Leadership magazine Nov/Dec 2015 V45 No 2 | Page 14
The mantra for the Adult Education Block Grant is
collaboration – community colleges, CBOs, libraries and
school districts all providing their services for supporting
learning of the students they serve.
• Programs in CTE should be connected
with districts’ college and career centers
and departments. Many short-term Career
Technical Education courses are entirely
appropriate for young people 18 and over
still enrolled in high school but who want
to begin their training for the future. For
example, many adult schools offer Certified Nursing Assistant training. CNA is the
first step of a long pathway for many young
adults leading to the numerous employment
opportunities in the medical career field.
Young people can take advantage of those
courses again under AEBG if they are 18
years of age.
• Finally, school districts should consider
pre-apprenticeship training programs. Some
of these programs can be coordinated with
related district programs such as Career
Pathways Trust, Perkins or CTE funded
programs. These programs lead to apprenticeship programs. For example in Hacienda
La Puente, they offer pre-apprenticeships
with a number of local programs they partner with, including laborers (through a helmets to hardhats initiative), heat and frost
insulators, cement masons, landscape irriga14
Leadership
tion fitters, brick tenders, pavement stripers,
glaziers and cosmetology.
For the most part, these programs provide middle class incomes for program
graduates and skills that are needed in tomorrow’s workforce. Parents of school-age
children can take advantage of these programs, thereby lifting entire families out
of poverty and into the middle class. High
school students also could enroll as long as
it is approved by their district and they are
18 or over.
Keep in mind that school districts can use
LCAP funds on any of these areas in addition to AEBG funds. The age factor doesn’t
matter if districts choose to apply LCAP
funds to any of the AEBG program areas.
Also keep in mind that most of these programs have very low cost or no fees, which
is essential for the many low-income parents
and community members districts serve.
These ideas are just a few for districts to
consider, and more will emerge as AEBG
continues to launch this year and into the
future. AEBG plans are revisited on an annual basis. In order to enact the suggestions
mentioned, districts need to join their local
regional consortium and make sure their
needs are being stated. Now is the time to
rethink how your district might benefit
from AEBG. n
Resources
• For more information about the
Adult Education Block Grant, please go to
http://aebg.cccco.edu.
• “Improving mothers’ literacy skills may
be best way to boost children’s achievement,”
National Institutes of Health (2010), http://
w w w.nih.gov/news/ hea lth /oct 2010/
nichd-25.htm.
• Project SEARCH, business-based high
school transition program developed at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center,
www.projectsearch.us.
Christian Nelson is a visiting educator
from Oakland Unified School District,
now serving as the state director for
Adult Education with the California
Department of Education. He can be
reached at [email protected].