1. Professional Learning Communities: Connecting Secondary and Higher Education
Thomas Isekenegbe Ph.D
Mary Ann Westerfield M.Ed.
Cumberland County College
Vineland, New Jersey

2. Cumberland County College
Located in Southern New Jersey
Diverse population of approx. 139,968
Unemployment rate is twice the State’s rate
Income per capita $ 22,027
1/3 of adult population does not have a High School Diploma

3. Mission
Cumberland County College is a comprehensive community college that is accessible, learning-centered, and dedicated to serving a diverse community of learners and employers through quality innovative programs, services and the appropriate use of technology for life-long learning.

4. Accreditation
Cumberland County College is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

5. Degrees and CertificatesAA AS
AFA
AAS
Academic Certificates
Career Certificates

6. Service
Approximately 4,000 FTE students
Four High School Districts

7. CCC Strategic Plan 2006-2011 Implement Career Pathways:
Healthcare
Criminal Justice
Business and Hospitality
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
Pathway decisions were determined by County Economy and Industry Partnership

8. Healthcare Career Pathways
Community Based Job Training Grant (CBJT) DOL grant for Jan 2007 through Dec 2009
Pathways between secondary, post secondary, Workforce Investment Board (WIB), County vocational schools, and Cumberland County College

9. Why Professional Learning Communities?
In order to create a seamless career pathway we needed to bring together:
Administrators
Teachers/Faculty
Industry
Conducted in a comfortable non threatening environment conducive for adult learning

10. Professional Learning Communities (PLC)
Create an opportunity for a group of professional educators to meet and work collaboratively in an effort to affect student learning within the context of a professional learning environment.

11. Creating Change
Success or failure of improved student learning starts and ends with the teachers
Administrators and teachers work as one team to plan for shared ideas for instruction and student learning

12. PLC Goal
Create a collaborative learning environment that assists in developing achievable expectations for student learners

13. Outcome of a PLC

14. Why did we do this?
Promote and align healthcare opportunities in our county
Increase family sustaining jobs
Work collaboratively between County Public Schools, College, and Industry

15. Create successful transition from High School to Secondary Education
Create an atmosphere where students have access to higher education
Exposure to college level course material with daily classroom support from HS teachers

16. Initial Development of PLC
Time
Administrative support
administrative support
Budget considerations
Participants
Admin support: includes Superintendents, presidents, supervisors
Budget includes: Coverage for time off
Meeting space, food/beverages, supplies
Compensation for participants
Time away from respected duties
ParticpantsBroad spectrum of participants
Junior and senior faculty
Mentor junior faculty
New approaches for seasoned faculty
Someone needs to coordinate and facilitate the first meeting and then this position can rotate

17. Meetings Convenient meeting times Convenient location
Minutes to keep administrations and participants abreast of processes and outcomes

18. Not a one day event Progress Assess Reflect Develop Meet regularly
Develop and assess the progress
Ongoing with reflective process
Develop

19. Impact
Increase commitment to the mission and goals of all types of educational institutions
Shared leadership
Educators share power and authority in decision making

20. Our Project
Need for Duel credit

21. Preparation May 2007 Obtain names from superintendents
Goal: create 3 to 4 dual credit courses
Letter to participants for best dates and times
Offered CEU’s as incentive

22. First Meeting
June 2007
Utilized Leadership Building on Cumberland County College Campus
Time: 8 am to 2:30 pm
College – space, food, and supplies
Participating schools – participants replacements

23. Meeting One: Goals
Establish a collaborative community between secondary and higher education
Develop standardized curriculum for elective courses to be offered to HS students that will be accepted as HS elective credit and community college credit
Explore teaching and learning strategies for student learning

24. Meeting 1
Discuss current teaching electives in schools and areas they would like to explore
Round Tables each with laptop computer
Worked as one group and developed
Title – “Elements of Healthcare Careers”
Course description
Goals, objectives, and curriculum mapping

25. Concept Mapping Connect relationships between concepts Curriculum
Student Activities
Ideas
Themes

26. Meeting 2 Worked in small groups All members brought books, syllabi
Used computers to search internet for ideas
Group one: “Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare”
Group two: “Medical Terminology”
Group three: “Nutrition”

27. Meeting 3 Groups reported on their process and outcomes
Utilized computer screen to review content, grammar, and spelling
Input on meeting state standards
Incorporated Diversity and Information Literacy across the curriculum

28. Meeting 4 Discussed process of school board approval
Created presentations
Team would attend board presentations for support

29. Evaluations “I love this committee” “Excellent opportunity to
work as a team”
“Excellent collaboration/teamwork”
“Great discussions”
“I was impressed with how well CCC staff understood the needs of the high school students of our area”

30. We are we now ? Three of four public HS will offer courses
All boards have approved
Courses began Fall 2008
Ongoing meetings
Share processes and collaborate on ideas
Coordinate speakers
Developing online resources

31. What still needs to be completed?

32. Questions? Thomas Isekenegbe, PhD Vice President Academic Affairs
Jacqueline Galbiati, MSN, RN
Healthcare Pathway Director