Produced: Aug 14, 2024, 11:54 PM UTC - By Carrie Casto
2024-25
Plans & Goals
- Executive Summary
The South Bay Consortium for Adult Education (SBCAE) remains committed to building regionally coordinated adult education programs across education systems in partnership with education, workforce development and immigrant integration stakeholders.
SBCAE will work towards achieving the three-step vision outlined in the Three-year Plan:
1: Build the map
SBCAE will deploy a sector specific pathway approach, with a strong emphasis on onramps for English learners and basic skills students.
2: Help learners navigate the map
SBCAE will help students navigate the education landscape and support learners in identifying pathways most relevant to their goals.
3: Support learners along the way
SBCAE will collaborate with community partners to help alleviate barriers to success. A Learning Disabilities Specialist will support adults with disabilities.
The 2023-24 year saw enrollment continue its upward trajectory from year 1. More new short-term CTE programs were added, at the member level and via organic partnerships between SBCAE members. The increase in HSD/E programs yielded larger than average graduating classes, celebrated by uplifting ceremonies. Members have also begun projects to enhance student support for career and college transitions, and expand campus infrastructure, to increase economic mobility and improve the community experience.
College transition specialists organized college tours for adult ed students, enabling several hundred to get first-hand experience with the college environment including information on financial aid, counseling and registration.
Opportunities for entry into the priority healthcare sector were introduced late in the year as part of SBCAE members’ execution of their ELL Healthcare Pathway Grant award. SBCAE looks forward to this catalyst yielding sustainable interagency ELL student recruitment and accelerated learning opportunities for gainful employment in the healthcare sector in 2024-25 and beyond.
SBCAE provided professional development opportunities for staff, including a consortium-wide Professional Development Day. The SBCAE member effectiveness committee was successful in its endeavor to develop and approve By-laws, establish a consortium and member carryover policy per AB1491, and to oversee the disbursement of innovation funds.
The 2023-24 program year also saw a great deal organizational change in SBCAE. The SBCAE Director and Community Partnership Specialist resigned from their roles in late 2023. The consortium's AWD Specialist resigned his contract at the end of the year, after successfully serving 56 adult learners. Additionally, after several years of implementing a consortium-wide database to support calculation of transition data and referral tracking, SBCAE determined that the goals for the platform had not been sufficiently achieved and elected to explore alternate solutions. Transition to a new team at SBCAE is underway, with the Director and Community Partnership Specialist positions having been filled in Spring 2024. Ultimately, this degree of organizational change provides SBCAE with an opportunity to critically evaluate the effectiveness of prior annual plan strategies and to incorporating feedback from stakeholders in their corresponding adjustment.
As such, the strategies reflected in the 2024-25 plan will build on the successes of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 program years, and reflect on projects that have not achieved their complete set of objectives. This reflection will position SBCAE to best prioritize for the 2025-28 three-year regional plan.
2024-25 strategies are as follows (abridged, see below for details):
- Measuring student success in new short-term CTE
- Advance ESL/ELL subcommittee recommendations for differentiated ESL/ELL pathways.
- Form Apprenticeship subcommittee, explore partnerships and propose programs.
- Analyze student outcome equity and agency level student government systems.
- Execute ELL Healthcare Pathways Grant and assess new IET and bridge programs.
- Analyze effectiveness of pathway navigation tools.
- Redesign SBCAE Data infrastructure
- Rebuild / expand the Community Connections Network / fill and scope AWD Specialist role
- Offer consortium wide PD and support teacher credentialing.
- Explore funding formula and execute carryover policies.
Per California Adult Education Program requirements, SBCAE’s 2024-25 annual plan is aligned with the active Three-year Regional Plan, while also being responsive to current community needs. The plan was approved by the Steering Committee in a formal public meeting, and Steering Committee members are accountable to align their CAEP allocations with the objectives to the plan through the budget submission and approval process in NOVA. In accordance with the SBCAE Charter, members will provide regular updates on expenditures and their alignment with the annual and three-year plan at public Steering Committee meetings. Allocations made to support consortium-wide needs will be included in this regular budget review cycle.
- Regional Planning Overview
SBCAE’s Three-year Regional Plan for Adult Education includes ten actionable and measurable strategies in the three categories of addressing educational needs, improving integration of services & transitions, and improving effectiveness of services:
Address Educational Needs
- Increase the number and variety of short-term CTE programs leading to industry recognized credentials.
- Offer differentiated ESL/ELL pathways (college/career/community track), including immigrant integration pathway.
