Not a GED, Get a Accredited Diploma through a Public Library

Here is an interesting twist to helping adults get a high school diploma through a public library.  This is not the GED. It is an accreidted program working with a private company in Pensacola!
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LOS ANGELES (AP/CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles Public Library is evolving from a place where people can check out books and surf the Web to one where residents can also earn an accredited high school diploma.

KNX 1070′s Jon Baird reports the library announced Thursday that it is teaming up with a private online learning company to debut the program for high school dropouts, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

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Free Webinar Researching Transition of ABE students to College

Group: Adult English Language Learners Bulletin: Free Webinar - Findings from the Adult Transitions Longitudinal Study (New) Courtesy of Priyanka.Sharma Findings from the Adult Transitions Longitudinal Study (2-Part Webinar) Tuesday, February 11th, 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST AND Tuesday, March 4th, 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST The National College Transition Network at World Education, Inc invites you to a free 2-part webinar to learn about the findings from the ATLAS study, implemented by UMass Amherst and World Education with funding from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. ATLAS followed over 200 ABE-to-College transition course participants for five years to uncover the factors that influenced them in enrolling, persisting, and succeeding in college. The question driving this research was: What are the educational outcomes for adults participating in a transition- to-college course, and what are the factors individual, program, institutional that influence these outcomes? In this study, 220 adults were interviewed who participated in one of 11 ABE-to-College transition programs in fall 2007 or spring 2008. We followed them for five years, interviewing them each year, asking them about their college status and about their individual, family, and work lives, to uncover the supports and barriers to enrolling, persisting and succeeding in college. Using both quantitative and qualitative data analysis, this session will present the key findings about transition course program features that support successful college trajectories and findings about factors that help or hinder adult students to go to col lege. After learning these findings, participants will work with others to discuss the implications of these findings for their own work in college transitions. Presenter: Cristine Smith is an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Previously, she served as Deputy Director of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy at World Education, Inc. REGISTER NOW ~ Priyanka Sharma -- Comment on this Bulletin This is an automatic message from the LINCS Community. Manage your email subscriptions

