ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Bridge Programs in Illinois: Results of the 2010 Illinois Bridge Status Survey
Author: Taylor, J. L.
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Transitional Programs,Developmental Studies Programs,Program Evaluation,Program Implementation,Program Descriptions,Eligibility,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Credentials,Enrollment Trends,Program Design,Mail Surveys,Student Recruitment,Career Development,Outreach Programs

This report provides a summary of major results of the Illinois Bridge Status Survey, administered online between April and June 2010. The purpose of the survey was to understand the extent to which bridge programs are being implemented in Illinois, as well as to build an online directory of bridge programs. Bridge programs are an emerging educational concept in Illinois that are intended to help low-skilled adults transition to postsecondary education and employment. The state recently adopted a formal definition of bridge instruction as a result of Illinois' participation in the Shifting Gears Initiative. The adoption of the bridge definition is one of many ongoing policy-related activities associated with Shifting Gears and is intended to encourage local entities to develop and implement bridge programs that can take a variety of forms, including bridges that are associated with adult education, developmental education, and career and technical education (CTE). Although it is beyond the scope of this study to develop recommendations in relation to the bridge definition itself or other aspects of bridge policy, the authors do offer several recommendations regarding subsequent iterations of the bridge status survey. A list of their recommendations are included. Appended are: (1) Bridge Definition and Core Elements; and (2) Bridge Programs Under Development and Organizations Without a Current Bridge. (Contains 22 tables and 5 figures.) [This work was also supported by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.]
Measuring Success: David Conley's College Readiness Framework and the Illinois College and Career Readiness Act. In Brief
Author: Baber, Lorenzo D.
Date: 2010-08-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: College Preparation,Evaluation Methods,School Readiness,Readiness,Models,Alignment (Education),Career Education,Developmental Studies Programs,State Legislation,State Standards,Pilot Projects,State Programs,Multidimensional Scaling,Measurement Techniques

The purpose of this brief is to understand the Illinois College and Career Readiness (CCR) Act in light of David Conley's college readiness model. Although not mentioned specifically by the Illinois statute, evaluation results gathered by the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) show alignment between a number of programs and services that Illinois' CCR pilot sites are implementing and Conley's framework. There are also areas where Illinois' pilot sites are not aligned, suggesting opportunities to explore what is meant by college and career readiness and consider whether adopting additional dimensions of Conley's model would help the state move toward the goal of preparing all students for college and careers. Furthermore, a description of the evaluation methods is provided at the end of this &quot;BRIEF&quot;. (Contains 1 table.)
Innovative Contextualized Curriculum for a CNA to LPN Bridge Course. Promising Practice
Author: Illinois University, Office of Community College Research and Leadership
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Community Colleges,Nurses,Educational Practices,Educational Strategies,Barriers,Partnerships in Education,Nursing Education,Residential Institutions,College Preparation,Transitional Programs

As a pilot site selected to participate in Illinois' Shifting Gears (SG) initiative in 2007, Oakton Community College (OCC) partnered with Presbyterian Homes to develop a bridge course to prepare a cadre of their employed Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) to enter college-credit prerequisite courses to a Practical Nursing program. Oakton Community College, located in Skokie, Illinois, is a comprehensive community college serving 450,000 residents in suburban Chicago. Presbyterian Homes is a large, continuing care retirement community with over 1,600 residents among five campuses in Chicago and nearby suburban areas. The intended outcome of the contextualized bridge curriculum was to provide a short-term, engaging, accessible, developmental education experience to a select group of CNAs to prepare them for credit-level instruction. Shifting Gears is a workforce development initiative sponsored by the Joyce Foundation and in Illinois, also supported by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). In the first phase of SG, ten community colleges received grants to develop bridge courses to provide low-skilled or low-income adults with the training necessary to prepare them for high-demand, middle-skill jobs that provide family supporting wages. Three high-demand occupational clusters were targeted in the SG initiative: transportation-distribution-logistics, manufacturing, and health care. This paper provides a practice description of the bridge program, describes the challenges faced by the partner institutions and the strategies they used to overcome them, and discusses the outcomes of the initiative.
A Community College and Employer Partnership. Promising Practice
Author: Illinois University, Office of Community College Research and Leadership
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Community Colleges,Nurses,Partnerships in Education,Nursing Homes,Nursing Education,Residential Institutions,Educational Strategies,Barriers,Evidence,Educational Practices,Outreach Programs

