loretta costin, chancellor division of career and adult education florida department of education...
TRANSCRIPT
Loretta Costin, ChancellorDivision of Career and Adult Education
Florida Department of Education
Learning Today, Earning Tomorrow
Florida’s Vision For Incorporating Career Pathways Into Adult Education Programs
November 2010
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Why Career Pathways Are Important to Adult Education Students in Florida• The Growing Need for Postsecondary Credentials
– Meeting the labor market’s need for workers who are more highly skilled and better trained requires upgrading the skills of the adults currently in the workforce.
– Nearly half of all net jobs created between 2008 and 2018 will require some postsecondary credential (Lacey & Wright 2009).
– Yet as of 2006, over 40 percent of adults in the United States had only a high school diploma or less; another 20 percent had earned some college credit but no credential (Jenkins 2006).
– Far too many Americans – as many as 93 million – score at the lower levels of national assessments of functional literacy skills.
– These adults have limited opportunities to find sustaining-wage work.
– Wages have remained stagnant or declined compared to those of higher-educated adults (Jenkins 2006).
– They have also been hit much harder by the recent recession; the national unemployment rates for those without a high school diploma are three times the rate of those with a postsecondary degree (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2009)
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The Lack of a Coherent System
• In most communities, there is currently no ‘system’ designed around the career advancement needs of low-skilled adults; instead there is a collection of disjointed programs, each with different governance, funding streams, rules and cultures.
• Historically, adult education programs have focused on helping adults complete secondary school education.
• But most programs are not designed to adequately prepare students for the postsecondary education and training needed in today’s economy.
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Low Transition Rates to Postsecondary Education
• Number of low-skilled adults who progress from remediation to credit-level coursework is low
• Current approach is not moving low-skilled adults from adult education into degree and certificate programs that are increasingly essential for family-supporting careers
• Many see career pathway models, which integrate remedial education into CTE training programs, accelerate and contextualized learning and provide extensive supportive services, as a promising approach to helping low-skilled adults complete programs and earn income-enhancing credentials
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The Challenges to Creating Effective Pathways
• Rationale is clear: low-skilled adults need postsecondary education to get good jobs, and Florida needs to improve our educational systems to ensure that more adults can progress from remedial education to credentialing programs and from noncredit to credit programs
• Early indications suggest that this approach can propel more low-skilled adults into and through postsecondary education and training programs
• States face a number of common challenges, centered primarily around two key issues:
– The difficulty of creating coordinated and coherent systemic change
– The challenge of meeting the needs of the hardest-to-serve populations.
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Challenges
Challenge 1: Defining a New System– Few are engaged in the breadth of institutional and
system-wide change needed to significantly increase the number of low-skilled adults who make their way quickly and efficiently to meaningful credentials and family-sustaining employment
Challenge 2: Identifying Leadership and Defining Roles– Requires strong leadership at every level– Requires a designated governing structure that has
an ongoing responsibility
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Challenges
Challenge 3: Getting More and Better Data
– If states and colleges are to be accountable for the outcomes (e.g., higher rates of transition, persistence, completion, and employment), there must be ways to measure those outcomes
Challenge 4: Providing Adequate and Aligned Funding
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Meeting the Needs of Low-skilled and Working AdultsChallenge 5: Design programs that prepare
low-skilled adults for postsecondary education– Students are often working adults who need to upgrade
their basic skills quickly and be trained in a career field while juggling work and family responsibilities
– Programs need to be flexible in terms of hours and locations.
– Instruction needs to be contextualized to the students’ education and training goals
– Students need to clearly understand what the next step is after adult education
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Meeting the Needs of Low-skilled and Working Adults
Challenge 6: Reduce the Time Investment Needed to Achieve a Meaningful Credential
– “Stackable” credentials - ensure credentials will be recognized by postsecondary institutions, valued by employers, and prepare workers for further education and training and high demand jobs
Challenge 7: Limited Capacity to Provide Student Supports
– Low skilled and low-income adult learners face numerous barriers to persistence
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Promising Strategies for Meeting the Needs of Low-skilled and Working Adults
• Define Pathways Clearly• Accelerate Instruction• Create “Bridges” and “On Ramps”• Create Programs Based on the Labor Market• “Chunk” or Modularize Programs and Credentials• Provide Ongoing, Intensive Supports, Including Career
Guidance– Case management approach– Low-skilled adult students need guidance in choosing career
paths– In a career pathways program, career guidance should be
provided early in the process with counseling throughout the program, especially at points of transition
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Achieving Systemic Change
• Change is achievable with a well-defined vision and a clearly articulated plan of action.
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Example of a
Adult Education Career Pathway
Adult Basic Education 8.9
Level Math Reading Language
6.0 – 8.96.0 – 8.9
4.0 – 5.94.0 – 5.9
2.0 – 3.92.0 – 3.9
0.0 – 1.90.0 – 1.9
Pre-GED6.0 – 8.9
ESOL
6 NRS Levels
CAREER PLANNING COURSE
(Student Career Plan)
Earn GED Diploma
Earn Standard High School
Diploma
Earn CNACNACertificate
EXITEarn CNA CNA Certificate
EXIT
Enroll in GED Prep course
Enroll in an Adult Secondary
High School
Enroll in CTE program CNA
Applied Academics(VPI)
Earn Postsecondary
Degree(BS, AS, AAS, AA,CTE Certification)
Earn RNPEXIT
Earn RNEXIT
Earn LPNEXIT
Earn RNP EXIT
Earn RN EXIT
Earn LPN EXIT
Enroll in CTE program CNA
Applied Academics(VPI)
CAREER
LADDER
CAREER
LADDER
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Next Steps
What: Gap Analysis – Where we are?/ Where do we need to go?
• Develop a 5-year strategic plan – state and local• Establish goals/measure results • Leverage resources to meet goals of the strategic
plan• Develop capacity of instructors/administrators
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Next StepsHow:
– Implement State and Local Strategic/Implementation Plans
– Utilize current leadership structure• Adult Education Cabinet
• Standing Committees
• Department of Education/Division of Career and Adult Education staff
• Local Leadership Structure
– Utilize existing professional development system• Regional Training Centers
• Professional Development Institute
• TechNet
• ACE of Florida
• Florida Literacy Coalition
– Distribute approximately 6 million dollars to LEA’s in 2010-2011 to develop capacity/infrastructure