Mental Health and Adult Literacy Webinars in Feb

Group: Disabilities in Adult Education Discussion Topic: Mental Health in Public Schools Laura Weisel's comment on the Discussion Mental Health Issues in Adult Education Greetings!   I wanted to promote a NAASLN webinar that I will be hosting in February that should be very interesting to adult educators in light of all of the crisis situations occurring through out the US related to mental health issues going untreated. Mental Health Issues - What to Look For, How to Manage, and When to Call for Help - Two Parts February 3 & 4, 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM EST This double session will first offer a basic understanding of mental health:  categories of symptoms, treatment, general overall approach to working with individuals with mental health and addiction issues. The second session will target what to do when students demonstrate mental health issues, disclose mental health concerns or conditions, resources, and specific responses to specific situations.  Here is a link to the registration page for this two-part webinar:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mental-health-issues-what-to-look-for-how-to-manage-and-when-to-call-for-help-two-parts-february-3-registration-10192759819 As part of the next edition of KET's Adult Learning Quarterly that will be out soon - you may want to look up their interview with me on the topice of Emotions and Learning.  This piece is very informative piece and for individuals interested in how emotions effect learning the article will be very helpful in better understanding what impacts a persons learning - or lack thereof. In addition, NAASLN is also offering a session as a follow-up to the Mental Health Issues webinar: Academic and Personal Counseling Techniques for Adults with Learning Challenges February 19, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM EST Richard Cooper will be doing a follow-up session on counseling individuals with special learning needs:  Academic and Personal Counseling Techniques for Adults with Learning Challenges.  In this session, Dr. Cooper will be pooling his counseling experiences of working with individuals struggling with learning.  Dr. Cooper will give real life examples of students that he has and is currently working with along with their academic, social, and personal challenges that are typical in the adult population we serve.  Most importantly, Dr. Cooper will offer a set of recommendations and techniques for knowing how to listen, align, identify underlying issues, and ways to begin resolution while building insight. Here is a link to register for Dr. Cooper's webinar:  https://www. eventbrite.com/e/academic-and-personal-counseling-techniques-for-adults-with-learning-challenges-registration-10203162935 Laura Weisel, Ph.D., Research and Innovation The TLP Group, Columbus, OH dr.weisel@powerpath.com 614.850.8677 - Laura Weisel Reply to this comment Original text from the Discussion: Mental Health in Public Schools School officials around the U.S. are searching for the best way to offer mental health services in an underfunded system. "We have schools screening for all kinds of rare infectious diseases, and then we don't screen for common behavioral disorders that are costly to the individual, the family and society," said Mike Dennis, of Chestnut Health Systems. He teaches clinicians in 49 states how to assess and treat patients with mental illness and substance abuse. The U.S. Surgeon General reports that 10 percent of children and adolescents suffer from serious emotional and mental disorders that significantly affect their daily lives. A decade ago, federal health officials recommended universal mental health screenings for students, but it's still not required. An Associated Press review of policies around the nation shows screenings vary widely. There's no consistency on whether the schools screen, at what age they screen and what they screen for. The federal government does not keep track of school mental health screening, so it's all but impossible to say how many schools offer it. The offerings vary from intensive services to virtually none at all. "No state is providing high-end services in all of their schools," said Sharon Stephan, co-director of the Center for School Mental Health, a national organization that provides training for schools and mental health providers. Mental health issues typically start during adolescence, but many people are not diagnosed until later in life when they don't have access to services because they don't have health insurance or their insurance doesn't cover it. However, offering mental health screening in schools can raise other complex issues. Some warn that mass screenings will over-diagnose students and stigmatize them with a life-long label. Some say mass screenings could uncover mental health problems that schools lack resources to treat. "Once we screen and assess and discover the need, I think it's our responsibility to have the resources in place to service every one of those needs that are uncovered," said Denise Wheatley-Rowe, of Behavioral Health System Baltimore. The organization developed a system that has gained national recognition using a team of school officials and community mental health experts to target students most in need. The program helps nearly 7,000 children a year. The team identifies children who may need help based on factors like whether they have a parent in prison or who struggles with substance abuse. It also scans data for those struggling academically and behaviorally, including those with high truancy or suspension rates, and then offers individual counseling or family therapy based on the student's need. What do group members think about the possibility of mental health testing for adult education programs? Do any of you work in programs that offer such services? Rochelle Kenyon, SME -- Comment on this Discussion This is an automatic message from the LINCS Community. Manage your email subscriptions

Nonprofit Status

Volunteer Literacy Programs are often nonprofit community based groups. There is a January 15 webinar on Maintaining Your Nonprofit's 501 (c) (3) Tax-Exempt Status that you may want to watch to learn more about managing a nonprofit organization. 

Beyond the GED: Promising Models for Moving High School Dropouts to College (New)

Group: Program Management
Discussion: Program Models: Beyond the GED: Promising Models for Moving High School Dropouts to College (New)
Courtesy of gailcope

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Good evening all! I want to share with you a great article, Beyond the GED: Promising Models for Moving High School Dropouts to College.  The article, recently released by MDRC, highlights two models, the I-BEST and the LaGuardia Community College GED Bridge Program.  A summary of the article follows: “Emphasizing results from quasi-experimental and experimental research, this literature review identifies the most promising approaches for increasing dropouts’ rate of attaining a GED certificate or other high school credential and making a successful transition to college. The report divides these recent interventions into three primary types of adult education reforms: (1) efforts to increase the rigor of adult education instruction and the standards for achieving a credential; (2) GED-to-college “bridge” programs, which integrate academic preparation with increased supports for students’ transition to college; and (3) interventions that allow students to enroll in college while studying to earn a high school credential. Though rigorous research on these reforms is limited, two available studies suggest that programs that contextualize basic skills and GED instruction within specific career fields and that support students in their transition to college show promise in increasing the rate of students’ persistence, earning a high school credential, and entering and succeeding in college. In comparison with traditional adult education programs, these models tend to (1) provide more coherent and relevant instruction through curricula that better align with students’ career goals; (2) provide increased connections with colleges and vocational training programs; and (3) build in an advising component that fosters students’ engagement in the program and supports their transition to college.” Here is the link to the full article: http://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/Beyond_the_GED_FR_0.pdf Please share your thoughts and reactions to the article and let us know how you have used such models in your programs.  I look forward to hearing from you! Gail Cope, SME, LINCS Program Management Group

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