Adult Basic Education Career Connections

Overview
The Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) awarded $75,000 to each of five local ABE sites to enhance efforts to provide postsecondary education and support services that help adults become employed in occupational sectors important to local economies.

Participants include:

• Blue Grass Community and Technical College, Lexington, KY
• Instituto del Progresso Latino, Chicago, IL
• Jewish Vocational Service, San Francisco, CA
• Madison Area Technical College, Madison, WI
• Montgomery County College, Wheaton, MD

Background
It is widely acknowledged that the fastest growing jobs in the 21st century will require some level of postsecondary education. Consequently, moving more people through postsecondary programs aligned with the economic needs of a community or region is vital to our nation's future competitiveness, security, and stability.

The Adult Basic Education (ABE) Career Connections project promotes career pathways as a framework for assisting ABE students to successfully transition to postsecondary programs and begin careers in high-demand fields.

Career pathways are a series of connected education and training strategies and support services that enable individuals to secure employment within a specific occupational sector and to advance over time to successively higher levels of education and employment in that sector. Each step on a pathway is designed to prepare the participant for the next level of education and employment.

For more information: Tanya Shuy, U.S. Department of Education.

Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC) Adult Education Program, Lexington, Kentucky
Partners: BCTC Nursing Program
The Louden Company
Workforce Investment Board
Kentucky Association of Nursing Home Administrators

Defining the Challenge:
Kentucky has a significantly higher percentage of rural residents and a population aging faster than most states, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Job growth for nurses in the state is projected to be between 20-22 percent. Retirements will further reduce the supply of health care workers in Kentucky at an increasing rate through 2020 (Kentucky Hospital Association). This critical workforce need was chosen as the focus of BCTC's ABE Career Connections Project. An increase in Spanish-speaking residents in Lexington/Fayette County, a growth of 66 percent from 2000-2006 (U.S. Census Bureau), has resulted in a great need for bilingual health care workers. Participants in BCTC's ABE Career Connections Project will be guaranteed employment as nurse aides upon passing the Nurse Aide Certificate test. They will receive both a raise and assistance on the healthcare/nursing pathway.

Addressing the Challenge:
The BCTC ABE Career Connections Project seeks to provide a local solution to the national healthcare worker shortage by establishing a Pre-Nurse Aide Program allowing long-term care facilities to train and retain valuable, reliable non-healthcare employees as nurse aides. These workers are laundry, housekeeping, dietary, and floor technician staff, and all are non-native English speakers, with skill levels ranging from low beginning ESL to high intermediate ESL (based on NRS level definitions). With a special focus on this group, the project will prepare non-healthcare employees at Louden Long-Term Health Care facilities to obtain the Nurses Aide certification as a step on the career pathway to becoming a nurse.

Upon enrolling in the pre-nurse aide classes, participants will be assessed using the CASAS assessment to determine their English language ability. CASAS will also be used quarterly to determine progress. Articulation agreements and dual credit opportunities will be negotiated with the college, and representatives from BCTC will offer college advising. Louden Company will contribute to the project activities by paying participants while in class, providing classroom space, rearranging participants' work schedules so that they can attend class, coordinating a job shadowing/mentoring program, reinforcing practical English usage, and providing bonuses and raises for participants.

For More Information:
Kristin Tiedeman, Bluegrass Community and Technical College
Sharon Anderson, MPR Associates, Inc.
Tanya Shuy, U.S. Department of Education

Instituto del Progreso Latino, Carerras En Salud, Chicago, Illinois
Partners: Association House of Chicago
Humboldt Park Vocational Education Center (HPVEC)
National Council of La Raza

Defining the Challenge:
According to a 2007 report by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council (MCHC), the healthcare shortage in Illinois is projected to grow to 21,000 by 2020. While enrollment in nursing programs in the state grew by 36 percent, from 18,375 in 2001 to 25,000 in 2005, a shortfall of 4,500 nurses per year is still predicted. The rapidly growing Latino population is accelerating the demand for bilingual/ bicultural nurses and other healthcare professionals. The need for bilingual/bicultural Certified Medical Assistants (CMAs) is of great concern in community clinics and long- term care facilities. An employer survey of 35 health clinics conducted by MCHC found an overall "vacancy rate" of 12.6 percent for CMAs, with most of them taking 90 days or more to fill these vacancies. As the Latino community ages, increases, and continues to have limited access to health insurance programs, community clinics play a critical role in meeting their healthcare needs.

