nova-logo-final2

CAEP Annual Plan: 2019-20 22 Imperial County Adult Education Consortium

Status: Consortium Approved

California Adult Education Program : Annual Plan : 2019-20 Produced: Aug 13, 2019, 2:44 PM UTC Renato Montaño

22 Imperial County Adult Education Consortium

Plans & Goals - Consortium Approved

Executive Summary
The Imperial County Adult Education Consortium (ICAEC) is committed to continued partnership, implementation of systems to support student’s academic and social emotional needs, ongoing progress monitoring and data collection to ensure that all programs are offering student opportunities to be successful in programs and have the support and information necessary to ensure smooth transitions to postsecondary options and/or the workforce. Members continue to collaborate and set common goals to provide adult learners access to high quality educational opportunities that are appropriate and accessible. ICAEC members met regularly to review past/best practices, manage funds and make decisions to benefit adult learners across the county. Some notable accomplishments from the 2018-2019 program year include an increase in the number of students who completed a GED/HSE program, expanded enrollment in ESL classes, increased participation in programs such as Medical Assistant, Phlebotomy and EMT, as well as an increase in the number of students accessing counseling and other supports from Student Success Specialists. Our Imperial County Jail program continues to have success in supporting their students to complete their HSE. A new cake decorating course has been added at one of the adult education schools and is providing employability skills, hope and support for participants to explore options for entrepreneurship. Course offerings are now offered throughout the day and evening to meet students schedules. Staffing has remained consistent which fosters relationships and continuity in our programs. Student Success Specialists continue to greatly impact students via their Work Readiness presentations, individual meetings and collaborations with community agencies to provide information and support. Data collection, monitoring and reporting are still a priority and staff continues to learn better ways to track and monitor participants. ICAEC members are focused and committed to ensuring that adult learners receive the tools and resources to obtain necessary skills and knowledge to be successful in adult education programs and acquire the skills, information and support to seamlessly transition to postsecondary education and/or employment. Moving into the 2019-2020 program year, the ICAEC is focused on three primary goals to strengthen adult education programs and address gaps/areas of need: 1. The establishment of a coordinated countywide calendar and course offering map for all Adult Education programs in Imperial County. In an effort to ensure community members and agencies have a full awareness of opportunities for Adult Education, the consortium has agreed to map out course offerings, important dates and deadlines, as well as other supports and services offered at each site to ensure all adults who seek services can access the information in one place. This information will be uploaded to the website and updated on brochures for public distribution. 2. Establish and improve an orientation/intake and completion/transition procedure where students work with staff to develop an Individualized Development Plan (IDP) that includes goal setting for their Adult Education pathway and beyond, as well as preparation for transition to postsecondary options or the workforce. The current intake process includes important components to ensure effective data collection and reporting however consortium members realized during the planning process that the intake did not include an opportunity for the student to sit with someone to talk about their “why” and establish an individualized plan for their adult education path and beyond. Together, members will work with Student Success Specialists to establish procedures and identify tools to support IDPs and data collection. In conjunction with the procedures for orientation/intake, procedures for a completion/transition plan will also be developed and implemented. The goal is to provide students with an opportunity to create a plan and receive the support needed at the most critical points in their path, upon entry and upon completion and transition to employment or postsecondary options. These supports may include Work Readiness workshops, financial aid information, job skills workshops and financial literacy. 3. Strengthen partnerships to identify and solidify tiered levels of “wrap around” supports and services for adult education students. Understanding that the adults we serve come in with high hopes for what a high school education and beyond can provide to them and their families coupled with the fact that many are dealing with a variety complex issues, the ICAEC has identified the need to strengthen partnerships and establish resource and referral systems to support students. The Consortium will work with agencies such as Imperial County Behavioral Health, Imperial Valley Food Bank, Department of Social Services, and Workforce Development Office.
Regional Planning Overview
Consortium members went through an extensive process in developing the ICAEC Three-Year Plan where the consortium identified eight (8) activities and measurable goals to increase success of adult education programs. Collectively, members chose to focus on the three afore mentioned goals to target one of the most prevalent needs: identification, enrollment, support and retention of students in programs. Being that our students present to us with significant challenges and barriers such as unemployment, food/housing insecurity, language needs and lack of information and other supports, it is imperative that we provide deep, personal, wrap-around services to support student through our programs and on to success in postsecondary options and/or employment.

Meeting Regional Needs

Regional Need #1

Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
The ongoing need in our region/county is increasing course offerings for adult learners in all areas including ESL, HSE/HSD, and CTE. We continue to experience challenges with classroom space, need for teachers which affect our ability to offer classes throughout the day when children are attending school. Additionally, attendance and retention of students is a challenge.
How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
The consortium used data metrics including attendance reports, ASAP/TopsPRO, waiting lists for courses, local data on adults without a high school diploma, as well as student and teacher input
How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
The consortium members went through an extensive process to develop the Three-Year Plan and identified this and other needs. Members are in the process of implementing strategies to address this and other issues. Some of the identified strategies are to explore opportunities to share space to offer more classes as well as developing a solid intake and monitoring process to increase attendance, retention and persistence. We will measure our effectiveness/progress toward meeting this need by monitoring data in the areas of attendance, persistence, completion of programs, transitions to postsecondary options and/or employment and an increase in the number of courses offered at our sites and times of the day/evening. We will know we are successful by increasing the number of courses, teachers and classrooms.

