Charting A Course:
Responding to the Industry-Related
Instructional Needs of the Limited
English Proficient

Experience and Capacity

The following criteria were used to identify educational institutions with experience and background in developing and/or adapting quality workforce-related curricula for use by adult education programs across the state:

• an institution’s past successes in responding to the language and literacy needs of local employers and employees;
• staff with a clear understanding of the adult basic education system in Texas, its capacity to serve educationally disadvantaged and limited English proficient adults, and its limitations and constraints;
• demonstrated flexibility and willingness to retool and adapt to the challenges inherent in combining language, literacy, and job skills training;
• experience in preparing adult education practitioners through professional development initiatives that are innovative and responsive to changing times; and
• proven experience networking and partnering successfully with other adult education providers, employers, and local workforce development stakeholders, and a willingness to take collaboration and integration of services to a new level.

While all adult education consortia in Texas address some basic work-related topics in instruction, a few have made impressive entries into the workplace. Several exceed the criteria described above. Those found to have the experience and capacity to respond to Rider 82 include the following, listed in no particular order:

Tri-County Adult Education Cooperative
Seguin ISD serves as the fiscal agent for this three county cooperative (Comal, Guadalupe, and Kendall Counties). Directed by Christia Moore, who comes to Adult Education with a strong background in Career and Technology Education, this program also has the advantage of strong partnerships with the Alamo WorkSource Career Center in Seguin and Alamo Community College in providing industry-driven adult education services for the Central Texas Technology Center (CTTC) located in New Braunfels. The center, built and owned by the communities it serves, accommodates industry and economic growth and development, and sees itself as a workforce specialty campus. By working closely with local business and industry, Tri-County and the CTTC are developing curricula for both incumbent and emerging workers that address the language and basic skills needed to obtain, retain, and/or advance on the job, pursue a career track and/or post secondary education and training. The challenges are well understood: limited language proficiency, the lack of educational credentials, and basic skills deficiencies.

With additional grant monies received this past summer, instructional staff began visiting with local manufacturers, construction trades employers, and health care providers to better understand the work-related educational needs of the communities. Phase I has produced industry-based GED and healthcare-related ESOL instructional responses. The contextualized instruction is modular and easily adapted to satisfy the needs of both employer and employee.

Phase II involves the development of an ESOL curriculum for incumbent workers at a local plastics manufacturer. Phase III further expands the ESOL curriculum that encompasses basic terminology needed for industry-standard certifications and licensures. Phase IV calls for further expansion of curricular offerings, career pathway exploration, and an accelerated GED program entitled the WARP Speed GED (Workforce Accelerated Readiness Program).

El Paso Community College
A recipient of a workplace literacy grant from the U.S. Department of Education in the early 1990’s, the community college has continued to provide workforce literacy services to employers and emerging, incumbent, and displaced workers in the Greater El Paso area. Long a recipient of discretionary federal adult education funds, EPCC is not an adult education cooperative but has traditionally worked with the three cooperatives in the area as well as programs across the state. El Paso Community College has taken a lead role in the development of project-based learning, employment readiness training, and professional development for adult educators throughout the state. For three years, the college also housed the Workforce Literacy Training and Technical Assistance Project. WLTTAP, funded by TEA as part of adult education’s professional development consortium, provided professional development opportunities and technical assistance for workforce development stakeholders and maintained a resource center accessible to adult education practitioners across the state.

The college also worked with adult education programs when the Texas Department of Human Services initiated its Survival Skills for Women initiative as part of the department’s JOBS partnership program (Job Training and Basic Skills). Written at a level of English proficiency beyond many El Paso recipients of public assistance, Paso Adelante was developed in response to the needs of low proficiency English language learners enrolled in the JOBS program. This was one of the college’s earliest efforts to provide English language learners with pre-employment readiness and survival skills.

EPCC was also home base for another statewide adult education initiative. Project IDEA took practitioners through a comprehensive initiation into project-based learning with their students. Individual projects were carefully tracked, and the professional development ongoing. Participation required a long term commitment from practitioners.

Two departments at El Paso Community College – Workplace Literacy and Workforce Development – have responded to requests from construction trades, local manufacturers, and employees who wish to advance to leadership positions within their companies. The college’s recent workforce-related awards include several skills training grants from TWC. Partnering with a six-member health care consortium, the college will train workers for 360 new or upgraded jobs in the health care field. A second grant will train workers for 758 new or upgraded jobs for the Hoover Company, one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of vacuum cleaners and small electric appliances. Dr. Yolanda Chavez Ahner serves as Interim Associate Vice President for Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning.

