Lifelong Learning in the U.S. 1 NCWE Conference October 2013 Amy Sherman

 Mature Workers 101  Aging Worker Initiative/Tapping Mature Talent  LifeLong Learning Accounts  Prior Learning Assessment 2 Overview

What is Your Mature Worker IQ? 3 1. By 2015, workers over 50 are projected to comprise 20% of the workforce. 2. People in the year old range out-number the population under Research has found no significant relationship between age and job performance. 4. The population over age 65 has nearly tripled in the past 100 years. 5. People 55 and older take fewer sick days than their younger counterparts do. 6. In the beginning of the last century, life expectancy was 47 years. 7. The fastest growing group of users of the Internet are people over By 2020, there will be double the number of people over 85 than there were in Older workers have fewer accidents on the job than younger workers. 10. The rate of learning decreases with age.

Aging Worker Initiative Sites OrganizationState Tecumseh Area Partnership, Inc. Indiana Quad Area Community Action Agency, Inc. Louisiana Coastal Counties Workforce, Inc. Maine Baltimore County Office of Workforce Development Maryland Macomb/St. Clair Workforce Development Board, Inc. Michigan South Central Workforce Investment Board Pennsylvania Goodwill Industries of Houston, Inc. Texas Vermont Associates for Training & Development, Inc. Vermont Seattle-King County Workforce Development Council Washington Fox Valley Workforce Development Board Wisconsin

 Transition workshops with attention to social/ emotional component  Computer training  Short-term training for high-demand industries  Career navigation  Internships  Peer support 5 Learning Supports that Made a Difference for AWI Participants

EnrolleesEmployedEnrolled in Training 5,3452,0653,178 6 What Happened?

KEVIN PITZER  Age 57, from Galveston, Indiana  Was forced to retire from the United States Air Force in 2009 at the age of 55  Was not ready for retirement mentally, physically or financially  Felt lost after the loss of his job with too much free time  Began attending Career Transition Hub networking meetings  With the help of his Veterans Administrative benefits he and his wife have both enrolled in college at Ivy Tech Community College  He is enjoying his classes for his computer information technology major “They say you’re busier when you retire than you were when you’re working, and it’s true.”

ALTA REYNOLDS  60 years old from Baltimore, Maryland  Held a series of jobs from veterinary assistant to store owner  Store closed during the recession  Divorced and could not find a job  Back in school with the help of the AWI grant studying to be a surgical technician “The last thing in the world you think you're going to do at 60 is go back to school and rebuild your life!"

 Need information, opportunity, and support  Willing to invest in their own education and training  Want to have their existing skills and competencies count towards postsecondary degree 9 Mature Learners Are No Different?

 Matched savings for employee learning and development  San Francisco pilot with 4 employers, targeting 55+  24% were 55 or older  89% of participants who were 55 years or older were also lower-income and/or minority group members. 10 Lifelong Learning Accounts (LiLAs)

 On average, participants 55 years or older saved $860 of their own funds  Participants made progress toward their goals.  Age may be a factor in goal achievement.  Participants believed that LiLAs played an important role in meeting goals. 11 What Happened

 Federal legislation  State Legislation  Washington  Individual Employers 12 Where are LiLAs Now?

13 PLA: Making Learning Count

Graduation rates are 2 ½ times higher for students with PLA credit Fueling the Race to Postsecondary Success, March 2010 PLA helps students graduate 14

15 PLA and Graduation Rate by Age Group

16 Prior Learning Assessment

1.One-Stop shop for PLA 2.Free academic advising 3.Individualized portfolio development and assessment  Faculty expert network to review learning portfolios 4.Credit recommendations on an NCCRS transcript or on the institution’s own transcript if a Partner Plus LearningCounts.org 17

 President’s Plan to Make College More Affordable  HEA Reauthorization  State Support 18 PLA Policy

Not Too Late for School: Winning Strategies to Help the Mature Learner. New Approaches for Supporting the Mature Worker: The Experiences of the U.S. Department of labor’s Aging Worker Initiative Grantees. The Learning That Maturity Bring: An Analysis of the Value of Prior Learning Assessment for Mature Learners, February For additional TMT publications, please visit CAEL Publications

Amy Sherman CAEL 20