ADULT EDUCATION NEWSLETTER Volume 2/Issue 18

TANF Grant Collaboration Page 1 Around the State Page 2-3 Distance Learning Message Page 4 Saying Goodbye Page 5 Effective and Efficient Podcast Page 5 Resources & Reminders Page 6 Adult Education Stats Page 6

ADULT EDUCATION

Newsletter

May 2020

IN THIS ISSUE

In April 2020 Arkansas Adult Education became major partner in a $1.8 million grant project through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program. Both the TANF and Adult Education programs are under of the umbrella of Arkansas Division of Workforce Services. This collaborative effort provides assessment, education/training, and skill development to low-income individuals in Arkansas. Other service providers include state agencies as well as community based organizations. The project initially targets Benton, Columbia, Crawford, Garland, Jefferson, Pulaski, Sebastian, and White counties. The target population for this initiative is:

Current TEA or former TEA participants

Current Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid recipients, or

Adult parent, both custodial and non-custodial, whose income is less than 200% of Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

Adult Education will perform duties, including, but not limited to: • Complete a needs assessment with each participant to assess their skill

set and vocational/career goals • Provide case management services to all clients • Basic Skills instruction • Testing for GED Assessment • TABE testing for all TEA recipients in the targeted counties • English as a second language classes

The endeavor answers Governor’s call to technologically streamline the sharing of information between participants and to encourage local government services, private and social sectors, and faith-based organizations to work in unison to better each cause.

Adult Education will perform duties, including, but not limited to: • Complete a needs assessment with each participant to assess their skill set and vocational/career goals • Provide case management services to all clients • Basic skills instruction • Testing for GED® Assessment • TABE testing for all TEA recipients in the targeted counties • English as a second language classes

TANF programs will refer eligible clients to Adult Education for services and require a minimum number of enrollment hours. The hours may include basic skills instruction, job search skills, and job training. Most TANF participants have at least one barrier to work and many have multiple barriers. With an increase in barriers, the likelihood of work declines. Given the wide diversity of the TANF population, Adult Education is charged to target one or more specific barriers including education level, individuals with job retention challenges, etc. The endeavor answers the Governor’s call to technologically streamline the sharing of information between participants and to encourage local government services, private and social sectors, and faith-based organizations to work in unison to better each cause.

ADULT EDUCATION NEWSLETTER | Volume 2/Issue 18 2

Around the State

NorthArk Adult Education

Holds Drive Thru Classes

Cherie Conner (Director/North Arkansas College Adult Education) visited the Carroll County Center on May 8 and observe GED Instructor Nancy Wood conducting “drive thru” instruction. The student pictured received RLA instruction and additional books and material to continue working on from home. Before the student left, she scheduled her next drive thru class for the following week. Nancy has great attendance for these drive thru classes. She takes all the necessary precautions and schedules her students with plenty of time in between sessions. Nancy told reports that one particular week the students were so excited for this opportunity, they were waiting in line in their cars for their turn. More drive up classes are planned soon for the Tyson parking lot. NorthArk Adult Education Center recently received clearance from Upward Academy to conduct this type of instruction, and Amy Roberts, Tyson Coordinator, is preparing for them. “I am so thankful for the NorthArk Adult Education instructors and their willingness to think outside the box during this time”

says Conner.

Arkansas Adult Education Centers continue to be student-centered even in this unprecedented time. Directors and staff members are working in creative and often collaborative ways to serve our students.

Ozark Literacy Council Staff

Present National Webinar

Patty Sullivan (Executive Director) and Mina Phebus (Program Director) of the Ozark Literacy Council recently presented a webinar hosted by ProLiteracy Education Network. “Distance Learning: Ideas from the Field” was the fourth in a national series of webinars to help literacy programs convert their instruction to distance learning. Each webinar has featured people from a literacy program who have made this transition. Experiences, tools, successful practices and challenges given along with an opportunity for questions from the audience.

Like all adult education providers, literacy programs around the country have faced converting their instruction to distance learning in a very short period of time. And many administrators, tutors, and teachers have little experience with distance learning themselves. Ozark Literacy are among those who are figuring it out.