- Increase (pre)apprenticeship programs and work-based learning opportunities.
- Prioritize Equity & Student Voice.
Improve Integration of Services & Transitions
- Link career pathways across members in priority industry sectors: health, public service, CIT, construction/industrial trades/natural resources.
- Develop a goal-based pathway navigation protocol & tool (Open Doors)
- Increase Transitions to CTE
Improve Effectiveness of Services
- Provide customized student support services.
- Offer targeted Professional Development at the agency and consortium level.
- Establish member effectiveness criteria / finance subcommittee.
The 2024-2025 Annual Plan presented here both builds on the accomplishments of the prior two years of Three-year Plan implementation, while prioritizing reflection on effectiveness of year 1 and year 2 initiatives, capturing results, feedback, and resources yielded by any projects which were unable to achieve its intended outcome. Strategies have been adjusted as needed, focusing on what can realistically be accomplished in a one-year period, with corresponding adjustments to the short-term outcomes listed for year 3 in the Three-year Plan.
Strategic priorities for the upcoming program year will be organized into corresponding project threads, geared toward accomplishing the strategies stated goal. For some strategies, the evaluative nature of their focus in year 3 presents as a shift into the domain ‘Strengthen operations’ below.
For the 2024-25 program year, SBCAE strategies align to its three-year plan vision as follows:
BUILD THE MAP
2. Advance ESL/ELL subcommittee recommendations and build a sustainable plan to deploy differentiated ESL/ELL pathways
3. Form Apprenticeship subcommittee, explore sector partnerships and propose corresponding pre-apprenticeship programs
5. Execute ELL Healthcare Pathways Grant programs and expand their impact. Leverage data to assess new IET and bridge programs.
NAVIGATE THE MAP
6. Analyze effectiveness of pathway navigation tools and re-evaluate feasibility of consortium wide personal learning plans.
SUPPORT ALONG THE WAY
8A. Rebuild and expand the SBCAE Community Connections network.
8B. Ensure the AWD Specialist role is filled, establish clear inter-agency processes, and determine measures of effectiveness of AWD services.
STRENGTHEN OPERATIONS
1. Measuring student success in new short-term CTE Programs
4. Engage in analysis of historical student outcome equity and understand current agency level student government systems
7. Redesign SBCAE Data integration infrastructure to enable accurate and timely calculation of transition data.
9. Offer consortium wide professional development and support teacher credentialing.
10. Explore an alternative funding formula and execute carryover policy and procedures.
In 2023-24, SBCAE adopted a new work group structure consisting of faculty networking groups and cross-functional project teams. Feedback on the effectiveness of these endeavors was garnered and has been used to inform the strategies and activities for 2024-25. This feedback, received during the transition of SBCAE leadership, highlighted areas of growth for the new faculty networking group and project team structure. With increasing enrollment and its corresponding operational overhead, participatory bandwidth in some project groups was limited, which hampered the project-based linkage between those project teams and their corresponding faculty networking groups. While year 3 is a natural time for self-evaluation in the execution of a three-year planning cycle, the evaluative nature of many strategies in this plan also seek to position the consortium leadership team and dedicated support staff as primarily responsible for their implementation. With a smaller footprint on key stakeholders, SBCAE expects to see a degree of success in its implementation of the 2024-25 annual plan.
Meeting Regional Needs
Regional Need #1
- Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
Educational attainment and English language proficiency:
In the central region of Santa Clara County, which falls under the purview of the South Bay Consortium for Adult Education (SBCAE), there persists a significant demand for programs catering to adult English language learners and those seeking to complete their secondary education.
As of 2022, American Community Survey (ACS) data reveals that a substantial portion of the SBCAE regional population, over 127,000 residents, is Limited English Proficient (LEP), while over 129,000 have not yet attained a High School Diploma (HSD). This lack of English language proficiency and formal education poses a formidable barrier to securing employment that offers sustainable wages, a particularly acute challenge in the nation's most expensive county. Data from 2022 underscores this issue, with a significant proportion of these subgroups falling below the Self-Sufficiency Standard: 48% of LEP households, 74% of LEP Latinx households, 73% of households where the head lacks a high school diploma, and 56% of households where the head possesses only a high school diploma.
