Contextualization A Powerful Strategy for Career and College

Contextualization: A Powerful Strategy for Career and College Readiness Community College/Workforce Development Transformation Kickoff—January 30, 2012 Judith C. Taylor

Background: The Breaking Through Initiative � Launched in 2004 with multi-year funds from the CS Mott Foundation � Goal: to demonstrate that adults with math and/or reading skills at 8 th grade level or below could attain post secondary technical credentials � Started with 6 funded demonstration community colleges and an additional number of colleges whose costs for attending 2/year peer learning meetings were supported

Background: The Breaking Through Initiative � Breaking Through focused on four “highleverage” strategies to help low skilled adults advance to and through post secondary education � The first strategy was “accelerate the pace of learning. ” By 2009, when we got funding to produce a Practice Guide, it was clear to us that contextualization was the most widely used and well-developed acceleration strategy.

Today’s Agenda � Describe several different examples of contextualization from Breaking Through— ask questions at any time � Group Discussion ◦ Your input into the RFP that the Commonwealth will put out to identify a contractor(s) to develop the contextualized curricula ◦ Find out who would like to serve on an advisory committee for the curriculum development

Central New Mexico CC �A funded demonstration site � Industry: construction � Goal: Recruit TANF recipients and parolees to train for jobs in Albuquerque’s fast-growing construction industry � Method: Two 6 week “bridge” program created jointly by Developmental and Technical faculty with the goal of enrollment in for-credit construction trades or employment

Central New Mexico CC � Challenge: Many of the students recruited to the construction program brought significant baggage that could easily have resulted in missing classes, dropping out, etc. � Solution: CNM had included an “Achievement Coach” in its proposal design. � This is where we first learned how important the role of a supporting coach is.

Southeast Arkansas CC (SEARK) �A funded demonstration site � Industry: health care � Goal: prepare low-income students (mainly TANF) to work as LPNs in 18 months � Method: Two new “Fast Track” programs that ran concurrently, one technical and the other in basic skills delivered by the Developmental dept. Three semesters’ work were compressed into one semester (math and reading) contextualized for health care. �

Southeast Arkansas CC (SEARK) � Challenge: Some students at SEARK made a career out of taking college classes because it maintained their TANF eligibility—and had trouble adjusting to the rapid pace and rigorous standards of Fast Track. � Solution: Because the program was designed around a cohort model, students were able to drop back to the cohort behind them; this kept them in the program but gave them some flexibility.

Davidson County CC (N. C. ) �A learning college (no implementation $$) � Industry: multiple � Goal: Prepare Basic Skills (ABE) students for entry to the College’s credit technical programs � Method: Develop contextualized curricula for 5 high-demand industry sectors in the region(health care, transportation, IT, etc. ).

Davidson County CC � Challenge: Most Basic Skills students were adults who had been laid off by factories in the region. They had diverse career goals, identified through DCCC’s extensive assessment program. � Solution: : Basic Skills staff met with technical department heads to identify skill expectations, then obtained textbooks from which they extracted sections pertinent to the Basic Skills curriculum (e. g. , fractions, paragraph construction). These pages are arranged by topic in 3 -ring binders so Basic Skills instructors can pull out lesson material contextualized by industry.

�A Owensboro Technical and Community College (KY) demonstration site � Industry: welding (among others) � Goal: develop a pathway for low skilled adults laid-off by surrounding factories so they could achieve credentials, even degrees, in a high-demand field � Method: A variety of just-in-time strategies to strengthen basic skills when they were needed

Owensboro Technical and Community College (KY) � First challenge: many workers’ math skills were so low that they couldn’t meet the 9 th grade math standard required for non-credit welder’s helper. � Solution: Short-term, intensive math instruction contextualized to welding just prior to start-date of welder’s helper class.

Owensboro Technical and Community College (KY) � Second challenge: Many students who scored above the prerequisite math level had no facility in areas essential for welding—arcs and angles, for example. � Second solution: “Pull-out” sessions with basic skills instructors were designed specifically on the problematic topic, with fully contextualized materials, for the students in question.

