TRANSITION TO POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION

Louisville is home to 29 postsecondary institutions: 9 four-year colleges and universities and 20 community and technical colleges. Partnerships with JCPS and JCPSAE are in place at many of these institutions, and efforts are now underway—through the Workforce Education Initiative—to coordinate and expand these partnerships.

The partnership between JCPSAE and Jefferson Community College (JCC) exemplifies Louisville's pragmatic approach to making the most of available resources and encouraging learners to "go higher." At JCC, some 85 percent of incoming students need remediation in math, and more than 40 percent need it in reading. Twenty percent of students enrolling at JCC are GED graduates. After many fits and starts, the partnership began to thrive when JCPS Adult Education made available to JCC students the district's PLATO remediation software, a resource the college lacked. PLATO is an adult education learning system, available in Web-based and CD-ROM formats, with curriculum in reading and writing, math, social studies, science, English literacy, work skills, and life skills.

Staff also collaborated to align the tests used by JCPS Adult Education and JCC. They worked with American College Testing (ACT) to correlate the TABE with the COMPASS exam, a computerized entrance exam required by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System if a student scores below 18 on the ACT or does not take the ACT. JCPSAE must have a grade-level equivalent score on the TABE to enroll a student, but the COMPASS exam does not have such scores. Staff now use a concordance table to determine what score on the COMPASS is equal to a specific grade-level equivalent on the TABE. This alignment simplifies referrals between JCC and JCPSAE, and students can enroll in both JCC and adult education, depending on their abilities, and easily move between the two programs. JCC operates on a semester schedule, while JCPSAE programs are open-entry/open-exit. If students need remediation, they can enroll in adult education immediately, without waiting for a new semester to begin.

This partnership expands staff capacity and hours of instruction for JCC students at the same time as it smoothes the way for JCPS adult education students to enroll in JCC. JCC students become familiar with the adult education sites and teachers and that makes it easier for them to shift to adult education classes when necessary. JCC students come to adult education sites to use the PLATO system, and adult education instructors team-teach with JCC faculty. At one campus, JCC students learn side-by-side with adult education students and community members taught by JCPS adult education instructors. For the adult education students, having college students studying alongside them is "cool" and makes postsecondary education seem more attainable.

The partners say their biggest challenge was learning to trust each other. Initially, for example, JCC faculty worried that the adult education instructors would take their jobs. They credit the Brookings report with making clear that their goals are the same and that they are largely serving the same population. Now they know that each can contribute resources the other lacks to their students' education. They also appreciate the opportunity to share information and strategies and would like even more opportunities to collaborate. The partnership now has a memorandum of understanding that outlines an interagency referral system, a steering committee for the partnership, and a mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of the partnership.