Resources

The Joyce Foundation extended Shifting Gears funding from 2012 – 2014 (referred to as SG 3.0) in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. These states had committed to expanding adult education bridge programs to increase the number of students transitioning into postsecondary education. Such bridge programs are designed to link and integrate basic academic skills with postsecondary occupational credit-based learning in key industry sectors. These bridge programs typically involve contextualized curriculum and instruction, career development, and enhanced student services and supports. Often they are directly connected with additional postsecondary courses as part of a career pathway that leads to postsecondary credentials and degrees. The Foundation also committed to evaluate the progress of these three states in order to document the expansion of adult education bridge programs and the increased number of participants served. A key aspect of this evaluation was to learn how state systems scale adult education bridges, and to identify key factors that enabled or hindered progress toward scale. This report examines the progress made in each state from 2012 – 2014, and also briefly reviews how the Shifting Gears work influenced the national discourse on increasing skills and credentials for adult learners. The evaluation reached five primary findings: • Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin doubled the total number of their bridge programs from 79 to 196 between SG 2.0 to SG 3.0. This growth includes expanding adult basic education bridge programs to more adult education providers and more community and technical college campuses. • Each state effectively institutionalized its adult education bridge program as an ongoing option to address the educational and skill needs of low-skilled adult learners. Altogether, the number of participants served more than doubled, from 4,000 during SG 2.0 to 10,345 during SG 3.0. • In two of the three states (Minnesota and Wisconsin), important policy changes expanded financial resources available for adult education bridges, and created the foundation for further advancing adult education bridges. These changes included reallocating current resources as well as new state funding dedicated to sustaining the expansion of bridge programs. Minnesota now has an $11.2 million allocated fund for career pathway and bridge programs in the biennium budget and Wisconsin has a $4 million annual fund to support these same program approaches. • Scale was not achieved during this period in terms of serving many or most of the low-skilled adults who might benefit from bridge programs. Altogether during SG 3.0 the three states served less than five percent of the adult learners in need. States grew their programs opportunistically rather than setting intentional goals and strategies around scaling. • The work of Shifting Gears positively influenced the national discourse on workforce development. The goal of helping adult learners increase their skills and earn credentials is now widely embraced in the workforce field and can be found as a core principle in the recently reauthorized federal workforce development legislation, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Overall, after eight years of investment, the evaluation concludes that the Shifting Gears initiative made demonstrable progress in three Midwestern states in terms of expanding adult education bridges and serving low-skilled adults effectively. In addition, research conducted by Minnesota and Wisconsin suggests that Bridge program students transitioned to college and earned postsecondary credentials at a higher rate than students in traditional adult basic education programs. Furthermore, the focus on career pathways and aligning state adult basic education, workforce, and community and technical college systems influenced national and local thinking on workforce development across the country. In doing so, Shifting Gears contributed to a better understanding of the importance of addressing the educational and skill needs of low-skilled adults, the strategies and actions necessary to do so, and the challenges in sustaining and scaling efforts to achieve significant impact.

This guide to blended learning is intended for teachers and administrators of adult basic education (including ESL/ESOL/ELL, adult basic education, adult secondary education, and transition to higher education). It is designed to help teachers and administrators understand how blended learning can enhance learning in their classes, programs, or schools. For those professionals with the desire to implement, or further develop their implementation of blended learning, this guide will serve as a step-by-step road map for choosing and efficiently implementing a blended learning model design that meets their needs and budget. The guide has information and resources for readers who are new to blended learning, have experimented with blended learning and want to further develop or improve their practice, or are blended learning experts. The Appendix includes links to resources for adult basic education teachers, tutors and program administrators who want to try out or expand their use of blended learning.

