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CAEP Annual Plan: 2020-21 26 Long Beach Adult Education

Status: Consortium Approved

California Adult Education Program : Annual Plan : 2020-21 Produced: Sep 11, 2020, 05:48 PM UTC Michelle Hillman

26 Long Beach Adult Education

Plans & Goals - Consortium Approved

Executive Summary
The Long Beach Adult Education Consortium (LBAEC) is a collaborative of Long Beach Unified School District School for Adults (LBSA) and Long Beach City College (LBCC). The vision of the LBAEC is to have focused and well-aligned educational programs that provide the region’s adults with equitable access to educational and wrap-around support services that will prepare them for long-term success. To support adult education in the region and to reach the goals set for the Long Beach Adult Education consortium, the LBCC district has increased noncredit courses and programs through faculty-driven efforts. As of Fall 2020, we have 98 noncredit courses and 37 Career Development College Preparation (CDCP) programs. This represents a growth of 97% in courses and 36% in the number of programs. There was a 43% increase in the number of noncredit sections offered. Between 2018-19 and 2019-20, there was a 13% increase in the number of noncredit enrollments. Increased course offerings and enrollments have contributed to a 127% increase in noncredit completions since 2017, with more completions anticipated before the end of the spring term. Many of the new programs are in CTE including child care management, nutrition, and library technicians. There are also new courses in Adult Basic Education and Disabled Students Programs and Services. These LBAEC supported programs are geared to support low-income adult learners through short-term courses that lead to rapid workforce re- entry or transition into credit programs. In response to COVID-19, the Consortium transitioned to remote operations and distance education. LBCC began student orientations and offered student services online and other modalities. Noncredit students were able to apply for aid and access to food bank services and technology such as Chrome books and hotspots. LBCC noncredit program will be mostly online in Fall 2020 with the exception of essential labs in trades. Since receiving CAEP funding in 15-16 LBSA has worked very hard to rebuild its programs. Through the LBAE consortium, LBSA is collaborating closely with LBCC and has reconnected with over 20 community partners which has helped to expand both of our off-site programs and keeps us up to date with the needs and interests of our community. One of LBSA’s first steps in rebuilding was to reestablish our High School Diploma and Adult Basic Education programs. Data has shown that both of these programs along with ESL classes are in demand in our community. LBSA has increased both the numbers of HSD graduates and HiSET completers each year since the 15 -16 school year when the programs were reinstated. English as a Second Language classes continue to be our largest program and LBSA is always looking at ways of adjusting class offerings when there are waitlists. In the last three years, LBSA has added the needed infrastructure support in our main office to help facilitate both teacher and student needs along with helping to increase our capacity. In the fall of 19 – 20, LBSA opened up a second campus on the Westside of Long Beach for morning and afternoon classes only. We are only able to hold evening classes at our Willow street campus due to the addition of another high school during the day. At the Willow street campus, LBSA classes do not start until after 3:30 pm and go to 9 pm. LBSA is an official test center for the HiSET and now offers both computer and paper testing in both English and Spanish. LBSA test 3 days a week at the Willow campus and on 2 days a week at the American Career College campuses to test students.During the spring semester, 2020 all of the Long Beach schools were closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak and students and staff began to work from home to comply with the State Stay at Home orders. LBSA quickly moved all classes online and continued meeting with students using zoom and google meets. For those students who did not have the technology at home, packet pickups were arranged for each class so students would be able to continue learning. LBSA is planning to open in the Fall with social distancing in the classrooms and some continued distance learning. In the Fall, LBSA will also be offering a new C.N.A. program in partnership with LA Skills Academy. We will offer both on-line and in person classes to meet the needs of all groups. LBSA is hoping to maintain the level of services and continue to meet the needs of its students and community. The strategies in the 20-21 annual plan align with the LBAEC 3-year plan and will lead to short-term and long-term positive impacts on the adults in this region. LBAEC will continue to serve high school diploma and high school equivalency students, and expand services for ESL and Career Technical Education students. The LBAEC will continue its adult learner professional development series for faculty and staff that focuses on inclusivity, cultural competence and addressing systematic anti-racism.
Regional Planning Overview
The goals and subsequent activities that support these goals will lead to short-term and long-term impact on the adults in this region. Opportunities for improvement include a renewed focus on collaboration among the consortium members. Long Beach School for Adults and Long Beach City College both serve adults with low English proficiency, adults with disabilities, low-income individuals, older adults, and workforce re-entry populations. LBSA also serves students seeking citizenship and adults needing elementary and secondary education. LBCC also serves students seeking CTE program training and adult learners seeking to transfer to a 4-year institution. ESL is the most popular program and the LBAEC will continue to serve these students and expand offerings to include ESL focusing on work-based language needs as well as offerings at community partner facilities. Consortium members will expand services in adult basic education to support both the needs of the large population of adult learners in the community as well as adults with disabilities that may benefit from the added supports provided by ABE programs. The LBAEC will provide professional development in adult learning to its members and partners.