An in-depth examination of the 2022 ACS data elucidates the demographic composition of the SBCAE regional population, particularly those in greatest need of adult education services. This analysis reaffirms the inextricable link between educational attainment, demographics, and income levels. Almost half of LEP residents have not earned their HSD, and 50% are not currently part of the workforce. The LEP population is predominantly over 40 years old, with a majority identifying as Asian (~56%) or Hispanic (~40%). Those living near or below the poverty line are disproportionately LEP (13% higher than the regional average), with over half having only completed high school or equivalent education, a stark reality in a region dominated by high-skill tech employment. Furthermore, the population without a high school diploma skews older (~62% over 40) and is significantly Hispanic (~53%), underscoring the critical importance of Adult Secondary Education (ASE) services for these groups.
- How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
- Census/ACS
- CAEP Fact Sheets
- Silicon Valley Index
- Healthy Places Index
- How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
Impacting these gaps can be thought of in two separate but related domains. First, getting students into SBCAE agencies such that they can be served and second, the quality of the service provided, using 2021-22 data as a benchmark. The former will be measured by the degree to which enrollment in regional ESL/ELL and ASE programs can be increased year over year. In the 2022-23 Program Year, ESL/ELL enrollment for SBCAE is over 9,000 students, and ASE enrollment is over 2,500 students. Preliminary 2023-24 data suggests ESL/ELL enrollment will be about 9750 students, with ASE enrollment holding steady at approximately 2580 students. These preliminary figures indicate enrollment in priority basic skills programs are directionally correct.
Overall, preliminary 2023-24 enrollment data suggests SBCAE increased the number of individuals it served by approximately 35% over the 10,813 Individuals Served in 2021-22, which is a good overall sign of increasing educational engagement in the region.
Second, the quality of the delivery of these programs will be measured by tracking the percentage of these students who achieve EFL gains in ESL/ELL, and who obtain HSD/E respectively. As outcome data is finalized as of July 15, 2024, SBCAE will consider preliminary measures of 2,625 students with EFL gains and 360 students with HSD/E attainment in 2023-24. This is compared to the 2,261 students who earned an EFL gain and 319 students with HSD/E attainment in 2021-22, our operational baseline. These numbers are likewise trending upward, which is a good sign from preliminary data. In order to ensure members are well informed of regional progress, final 2023-24 data and a deeper analysis on year over year comparisons will be part of SBCAE’s 2024 Data Study Session agendas.
Regional Need #2
- Gaps in Service / Regional Needs
Labor Market and Income Inequality
Silicon Valley remains a region of stark contrasts, with the challenges faced by low-income families further amplified by the enduring repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. While aggregate data from sources such as the USDA Economic Research Service, Census Bureau ACS 5-year estimates, and county-level employment and earnings statistics offer a broad overview, they often mask the nuanced realities of these families.
For instance, although 6.9% (~130,000) of Santa Clara County residents were classified as living in poverty in 2022 based on national thresholds of approximately $18,000-$20,000 per year for a family of two with two or fewer children, the local housing market paints a far more dire picture. In the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara HUD Metro area, any household of two earning less than $89,750 is considered "low income." As of 2022, 50% of Silicon Valley renters were cost-burdened, spending over 30% of their income on rent. Median home prices soaring to $1.7 million, up from $1.53 million a year ago, sustainable housing remains an elusive dream for many low-income residents.
The capacity to thrive in this region is inextricably linked to educational attainment, which opens doors to the high-skill, high-wage jobs in technology and skilled manufacturing that fuel Silicon Valley's economy. To participate in these sectors, adults require access to college and Career Technical Education (CTE) programs aligned with the most prevalent and lucrative occupations, such as Computer & Mathematics, Management, Office and Administrative, Sales, and Business and Financial Operations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this divide, accelerating housing costs and diminishing the share of low-skill, low-wage jobs. This trend has intensified with the passage of time and persistent inflation.
In response to the current income and labor market dynamics, SBCAE will continue to expand the number and diversity of short-term CTE programs, with a particular emphasis on healthcare through the ELL Healthcare Pathways Grant. This strategic focus aims to expedite adult learners' entry into fulfilling career paths.
- How do you know? What resources did you use to identify these gaps?
- ACS/Census
- CAEP Fact Sheets
- Center of Excellence Bay Region LMI Newsletter, June 2022
- 2023 Silicon Valley Index
- Institute for Regional Studies/JVSV
- datausa.io
- How will you measure effectiveness / progress towards meeting this need?
Overall effectiveness in engaging our regional population with SBCAE CTE programs provides a baseline for overall effectiveness. Preliminary 2023-24 enrollment data indicates over 4,300 students were/are enrolled in CTE programs. Using 2021-22 as baseline data for CTE enrollment shows that enrollment has increased by approximately 85% in two years, a very positive result.
