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CAEP Annual Plan: 2020-21 03 Barstow Area Consortium for Adult Education

Status: Consortium Approved

California Adult Education Program : Annual Plan : 2020-21 Produced: Aug 12, 2020, 10:29 PM UTC Eva Bagg

03 Barstow Area Consortium for Adult Education

Plans & Goals - Consortium Approved

Executive Summary
The Barstow Area Consortium for Adult Education (BACAE) is in California’s Mojave High Desert and covers mostly rural geography. The region is in San Bernardino County, the largest county in the United States. There are five CAEP Consortia in San Bernardino County. BACAE consists of four Member districts: Baker Valley USD, Barstow Community College, Barstow USD, and Silver Valley USD. The San Bernardino Workforce Development Board's economic development plans do not address the specific needs of this Consortium. BACAE undertook several community surveys and a research project to learn more about the communities served by the Consortium and their needs. The Barstow Area student population demographics in the BACAE service area consists of the following: 80.7% Socio-Economically Disadvantaged; 58.1% Hispanic; 19.1% African American; 20.8% English Learners; 13% Students with Disabilities; 14.2% Homeless; 13% Education Attainment/No HS Diploma; 5.4% Unemployment Rate (Prior to COVID-19). COVID-19To address the needs of rural areas and the current COVID-19 crisis, BACAE will expand and advance each Member Districts’ Distance Learning policies. The Consortium College Transition Counselors provide referrals to students in need of food, employment, clothing, health, shelter and/or public assistance. Transition Counselors will send monthly newsletters via email to all students, and post to the Consortium website, outlining the services available across the region served. The BACAE Board commits to exploring options to increase the rigor and credibility of all programs across the Consortium.Budget ReductionsBACAE commits to ongoing monitoring of the CAEP budget and strives to maintain level funding for all Member Districts. Systemic Racial InjusticesThis year, BACAE will hold courageous conversations that include stakeholders and staff at the program level that address systematic racial injustice. Responding to the current civil unrest by looking critically at Adult Ed student data and developing an action plan to address deficiencies the Consortium will focus on improving the participation numbers and learning gaps. The focus will be to assess student subgroups’ progress and completion rates in the programs of study and make changes as needed to increase performance outcomes. Member Districts’ Equity Plans will be reviewed to ensure they are inclusive of all students and support individual needs via fiscal provisions. Member Districts have pledged to conduct a critical assessment of their district equity policies and practices that may have inadvertently had the effect of failing to create the desired inclusive learning environment and inadequately addressed the barriers to adult learning opportunities, participation, and successful completion. District Members’ have committed to hiring practices that fully service and support students of color, students with disabilities, and students with varied socio-economic backgrounds, including a qualified diverse workforce reflecting our student populations. BACAE will expand relationships with a greater diversity of community partners to leverage existing resources in often marginalized populations.
Regional Planning Overview
BACAE holds Member Districts to a spirit of collaboration in all decision making. This Annual Plan serves as a foundational plan for the Consortium toward the realization of our collective vision and goals while maintaining alignment to the San Bernardino Workforce Development Board's Vision2Succeed. BACAE envisions working together and leveraging resources to create regional stability among Adult Education providers. This Annual Plan aligns to the adopted BACAE Three-Year Plan.

