Adult Education: Providing High Value to Under-Prepared Students in Minnesota State Colleges

You may know that the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is obligated to serve adult students at all levels of academic preparedness for the rigors of college course offerings. Unfortunately, a significant number of enrolled students are deficient in the areas of English, reading, writing, and math skills, seriously hindering their chances of achieving college and career success.

For many years, students experiencing these types of academic skill deficiencies have been placed in non-credit bearing Developmental Education (Dev Ed) courses. Too often, far too many students languish in these situations, drop out, or complete the coursework at lower functional levels, placing them at higher risk of non-satisfactory completion of credit-bearing courses and programs of study. The result can be college debt accumulation without attaining the credentials or degree being sought, and lesser access to desired entry-level career opportunities.

Dev Ed/ABE partnerships

Five years ago, statewide efforts were initiated to explore, inventory, support, and inspire Dev Ed partnerships involving Adult [Basic] Education and Minnesota State college campuses to ensure students experienced significantly higher degrees of retention and completion success, readying them for rigorous credit-bearing coursework. By nearly all accounts and measures, these partnerships report significantly higher levels of student satisfaction and Dev Ed course completion than courses without the aid of adult education practitioners.

The new corequisite model

Nearly two years ago, the Minnesota State system, under scrutiny from the Minnesota State Legislature to reform Developmental Education, and through their internal evaluations of Dev Ed effectiveness, made the determination to restructure the existing Dev Ed experience, phasing it out by 2027 in favor of a corequisite (coreq) format that blends coursework addressing skill deficiencies with credit-bearing, content-rich coursework.

A coreq is a course or requirement that a student must take at the same time as another course or requirement. An easy-to-understand example is a required writing composition course blending in required content, learning supports and techniques, enabling lower skilled students to attain credits upon completion of both requirements.

The Minnesota State system currently has many campuses piloting coreq courses, while faculty groups and a system-wide steering committee provide necessary input into the reformation process.  As can be imagined, this shift is highly challenging and complicated.  Some Adult Education and Minn State campus partnerships are in the process of reforming, providing glimpses into the work that is underway to address the challenging needs of under-prepared students.  Utilizing the combined strengths of college faculty and adult education instructors continues to be a difference maker for struggling students.

Affinity Group

To this end, informal Affinity Group meetings are taking place this academic year, with each meeting offered at two different times to accommodate busy schedules. The meetings are virtual, typically occurring from 10:00-11:15am on the Thursday option, and 2:00-3:15pm on the Friday option.

• Fall session: October 31 or November 1, 2024 (just passed)
• Winter session: January 30 or 31, 2025
• Spring session: April 3 or 4, 2025

This is the fifth year the College-ABE statewide partnership exchange has occurred, attended by Dev Ed college faculty and administrators, Adult Education instructors and administrators, systemwide leaders, and others with collaboration interests. The updates regarding the progress of the coreq movement within the Minn State system are the same for each of the two meetings in the session, however, the discussion is unique based on attendees’ partnership perspectives and experiences.

Affinity group resources:

• View the recording of the November 1 meeting content and discussion
• View Value of ABE college partnerships in the Co-Req model, a document created with Affinity Group input regarding the value and benefits of Adult Education involvement in serving students who are not academically ready for college level courses.

Questions?

Questions regarding this partnership work, or interest to join the Affinity Group, can be directed to Affinity Group facilitator, Russ Fraenkel, [email protected]. The other facilitator is Lesley Blicker, a retired administrator within the Minn State system office.