In year 1 and year 2 of SBCAE’s three-year regional plan, members focused heavily on expanding short-term CTE offerings and creating partnerships between members that would link existing CTE pathways. Intentional analysis of data on enrollment and completion for these new offerings and linkages is built into the set of strategies for year 3.
Further, SBCAE’s work on the ELL Healthcare Pathway Grant provides an excellent opportunity to target specific programs deeper analysis via student tracking from enrollment to completion, and transition or job placement. The infrastructure that arises in response to this requirement will provide insight on which aspects of CTE pathway analysis are useful for determining effectiveness and will be align-able to other pathway analysis in the future.
While transition data which tells us how many students enter CTE from ESL/ELL and Basic Skills is important for targeted outreach, it remains elusive. SBCAE’s divestment from its regional data platform precluded the establishment of local baseline transition data for the 2021-22 program year, in addition to not yielding transition data for the 2022-23 program year. As reflected in this plan’s strategies, laying the groundwork for a successful sustainable solution to capturing transition data locally is a high priority for SBCAE. Publicly available transition data is only as recent as 2020-21, due to the process by which it is calculated, significantly limiting its utility for evaluation and timely decision making.
Address Educational Needs
2024-25 Strategies
Advance ESL/ELL subcommittee recommendations & form a plan to deploy differentiated ESL/ELL pathways
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
2. Develop and offer differentiated ESL pathways
Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy
- All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
- All: Number of Adults Served (AE 200 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants with Educational Functioning Levels Gains ESL (AE 400 - ESL)
- Student Barriers: English Language Learner (AE 305 - Overall)
Year 2 for this strategy thread was partially successful, but progress halted due to administrative turnover, which prohibited the full assembly of the ESL/ELL Pathway Project Team.
Despite this roadblock, member partnerships arose to develop Teacher Pathways for ELL, with forthcoming partnerships to increase the reach of Teacher Permit Pathway to career focused ELL students in the pipeline. Additionally, an ESL for Career Exploration course was piloted.
Regional need the area of English language acquisition underscores the importance of a regionally cohesive approach to English language instruction. The fact that English language learners make up the largest percentage of the SBCAE student body, is insufficient in-and-of itself to address this need. The intent of differentiated ESL/ELL pathways is to accelerate the student’s journey in-line with their personal goals, be they education, employment, or citizenship. As such, this project is of critical importance and in year 3 it will be reapproached with lessons learned from its partial successes and the barriers experienced in year 2.
In year 3, the ESL/ELL pathways project will begin with a review of the recommendations from the ESL/ELL subcommittee with a lens for prioritization. An emphasis on commitment from stakeholders at each member agency will ensure sufficient participation in this critical effort. Sharing the results of year 2 pilots and partnerships will occur at the consortia level. Most critically, this group will suggest a framework to keep this effort at the forefront of SBCAE’s regional efforts in the next three-year regional planning cycle.
By June 30th, 2025, the ESL/ELL Pathway Project Team will have formed, reviewed ESL/ELL pathway subcommittee recommendations, and stakeholder groups at each member agency will be identified for engagement. The Project Team will review outcomes of any pilot courses, share their status, and suggest a framework for carrying this project through successfully as part of the 2025-28 Plan.
Form Apprenticeship subcommittee, explore sector partnerships and propose corresponding programs.
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
3. (Pre)apprenticeship & work-based learning
Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy
- All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
- All: Number of Adults Served (AE 200 - Overall)
- Transition: Participants with Transition to Postsecondary (CTE) (AE 636 - Overall)
While year 2 progress on assembling a team to drive this strategy was halted due to the process of SBCAE administrative turnover, the importance of Apprenticeships as an area of focus for SBCAE is undiminished. While rebuilding SBCAE infrastructure, conversations with sector partners at the consortium and member levels have continued, and the focus for year 3 will be to pick up the threads from year 2 by assembling an Apprenticeship subcommittee, exploring interested sector partnerships, and making priority recommendations to the consortium.
Apprenticeship programs are well established in SBCAE member community colleges, and generally speaking, colleges are planning to expand upon their apprenticeship programs in the near to medium term. It has long been a goal for the consortium to develop pre-apprenticeship programs, starting in adult schools, which prepare adult learners to be successful in the already existing apprenticeship pathways in our consortium. Additionally, efforts to expand the apprenticeship portfolio in our region are dependent on employers, so seeking interested partners is critical for expansion.
