OAEL & VCCS Work Together

Virginia Collaborates

OAEL and VCCS Work Together Across theCommonwealth

by George Bailey and Caroline Thurston

In the past, partnerships between adult education. OAEL would like to triple that number education and community colleges in Virginia, within the next two years. when collaboration existed, consisted largely Some of the programs that serve this shared of activities – field trips, campus visits, referrals, population are PluggedIn VA, the Transition etc. They had not been organized or structured Specialists Program, Middle College, Adult into programs. In addition, there has not been Career Coaches, and Shore Success. specific funding directed to develop them. PluggedIn VA is a curriculum framework However, Virginia’s adult education providers that seeks to provide motivated adult learners and the Virginia Community College System with a contextualized General Educational (VCCS) have implemented several programs Development (GED) program integrated with that formalize their partnership and maximize technical training as a means to develop funding. essential workplace skills for entry-level jobs

Boththe Office ofAdult EducationandLiteracy in targeted industries. Central to the PluggedIn (OAEL) and VCCS, through its Middle VA curriculum is the development of College Program, are committed to serving low-skilled, low-wage adult learners in programs that further their abilities to obtain gainful employment and/or entry into and successful completion of Only 275 ASE students per year enter postsecondary education. OAEL digital literacy skills, 21st century skills, and professional soft skills to prepare learners for employment in a variety of contexts as they complete their GED credential and Career Readiness Certificate postsecondary education. These would like to triple (CRC). This program has a flexible programs are particularly important that number. design in order to meet the unique for workforce development efforts needs of individual learners at varying statewide, and the result of combining the skill levels. resources and expertise of both adult education The program is approximately six months in and the community colleges will, it is hoped, duration and is broken into two distinct phases result in greater opportunity for adult students (approximately three months each) with four in Virginia to compete effectively in thecurrent, core content areas: GED curriculum and Career challenging job market. With the increased Readiness Certificate, professional soft skills, emphasis on postsecondary readiness for the contextualized curriculum (e.g., digital literacy workplace, education, and career training, it skills, allied health, mining), and 21st century is essential for our students that meaningful skills. partnerships between and among these various A new program based on the PluggedIn VA providers are formed. model is PluggedIn Entrepreneurs, a partnership

Adult education serves many students who between Southwest Virginia Community College are not yet ready or not interested in going to and Southwest Regional Adult Education. This college; community colleges primarily serve projectintegratescomprehensiveGEDinstruction those students who do not need Adult Basic into an innovative entrepreneurship curriculum. Education (ABE) services. But there is a portion of the population, often working adults, that both The Transition Specialists Program is can serve. These Adult Secondary Education a partnership with the VCCS. Two transition (ASE) students are only 15% of the total specialists, in the Northern Virginia and population served by OAEL-funded programs. Tidewater areas, are currently working to recruit Of that 15% (approximately 4500 students), individuals with incomplete or non-passing only 11%, or around 500 students, set the goal GED Test scores back into adult education of entering postsecondary education. However, programs and to identify strategies to assist only 275 students per year enter postsecondary these students to pass the GED Tests and be

successful in postsecondary opportunities. The specialists’ activities include outreach, financial aid assistance, college visits, and working with local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) to identify workforce opportunities.

Middle College is a college recovery pro- gram currently running in nine community colleges throughout Virginia. It serves 18-24- year-old students without a GED or high school diploma with the goal of increasing their income and employability by simultaneously pursuing a GED certificate, a community college education, and a workforce certification in a college environment.

Nearly all Middle College programs work in partnership with GED testing centers and local adult education entities to provide such services as free GED testing, GED instruction, and curriculum development, thereby leveraging resources and offering a seamless transition for adult learners.

Adult Career Coaches, serving adult workforce populations, are beginning to appear in a number of workforce programs throughout the Commonwealth. These include local adult education programs; One-Stop Centers; several community colleges’ Middle College programs and other bridge programs; and, the VCCS’s Great Expectations program, which strives to increase postsecondary education access and success for present and former foster youth. Currently, the work of the coaches serving adults is not standardized throughout the state; however, the VCCS is currently developing a model for adult career coaching in Virginia as well as a certification program that will include identifying the competencies coaches need to successfully assist adult learners to persist and succeed in their educational and career goals.

