Models for Strengthening College and Career Pathways for Non-Credit English Language and GED Spanish Learners
General description of the project
The Division of Adult and Continuing Education at LaGuardia Community College (CUNY) in Queens, New York City serves a large number of Spanish-speaking, English language learner adults in a range of no-cost or fee-based ESOL and GED in Spanish programs. A core mission of the division is to provide access for its non-credit students and alumnae/i to college and career pathways advisement in tandem with proficiency skills development, leading to credential attainment, college matriculation, and gateway course success.
This presentation will explore how LaGuardia has implemented a comprehensive set of initiatives to supports its continuing education students in a) embarking on and navigating the college planning and application process leading to matriculation at a community college, and b) achieving the language proficiency skills gains required for success in academic gateway courses or workforce credentialing.
College Going Outreach and Workshops:
Through the use of technology, LaGuardia has, at minimal cost, expanded outreach and recruitment efforts to its incumbent ESOL and GED Spanish students and to its non-credit alumnae/i to promote the benefits of higher education, while collecting the data needed to provide enhanced advisement for these populations, including through ESOL-scaffolded lessons that use university policy and topics, such as college credits, academic majors, and financial aid, as content. This has furthered the college’s strategic plan of strengthening its non-credit to credit enrollment pipeline and serving the needs of the local Queens immigrant community, where many non-traditional and first-generation student are represented.
Non-credit Academic ESOL and Integrated Workforce ESOL Courses:
LaGuardia’s CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP) is a low-cost continuing education course option, available before any financial aid is utilized, that provides intensive (25-hours week) academic English preparation for students placed in remedial ESL levels upon entry in the college. CLIP has been an effective pathway for WIOA Title II (ESOL and GED Spanish) exiters who are interested and eligible for college entry but who require additional proficiency development support at a low price point before gateway English composition course entry.
LaGuardia’s Center for Immigrant Education and Training (CIET) department’s ESOL Bridge to Food Safety, ESOL Bridge to Site Safety Training, and ESOL Bridge to Healthcare are three examples of integrated education and training (IET) courses that have provided access to workforce credentialing pathways for intermediate level English language learners interested in the food service, construction, and healthcare sectors.
Technologies
Online classroom platforms and Zoom for both workforce ESOL lessons and group/ individual college-going and career pathways advisement sessions were effective in providing enhanced access for non-traditional, primarily Latino/a, student populations who are balancing work and family responsibilities. Online forms (MS Forms) for student surveys allowed for ease of data collection and analysis, including to alumnae/i who may have been unaware of available opportunities, and enhanced the subsequent targeted advisement. Interactive Powerpoint presentations allowed faculty and advisors to scaffold complex college application, university policy, and workforce content using ESOL pedagogy for intermediate English language learner populations.
Explain project results
Non-credit ESOL and GED Spanish students with a variety of educational and professional backgrounds gained access to targeted advisement support to build awareness of educational and workforce training options, college application navigation, and financial aid and scholarship support at a community college. Intermediate ESOL learners gained access to intensive bridge courses contextualized to food service, construction safety, and healthcare credential pathways, areas where Latino/a students may face barriers to entry due to reading proficiency skills gaps. Others engaged in low-fee, intensive academic skills development that allowed them to bypass several quarters of remedial ESL where limited financial aid might have been expended. All the components of these initiatives directly supported LaGuardia’s strategic goals of strengthening the non-credit-to-credit enrollment pipeline, preparing new students for gateway course success, and increasing in-demand workforce credential attainment rates.
Why it should be considered best practice?
Non-traditional adult students in ESOL and GED courses outside of the K-12 system often lack access to college awareness advisement and may struggle with college application processes geared towards recent high school graduates. At the same time, they may require additional ESOL support when managing academic and workforce credentialing course content. In fact, English language learners are often excluded from workforce training programs due to language proficiency or reading comprehension test score pre-requisites. An Integrated Education and Training (IET) model allows enrollment access for lower-level students because the team-taught and sector-contextualized ESOL support is infused into the training. Adult ESOL students in non-credit programs may have a wide range of home country experiences in higher education or the workplace, making transitions advisement a challenge. Gathering the right data on these backgrounds is critical in designing effective next-step awareness campaigns.
Highlights of your proposed presentation
LaGuardia’s Division of Adult and Continuing Education has served a large number of Latino/a community members in its ESOL and GED Spanish programs and is committed to supporting these non-traditional adult students as they advance along the college and career pathways of their choosing. However, barriers around college awareness, navigating US college application and higher education systems, and on-going language skills development have often prevented eligible students from succeeding in these pathways. The initiatives described in this presentation represent a variety of lessons learned in the areas of outreach and recruitment, advisement, and English language proficiency pedagogy that can be implemented at the non-credit, continuing education level in a community college.
The Evaluation Committee will evaluate submitted proposals based on the following criteria. Each area will be rated on a scale from 1 to 5 (1= non-satisfactory; 5 =outstanding), for a maximum of 45 points.