May 19, 2009:
Expert Panel meeting
On May 19, 2009, a panel of experts convened to consider potential future directions for the state’s adult education system. WestEd, an educational research and development organization, facilitated the session as part of the needs assessment phase of the strategic planning process for the CDE’s Adult Education system.
The panel narrowed a list of possible goals to four:
- Increase educational attainment (up to postsecondary literacy level, including attainment of a high school diploma and family literacy as a higher level education of parents benefits their children.)
- Increase acquisition of English as a second language
- Increase citizenship (formal and capacity to participate
- Support workforce skill attainment
The panel further agreed that the overall goals should drive desired outcomes, and that desired outcomes should drive system design.
The panel will reconvene again to review a draft plan based on the research-based needs assessment.
November 2009:
Planning meeting (1): Steering Committee / Field Partnership Team / AEO Consultants / Project Team
The day was framed to focus primarily on mission exploration, identifying key issues that would have to be addressed moving forward, strengths of Adult Education that will help inform thinking about “strategic position,” and preliminary vision concepts that would inform system design.
Summary
Outcomes from the meeting included development of mission concepts; discussion of how the mission will be integrated with other planning elements such as a list of educational services; discussion of concerns about the inclusiveness of the planning process; identification of transition issues; identification of AE strengths and innovation; and development of a range of organizational design models.
The facilitator identified the following next steps:
- Development of options for field engagement; engagement of the Older Adult and Adults with Disabilities communities; and engagement of a range of organizational design models.
- Continued development of the mission and educational service definitions, including how specific populations would be included in any reformulated definitions of mission and services.
December 2009:
Meeting with Adults with Disabilities Network Group
As a follow up to concerns expressed at Planning Session (1), WestEd met with the Adults with Disabilities Bay Area Network to listen to their concerns, answer questions, and provide clarification on the strategic planning process.
January 2010:
Meeting with advocates for older adults
As a follow up to concerns expressed at Planning Session (1), WestEd met with educators of several Southern California agencies representing programs for Older Adults to listen to their concerns, answer questions, and provide clarification on the strategic planning process. Earlier that day WestEd visited Baldwin Park Adult and Career Education.
January 2010:
Meeting with parent educators
As a follow up to concerns expressed by the Field Partnership Team, WestEd made a site visit to Mt. Diablo Adult School to observe Parent Eeducation classes and met with teachers and administrators from area schools.
January 2010:
Planning meeting (2): Steering Committee / Field Partnership Team / AEO consultants / Project Team
The day was framed to provide committee members with input received from the field for consideration during the planning activities of the day. Prior to the meeting, committee members received copies of correspondence received from the field expressing questions and concerns.WestEd debriefed participants on the concerns and key points provided by advocacy groups for adults with disabilities, older adults, and parent education.
Debra Jones, AEO Administrator, had recently returned from Washington, D.C. and provided an update on the federal perspective. She shared that the direction is clearly to fund efforts that prepare people for the workforce and postsecondary education. Our challenge is to reconcile our heritage and what we value with those clear messages.
The focus of the day was to collect input to use in developing the conceptual foundation for the strategic plan Discussion items included: building our foundation on guiding principles; further refining a mission statement; developing a positioning statement that will resonate with funders and key stakeholders; targeting public resources; planning to meet the needs of constituents; aligning services to needs, and basic parameters for funding..
Summary
Strategically position AE in relation to other providers; strongly consider targeting resources toward need rather than population characteristics; explore collaboration and leveraging of resources at both the regional and local levels.
The facilitator identified the following next steps:
WestEd will analyze the content from this meeting in relation to the prior work done during the planning phase, as well as the Needs Assessment, and further refine core elements to frame a plan.
March 5, 2010:
Expert Panel meeting
WestEd convened members of the Expert Panel to review the Needs Assessment and a working draft of a strategic plan for Adult Education.
The panel's overall recommendation was to create a focused attention across systems on basic skills and literacy to support the economy and participation in civic life. Specific recommendations included:
- Align funding to need. English language need and high school attainment are good indicators. Economic indicators may be more complicated. Using poverty alone may not capture people with high need who do not fall into poverty. Unemployment is a more fluctuating metric.
- Align funding to accountability with appropriate safeguards against creaming and otherwise unintended consequences. For example, reward growth (i.e. learning gains) not just attainment of specific outcomes, i.e., GED or transfer to post-secondary.
- Support both statewide and regional collaborations and coordination based on shared goals.
- Create pathways by career area or industry.
The meeting on May 5th was the second and final meeting of the Expert Panel. WestEd provided a summary of the discussion at the Planning Session on March 18th.
The Expert Panel is a group of 10 experts with insights about change, planning, and management of complex public programs. The role of the Panel is to address broad statewide system-level questions that cross organizational and topic-area boundaries.
WestEd is an educational research and development organization contracted by the AEO to conduct a research-based needs assessment and develop a strategic plan based on that research.
March 18, 2010:
Planning Session (3): Steering Committee / Field Partnership Team / AEO Consultants / Project Team
WestEd facilitated the third meeting of the Adult Education Planning Group on March 18, 2010. The day began with WestEd reviewing the progress from the previous two meetings and debriefed participants on the main discussion points from the March 5th Expert Panel meeting.
The group discussed and approved the draft mission. The group discussed that the three areas – college (used as a “collective” term to represent postsecondary options), career and preparation for civic responsibility – can be viewed as interconnected.
Participants stressed that the overarching need is to refine priorities and be more focused given the urgency of California’s situation. The group also discussed that a focused mission still allows for contextualized courses and partnerships to meet diverse student needs, and that local and regional collaboration and partnerships are encouraged.
Summary
The group proposed outcome measures, one of which would be jobs for employment, as well as interim measures such as earning a GED or high school diploma. Growth or improvement in these interim measures could be considered a goal as they directly link to employment and postsecondary transition.
The facilitator identified the following next steps:
WestEd will continue to develop a draft plan incorporating the reviews and discussions of both the Expert Panel and the Planning session, along with additional research-based content as appropriate. The goal is to post a draft plan on OTAN in early June, 2010.