROUGH
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Programs are disconnected,
making it hard for students to
make progress on a pathway
Realign programs and
divisions
It takes too long to go from
remediation to career training
Accelerate the pace of
learning
Students don’t have access to
supports that will help them
overcome obstacles
Provide comprehensive
supports
Labor market payoffs don’t
come early enough to make
the investment in education
worthwhile
Create strong labor market
connections and payoffs
FOUR BREAKING THROUGH
STRATEGIES
Strategy
Result
Realigned Programs and
Divisions: Blended
Funding, Strong
Articulation Agreements
More students entering and
succeeding in credit-level
occupational and technical
coursework
Compressed,
Contextualized,
Customized, and
Accelerated Learning
Faster progress to and through
career pathway programs
FOUR BREAKING THROUGH
STRATEGIES
Strategy
Result
Intensive Student
Supports
Greater retention and persistence
to completion
Strong Labor Market
Connections and Payoffs:
Meaningful, Stackable
Interim Credentials
Greater labor market payoffs for
students and more workers
trained to meet employers’ needs
REALIGN PROGRAMS
DIVISIONS
AND
Implementation Practices
Examples of Success
•Develop articulation agreements
Lake Michigan Community College:
transitions unemployed workers into
“workers who study” with non-credit
training that articulate to credit postsecondary programs
•Remove barriers to entry and
advancement
•Create on-ramps
•Redesign occupational and
technical programs to create
stackable credentials
•Blended funding streams
Pamilco Community College:
integrated credit and noncredit programs
into one instructional division eliminating
the silo
ACCELERATE PACE
LEARNING
OF
Implementation Practices
Examples of Success
•Compress curricula
Community College of Denver:
FastStart 2-4 semesters of
developmental education compressed
into one semester
•Compress courses and
instructional time
•Customize Instruction
Laguardia Community College: GED
Bridge programs contextualized for allied
health and business
COMPREHENSIVE STUDENT
SUPPORT SERVICES
Implementation Practices Examples of Success
•Ensure access to a variety of
supports
•Hire coaches and advisors
•Train staff
Portland Community College: MOTT
(Moving On Towards Tomorrow) advisors
hired to proactively support students
Tacoma Community College: Transition to
College course which includes online
learning
Durham Tech Community College:
Provides a financial incentive program to
students who pass academic milestones
critical to continued progress and success
STRONG LABOR MARKET
CONNECTIONS AND PAYOFFS
Implementation Practices
Examples of Success
•Create short-term, stackable
credentials
Community College of Denver: Career
exploration built into academic and college
success courses
•Work with labor market actors
•Partner with economic
development agencies
•Provide career exploration
Lake Michigan Community College: Training
HQ: Quick Jobs for Lasting Careers program
offers instruction aligned with local labor
market data in a multifaceted delivery modality
including career exploration.
Kentucky Breaking Through
KCTCS MISSION
Our mission is to improve the quality of
life and employability of the citizens of
the Commonwealth by serving as the
primary provider of:
• College and Workforce Readiness
• Transfer Education
• Workforce Education and Training
KY Breaking Through: Overview
Kentucky Community and Technical
College System




16 colleges with 68 Campuses
106,664 Credit Students in FY 10
51,897 Workforce Solutions Students
5,974 Businesses Served
KY Breaking Through: Overview
Kentucky’s initiative aligned to the Governor’s Workforce Emphasis.
The overarching objectives align with the Commonwealth’s goals of
increasing college access and completion programs for low income
and under skilled adults that lead to workforce competitiveness and
economic success of Kentucky’s employers.
•
•
•
•
•
Develop seamless pathways into post-secondary professional/technical
credentials
Focus workforce development on emerging industries and employers
that represent Kentucky’s future
Strengthen our career readiness certificate program
Help adults and youth gain access to employment with good wages
Create an integrated workforce training delivery system
Kentucky Critically Desired Outcomes:
KY Breaking Through: Overview
• Developing public/private partnership models which strategically address
regionally targeted industry sectors,
• Developing/strengthening programs in two of the three targeted industry sectors,
• Developing at least one new program component in the targeted sector(s) that
strengthens/completes a pathway into post-secondary professional/technical
education and good employment,
• Working collaboratively with post-secondary and workforce partners in the three
partnerships to maximize sharing of learning, relevant work product, and
minimize duplication in the use of resources,
• Leveraging collective partnership resources to implement programmatic goals
and objectives,
• Utilize the National Career Readiness Certificate in the program,
• Include career awareness activities and workplace preparedness training
• Designing readily understandable career maps for use by program participants
and key stakeholders,
• Provide professional development for project partners on foundational skills,
contextual curriculum development and delivery, career pathway strategies and
student support, and
• Reinforcing the concepts of partner interdependence and genuine collaboration
as the most effective strategies to address regional workforce issues.