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Around the State (continued)

U of A - Pulaski Technical College

Adult Education Success Story

LaRhonda Fulcher, Director of Adult Education at U of A-Pulaski Technical College in Saline County, shares a success story of one of the center’s students.

Amalia: A Worker That Never Gives Up

Amalia Cox was the youngest of nine children and was raised in a remote village in Mexico. As a young girl growing up, Amalia and all her siblings were born at home. In her village there were no nurses or medical help. Her parents were farmers. They raised goats and sold the milk from the animals as a means of income. She was raised to be a hard worker.

Education in Amalia’s village was different from what most are familiar with in our United States. They had no pre-K’s, no kindergarten, and no preparation before the first grade. In her village, the children started straight into the elementary school that the village provided. Even at an early age, Amalia and her siblings had chores to do before going to school in elementary. Once they finished elementary in her village, they had to ride a bus to another village for the middle school. It was a long day for Amalia, rising early, milking the goats, riding the bus to another village, attending school, and riding the bus back home to her village. Amalia was a hard worker and a brilliant child, and she wanted to do her very best. Her schooling ended with the middle school years in her village. The high school was in a city (farther from her village) and money was an issue for Amalia and her siblings to continue their education. She worked on the farm and a few other places, but Amalia wanted a better way.

In 2001, a person that had a work visa for Deluxe Videos in Little Rock, Ar., suggested to Amalia to apply for a work visa. Amalia decided to apply for the work visa, was granted one and did get the job at the factory in Little Rock. It was back and forth for several years, as the work visas were for approximately four months. Little did she know this one decision would change her whole life. It was here, Amalia met a young American man that would become her husband. They were married in 2003, and now the procedure of different visas was required. Finally, on July 24, 2005, she was with her husband in Arkansas on a permanent stay. She and her husband are proud parents of two beautiful children. Their daughter (in high school) and son (in elementary) are students in the Bryant School District. Amalia and her husband are very supportive to see that both children are involved in extracurricular activities and encourages them to do their best in their academics.

Amalia’s husband encouraged her to attend Saline County Adult Ed. when their youngest child started school. She took his advice and enrolled in 2016. She attended ESL classes for two years under a very competent ESL teacher, Carol Tabor. She was an eager student to learn speaking and reading the English language. Velma Wilson (a teacher for ABE and GED) got acquainted with Amalia in Ms. Carol’s room and quickly saw how eager she wanted to learn. Ms. Velma and Ms. Carol encouraged Amalia to start classes with Ms. Velma to study for the GED. Amalia, at first, felt this was an overwhelming task. She decided to enroll and was consistent in attendance, responsible to let us know if she could not attend on certain days and was a model student. She began working on these classes in 2018 with Ms. Velma. Her first test to pass was the Math (which for most is often the last). Amalia had passed Math, Science, and Social Studies by May 23, 2019. Her last test (the challenge) to face was the Reading Language Arts. Amalia wanted all her test to be in English, so this was the challenge for her. The challenge: (a timed test, reading in English, translating some in Spanish to be able to understand and comprehend). Amalia’s desire and perseverance would not fail her. On May 14, 2020, Amalia completed the Reading Language Arts test and obtained her official high school diploma. This was a dream that a young girl raised in a remote village in Mexico, at one time, may not have envisioned ever happening.

While working toward the GED, Amalia was also working part-time and studying for the citizenship test. Amalia is so proud of being in the United States. Her loyalty was proven when she was sworn in as United States citizen on February 7, 2020. Amalia has learned to dream for herself, her family, and all those she comes in contact. She believes wholeheartedly the meaning of her name Amalia. In Hebrew, her name means work of God, the Germanic meaning is work, and in her native language, Spanish, Amalia means labor, and as Amalia said, “busy bee”. She is just that person. She is a volunteer at her church in the children’s department, still works part-time, and makes certain her children and husband are cared for.

