By DUANE M. ELLING
The promise of a better job – more money and a chance to move up -- is great motivation for going back to school. Each year, thousands of adult learners sign up for classes at their local community colleges to earn occupational or technical credentials. Unfortunately, too many fail to complete the coursework they need.
To accelerate the transition of low-skilled adults to occupational degree programs, the C.S. Mott Foundation has granted $1.5 million to Jobs For the Future (JFF) to support the first year of a three-year demonstration project to examine the “pipeline” between a high school degree or GED and completion of post-secondary education at community colleges. JFF is a Boston-based nonprofit that has developed numerous career policies and practices for at-risk populations over the past 20 years.
Phase II of a multi-year initiative, the demonstration is based on case studies and research collected and published by JFF in Breaking Through: Helping Low-Skilled Adults Enter and Succeed in College and Careers. The demonstration will support continued testing and evaluation of selected approaches being implemented by 16 community colleges across the United States.
“The evidence is persuasive that a postsecondary credential is the key to careers that pay family-sustaining wages. Yet almost 90 million adults cannot enter community college occupational or technical degree programs in part because they are not able to pass those programs’ qualifying tests,” said Jerry Rubin, vice president of JFF, a Boston-based nonprofit that has developed numerous career policies and practices for at-risk populations over the past 20 years.
“The challenge is to create effective pathways through pre-college and degree-level programs,” he said.
Six community colleges will play leadership roles in the initiative (see list in box), according to Mott Foundation Senior Program Officer Jack Litzenberg.
An additional 10 will participate as “learning” colleges, improving ways to track student data, accelerate bilingual career pathways, connect GED students and students taking Adult Basic Education with various technical certificate and degree programs, create “bridge” programs from adult literacy to college programs, and provide stronger support services to pre-collegiate students.
“Institutional change is hard and slow,” Litzenberg said. “Mott funding is designed to scale up efforts by “early adopter” institutions that are already developing or implementing innovative practices and displaying a commitment to creating accelerated pathways to advancement for low-skilled adults.”
In addition, Mott funding will provide opportunities for peer learning and leadership development for the broader community college community.
“We’re trying to get this issue on the radar screen," Rubin said of JFF's efforts to better connect adult basic education with technical degree programs. Often "siloed" at institutions, credit and non-credit coursework must merge to create a seamless path toward a degree. College presidents not only need evidence of success, but solid programmatic and funding models if they are to take on the task of restructuring to meet the needs of hard-to-serve students.
“The good news is that the level of interest among college presidents is much higher than expected,” Rubin said.
"Leadership is key," he continued, noting that "there's no single prescription" for institutional change. In addition to research and documentation of various state financing approaches, JFF also will continue to track, analyze and document the progress of the 16 leadership and learning colleges to incorporate best practices into guides and tools that will be useful for college deans, faculty and state policy teams.
By the end of the year, JFF hopes to recruit and enroll 900 to 1,200 low-skill adults in programs leading to a certification or degree program. Quantitative outcome data will be collected at each of the leadership colleges.
Through the National Center for Workforce Education, a series of activities designed to raise the profile of model programs to support and advance low-skilled adults will be developed for college presidents and senior management teams, said Rubin.
“This demonstration, if successful, will go a long way in knocking down the walls between developmental and academic education in community colleges,” Litzenberg said. “It offers the real opportunity of lifelong education to many more people previously shut out from pursuing a certification or degree opportunity.”
Additional Resources
- Click here to download a copy of Breaking through: Helping Low-Skilled Adults Enter and Succeed in College and Careers on the Web site of Jobs For the Future.
- “Breaking Through” Leadership Colleges: