Accelerating Opportunity: Lessons Learned

1. Accelerating Opportunity: Lessons Learned November 14, 2013 National College Transitions Network Effective Transitions Conference

2. Today’s Presentation • Overview: What is Accelerating Opportunity? • Lessons from the AO Evaluation • Translating Lessons into Resources: The AO Field Guide • Policy Lessons • Tools for the Field: The Braided Funding Toolkit • Presenters: • Nate Anderson, Senior Policy Analyst • Rachel Pleasants McDonnell, Senior Project Manager • Lexie Waugh, Senior Project Manager • Randall Wilson, Senior Project Manager

3. Disconnected Educational Pathways Postsecondary Career Programs Traditional ABE/GED Programs Developmental Education The “black hole” of developmental education: Low completion rates for underprepared students Remediation not customized to career pathway requirements Lack of alignment with career/technical credential programs postsecondary entrance requirements Programs lack supports and are ill-equipped to meet the needs of non-traditional students Multiple Loss Points Low rates of program completion and credential attainment

4. Streamlined Adult Education Pathways Accelerated and Integrated ABE and GED programs Articulated Career Pathways Stackable Credentials with Labor Market Value • Comprehensive supplemental services • Intensive counseling • Flexible program options • Job placement • Career exploration • Contextualized learning • Skill-building for postsecondary/career success • College and career counseling • Accelerated skill-building integrated with credit coursework • Support through gate-keeper courses • Intensive transition counseling More Adult Learners Succeeding in ABE to Credential Pathways

5. Promising Models: Washington’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) Basic Academic Skills At least 50% overlap Certified Vocational Skills Support Services

6. Accelerating Opportunity States WA ME MT ND MN VT OR NH ID WI NY MA SD RI WY MI CT PA IA NJ NE NV OH DE IN IL UT MD CO WV VA KS MO CA KY TN NC AZ OK AR SD NM GA AL MS TX LA FL AK HI

7. Industries/Occupations

8. Who are AO Students? Race/ Ethnicity Gender Age

9. Who are AO Students? Secondary School Credential (at entry) Employment (at entry)

10. Expected Outcomes: 2015 • 7 AO states will produce at least 10,000 credentials • 80 colleges • 170 career pathways • System change = integration of ABE into college pathways • Sustained in every state and at most of the colleges

11. Evaluation Lessons

12. Evaluation Overview • Four year, formative and summative evaluation • Lead evaluator: The Urban Institute • Partners: the Aspen Institute, George Washington University

13. Evaluation Purpose • To generate evidence for state and federal policymakers, college administrators, funders, and other stakeholders about: • The process of implementing integrated college and career pathway designs and taking these designs to scale • Their impact for ABE and ESL students in college and in the labor market • Their cost effectiveness and financial sustainability

14. AO Evaluation Design

15. Key Evaluation Questions • How did states and community colleges establish integrated pathway designs? • What impacts do integrated career pathway designs have on student progress and outcomes in college and in the labor market? • What are the benefits and costs of implementing and scaling up integrated pathway designs to states, community colleges, and students?

16. Key Areas of Progress • Establishing career pathways • Awarding credits and credentials • Shifting the culture around AE students • Developing partnerships to support AO

17. Pathway Designs Were Varied • Number of credits and credentials that could be earned • Varied from 5-54 credits, 1-6 credentials • Blending with mainstream students • 77% of AO courses had a blend of AO and non-AO students in at least some sections • Instructors and students reported that the non-AO students were often not aware who was in AO

18. Awarding Credits and Credentials Credits and Credentials Awarded by State, First Year

19. Culture Change • Change in attitudes about the potential of ABE students to succeed • Progress among faculty about the value of integrated instruction • ABE students proud of their achievements, appreciate opportunity to take college courses

20. States and Colleges Built Variety of Partnerships • Almost all colleges had a partnership with a workforce organization (WIBs, Career Centers) • Most had partnerships with CBOs, state community college office, or an employer • CBO partnerships seen as a key to success • Local partners key for recruitment, student financial aid, support services, career planning • Adult education departments reached out internally to CTE programs

21. Costs for Integrated Pathways • AO start-up costs (above the regular costs of Adult Ed) are high • Time-intensive, steep learning curve • Vast majority of costs in personnel (90%) • Remainder: course costs, tuition aid, support services, advertising, other • Costs per student and per credit likely to fall as enrollments and pathways scale up