Amalia’s next goal is to work in a school district, as this would still allow her to be involved with her children and family. She has

so much to offer to others with her knowledge and the knowledge of reaching dreams. Her next goal will happen for Amalia

because Amalia is Amalia (a worker that never gives up).

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A MESSAGE FROM ARKANSAS ADULT EDUCATION’S DISTANCE LEARNING COORDINATOR

If there is one thing that the Coronavirus has exposed – beyond, horrifically, millions of people – it’s been program and teacher preparedness to handle and adapt to distance learning. This virus has laid bare the education world’s strengths and weaknesses regarding the panoply of digital resources that are out there to choose from, and will only continue to challenge us all as we continue to learn how to best serve students in this new reality. Commendably, it seems that the education community has handled this transition better than most, in part due to most of us already being used to having to monitor and adjust and adapt on the fly. As we near the end of the program year and look forward to the next, there are several items that we would like to highlight, regarding Distance Learning (DL) in Arkansas. First – and most notably – the numbers relating to DL students have been extremely exciting. Since 3/16/20, there has been a 30% increase in the number of enrolled DL students reported on Table 4c – from 413 to 538, as of today (5/27/20). To put that in even greater perspective, the total number of students reported on Table 4c for PY 2018-2019, when everything was said and done, was only 288; that’s an 86% increase, and the current program year isn’t even finished! You’ll recall that Table 4c only counts students whose total instructional hours are 51% or more distance learning, so to get a truer picture of how many students have utilized distance learning since the virus began impacting program operations, we have to drill down a little farther. On 3/16/20, the number of students that had earned at least some (.25) DL hours since the beginning of the program year was 2110 (this itself represents a 118% increase compared to that number on the same date of the previous program year). Currently that number is sitting at 2946 – an increase of nearly 40% since mid-March. Additionally, at this point in PY 2018-2019, there were 1217 students who had earned at least a quarter-hour of DL instruction. Currently 2946 students have earned at least that many DL hours (an increase of 142%), and we expect that number to continue to climb. Second, it has been encouraging to see so many teachers go through the process of becoming DL certified since program campuses began to close. In response to the virus and the cancelation of in-person trainings, the Distance Learning & Technology training that had been the vehicle for obtaining certification was put on Canvas in a webinar format, and we have been very pleased at the number of teachers that have availed themselves of that opportunity. Thus far, 90 teachers have become certified since the end of March – a 145% increase compared to this time last year. Third, as many of you know, we have purchased Essential Education for use with both DL and blended learning (once everyone is back to holding in-person classes) statewide for the upcoming program year. Thank you so much to those programs who participated in the Pilot Program held during the first half of the year – the data that was reported and the feedback that was provided was invaluable as we deliberated on whether to purchase this software for the state and we are excited to see how teachers incorporate this new resource into their classrooms in PY 2020-2021. Next, I would like to take a moment to remind teachers and programs of several resources that are still available to them. Teachers are still able to self-enroll in the Distance Learning & Technology Webinar Canvas course to complete their DL certification. As a reminder, once the webinar has been viewed, teachers must complete a brief Exit Ticket that can be found in the Canvas course to obtain their certification. Beyond the webinar, however, the Canvas course also houses valuable information and resources for all teachers – whether they are DL certified or not – and I would encourage everyone to enroll in the course so that they have access and can refer to those resources, as needed. Among them is the list of approved DL resources, a separate Canvas webinar for those that need a refresher on the basic functions of the learning management system, and links to my Zoom Office Hours where teachers can come with any DL or technology related questions. Beginning in June, however, I will be reducing the office hours to one day a week on Wednesday’s at 2 p.m., as opposed to twice a week on Wednesday’s and Friday’s. Stay healthy! Dan Bingaman, Program Advisor | D.L. Coordinator

ADULT EDUCATION NEWSLETTER | Volume 2/Issue 18 5

Saying Goodbye

Join Program Advisors Dan Bingaman and Jon Lee as they co-host the Adult Education podcast called Effective & Efficient. Check it out, if you have not yet had the chance. They have been encouraged by the response received from the field and hope to continue to grow the show to promote adult education in Arkansas. Find them each Monday on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have student success stories, innovative practices or exciting news you would like to share, reach out to Dan or Jon; they would love to feature you, your program, and your students on future episodes. Subscribe and stay tuned for Effective & Efficient. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/22q2wGEeHawjFiGJxgy6Wc