As a pilot site selected to participate in Illinois' Shifting Gears (SG) initiative in 2007, Oakton Community College (OCC) partnered with Presbyterian Homes to develop a bridge course to prepare a cadre of their employed Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs) to enter college-credit level prerequisite courses to a Practical Nursing program. Oakton Community College is a comprehensive community college serving 450,000 residents in suburban Chicago. Presbyterian Homes is a large, continuing care retirement community with over 1,600 residents among five campuses in Chicago and nearby suburban areas. Shifting Gears is a workforce development initiative sponsored by the Joyce Foundation and in Illinois, also supported by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). In the first phase of SG, 10 community colleges received grants to develop bridge courses to provide low-skilled or low-income adults with the training necessary to prepare them for high-demand, middle-skill jobs that provide family supporting wages. Three high demand occupational clusters were targeted in the SG initiative: transportation-distribution-logistics, manufacturing, and health care. Like in most areas, the suburban Chicago area in which this practice was located suffers from an inadequate supply of skilled and credentialed healthcare workers to meet the demand. This paper describes the outcomes of this program. (Contains 2 footnotes.)
How Illinois' College and Career Readiness (CCR) Pilot Sites Address Five Key Goals. In Brief
Author: Castro, Erin L.
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Pilot Projects,Program Implementation,Program Effectiveness,Remedial Instruction,College Preparation,Career Education,School Readiness,State Legislation,Educational Objectives,Transitional Programs,Developmental Studies Programs,Alignment (Education),College School Cooperation,Educational Diagnosis

In 2007, the Illinois General Assembly passed Public Act 0950694, &quot;The College and Career Readiness Pilot Act&quot;, in an effort to reduce remediation within Illinois' community colleges. An important objective of this legislation was to better prepare students to be successful in transitioning from high school to college. According to the grant guidelines developed by the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB), recipients of the CCR pilot funds were expected to engage in activities to assist the Board in meeting the five elements of the Act, including the: (1) Diagnosis of college readiness by developing a system to align ACT scores to specific community college courses in developmental and freshman curriculums; (2) Reduction of remediation by decreasing the need for remedial coursework in mathematics, reading, and writing at the college level; (3) Alignment of high school and college curriculums; (4) Provision of resources and academic support to students to enrich the senior year of high school through remedial or advanced coursework and other interventions; and (5) Development of an appropriate evaluation process to measure the effectiveness of readiness intervention strategies. An external evaluation was funded by the ICCB to determine the impact of pilot programs funded by the CCR Act. Evidence of student outcomes, including student transition to the community college with reduced remedial courses were seen as measures that would help to determine the success of CCR; however, before student outcomes could be measured, it was important to understand how the pilot sites were implementing the CCR programs. What changes were community colleges and their high school partners making? What programs and services were they offering to improve students' math, reading and writing competencies? Beginning with program implementation during the 2007-08 year, the state's evaluation of the CCR pilot programs has documented the evolving partnerships between community colleges and local high schools and provided quantitative and qualitative evidence of the how CCR programs and services are being implemented. The evaluation used a mixed-method approach to assess college preparatory (pre-college remediation) programs involving five community colleges and their many high school partners. The authors' evaluation shows the pilot sites are making recommended changes in response to lessons learned about program implementation in year one, and they are likely to continue to do so as they participate in subsequent years with the CCR initiative. (Contains 1 table.)
Bridge Programs in Illinois: Summaries, Outcomes, and Cross-Site Findings
Author: Bragg, D.
Date: 2010-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Models,Outcomes of Education,Demonstration Programs,Policy Formation,Academic Support Services,Outreach Programs,Transitional Programs,Barriers,Program Implementation,Educational Strategies,Program Descriptions,Program Effectiveness,Comparative Analysis,Summative Evaluation,Educational Indicators,Educational Assessment

An increasing number of jobs in today's workforce require postsecondary education, yet large numbers of workers lack the essential skills and credentials to fill these jobs. The result is that many workers remain underemployed, reaching a ceiling early in their working careers. In 2007, the Joyce Foundation launched the Shifting Gears initiative to assist six Midwestern states--Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin--in linking education, workforce development, and economic development at the local and regional levels. The first phase of the Shifting Gears initiative in Illinois was aimed at two efforts: implementing demonstration projects to identify and resolve local policy and program issues that influence bridge program instruction and developing a policy agenda to support bridge program instruction at the state and local levels. The second phase of Shifting Gears continues to focus on policy development, with special emphasis on student support services, the use of data, communicating to broader audiences, sustainable bridge program models, and promising practices that can inform expansion of bridge programs. This report summarizes the evaluation of bridge demonstration programs conducted during Phase One of Shifting Gears in Illinois. It includes selected program and student outcomes data and provides the reader with some detail about college context, program goals, students served, promising practices, barriers, and policy change. The six sites selected for this report demonstrated student outcomes or developed implementation models that showed promise for replication and lessons that could be of value for colleges or other institutions interested in creating adult bridge programs for similar populations. Both qualitative and quantitative results from the six sites are included. Page 19 displays a table of student enrollments, characteristics, and sample outcomes. A discussion of the cross-site findings is included. (Contains 1 table.)
The Integral Role of Career Development in Supporting Programs of Study and Career Pathways. Transition Highlights. Issue 1
Author: Kalchik, Stephanie
Date: 2010-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: National Standards,Career Development,Program Evaluation,Program Descriptions,Program Implementation,Role Perception,Integrated Curriculum,Alignment (Education),Barriers,Educational Benefits,Social Services,Transitional Programs

According to Sears (1982), career development is &quot;the total constellation of economic, sociological, psychological, educational, physical, and chance factors that combine to shape one's career.&quot; This definition was advanced by the Illinois Career Development Task Force that engaged in more than a year of deliberation. Career development is grounded in career theory, including Super's (1957) life-span career theory. Applied to career development, the significance of Super's (1957) theory is that it emphasizes career development as an ongoing process that continues throughout an individual's life. Career development programs and services can assist to &quot;improve individual career awareness, exploration, choice, preparation, and management&quot;. Successful, ongoing career development helps individuals of all ages to make a variety of transitions throughout their lifetimes: between different levels of education, from education to work, and between work and education. This paper discusses the integral role of career development in supporting programs of study and career pathways. This paper discusses the following: (1) the importance and benefits of career development; (2) organization and implementation of career development; (3) how career development relates to programs of study and career pathways; (4) the roles of career development; Programs of Study (POS), and Career Pathways; (5) the integration of career development, POS, and Career Pathways; (6) career services providers' role in career development; (7) the challenges to career development; (8) the challenges to guidance counselling; (9) the national standards aligning school counselling and career development; and (10) the next steps to the implementation of a comprehensive career development system.
Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts: End of Year Report, 2009-2010
Author: Pennsylvania Department of Education
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Preschool Education,Nursery Schools,Kindergarten,Young Children,At Risk Persons,Early Intervention,Numeracy,Accountability,Grants,Program Evaluation

Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts was created to provide research-based, high quality pre-kindergarten opportunities to at-risk children across the commonwealth by leveraging the existing early education services in schools, Keystone STARS child care programs, Head Start, and licensed nursery schools. The standards are high and the accountability comprehensive. The dedication to quality results in consistently excellent outcomes for children. This paper serves as the program's end of the year report for 2009-2010. This year's performance is consistent with the first two years; the program's high quality and comprehensive accountability are resulting in documented positive outcomes for children. Highlights to the report include: (1) Nearly every child (over 98 percent) showed age-appropriate or emerging age-appropriate proficiency in literacy, numeracy, and social skills after attending the PA Pre-K Counts program; (2) More than 70 percent of children who attended Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts finished the school year with age-appropriate proficiency in literacy, numeracy and social skills; and (3) Nearly 25 percent more lead teachers in PA Pre-K Counts classrooms are ECE-Certified than in 2008-2009. The report also provides details as to the successes in PA Pre-K Count graduates excelling in Kindergarten, how PA Pre-K Counts is reducing the need for special education services and how PA Pre-K Counts is getting parents involved in their children's early learning. Appendices include: (1) Chart of Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Grantees; (2) Number of 3 and 4 Year Olds Served by Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, by County; (3) Selection of Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Grantees; (4) 2009-2010 Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Guidance &amp; Application, continuation grants; (5) 2009-2010 Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Guidance &amp; Application, new/expansion grants; (6) List of deadlines for Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts 2009-2010 application process; (7) List of Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Applicants and Funding Status; and (8) ELS Announcement regarding the Peer Review Instrument (PRI). (Contains 26 endnotes.
The Theory and Application of Contextualized Teaching and Learning in Relation to Programs of Study and Career Pathways. Transition Highlights. Issue 2
Author: Kalchik, Stephanie
Date: 2010-09-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Strategies,Integrated Curriculum,Curriculum Development,Active Learning,Educational Change,Vocational Education,Student Experience,Models,Career Development