Meeting Regional Needs

Regional Need #1

Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
The need to intelligently use existing resources to enroll students into programs, expand on existing programs provided by consortium members to meet the community’s needs, and to utilize community partnerships to recruit students in need into new and existing programs.
How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
The Long Beach Adult Education Consortium (LBAEC) utilized a series of bimonthly public meetings to maximize the collaboration present in the planning process. Staff, administrators, and faculty from the two consortium member institutions, and a diverse array of community partners were consulted in a series of interactive exercises geared toward collecting feedback, building consensus on the state of adult education in Long Beach, the needs and objectives of our current and prospective students, and our programmatic goals for the next three years. The planning process began by reviewing the pre-planning assessment tool. Consortium members and community partners were engaged in evaluating the elements of the pre-planning tool in order to gain diverse perspectives about the strengths and opportunities for improvements present since the completion of the last three-year plan. Guided workshops using the pre-planning assessment tool included small group activities and full group discussions that yielded fruitful input. Consortium members and community partners were also given opportunities to comment through online surveys in case they were unable to attend the meetings or wanted to provide additional feedback. LBAEC planning meetings began with a review of an interactive dashboard of the Los Angeles-Orange County area’s census data with particular emphasis on English learners, those without a high school diploma and adults with disabilities. The attendees were asked to list their assumptions about the demographics while slowly breaking down those assumptions through the dashboard. The partners were able to quickly highlight areas of high need and match them to where the consortium was providing services. In subsequent iterations, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness utilized Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map where the majority of LBAEC’s noncredit enrollment lives, the region’s poorest and most disenfranchised neighborhoods. The dashboard was subsequently published online for all consortia members, community partners, and regional colleges to use. The data was collected from 2017 estimates of the American Community Survey. Additional labor market information was collected from Long Beach City College’s instance of the Economic Modeling Systems Inc. platform (EMSI). The Consortium has access to a LBCC research analyst which supports data sharing needs. Consortium members and community partners routinely mentioned that students need access to educational programs as a means of obtaining economic security and socialization. These programs include adult basic education, adult secondary education and high school diploma, ESL, citizenship, career-technical education, workforce re-entry and readiness, adults with disabilities, and parenting. Consortium members should expand services in adult basic education to support both the needs of the large population of adult learners in the community as well as adults with disabilities that may benefit from the added supports provided by ABE programs.Consortium members and community partners also noted the importance of community connection and socialization. Feelings of belonging routinely featured in conversations about students’ willingness to persist through academic programs at both consortium institutions. Cultural competency was prominent in this category. Community partners acknowledged that consortium members can improve in their broader understanding of the diverse communities as a means of motivating student success.
How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
Update the Long Beach Adult Education Consortium website both with respect to the user experience and the content, so that it can easily be used by consortium members and the community to discover where to obtain different services. Following updates, feedback will be solicited from consortium members to determine how useful the website is to inform future adjustments and modifications.

