Accelerating Opportunity
Arkansas
Bidders Webinar
March 7, 2013
Agenda
• Welcome & Webinar Goals
Barbara Endel, JFF and Mike Leach, AATYC
• Setting the Stage – Why Arkansas is Joining AO
Mike Leach, AATYC, Jim Smith, Arkansas Adult Education, and Karon
Rosa, Arkansas Career Pathways
• Overview of Accelerating Opportunity
Barbara Endel, JFF
• Expectations of Selected Colleges
Barbara Endel, JFF and Mike Leach, AATYC
• Timeline
Barbara Endel, JFF and Mike Leach, AATYC
Setting The Stage
Why Accelerating Opportunity?
• To increase Arkansas’s economic prosperity by
preparing more working-age adults to enter the
labor market;
• As a strategic way to support PACE and other
reform goals; and
• To increase the transition rate of adult education
students into postsecondary programs.
About Accelerating Opportunity
Our Goals:
• Fundamentally change the way Adult Education
and Professional/Technical Education are
structured and delivered
• Promote state and institution policies to increase
the number of individuals completing credentials
with labor market value.
• Help adults earn a GED at the same time as
they are learning valuable technical skills.
• Improve the college experience for low-skilled
adult learners
National Movement
WA
MT
ME
ND
MN
OR
ID
WI
SD
WY
MI
CT
PA
IA
NE
NV
UT
V
T NH
NY
MA
RI
OH
IL
KS
DE
IN
CO
CA
MO
KY
W
V
VA
O
K
NM
MD
NC
TN
AZ
NJ
AR
SD
MS
AL
GA
TX
LA
FL
AK
HI
5
Improving Student Experiences and
Outcomes
What low-skilled, non-traditional
Emerging Solutions:
students typically face:
Accelerating
Opportunity
Confusing array of career programs
Career
Pathways
Integrated instructional models,
college prep & career pathways
General education focus as theAccelerating
default Programs and services specifically
for programs and services
Opportunity geared to career pathways
Career
Pathways
Long remedial education sequences
Acceleration, compression and
dual-enrollment strategies
Inadequate or inaccessible support
services
Programs not designed with career
advancement in mind
Array of support services, including
intrusive advising
Career
Programs designed around labor
market opportunities and needs
Pathway
s
Washington’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills
Training (I-BEST) Model
Basic
Academic
At least
50%
overlap
Skills
Certified
Vocational
Skills
Support Services
7
The Arkansas Accelerating Opportunity Model
Adult
Education
At least
25%
overlap
ADHEApproved
Educational
Pathway
Career Pathways
8
Recruitment
Target Population:
• Students with or without a High School diploma or GED
• TANF-eligible students (in order to use Career Pathways resources);
others can be enrolled as well if there are resources available
Target skill level:
• High Intermediate Basic Education through Adult Secondary
Education (NRS levels 4-6/grade level 6 and above)
• High Intermediate ESL (NRS level 5 and above)
Students can be referred to the program through Adult Education,
Career Pathways, college admissions, or community partners
Implementing the Model
To successfully implement this model, colleges
must be willing and able to:
• Enroll students without a High School diploma or
GED in ADHE-approved educational pathways
• Provide integrated instruction (team teaching) in
courses that lead to a Certificate of Proficiency
(or higher)
Integrated Instruction
Team-teaching:
• Overlap in instructional time (can range from
25% to 100%)
• Shared planning time
• Joint learning outcomes
• Instructors are equal – the Adult Education
instructor is not just a classroom aide
• Not the same as dual-enrollment – much more
collaboration between the two instructors.
Integrated Instruction
ADHE-Approved Educational Pathway
Possible GED
attainment
Courses Leading To
Certificate of
Proficiency
Additional Courses
Leading to Technical
Certificate
All courses team-taught Some courses may be
team-taught
Additional Courses
Leading to AA/AAS
Selected Colleges Must Commit To:
• Demonstrating of support from college leadership as well as
administrators of applicable CTE departments, ABE, academic
affairs, and student services
• Developing at least two career pathways that adhere to the nonnegotiable elements listed above, including career pathways
targeting high-wage high-demand sectors and are ADHE approved
• Enrolling students in the target population (NRS levels 4-6, or testing
at 6th grade level and above) in ADHE-approved educational
pathways
• Identifying co-instructors from basic skills and college-level
professional-technical programs, with at least a 25 percent overlap
of the instructional time to support both literacy and workforce skills
gains. Instructors must be open and willing to engage in this
innovative instructional model.
Selected Colleges Must Commit To:
• Developing integrated learning outcomes with joint faculty review of
student progress and collective evaluation of program effectiveness
by all faculty and administrators involved.
• Providing comprehensive support services, including using career
pathways program infrastructure for eligible students.
• Adopting or adapting college policies and financing models to
ensure that effective Accelerating Opportunity programs are
sustained and expanded to assist many more adult learners in
obtaining postsecondary credentials.
• Collecting data on participants, including employment outcomes
• Producing 750 credentials from across the four colleges over a
three-year time period.
Timeline
• Application Deadline: March 22nd, 2013,5 p.m. CDT
Please email the completed proposal to Mike Leach
(mleach@aatyc.org)
• Grantees Announced: Successful applicants will be
notified by Monday, April 1st, 2013
• National Conference on Integrated Basic Skills
Pathways: April 30th-May 1st 2013 in Seattle, WA .
(Travel will be covered by AATYC.)
• Team Teaching Institute: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 from
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in Little Rock. (Location TBD)
Questions?
You can type questions into the chat box (please
send to everyone) or raise your hand to be
unmuted.
If you have questions after the webinar please
contact Mike Leach (mleach@aatyc.org)