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

Partnerships: Think Big, Start Small, Have a Plan

The task of preparing English language learners for the world of work is not one that adult education can accomplish alone. Dialogue among adult education providers, local workforce development networks, employers and industry representatives, and other community stakeholders with a vested interest in local economic development is critical in addressing local workforce needs.

A continuum of partnerships is essential to learners’ success. Improved English language skills by themselves do not necessarily ensure gainful employment unless partners provide linkages to post secondary academic and occupational training programs, support services, internships, job sources, and eventual employment.

Local workforce development networks must ensure that all customers of the federally funded workforce system, especially those with limited English language proficiency, receive equitable services (www.doleta.gov; or www.lep.gov).

Because English language services and job training have not been closely linked historically, partnerships are potential change agents. But elevating local partnerships to the requisite levels is no small task.

As adult education practitioners, you can be instrumental in promoting meaningful and equitable access at the local level. Unfortunately, cross training among workforce development partners – local workforce boards, education and training providers, one stop operators, employers, and other stakeholders - occurs so rarely in some communities that gaps in services can easily be overlooked.

Access to occupational training does not always require a GED or high school diploma. This by no means diminishes the value of these credentials, but acknowledges that adults can begin occupational training while working toward these. For individuals with a strong work ethic and a critical need for immediate employment, this option is a lifeline.

Many community colleges offer non-credit, short term occupational training that provides access to licensure and certificates. The offers vary from one institution to another, but local options need to be explored by individuals, program providers, and workforce partners.

With other states facing similar challenges in meeting the work-related needs of a limited English proficient workforce, information about what seems to work or doesn’t work abounds. Some of the lessons learned can guide Texas in its response. For example,

• Cost and time are always factors in integrating education and training programs.
• The goal is to create bridges so that adult learners can move without interruption from one education/training component to the next, or on to employment or better paying jobs.
• As learners’ language proficiencies and work-related skills improve, the GED certificate and/or work readiness credentials become realistic goals rather than barriers to obtaining employment.
• Without commitments from industry and local workforce development, the best curriculum will fall short of the real objective, which is gainful employment.
• For adult education, partners may be the key to accessing occupation-related technology. Access to technology varies from community to community. For example, in a study by the Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy (2004), one community college-based initiative used instructional technology to allow incumbent health workers to improve their basic skills at their own pace. The program was supported by a learning lab at a hospital. In principle, workers at any skill level could access the learning lab as well as targeted instruction from a resident trainer to upgrade their basic skills in their spare time and at their own pace until they reached levels identified as suitable for promotion or further technical training.

Technology solutions of this kind may be a way for low-level incumbent workers to acquire the proficiencies needed to enter career ladder programs in a cost ­effective, user-friendly way, provided employers are willing to finance technology solutions. At the very least, such technology may give workers without standard academic credentials (such as a high school diploma) a way to demonstrate their skill levels and thereby qualify for promotions within their job categories, for lateral moves, or for training programs.

• Adult education programs and employers must explore ways to partner for on-the-job training (giving both instructors and learners opportunity to become familiar with workplace technology), and to integrate English language instruction with occupational training offered by post secondary educational institutions.
• Successful efforts in these arenas could support the development of ground- breaking bridge programs. Since adult education cannot provide occupational training, partnerships and the leveraging of other funding sources are critical.

Whether you find yourself convening a meeting of partners and stakeholders or participating in an already existing group, the resources included in this handbook will hopefully assist you in articulating adult education’s role in workforce-related education.