successful+evidence-based+services,+partnerships,+tools,+and+strategies

@http://www.clasp.org/issues/in_focus?type=basic_skills_and_workforce_training&id=0018 ||  || @http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsfa/applytosucceed.pdf ||
 * ||  || **Successful Services for Precollege Students** ||   || **Evidence-based Citations** ||
 * 1. ||  || Financial Aid Guidance Key to Helping Basic Skills Students Access Postsecondary Education
 * 1. ||  || Financial Aid Guidance Key to Helping Basic Skills Students Access Postsecondary Education
 * 2. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 3. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 4. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 5. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 6. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 7. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 8. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 9. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 10. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ||  || **Successful Partnerships for Precollege Students** ||   || **Evidence-based Citations** ||
 * 1. ||  || Learning Communities ||   ||   ||
 * 2. ||  || Mentoring Programs ||   ||   ||
 * 3. ||  || Supplemental Instruction- peer tutoring linked to specific courses. ||   ||   ||
 * 4. ||  || Study Skills Courses ||   ||   ||
 * 5. ||  || Integrated Developmental Education (contextualized learning) ||   ||   ||
 * 6. ||  || Accelerated Strategies- bridge programs during summer, combine remedial levels of classes. ||   ||   ||
 * 7. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 8. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 9. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 10. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ||  || **Successful Tools for Precollege Students** ||   || **Evidence-based Citations** ||
 * 1. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 2. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 3. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 4. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 5. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 6. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 7. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 8. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 9. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 10. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ||  || **Successful Strategies for Precollege Students** ||   || **Evidence-based Citations** ||
 * 1. ||  || Making college and career pathways more tightly structured and transparent ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 2. ||  || The sooner students enter a program of study, the more likely they are to complete ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 3. ||  || Assessment as sole measure of "college ready" is flawed ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 4. ||  || Build student supports, academic and career advising into everyday academic experience, including into precollege and noncredit classes, Career Pathways Bridge models work ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 5. ||  || Map and streamline student experience through use of student data collection ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 6. ||  || Align Learning Outcomes across different parts of the college ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 7. ||  || Financial Aid has the biggest impact of any single intervention ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 8. ||  || Student Success coaching works ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 9. ||  || This week I saw a webinar by Complete College America that made many of the same points, but that suggested a “co-requisite” strategy for developmental. In other words, it suggested having students take developmental English alongside English 101, and using the developmental class to address issues in 101 as they arise. It would require reconceiving the developmental classes as something closer to self-paced troubleshooting, but that may not be a bad thing. At least that way students will perceive a need for the material as they encounter it. It’s much easier to get student buy-in when the problem to solve is immediate. In a sense, it’s a variation on the ‘immersion’ approach to learning a language. You don’t learn a language by studying it in small chunks for a few hours a week. You learn a language by swimming in it. If the students need to learn math, let them swim in it; when they have what they need, let them get out of the pool.
 * 4. ||  || Build student supports, academic and career advising into everyday academic experience, including into precollege and noncredit classes, Career Pathways Bridge models work ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 5. ||  || Map and streamline student experience through use of student data collection ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 6. ||  || Align Learning Outcomes across different parts of the college ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 7. ||  || Financial Aid has the biggest impact of any single intervention ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 8. ||  || Student Success coaching works ||   || CLASP Report ||
 * 9. ||  || This week I saw a webinar by Complete College America that made many of the same points, but that suggested a “co-requisite” strategy for developmental. In other words, it suggested having students take developmental English alongside English 101, and using the developmental class to address issues in 101 as they arise. It would require reconceiving the developmental classes as something closer to self-paced troubleshooting, but that may not be a bad thing. At least that way students will perceive a need for the material as they encounter it. It’s much easier to get student buy-in when the problem to solve is immediate. In a sense, it’s a variation on the ‘immersion’ approach to learning a language. You don’t learn a language by studying it in small chunks for a few hours a week. You learn a language by swimming in it. If the students need to learn math, let them swim in it; when they have what they need, let them get out of the pool.