Meeting Regional Needs

Regional Need #1

Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
The key area this year will be to address COVID-19 Pandemic student needs by providing a safe learning environment according to state and county provisions and implementing effective Distance Learning (DL), hybrid or fully online education model. BACAE will collaborate and employ a collective impact outlook to ensure DL is accessible to all students in all AE programs. BACAE will address the new gaps in service that have surfaced since the onset of COVID-19 Pandemic. Some challenges BACAE is facing are students not having technology devices, no access to internet, lack of digital literacy, and unfamiliarity with navigating communication platforms. BACAE is committed to a collective impact approach, and strives to include as many community partners in our planning and implementation as possible.
How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
BACAE Member Districts engage in ongoing analyses to identify gaps in services and adjust programs accordingly at the Member level that support career and academic pathways leading to increased wages and/or transitions to postsecondary institutions. BACAE members have actively communicated with Adult Education students using a variety of methods and have conducted COVID-19/Distance Learning surveys to learn about DL barriers that prevent student participation. BACAE Members understand that success will be found through integrating with local organizations, expanding participation in Adult Education programs, and linking its graduates to local workplaces. The Barstow Consortium for Adult Education can play a major role in turning around the community’s economic decline.
How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
The BACAE Board recognizes that Adult Education is a key component in building community equity across the region we serve. Effectiveness is measured through student enrollment numbers and performance outcomes.

Gaps In Service

New Strategies

Strategy #1
Expand and improve outreach and marketing to target identified populations to increase enrollment for all Member Districts through increased social media presence; Enhanced print marketing campaign; Ongoing radio PSAs.
Strategy #2
Educate the community about Consortium activities and roles resulting in a greater awareness of community organizations, and stronger partnerships; Hold Bi-Annual Community Stakeholder meetings.
Strategy #3
Expand service hours and classes offered across all Member Districts; Increase number of classes offered; Greater student persistence resulting in faster and higher literacy gains; Better understanding of data-driven and data-informed instruction.
Strategy #4
Increase student participation in work-based and on-the-job learning activities; Greater transition to the workforce and job promotion; Identify industry sectors interested in offering programs.
Strategy #5
Develop a Career Pathway and courses for entrepreneurship; Greater number of people opening and operating small businesses in the region; Establish a pilot course for entrepreneurship program.
Strategy #6
Workplace/Contextualized ESL (VESL) courses resulting in increased program offerings and enrollment and the development of pilot programs in all Members Districts for contextualized ESL.
Strategy #7
Basic Skills Courses resulting in increased program offerings and enrollment; Pilot programs for Basic Skills established by all Members.

Seamless Transitions

New Strategies

Strategy #1
Improve initial student data collection and ongoing data tracking through the collection of accurate Consortium data for State/Federal Reporting resulting in data-driven instruction and a 10% increase in the number of program completions and literacy gains in all CASAS-tested areas as measured via the DIR and MIS reports.
Strategy #2
Create short-term CTE programs to support Adult Schools students transitioning to the College; Create curriculum to support career exploration; and the College Guided Pathways Implementation of two career pathways; Make Adult Education CTE programs available through DL.
Strategy #3
Increase number of ABE/ASE/ESL courses based on community need and enrollment demand; Increase number and flexibility of class scheduling (including more hours and weekends); Create greater student persistence and increased attainment of literacy gains through a better understanding of data usage; Make ABE/ASE/ESL courses available through DL.
Strategy #4
Increase completion in all programs and create a greater number of students transitioning to post-secondary programs and the workforce realized through a 5% increase in completion growth.
Strategy #5
Develop co-enrollment opportunities between Adult Schools and Barstow Community College resulting in a greater transition of students to postsecondary, for credit programs and the implementation of two pathways aligned to college courses.
Strategy #6
Implement consortia-wide agreement for acceleration into college level courses using Educational Functional Level (EFLs), CASAS scale scores and other multiple measures; develop a process for a seamless transition to postsecondary and an agreement on criteria for student enrollment and support.
Strategy #7
Implement a transition plan for students with identified disabilities from the K-12 programs into Adult Education and the necessary processes and procedures between the Adult Education schools and the SELPAs of each Consortium Member through the implementation of processes and procedures for students.
Strategy #8
Create a cadre of Adult Education mentors and implement a program of adult education mentors, especially in outlying places, who are trained on the options and pathways available in Adult Education; Conduct a needs assessment; Define the purpose and vision of the mentor program; Identify stakeholders.
Strategy #9
Increase number of pre- and post-test pairs on CASAS tests; Narrow the gap between the state performance outcome averages and Member Districts based on pre- and post-test scores reported via the TOPSpro DIR and MIS reports. Each Consortium Member will increase their respective pre- and post-test score pairs by 3%-5%.
Strategy #10
Increases number of students who engage in classes for more than 12 hours resulting in higher performance outcomes across all Member Districts; Increase number of students who engage in classes for enough hours to qualify for pre- and post-testing; Each Consortium Member will increase their respective student hours by 3%-5%.