Northeast Texas Community College. This institution has been involved with workplace literacy for over ten years. In 1994 the college received a three-year workplace literacy grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation and its multi-million dollar poultry processing enterprise stepped up to partner with the college to improve the educational and work-related skills of its 40,000 employees. Worksites include poultry farms, processing plants, and delivery of products to customers.

Following an extensive task analysis, early ESOL classes were developed around a variety of educational needs as well as work shift schedules. Frontline supervisors worked with curriculum developers to fine tune the curriculum to focus on skills required for partners (employees) to keep or advance on their jobs, meet productivity demands, and ensure safety. Classes at Pilgrims’ Pride sites eventually expanded to include citizenship, math, and GED preparation in both English and Spanish.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation committed to continuing worksite literacy and language instruction after the three-year grant ended, and has continued to provide funds to assist with teacher training, salaries, supplies, materials, and recognition events for the past ten years.

Dr. Judy Traylor oversees Outreach Services to adults in the community who need assistance with language, literacy or skills development for assimilation into the community. The adult education director Sue Barker and lead instructor/instructional coordinator Jeannie Pruitt have worked with adult education initiatives for more than twenty-five years.

Trinity Valley Community College.
This community college serves a large semi-rural area in East Texas. The Dean of Community Services, Gayla Roberts, is the former director of Adult Basic Education, and now oversees this program as well as Continuing Education.

Innovative responses to local needs began with the college’s partnership with high schools in Henderson County whose Career and Technology Education programs needed to be expanded beyond home economics and agriculture. TVCC offered secondary students in four school districts “bundled” short courses that met TEA requirements for high school credit and at the same time awarded non-credit certification in several career paths, with the primary objective being to assist these students in becoming employable upon graduation from high school.

Currently, adult learners enrolling in adult basic and secondary education classes (ABE and GED) offered by TVCC are introduced to career training tracks. For example, the construction trades track includes an introduction to construction trades: physical plant maintenance; introduction to building construction concepts and skills; basic electrical wiring; basic plumbing skills; trades and industrial math; OSHA standards; and a capstone class – the credentialing course for the construction trades career track. It includes a review of all the covered construction trades skills, and introduces or provides a review of ethics, professionalism, career search, resume` preparation, customer service, and other related topics. Finally, students participate in the WorkKeys assessment to document their skills for credential portability.

Similar career training tracks exist for the following, all concluding with a capstone class similar to the one described for construction trades:

• Medical Assistant / Back Office Skills (CPR for healthcare providers; phlebotomy; medical terminology; body systems; OSHA standards; assisting the physician and nurse)
• Medical Office Assistant /Front Office Skills (prerequisite: computer literacy / keyboarding course; individuals must be able to type 40 words per minute with accuracy; front office skills/medical office management; introduction to business computer applications I and II; CPR for health care providers; medical terminology; and OSHA standards)
• Patient Care Technology / Medical Assisting (nurse aide training and competency; assisting the physician and nurse; CPR for healthcare providers; phlebotomy; medical terminology; body systems; basic medical radiography; OSHA standards)

The capstone class includes a review of all medical skills and HIPPA regulations as well as the life skills/employment readiness topics mentioned in the Construction Trades career track.

Students may participate in medical, business, or trade career cohorts. The credential awarded completers enables employers to compare the individual’s reported skills with the job description and determine whether there is a match. TVCC’s adult education students are already included in this system. When they enroll, they are asked to declare a “career path of interest” – healthcare, trades, or business. The most recent addition to TVCC’s career tracks is the ESOL component. While TVCC has always served a small ESOL population, the work-related language needs of English language learners has recently drawn the attention of community partners such as the Lake Country Area Health Education Centers (AHEC), which are outreaching Hispanics to increase minority enrollment in entry-level health careers. Together, these partners are working to identify funding for this initiative.

While most of TVCC’s innovative initiatives have been focused on programs requiring the GED or a high school diploma, the college hopes to break new ground through its partnership with AHEC by creating career pathways for English language learners in health careers. Recognizing that the population to be served may consist of incumbent workers, new workers, and individuals with credentials from other countries, TVCC hopes to provide multiple starting points for entry-level health care positions, not only in certified nursing assistant but also in support positions for electrocardiogram, phlebotomy, beginning radiography, and the many positions within hospitals and the physician’s office.

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