Unique Adult Programs

By Joe Haynes, Troy Rector, and Sean Rodgers

EDAC 631 Adult and Community Education

Ball State University

Introduction

The two adult education programs that Group 5 reviewed are Conservation Legacy Program under the Texas Wildlife Association and the Illinois Shifting Gears Program under several state of Illinois government offices. Although these two programs are very different and unlike many other programs, there are some similarities that can be seen and that emphasize adult and community education. Each program has its own set of learners as well as purposes and goals, yet there are common ground that can be seen in most adult and community education programs.

Conservation Legacy Program

Conservation Program Coordinator, Clint Faas (personal communication, October 27, 2014) states, "My responsibility through the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA) falls under our Conservation Legacy (CL) program area. CL is divided into Adult and Youth Education with staff working on both sides. As far as a program name, we typically refer to all of my programs collectively as adult education. Within Adult Education we offer quite a few educational opportunities throughout the year."

Sub-programs

Listing of such programs are as follows:

Wildlife for Lunch Webinars: Free monthly webinars offered the 3rd Thursday of every month. Topics range from game and non-game animals to nuisance wildlife control to using cattle for managing wildlife and to habitat management techniques.

Texas Deer Study Group: A 1.5 day workshop focusing on white-tailed deer management and current research.

QuailMasters: Intensive quail management workshop. Four 2.5 day sessions that cover in-depth biology of quail, their habitat requirements and management. Students can also get credit for graduate courses.

Women of the Land: Program specifically for women. There are two workshops; one that introduces the concepts of wildlife ecology and management and a second that gets ladies involved in the hands-on aspect of management (tractor driving, chainsaw, prescribed burning, etc.).

Land Contractors workshop: Teach brush management, contractors and equipment operators about natural resource and wildlife management.

Lone Star Water Forum: Statewide forum. Each year we have a different topic that discusses new issues with our states water supply.

South Texas Wildlife Conference: Regional event that focuses on various types of wildlife management. Typically deer and quail.

There are also various educational programs in conjunction with the Annual Convention, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, etc.

Location(s)

Clint Faas is located in San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Faas states, "The locations vary depending on the specific program. Some programs are held at the same venue from year to year. For the one’s that aren’t we try to move them around the state to get people from different areas involved. Because of the size of the state it is sometimes hard to reach all areas but we try to not leave any area out."

Educational Purpose

Mr. Faas stated, "The specific purpose of each workshop may vary (e.g. deer, quail, and water). In general we want to educate landowners, managers, hunters and wildlife enthusiasts about sound land stewardship, natural resource management, wildlife and habitat management and any concerns they may encounter in regards to private landowner rights."

Educational perspective

"Try to educate from a neutral perspective. Simply state the facts and try not to lean towards any side of a controversial issue. Strive to be a voice for the private landowner and want to work to ensure that tomorrow’s generation is able to enjoy the rich diversity and quality of wildlife that we enjoy today. TWA’s mission statement is “Serving Texas wildlife and its habitat, while protecting property rights, hunting heritage, and the conservation efforts of those who value and steward wildlife resources.” “In our Adult Ed programs we try to follow this mission in any material presented."(Faas, 2014)

Learners

"The audience varies depending on the presentation. Most of our attendees are landowners, land managers or hunters. However, we do have a large number of people that work for state or federal agencies as well as non-hunting wildlife enthusiasts that attend our programs."(Faas, 2014)

Mr. Faas also stated, "About thirty years ago, five ranchers, wildlife managers and hunters who were dedicated to the conversation, managements, and enhancement of wildlife and wildlife habitat on private lands wanted more of a voice in the debates over how land, animals, and environment were treated. So around 1985, they started the Texas Wildlife Association. After the founding of TWA, there grew a desire to reach out to larger numbers of individuals to offer educational programs about the management of their resources and issues that may come up that work against their rights as private landowners. From this came the Adult Education program. Since Texas is 95 percent private land, Texas hunters, anglers, wildlife watchers and conservationists recognized the necessity of working cooperatively with private landowners on wildlife, habitat and conservation issues."

Purpose and Implications

I asked Mr. Faas if he knew of any neighboring states that had similar programs to his. He stated, "To my knowledge, there are no programs like TWA in bordering states. There are likely educational programs that are similar offered by other groups like Extension Services, Parks and Wildlife or Department of Natural Resource service." Mr. Faas also stated, "To belong to the Association, there were varying levels of membership...Being a non-profit, the membership fees go directly back into the mission of the organization...The cost for each program varies depending on what type of program it is, what it costs to put it on and which groups or cooperating agencies are helping put it on. They ranged from no cost up to around $400. I would say the average cost of participation is around $40-$50 for a one-day program."