I’ve had too many conversations with students who’ve told me earnestly that they don’t want to spend money and time on courses that “don’t count.” If they go in with a bad attitude, uninspired performance shouldn’t be surprising. Yes, extraordinary teacherly charisma can help, but I can’t scale that. Curricular change can scale. ||  || http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions_of_a_community_college_dean/remedial_levels ||
 * 10. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

**Evidenced based services, partnerships, tools, and strategies that assist students in transitioning from pre-college education to the tipping point:** Evidence reveals that development education programs built around sequential courses that require multiple quarters or years to complete typically do not result in successful completion. Instead, instructional models that accelerate the students’ learning with basic skills integrated into the content of college-level courses appear to result in significantly greater numbers of student successfully completing and moving on. Students who are faced with lengthy strings of remedial courses are not willing to invest the time or money in completing the required courses (Foster, Strawn & Duke-Benfield, March 2011).

The Minnesota FastTRAC program appears to deliver basic skills within the context of occupational skills required in career programs.

**Minnesota FastTRAC: Training, Resources and Credentialing Initiative** **The purpose of the** FastTRAC Resources **is to improve collaborative service delivery for improving education and employment outcomes of adult Minnesotans, particularly adults who lack the basic and foundational skills to enter and complete post secondary education, including occupational skill training. There are too many Minnesotans with a high school diploma or an equivalent level of education who cannot enroll and complete occupational training without first mastering basic skills (such as math, reading and writing) and literacy in English ( [] ).**

Computer literacy, career exploration, and support services geared to the individual student’s needs (child care; transportation; intensive social, financial, and academic counseling, free or low-cost textbooks, etc) are keys in assisting students who are transitioning through pre-college into college-level programs (Jenkins, April 2011). Embedding or wrapping these services around basic skills instruction shows great promise in supporting the student through the challenges of beginning a college study (CLASP: Policy Solutions That Work for Low-Income People, http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/policy_areas?id=0002). Using diagnostic exams that pinpoint students’ skills and academic deficiencies allows precise, intensive remediation and/or remediation embedded in college-level courses. This strategy could effectively shorten the amount of time students are required to invest in development education programs The Tennessee higher education system requires this type of intensive diagnostic testing and find that students who are able to forego the traditional developmental education course sequence and begin their study in college-level study but receive instruction and support for their deficiencies do as well or better than students who do use the developmental education curriculum (U.S. Department of Education, March 2011).

Although most regional accrediting bodies permit college credit for prior learning, there appear only haphazard and disjointed programs at individual institutions that award adult students college credit for the skills and knowledge they acquired while working. A more consistent method of evaluating and assessing the skills adult learners have acquired while in the workplace can accelerate those students’ certificate and degree completion. A strategy to formulate a meaningful, consistent method of evaluating and awarding such credit would appear to increase the possibility that students would make faster progress toward certificate and/or degree completion but only if the credit awarded can be applied toward graduation requirements for the certificate and/or degree the student is pursuing.

Financing a college education appears to be one of the bigger hurdles facing all college students, but this challenge is particularly vexing for many returning adult students with low skills. The Canton City Schools Adult Basic Education program has hired for a position called a Transitions Facilitator who is responsible for assisting students in understanding and navigating the financial aid process. The Transitions Facilitator provides one-on-one assistance to students in completing their FAFSA in a timely manner to ensure that the students receive the best possible award possible (Foster, March 23, 2011)

References CLASP: Policy Solutions That Work for Low-Income People [] College completion tool kit. U.S. Department of Education. March 2011. Foster, M. Financial aid guidance key to helping basic skills students access postsecondary education. March 23, 2011. CLASP: Policy Solutions that Work for Low-Income People. Foster, M., Strawn, J., Duke-Benfield, A. “Beyond basic skills: State strategies to connect low-skilled students to an employer-valued postsecondardy education. March 2011. Center for Postsecondary and economic Success. Jenkins, D. Get with the program: Accelerating community college students’ entry into and completion of programs of study. April 2011. CCRC Working Paper No. 32. Minnesota FastTRAC: Training, Resources, and Credentialing Initiative. []

