It’s hard to get adults back to the classroom—especially those who didn’t graduate from high school or earn a GED. For the past four years, a handful of states have experimented with a new model for adult basic education, giving returning students a chance to get a GED while engaging in credit-bearing, skills-based classes that have real-world job applications. A new report by the Urban Institute looked at the first two years of implementation—states are now in year four—and found great success.
The Accelerating Opportunity program is an initiative of Jobs for the Future. Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana have been building the program since 2012, and Georgia and Arkansas joined later in the cycle. Implementation has varied across states with very different community college landscapes, but Rachel Pleasants McDonnell, a senior program manager with Jobs for the Future, has found much to be excited about in the model’s growth.
Adult students—some with high school credentials and some without, but all whose skills fall below basic literacy levels—have been recruited for specific occupational tracks. Courses are co-taught by one career and technical education instructor and one adult education instructor who, together, support students as they take career-oriented, credit-bearing courses while getting the support they need to sharpen basic skills like English and math.
Pleasants McDonnell said there is a growing understanding in the adult education world that there needs to be an integrated emphasis on education and job training for returning students. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act recognizes this, and Accelerating Opportunity has made it the center of its initiative.
“We’re seeing a lot of effectiveness of the model with adult students that are coming in with low skill levels because it makes learning relevant,” Pleasants McDonnell said.
The Urban Institute report found that participating colleges aligned their offerings based on local contexts, better enabling students to graduate and find jobs right away. In the first two years of the program alone, thousands of students were placed in their new fields, many finding manufacturing and health care jobs. The goal of the initiative is to connect adults with jobs that pay enough to support their families.
The initiative, which has successfully connected adult basic education and career training in community colleges across the six participating states, has required a culture shift on campuses. While the Urban Institute report found instructors wary of the team-teaching model in year one, they were becoming more invested in it by year two, and Pleasants McDonnell said there are many who now don’t ever want to go back.
This year is the fourth and final year of the official Accelerating Opportunity program through Jobs for the Future. Colleges and states are working on sustainability plans, figuring out how to continue the initiative with new funding streams. The Urban Institute report found colleges doing more with less in year two of the program, but its continued success does rely on sustainable funding sources.
So far, Pleasants McDonnell is hopeful about the Accelerating Opportunity model surviving beyond the grant cycle, even though it is often the case that when money disappears, institutions go back to their prior operating procedures.
“We’ve heard such amazing commitments from states and colleges that this is what they want to continue doing,” Pleasants McDonnell said. “College presidents saying this is the new way of doing business, faculty saying they don’t want to go back to teaching without a team teacher in the room.”
As government officials increasingly looking to community colleges to support students’ career goals, a model with a track record for success seems to be one worth funding.
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