1. Beyond Basic Skills: Building
Pathways to Credentials for Adult
Education Students
Marcie Foster, Policy Analyst, CLASP
Academy of Hope Board Retreat
Washington, D.C.
April 21, 2012

2. CLASP: Policy Solutions that Work for
Low-Income People
• CLASP develops and advocates for policies at the
federal, state and local levels that improve the lives of
low-income people.
• CLASP managed and provided technical assistance for
the Shifting Gears initiative, a six state effort to increase
the number of adults and youth who receive
postsecondary and industry credentials that employers
value.
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3. Today’s Agenda
• Understanding the career pathways approach and the
national imperative for adults to achieve postsecondary
and career success.
• Discussing developing a new adult education paradigm.
• Understanding core elements of pathways and bridges.
• Discussing potential next steps/barriers to success for
D.C./AoH.
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4. Increase in
demand for higher
educated workers
and continued
payoff for a
postsecondary
credential
(social, economic,
health, intergenera
tional) Need to provide
more and better
opportunities for
adult students and
workers to upgrade
their skills and
access
postsecondary
Decrease in the education.
number of HS
graduates
(traditional
source of
higher-educated
workers)
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5. Student Outcomes Remain Poor or
Unreported
D.C. Adult Education Student Outcomes
4,000 3808
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500 124
50
0
Enter Postsecondary
Meet Goal Have Goal Total Enrollment
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6. A New Adult Education Paradigm
Current New Focus on Postsecondary and
Career Success
Focused on the GED as the ultimate Focus on preparation for college and
goal. career success.
Sequential approach lengthens the time Accelerated and integrated program
to a degree. models shorten the time to a meaningful
credential.
Students left to their own devices Robust and wraparound supportive
outside of class, may receive “light services.
advising.”
Open entry/exit course offerings. Managed enrollment or “cohorts.” 6

7. What Works in Basic Skills Transition and
Eventual Postsecondary Completion
 Clear, tightly structured paths through basic skills, noncredit and credit
postsecondary coursework. Contextualization may accelerate student learning.
 The sooner students enter a program of study, the more likely they are to complete
a credential.
 Financial aid critical for access and success; other benefits for low income
students can supplement it.
 Student services also critical and can be embedded into transitions efforts.
 The more remedial classes students must take, the less likely they are to complete
a program of study. Similarly skilled students who opt-out even do better.
Source: Community College Research Center, Assessment of Evidence Series, 2011.
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8. Career Pathways: Seamless Transition and a
Greater Likelihood of Success
Progressively Higher Employment Opportunities
Adult Basic
Short-Term
Education/English Long-Term 2-Year Associate’s 4-Year Bachelor’s
Occupational
Language Certificate Degree Degree
Certificate
Instruction
Bridge
Program

9. Student Voices Video
California Career Advancement Academies initiative:
• Student perspectives on pathways programs,
contextualized learning, integrated academic and career
technical education, the cohort experience and student
supports.
http://www.careerladdersproject.org/videos/career-advancement-
academies/
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10. A National Movement
• At least 10 states have significant career pathway efforts
aimed at adults or out of school youth.
 AR, CA, KY, IL, MA, OH, OR, VA, WA, WI
• Half a dozen states have career pathway bridge initiatives
 IL, IN, MD, MN, OH, OR, WA, WI
 New Gates’ Accelerating Opportunity grants will expand this.
 Some states have focused state adult education plans/RFP’s on this.
IL, IN
 CA new ABE strategic plan moving in this direction.
 WA, NE, IA have passed career pathways legislation. MD, MN in the
works.
• Hundreds of local, career-focused basic skills bridge
programs, according to 2010 WSC bridge survey. Little
uniformity.

