Community Partners Enhance Skills and Open Doors to Higher Education

• In Event: Integrating Public Leadership to Enhance Access to Knowledge

Short Description

This paper will present findings from a study investigating a collaborative literacy project among higher education, nonprofit, and state agencies.

Detailed Abstract

Skilled workforce is one key to strengthen a state and a nation. As the Pathways to Prosperity Project (2011) indicates preparation of individuals to lead successful lives is an obligation of society. Further it suggests the source to this preparation lies in the foundation of literacy, numeracy, and thinking skills which in turn yield career development, lifelong learning, and responsible citizenship.
The demand for an educated workforce is increasing. In fact, by 2018, it is projected that approximately two-thirds of jobs will require some higher education or better (Carnevale, Smith, and Strohl, 2010). Community Colleges provide one path to educating the workforce by offering associates degrees, certificates, and licenses. The Pathways to Prosperity Project (2011) noted that twenty-seven percent of those with credentials short of an associate’s degree average more in earnings than those with a bachelor’s degree. While the Community Colleges have an opportunity to serve, they are excluding a population that have the potential to enter and/or remain in the skilled workforce yet do not pass the college’s reading admissions examination.
The purpose of this paper is to describe how a nonprofit literacy group in partnership with a two-year college has begun to assist these adult learners. Participants in the literacy program participate in an eight to ten week program hosted by the two-year college and led by the nonprofit agency. The nonprofit has successfully graduated two cohorts of students. Ninety-eight percent of the graduates have gained admission into college level courses, some bypassing remedial or zero-credit basic courses. Both the two-year college and the nonprofit agency are enthusiastic about sustaining the program and prompting a model that might be implemented state-wide. To evaluate and initiate this work, they have enlisted doctoral students from the PhD in Leadership program at a neighboring university. Students from the doctoral program will present findings about the need of educating a workforce, a population often invisible to higher education. They will also present findings on the essential and potential components of the program and the network of agencies and institutions necessary for sustainable growth. Data collected and analyzed from the literacy student focus groups, student demographic and test data, and interview themes with various stakeholders will be presented.
In addition to discussing the need, program evaluation, and sustainability; this research has the potential to improve literacy skills, increase access to higher education, address poverty, and add to the skilled workforce labor. Furthermore, the researchers hope to inspire similar programs on the state, national, and international stage. The field-based research and the collaborative project exemplify the importance of integrative leadership as a working model for widening the access to higher education.
Student researchers are currently drafting research plans and seeking IRB approval. They will address how the integration of these public services may provide strategies for improving the literacy of the skilled workforce. Surveys, interviews, and mapping networks will be data collection strategies.

Participants

• Elizabeth D LeQuieu, University of Central Arkansas

• Ferris Delph-Jackson, University of Central Arkansas

• Kateryna Ligon, Central Baptist College