Addressing the Challenge:
The ABE Career Connections project will create a program that prepares students for certification as Certified Medical Assistants. The pathway and instructional approach teaches ESL for Healthcare as contextualized intermediate-level ESL. English language skills are taught at successively higher levels of competency, and each level can be completed in 16 weeks. The program will prepare students to advance to pre-college and college-level English and Math, which will qualify them to enter the CMA class at HPVEC. Completion of this class leads to entry into Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Registered Nurse (RN) programs. The students will follow a pathway with two specific career ladders-an academy ladder from a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certification at grade level 10th to a Pre-college levels to college levels in Math en English; and a Career Ladder from employment as a CNA to CMA certification and employment as a CMA in a community clinic or long-term care facility.

Upon completing the program, participants will be academically qualified to pursue an LPN license and/or an RN degree. Community clinics usually do not hire LPNs, but do hire CMAs, a higher-level position than CNAs. To date comparatively few Spanish bilingual healthcare candidates have made it to the CMA level, due mostly to low basic skills and/or non-academic reasons including job, childcare, and family issues. Carreras En Salud helps not only to improve students' basic skills, but also provides a comprehensive package of case management and support services.

For More Information:
Ricardo Estrada, Instituto del Progreso Latino, ricardo@idpl.org
Sharon Anderson, MPR Associates, Inc.
Tanya Shuy, U.S. Department of Education

Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), San Francisco, California
Partners: University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center
Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center
City College of San Francisco (CCSF)

Defining the Challenge:
The Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development has found that the San Francisco healthcare industry will have the greatest employment needs by 2014 due to the city's aging population. The state Employment Development Department notes that over the next 20 years there will be significant growth and replacement potential, including 3,500 new jobs, in hospitals. Supervisors for both food and environmental services are "in-demand" careers. There is a projected need of approximately 225, 000 employees between 2006-2016, but current entry-level workers in non-patient care face the following obstacles:
" Lack of advancement prospects, specifically in food and environmental services.
" Lack of basic skills and language skills needed for advancement.
" Need for institutional retention and for frontline non-patient care supervisors.
" Practice of hiring of supervisors from outside the institution.
" Lack of employee and employer awareness of career advancement opportunities.
" Lack of supervisor experience in professional development coaching and advising.

Addressing the Challenge:
JVS will develop a basic skills curriculum to help participants meet performance and reading levels for entry into CCSF's supervision certificate program and for career advancement. The curriculum will contextualize basic and language skills instruction for food and environmental services supervisory positions in medical institutions. This bridge curriculum to a supervision certificate will enable workers to pursue additional education and career advancement. The target population is incumbent entry-level workers in food and environmental services at UCSF Medical Center and Laguna Honda Hospital. The intake procedure will determine which employees are eligible, appropriate, and ready for classes. Intake will also help determine what other JVS and external services employees may need and will help them obtain such services. Individual career-advising sessions will help employees better understand their career paths and the steps needed to achieve their goals. JVS' Allied Health Coordinator will provide private, confidential one-on-one wraparound services for all participants to minimize or eliminate barriers to entry, retention, and completion of the program. Participants will have access to such other JVS services and facilities as the Technology Access Center, computer training, job search workshops, employer presentations, and vocational assessments.

