Baton Rouge, La. - The Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) has been awarded a $15,000 Pathway 2 Tomorrow (P2T): Local Visions for America's Future grant. The LCTCS proposal was one of 24 proposals selected from 240 submissions across 39 states. The goal of the P2T Call for Proposals was to hear locally responsive ideas with the potential to transform the education system at the state and local levels. As a recipient of the $15,000 grant, LCTCS is eligible to receive the Innovation Award of $100,000. P2T will announce the $100,000 recipient later this month.
The LCTCS proposal focused on advancing the attainment rate of working-age-adults by improving services to adult learners by partnering with the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) to implement the CAEL "Adult Learner 360" self-assessment. The initial $15,000 funding will allow the system to pilot and administer the CAEL assessment, which focuses on ten areas/principles that improve adult learner retention, progression, and graduation. They are: adaptivity, assessment of learning outcomes, financing, life and career planning, outreach, technology, strategic partnerships, student support systems, teaching and learning process, and transitions.
According to 2017 data from the American Community Survey conducted annually by the US Census Bureau, there are nearly 1.2 million working-age-adults in Louisiana with a high school diploma or less.
"Over the past 5 years, we have undertaken several statewide policy initiatives to better serve the adult population of Louisiana," said Dr. Emily Campbell, LCTCS, chief enrollment management officer. "As a result, our colleges offer comprehensive support for Louisiana's working-age adults, from high school equivalency to post-secondary credential to high-wage, high-demand careers. These efforts were recognized in the selection process for this nationally competitive grant. But work remains, and funding from this grant will allow us to further identify gaps in services for Louisiana's adult learners so that we can restructure policies and services to continue to scale our efforts. We are grateful to have been selected given the highly competitive pool, and we look forward to utilizing the funds to build a brighter economic future for the State of Louisiana."
P2T received proposals from policymakers, entrepreneurs, educators, parents, researchers, advocates, nonprofits and business leaders. Submitted proposal topics ranged from closing the skills gap, teacher recruitment and preparation, personalized learning, higher education debt relief and more.
"Through P2T's Call for Proposals, it is clear that individuals from across the country are committed to improving our education systems and seek to build upon the foundation to push existing boundaries and reach new ones," said Hanna Skandera, former New Mexico secretary of education and P2T visionary. "We are confident that these game-changing ideas will impact students, schools and communities across the country. We're thrilled to be working with these individuals to refine and expand on the proposed solutions and report on their impact."
The submitted proposals were reviewed by more than 30 cross-professional leaders.The selected proposals demonstrated established need, were research-informed, innovative, encompassed a clear path to implementation and anticipated significant results.
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