11. Career Pathways Bridges: Key Elements
Combine basic skills
and career-technical
content.
Connect to local Contextualize basic
employer and skills and English
community needs by language content with
engaging key partners occupational skills
in design and training.
implementation of
bridges.
Support student
success through Use new or modified
enhanced student curricula, with identified
services. learning targets for both
academic and
occupational content.
Change how classes are
delivered.
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12. Early Results of Career Pathways and
Bridges are Promising
• Illinois Bridge Programs (2,436 students):
 89% of students completed the bridge program.
 92% of those who completed went on to higher education or a new job.
• Minnesota FastTRAC (1,139 students):
 67% of students enrolled in FastTRAC ABE bridge courses completed and moved into an
integrated course.
 88% of students in integrated, credit-bearing FastTRAC programs completed their initial
course.
• Wisconsin RISE (Regional Industry Skills Education (14 of 16 colleges have a RISE bridge):
 Colleges report 90% of students complete postsecondary certificates.
 RISE students’ math skill gains exceed those of students in standard math instruction (based
on pre/post testing at several locations).
 Students express high degrees of appreciation and satisfaction with integrated instruction in
the career pathway bridge approach.
 In traditional programs, by comparison, only an average of 25 percent of working learners lacking
basic skills complete all of their remedial coursework and only four percent complete a degree or
certificate within five years of enrollment.
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13. Bridges for Learners at All Levels
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14. Lessons from State and Local Experience
• Think about the whole pathway from the beginning.
o Can focus on building out different parts at different times but need to
have complete vision from the beginning in order to avoid gaps.
• Create capacity to collect the right outcome data from the
beginning.
o Hard to measure outcomes retrospectively and hard to sustain and
scale up innovation if lack any evidence about whether it works.
• Figure out the end game for sustainability from the beginning.
o Private and public special grants might jumpstart innovation but it will
end when the grants end unless thought is given up-front to which
ongoing funding streams can support new models.
• No one partner at the local level can pull this off alone.
o All the community college silos (career-tech ed., developmental
ed., student services, academic depts.), workforce development, and
adult basic education need to be involved, as should employers and
CBO’s.

15. Potential Challenges in D.C./AoH
• Connectivity between systems (adult
education, CTE, postsecondary, workforce)? Ability to
bridge silos.
• Volunteer-based culture.
• Dichotomous labor market. Are “middle-skill” jobs readily
available?
• Very high number of adult learners with below 9th grade
level skills.

16. Developing a Bridge Strategy: Key
Questions
• What partners are missing from AoH’s bridge model? Who can you bring
to the table?
• What is your funding model? What new resources can you bring
in/modify to meet the unique needs of bridge programs (e.g. staff
development, supportive services, braided funding management)?
• Do you know what industries/jobs are in demand in D.C. and what
credentials students need to obtain them?
• What level of student are you serving? Can you serve others/lower-level
learners?
• GED 2014: What are your plans? What challenges does this represent?
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17. Thank you!
Marcie Weadon-Moreno Foster
Policy Analyst, CLASP
mwmfoster@clasp.org
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18. Basic Skills Bridges:
Four Guiding Questions/Criteria
Does it change students’ perceptions of their own possibilities and abilities?
Does it change faculty and staff (ABE, CTE, dev. ed., academic, student
services, financial aid) perceptions of basic skills students, of each other, and
of their respective roles?
Does it build relationships (among students, between students and
staff/faculty, and among staff/faculty from different parts of college)?
Do you have a benchmark and goals? How will you know if it worked?

19. Federal Focus on Pathways
• Cross-Agency Competitive Grants
 DOL’s TAACCCT grants
 Workforce Innovation Fund
 Career Pathways TA Institute (resources at learnwork.workforce3one.org)
• Technical Assistance
 Four recent DOL and DOE guidance letters, plus a joint letter between
Ed/HHS/Labor on supporting career pathways.
 Adult Career Pathways Training and Support Center (OVAE)
 ISIS (ACS - HHS)
• Federal Legislation.
 American Jobs Act
 Both Republican and Democratic House WIA Reauthorization
Proposals, Senate Democratic Proposal.
 New Career-Technical Education Blueprint from DOE
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