Accelerating Opportunity: Lessons

LearnedNovember 14, 2013

National College Transitions Network

Effective Transitions Conference

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

Programs lack supports and are ill-equipped to meet the needs of non-

traditional students

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

Traditional ABE/GED Programs

Developmental Education

Postsecondary Career

Programs

Multiple Loss PointsLow rates of program completion and credential attainment

Disconnected Educational Pathways

• Accelerated skill-building integrated with credit coursework

• Support through gate-keeper courses

• Intensive transition counseling

• Comprehensive supplemental services

• Intensive counseling

• Flexible program options

• Job placement

More Adult Learners Succeeding in ABE to Credential Pathways

Articulated Career Pathways

Stackable Credentials with

Labor Market Value

Accelerated and Integrated ABE and GED programs

• Career exploration

• Contextualized learning

• Skill-building for postsecondary/career success

• College and career counseling

Streamlined Adult Education Pathways

Promising Models: Washington’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills

Training (I-BEST)

5

Certified Vocational

Skills

At least 50%

overlap

Basic

Academic

Skills

Support Services

Accelerating Opportunity States

6

RI

HI

MT

WY

ID

WA

OR

NV

UT

CA

AZ

ND

SD

NE

CO

NM

TX

OK

KS

AR

LA

MO

IA

MN

WI

IL IN

KY

TN

MS AL GA

FL

SD

VA WV

OH

MI

NY

PA

MD

DE

NJ CT

MA

ME

VT NH

AK

NC

Industries/Occupations

7

8

Gender

Race/ Ethnicity

Age

Who are AO Students?

Secondary School

Credential (at entry)

Employment (at entry)

Who are AO Students?

• 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

Expected Outcomes: 2015

Evaluation Lessons

Evaluation Overview

• Four year, formative and summative evaluation• Lead evaluator: The Urban Institute• Partners: the Aspen Institute, George

Washington University

12

Evaluation Purpose

To generate evidence for state and federal policymakers, college administrators, funders, and other stakeholders about:

1) The process of implementing integrated college and career pathway designs and taking these designs to scale

2) Their impact for ABE and ESL students in college and in the labor market

3) Their cost effectiveness and financial sustainability

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AO Evaluation Design

Impact on AO Students

Cost Effectiveness and Financial Sustainability

Implementation and Scalability

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?

15

Key Areas of Progress

• Establishing career pathways• Awarding credits and credentials• Shifting the culture around AE students• Developing partnerships to support AO

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Pathway Designs Were Varied

• Number of credits and credentials that could be earnedo Varied from 5-54 credits, 1-6 credentials

• Blending with mainstream studentso 77% of AO courses had a blend of AO and non-

AO students in at least some sectionso Instructors and students reported that the non-AO

students were often not aware who was in AO

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Awarding Credits and Credentials

State Credits Credentials

Illinois 4,221 581

Kansas 4,802.5 1,190

Kentucky 2,063 449

North Carolina 667 52

Total 11,753.5 2,272

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Credits and Credentials Awarded by State, First Year

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

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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

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Costs for Integrated Pathways

• AO start-up costs (above the regular costs of Adult Ed) are higho 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

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Challenge: Serving ABE Students

• Loss of Ability to Benefit shifted student recruitment and composition from ABE to students with high school or GEDo 68% of students served in 2012 had some

type of high school credentialo 52% qualified for entry by scoring at ABE

levels

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Challenge: Implementing Team

Teaching• Acceptance of team teaching uneven among

CTE faculty• Level of integration and intensity varied across

pathways and collegeso Few colleges offered the most highly integrated

modelo ABE instructors more likely to serve secondary roles

• Many ABE and CTE faculty expect to improve techniques as they gain more experience

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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

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The Field Guide

Using What We’ve Learned to Enhance Your Transition Programs

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.

A Tour of the Field Guide

http://acceleratingopportunity.org/field-guide/

The Big Picture of Pathway Development

Give Yourself Time to Plan

A Strong Design Team is Critical

Pathways are Complex

Tools Guide Planning & Implementation

Think about Sustainability Early

Policy and Funding Support & Incentivize Pathways

Data Plays a Role Throughout Planning and

Implementation

Tools

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.

Lessons Learned: Policy

Lessons Learned: Policy

3. Works best with both

state and local efforts

Policy and Integrated Pathways: What have we learned so far?

1. Ability to Benefit

Changed Everything

5. Requires senior

staff engagement

2. Funding strategies

are critical

4. Colleges/ABE

providers must

change

Lessons Learned: Policy

College and ABE provider policy and funding efforts are

critically important.

Examples of common local policy changes

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.

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

Braided Funding Toolkit

http://application.jff.org/braided_funding_toolkit/

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.

Streams vs. Strategies

Streams – Existing, multi-year sources of fundingfrom federal programs (WIA, TANF, Perkins, Pell,Etc.), state programs (discretionary spending,financial aid), and private dollars (grants,scholarships).

Strategies – Ways to create more fundingopportunities 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.

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

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

Logging On

To log on to the toolkit, go to http://application.jff.org/• Click on “Request Access” next to

“Accelerating Opportunity Braided Funding”.• Click on the link for “Accelerating Opportunity

Braided Funding”.• Click “Log In” in the top right corner and then

click on “click here to register.”• Submit your registration request.• Once approved, you will choose your

username and password.

TEL 617.728.4446 FAX 617.728.4857 info@jff.org

88 Broad Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02110

WWW.JFF.ORG

Braided Funding Toolkit:http://application.jff.org/braided_funding_toolkit/Field Guide:http://acceleratingopportunity.org/field-guide/Accelerating Opportunity:http://acceleratingopportunity.org