South Texas College (Mc. Allen) �A later demonstration site � Industry: health care (among others) � Goal: Create a pathway from Basic Skills/noncredit into for-credit nursing. � Method: Created a partnership between the non-credit ABE/technical area and the nursing department, facilitated by an influential dean. Luckily, the Dean of Nursing was very open and flexible.

Creating Pathways for Adults with Limited English Proficiency Juan Carlos Aguirre Luzelma G. Canales Elizabeth Hernandez Gretchen Wells October 20, 2009

Collaborative Approach �Workforce Solutions ◦ Funding �Jobs for the Future ◦ Technical Assistance �Community Based Organization (VIDA) ◦ Support Services �South Texas College ◦ Noncredit to Credit Pathways

ADN/RN $19 - $25/hr LVN CNA to RN Pathway $15. 00/hr TSI Complete PCA Certificate $11. 00/hr Phlebotomy College Ready Academ y $10. 00/hr Medication Aide $9. 50/hr GED Complete CNA GED or or or CNA Nursing Home $7. 50 to $8. 00/hr CNA Hospital $8. 00 - $8. 50/hr © 2009 South Texas College

CNA to RN Noncredit to Credit Articulation

Learnings from Contextualization Efforts in Breaking Through � Contextualization is a powerful strategy to motivate students to succeed while showing them why academic skills they are studying are needed to function effectively in their jobs/careers. � At the same time, students can find contextualized classes daunting, especially at first, because they’re being asked to master two types of material at the same time.

Learnings from Contextualization Efforts in Breaking Through � “Scaffolding” learning can help lower-skill students succeed in contextualized classes. Two examples: providing career-specific vocabulary prior to the lesson the terms will be used in; exposing students to portions of texts or tasks they will experience in higher-level classes. � Several schools—e. g. , SEARK—expected math to be the biggest problem for their low skilled students, but instead found that reading and understanding technical writing were more challenging.

MACCWDTA: RFP to Develop Contextualized Curricula � The Massachusetts grant includes funds for a contractor(s) to develop contextualized remedial curriculum. � The RFP is still under development. Your input is needed. � We’re going to ask each table to take ten minutes to discuss what you think should be the key qualifications/elements of this RFP. � But first—here are some questions to get you started.

Preliminary Thinking—RFP Categories There are several broad areas in which the contractor should have experience and expertise: �Technical/academic curriculum development. �Format �Professional development.

Technical & academic curriculum development �Have you, or others in your college, developed contextualized curricula already? Would you be wiling to share the curricula? Contribute your expertise? �What’s more important: technical expertise or educational methodology?

Format How should the curriculum be designed to be useful to you? � There’s a real range in curriculum, from very detailed to little detail. What should the contractor be asked to provide? � How about scripts for the instructor? � Examples of classroom activities? � Links to readings for students?

Professional Development �What kind of support/professional development would help you use the new curricula in your classroom? �Would periodic follow-up support be helpful? If so, what form would it take? How frequent?

Table Discussion � Please take 10 minutes to discuss these issues among yourselves. � Select the one (or two) RFP requirements that the group decides is most important to this project’s success. � Write the requirement(s) you selected on one of the cards on your table. � I’ll ask some of you to share your ideas; all the cards will be collected.

Wrap Up and Final Thoughts � This group will meet monthly once a contractor is selected. � Until then, a small group of volunteers will be asked to review the RFP development—the group will be chaired by Anne Serino and Phil Sisto. � If you’d like to volunteer for this group, please write your name on a card and give it to one of us. Massachusetts Community Colleges and Workforce Development Transformation Agenda (MCCWDTA) is 100% funded by a $20 million grant from the U. S. Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration TAACCCT. Grant Agreement #TC-22505 -11 -60 -A-25. This workforce solution was funded by a grant awarded by the U. S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The solution was created by the grantee and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U. S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including, but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or ownership. This solution is copyrighted by the institution that created it. Internal use, by an organization and/or personal use by an individual for non-commercial purposes, is permissible. All other uses require the prior authorization of the copyright owner. Massachusetts Community Colleges are equal opportunity employers. Adaptive equipment available upon request for persons with disabilities. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3. 0 Unported License http: //creativecommons. org/licenses/by/3. 0/