1. Cody Davidson & Harmony Little
A Career Pathway Model for Adults Kentucky’s Accelerating Opportunity Program
2018 NCPN Conference
Cody Davidson & Harmony Little

2. Hi! Presenters: In the Audience:
Cody Davidson, SkillsU Executive Director of Administration and Accountability
Harmony Little, KY Community & Technical College System Director of Career Pathways
In the Audience:
Secondary
Postsecondary
Adult Education
Workforce/Economic Development

3. Agenda Quick overview Evolution of the model
Logistics of the partnership
Policy considerations
Outreach
Lessons learned

4. OVERVIEW

5. Grant Overview Collaborative Funding Strategy: Goals:
Managing Partner: Jobs For the Future
Funders: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Kresge Foundation & Open Society Foundations
Four year initiative (Oct Oct 2014)
6 states will be testing integrated basic skills models:
Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Louisiana & Mississippi
Goals:
Identify & remove barriers that prevent adults from entering & completing their education
Allow adults to earn cumulative credentials that bear academic credit
Work with business community to ensure students are getting the skills they need
Evidence to showcase if integration works and can be scaled to impact thousands of students

6. Why Accelerating Opportunity?
National Statistics:
By 2018, over 60% of available jobs will require postsecondary education
Over 26 million adults lack a high school degree
93 million lack the basic literacy skills necessary to succeed and advance in college and the workplace
Kentucky Statistics:
54% of all jobs in Kentucky (1.1 million jobs) will require some postsecondary training beyond high school in 2018
There are more than 400,000 working age adults without a high school diploma/GED
71% of students entering KCTCS need developmental education in one or more areas
Data at the time

7. Reform how education is delivered to low skilled adults
Developmental Education
Postsecondary Career Programs
Traditional ABE/GED Programs
Move from fragmented sequences to seamless concurrent delivery
Lack of alignment with career/technical credential programs postsecondary entrance requirements
Career exploration
Contextualized learning
Skill-building for postsecondary/career success
College and career counseling
The “black hole” of developmental education: Low completion rates for underprepared students, Remediation not customized to career pathway requirements
Accelerated skill-building integrated with credit coursework
Support through gate-keeper courses
Intensive transition counseling
Programs lack supports and are ill-equipped to meet the needs of non-traditional students
Comprehensive supplemental services
Intensive counseling
Flexible program options
Job placement
Accelerated and Integrated ABE and GED programs
Stackable Credentials with Labor Market Value
Articulated
Career
Pathways

8. Building on What Works: WA’s I-BEST Model
Certified
Vocational
Skills
Basic
Academic
Skills
At least
50% overlap
Replicate Washington’s I-BEST model
Team teaching
Contextualized basic skills instruction
Wrap around student support services
Align to labor market demand
Career Coaching
Support Services

9. Program Offerings
Programs offered in AO are selected based on local labor market data to ensure students have opportunities in high-wage/high-demand careers
Must be aligned to state or local sector strategies
Entry level certificate has to be part of a pathway program
Programs have to include a minimum of two employer engagement/support strategies
Jobs aligned to the certificate earned by AOKY students must meet or exceed the minimum living wage for the local area for one person
All of these are still part of the model

10. Support Services: Success Coach
One point of contact for students
Assist with:
College enrollment & Financial Aid
Develop plans for students to meet their goal
Monitor student progress
Collaborate with instructors
Make referrals as needed
Goal: help Accelerating Opportunity students succeed in school

11. Support Services: Career Coach
Through KY Career Centers:
Resume writing
Job search activities
Training services
Career counseling
Internships
Job referrals
Work with partner to determine how these services are going to be provided to students
Goal: help Accelerating Opportunity students with their career pathway

12. LOGISTICS & PARTNERSHIP

13. Kentucky Partners Recruitment
Contextualized basic GED instruction by sector/program
Recruitment
Technical instruction
Success coaching
Program coordination
Employer connections
Recruitment
Employer connections
Work based learning activities
Career coaching

14. Kentucky’s Commitment
VISION: AOKY is engaging a number of state and local partnerships to ensure more workers have the skills they need for today's good jobs through innovative educational opportunities for adults that provides a valuable credential.
Kentucky Cabinet for Education & Workforce Development*
Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
Kentucky Community & Technical College System*
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education/Kentucky Adult Education*
Kentucky Department of Workforce Investment
Kentucky Workforce Investment Boards
Business and Industry Partners
* core state partners
In addition to the core partners, we are also engaging with other partners at the state and local level through the AO inititative

15. AOKY Stakeholders State Level State Executive Team State Lead
State Implementation Team
State Coordinator
State Project Team
State Work Teams
Local Level
Local Executive Team
Local Team Lead
Local Project Team
Local Work Teams
Local Coordinator
Success Coach
Career Coach
Roles & Responsibilities

16. EVOLUTION

17. Evolution of AOKY
2012 Implementation of AOKY with Original 8 Colleges & Partners
Spring Semester -Focus on GED Population
Fall Semester -change in target population due to AtB removal
2013 Fall Semester -3 more Colleges & Partners launch AOKY
2014 Spring –remaining 5 Colleges & Partners launch AOKY
2015 Launch of AOKY 2.0 (post grant) Focus on instructor collaboration and multiple entry points for students
2016 Return to Original AOKY –AtB reinstated, focus only on GED students
2018 Development of GED+

18. AOKY Beyond the Grant
The goal of AOKY is to provide low skilled students with an accelerated pathway to earn an entry level certificate in a high demand field. The target population for AOKY are GED® seeking students; however, students who already have a high school diploma or GED® qualify as long as they qualify for adult education services.