Website: https://effectivepod.buzzsprout.com

Twitter: @EffectivePodAR

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/effective- efficient-an-adult-ed-podcast/id1503006280

The Arkansas Adult Education community is saying "goodbye" to three of its members who are moving on to new chapters in their lives. Each takes with them a wealth of expertise that will be missed.

ancy Loftis of the Arkansas Adult Learning Resource Center (AALRC) is retiring from her career in Adult Education. She taught GED preparation, ESL and ABE classes at Pulaski County Adult Education for 24 years and served as AALRC Professional Development Coordinator for 16 years. Nancy says she’ll miss the people in Adult Education most of all, and she’ll miss the connection of working directly with local programs and staff. ebbie Shelton, Director of Lonoke Adult Education is also retiring. Debbie spent the last 14 years in Adult Education and says she loved it. Debbie recognizes the importance of Adult Education’s role in the community and feels that word-of-mouth is one of our best outreach tools. arah Yager served as a Program Advisor and Coordinator in the Adult Education state office for five years. Sarah has joined Office in the Adult Education Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) in Washington, DC as a management and program analyst. In her role at the US Department of Education she will be responsible for supporting grant administration and technical assistance activities in the National Reporting System for adult education. Sarah says she continues to be amazed at the staff and students in Adult Education. She also says she learned a lot from Arkansas’ Adult Education directors, teachers and paraprofessionals who were always generous with the time and knowledge.

Nancy, Debbie and Sarah share their accomplishments, lessons learned and parting comments during Episode 9 of the Adult Education Section’s podcast—Effective and Efficient. Make sure you listen to “So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye”. To hear the episode online visit: https://effectivepod.buzzsprout.com/925345/3790244-so-long-farewell-auf-wiedersehen-goodbye.

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Resources & Reminders

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, ensuring students continue to have educational opportunities through distance learning has become increasingly important. Here are links to distance learning resources. Ed Tech Center at World Education has created the https://edtech.worlded.org/tips-for-distance-learning/ David Rosen (LINCS) compilation https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LRfzTKoL49tyFkRd0Tq66vhe5H-lD577CSzMxxe4wNg/edit Arkansas Adult Learning Resource Center teacher portal http://aalrc.org/adminteachers/index.html

Remember, time is winding down to take the Census. Our answers can impact federal funding for our communities. Make sure your students are counted. Classroom Census Resources • https://2020census.gov/ • https://2020census.gov/en/educators • https://national-coalition-literacy.org/research/the-2020-

census/

Adult Education

Message Group for Teachers An “Adult Education Teachers” group has been created in the Remind app. Reminders for trainings and other opportunities can be sent to your phone or computer. Sign up for Adult Education Teachers notifications at https://www.remind.com/join/8634ch.

ADULT EDUCATION

Newsletter

Adult Education Section Arkansas Division of Workforce Services

Arkansas Department of Commerce 1 Commerce Way

Suite 202 Little Rock, AR 72202

501-682-1970

ARCareerEducation.org

Little Rock, AR 72202

501-682-1970

ARCareerEducation.org

Adult Education Stats At-A-Glance

Year-to-date statistics for the Arkansas Adult Education programs continue to show progress. The statistics below summarize the state’s numbers for the current fiscal year through the end of May 2020.

July 1, 2019 – May 28, 2020

Reportable Individuals: 18,037

Participants: 10,330 • 7,184 ABE • 436 ASE • 2,710 ESL

Table 4b: 5,546 • 54% post-test rate • Of those post-tested, 70% made an EFL gain

Highest Measurable Skill Gain Age Group • 1,637 Participants • 16-18 year olds • 61% Table 4 average

Largest Age Group • 4,830 Participants • 25-44 year olds • 44% Table 4 average

Benchmarks Met: 73%

Current E&E: 45%