Gaps In Service

New Strategies

Strategy #1
The establishment of a coordinated countywide calendar and course offering map for all Adult Education programs in Imperial County.In an effort to ensure community members and agencies have a full awareness of opportunities for Adult Education, the consortium has agreed to map out course offerings, important dates and deadlines, as well as other supports and services offered at each site to ensure all adults who seek services can access the information in one place. This information will be uploaded to the website and updated on brochures for public distribution. Members used enrollment and attendance data and qualitative data to identify this need. Since our members and programs collaborate on a regular basis, they noticed that there was still confusion amongst members, students and community members as to what classes, programs and other services were being offered throughout Imperial County. Since some of our student population is transient and may move from city to city, the ICAEC members found that this was a priority to ensure there was clear information for students and community members. Enrollment, persistence and transition data will be monitored and used to identify effectiveness. Additionally, collaboration with partner programs to monitor the number of students accessing their services and the levels of services offered.

Seamless Transitions

New Strategies

Strategy #1
Establish and improve an orientation/intake and completion/transition procedure where students work with staff to develop an Individualized Development Plan (IDP) that includes goal setting for their Adult Education pathway and beyond, as well as preparation for transition to postsecondary options or the workforce.The current intake process includes important components to ensure effective data collection and reporting however consortium members realized during the planning process that the intake did not include an opportunity for the student to sit with someone to talk about their “why” and establish an individualized plan for their adult education path and beyond. Together, members will work with Student Success Specialists to establish procedures and identify tools to support IDPs and data collection. In conjunction with the procedures for orientation/intake, procedures for a completion/transition plan will also be developed and implemented. The goal is to provide students with an opportunity to create a plan and receive the support needed at the most critical points in their path, upon entry and upon completion and transition to employment or postsecondary options. These supports may include Work Readiness workshops, financial aid information, job skills workshops and financial literacy.

Student Acceleration

New Strategies

Strategy #1
Strengthen partnerships to identify and solidify tiered levels of “wrap around” supports and services for adult education students.Understanding that the adults we serve come in with high hopes for what a high school education and beyond can provide to them and their families coupled with the fact that many are dealing with a variety complex issues, the ICAEC has identified the need to strengthen partnerships and establish resource and referral systems to collaborate with a variety of partner agencies to provide services to support students. The Consortium will work with agencies such as Imperial County Behavioral Health, Imperial Valley Food Bank, Imperial County Department of Social Services, and the Imperial County Workforce and Economic Development Office.

Professional Development

New Strategies

Strategy #1
ICAEC has established an annual Adult Education Summit where teachers, administrators and other staff receive professional development from experts in the field and opportunities to learn from their peers. Members have reported a need for professional development in the area of ESL as well as data collection and use of data. ICAEC continues to be committed to sending staff to trainings on CASAS/TopsPRO, ASAP as well as other topics to improve teaching and learning. ICAEC is also working with local providers to provide professional learning opportunities locally in strategies and technology tools to use in the classroom.

Leveraging Resources

New Strategies

Strategy #1
ICAEC is partnering and increasing communication and collaboration with the Imperial County Economic and Workforce Development Office. The Workforce Development Office has a recently appointed Director who is eager to partner and ensure that resources offered by their agency are provided to adult learners. ICAEC and Workforce Development will collaborate to ensure resources are utilized by adult learners, avoid duplication and braid funding if/when/where possible. We will continue to collaborate with other community agencies to participate in career and employment fairs, and other community events and offerings.

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.
Our plans continue to focus on establishing (and re-establishing in some cases) healthy adult education centers across our county. Members continue to focus on leveraging resources to provide foundational courses to support adult learners to learn English, earn their High School diploma or equivalency and provide workforce preparation. Consortium members have come together to review existing practices and align efforts and policies to ensure seamless transitions for students. While much of the first three years of AEBG focused on ensuring adequate resources in the areas of technology and staffing, quality of services are an area of focus for this new Three-Year Plan. We continue to focus on expanding course offerings at varying times to meet student needs while increasing opportunities to support the needs of our students to ensure their basic needs are met to focus on their educational plans. Additionally, staff continue to enhance their skills using data systems and how to harness rich data to drive programs. Partnerships are the cornerstone of our work and we continue to support one another in the work to educate adult learners in Imperial County.
An approach to incorporating remaining carry-over funds from prior year(s) into strategies planned for 2019-20.
Members who have carry-over funding will be using their funds to pay for important resources such as offering additional classes, hiring teaching staff, updated curriculum, strengthening partnerships, and professional development.

Certification

Brawley Union High - Member Representative

Approved by Simon Canalez

2019-08-08

Calexico Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Juan Moreno

2019-08-09

Calipatria Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Mr. Joe Derma

2019-08-08

Central Union High - Member Representative

  • Darrell Pechtl
  • Director of Adult, Student and Parent Services
  • dpechtl@cuhsd.net
  • (760) 312-7052
Approved by Mr. Darrell Pechtl

2019-08-09

Holtville Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Celso Ruiz

2019-08-12

Imperial CCD - Member Representative

Approved by Betsy Lane

2019-08-08

Imperial Co. Office of Education - Member Representative

Approved by Renato Montaño

2019-08-13

Imperial Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Mr. Rogelio Ruvalcaba

2019-08-08

San Pasqual Valley Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Rauna Fox

2019-08-08