CAEP
Annual Plan

Produced: Aug 28, 2023, 03:57 PM UTC - By Nicole Lopez

26 Long Beach Adult Education
CONSORTIUM APPROVED

2023-24

Plans & Goals

Executive Summary

The Long Beach Adult Education Consortium three-year plan is aligned with California’s goal to address the evolving needs of individuals and communities by providing adults with the knowledge and skills necessary to participate effectively as productive citizens, workers, and family members. The Consortium works jointly to meet the needs of the adult education population in the region through various collaborative efforts between the Consortium members and with regional partners. Members regularly review and modify the plan, based on demographic and employment data, survey information, labor market information, and other data and analyses.

This three-year plan serves as the framework for the work of the Consortium by partnering with community service providers including businesses, government and community-based organizations. The Consortium will continue to work toward creating a comprehensive regional approach for students by providing instructional programs and support services for their progression along their educational and career pathways.

The Consortium will continue to provide marketing support for noncredit courses, support and expansion of offsite class locations, and enrollment and registration support. Within this new three-year plan there is an expanded focus on “connections to living wages” and support for pathways and job placement readiness that leads to placement in living wage careers. We heard from community partners, business leaders, and students that there is a need for workforce training and job readiness support and have developed a plan to address this.

Closing out the 2019-2022 three year plan, the LBAEC despite the challenges of the pandemic was able to exceed in two key goals. The goal was increasing the number of new noncredit programs by 28% which was exceed at 141% adding a total of 31 new programs. In addition, the program completions goal was set at 28% and that was also exceeded at 92%. Enrollment dropped considerably during the pandemic with ESL students seeing the largest challenges converting to an online environment as well as lack of compliance with the LBCC and LBUSD vaccination mandates. Between years one and two enrollment increased by 25% and strategies funded by CAEP appeared to be working, but were not enough to counteract the impacts of the pandemic. In addition matriculation between LBSA and LBCC also suffered from the pandemic and while it increased considerable in the first year, it also dropped during the pandemic.

Planned allocations for the coming year are aligned with the new three year plan focusing less on increasing new programs and more on enrollment, completions, and job readiness and placement support. Much of this work will be done at LBCC as they have more flexibility in their funding leveraging other categorical funding sources and receiving apportionment. These metrics are embedded in the Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development’s annual plan creating a new lever of accountability.

As part of the new three year plan, the Consortium will address the following main objectives in Year Two: 

Program Map Review, Development and Marketing 

  • Based on year one findings, develop program maps that help students see long-term goals that are attainable and communicate and market those maps. 
  • Share information with faculty regarding opportunities for growth in gap areas. 
  • Work with communications to market information.

Connection to Living Wages

  • Identify high demand living wage jobs in district area and work with faculty to develop programs leading to these jobs.
  • Provide job readiness and placement support.

Clear Pathways and Access to Support Services

  • College information regarding services within LBCC and within the community and create a process for connecting students and sharing information regarding services.

Data Review and Program Improvement

  • Refine data dashboards tracking student transitions and share with Consortia. Host annual meeting to review Launchboard data. 
  • Launch feedback process, collect and analyze data.
Regional Planning Overview

Long Beach Adult Education Consortium (LBAEC) remains committed to meeting the ever-shifting needs of the region as it emerges from the hardships of the COVID pandemic. Through flexibility in strategies and activities, LBAEC will implement the three-year plan through a variety of activities through cross functional teams at Long Beach City College (LBCC) and also within the Long Beach School for Adults (LBSA). Support is being provided for enrollment specialists, counseling, job readiness support, internships and job placement, and data collection and analysis. Ongoing support is being provided for creation of new noncredit as well as outreach and marketing.  

Three-year activities include:  

Address Educational Needs  

To address the Educational Needs of the LBAEP, the Member Districts will engage in activities to support Connections to Living Wages.  

-Review existing programs for alignment with living wage jobs.    

-Identify high demand living wage jobs in district area and work to develop programs leading to these jobs.   

-Provide job readiness and placement support

Improve Integration of Services & Transitions  

To improve Integration of Services and Transitions of the LBAEC region, the Member Districts will engage in activities to create Clear Pathways and Access to Support Services.  