I asked Mr. Faas, "These programs seem very important to the State of Texas. Being out of the state, was there any way I could bring awareness to these issues?" He replied, "There are several ways to raise awareness to TWA and our programs. The first and easiest would be to direct people to our website. There is a lot of information about what we do and what we are involved with (www.texas-wildlife.org). Although we focus on current issues in Texas wildlife, we do have members and supporters across the United States. Another way would be to take part in our free webinars. These are offered from noon-1 PM the third Thursday of every month. All the user has to do is log in and the presenter will go through the presentation as if it was face-to-face. Participants are able to ask questions and interact via a chat window. All of our webinars are archived and can be viewed free of charge on our website." http://www.texas-wildlife.org/resources/webcasts/category/webinars/

Illinois Shifting Gears (Bridge) Program

The Illinois Shifting Gears or Illinois Bridge program is actually a group of programs that is pledged to improving job perspectives for unskilled and low-skilled low wage adults in Illinois. The trend in the U.S. workforce is toward more educated workers. Research by the Work Force Alliance (as cited by Illinois Community College Board, 2013) shows that it is estimated that by the year 2020, 67% of all jobs in the United States will require a postsecondary degree. The American Community Survey of 2010 (as cited by the Illinois Community College Board, 2013) found that in Illinois, over three-quarters of a million people do not have high school diplomas and many adults lack the literacy skills needed to fufill the needs of potential employers.

The program started as part of the Shifting Gears Initiative, which was funded by the Joyce Group. The Joyce Group is an organization which commits funding towards programs that improve the welfare of the populace around the great lakes region. As such, the Shifting Gears Initiative was funded for job training programs in Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota. Each state was then expected to come up with specific initiatives and programs to implement. For instance, according to Roberts and Price (2014), in Indiana Shifting Gears funding, as well as other funding sources, were used to create the WorkINdiana program which provides industry recognized certifications in certain career fields.

The initiative was taken up in Illinois by the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). Both ICCB and DCEO has previously studied the situation and already had plans for the funds. The plan was to use community colleges to provide training and educational programs, possibly granting college credit, to setup specified curriculum.

Learners

The Illinois Shifting Gears program is for adults who are 16 years or older who have low to intermediate English skills and read at least at a sixth grade level. The participants may or may not have a high school credential and may be employed or unemployed. The programs can either be completed through one class, or through a series of classes. The bridge program is setup to focus on three different areas: contextualized instruction, career development, and support services. (1) Contextualized instructions provide the basic skills, including basic literacy, math and language proficiency; as well as, the learning specific occupational skills. (2) Career development provides instruction on including career path planning and development. (3) Support services provides the students with the necessary skills to help successfully navigate the process of transitioning from adult education classes to the work force which may include academic advising, tutoring, study skills, coaching, and referrals to improve their job outlook.

Subprograms

From 2009-2012, twenty three different bridge programs were established throughout Illinois (Office of Community College Research and Leadership, 2011-2012). These programs were established to depending on the recognized needs of the community. Each program developed its own curriculum, program specifics and success metrics. Also each program defined their goals, defined course description, developed a leadership team, established instructional methods, established targeted population and outlined assessment particulars. Most assessments are Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE). An important part of the program development was to establish partnership with outside organizations whose goals aligned closely with the program’s goals. These organizations could be other learning facilities, other adult education training centers and industrial potential employers.

The majority of these programs were related to health care career bridges (seventeen of the twenty three) with emphasis on educating adults about positions in the health care industry, especially nursing. Other programs involved manufacturing, hospitality and tourism, technical trade, early childhood development and transportation, distribution and logistics (TDL). Some of these programs also served to provides ESL services to adults, although most language skills were associated with the work place and desired occupation.

Program Model

One program example is Rock Valley College’s Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL) Bridge program. (http://www.rockvalleycollege.edu/Community/AEBridgePrograms.cfm). Rock Valley College (RVC) is located in Rockford, Illinois and this training is considered applicable for the community as there are distribution centers for Lowe’s, Bergner’s, and BONTON, and a UPS hub at the airport. The program meets for 16 hours a week (4 hours/4 days) with the program goals being to improve students’ basic communication skills, gain greater understanding of the TDL industry, and successfully transition students to TDL careers. Various instructional methods are used, including lectures, guest speakers, and hands on equipment training, online activities, and group projects. The targeted populations are community members whose reading comprehension is between the 6^th grade and 9^th grade level, with ESL student’s abilities at an intermediate level or higher. Assessment tests include TABE, BEST Literacy for ESL, ACT WorkKeys, and ACCUPLACER. Partnerships for the program include student services professional within the college, TDL professionals, General Mills, BONTON, Syncreon US Automotive, and United Parcel Systems (UPS). Since this program’s inception, RVC has created bridge programs for manufacturing and health care as well.

