Transitions into Postsecondary
Working Poor Families Project
Academy on State Adult Education Policy
Julie Strawn
Center for Law and Social Policy
jstrawn@clasp.org
June 2007
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
Why focus on postsecondary transitions?
• For low skilled adults, that’s 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 > 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.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
Tyler and Lofstrom study, NCSALL 2006
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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 state—who are they? what kinds of
postsecondary or job opportunities make the most
sense for them?
• Tailor your state’s transition strategy(ies) to these
groups’ needs.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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 off—biggest 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
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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.)
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
Key elements: local transition models
• Have close, ongoing, personal connections with
employers—but 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.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
Connecticut’s 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 (K12) 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.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
Connecticut’s 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 state’s 12 community colleges.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
KY’s 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)
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
KY’s 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
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
KY’s 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
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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 stipends—all aimed at creating
integrated remediation customized to specific occupational
career pathway.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
WA’s 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/ESL—not 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 > $12
an hour (> than $14 an hour in Seattle).
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
WA’s 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.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
AR’s 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 < 200% of poverty are
eligible
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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 currently—curriculum 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)
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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 Teacher’s 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
Oregon Pathways for Adult Basic
Skills
Employment
Career/College
Readiness Course
Pre- Bridge
Courses (6th-8th GE)
College Degree Courses
Bridge Courses
(8th-12th GE)
Professional Technical
Courses
Occupational Training
GED Certificate
College Advising……… Support Services……Referral to One-Stop
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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 FTE’s 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
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
Key elements: state transition strategy
• Create champions for change—especially
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.
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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?
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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 program’s 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 > $9,000 per student
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
Percent of adult ed./ESL going on to college
100
80
60
40
20
0
AR
KY
LA
OH
OR
All students Students with college goal
US
CLASP State Policy Academy on Adult Education
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/sectech/factsheet/abepath
ways.doc