To meet MIT’s goal of education around the world, they post virtually all of its course materials on the Web, free to everybody. Now, this is a radical approach! []

[] page 28 of this research talks about student supports. Focus Area #5: Support and Follow-up Services to Encourage Access and Retention Benchmark: Adult Education for Work programs should provide comprehensive supports to students to reduce personal barriers to retention and progress. Quality Elements: To do this, Adult Education for Work programs should: 5-A. Make high-quality counseling a priority. Counseling is critical in Adult Education for Work programs to help students decide on a Career Pathway and help them persist in their programs and make successful transitions along the way. In practice, most counseling in Adult Education programs is provided by teachers, who usually do not have enough time or training to carry out this task in addition to their other responsibilities. All Adult Education for Work programs should ensure that their students have access to counselors who have the quali"cations to help them develop “Career Pathway plans,” make transitions along the education continuum, and access other needed services like childcare, transportation, and academic supports. While it would be optimum for programs to have full-time professional counselors on staff, it is unrealistic to expect that all Adult Education programs will be able to do this. One option is for programs to arrange for quali"ed counselors employed by partner programs such as with One-Stop Career Centers or community colleges as part of a community-wide Career Pathways partnership. In cases where teachers serve as counselors, programs need to ensure that they are quali"ed to provide these services. Whoever the counselors are, they too will need ongoing professional development.

5-B. Partner with providers in the community to provide case management services to students, including counseling and social and academic supports. No matter how strong the motivation, the responsibilities of adult life and the personal barriers of low-skilled students make it challenging to engage in educational activities for very long. Since Career Pathways systems require years of commitment, programs cannot succeed unless they make more systematic e$orts to help students overcome personal barriers and complete Career Pathways more quickly (through high-intensity instruction, dual enrollment, or other accelerated initiatives). Because many individual Adult Education programs do not have the services, resources or the expertise to address the range of personal barriers that their students face, it is critically important that Adult Education for Work programs develop a systematic method for referring students to partners like those listed below, and ensure that they receive the services they need. Potential Support Providers One-Stop Career Centers TANF Programs Public Social Service Agencies Community-based, faith-based and volunteer organizations Immigrant Support Agencies Postsecondary Institutions (including Community Colleges) Employers Labor Unions

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES - Group A

Through the review of more than 25 articles, the following strategies/programs were repeatedly touted as having a “statistically significant” positive impact on student achievement and retention:

Learning Communities – there are many different versions of this concept, all of which focus on engagement (connecting students with faculty, peers, student organizations, etc.) and integration (tying these engagements with majors). Most learning community programs incorporate an element of peer and faculty mentoring, tutoring, study skill development, integrated developmental education, and in some cases cohorts. Schools that have implemented learning communities have noted that students participating in the program passed more courses, earned more credits, and reported feeling more integrated and engaged in their education than their peers who did not participate. When designed with a holistic approach in mind, learning community programs address each major barrier to student success: lack of motivation and direction, an ignorance of higher education navigation, lack of social support, perceived lack of resources, academic underpreparedness, and lack of engagement.

Mentoring Programs – Different versions of mentoring have been studied, with peer being found to have the greatest impact on student success when done with a holistic approach. Faculty mentoring was also seen as valuable and statistically significant when faculty were fully vested in student’s well-being.

Supplemental Instruction- peer tutoring linked to specific courses.

Study Skills Courses – these courses are becoming more prevalent as studies show that underprepared students/precollege students are deficient in more than just academic skills, but the basic study skills needed be successful in college level coursework.

