Planning Grant for Institution Level Reform for Adult Technological Education

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Five ATE Centers addressing technician education in different contexts work together with the Council on Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) to define a basis for institutional reform practices at their institutions. The planning process identifies commonalities and variability in institutional practices, and includes documentation of strengths in serving adults. The results of this pilot research suggest directions for further research that can clarify the relationships of the centers and institutions with their adult learners as they prepare for careers in the high performance industry. The project identifies effective practices and key impacts of the ATE program and helps identify routes to institutional reform through the program that best serve adult learners as well as younger students. Questions to be addressed include reaching out to underserved populations, organizing solutions for credit for prior learning, balancing credit and non-credit offerings, and addressing the need to credentialize skills for portability. The colleges involved are Maricopa County Community College District, Springfield (MA) Technical Community College, Middlesex (NJ) Community College, College of the Mainland, and San Francisco City College.