Economic Recovery IBEST

Economic Recovery and Washington State's IBEST Model
- Hosted by the Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List[[1]]

Announcement

The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List hosted a guest discussion February 16 – March 1, 2009, on Washington State’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) model. Challenging the traditional notion of “transitions” (whereby students must first complete ABE or ESL before moving to college level course work) Washington State’s I-BEST integrates basic education and job skills training concurrently by pairing ABE or ESL instructors with vocational or content area instructors to prepare low-skilled adults for high-demand jobs.

Guests

Dr. Lennox McLendon, Special Advisor, National Council of State Directors of Adult Education
Tina Bloomer, Policy Associate, Workforce Education, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Kim Ward, Associate Dean for Adult Basic Skills, Tacoma Community College
Dr. Leslie Heizer-Newquist, previous Director of the Center of Excellence at Green River Community College

List of Questions

Curriculum gaps and Transitions

• What do students need to be prepared to succeed in postsecondary education?
• For those programs that are trying to improve student scores on the college entrance tests, how did you begin discussions?
• How to bypass college placement exams
• What are the elements in the sending program, the gatekeeper test and the receiving program that are missing or deficient? Are there students that succeed in passing the COMPASS but are still lacking skills to succeed in college level work? Are the college classes in or out of sync with the COMPASS test? What parts of a developmental class are redundant or totally out of context with the student's previous class work?
• I would very much be interested in hearing about programs that have developed a curriculum (or a framework) that spans institutions (from CBO to adult school to CC, for example) or even within an institution where the sending and receiving program normally don't do joint planning (or even communicate about transition)

On I-BEST

• How "exportable" to other states is the I_BEST model? What adjustments might need to be made to the model to make it "work" for other states?
• Did Washington state have a Community College model for adult education to begin with, or was adult education a function of LEAs or was it administered in some other way?
• How do the offerings of technical certificates differ from one community college to the next? What is the same from one program to the next?
• What is the success for the students with the very lowest skill levels? Are adaptations to the program needed to provide extra support for such students?
• How could the addition of Economic Recovery money change the I-BEST program? Are there added complications if the federal government gets involved?
• I would like to know how to create more I-BEST programs, particularly for healthcare occupations.

Resources Shared During Discussion

• Transition Team Brief and State Decision Points
• SCANS Matrix
• Transition to College and Careers Summary: A CBO-based Model
• IBEST Resources from Wisconsin North Technical College:
  • Course Outcome Summary - ELL for CNA
  • Lesson Plans and Teacher Notes - ELL for CNA
  • Course Outcome Summary - Contextualized
  • Lesson Plans and Teacher Notes - Contextualized
• IBEST Instructor Guidelines
• Sample Professional Development Agenda
• Developing Integrated Program Outcomes
• IBEST Curriculum Planning Request
• NWV 022709 Stimulus Recovery Update
• ESL Pathways Chart