NCWE: National Council for Workforce Education  An affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)  A national forum for administrators, faculty, business, labor, military, and government in workforce education, to affect and direct the future role of two-year and other post-secondary institutions in workforce education and economic development  The link between policy and workforce education and economic development by providing support, research, and critical information to members on current and future trends and policies.

Building Community Partnerships to Serve Immigrant Workers Funded by the Ford Foundation Framing the Issue and Integrated Career Pathways

F RAMING THE I SSUE On May 15, 2014 the Ford and Kellogg Foundations hosted a meeting of key stakeholders to understand both the innovative work that is being done, and the barriers that impede community college/worker centers/community-based organizations partnerships to serve immigrant workers.

WHAT WE KNOW  The US cannot possibly fill the anticipated 55M job openings through 2024 without including the immigrant population.  Much work needs to be done at the public policy level: broken immigration system and fragmented national workforce development system.

WHAT WE KNOW  Immigrant reform will happen (hopefully) at some point and we need to be sure that policy aligns the partners and systems to be able to meet the training needs of immigrants and immigrant workers.  In many areas of the country, the community colleges have the most capacity to “skill-up” the immigrant workforce but are disconnected from the worker centers and community-based organizations.

 Postsecondary credentials are the gateway to family- supporting wages that are critical to breaking the intergenerational transmission of poverty in America.  In , more than 2.3M students were enrolled in federally funded basic skills programs yet less than 2 percent made the transition to matriculation (US Department of Education, 2010; Wachen, Jenkins, Belfield and Van Noy, 2012) W HAT WE K NOW

WHAT WE LEARNED  In many areas around the country, a common agenda or vision around supporting the workforce development needs of immigrants does not exist.  Strong relationships between partners are essential! We need to build capacity to facilitate creating and sustaining those relationships.  Collaboration not Competition is Key!

WHAT WE LEARNED  Certifications and credentials (both college and industry-based) are essential in supporting immigrants and immigrant workers in attaining family-wage jobs.  Learning to blend funding among the partners is huge!

WHAT WE LEARNED  Community colleges must be more open to new and innovative teaching models and acceleration strategies including: Integrated Career Pathways, Contextualized Instruction, and Stackable Credentials.  Comprehensive Student Supports both academic and nonacademic are key to retention and completion.  Bridge Programs  Career Counseling and Advising  Case Management  Child Support, Transportation

Integrated Career Pathways

INTEGRATED CAREER PATHWAYS Career pathways that integrate the teaching of basic literacy skills and technical education in order to accelerate the learner’s transition into and through a college-level career and technical education program of study.

INTEGRATION AND/OR CONTEXTUALIZATION  Integrated curriculum is the incorporation of reading, writing, or math instruction into the teaching of the technical content.  Integrated curriculum can also be the integration of English Language Learning skills into the teaching of the technical content.  Contextualized curriculum involves the teaching of reading, writing and math against a backdrop of specific subject matter to which such skills must be applied.

WA I-BEST MODEL Integrated Basic Education Skills and Technology  A collaborative model in which basic skills and CTE faculty jointly teach, develop plans to achieve integrated program outcomes, jointly plan curricula, and jointly assess students’ learning and skill development.  I-BEST challenges traditional notions that students must complete all levels of Adult Basic Education or ESL before they can advance in workforce education training programs.  Students earn college-level credits that are part of a career pathway while at the same time as mastering critical basic skills identified by employers.

RESEARCH PROVEN SUCCESS I-BEST students were more likely than others to:  Make point gains on the NRS 62% of I-BEST made point gains on the CASAS vs 45% of non I- BEST learners  Continue into credit-bearing coursework I-BEST students were 90% likely to earn at least on college credit: non I-BEST were 67%  Earn a CTE certificate Chances of earning a CTE certificate was 55% for I-BEST and 15% for non I-BEST Educational Outcomes of I-BEST Washington State Community and Technical College System’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program: Findings from a Multivariate Analysis ; Davis Jenkins, Matthew Zeidenberg and Gregory Kienzl, 2009

OTHER IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF THE I-BEST MODEL  Partnerships with local community-based organizations and other agencies to provide economic and social support services  Childcare  Housing  Transportation  Emergency Funds  Comprehensive Student Support Services  Navigation and Career Advising  Academic Advising  Financial aid advising

PATH FORWARD  Step 1: highlight innovative work that is going on through the two learning lab site visits  Step 2: support the teams who are committed to working together in their own community  Peer learning among the teams  Technical assistance

PATH FORWARD  Step 3: spread the word through Peer Learning at the NCWE Conference and through supporting the Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education (CCCIE)  Step 4: make this initiative so successful that we are able to solicit additional funds to take this to scale!