22. Challenge: Serving ABE Students • Loss of Ability to Benefit shifted student recruitment and composition from ABE to students with high school or GED • 68% of students served in 2012 had some type of high school credential • 52% qualified for entry by scoring at ABE levels

23. Challenge: Implementing Team Teaching • Acceptance of team teaching uneven among CTE faculty • Level of integration and intensity varied across pathways and colleges • Few colleges offered the most highly integrated model • ABE instructors more likely to serve secondary roles • Many ABE and CTE faculty expect to improve techniques as they gain more experience

24. Additional Challenges • Support Services • Offering a a comprehensive set of services • Ensuring student access/uptake • Culture Change • Belief in ability of ABE students to succeed • CTE faculty support; engaging college leadership • Employer Engagement • Survey noted all colleges have “employer partners” but site visits identified this as an area for improvement

25. The Field Guide Using What We’ve Learned to Enhance Your Transition Programs

26. Why We Created This Tool • Initiative goal: spur a national movement What we’ve learned: How to develop, implement, and sustain integrated pathway models. Practical guidance for the field: How states and colleges can create robust pathway systems that better serve adult learners.

27. A Tour of the Field Guide http://acceleratingopportunity.org/field-guide/

28. The Big Picture of Pathway Development

29. Give Yourself Time to Plan

30. A Strong Design Team is Critical

31. Pathways are Complex

32. Tools Guide Planning & Implementation

33. Think about Sustainability Early

34. Policy and Funding Support & Incentivize Pathways

35. Data Plays a Role Throughout Planning and Implementation

36. Tools

37. Using the Field Guide • http://acceleratingopportunity.org/field-guide/ • Open to anyone. • Still in beta phase – we are still making some changes, adding new tools. • Constantly evolving – we will update it regularly as we develop new tools and uncover best practices. • Please provide feedback! Our goal is to make this beneficial to you.

38. Lessons Learned: Policy

39. Lessons Learned: Policy Policy and Integrated Pathways: What have we learned so far? 4. Colleges/ABE providers must change 1. Ability to Benefit Changed Everything 2. Funding strategies are critical 5. Requires senior staff engagement 3. Works best with both state and local efforts

40. Lessons Learned: Policy • College and ABE provider policy and funding efforts are critically important.

41. Examples of common local policy changes

42. Local Policy Change: Examples • Assessment, Intake and Placement • Lowered enrollment “floors” • Less over testing and high-stakes testing • Assessment cross walks or substitution • Prior Learning Assessments • Co-location to encourage enrollment in WIA, TANF, etc.

43. Local Policy Change: Examples • Data Collection • Shared data/integrated databases • Aligned performance measures • New measures of success • Student Services • Mandatory counseling/orientation • Funding • Tuition waivers • Changes to financial aid

44. Braided Funding Toolkit http://application.jff.org/braided_funding_toolkit/

45. What is Braided Funding? • Braided funding refers to: • 1) the weaving together of federal, state and private funding streams; and • 2) the development of funding strategies • to support integrated pathways and the students enrolled in them.

46. Streams vs. Strategies • Streams– Existing, multi-year sources of funding • from federal programs (WIA, TANF, Perkins, Pell, • Etc.), state programs (discretionary spending, • financial aid), and private dollars (grants, • scholarships). • Strategies – Ways to create more funding • opportunities independent of streams, including 1) • reducing costs, 2) raising new revenue, or • 3) redirecting existing revenue. • Streams and Strategies are equally important. Focus on both.

47. Why is Braided Funding Important? • The Reality: • Reductions in federal, state and even private foundation funding will continue for the foreseeable future. • Performance-based funding will continue to tie funding to outcomes. • Per-student educational costs must come down. • The Benefits: • Build new partnerships • Sustainability: institutional transformation, leadership support, investment priorities • Improved competitiveness for grants • Efficiency and effectiveness • Do more with less

48. Your Braided Funding Team • Internal Members • Finance/Financial Aid • Grants & Development • Workforce/CTE • Registrar • Student Services • Senior Administration • AO lead/coordinator • Adult Education • Academic Deans • Transfer Department • External Members • One-Stop Career Center • Employers/Industry Partners • CBOs/non-profits • TANF office • Community Action Agency • Veteran Affairs