Adult Career Pathways Resources

Second in a series of five 2019-20 Minnesota ABE webinars on adult career pathways.  MN Dept. of Education staff and ABE professionals from across the state share best practices, successful models, lessons learned, plus tools and resources for your use locally. (1.5 hours)

Minnesota State (our community and technical college system) outlines its policies for undergraduate admissions, including Ability to Benefit and eligible career pathway programs. 

Ability to Benefit (ATB) allows a student without a high school diploma or equivalency to receive Title IV student federal financial aid to pay for postsecondary education and training if they are enrolled in a Title IV eligible career pathway program that includes a contextualized adult education component and navigation support.  This two-page issue brief provides succinct guidance about ATB in career pathway programming, tips from the field, and a helpful list of additional resources.

This report is based on a first-of-its-kind study of the progress and outcomes of low-skill adults in community colleges. Key findings: (1) Attending college for at least a year and earning a credential provides a substantial boost in earnings for adults who begin with a high school diploma or less.  (2) Short-term training, such as that often provided to welfare recipients, may help individuals get into the labor market, but it does not seem to help them advance beyond low-paying jobs.  (3) Neither adult basic skills education by itself nor a limited number of college-level courses provides much benefit in terms of earnings.

Wondering about ways to collaborate and improve co-teaching with Adult Career Pathways (ACP)? Hear from MDE staff and ACP leaders around the state on this important topic. This recorded webinar provides current examples of successful ACP collaborative efforts big and small, as well as tools and resources to help move your ACP work forward.

This article outlines the clear connections between The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) and The Adult Education & Family Literacy Act (WIOA Title II), providing succinct guidance about Perkins V, important issues to consider, questions to ask your Perkins V partners, tips from the field, and a helpful list of additional resources.  The implication is that efforts must be aligned between the career and technical education and adult education systems to provide on-ramps to postsecondary education and training for adult education populations; these pathways should be written into the Perkins V State Plans.