-Reviewing noncredit program maps for overlap and creating program maps in gap areas.    

-Develop maps across programs that help students see long-term goals that are attainable and communicate and market those maps.   

-Provide or connect students to wrap-around supports that may include anything from educational planning to childcare, as appropriate.    

Improve Effectiveness of Services

To improve Effectiveness of Services of the LBAEC region, the Member Districts will engage in activities to support Data Review and Program Improvement.  

-Develop data dashboards that focus on key metrics that inform students’ transitions between programs.   

-Establish a special meeting each year to review Launchboard data, timed with when the data becomes available.   

-Establish a process for obtaining feedback and providing the results to the consortium on an annual basis. 


Meeting Regional Needs

Regional Need #1

Gaps in Service / Regional Needs

When reviewing the adult education services, regional service providers, and regional demographics, there is opportunity for growth to meet the full needs of the community. For example, over 75K residents in the District speak English less than “very well” and yet ESL programs supported less than 2K participants. Likewise, over 115K residents in the District would benefit from adult basic education or adult secondary education and yet these programs had fewer than 1K participants. To meet this need, LBCC is partnering with the City of Long Beach to host classes in libraries and public park community centers and will dedicate funding for marketing. In addition, faculty are working on additional HiSET courses to meet the need.  

The LBAEC will focus on increasing enrollments in relevant programs to support larger numbers of these populations, as well as provide short-term programs that lead to living wage jobs for residents living below the living wage for the region to exit the cycle of poverty. To meet this need, LBCC is mapping all noncredit and credit programs for their alignment with living wage occupations and will integrate that information into student facing program information and marketing helping students to make informed program selections.  

Noncredit students have also expressed interest in job readiness support including resume writing and interview preparation, as well as job placement support. New resources will be dedicated to help noncredit students with these activities.  

Community partners also provide education and workforce services to adults in the region, including, but not limited to work readiness training, career counseling, job search services, and job search support like clothing, tools, transportation, and providing certification/licensure fees. Community partners also support residents with college prep including GED/HiSet program/testing referrals, completing college applications, financial aid documents, and providing financial literacy workshops. LBAEC has the opportunity to further support this work as well as to increase outreach and enrollment into non-credit programs.   

How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?

Using data from the American Community Survey, the LBAEC reviewed and analyzed characteristics of the community within the Consortium’s service area. The Consortium’s service area includes over 500K, adults. Of these, 9% (41,451) have less than a 9th grade education, while an additional 17% (74,284) have some high school education but lack a high school diploma or credential. The highest proportion of individuals in these two groups reside in North and Central/Downtown Long Beach. When these populations are disaggregated by race/ethnicity we find that over one third (36%) of residents identifying as Latinx/Hispanic would benefit from access to adult basic and secondary education. Interestingly, while residents identifying as Asian represent the second highest racial/ethnic group with a bachelor's degree (at 42%, following White identifying residents at 45%), Asian identifying residents are also the second largest group that would benefit from adult basic and secondary education with 18% of residents reporting having less than a high school diploma.   

Within the LBAECʼs service area, 13% (57,763) of adults live below the federal poverty level. Not surprisingly, those with less than a high school education are twice as likely to be living below the federal poverty level than those with some college education (i.e. with an associate’s degree or college credits completed, but not a bachelors degree). It is also important to note that the service area is within a region with a high cost of living meaning that the federal poverty line represents approximately one third the income a single adult would need to be considered having a living wage in the region. Therefore, the proportion of adults who are effectively living in poverty (i.e. not making a living wage) is much higher than 13%. The largest number of Consortium residents living below the poverty line reside in the same areas as those with lower levels of education, North and Central/Downtown Long Beach. When disaggregated by racial/ethnic identity, more residents identifying as Latinx/Hispanic (19%), Black/African-American (20%), and Native American (21%) experience living below the poverty level than other racial/ethnic groups (e.g. White: 9%, Asian: 13%, Pacific Islander: 15%).  

