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CAEP Annual Plan: 2020-21 22 Imperial County Adult Education Consortium

Status: Consortium Approved

California Adult Education Program : Annual Plan : 2020-21 Produced: Aug 12, 2020, 06:55 PM UTC Victor Torres

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 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. The 2019-2020 school year included some accomplishments and unprecedented challenges. Imperial County has been greatly impacted by COVID-19 and thereby affected the way educational services were delivered and disrupted the working and living conditions of many residents, some of which were our students. The ICAEC is proud of the coordinated serviecs and supports provided to staff and students to ensure access to education and other basic needs during this challenging time in our community. The ICAEC is proud to report that via a collaborative effort, the goal of establishing a coordinated countywide calendar was met. The calendar includes information on course offerings, important dates and deadlines as well as links and contact information. The calendar is available online and will go to print for the 2020-2021 school year. The calendar is active and updated twice annually. Other notable accomplishments are the continuation of programs and student graduations, despite disruption in delivery methods, establishment of distance learning models based on student needs/capacities, increased support to students to address basic needs and ongoing professional development. The Imperial County Jail program continues to have success in supporting students complete their HSE. 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, postsecondary guidance, and especially important at this time, connecting students with community agencies to provide support for food insecurity, health, shelter, and public assistance. Data collection, monitoring and reporting are still a priority and staff continues to learn better ways to track and monitor data. Moving into the 2020-2021 program year, the ICAEC is focused on three goals to strengthen adult education programs and address gaps/areas of need: 1. Increased focus on providing students and staff with access to technology tools and skills 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 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 access to basic needs, work readiness workshops, financial aid information, job skills workshops and financial literacy. 3. Strengthen partnerships to solidify tiered levels of supports and services. 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. The Consortium will continue to 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 access to technology tools and skills, 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 present and most pressing need is access to technology tools and skills for our staff and students. All Imperial County is one of the hardest hit counties and all 16 school districts will begin in distance learning due to COVID-19 data and being on the state's Watch List. Many adult education students lack access to technology tools such as WiFi, computers and technology skills will be essential to ensure continuity of learning and completion of programs in HSE/HSD, ESL, and other programs. Additionally, teachers express a need and desire to improve their skills and abilities in supporting students in a distance learning model.
How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
Consortium members identified gaps via individual contacts/conversations with students and staff, student information system data reports, and classroom observations.
How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
While the consortium members went through an extensive process to develop the Three-Year Plan and identified increasing course offerings as a need and increasing access to technology and technology tools, we never imagined we would be faced with offering courses via this method or the needs that come with it. Consortium members will survey teachers to measure knowledge of distance learning twice to show progress. Staff will measure student's access to technology (computers and connectivity) and knowledge of skills via a student survey. Additionally, progress via distance learning will be measured in student information systems, and graduation and retention rates. We will know we are successful when have the ability to provide students access to the tools they need and are persisting through their programs successfully, while teachers exhibit confidence in delivering their curriculum and interacting with their students via distance learning.

Gaps In Service

New Strategies

Strategy #1
An ongoing need in our county is to increase consistent attendance and retention of our students. While efforts have been made by the consortium to increase offerings at varying times and locations, retention throughout the entire year is a challenge. Some students experience challenges with transportation or child care. Due to COVID-19 and the implementation of distance learning, many students lacked access to technology which impacted their ability to persist in their programs. Student Success Specialists worked closely with school site staff and students to provide support to ensure access to basic needs including information to access technology. The ICAEC is committed to fostering existing partnerships to ensure students have access to services to meet their needs and enable them to fully participate in educational programs. Members will work closely with Success Specialists to establish a referral program when students are absent for three consecutive class meetings to conduct a follow up. Collectively, the staff and specialists will work to address barriers and access to continuity of learning.

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, an assessment of technology needs will be done. 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, identify needs, and receive access the support needed at the most critical points in their path, upon entry and upon completion and transition to employment or postsecondary options. The goal is to increase completion of programs and transition to post-secondary options and/or employment.

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 Distance Learning strategies, use of technology tools in the classroom, and Social Emotional Learning to support students during challenging times. Additionally, monitoring, 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 working with providers to provide professional learning opportunities locally.

Leveraging Resources

New Strategies

Strategy #1
ICAEC is partnering and increasing communication and collaboration with the Imperial County Economic and Workforce Development Office. We will continue to collaborate with other community agencies to participate in career and employment fairs, and other community events and offerings. Additionally, the consortim will work to increase student's knowledge of employment and career opportunities via a virtual setting.

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. The emphasis on technology resources and training for staff and students will be an area of high emphasis for ICAEC in 2020-2021.
An approach to incorporating remaining carry-over funds from prior year(s) into strategies planned for 2020-21.
Members who have carry-over funding will be using their funds to pay for important resources such as computers, educational materials and software, internet access, safety supplies, staffing, curriculum and professional development.

Certification

Brawley Union High - Member Representative

Approved by Mr. Antonio Munguia 3125100

08/12/2020 11:09 AM PDT

Calexico Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Juan Moreno

08/12/2020 11:10 AM PDT

Calipatria Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Mr. Joe Derma

08/12/2020 11:15 AM PDT

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

08/12/2020 11:23 AM PDT

Holtville Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Celso Ruiz

08/12/2020 11:11 AM PDT

Imperial CCD - Member Representative

  • Victor Torres
  • Associate Dean of Workforce Development and Non-Traditional Instruction
  • victor.torres@imperial.edu
  • (760) 355-6311 ext: 6311
Approved by Victor Torres

08/12/2020 11:55 AM PDT

Imperial Co. Office of Education - Member Representative

Approved by Renato Montaño

08/12/2020 11:36 AM PDT

Imperial Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Mr. Rogelio Ruvalcaba

08/12/2020 11:37 AM PDT

San Pasqual Valley Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Rauna Fox

08/12/2020 11:03 AM PDT