By establishing an apprenticeship work group, the consortium believes it will make progress on this goal. The work group will inventory existing apprenticeship programs and conduct a feasibility study for pre-apprenticeship program development. Corresponding Faculty Networking group bandwidth will be engaged to gauge agency level interest and capacity. Parties who’ve demonstrated interest in partnering with SBCAE from Healthcare and Advanced Manufacturing sectors will be engaged in this process.
By June 30th, 2025, an apprenticeship subcommittee will be established. The committee will have made recommendations for priority pre-apprenticeship development to the SBCAE Steering Committee.
Analyze historical student outcome equity and understand agency level student government
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
4. Prioritize Equity & Student Voice
Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy
- All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
- All: Number of Adults Served (AE 200 - Overall)
Strategy 4 is a twofold project, in which progress will be made on understanding the degree to which students who engage with member agencies are enrolling and achieving outcomes equitably, as well as developing a plan to engage with current student government systems in a cohesive manner.
Year 2 efforts to engage with each of these areas met with mixed success. An initial exploratory look at student equity data was performed at a quarterly consortium Data Study Session, but more work needs to be done to formalize SBCAE’s approach to this analysis and to identify appropriate priority metrics. Engagement with agency level student government encountered bandwidth limitations and a changing landscape of staff and student government, however robust student leadership groups have been formed at the agency level.
SBCAE leadership and dedicated staff will take the lead on advancing both of these efforts in 2024-25.
By June 30th, 2025, SBCAE will have examined its historical CAEP outcome data for equity gaps and shared those results. SBCAE leadership will gather and share an overview of agency level student government systems and recommend a workplan to the steering committee to; increase student knowledge of SBCAE projects, provide inter-agency networking opportunities for student government and solicit student feedback on SBCAE projects where appropriate.
Improve Integration of Services & Transitions
2024-25 Strategies
Execute ELL Healthcare Pathways Grant programs. Leverage data to assess new IET and bridge programs.
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
5. Link career pathways in priority sectors
Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy
- All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
- All: Number of Adults Served (AE 200 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants with Educational Functioning Levels Gains ABE (AE 400 - ABE)
- Progress: Participants with Educational Functioning Levels Gains ESL (AE 400 - ESL)
- Student Barriers: English Language Learner (AE 305 - Overall)
- Success: Participants Who Earn a Postsecondary Credential (AE 625 - Overall)
- Transition: Participants with Transition to Postsecondary (CTE) (AE 636 - Overall)
Year 3 of this three-year plan strategy thread provides an excellent opportunity to focus efforts in this strategy thread on the opportunity presented by SBCAE’s participation in the ELL Healthcare Pathways Grant. It provides resources to further accelerated learning methods, transition support for ELL students in ESL/ELL and basic skills, and career placement in the healthcare sector.
While members execute their strategies for deploying and supporting these pathways, SBCAE bandwidth will support the regional impact by building infrastructure to support evaluation and expansion.
Previous years efforts in this strategy thread yielded a variety of contextualized partnerships between SBCAE members, co-locations and new IET programs. In the course of reporting outcomes for the ELL Grant career pathways, similar evaluative work will be spearheaded by the SBCAE leadership and data teams to align the analysis of enrollment and outcome data for programs created as part of the first two years of this strategy thread.
By June 30th, 2025, SBCAE will have analyzed student enrollment and outcome data for new IET and bridge programs to assess effectiveness. ELL Healthcare pathways grant models and data will be shared with members. SBCAE will engage with its members, sector partners and students to choose the next priority CTE pathway on which to focus linkages
Analyze effectiveness of pathway navigation tools and re-evaluate consortium-wide personal ed plans
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
6. Goal-based pathway navigation protocol and tool
Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy
- All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants Who Complete an EL Civics COAPP or Course (AE 411 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants with Educational Functioning Levels Gains ABE (AE 400 - ABE)
- Progress: Participants with Educational Functioning Levels Gains ESL (AE 400 - ESL)
- Student Barriers: English Language Learner (AE 305 - Overall)
- Success: Participants Who Earn a High School Diploma or Equivalency (AE 633 - Overall)
- Success: Participants Who Earn a Postsecondary Credential (AE 625 - Overall)
- Transition: Participants with Transition to Postsecondary (CTE) (AE 636 - Overall)
- Transition: Participants with Transition to Postsecondary (credit college) (AE 637 - Overall)
Evaluative responses to the mixed success of this strategy thread and assessing effectiveness in completed work are paramount to the year 3 strategy for this activity.