Beginning Alphabetics Tests and Tools (BATT) strives to provide a 'principled' system for ABE/ESL teachers who want and/or need to develop their students' knowledge of Roman alphabet letters, English letter-sound patterns, sight or high frequency words, and transfer those letter-sound-word skills to text fluency and comprehension. This resource includes: 1) teacher-friendly tests for determining known and unknown skills, 2) evidence-based reading instructional practices, orders, approaches, and lesson plans for teaching unknown skills, 3) teacher-tested lists of other activities and materials, and 4) time-saving teacher resources. It was also piloted by a group of MN ABE/ESL reading teachers, who contributed their insightful feedback, teacher-tested tools, and testimonials. BATT is closely aligned with four Reading Standards: Foundational Skills (K–5) from the Minnesota Academic Standards (MDE, 2010) and Career and College Readiness Standards for Adult Education (OCTAE, 2013):

• RF.1. Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print. (Print Concepts)
• RF.2. Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). (Phonological Awareness)
• RF.3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. (Phonics and Word Recognition)
• RF.4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. (Fluency)

 

BC Reads: Adult Literacy Fundamental English – Reader 4 is a part of the B.C. Open Textbook project. Open textbooks are instructional resources created and shared in ways so that more people have access to them. Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. The book is openly licensed using a Creative Commons license, and is offered in various e-book formats free of charge. This reader contains nine original stories written specifically for adults on the topic of human rights. Each story mirrors a chapter in the accompanying course pack. New vocabulary terms are set in bold throughout each story, and then summarized and defined in a Glossary found in the appendix. Font size and line spacing can be adjusted in the online view, and have been enhanced for the PDF version for easier reading. This reader has been reviewed by subject experts from colleges and universities. This reader is one of a series of six readers, is roughly equivalent to grades 4.5 to 6 in the K-12 system. The first story is about the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ninth is based on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The remaining seven stories are about Canadian historical figures.

This reader contains nine original stories written specifically for adults and is designed to accompany the BC Reads: Adult Literacy Fundamental English - Course Pack 3. One of a series of six readers, the reading level is roughly at the 3 to 4.5 GLE. Each of the eight chapters includes a level-appropriate, high-interest reading of approximately 200 words. New vocabulary and word patterns are highlighted throughout the stories and summarized at the end. Font size and line spacing can be adjusted in the online view, and have been enhanced for the print and PDF versions for easier reading.

This course pack is part of the BC Open Textbook project.  BC Reads: Adult Literacy Fundamental English – Course Pack 6 embeds fundamental English and computer literacy learning in a project-based curriculum. Course Pack 6 provides activities to promote adult literacy skill acquisition as learners create their own digital story. The pack includes links to 11 level-appropriate texts and learning videos that support the learner's literacy development and engages them in relevant readings and examples of storytelling.  BC Reads: Adult Literacy Fundamental English – Course Pack 6 highlights the use of graphic organizers to help learners organize their thinking and writing.  It also includes activities that introduce and help learners use digital skills as a part of the process of creating their digital story (e.g., using the computer to find information, adding audio or images, storing folders on a computer). The course pack is designed to meet the learning outcomes for Adult Literacy Fundamental English Level 6, as outlined in the ABE in BC 2014/2015 Articulation Handbook, which is roughly equivalent to grades 7.5 to 9 in the K-12 system. The course pack contains:

• Pre-reading questions that can be used for individual reflection, journaling, or class discussion.
• Vocabulary-building exercises
• Word attack strategies
• Comprehension questions
• Grammar lessons and practice exercises
• Writing tasks

The appendices feature the following tools:

• Graphic organizers
• Digital story progress sheet
• Paragraph writing checklist
• Level 6 scope and sequence

Written specifically for adults, this level 2 reader contains eight chapters about Langston Hughes' family history and personal life. It includes excerpts from many of Hughes' poems and is designed to accompany the BC Reads: Adult Literacy Fundamental English - Course Pack 2. The reader—one of a series of six readers—is at the 1.5 to 3 grade level equivalent (GLE). Font size and line spacing can be adjusted in the online view, and have been enhanced for the print and PDF versions for easier reading. It has been reviewed by subject experts from colleges and universities. The online version of the course pack contains audio recordings of each story in the reader. These recordings, combined with vocabulary and word pattern exercises, prepare the Level 2 student to read each chapter with greater independence. Depending on a learner’s readiness, teachers may want to use the sentences in the Word Pattern sections as dictations.