Contextualized Teaching and Learning (CTL), also known as Contextualized Instruction, is defined as a "diverse family of instructional strategies designed to more seamlessly link the learning of foundational skills and academic or occupational content by focusing teaching and learning squarely on concrete applications in a specific context that is of interest to the student" (Mazzeo, 2008, p. 3; see also Medrich, Calderon, & Hoachlander, 2003). In other words, CTL is a process built on the recognition that some students learn more effectively when they are taught in a hands-on, real-world context rather than in an abstract manner. The primary goal of CTL is to utilize the "context supported by traditional academics to drive instruction" thus engaging students in active learning to assist them in making meaning (N. N. Badway, personal communication, August 1, 2010). Cross-curriculum integration is an important part of CTL that connects academic and career and technical education (CTE). The primary benefit of this strategy is that "students experience the subject matter as connected and reinforcing, rather than separate and unrelated" (Chernus & Fowler, 2009, p. 6). This paper discusses the following: (1) theoretical roots and implications of CTL; (2) the relationship of CTL to Programs of Study (POS) and Career Pathways; (3) challenges of implementing CTL; and (4) recommendations for CTL implementation.
Development of a Contextualized ESL Bridge Curriculum. Promising Practice
Author: Illinois University, Office of Community College Research and Leadership
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Transportation,Adult Education,Educational Practices,English (Second Language),Transitional Programs,Academic Support Services,Educational Strategies,Program Descriptions,Barriers,Educational Resources,Evidence,Outreach Programs

Black Hawk College (BHC) is a comprehensive community college serving all or part of nine counties and a population of approximately 224,510 residents in a mostly rural area of north-west Illinois. This practice was fully developed and implemented for the Shifting Gears (SG) initiative during the 2007-08 academic years. Heeding BHC's strategic plans to expand the student base to include their relatively large population of adult education students, the timing of development of the bridge for adult learners was fortuitous. Coinciding with SG, college administrators were looking for a program offering that would provide adults with a credential to secure employment or improve their career opportunities in a relatively short amount of time. Based on several carefully considered factors, the college chose the Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL) industry sector to develop the bridge, as the college's geographic location is a hub of transportation on the Mississippi River and on a major east-west interstate (I-80). Also, the college had existing courses and programs in the logistics area. To help address the educational and employment needs of a relatively large English language learner population (800-900 students annually) the College developed an occupationally contextualized bridge course for English as Second Language (ESL) adult education students interested in careers in TDL. The 16-week, ESL bridge course was developed to address two goals: (1) contextualize a standard adult education ESL course to prepare students to transition into the WDS certificate program; and (2) provide comprehensive support services including tutoring, learning communities, targeted use of instructional software, and career counseling to enhance students' success.
The Relation of the Response Distribution to Self-Report Questionnaire Items and Cognitive Ability among School-Aged Children
Author: Stapleton, Laura M.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Health Services,Child Health,Measures (Individuals),Data Collection,Grade 4,Probability,Cognitive Ability,Questionnaires,Elementary School Students,Validity,Surveys,Responses,Correlation,Age Differences,Reading Ability,Self Evaluation (Individuals),Management Systems

This proposed research is part of an on-going line of research of developing questionnaire instruments for use at the elementary school level. Because field trials often use child self-report as outcome measures and sometimes determine implementation fidelity using such measures, evaluation of the validity of the use of such measures with school-aged children is important. Additionally, schools seek to evaluate their learning environments by surveying students, thus it is crucial to determine how to obtain valid measurement of student perceptions. Specifically, this research proposes to answer the following general question: Does the cognitive age of the respondent relate to the likelihood of selecting certain response options? The research is being undertaken using two sources of secondary data: one collected via a national probability sample and one collected within a health management data collection system in Pennsylvania. Specifically, the first set of data is from the PIRLS, an international survey of 4th grade children and their experiences and ability in reading. The data used in this study only include responses from U.S. students. Preliminary analyses, using data from PIRLS, indicate that of the five questions that were examined, two fully support the hypothesis (the first and last) and mixed results were found for the remaining three questions. Preliminary analyses were conducted on the first plausible value only and thus sampling variance across plausible values has not been taken into account. The results combining the five analyses across plausible values will be conducted in October. The data from the mental health service are in the process of undergoing data quality checks and will be analyzed in November and December. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)