Charting a Course: Responding to the Industry-Related
Adult Basic Education Needs of the Texas Workforce
Handbook One: Planning and Implementation Tips
for Program Planners and Administrators

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Module Three: Facilitating a Team of Stakeholders to Provide a Continuum of Services

What is a Bridge Program?

Understanding the Bridge Basics….
Increasingly, jobs that pay more than subsistence wages and offer opportunities for career advancement require at least some training beyond high school, even at the entry-level. Many already in the workforce or joining the workforce lack the basic skills to succeed in post secondary education and training without a safety net of support.

Bridge training programs prepare adults who lack adequate basic skills to enter and succeed in post secondary education and training, leading to career path employment. Designed to enable learners to advance both to better jobs and to further education and training, bridge programs are suited for adults who have reading and math skills below the ninth grade level and for individuals with limited English proficiency. These individuals often lack a high school diploma or GED as well.

Bridge training programs are designed for individuals who have generally not been successful in traditional education settings or have been out of school for some time. These include:

• Prospective college students with a high school diploma or GED who are unable to meet college entrance or placement requirements
• Those enrolled in adult education programs (adult basic education, English as a Second Language, and GED preparation)
• Students enrolled in developmental college courses
• Displaced workers
• Unemployed adults with poor basic skills
• Low-skilled workers who are employed but stuck in low-wage jobs

Key Features of Successful Bridge Programs….

• “Road maps” illustrating the connection between education, training, and jobs are jointly developed by education and training providers, employers, and local workforce development networks.
• Curriculum is defined in terms of competencies needed to succeed in jobs and post secondary training that, with work experience and further training, can lead to career advancement.
• The focus is on communication, problem-solving, applied mathematics, technology applications, critical thinking, and technical fundamentals taught in the context of problems and situations drawn from the contemporary workplace and/or the post secondary classroom.
• Instruction emphasizes learning by doing through projects, simulations, and labs, and uses instructional methods and technologies appropriate for adult learners.
• Learners learn of employment and education requirements of local economies through field trips, job shadowing, internships, and career exploration.
• Programs are compressed to allow adults to complete quickly and move on to better jobs and further education.
• “Wrap around” support services are offered, including assessment and counseling, case management, child care, and financial support.
• Programs offer job and college placement assistance and follow up.

Successful bridge programs are offered through partnerships that can involve both credit and non-credit divisions within colleges, adult education providers, employers, one-stop career centers, and social service and community agencies all actively cooperating to recruit and provide the support students need to advance to post secondary education, training and career path employment.

Unfortunately, few existing education and workforce development initiatives ensure a continuum of services leading to both job advancement and further education. Incongruent public policies regarding eligibility and funding often inadvertently result in gaps in services, creating additional barriers for adults in low wage jobs as well as first generation college students. But existing programs can often be reconfigured to ensure the critical connections, provided partners are committed to helping these individuals realize their economic, career, and education potential. For example:

• Adult basic education (ASE/ABE) programs must be able to take learners beyond literacy skills improvement and GED preparation through successful transition components and into college, job preparation, or advancement in the workplace.
• Programs for English language learners must help learners develop academic and work-related skills in addition to helping them improve practical language skills.
• Short-term occupational skills training programs must be made accessible to adults with no high school diploma or GED and help students acquire the learning and specific skills needed for particular jobs and further education/training.
• College developmental courses must focus on preparing students to place in college-level English and math courses while introducing occupational skills and concepts.
• Workforce development networks must provide greater access to certificate and credential programs at a post secondary level while learners continue to upgrade their language, academic, and occupational skills and proficiencies.
• Local workforce development networks must find ways to provide access to funding for services - in spite of restrictive eligibility criteria - and work with state and federal decision makers to remove obstacles to full services.

Each bridge program is unique in that it is developed for a specific target population and specific employers, and will generally involve adapting already existing program elements. Bridge programs fall into two categories:

1. Lower level bridge programs are designed to serve those who have relatively low literacy levels but are seeking to move up from low level semi-skilled jobs into higher level semi-skilled jobs and to higher levels of training, including access to more advanced bridge programs.

   Lower level programs are generally designed for English language learners at the low intermediate ESL level (as defined by the National Reporting System) or for native English speakers functioning at fifth to sixth grade reading levels. Although participants may be far from qualifying for career path employment or post secondary education and training, the bridge experience encourages them to begin exploring post secondary and career opportunities. Programs emphasize basic skills reading, communication, and applied math in contexts such as customer service, computer operations, and job-specific skills that will improve learners’ job prospects. Like VESL (vocational ESL) or VABE (vocational adult basic education), bridge programs focus on skills needed for specific jobs, aim to improve learners’ job prospects, increase career awareness, and provide a foundation for continued education and training. Some lower level bridge programs target a specific career in a particular industry sector. The variations enable local providers to match the needs of the groups being served.

2. Higher level bridge initiatives prepare adults for advancement into entry-level skilled positions and into occupational certificate or associate degree programs. Most require a minimum of seventh grade reading for native speakers of English or a high intermediate ESL level for English language learners. These programs can be industry or occupation specific, integrating instruction in language development, reading, communication, critically thinking, test taking skills, and applied math with basic occupation-specific technical skills.

   Higher level programs can be offered by post secondary education / training providers in the workplace when occupational training and workplace literacy funds are linked to develop programs for advancing employees within a company.

   Higher level bridge programs most often prepare participants for community college occupational certificates and degree programs. In most cases, they should be developed to connect students to post secondary credit programs as quickly as possible, enabling them to draw on student financial aid and access career path employment.

   Lower and higher level bridge programs can be linked to enable individuals to complete one level and advance to the next. Some lower level bridge programs are designed as “feeder programs” for high tech manufacturing and skilled trades education and training.

Additional Information about Bridge Programs…

Bridges to Careers for Low Skilled Adults: A Program Development Guide (2005) from Women Employed describes models for lower and higher level bridge programs, offers suggestions for designing programs, building bridge partnerships, building and sustaining employer relationships, developing curricula, and identifying costs and funding options for core components of bridge programs. Also included is a profile of career pathways vocational training for non-native English speakers. A CD-ROM of the program curricula (healthcare, institutional food services, direct care, office skills, high tech manufacturing, and welding) can be requested for a shipping and handling fee. The website (www.womenemployed.org) links the reader to this valuable resource.

Another promising effort is that of Washington State’s adult and post secondary education providers. The I-BEST (Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training) brings adult basic education and post secondary technical skills training together. “Integrate” means that the curriculum must address both skills sets, and at least 50% of class time involves both teachers in the room working with students.

Texas LEARNS continues to review bridge program initiatives launched successfully by other states. Additional information will be shared as it becomes available.