Integrated Developmental Education (contextualized learning) – developmental courses presented in a format that focuses on acquiring specific competencies and can be applied in related college courses with college credit. This requires that faculty are willing to connect disciplines and coordinate assignments so that students are working on related topics, concepts, or tasks, thus integrating remedial course work with credit bearing classes. IBEST, one such program, has seen higher persistence rates, more credits earned, and certificates achieved. Students can complete pre-college courses and earn college credit in their major/area of interest. For example, at Highline Community College, one of the Achieving the Dream (AtD) interventions combines a writing assignment in English 91 with a presentation by an academic advisor. Each quarter, an academic advisor presents in all English 91 classes on transfer and prof/technical programs, registration policies and processes and campus resources. After providing this intervention for two years, we have positive results (Bernhagen 2011):

1) The percent of at-risk, MP311 students who stay in college for another quarter increased from 79% to 88% 2) The percent of at-risk, MP311 students who earned a 2.0 or higher in English 91 increased from 71% to 90% 3) We have closed the 2nd to 3rd quarter persistence gap. MP311 students in 2009 persisted to the 3rd quarter at about the same rate as non-MP311 students (71% compared to 72%) (it was 55-65% before the intervention)

Accelerated Strategies- bridge programs during summer, combine remedial levels of classes.

Report Out - Group C, 3-15-11
 * 1) We need to integrate all student services with instruction (use "how to go to our college" as the ABE/ESL curriculum), contextualized learning
 * 2) We need to look at processes not programs
 * 3) Students do not have to reassess from ESL Level 6 to Dev ED
 * 4) Utilize student mentors for student services on the more routine issues, they know when to refer for more complex issues
 * 5) Assigning their long-term adviser early
 * 6) Elimination, Acceleration, Innovation
 * 7) Modularize learning for what is needed only, get rid of seat time
 * 8) Integrate doing their homework at part of their Dev Ed courses - addresses student time issues
 * 9) Use the semester system rather than the quarter system
 * 10) Use student portfolios for student engagement
 * 11) Contextualized learning addresses student time issues

The data team at Highline reviewed many studies and based on their intervention four factors that help student retention are - advising; engagement (high touch); identified career and academic goals.

Bellevue College PowerPoint

WSI has released a new report detailing initial findings from longitudinal research on the education and employment outcomes of students who enrolled in Northern Virginia Family Service's Training Futures (business and medical office administration training) program between 2007 and 2010. Training Futures uses an "imaginal education" model to guide trainees through a six-month curriculum that is accredited by Northern Virginia Community College for up to 17 credits. This new report includes detailed information about participants' education, employment and earnings experiences after completing Training Futures

The success of community college-nonprofit partnerships lies in their ability to help individuals succeed in post-secondary education and in careers. To illustrate how these partnerships can work, WSI recently released a short film, **Putting Adult Learners on the Road to Success**. This 19-minute film profiles two different community college-nonprofit partnerships participating in the Courses to Employment project--Training Futures/Northern Virginia Community College and Capital IDEA/Austin Community College. Students, college officials and nonprofit leaders describe their experiences and illustrate the importance and potential of these types of partnerships to help low-income adult learners as they prepare for and complete their education or training-and then begin rewarding careers. **__ Watch the video __**.

WSI has released a __ new report __ detailing initial findings from longitudinal research on the education and employment outcomes of students who enrolled in the General Services Technician program at Shoreline Community College between 2006 and 2009. Students received training in automobile service and repair over three academic quarters. A Career Navigator, funded by the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County and staffed by Pacific Associates, augmented services provided by college faculty and staff to help students with academic, financial and employment supports. This new report includes detailed information about participants' education pathways and their employment and earnings experiences.

WSI has released a new report detailing initial findings from longitudinal research on the education and employment outcomes of 991 students who enrolled in the nonprofit Capital IDEA program between 2003 and 2008 and received extensive supports to prepare for and pursue healthcare career training at Austin Community College. Students in the study enrolled at a range of education levels-from English as a Second Language, GED preparation, pre-college developmental through college-ready. This new report includes detailed information about participants' education pathways, the education milestones they achieved during the study period, and their employment and earnings experiences.

“Transitioning Adult ESL Students to College”. It has been published in the October Issue (2010? per KA) (p32-37) of the Language Magazine: The Journal of communication and Education. You can access the article from the following link (see below).http://online.languagemagazine.com//index.aspx