- Multiple entry points are needed so that adults with skills gaps and lower levels of education can enroll in career pathways classes. Providers should consider what entry requirements are needed for students to understand the course material, complete the program, and prepare for postsecondary education or employment. Similarly, programs should track how entry-level students are advancing through the course sequence, from ESL, ABE, or GED® classes to occupational or career and technical education (CTE) classes.
- Programs should ensure that counselors, coaches, case workers, and other support staff have manageable caseloads. Funders and policy makers should consider increasing the funding for support services that address students’ non-academic concerns. These supports should help increase persistence and program completion.
- For careeer pathways to be effective, organizations need measures that capture interim outcomes toward longer-term goals such as completing a degree or obtaining a job. Interim outcomes are especially important for showing the achievements of students with greater barriers to education or employment. Policymakers and funders should support the development and use of interim outcome measures.
- To minimize problems such as gaps in services, duplication, and competition for students, funders and policy makers should support the creation of groups, events, or initiatives that help career pathways providers coordinate their efforts. Funders and policy makers can play a key role in helping workforce and adult education entities collaborate in providing career pathways programs.
- determine whether we are pushing our students to produce the most rigorous, level-appropriate language and thinking possible;
- identify challenges to students’ learning;
- plan instruction to address and assess the most relevant standards; and
- plan for scaffolding and other supports to better meet our students’ needs.
- Analyze and reflect on instructional tasks through the process of identifying the relevant disciplinary practices and ELP Standards
- Understand the what, why, and how of utilizing the ELP Standards in planning and instruction
- Download and print the module’s resources (which appear in the Resources tab beginning on slide 4) before you begin the training.
- Please turn off pop-up blockers in your browser for this module.
- Use the following instructions for navigating through this module using your keyboard and using JAWS assistive technology:
- Use the Tab key to move forward through each screen’s content. Press Shift + Tab to move backwards. A box surrounds the object that is currently selected.
- To select the skip navigation button and the navigation buttons that appear at the bottom of the screen (Play, Pause, Forward, Back, Volume, Closed Captions and Exit buttons), use the spacebar key.
- Press Shift + Enter to select a navigation button at the top of the screen or a hyperlink.
- For closed captioning select the cc button.
- What process can adult educators follow to understand the content knowledge, analytical skills, and language demands of an instructional task?
- What does task analysis reveal about the demands of instructional tasks in relation to academic content standards and language use?
- Determine whether we are challenging students to produce the most rigorous, level-appropriate, standards-aligned activities;
- Identify roadblocks to students’ understanding; and
- Plan for scaffolding and supports to better meet our students’ needs.
- Understand the value of a task analysis process that examines what adult English Language Learners (ELLs) need to know and do around content knowledge, analytical skills, and language use to accomplish an instructional task; and.
- Use a task analysis process to analyze and reflect on instructional tasks for various levels and content areas.
- Download and print the module’s resources (which appear in the Resources tab beginning on slide 4) before you begin the training.
- Please turn off pop-up blockers in your browser for this module.
- Use the following instructions for navigating through this module using your keyboard and using JAWS assistive technology:
-
- Use the Tab key to move forward through each screen’s content. Press Shift + Tab to move backwards. A box surrounds the object that is currently selected.
- To select the skip navigation button and the navigation buttons that appear at the bottom of the screen (Play, Pause, Forward, Back, Volume, Closed Captions and Exit buttons), use the spacebar key.
- Press Shift + Enter to select a navigation button at the top of the screen or a hyperlink.
- For closed captioning select the “cc” button.
- What are OER? A definition of the resource category.
- Why use OER? Highlights top benefits for administrators, educators and students, including reducing cost and increasing efficiency.
- Supporting educators with OER guides administrators on how to support educators in using OER.
- How to make OER work for you guides educators to try OER and adapt OER for their own use. This section also includes information on educator communities where teachers can learn and share advice with peers.
- LINCS Learning Portal points administrators and educators to related professional development resources.
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Abstract:
This report presents findings from a research project that examines how adult education providers in three cities designed and implemented career pathways programming for adults who are immigrants or have barriers to employment and education.
This research project examined how adult education providers in Chicago, Houston, and Miami designed and implemented career pathways programming, especially for adults who are immigrants or have barriers to employment and education. The project consisted of three research phases: (1) a survey of all known adult basic education providers (ABE) in the three cities, (2) focus groups with adult education providers in those cities, and (3) case studies of six programs (two per city). The authors offer the following implications based on the findings.
What the experts say
This research provides critical insights into ways that community literacy providers, adult schools, community colleges, skill trainers, workforce development, and human service providers can find their place in developing a career pathway system that is responsive to all adult learners. Adult education programs will find the report useful in developing comprehensive strategic plans and operational pathways for individuals with barriers to employment.
Providers will find a wealth of information about the challenges ABE providers face when adding career pathways to their offerings and promising responses. For example, supportive services are a core element of career pathways but often are not part of the adult education mix of services. The IES research identified two models – bundled and voluntary. They found two national bundled models, the Center for Working Families, and the Financial Opportunity Center. Both bundled models require participation in two or more integrated support services, including financial coaching, employment coaching, and/or access to income supports. Voluntary models, on the other hand, give students access to one or more services, but participation is voluntary, and rarely offer financial literacy or counseling.
