EbaeProgramModels

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Program Models

• Examples of program models designed to address goals like increased health awareness, increased understanding of and a voice in children's education, and increased access to living wage employment. • a health empowerment program at El Paso (TX) Community College which Andres Muro has described on NIFL e-lists;

• a program in Lynn, Massachusetts called Operation Bootstrap, which has had adult learner leadership and a student health promotion team as part of its model; and

• several community-based programs in Boston, Massachusetts (Mujeres Unidas en Accion, WAITT House, and others) which have for many years had student leadership and empowerment embedded in their program model. [Message 48, Part One]

• Madeline Hunter (lesson planning) model [Message 50, Part One]

• “….what would distinguish a program with a 'model' from one that does not have a 'model' is important.” Although it isn’t clear what a model is/isn’t, some characteristics of a model are: specific content designed to meet students’ needs; specific structure of teaching/learning to reach specific goals; can be articulated in a package to those who inquire about it. [Message 60, Part One]

• We need baseline components before baseline models. [Message 60, Part One]

• Reply to [Message 60, part One]:

“Am I correct in understanding "baseline components" as a foundation of program features, for example: sufficient intensity of instruction, reasonable staffing stability, basic support services such as counseling and access to computers, and perhaps others? And are you agreeing that before serious and costly research is undertaken, the program(s) where the research is done must have such foundation program features in place? Are you then saying, in addition, that a program to be studied should have a clearly defined model (not yet defined) which shows promise, and is likely to be worth the effort to study it? [Message 61, Part One]

• Reply to [Message 61, Part One]:

“yes, what you describe is what I mean: appropriate staff, levels of instruction, appropriate materials, support services. And a further yes: I do not think it's wise to study just anything, I feel like we should identify first WHAT is worth studying. I think we should identify what the basic components of any successful program must have before we then devote precious time, energy, resources to examining it indepth. Again, the issue of defining "baseline components" rears its head, but I feel that this area is much more manageable to develop than what program model might be worth studying. I think this is already happening on the list with folks discussing content-oriented programming - what are the pieces of the content-based programs that are common? That seem to be successful? Let's identify those pieces.” [Message 62, Part One]

• “In a posting on October 28th to the NIFL-AALPD electronic list, Heide Wrigley wrote ‘It would be great to find models where different service provider[s] in a community work together to lay out [a] service map of sorts and then offer some joint orientations that let students see where the best place for them might be. ‘ The adult learning context for Heide's comment was ESL/ESOL learning. For example, she refers to: "community colleges [which] offer low level ESL/ABE classes and then transition students to credit classes," "basic literacy," and "accelerated learning models that focus English for Special Purposes (certification)" For a large urban area, where many different models can exist, an adult education "service map" (perhaps with counseling in the native language) might be a good step to help programs as well as potential students get clear about how the program models differ from each other with regard to: kinds of students served, levels, students' goals and purposes, intended program outcomes, and program philosophy or approach. Several models within this system of services could be studied. There could be parallel growth between a system of comprehensive services and a system of evidence-based adult education research, with the goal of improving the system of services as well as the models within the system.” [Message 14, Part Two]

• “Heide, the farm worker retraining program is designed with the sponsoring organization's goal in mind, which is to provide the students with the necessary English and construction skills to be able to obtain an entry level job in the trade. Students attend classes eight hours a day, five days per week. Again, the design is centered on the requirements of the sponsor so that the students are able to receive minimum wage stipends for eight hours while attending school. The average farm worker in our classes earns $3,500 per year prior to the retraining and after completion of the 20 week training they are employed earning anywhere from $6.50 to $9.75 per hour. After the goals of the sponsor are met in the design, the specific needs of the population are integrated. The program is composed of three phases: Phase I) instruction is conducted in Spanish and is composed of study skills with some leadership modules, GED, and technology literacy; Phase II) instruction is conducted bilingually and is composed of 4-hours of construction and 4- hours of VESL, math (which includes document reading such as interpreting blue prints, measurements, and other job specific tasks), and technology literacy; Phase III) three months of on-the-job training with a construction company. The components of Phase I and III are modified according to the needs of the students and funding available.

Key Elements:

1) Committed partnerships with sponsoring organizations 2) A thorough understanding of the goal of the program by all of the stakeholders 3) Coordination of very frequent meetings by the instructors in the construction and the VESL, Math and computers. 4 The components of the program provide a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on training. 5) The outcomes are a finished home in 20 weeks with the majority of the students employed. What I have learned from the farm workers and workplace literacy programs is that professional development is essential. We pay instructors to attend PD and for developing materials. Instructional strategies can be learned to address a diverse population or a bilingual one and good follow-up on the implementation of the strategies in the classroom is another key element. The instructors in our area are "ambassadors of tact and knowledge" in the classroom and at the worksites. These ambassadors make or break an entire program. The bread and butter of customized programs are repeat business. Based on intuition and experience, instructors are the number one motivators and creators or destroyers of dreams for a fragile population. We also use consultants who are experts in leadership development. By raising the self-esteem of our students, the use of the language outside the classroom is more evident (this was reported by employers). I am thoroughly enjoying the PD discussions on-line, and I am just thrilled to have discovered this new world of knowledge. Thank you all for such a candid and informal approach to sharing.” [Message 15, Part Two]

• “In Rhode Island during the mid-90s, a state initiative called "Child Opportunity Zones" were created. Some referred to this initiative as the COZy system, others decided to refer to it as the "Community Opportunity Zone". At any rate, start-up grants were funded by the state - and there were a handful at first. From there, each COZy had to pursue its own funding streams. By the time I left in 2000, there were something like 24 COZys around the state. What were they? A "one-stop service center" for the neighborhood. The state's parent involvement program (don't recall the name) was very involved, and many neighborhood parents were the COZ Coordinators. They did needs assessments in the neighborhood, and then went out to find those services - all free pretty much. So my programs (volunteer ABE/ESOL programs) were very much a part of several COZys in the Providence area. Other providers typically included the local police and fire depts, VNA, local schools or colleges, community centers, sites that provided technology. So all sorts of services were gathered and provided around that neighborhood COZy. They met with varying degrees of success. But my experience working in that type of set-up was very productive and interesting - people were able to stay in their programs (no matter which program: ABE, health, tech, something else) longer since there were some set of comprehensive services provided for participants.”

World Education’s College Transitions program is a model worth looking at: www.collegetransition.org. [Message 19, Part Two]