Materials and infrastructure related to the goal-based pathway navigation tool were successfully created and released in year 1, and their usage was expanded in year 2. In year 3 it is critical to gather feedback on their utility and assess their effectiveness to determine if SBCAE should maintain course or pivot. Preliminary feedback indicates that as part of this self-reflection the ‘Open Doors’ theme should be examined specifically now that it has had time to exist in the field for two years.
The effort to agree to a uniform consortium wide personal learning plan format could not gain the necessary traction to progress. As SBCAE has disengaged from the shared digital platform, which was the intended infrastructure for these plans, SBCAE leadership is in a position to re-evaluate both the desirability and feasibility of a uniform personal learning plan. There are obvious benefits to having a comprehensive plan which could be understood by any member with which a student engages, but the organizational change management may be an unreasonable lift for our large consortium. SBCAE leadership will engage with stakeholders on this and explore other possibilities for information sharing between agencies so as to support the shared understanding of a student's goal.
By June 30th, 2025, SBCAE will have analyzed the effectiveness of its goal-based pathway navigation tools and materials. As part of this analysis, the effectiveness of the idea of “Open Doors'' as a marketing theme will be re-examined. SBCAE leadership will re-evaluate the intent and feasibility of personal learning plans to decide its viability in 2025-28.
Redesign SBCAE Data integration infrastructure to enable calculation of transition data
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
7. Increase Transitions to CTE
Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy
- All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
- All: Number of Adults Served (AE 200 - Overall)
- Transition: Participants with Transition to Postsecondary (CTE) (AE 636 - Overall)
An ELL student's transition from ESL/ELL and Basic Skills into CTE programs is a crucial inflection point in their journey toward upward economic mobility. Year 3 strategy seeks to improve efforts to increase the number of students who transition and to rebuild the necessary data infrastructure to gain timely understanding of transition data.
During the course of year 2, SBCAE determined that My Professional Journey (Pairin), the shared data integration platform which would support calculation of transitions, was not sufficiently meeting the variety of needs it was intended to address. This leaves SBCAE in a position to re-evaluate its approach to gathering the necessary student data to calculate inter-agency and programmatic transitions. This work will be the primary focus of SBCAE Data Team, in partnership with agency level data infrastructure, to secure any necessary agreements and have commitments from agencies for data sharing timetables. The team will also design the work plan for establishing a locally relevant methodology for calculating interagency transitions. Ultimately, a replacement process and supporting platform will need to be developed in order to facilitate the timely capture of student transition data.
Prior year foci in this strategy thread, geared at providing targeted CTE program information to students eligible to transition, have seen mixed success. The incoming SBCAE Leadership Team will focus on understanding which of the following strategies are ongoing and which need support: Transition Specialist presentations to adult school students: overall CTE presentation and sector-specific presentations, Clarify career education options for undocumented students, English learners and those lacking a high school diploma/equivalency, Cross promoting CTE programs: consortium wide CTE brochure
Gathering feedback on those efforts to support their continuous improvement will occur during the initial stages of year 3.
By June 30th, 2025, at minimum, SBCAE will have scoped out the project workplan for a local methodology for calculating inter-agency transitions and secured the requisite agency agreements to support platform agnostic data sharing.
Improve Effectiveness of Services
2024-25 Strategies
Rebuild and expand the SBCAE Community Connections network.
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
8. Provide customized student 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)
- Employment and Earnings: Participants Who Became Employed in the 2nd Quarter After Exit (AE 505 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants Who Complete an EL Civics COAPP or Course (AE 411 - Overall)
With SBCAE staffing transition in late 2023 into 2024, SBCAE navigated a pause on its Community Connections network and Community Resource fair in 2024. In early June 2024, the position of Community Partnership Specialist was filled, and re-engagement with the network has already begun.
As outreach to re-engage and expand the network is ongoing, Community Connections Network meetings will resume in the Fall 2024. Additionally, a community resource fair will be planned. Prior to executing this event, however, stakeholders will be gathered to ensure clarity of intent to ensure services are not being duplicated.
By June 30th, 2025, SBCAE will have rebuilt its Community Connections Network infrastructure, ensured clarity of intent for Community Resource Fair prior to its execution, and explored a network-wide solution for reciprocal referral tracking in partnership with its members.