Another example is access for lower-skilled students and students with barriers to employment. The IES survey data showed that there are minimum test score, language, or other entry requirements for more than one-half of all the career pathways services or classes in their research. The case studies confirm that overall, lower-level students had less access to career pathways programs. The researchers did identify some promising models for addressing these barriers for lower-skilled students. For example, a Miami-based provider, Lindsey Hopkins Technical College, had, “per Florida state policy, an exit requirement for all but one of its CTE courses. This model enabled lower-level students to enroll and then demonstrate their academic or practice-based competence – a minimum TABE score or industry certifications, respectively – upon program completion.”
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2018
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Abstract:
This module digs deeper into the English Language Proficiency Standards using the last two steps in the four-step task analysis process that was introduced in Analyzing Student Tasks in Relation to Content Demands, Thinking Skills, and Language Use - Module Two.
“Digging Deeper Into the English Language Proficiency Standards for Adult Education,” is the third in a three-part series professional development modules about the English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards for Adult Education. The training is intended for instructors, instructional leaders, program administrators, and professional development providers.
Module Three engages users in the last two steps of the task analysis process. Steps three and four help us to better understand which of the core disciplinary practices and ELP standards are relevant to certain instructional tasks—and to instructional practices. This training answers the question: How does the task analysis process support educators’ understanding and integration of the ELP Standards during their own planning and instruction?
Benefits and Uses
There are several benefits of engaging in task analysis. The process helps us to
Required Training
Completion of Modules One and Two, and an understanding of your state’s academic content standards.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2018
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Abstract:
An evaluation of the two-year Transition to College and Careers demonstration project, which addressed academic and non-academic barriers to college for adult learners in six adult education centers across New England.
Transition to College and Careers (TCC) was a two-year demonstration project that addressed the academic and non-academic barriers to college experienced by many adult learners. The programs were designed to foster college and career readiness skills in four areas: personal readiness, career readiness, academic readiness, and college readiness and knowledge. One innovative program feature was an online "Introduction to Health Science" course that students from all programs took as a cohort.
Of the 397 adult learners who enrolled in one of the six participating TCC programs, 66% completed the progam, 69% attained college level reading skills, and a majority enrolled in college afterwards. Participants reported that the main reasons for non-completion of the program were a lack of reliable transportation and health issues. These findings support a program design that emphasizes students’ personal readiness, math, online learning, pro-active counseling and advising, and engagement with career centers and employers.
This article appears in an issue of the COABE journal. This article begins on page 4.
What the experts say
The ideas in this article will be helpful to ABE programs and colleges in designing or evaluating college transition or bridge programs. It describes a holistic college transitions project that considers academic readiness as one of the components for success along with personal readiness, career readiness, and college readiness and knowledge. The key elements for student success are laid out with the importance of each component and strategy clearly described. Project findings identify elements that promote student success and provide concrete suggestions for building or evaluating a college transitions program as well as challenges to be overcome. Consequently, the article could be used as a blueprint or discussion points by a staff, advisory board, or planning committee.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2018
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Abstract:
This module focuses on the task analysis process in relation to content demands, thinking skills, and language use.
“Analyzing Student Tasks in Relation to Content Demands, Thinking Skills, and Language Use” is the second in a three-part series of professional development modules about the English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards for Adult Education. This training is intended for instructors, instructional leaders, administrators, and professional development providers who are learning to use the new ELP standards.
Module Two introduces the first two steps in a task analysis process. The content of the training responds to the following questions:
Benefits and Uses
In order to successfully complete an instructional task (or activity), our English language learners (ELLs) must demonstrate certain content knowledge, analytical skills, and language use. In analyzing an instructional task, instructors determine what students need to know and be able to do with regard to these three components (or lens). Analyzing a task through these three lenses helps us to focus on all the various cognitive demands placed on students as they tackle an instructional task or project.
Task analysis helps us think more deeply about the structure and demands of an instructional task for ELLs—especially tasks we did not create ourselves. The task analysis process allows us to:
Required Training
Completion of Module One: Introduction to the English Language Proficiency Standards for Adult Education; an understanding of your state-adopted academic content standards.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2018
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Abstract:
This First Look report from the National Center for Education Statistics provides selected key findings on adults' attainment of nondegree credentials (licenses, certifications, and postsecondary certificates), and their completion of work experience programs such as apprenticeships and internships.
This report presents data on adults’ training and education in the United States as of 2016. The report focuses on nondegree credentials and work experience programs. Nondegree credentials include two types of work credentials—certifications and licenses—and postsecondary educational certificates. Work experience programs include internships, co-ops, practicums, clerkships, externships, residencies, clinical experiences, apprenticeships, and similar programs. Characteristics of the adults who earn these credentials and complete these programs are also presented, including sex, race/ethnicity, age, level of education, labor force and employment status, earnings, job sector, and occupational field.