Student Acceleration

New Strategies

Strategy #1
Increase enrollment, graduation rates, and transitions to post-secondary and/or employment; Increase performance outcomes resulting in a 10% increase in transitions validated through DIR and MIS reports.
Strategy #2
Improve information available to students about career pathways, career opportunities, and alignment between course offerings at the adult schools and the community college through the development of a Student Handbook; Conduct student workshops; and conduct a study to determine community needs for Career Pathways.
Strategy #3
Create structures for work-life-study balance and support structures that helps people integrate work and life with the demands of studying through a pilot program for mentorship.

Professional Development

New Strategies

Strategy #1
Develop an ongoing professional development plan for all Members and Partners. Develop a deeper and broader understanding of how Adult Education services are funded, structured, delivered, and evaluated in California and across the US to better align service delivery with community needs. The BACAE Board and Member District faculty/staff will attend (virtually or in-person) regional, state and national conferences and convenings; Information gathered will be used to provide ongoing internal professional development.
Strategy #2
Program specific and Distance Learning professional development will result in a greater depth of knowledge for adopted assessments, programs, and curricula; Andragogical Instructional Best Practices (differentiated instruction to meet varied learning styles) will result in an increased level of data-driven placement and instruction.

Leveraging Resources

New Strategies

Strategy #1
Engage with the Workforce Development Board across all Consortium communities. Develop policies and procedures for cross-agency referrals resulting in an increase in labor force participation; increased job promotions; increased wages.
Strategy #2
Leverage resources to serve more adult learners through a collective impact model. Develop a strategic plan to identify economies of scale across Member Districts resulting in the implementation of strategies to leverage existing resources.
Strategy #3
Barstow Adult School will sign shared use agreements to provide a greater level of services to students and facility access for Consortium Member Districts.
Strategy #4
Partner with the Workforce Development Board to develop an employability skills program, IET opportunities, and employer focused basic skills training. Identify areas for collaboration. Engage with regional employers, and sign MOUs, to identify programs that can be supported through BACAE and the Workforce Development Board.
Strategy #5
Create a Childcare Resource Guide for Parents to reduce the impact of the childcare barrier on adult students. Convene a community stakeholder meeting to draft the framework of the Guide.
Strategy #6
Host an American Job Center representative at Member sites, based on local need. Establish a career and job placement liaison. Execute an MOU with the Workforce Development Board.
Strategy #7
Identify transportation alternatives for adult students that will result in increased enrollment, program participation, and decrease in barriers to academic programs. Identify funding through local transportation providers.

Fiscal Management

A narrative justifying how the planned allocations are consistent with the annual adult education plan which is based on your CAEP 3-year plan.
BACAE's Annual Plan aligns to the BACAE Three-Year Plan. All allocations meet the goals, objectives and strategies outlined in the Three-Year Plan.
An approach to incorporating remaining carry-over funds from prior year(s) into strategies planned for 2020-21.
The Consortium District members will be using 2019-2020 carry-over funds to support the transition to fully online and providing Distance Learning to all our Adult Education students through: offering staff professional development, provision of digital devices; providing WiFi accessibility; delivering integrated digital literacy, and purchasing web-based software that is aligned with OTAN and IDEAL Consortium Distance Learning guidelines.

Certification

Baker Valley Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Eric Huynh

08/12/2020 03:21 PM PDT

Barstow CCD - Member Representative

Approved by Eva Bagg

08/12/2020 03:29 PM PDT

Barstow Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Scott Godfrey

08/12/2020 03:21 PM PDT

Silver Valley Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Jeff Youskievicz

08/12/2020 03:22 PM PDT