KY Breaking Through
Accelerated Pace of Learning
Best Practices/Initiatives
•
Paired courses
•
Contextualized curriculum
•
Rolling enrollment windows
•
Training HQ
Lessons Learned
• Importance of faculty buy in
• Planning time for faculty to collaborate, funding
KY Breaking Through
Comprehensive Supportive Services
Best Practices/Initiatives
•
Success coach/intrusive advising
•
Intake process
•
GEN 102 Redesign
Lessons Learned
•
Academic advising Vs. Success Coach
KY Breaking Through
Labor Market Payoffs
Best Practices/Initiatives
• Career Exploration & Career Pathway Maps
• Industry Relationship
• Stackable Credentials
Lessons Learned
• Importance of Labor Market Data
• Tracking students after they leave college
KY Breaking Through
Aligning Programs for Low-Skilled Adults
Best Practices/Initiatives
•
Collaborating across departments
Lessons Learned
•
Institutional silos
•
Policies: real or perceived?
•
Compass Testing Requirements – Placement in Developmental
Education
•
High School Diploma/GED
KY Breaking Through
Importance of Collaboration/Partnerships
Internal
• Student Services
• Academic Affairs
• Workforce Solutions
External
•
Workforce Investment Boards
•
Business & Industry
•
KY Adult Education
•
Economic Development
KY Breaking Through
Cultural Transformations
•
Breaking Through is a way of doing business
•
New way of thinking
•
Breaking down institutional silos
•
Innovative curriculum development
•
Innovative program delivery across the board
•
Increases visibility of low skill adults
•
Workforce Solutions seen as R&D, preparation for matriculation
•
Retention is everyone’s business!!!
KY Breaking Through
Statewide Opportunities
• Consistent interpretation of policy
•
Policy… Perception… Politics
• Braided/leveraged funding
• Success coach
• College Ready vs. GED/HS Diploma
• TABE, Compass, & WorkKeys Alignment
• Professional Development
KY Breaking Through
34 tribal colleges serve more than 30,000 students
from more than 250 tribes from across the U.S.,
Mexico, and Canada.
Provide quality education to meet reservation
workforce needs
 Community Development
Unique:
 Perpetuate the cultures, languages, and lifeways of
the Tribes
 Promote tribal sovereignty

A young population: CSKT’s
youth population (under 18)
represents 26.5% of the onreservation population
 High unemployment rates
(10 to 70%)
 Rural Location
 Few Jobs
 No industry, No unions
 Students are Place-Based

Academic Need of Students
Entering SKC
in fall 2009
Non-DVSP Students
Students Needing at least One DVSP Course
23%
77%
CNC started the
Tatsinupi GED program.
LLTC focused on
changes to several
workforce development
 LBHC developed a work programs.
readiness program.
 Breaking Through at
 SBC piloted a Breaking
NWIC is incorporated into
Through GED cohort with a larger workforce
acceleration and
development redesign
incentives to increase
effort at the college.
persistence.


Es Xcimi:
“Making Oneself
Ready”
Outcomes From the TCBT Project:
What’s Next?
Career Pathways Stacked Credentials
Certifications
Revamp Career Services
More Certificate Programs
Expand the Bridge Program
Train advisors
Contextualize developmental education
What will the
Breaking Through Program
offer to Tribal Communities?
National Necessity
Millions of adults need access to postsecondary
education and training to advance their careers
and support their families.
Accelerating Opportunity’s Solutions
Through innovative adult education
that provides a valuable credential,
Accelerating Opportunity will ensure
that more workers have the skills they
need for today’s good jobs.
