Adult Basic Education - Career Prep/I-BEST
"One Step Forward Initiative: “Guide to Adult Education for Work: Transforming Adult Education to Grow a Skilled Workforce” National Center on Education and the Economy, 2009.
Description: This guide outlines specific steps policymakers, program administrators, and providers can taket to transform current Adult Basic Education programs to Adult Education for Work programs. Adult Education for Work is defined as the education and training low-skilled adults need to become prepared for post-secondary education or training, and for family-sustaining employment and career advancement.
“How I-BEST Works: Findings from a Field Study of Washington State’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program” Wachen, John, Davis Jenkins and Michelle Von Noy; CCRC, 2010.
Description: This report examines how I-BEST operates in Washington state, and include results of telephone interviews with I-BEST faculty, staff, and administrators, as well as observations of classes. Includes overviews of I-BEST program characteristics and student characteristics.
College Access, Persistence and Completion
“Effective College Access, Persistence, and Completion Programs, and Strategies for Underrepresented Populations: Opportunities for Scaling Up”; Spradlin, Terry E., et al.; Center for Evaluation & Education Policy, 2010.
Description: This study by the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy includes a literature review of thre major non-academic areas that are tied to student persistence, including financial, psychological, and institutional. It also has information about transition programs, mentoring and learning communities.
“Paving the Way to Postsecondary Education: k-12 Intervention Programs for Underrepresented Youth”; Gandara, Patricia; National Center for Education Statistics.
Description: This study showed that when there is close student, mentor, teacher relationships participants had lower rates of college remediation. It also showed that when students have a culturally sensitive counselor or mentor that leads to a 9% increase in college enrollment.
“How Do Pre-Collegiate Academic Outreach Programs Impact College-Going Among Underrepresented Students?”; Gullatt, Yvette and Wendy Ja; Pathways to College Network Clearinghouse, 2003.
Description: This study showed that students who received counseling services were more likely to enroll in college and complete freshman year. It also showed that providing a formal, long-term mentoring program that stresses academic goals and has contact at least once a week causes participants to have higher GPAs and higher rates of college attendance.
“College Knowledge: Addressing Information barriers to College”; Vargas, Joel H.,Ed.D; The Education Resources Institute (TERI), 2004.
Description: This study showed that students are more likely to attain a college education when they and their families are informed about how to prepare and plan for it. It also showed that even high achieving students from low-income backgrounds who aspire to attend college often encounter informational barriers which may prevent their enrollment.
Employer Engagement-Workforce Development
"Employer-Paid Tuition Advacement for Low-Income Workers" National Fund for Workforce Solutions, 2008.
Description:This brief reviews Children's Hospital Boston's tuition-advancement policy and how it addresses a major barrier in the advancement of low-income workers while meeting the employer's workforce needs.
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Incentives and Student Achievement
“Incentives and Services for College Achievement: Evidence from a Randomized Trial” Angrist, Joshua, Daniel Lang and Phillip Oreopoulos; IZA, 2007.
Description: This is a report on a randomized field experiment designed to improve academic performance among entering full-time undergraduates. Two strategies were used. Results suggested a combination of the two strategies can have lasting affects on study skills.
“Effective College Access, Persistence, and Completion Programs, and Strategies for Underrepresented Populations: Opportunities for Scaling Up” Spradlin, Terry E., et al.; Center for Evaluation & Education Policy, 2010.
Description: This research includes a literature review of three major non-academic areas that are tied to student persistence, including financial, psychological, and institutional. It also evaluates Indiana’s Community College system and that state's experience participating in programs like Complete College America and Achieving the Dream. The literature review includes information about transition programs, mentoring, and learning communities.
“Paying for College Success: An Introduction to Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration” MDRC Policy Brief, October 2009.
Description: This policy brief outlines MDRC’s evaluation of four different states implementing performance-based scholarship programs (Ohio, New York, New Mexico, California) with brief descriptions of each program’s design and intended results.
“Rewarding Progress, Reducing Debt: Early Results from Ohio’s Performance-Based Scholarships for Low-Income Parents” Cha, Paulette and Reshma Patel; MDRC, 2010.
Description: This is an analysis of the early results of Ohio’s Performance-Based Scholarships program one year after implementation. The analysis shows that the program had a positive impact on enrollment, credits attempted and earned, and reducing educational debt; however, the study did not find a strong impact on persistence.
Latest Employment Trends
"Talent Pipeline Study" Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, 2011.
Description: The study looks at employment trends in key sectors of the economy: Health Care, Manufacturing and Transportation and Logistics. It calculates the supply of workers by industry sector and occupation and compares it to demand projections to determine the gaps that may persist without changes in workforce preparation efforts.