Regional Need #2

Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
The need to develop programming that supports the goals of a diverse community, increase offerings of existing programs (such as ESL and high school diploma/high school equivalency), and recognize and respond to the demands of adult work re-entry populations, adults with disabilities, and low income families. LBCC is investigating the expansion of noncredit computer courses as a potential means of addressing skills gaps for workers now forced to work with different/new digital resources due to COVID19.
How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
The Long Beach Adult Education Consortium (LBAEC) utilized a series of bimonthly public meetings to maximize the collaboration present in the planning process. Staff, administrators, and faculty from the two consortium member institutions, and a diverse array of community partners were consulted in a series of interactive exercises geared toward collecting feedback, building consensus on the state of adult education in Long Beach, the needs and objectives of our current and prospective students, and our programmatic goals for the next three years. The planning process began by reviewing the pre-planning assessment tool. Consortium members and community partners were engaged in evaluating the elements of the pre-planning tool in order to gain diverse perspectives about the strengths and opportunities for improvements present since the completion of the last three-year plan. Guided workshops using the pre-planning assessment tool included small group activities and full group discussions that yielded fruitful input. Consortium members and community partners were also given opportunities to comment through online surveys in case they were unable to attend the meetings or wanted to provide additional feedback. LBAEC planning meetings began with a review of an interactive dashboard of the Los Angeles-Orange County area’s census data with particular emphasis on English learners, those without a high school diploma and adults with disabilities. The attendees were asked to list their assumptions about the demographics while slowly breaking down those assumptions through the dashboard. The partners were able to quickly highlight areas of high need and match them to where the consortium was providing services. In subsequent iterations, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness utilized Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map where the majority of LBAEC’s noncredit enrollment lives, the region’s poorest and most disenfranchised neighborhoods. The dashboard was subsequently published online for all consortia members, community partners, and regional colleges to use. The data was collected from 2017 estimates of the American Community Survey. Additional labor market information was collected from Long Beach City College’s instance of the Economic Modeling Systems Inc. platform (EMSI). The Consortium has access to a LBCC research analyst which supports data sharing needs. Consortium members and community partners routinely mentioned that students need access to educational programs as a means of obtaining economic security and socialization. These programs include adult basic education, adult secondary education and high school diploma, ESL, citizenship, career-technical education, workforce re-entry and readiness, adults with disabilities, and parenting. Consortium members should expand services in adult basic education to support both the needs of the large population of adult learners in the community as well as adults with disabilities that may benefit from the added supports provided by ABE programs.Consortium members and community partners also noted the importance of community connection and socialization. Feelings of belonging routinely featured in conversations about students’ willingness to persist through academic programs at both consortium institutions. Cultural competency was prominent in this category. Community partners acknowledged that consortium members can improve in their broader understanding of the diverse communities as a means of motivating student success.
How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
Increased number of courses options and fields of study, increased number and types of ESL offerings, increased number of off-site locations, development of basic skills offerings for lower than 8th grade level, and increased existing basic skills offerings. LBCC has a local goal to increase noncredit enrollment by 20% in the 20-21 academic year.

Gaps In Service

New Strategies

Strategy #1
LBCC will work with community partners in scheduling noncredit courses for English Language Learners, older adults seeking re-entry program into the work force, and CTE.
Strategy #2
LBCC will develop new contextualized basic skills courses below 8th grade level and programs for to serve workforce needs.

Seamless Transitions

New Strategies

Strategy #1
The LBAEC will work on streamlining the transition of students between the school partners by providing increased counseling and opportunities for exploration, both at LBSA and LBCC.
Strategy #2
Streamline infrastructure for referrals including set common transition procedures (both within and between each institution), develop pathways between ABE, ASE, ESL, CTE, and credit transfer, and coordinate counseling activities to assure consistency and cultural competency.

Student Acceleration

New Strategies

Strategy #1
LBCC will create basic skills content into the context of a student’s goals and new career paths in workforce preparation .
Strategy #2
LBCC investigate the creation of VESL instruction in CTE areas of labor market need.
Strategy #3
LBCC investigate the creation modularized instruction in CTE, basic skills, and ESL considering both face-to-face and hybrid modalities. LBCC is investigating the expansion of noncredit computer courses as a potential means of addressing skills gaps for workers now forced to work with different/new digital resources due to COVID19.

Professional Development

New Strategies

Strategy #1
The LBAE consortium is invested in supporting students in the face of systematic racism and personal barriers by review data and information related to our institutions. LBSA and LBCC collaborate on professional development in inclusive pedagogy, cultural competency, and online education for faculty and staff. LBCC will host a lecture series for faculty, staff, and community partners that will include a cultural curriculum audit demonstration.
Strategy #2
LBAEC will attend CAEP regional workshops and conferences to better serve consortium needs, and share new information with community partners at a public forum.

Leveraging Resources

New Strategies

Strategy #1
LBAEC will have increased engagement with LBCC’s Workforce Development and ensuring that program offerings align with labor market data and employment opportunities will help ensure that adult learners are supported through to the final outcome of securing employment.
Strategy #2
LBCC will continue to identify activities to better serve on and off-site adult education programs in ESL, CTE, and basic skills.
Strategy #3
LBCC will work with LBSA to share data resources and Tableau dashboards to planning

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.
The allocations in 20-21-20 aim to increase development of courses designed to meet employment demands, develop of culturally competent curricula in support of workforce readiness, increased use of technologies and professional development, and increase job training opportunities for students, and increase job placements.
An approach to incorporating remaining carry-over funds from prior year(s) into strategies planned for 2020-21.
LBCC is using carry over over funds to provide equipment and marketing for new noncredit CTE programs. LBCC will focus on using a large number of our carry over funds in developing pathways from LBSA to noncredit to credit programs.

Certification

Long Beach CCD - Member Representative

Approved by Michelle Hillman

09/11/2020 10:48 AM PDT

Long Beach Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Debbie Broadway

08/31/2020 04:38 PM PDT