How Accelerating Opportunity Addresses a Critical National
Need:
• Institutional transformation and state policy analysis
• Program design and instructional strategies that improve ABE
delivery
• Providing comprehensive support services
• Linking program development with current and projected labor
market demands
Disconnected Educational Pathways
Traditional ABE/GED
Programs
Lack of alignment with
career/technical credential
programs postsecondary
entrance requirements
Developmental
Education
The “black hole” of
developmental education:
Low completion rates for
underprepared students
Remediation not customized
to career pathway
requirements
Multiple Loss Points
Low rates of program completion and credential attainment
Postsecondary
Career
Programs
Programs lack supports
and are ill-equipped to
meet the needs of nontraditional students
Streamlined Adult Education Pathways
Accelerated and Integrated
ABE and GED programs
Stackable
Credentials with
Labor Market Value
Articulated Career
Pathways
• Contextualized learning
• Accelerated skill-building
integrated with credit
coursework
• Comprehensive
supplemental services
• Skill-building for
postsecondary/career success
• Support through gate-keeper
courses
• Flexible program options
• College and career counseling
• Intensive transition
counseling
• Career exploration
• Intensive counseling
• Job placement
More Adult Learners Succeeding in ABE to Credential Pathways
Four-Year Initiative
Design Phase: 11 states with ABE governed through
postsecondary education received grants to develop
pathways from ABE to marketable credentials and develop
blueprints for action.
Implementation Phase: Four states (IL, KY, NC, KS)
will pilot, refine, and scale Accelerating Opportunity
pathways in a critical mass of colleges statewide.
 At least 8 colleges in each state
implementing ABE to credential
pathways at scale
 At least 450 students per college
earning a marketable credential.
 Potential impact: At least 18,000 students nationwide earning
marketable credentials
 States will adopt policies and financing models to ensure that
effective ABE to Credential programs are sustained and
expanded.
 States will engage other community colleges in a learning
network to promote adoption and scale of effective
approaches.
Accelerating Opportunity Funders & Partners
Funders:
Accelerating Opportunity is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
the Joyce Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Kresge Foundation,
and the Open Society Foundations
Partners:
Jobs for the Future (JFF)
• Managing Partner
• Convene bi-annual peer learning meetings; TA to states
The Washington State Board of Community And Technical Colleges
(SBCTC)
• Lead state & co-host of annual integrated basic skills pathways institutes with JFF
• TA to states on I-BEST and “I-BEST-like” implementation
The National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE)
• A partner in Breaking Through since its inception in 2004
• TA provider for states; leadership engagement and promotion of the initiative
The National College Transitions Network (NCTN)
• Specialized TA provider for states and institutions
• Expertise in curriculum redesign and best practices in instruction
Closing Kentucky’s Workforce Skills Gap
Why Accelerating Opportunity?
National Statistics:
Kentucky Statistics:
 Over 26 million adults lack a
high school degree
 93 million adults have low
literacy levels and are
unprepared to enter and
succeed in postsecondary and
education programs
 Another 1.3 million young
people drop out of high school
every year
 By 2018, over 60% of available
jobs will require postsecondary
education
For the GRS cohort (first-time, fulltime, credential-seeking students)
entering KCTCS in 2006:
 71% needed remediation in one
or more areas
 Students with no remedial
needs had a 29.3 % three-year
graduation rate, compared to
20.1 % for students with
remedial needs.
 Among these most-prepared
and most-traditional of our
students, those with remedial
needs were 30 %less likely to
graduate than those without.
Accelerating Opportunity Grant Overview
Kentucky’s Commitment:
 Selected 8 community colleges to test integrated basic skills model
 3,600 students with marketable credentials by Oct. 2014
 State and institutional policy support – especially finance
 Postsecondary data base modifications for student tracking
 Scale the model across the state
 Documentation of program costs
Partners
The Accelerating Opportunity initiative is engaging a number state and
local partnerships to ensure more workers have the skills they need for
today's good jobs through innovative educational opportunities for adults
that provides a valuable credential.
 Kentucky Cabinet for Education & Workforce Development
 Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
 Kentucky Community & Technical College System
 Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education/Kentucky Adult
Education
 Kentucky Department of Workforce Investment
 Kentucky Workforce Investment Board
 Business and Industry Partners
ABE to Credentials
Kentucky’s Vision:
To implement a collaborative career pathways model that
prepares students to be college and career ready.
