Grant to help ECC with new adult ed strategy

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Maria Gutierrez trains on the oxyacetylene welding process at Elgin Community College. | Submitted Photo

Updated: January 31, 2012 8:13AM

ELGIN — Adult education has been “kind of wrong all along” in its traditional approach to learning, according to Peggy Heinrich, dean of adult education at Elgin Community College.

Historically, the idea behind adult education was to ”go through the levels” — earning a GED (that is, passing the General Education Development test) or gaining English as a Second Language proficiency before moving on to higher-level courses, Heinrich said.

As a result, she said, only 3 percent of adult students ever complete a degree.

That could change at ECC, thanks to some outside funding help.

ECC is one of eight community colleges in Illinois to receive grant money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other leading philanthropies to help adult students complete post-secondary education and training.

That money is part of a $1.6 million grant from Accelerating Opportunity: A Breaking Through Initiative, supported by the Gates, Joyce, W.K. Kellogg, Kresge and Open Society foundations. That’s according to the Illinois Community College Board, which was awarded the three-year grant earlier this month by Jobs for the Future.

Breaking Through initiatives are co-managed by Jobs for the Future and the National Council for Workforce Education.

ECC officials are not sure exactly how much money the college will see over the next three years, Heinrich said. Whatever is received will be used to expand a program to help adult students earn vocational certificates in a program ECC piloted last spring.

“For me, it’s the most exciting thing I’ve seen in adult education since I’ve been here,” she said.

New ways to help

The I-CAPS (Integrated Career and Academic Prep System) program provided a group of ESL students in the college’s welding program with a faculty member who sat in on about half their classes with them, “learning as they’re learning” and “figuring out where those students are totally confused,” Heinrich said.

That faculty member then taught a “support class” in which he reviewed those things and created new materials to help explain them.

Those students also received a faculty adviser, who reached out to employers in the community to find job opportunities and ensured that students could complete the program, she said.

The first group of welding students in the I-CAPS program graduated this month at the end of the fall semester, Heinrich said. Of the 11 students, one left to take a welding job before the end of the program, and nine earned their vocational specialist certificates, she said.

Heinrich said welding faculty told her that usually only about 30 percent of welding students pass the test the first time to earn that certificate.

“I think it just goes to show we were kind of wrong all along,” she said.

The pilot program was made possible by a grant from the River Valley Workforce Investment Board.

The Accelerating Opportunity grant now will expand the I-CAPS program to non-ESL students, not only for welding but also for vocational specialist certificates for a dental office aide or a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) operator, Heinrich said.

“The research has shown the big change in your annual wages occurs when someone gets that one-year certificate under their belt,” she said. “If you can get them to that point, there’s a greater likelihood they’ll earn that sustainable wage.”

Importance cited

More than 1.8 million adults In Illinois alone lack a high school diploma. While more than 120,000 are enrolled in adult education programs, a “very small percentage” actually will earn a post-secondary credential, according to the community college board.

And by 2018, 64 percent of all jobs in Illinois will require workers with some form of post-secondary training beyond high school, according to a study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

That’s why, college board Chairman Alexi Giannoulias said, “This grant is huge for our state, our colleges and our business community. We are thrilled to be one of only four states to receive funding, as it will help us train under-skilled individuals and help us meet the demand of Illinois employers looking for skilled workers.”