Fill AWD specialist role, establish clear inter-agency processes and measures of effectiveness
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
8. Provide customized student 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)
- Employment and Earnings: Participants Who Became Employed in the 2nd Quarter After Exit (AE 505 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants Who Complete an EL Civics COAPP or Course (AE 411 - Overall)
Due to the vacancy in the AWD Specialist position as of June 2024, the immediate priority for this strategy is to redefine the role and fill the vacancy. This position demonstrated a great deal of value for the students that were served, and 56 students were served in the 2023-24 program year.
As this role is intended to serve all five SBCAE adult school members, it presents a complex operational situation and certain processes and procedures intended to support this complexity required re-evaluation and iteration. Feedback from last year indicated that a good fit had not been fully achieved. Upon filling this role, procedures will be implemented based on prior feedback and with input necessary stakeholders.
Additionally, SBCAE has determined that a more robust set of effectiveness measures are required to evaluate this position than the number of students who received services. The process of establishing these measures will be collaborative with students and staff consulting.
In 2024-25, SBCAE will redefine the AWD Specialist role and implement procedures based on stakeholder feedback to increase inter-agency clarity of process and responsibilities. SBCAE leadership will collaborate with students and staff to determine measures of effectiveness of services.
Offer consortium wide professional development and support teacher credentialing.
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
9. Offer targeted Professional Development
Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy
- All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
- All: Number of Adults Served (AE 200 - Overall)
- Employment and Earnings: Participants Who Became Employed in the 2nd Quarter After Exit (AE 505 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants Who Complete an EL Civics COAPP or Course (AE 411 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants with Educational Functioning Levels Gains ABE (AE 400 - ABE)
- Progress: Participants with Educational Functioning Levels Gains ESL (AE 400 - ESL)
- Student Barriers: English Language Learner (AE 305 - Overall)
- Success: Participants Who Earn a High School Diploma or Equivalency (AE 633 - Overall)
- Success: Participants Who Earn a Postsecondary Credential (AE 625 - Overall)
- Transition: Participants with Transition to Postsecondary (CTE) (AE 636 - Overall)
- Transition: Participants with Transition to Postsecondary (credit college) (AE 637 - Overall)
SBCAE will host another consortium-wide Professional Development Day in Fall of 2024. With the success of last Fall’s in-person event, we will continue this modality. We received valuable feedback from our sessions last year, and this year’s theme will be responsive to that feedback.
Aside from this full day PD event, SBCAE will continue to promote multiple outlets for professional development via our infrastructure, while at the same time endeavoring to understand the degree to which faculty and staff are taking advantage of these opportunities. Staff feedback has indicated a rethink of the intent for Faculty Networking Groups may be necessary. This year will attempt to see the groups provided with more support infrastructure and proactive inclusion to existent projects.
Progress on establishing a CTC approved teacher credentialing program for our region was positive in year 2. Santa Clara Unified successfully led a SBCAE subcommittee in the development of the curriculum for the teacher credentialing program. The curriculum was approved by the CTC in June, 2024. SCAE and Evergreen Valley College continue to work on establishing the teacher credentialing program in the 24-25 school year. SBCAE will work with the teacher credentialing team to continue to support this project going forward.
SBCAE will host a consortium-wide PD Day in the 2024-25 program year. Necessary consortium level supports for the teacher credentialing program will continue.
Explore an alternative funding formula and execute carryover policy and procedures.
Activity that Applies to this Strategy
10. Member effectiveness / finance subcommittee
Metrics that Apply to this Activity/Strategy
- All: Adults who Became Participants (AE 202 - Overall)
- All: Number of Adults Served (AE 200 - Overall)
- Employment and Earnings: Participants Who Became Employed in the 2nd Quarter After Exit (AE 505 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants Who Complete an EL Civics COAPP or Course (AE 411 - Overall)
- Progress: Participants with Educational Functioning Levels Gains ABE (AE 400 - ABE)
- Progress: Participants with Educational Functioning Levels Gains ESL (AE 400 - ESL)
- Student Barriers: English Language Learner (AE 305 - Overall)
- Success: Participants Who Earn a High School Diploma or Equivalency (AE 633 - Overall)
- Success: Participants Who Earn a Postsecondary Credential (AE 625 - Overall)
- Transition: Participants with Transition to Postsecondary (CTE) (AE 636 - Overall)
- Transition: Participants with Transition to Postsecondary (credit college) (AE 637 - Overall)
The member effectiveness committee was successful in meeting its goals in Year 2. Consortium and member level carryover policies and procedures were established and agreed upon. In year 3 the member effectiveness committee will support in monitoring this carryover. Additionally, the member effectiveness team oversaw the dissemination of the innovation fund, which enabled expanded program offerings at two member schools. The team will track the status of this fund going forward.