Partnerships
"Elements for Successful Collaboration Between K-8 School, Community Agency, and University Partners: The Lead Peace Partnership" Bosma, Linda M., et al.; Journal of School Health; Vol. 80 Issue 10, 2010.
Description: This study describes core elements of a community-school-university partnership engaged in a service learning program for urban middle school youth. Ten themes identified for successful partnerships included communication; shared decision making; shared resources; expertise and credibility; relationship building; "champions and patron saints"; being present; flexibility; shared youth development orientation; and recognition of other partners' priorities.
"The Reality Underneath the Buzz of Partnerships: The potential and pitfalls of partnering" Ostower, Francie; Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2005
Description: This article examines the pros and cons of partnering with a discussion of what both foundations and grantees/partners should keep in mind before entering into a partnership.
Philanthropy
"Collective Impact" John Kania & Mark Kramer, Stanford Innovation Review, 2011. Description:The authors suggest large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination, yet the social sector remains focused on the isolated intervention of individual organizations.
Training Program Costs and Community Colleges
“The Price of Persistence: How Nonprofit-Community College Partnerships Manage and Blend Diverse Funding Streams” Courses to Employment, volume 2; Workforce Strategies Initiative at the Aspen Institute; February 2011.
Description: This study by the Aspen Institute examines the wide range of funding streams six different nonprofit-community college partnerships employ to provide training programs linked to credentials and employment for low-income individuals. It also delves into how those funding streams were shaped over time to sustain program objectives and how their individual funding environments affected their programmatic choices. It includes partnership profiles, including the Automobile Career Pathways Project at Shoreline Community College in Seattle.
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Young Adults- Community College Success
“Building a Better Bridge: Helping Young Adults Enter and Succeed in College” Youth Development Institute, 2008.
Description: This article describes lessons learned from the first year of the College Access and Success model, a partnership between local CBOs and community colleges in New York City. The model focuses on increasing access and retention for low-skilled young adults who seek to go to college. Lessons learned also focus on effective practices developed (including academic preparation, tutoring, mentoring, and access to support services) and partnership and policy implications for key stakeholders.
“Five Strategies to Help Low-Income Adults and Youth Attain Community College Credentials” Choitz, Vickie and Marcie Foster; Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success, 2010.
Description: This strategy brief was presented to the White House Community College Summit in 2010. Topics include the use of streamlined education and training programs; seeding and scaling up innovative models like bridge programs, flexible scheduling, and program modularization; better use of data systems to monitor student progress; financial aid for low-income working adults; and increased student support services.
“Young Adults and Higher Education: Barriers and Breakthroughs to Success” Brock, Thomas; National Poverty Center Working Paper, 2010.
Description: This working paper summarizes the shift of “center of gravity” in higher education from four-year to two-year institutions and identifies three specific areas particularly in need for reform: remedial education, student support services, and financial aid. Also identifies several strategies to boost college completion rates including learning communities and performance-based scholarships.
“College Access and Success for Young Adult Learners: A Research Summary for Schools and Programs” Fund for the City of New York Youth Development Institute, 2006.
Description: This is a research summary of three broad youth development strategies for engaging and retaining young adults in postsecondary education. The strategies include engagement, capacity, and continuity.
Youth Development
“Positive Youth Development So Far: Core Hypotheses and Their Implication for Policy and Practice” Benson, Peter L., et al.; Search Institute, 2006.
Description: Overview of Positive Youth Development (PYD) theory, including discussion of developmental assets and how community partnerships can encourage this development.
“Mentoring Fact Sheet: Understanding the Youth Development Model; Putting Youth Development Principles to Work in Mentoring Programs; Mentor’s Guide to Youth Development.” Mentoring Resource Center; #13, 14, & 15, 2007.
http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/284
http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/285
http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/286
Description: This three-part fact sheet describing youth development model and how these principles can be incorporated into Mentoring Programs.
“The Impact of After School Programs that Promote Personal and Social Skills” Drulak, Joseph A. and Roger P. Weissberg; Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2007.
Description: This evaluation of multiple after-school youth programs identifies specific benefits program participants receive through the participation of these programs and the program qualities necessary for these benefits to be achieved. Best practices identified are that such programs should contain components to foster personal and social skills of youth, and that they are SAFE – sequenced, active, focused, and explicit.
“Improving the Economic and Life Outcomes of At-Risk Youth” Ivry, Robert and Fred Doolittle; MDRC, 2003.
Description: This analysis outlines ideas and strategies to engage alienated and disaffected young people in activities designed to help them acquire skills, gain work experience, and improve their lives. Strategies for successful enrollment and retention include creating a feeling of belonging and connection between young people and program practitioners, structured work opportunities, hands-on learning, support for personal growth, and acknowledging the life circumstances of at-risk youth.
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