Advancing CA Adult Education

California adult education programs support adults 18 years and older to meet their educational, work, and life goals, and to ultimately be contributing, productive members of their local economy and communities. Advancing CA Adult Education is designed to be a repository of innovative, emerging, and model adult education programs throughout California that have demonstrated positive outcomes for students, agencies, and/or consortia. Model programs are reviewed and added to the repository via a nomination process and are awarded annually at the CAEP Summit. Beyond highlighting adult education programs, Advancing CA Adult Education is a source for current research and practice aligned to the state priorities, CCCCO Vision for Success and the CDE Superintendent’s Initiatives. Practitioners are also invited to connect with colleagues eager to share about their program successes either individually or via online communities of practice.

California Adult Education State Priorities

California adult education state priorities are aligned with the CCCCO’s Vision for Success goals and CDE’s Adult Education Office State Plan. Below, the state priorities are defined, and examples are provided. Examples are not all-inclusive of the programs/topics that could be nominated.

Learner Transition – Moving learners along in educational, career, or other paths is one measure of how we determine success. Programs aligned to this area may focus on college and career pathways, transition supports, or counseling and support services. Some examples include short-term CTE, integrated education and training, pre-apprenticeship, bridges and boot camps, and mirrored courses.

Program Development / Curriculum / Classroom - Constant program development is at the core of building stronger and relevant consortia and agencies. Programs in this area could focus on any of the approved CAEP program areas, annual and 3-year planning, building partnerships, leveraging funding, or implementing specialized programs, such as programs built around the immigrant integration framework.

Equity - Equity is about being fair and impartial with learners, partners, and the communities we serve. Programs aligned to this area may focus on methods for building cultural awareness and responsiveness, addressing equity in the classroom, addressing the achievement gap, or creating access, success, and transfer opportunities for historically disadvantage populations.

Leadership – Leadership deals with important things leaders need to know about successfully managing a consortium or managing an adult education K-12 Adult agency or non-credit program. Programs aligned to this area might focus on regional and local policies, developing systems, supervision and management of staff, organizational change, leveraging resources, or capacity building at the consortium and local level.

Technology & Distance Learning – This state priority focuses on the integration of technology into the educational and work environments as well as the implementation of blended or distance learning programs. Programs aligned to this area might include anything relating to reaching and serving adult learners at a distance, whether synchronously or asynchronously. Programs might also relate to a technology goal(s) that agencies or consortium have identified and implemented.

Program Evaluation – Ongoing assessment of programs is at the core of building stronger and relevant consortia and agencies. Programs aligned to this area could focus on using data to inform consortia annual and 3-year planning, programming, and instruction, evaluation design, or engaging stakeholders in the evaluation process.

Marketing - Marketing programs and learner recruitment are ongoing responsibilities for consortium members. It is also vital that local communities understand and support regional consortia. Programs aligned to this area should share successful marketing strategies and practices, such as employing social media in marketing, budgeting for marketing, using data to target marking efforts, or strategies for keeping marketing current and effective.

Advancing CA Adult Education Nomination Process

Successful CA adult education programs demonstrate equitable practices in the pursuit of student achievement, accelerating students’ paths to further education, training, or employment, transitioning students to training and education at the post-secondary level, and transitioning students to family-sustaining career opportunities. The CAEP invites consortia members and partners to nominate innovative, emerging, or model programs to be recognized for the Advancing CA Adult Education Award and recognition at the annual CAEP Summit. Successful applicants will also have their stories published on the Advancing CA Adult Education site and program leadership will be invited to be peer experts within CAEP’s online communities of practice. The CAEP Office, in partnership with the CAEP Technical Assistance Project (TAP), will create videos highlighting two top-scoring programs each year and the videos will be posted on the Advancing CA Adult Education site. To learn how to nominate a program and to submit an online nomination form, click on the Nomination tab.