Shore Success is a collaborative effort between adult education, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), and Eastern Shore Community College and is designed as a college- recovery program to help individuals who have a desire to pursue college coursework but need to attain a GED credential and/or work-readiness skills. The program focuses on eight short- term training options and includes one-on-one tutoring, mentoring, case management, and transportation for a cohort of students.

By partnering with VCCS, adult education hopes to see an increase in enrollment, instructional intensity, and student retention; an increase in postsecondary follow-up goals; an increase in the number of GEDs earned; and, an increase in career planning and job readiness. Another important aspect of the relationship

Adult education students will develop a sense of “social capital” that will enable them to see that they are, in fact, “college material.”

is the hope that adult education students will develop a sense of “social capital” that will enable them to see themselves as successful postsecondary learners with a highly increased potential for employment…that they are, in fact, “college material.”

Through partnerships with adult education entities, students in the VCCS bridge programs may utilize adult education resources, such as adult education’s GED math and writing specialists, who are generally not available on the bridge programs’ budgets. Adult education offers flexible scheduling times and locations (approximately 500 instructional sites and 300 GED testing sites) for Middle College and other bridge students whose schedules may be fixed and who are, therefore, unable to attend GED classes in the Middle College program. This flexibility may be the key to their success.

Virginia is moving in the right direction for our students and our resources. So, what’s next? OAEL has issued two incentive grants to expand PluggedIn VA to two more sites. The Transition Specialist project has added a third specialist, to be located in the Danville area, for 2011-2012. The Adult Career Coach model is currently under development with plans to create a training academy specific to working with adults and to locate Adult Career Coaches in all VCCS bridge programs, adult education entities, and One-Stops. Four additional community colleges have added a Middle College program in the last two years. With this expansion has come an increased emphasis on partnerships with local adult education programs.

These partnerships are expected to grow and to continue to provide meaningful opportunities for our students and for workforce development in the Commonwealth of Virginia. .:

George Bailey is Workforce and Communication Specialist with Radford University and works from OAEL’s Richmond offices. Caroline Thurston is Coordinator of Middle College and Adult Career Services for VCCS’’s Workforce Development Services.

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classes. Sixteen have completed the Middle College program including receiving a CRC, participating in a career assessment, completing a one-credit Introduction to Computers course, and, for ten of the sixteen, completing a short-term training program. (Five young men completed a fourteen-week welding training program; three of these have already been hired full time by either the Newport News Shipyard or Leibherr manufacturing in Hampton. Four young women completed Certified Nursing Assistance training (CNA); two of these have been hired in full-time jobs. One of the ten is taking community college courses.)

Looking at Table 5 for 20010-11, we have seven students entered in NRS in each of the two goalsofEnteringemploymentandPlacinginpost- secondary education. That makes 14 students who we are hoping will be positive matches for us this fall. While still unsure of the data entry processes and the deadlines for our partner’s measures and with some unanswered questions about our own student exit survey calls, we are hoping for better outcome percentages than in 2009-10 (and keeping our fingers crossed).

And, naturally, we’re making changes again this year to smooth the pipeline. Some new strategies we have put in place this fiscal year include having the Middle College representative come to our site more often to meet with potential students, asking for a quicker turnaround in the college’s response to student enquiries, making the Middle College students a separate “class” in our in-house data system so that we follow them as a group even when they are enrolled in different classes within our program, and spending more time in our initial screening process getting to know both the goals and barriers of our students. So far this Fall 2011, we have referred ten students to Middle College. Two have already passed their GED exams; the other eight are attending our classes. Three students have been accepted into the 14-week welding training, and all ten are working toward their CRCs. We have ambitiously set as our 2010-

11 Program Goal for 20 students to have Entering employment and 20 students to havePlacingin post-secondaryeducationas

their outcome goals. We are always trying for a larger harvest. .:

Mary Ellen Dreybus with Jonathan Taylor, a graduate of Hampton and TNCC’s first Middle College program. Jonathan completed several community college credits and was hired full-time by Hampton City Parks and Recre- ation. He hopes to eventually become a police officer. Mary Ellen Dreybus is Director of Hampton Adult Education and GED Programs.