Additionally charged with monitoring anticipated changes to the CAEP funding model, all indications are that a dramatic change is not forthcoming from the State. This motivates the member effectiveness committee to revisit one of its original goals, to understand the feasibility of an updated funding formula. Original funding formula variables have changed over the intervening decade since their original application to member allocations. The member effectiveness team will seek to propose a process for developing an alternative funding formula for SBCAE, based on carryover data, updated regional data, and considering other pertinent factors.
By December 31, 2024, the Member Effectiveness Committee will have proposed a process to develop an updated funding formula based on member carryover, updated regional need data, member effectiveness, and strategic plan priorities carried out by members.
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.
Per California Adult Education Program requirements, SBCAE’s 2024-2025 annual plan is aligned with the active Three-year Regional Plan for Adult Education, while also being responsive to current community needs and conditions. The annual plan was approved by the SBCAE Steering Committee in a formal public governance meeting, and Steering Committee members are responsible and accountable to align their CAEP allocations with the objectives in the annual and three-year plan through the budget submission and approval process in NOVA.
Furthermore, in accordance with the SBCAE Charter, members will provide regular updates on expenditures, and their alignment with the annual and three-year plan, at public Steering Committee meetings. Allocations made explicitly to support consortium-wide needs will be included in this regular budget review cycle.
As described in the Three-year Plan, and implemented successfully in years 1 and 2, the SBCAE member effectiveness committee will critically review allocations and expenditures alignment with the plan. The committee will present findings and recommendations to the Steering Committee at formal public meetings.
- An approach to incorporating remaining carry-over funds from prior year(s) into strategies planned for 2024-25.
As part of the member effectiveness committee’s work in 2023-24, consortium and member carry over responsibilities and review processes were established. Members are responsible for spending a minimum of 80% of their annual allocation within the fiscal year and shall keep accurate records of expenditures in addition to NOVA report submissions. The accountability and review process established by the member effectiveness committee states that should a member fail to meet the spending requirement, following an annual expense review, carryover plan submission, and mid-year review, that carryover funds in excess of this threshold shall be allocated to the Innovation Fund.
Via the innovation fund, SBCAE seeks to allow members to apply for additional funds to advance their contributions to these strategies laid out in the annual plan, as well as to enhance programming and services to students they serve in the CAEP program areas.
Certification
Campbell Union High - Member Representative
Usha Narayanan - Director
- unarayanan@cuhsd.org
- (408) 626-6402 ext: 2601
Leslie Johnson-Tatsuta - Assistant Director
- ltatsuta@cuhsd.org
East Side Union High - Member Representative
Traci Williams - Director
- williamst@esuhsd.org
- (408) 928-9310
Metropolitan Education District - Member Representative
Maliheh Vafai - Director of Adult Education
- mvafai@metroed.net
- (408) 723-4259 ext: 1259
Sheena Fuentes - Senior Accountant
- sfuentes@metroed.net
- (408) 723-6428
Ron Lebs - CBO
- rlebs@metroed.net
- (408) 723-6419
Lars Guntvedt - Assistant Principal
- lguntvedt@metroed.net
- (408) 723-4230
Milpitas Unified - Member Representative
Giuliana Brahim - Principal
- gbrahim@musd.org
- (408) 635-2692 ext: 4556
Priti Johari - Executive Director
- pjohari@musd.org
San Jose-Evergreen CCD - Member Representative
Kishan Vujjeni - Dean of College Transitions & Extension Programs
- kishan.vujjeni@sjeccd.edu
- (408) 918-5113
Joseph Chesmore - jose.chesmore@sjeccd.edu
- (408) 648-8976
Tu Nguyen - Staff Accountant
- tu.nguyen@sjeccd.edu
- (408) 298-2181 ext: 3271
Santa Clara Unified - Member Representative
Carrie Casto - Principal, Adult Ed.
- ccasto@scusd.net
- (408) 423-3501
Christine Berdiansky - Program Administrator
- cberdiansky@scusd.net
- (408) 423-3503
West Valley-Mission CCD - Member Representative
Eric Grabiel - Director, School of Continuing Education
- Eric.Grabiel@westvalley.edu
- (408) 741-2137
Julian Branch - Director of Educational Partnerships
- julian.branch@missioncollege.edu
Erika Vargas - Interim Dean Health & Human Development
- erika.vargas@westvalley.edu
- (408) 741-2523 ext: 2523