Purpose and Implications

The implications of the bridge programs have been impactful to individuals, employers, and the community. Individuals have been able to acquire post-secondary credentials, and move up to better jobs. These programs also help participants get an introduction to post-secondary education, as most of these programs are held at community colleges. Employers are impacted since they are able to find the necessary personnel to continue their operations in an area where they have established infrastructure. The community and State are impacted since the program helps move low-skilled and low-wage workers to better, more stable jobs. The Illinois Shifting Gears program has seen 766 students graduate. (Roberts and Price, 2014, 13). Of the states that were funded by the Shifting Gears Initiative, Illinois has had the most participants and seen the most program graduates.

Comparison

The above programs are very unique and much focused on the learners, the goals, and the overall purpose. Each of these also hold some fundamental aspects that can be seen throughout other adult and community education programs.

There are two big differences between the programs. The biggest difference is the specific learners. Although they are part of a community, the individuals are dynamically different in the programs. While the Conservation Legacy Program has adults who are landowners, cattlemen, and outdoors-men, the Illinois Shifting Gears Program has adults who are below their peers in reading comprehension. The contrast ranges from successful Texas cowboys to slow readers in Midwestern Illinois. The second biggest difference is the reason the programs exist. The overall purpose of each program is greatly different. While the Conservation Legacy program aims to inform, educate, and disseminate information about wildlife and saving the outdoor ecological systems, the Illinois Shifting Gears program seeks to increase the literacy levels while making individuals more employable. The contrast ranges from information distribution in Texas to reading comprehension increase in Illinois.

Implications

There is one big implication that all of the adult and community education field can take away from both programs. Adult Education needs to focus and be based at the community level. It is at the grass roots levels that adult and community education programs are most effective. Both Conservation Legacy and Illinois Shifting Gears programs are at the local levels, focusing on individual learners who are unique and have their own dynamic character traits. When the focus shifts off the community level, the ability to tailor programs towards the traits of the learners is lost. Both programs are prime examples of community based programs that focus in and are oriented towards the specific learners and adults that use them.

Conclusion

Illinois and Texas are very unique and different states. Each state has programs that focus on individual traits of learners. The Conservation Legacy Program in Texas focuses on wildlife preservation and outdoor information, target specific learners who work and live in the wildlife areas. The Illinois Shifting Gears Program focuses on reading comprehension and increasing the literacy as well as employability of Illinois' young adults. As different as the programs, the learners, and the objectives are, both programs are organized and ran at a community level. This grass roots, local interaction is the key to the success of these programs and examples for other adult and community education programs.

Program Name	Conservation Legacy Program	Illinois Bridge Program
Locations	Texas Wildlife/ Outdoors	Illinois Community Colleges and community centers.
Purposes	Educational and public voice to wildlife issues	Reading comprehension increase and employability
Learners	Cattlemen, outdoors men	Low income adults
Organization	Texas Wildlife Association	Shifting Gears Initiative
Differences	Successful businessmen focused on ecological preservation	Young adults who are trying to increase their reading comprehension and work skills.
Similarities	Community/ grass roots based	Community/ grass roots based

References

Adult Education. (2014). Texas Wildlife Association. Retrieved from http://www.texaswildlife.org/program-areas/category/adult-education

Adult Education Bride Programs. (2014). Rock Valley College. Retrieved from http://www.rockvalleycollege.edu/Community/AEBridgePrograms.cfm

Illinois Community College Board. (2013). Creating a sucessful bridge program: a “how-to” guide.

Springfield, IL: Author.

Office of Community College Research and Leadership. (2011). Bridge programs in Illinois project profiles. Champagin, IL: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Office of Community College Research and Leadership. (2012). Bridge programs in Illinois project profiles. Champagin, IL: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Roberts, B. & Price, D. (2014). Strengthening State Systems for adult learners: an evaluation of the first five years of shifitng gears. Chicago, IL: The Joyce Foundation.

Special thanks to Clint Faas for his time.