Within the LBAECʼs service area, 9% (39,072) live with a disability. Adults with a disability are more likely to live in poverty (19%) than those not living with a disability (12%). Adults with disabilities are also less likely to have completed high school (19%) than those without a disability (13%).   

In addition to analyzing the local data, LBAEC looked to community partners providing direct services to the community. For example, Centro CHA an LBACE partner, hosted its annual Latino Economic Impact Report Convening at LBCC and the follow up roundtable with community leaders. They were able to validate our local data findings as well as provide qualitative data on individual’s experiences with the system, unique neighborhood needs and challenges, and provide input into ways in which we can better partner with our community groups.  

How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?

Progress and accountability for the AEP are tracked by the Vice Presidents of Academic Affairs and of Economic and Workforce Development at LBCC as well as the Principal at LBSA. Progress updates and metrics are reported out monthly at the LBCC Adult Education Subcommittee (part of the participatory governance process) as well as at the LBAEC meetings.  

Data dashboard tied to the activities of three-year plan are created by LBCC and tracked regularly and shared at LBAEC meetings. Year one activities are also written in the LBCC Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development’s annual metrics. The metrics for student success, disaggregated by race, including course success rates and closing equity gaps are included in the Vice President of Academic Affairs’ annual metrics. These Vice President metrics are tracked by the President-Superintendent.  

Address Educational Needs

2023-24 Strategies

Noncredit Mapping

Activity that Applies to this Strategy

Program Map Review, Development and Marketing

Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy

  • All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
  • All: Number of Adults Served (AE 200 - Overall)
  • Student Barriers: English Language Learner (AE 305 - Overall)
  • Student Barriers: Low Income (AE 310 - Overall)

Based on year one findings, develop program maps that help students see long-term goals that are attainable and communicate and market those maps. Share information with faculty regarding opportunities for growth in gap areas. Work with communications to market information.


Job Readiness and Connection to Living Wages

Activity that Applies to this Strategy

Connection to Living Wages

Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy

  • Student Barriers: Low Income (AE 310 - Overall)

Identify high demand living wage jobs in district area and work with faculty to develop programs leading to these jobs.

Provide job readiness and placement support.

Improve Integration of Services & Transitions

2023-24 Strategies

Connections with Support Services

Activity that Applies to this Strategy

Clear Pathways and Access to Support Services

Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy

  • All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
  • All: Number of Adults Served (AE 200 - Overall)
  • Student Barriers: English Language Learner (AE 305 - Overall)
  • Student Barriers: Low Income (AE 310 - Overall)

College information regarding services within LBCC and within the community and create a process for connecting students and sharing information regarding services.

Improve Effectiveness of Services

2023-24 Strategies

Data collection and analysis

Activity that Applies to this Strategy

Data Review and Program Improvement

Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy

  • All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
  • Student Barriers: English Language Learner (AE 305 - Overall)
  • Student Barriers: Low Income (AE 310 - Overall)

Refine data dashboards tracking student transitions and share with Consortia. Host annual meeting to review Launchboard data. Launch feedback process, collect and analyze data.

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 planned allocations for this fiscal year will continue from last year with a few changes in support of the new three year plan and year two activities. Funding used by member Long Beach School for Adults will remain unchanged as the adult school uses funds for direct instruction and operations. Funding used by member Long Beach City College will continue for staffing that directly serves students as well as the three year plan including partial funding for staff in enrollment and outreach, instructional associates in ESL, admissions and records and Institutional Effectiveness. Additional funding will be dedicated to support communications and marketing in print, direct mail, and social media including paid campaigns. Funding will also support new job readiness training in the Career Center as well as the establishment of a new North Long Beach Higher Education Center. Braided funding will also be leveraged in support of the year one activities including Strong Workforce, Perkins, and private grant funds. 

An approach to incorporating remaining carry-over funds from prior year(s) into strategies planned for 2023-24.

Carry over funds will be used in support of direct student services, outreach and enrollment, and the new North Long Beach Higher Education Center.

Certification

Long Beach CCD - Member Representative

Approved by Melissa Infusino

08/15/2023 02:05 PM PDT

Long Beach Unified - Member Representative

Approved by Nicole Lopez

08/28/2023 08:57 AM PDT