19. Status of Model SAME CHANGES Goals/Outcomes for students Core partners
Students have to at least earn an entry level certification that is embedded in a career pathway
Dual enrollment strategies
Comprehensive wrap around student services
Career coaching
Contextualization of basic skills
Partnership with Workforce Investment Boards and employers
CHANGES
Number of pathways offered
Pathways offered have to be aligned to top state/local sector strategies
Instructor collaboration instead of team teaching requirement
Elimination of co-hort model
Focus is on GED seeking students

20. GED+

21. POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

22. AO Policy Principles Systems & Culture Change Scale & Sustainability
Feedback Loops & Information Dissemination
Integrating Hard & Soft Policy

23. Sustaining AOKY In Place: Commitment to AOKY by core partners
Scholarship for GED seeking students
Advocacy Campaign
Revised Assessment & Placement policy
Professional development

24. Outcomes/Goals ACCELERATING OPPORTUNITY
helps low skilled students become college and career ready
brings students to the college who may not otherwise have enrolled
helps low skilled students earn market bearing credentials quicker
provides a clear pathway to a career that includes a short-term credential allowing students to pursue additional credentials, and/or become employed upon completing the program
helps local economy by aligning training and education to industry needs that lead to family sustaining jobs for students in high demand fields
As with any new initiative, implementation and scaling takes time. What we have accomplished in these past two years is remarkable! Low skilled students are accessing college and seeing tremendous successes. We will continue to gather data to demonstrate the impact the initiative is having, but we firmly believe that what we have seen to date is proof that the core strategies of Accelerating Opportunity: team teaching, contextualization of basic skills, wrap around student support, career coaching and strong labor market connections are working and worth pursuing. The investment we make in these students while they are earning their initial certificates in a pathway generate successful students who earn credentials and get jobs.

25. Aligning AOKY to Each Partner
The state team developed an initiative alignment matrix to show each partner agency how the various components of AO align with other initiatives, strategies and programs.
The goal is to demonstrate how many of these initiatives are connected with other work to identify how resources can be leveraged to support AO.
Example:
Strategy
KY Adult Education
KY Career Center
KY Community & Technical College System
Utilize Career Pathways with Stackable Credentials
SKILL UP
Transition to Postsecondary Education
National Career Readiness Certificate
Reemployment Grant
Work Ready Communities
Sector Strategies
Business Services Team Redesign
NCRC Testing
Career Pathways
Integrated Service Delivery/Case Management/Triage
Provision of LMI
Career Counseling
WIA & WIB Case Management
Curriculum Review
Job Placement & Career Dev.
Dual Credit
High Wage/High Demand
Workforce Matriculation
Burning Glass
Industry Sectors
Tech Programs
Another key strategy in supporting our partnership was to develop an alignment matrix for each partner to Accelerating Opportunity. The goal of the matrix is to demonstrate how the various components of AO align to other initiatives, strategies and/or programs of each partner.
On this slide, you will see an example of each organization’s alignment to the strategy of Utilizing Career Pathways with Stackable Credentials.

26. Strengthened Partnerships
Deepened partnerships at state and local levels
Increased trust and credibility
Culture shift in working with low skilled students
Partnership with state foster care program
Breaking down of institutional silos
We are just about two years into the AO initiative and partnership, and have one more year to go. We have had many successes over the past two years, but one of the most significant ones is the strengthened partnerships among our organizations at the state and local level as a result of working together on AO.
(You may want to ask Beth to chime in here, she spoke to this on the call with Aspen institute last week)

27. OUTREACH

28. Frontline Training AO Fact Sheet Needs local information
Points of contact
Referral process
Intake process
Deadlines
Education pathway
Include staff from all partners, let them identify who should attend
Fact sheet in manual and on SharePoint site

29. Job aid for frontline workers

30. Recruitment Strategies
RECRUITMENT IS EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS!!!
No Wrong Door Approach
Local programs create their own recruitment strategies
Identify recruitment opportunities among partners and in community - Internal & External
Make presentations
Open houses/events
Utilize Website & Statewide referral form

31. Sample Marketing Material

32. Highlight Successes
Bringing students to the college who would not otherwise have enrolled
More than 2,800 students enrolled statewide
More than 3,000 credentials earned!
Students making basic skills gains
Students making Dean’s lists
Students continuing college beyond AOKY
Students becoming employed

33. USE Student Testimonials
“I’m learning skills for a new career!” “It helps you get your skills back where they should be.” “If it helped me, it can help anybody!” “It’s a first step, it will allow me to go further in the field.” “Before, math was going to be a disaster, now it’s a piece of cake!” “It’s a jumpstart to boost your education.” “I would not be in college without AO!” “In this program everyone wants you to succeed.” “AO gives us the confidence we need to be a good student.” 33

34. LESSONS LEARNED

35. Lessons Learned Focus on student success Flexibility
Celebrate Successes
It Takes a Village
Ask the students
Systemic commitment
Culture of working with adults
Don’t be afraid to fail
Know who is responsible for what
Creating marketing material is not enough
Need targeted approaches for various audiences
Don’t just recruit students “here” you have to get those who are “out there”
Keep as a standing agenda item at team meetings
Create job aids
People won’t remember
Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate
Ask students
Use student testimonials