PHASE 1: MENTOR COLLEGE
1a. Bluegrass CTC
2a. Gateway CTC
3a. Jefferson CTC
4a. Madisonville CC
5a. Maysville CTC
6a. Owensboro CTC
7a. Southeast CTC
8a. West Kentucky CTC
PHASE 2: PARTNER COLLEGE
1b. Somerset CC
2b. Ashland CTC
3b. Elizabethtown CTC
4b. Henderson CC
5b. Big Sandy CTC
6b. Bowling Green TC
7b. Hazard CTC
8b. Hopkinsville CC
AOKY Planning Process
Identified State Level & Local Teams
 All partners represented on the teams both state and local teams
 State teams conducted regional information sessions with local
teams
 Meeting timelines were established
 KCTCS funded AO Coordinators for each college
 Bi-weekly conference calls for AO Coordinators
 Created SharePoint site to post all documents
 Developed committees at the state level for
 Finance & Sustainability
 Curriculum & Student Services
 Policy
 Data
 Workforce & Labor Market
 Marketing & Communication
AOKY Planning Process
Professional Development
 Conducted training on a regional basis for contextualized instruction
and adult advising
 Building capacity with train-the-trainer strategies
 Statewide meting with Washington State Board for CTC
 Target training for AO Coordinators
Labor Market Analysis
 Conducted an analysis of local labor market trends, including the
identification or confirmation of the growth industries and
occupations in the state that pay a family-supporting wage and that
have career advancement ladders that start with less than a two-year
degree
 Select at least two career pathways for target population to enroll in
 Work with local business and industry
Kentucky Policy Framework
Data and Analysis
The P20 data warehouse will enable KY to
• measure student progress from precollege programs to
postsecondary career pathways to employment
• track individuals and their progress towards the
benchmarks set out by the initiative
Program
Redesign
Standardize practices for Adult Services to include: intake and
assessment, assessment and placement, credit for prior
learning, and financial aid for the target population
Alignment
Aligning adult education curricula with KYAE Common Core
Standards, higher GED requirements and college readiness
National Aspirations: New Directions
Accelerating Opportunity seeks to:
 Replace linear pathways with career pathways – multiple
entry/exit points, stackable credentials, integration, compression,
and self-paced competency based learning models (online
learning)
 Focus on institutional transformation and state policy
 Create program designs that acknowledge non-traditional adult
learners
 Link all program development with labor market demands
Accelerating Opportunity Kentucky
Kentucky’s Core Values:
 Changed economy by putting more educated people to work
 In-demand workforce credentials
 Cohesive policy framework shared by all partners
 Meaningful state and local partnerships
 Collaborative academic model that includes:
• A student-first approach
• A model grounded in differing learning styles with recognition of
learning disabilities
• 21st century skills
• Blended learning approach that uses state-of-the-art technology
• Good formative assessment
• Relevant instruction with purpose
 Comprehensive support services to prevent “drop-off” points
 Holistic advising services
Implications for Kentucky
 Focus on adult education student population - build on Kentucky’s
career pathways investments and capacity-building efforts to
increase credential attainment for lower-skilled adults.
 Use institutional transformation and state policy analysis to better
align programs and “braid” funding sources.
 Strengthen Instructional delivery - integration, acceleration and
co-enrollment, to improve the overall adult education instruction
and sequencing.
 Link adult education curriculum to labor market - include employer
input.
Where Are We Today?
 7 Colleges started first pathway
 More than 100 students enrolled
 Front Line training underway at each college (no wrong door)
 Prepared to launch statewide marketing campaign
 Preparing instructors for the second pathway
 Site visit to Washington state
 Continued State Level Planning Team meetings
 Working on Policy Levers
 Addressing program/policy barriers – Pell Grant Changes
AOKY….. The Kentucky Journey
“Random Acts of Progress”
“Best Practices”
“Strategic Systems”
QUESTIONS
www.jff.org/projects/current/workforce/breaking-through
executivedirector@ncwe.org
nanderson@jff.org
stacey_sherwin@skc.edu
donna.davis@kctcs.edu