Virtual Academy

Click here to access Accelerating Opportunity’s Virtual Academy, a collection of tools and resources that can help states and colleges develop and implement integrated pathways from Adult Basic Education to credit-level career and technical programs.

Virtual Academy
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Background

This initiative aims to change the way Adult Basic Education is structured and delivered at the state and institutional level.

Many students see ABE programs as an entry point for occupational programs and marketable credentials, but few ever achieve that goal. According to one study, only 3 percent of the students who started their educational pathway in ABE went on to earn a credential.

Nationwide, we must increase the number of adults with the education and skill levels to enroll in and complete postsecondary training. We know that one of the only ways to climb out of poverty is to have a credential with labor market value, yet many low-income adults who do enter credit-level programs tend to leave without finishing.

Improving these outcomes is imperative for our country to be competitive in the global economy and for individuals to earn a sustainable living.
Challenge   Solution
Education programs are profoundly disconnected. Transform institutions and analyze state policy to better align programs and funding sources
Instructional models are inadequate. Design program and instructional strategies that improve the overall ABE instruction and sequencing
Supports are lacking. Provide comprehensive support services to address academic and social obligations
Labor market payoffs are limited. Link program development with current and projected labor market demands and include employer input in the program design

Barriers to Student Success

Foundational research by JFF in 2004 and 2005 identified key institutional and individual barriers that low-income adults must overcome in order to increase their skills to the point needed to enter and complete credit-level professional/technical degree programs. These are:

Education programs are profoundly disconnected.
Even when ABE is offered by and at the community colleges (which occurs in less than 30 percent of the states), programs exist in “silos,” with funding sources, performance goals, data systems, and reporting requirements. Moreover, they are often disconnected from the “for credit” side of the college.		 Instructional models are inadequate.
The structure of most ABE programs is linear and lengthy, with minimal focus on preparing students for a transition to postsecondary education. In addition, most precollege programs have standardized content, with minimal customization to students’ specific skill gaps. Often, students sit through courses teaching them material they already know.
Supports are lacking.
Adults typically juggle classes with work and family obligations; many study late at night after their children are asleep. Too few academic and social supports are available to students in ABE programs, the very students who often need the most support.

Labor market payoffs are limited.
ABE programs lack work-related content, structures that accommodate working people, and modular credentials that link advances in learning to job payoffs. Programs tend to contextualize instruction around life skills and work readiness rather than specific career fields. In addition, students often must progress to at least the eighth-grade level before entering a certificate program, further delaying any labor market payoff.

Accelerating Opportunity aims to address these systemic issues so that more adult learners can access the education and training they need to support their families and begin a successful career. See the Initiative Goals >

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Accelerating Opportunity is a community college initiative of Jobs for the Future, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Kresge Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, and in partnership with Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, the National Council for Workforce Education, and The National College Transition Network.