For More Information:
Jocelyn Gottlieb, Jewish Vocational Service, jgottlieb@jvs.org
Sharon Anderson, MPR Associates, Inc.
Tanya Shuy, U.S. Department of Education

Madison Area Technical College (MATC), Wisconsin Career Connections Project, Madison, Wisconsin
Partners: MATC: Business, Industry & Community Services and College Preparedness & Academic Advancement Center
Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin
U.S. Department of Labor: Community Based Job Training Grant and WIRED Grant
Community Based Organizations: Centro Hispano, United Asian Services, United Migrant Opportunity Service, Dane Co. Job Center
Covance and University of Wisconsin-Madison

Defining the Challenge:
The scientific research, development, and technical services industry group is expected to be one of the top 10 fastest growing industry groups between 2002-2012. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Labor projects employment in the life sciences to grow by 19 percent from 2002-2012, with shortages at all levels of education. Madison-area laboratory employers, including Covance and the University of Wisconsin, also indicate that skills and knowledge are required in chemistry, biology, and biotechnology. In the Madison area, named a 'hotspot' for biotechnology by Scientist magazine in 2005, biotechnology employment grew 28 percent even during the recession years of 1999-2003. Thirty-five lab-intensive companies employing more than 4,500 workers have been established in Madison since 2000.

MATC has determined that the areas of greatest need and opportunity are for ABE and ELL students with limited literacy skills, but retention remains a challenge: students in "survival mode" need to find employment quickly. Contextualized instruction helps students learn and apply workplace relevant vocabulary as part of their basic skills instruction. Limited literacy ABE students often need to develop study skills, and early exposure to the technical vocabulary used in the lab science industry can improve their academic success.

Addressing the Challenge:
The ABE CC project will develop a "Prep for Success" course to promote the success of limited literacy ABE and ELL students in Lab Animal Caretaker training and to map career pathways associated with animal lab science. The curriculum will include adult secondary math, reading, technical vocabulary and general workplace information including standards of communication. Participants will include both male and female unemployed, underemployed, dislocated, and disabled workers aged 18 and older from a range of ethnic backgrounds. No high school diploma is required. Before recommendation to "Prep for Success," students will attend a six-hour orientation/personal planning session on career self-assessment, lifelong learning, and computer exploration of careers, including veterinary assistant and laboratory animal caretaker.

For More Information:
Jane Griswold, Madison Areas Technical College, jgriswold1@matcmadison.edu
Sharon Anderson, MPR Associates, Inc.
Tanya Shuy, U.S. Department of Education

Montgomery College Adult ESOL & Literacy - GED Program (AELG), Montgomery County, Maryland
Partners: Montgomery College Building Trades and Healthcare Faculty
Montgomery College Institutional Research
Montgomery College Workforce Development and Continuing Education Unit
Montgomery College Student Services
Montgomery College Educational Opportunities Center

Defining the Challenge:
Montgomery County, Maryland is home to many immigrants and refugees needing short-term, targeted instruction to contextualize English language skills for specific academic and career purposes. English language instruction within a career context addresses learners' needs for content knowledge, academic skills, knowledge of American workplace behaviors, and career awareness simultaneously, saving learners the time and expense of completing extensive English language training in isolation from career preparation.

The AELG program used feedback from the College's workforce development faculty and data from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation to identify building trades and healthcare as two industries with growing needs for skilled workers in Montgomery County. Nearly one-fourth of statewide construction was concentrated in the County in 2006, and the industry is projected to continue contributing to Maryland's economic growth. Employment in Montgomery County's healthcare industry is projected to grow by approximately 31 percent between 2002 and 2012.

Addressing the Challenge:
Montgomery College's AELG program seeks to design, develop, and implement two advanced-level vocational ESOL courses in building trades and healthcare to help English language learners gain the skills necessary to enter targeted noncredit vocational courses in the building trades (Electrical I, Carpentry I, HVAC I) and healthcare (Nursing Assistant, Phlebotomy, Pharmacy Technician). Noncredit courses allow students to 1) receive content instruction in the industry area, 2) proceed more quickly to entry-level employment and 3) prepare for further education and career advancement. Students develop their basic skills in vocational ESOL classes so they can be successful in noncredit industry area courses. Credit by exam is also an option in some courses. Instruction in Advanced ESOL for Building Trades and Advanced ESOL for Healthcare Jobs will cover four areas: content knowledge; English language skills; career awareness; and American workplace behaviors. The AELG program staff is working with the College's Building Trades and Healthcare faculty and staff to provide students with links to employers and information about apprenticeships.

For More Information:
Donna Kinerney, Montgomery College,
Sharon Anderson, MPR Associates, Inc.
Tanya Shuy, U.S. Department of Education