Strategies for maximizing resources in Adult Literacy Programs

 Align logical mission and workload of multiple contracts within your department or agency to support one another  Create cross-functional staff expertise  Design / Schedule / Arrange events, resources, classes in a way that maximizes leveragability

 Run the numbers! If you are creative, the price of operating services isn’t always as much as you might think. Adult Literacy Instructor - Single Cycle Hourly Rate $ Hours Per Week 5 Quantity of Weeks Per Cycle 8 Quantity of Cycles Per Year 1 Total Annual Hours Worked 40 Total Annual Salary $ Adult Literacy Instructor - 4 Cycles Hourly Rate $ Hours Per Week 5 Quantity of Weeks Per Cycle 8 Quantity of Cycles Per Year 4 Total Annual Hours Worked 160 Total Annual Salary $ 3,520.00

 By knowing how much it costs, fundraising strategies can be identified:  Fundraisers, events, donor campaigns  Social Media / Digital outlets to reach external parties  Entrepreneurship, fee-for-service, and business lines  GED Testing Center revenue could pay a part-time data entry staff Fee-For-Service Pricing Hourly Rate $ Hours Per Week5 Quantity of Weeks Per Cycle8 Quantity of Cycles Per Year1 Total Annual Hours Worked40 Total Annual Salary $ Quantity of Students in Class15 Cost Per Student (for 8 wks of classes) $ Cost Per Class Per Person $ 3.67

 Use a data-informed instructional practice  Supervisor and Instructors must adopt, train, implement, and reflect on instructional best- practices  Seek out opportunities for training and professional development  MCOL PD Events  Site Visits at similar programs, peer learning  Formal and informal types of learning and reflection  Pursue certification and formal training to administer standardized assessments

 All staff should be cross-trained  Create a culture of coverage, where everyone knows how to do other people’s jobs and cover gaps when needed.  Identify strengths and weakness of staff and resources, - capitalize on strengths and be creative to design enhancements and train and develop around weakness.

 EVERYONE is a program manager, regardless of title  All staff should be able to quote program goals and outcomes and be able to define how they are measured. Build this into your daily culture, be redundant about it in your meetings.  Staff should be able to quote agency/program mission and strategic priorities  All staff, including part-timers are responsible for being concerned with outcomes, measurement, billing, scheduling, operations, etc… even if this is not their primary role – they should be considerate of these elements when advocating or making decisions about programming.

 A part-time teacher whose class creates additional administrative duties for existing staff is not sustainable!  Imbed Administrative / data-entry duties into the PT Teacher role.  Instead of paying for “lesson prep time”, pay them for “Administrative” time, and be clear that this will include testing, grading, lesson prep, and data entry  Be creative with scheduling, hours, start/end dates in order to squeeze enough resources to cover this.  Train and Develop staff to for long-term return on investment!  Build capacity and leadership, while minimizing burden on existing infrastructure.

 Be creative with schedules. Small programs that are carefully planned can have tremendous outputs.  Create a fast-track model for faster identification of test-ready learners  Alternate schedule dates to run multiple cohorts simultaneously  Show example of Class Schedule (Full-day classes vs. an AM and PM Group, which can double the output for the same teacher, at no additional cost).

LOW Maximization 15 unique clients served MTWThF Total Clients Served All Day 1 cohort 4x a week 15 ADMIN 60

MID Maximization 30 unique clients servedMTWThF Total Clients Served All Day 2 cohorts, 2 x a week 15 ADMIN 120 MID Maximization Alternative 30 unique clients served MTWThF Total Clients Served Half Day AM, 1 cohorts 4x per week 15 ADMIN 120 Half Day PM, 1 cohorts 4x per week 15 ADMIN

HIGH Maximization 60 unique clients served MTWThF Total Clients Served Half Day AM, 2 cohorts 2x per week 15 ADMIN 240 Half Day PM, 2 cohorts 2x per week 15 ADMIN

 Learn what other resources are out there and start using them!  You don’t have to do it all  Map and Resource Directory of Alliance coming soon!  Today’s agenda will get us working on identifying resources in your area and throughout the city.  Leverage city-wide systems to maximize your own resources  Keyspots, PhillyGoes2College, MyPLACE, MCOL PD, etc…

 Leverage your own resources to support each other’s operation and growth.  Carefully price out services in conjunction with creative program design to maximize each dollar.  Invest in your instructional practices and service delivery approach!  Invest in your program and staff. Everyone is a program manager, regardless of title.  Think sustainability / feasibility before creating services or positions. All positions must pull their own weight.  Be creative with program design and scheduling to allow more learners to access your staff.  Know what’s out there and leverage it to help you!