Readers are cautioned not to draw causal inferences based on the results presented. It is important to note that many of the variables examined in the report may be related to one another, and complex interactions and relationships among the variables have not been explored. The variables examined are just a few of the variables that can be examined in these data; they were selected to demonstrate the range of information available from the study. The release of the report is intended to encourage more in-depth analysis of the data using more sophisticated statistical methods.
This report (NCES 2017-103rev) is revised from an earlier version (NCES 2017-103) that was released in September 2017. This updated version corrects an error in the row header for occupational field in tables 1, 2, and 5 to specify that estimates are among adults who were ever employed. All estimates presented in the report remain unchanged.
The appendices include technical notes, glossary, and standard error tables.
Benefits and Uses
This report provides policymakers with information about the prevalence of nondegree work credentials, the type of work they are for, the perceptions of the usefulness of these credentials in the labor market, and the role of postsecondary education programs in preparing adults for these credentials. It also provides policymakers with information about the characteristics of participants in these programs. The descriptive statistics direct researchers toward potentially useful lines of inquiry.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2018
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Abstract:
This report presents the results of a systematic examination of rigorous evaluation studies to determine what is known about the impact of career pathways on adults seeking to attain a living-wage career.
A limited but growing body of rigorous evaluation studies examines how career pathways influence student success. Based on experimental or quasi-experimental studies, this growing body of results shows that career pathway participants are employed and retained in employment at higher rates and attain higher wages and annual earnings than students with similar characteristics who enroll in training that does not use a career pathway approach. They also earn entry-level credentials and gain basic skills at higher rates than the comparison group. The results make a case for scaling career pathways to reach many more adult learners. Persuasive evidence shows that well-designed career pathways can improve academic, employment, and income outcomes for adults.
Descriptive Research
Simple Descriptive
What the experts say
This is a well-written and concise review of rigorous research in the adult education career pathway field. The findings and recommendations are positive, and in general, validate existing best practice knowledge/research about successful implementation of career pathway programming. Together they provide a big picture, systems change framework for adult education stakeholders in their pathways implementation and scaling considerations.
The authors provide a unique and simplified model for understanding career pathway outcomes. These outcomes are grouped into three categories: Pathway Entry, Integrated Training, and Career Progression. For each of the outcome areas, results are synthesized from career pathway studies into results linked to pathway implementation and results linked to impact on the participants. Adult educators will find these implementation and impact results enlightening as there are many positive results noted as well as some results that show null or negative impacts of career pathway implementation. Adult educators and policy makers will find the recommendations with regard to practice and policy useful as these recommendations are evidence-based and flow logically from the synthesis of multiple, credible career pathway studies/evaluations.
Although the study recommendations are practical and insightful, they lack embellishment with regard to a description or link to specific best practices (i.e., concrete examples) that could give the reader insight into actualizing the recommendations.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2019
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Abstract:
This program development guide outlines a step-by-step process to create or sustain an adult citizenship education program and includes products and resources from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for use at each stage of program development.
Adult citizenship education programs help lawful permanent residents who are eligible for naturalization improve their English language skills and learn about the history and government of the United States, skills and knowledge they need for successful naturalization. Many adult citizenship education programs also refer students to accredited representatives or recognized organizations for legal service or provide such assistance themselves. Equally important, though, is that high-quality adult citizenship education programs help newcomers adjust and successfully acclimate to life in the United States. This program development guide outlines a step-by-step process to create or sustain an adult citizenship education program and includes products and resources from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for use at each stage of program development.
Benefits and Uses
Adult citizenship education programs help lawful permanent residents who are eligible for naturalization improve their English language skills and learn about the history and government of the United States, skills and knowledge they need for successful naturalization. Many adult citizenship education programs also refer students to accredited representatives or recognized organizations for legal service or provide such assistance themselves. Equally important, though, is that high-quality adult citizenship education programs help newcomers adjust and successfully acclimate to life in the United States. This program development guide outlines a step-by-step process to create or sustain an adult citizenship education program and includes products and resources from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for use at each stage of program development.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2019
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Abstract:
These resource sheets for administrators and educators are part of the Power in Numbers initiative funded by the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). Power in Numbers aims to help adult students receive the higher-level math skills they need to succeed. This resource provides administrators and educators with an understanding of what open educational resources (OER) are, why they are useful and how to get started using them.
OER: Accessing high-quality learning resources, for free (for Administrators and Educators) is a resource designed for administrators and educators interested in exploring open educational resources (OER) for the adult classroom. The guide comprises four key components:
Benefits and Uses
This introductory resource is aimed at adult learning administrators and educators interested in exploring open educational resources (OER) for the adult classroom. The resource sheet includes actionable advice and recommended online resources for them to get started with OER.
Resource Notice
This site includes links to information created by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this non-ED information. The inclusion of these links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse views expressed, or products or services offered, on these non-ED sites.
Please note that privacy policies on non-ED sites may differ from ED’s privacy policy. When you visit lincs.ed.gov, no personal information is collected unless you choose to provide that information to us. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of non-ED websites that you visit. We invite you to read our privacy policy.
Publication Year
2019