1. Unpacking the Challenges in Designing and implementing integrated career pathways
Tara Smith Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education Conference February 2, 2017

2. What Is Accelerated Texas?
Funded by the Texas Legislature beginning in 2010
Combines basic skills instruction with career and technical training in high-demand careers in local and regional labor markets
Key design features:
Alignment with labor market demand
Accelerated learning strategies
Comprehensive student support services
Aligned programs and services

3. Combine basic skills and technical instruction
Two primary approaches
Integrated instruction incorporates reading, writing, and match content into technical content curricula and instruction.
Contextualized instruction teaches reading, writing, and math against a backdrop of specific subject matter.
Research on Washington State’s I-BEST model shows combining contextualized curricula with integrated instruction improves the success of underprepared learners

4. Instructional delivery Models

5. What is an integrated pathway?
An education delivery model that combines career/technical education with basic skills instruction and high school credential preparation so that students can attain marketable credentials while increasing their reading, writing, and math skills.
Accelerates the time to credential attainment for underprepared adults

6. Selecting a career pathway
Identify high-demand industries and occupations
Meet with the local workforce board to understand labor market opportunities
Align programs with employer needs and engage employer partners over time
Leverage existing college strengths and capacities
Consider student interest

7. Leverage stackable credentials

8. Identifying student support services to improve completion
Consider the most frequent or pressing challenges associated with student withdrawal or lack of success
Determine what services are available through the college to address those challenges
Identify community-based resources to address service gaps and extend capacity to meet student needs

9. Implementation factors
Recruiting students
Supporting staff through professional development
Building data and evaluation capacity
Creating continuous improvement processes

10. Continuous improvement

11. Sustaining program elements

12. Where Is your college in developing Integrated Pathways Programs?
Using the handout, assess your college’s status in developing integrated career pathways programs. Consider progress in these five key areas:
Organize teams
Select a career pathway
Design an integrated program
Implement
Sustain
Handout: Self-Assessment Tool

13. Using the Scaling Plan Worksheet to: Identify the big ideas
Create a scaling Plan
Using the Scaling Plan Worksheet to:
Identify the big ideas
Think about process
Identify partners and stakeholders
Identify resources and supports
Gather data and evidence
Handout: Scaling Plan Worksheet

14. Tell your story to build long-term support
Create a communications plan that describes:
why the initiative is needed
how it engages employers and industry
how students are recruited
outcomes
Develop a common message that can be used by anyone needing to describe the initiative
Create a communication matrix
Craft an elevator speech

15. Create and Practice an Elevator Speech
Using the communications handout (alone or in pairs):
Identify a target audience
Jot your ideas on the Communications Matrix
Pick a template
Write a sample speech
Practice the speech – it should be no more than 2 minutes
Be prepared to share out!
Handout: Communicating About Impacts to Build Long-Term Support

16. Tara Smith tsmith@jff.org
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