Promising Practice Issue Area:

Entry Requirements to Colleges Can Be a Barrier to CHWs as Adult Non-traditional Learners Coming to Colleges with Less Than College Entry-Level Educational Attainment Skills in Reading, Writing, and Math.

Discussion Item by Don Proulx February 2006

In looking at "alternative doors of entry" for non-traditional adult CHW students (who, more typically than not, may not be high school nor GED completers and who, more often than not, do not score at college readiness/entrance levels on reading, writing, and math assessment tests for admission to the typical community college in the U.S.) there are few if any examples of non-traditional/alternative institutional accommodations for the admission/enrollment of these non-traditional adult learners in college programs of study for "college credit." I spoke with the Dean of Student Development with the West Campus of Pima Community College, Nancee Sorenson, on Nov. 30, 2005 by phone at length regarding the current institutional barriers to "responsive college programming for the CHW workforce." We reviewed our "professional knowledge and direct experience" (I was Dean of Health Sciences with Pima Community College in my prior professional life) regarding "alternative doors of entry," including:

1. There are still "Open Door Institutions," like Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona, where students can enroll in some basic certificate programs "for Direct Employment" for credit, wherein there are no math, reading and writing prerequisites prescribed, such as with the 16 credit CHW adopted certificate program at Pima Community College; however, today Nancee admits that there are fewer programs like this being offered by colleges across the country, and she sees the "door closing" more than expanding, now even with Pima Community College, for the matriculation of adult non-high school/non-GED completers who can not pass entry-level assessments in reading, math, and writing...who must enroll in "Developmental Education Classes" to achieve college readiness in these skills before being permitted to enroll in college credit-bearing programs of study. 2. Another door of entry may be through a college's community campus program branch, where certificate training recognition and validation of competence for direct employment is designed and tailored to meet the needs of employers for workers, regardless of their college readiness. These offerings are often for "college non-credit certificates of completion." They are often very structured around a set of competencies that don't rely on reading, writing, or math core skills. They are taught in the "oral tradition" and through "outward demonstrated performance of competence" to certify those who successfully complete the program of study therein. Colleges may even "Contract with Employers" to offer such tailor-made programs for a prescribed number of enrollees. 3. There continue today to also be "college skill center" programs (like certified nursing assistant programs) that are responsive to unique workforce needs, where certificates of completion are issued. The credits earned in these programs are not usually applicable for transfer or application, even as elective credit, within the college's credit-bearing programs of study. 4. Colleges also offer entry for adult students in "continuing education" programs, usually through a community service branch of the college.

All these alternatives need to be carefully evaluated by colleges as they look at their institutional requirements for student admissions and matriculation. Consideration, within the construct of "Promising Practices" for CHW responsive programs, could include concurrent enrollments in developmental reading, writing, and math courses as CHWs complete a "non-prerequisite designed CHW basic/entry-level certificate program," or institutions might plan "flip-flop" matriculations wherein, the students in the CHW certificate program can later complete developmental education classes for continuing enrollment in college credit bearing and career ladder programs of study beyond the completion of a basic CHW certificate program. This topic was chosen by the Dine College and Hawaii College adapters to examine with the Arizona Core TA College/Pima Community College and Central CHW-NEC Project staff. I believe this activity also reveals that our FIPSE-funded project may find along the way that we need to step outside of our project's cadre of expert advisors/consultants to locate, identify, and engage others who may contribute to the project's sharing of "Promising Practices" nationally. Our investigation is not yet complete in this area of need. We need to look for others who have ideas to contribute or models to share across the U.S. relating to "alternative doors of entry." Ann Withorn, serving as a CHW-NEC Project Consultant from the University of Massachusetts, can contribute to this subject of alternative doors of entry through credit by competency assessment. I have also talked with Cindy Tsai of the San Francisco State University Community Health Works Program, which was also FIPSE-funded in the mid-1990s. The Community Health Works Project, developed in collaboration with the City College of San Francisco, resulted in a "college responsive" 17 credit CHW Certificate Program.Cindy has indicated that this San Francisco initiative (1995-98) did find ways to address these barriers as well. Cindy is also serving as an expert consultant for the CHW-NEC Project. The CHW-NEC Project is looking at this Best Practice Issue Area for which the project may be sponsoring a "focused topical workshop" with the collaborative.several topical focused workshops are currently in the planning process at this time, as the project is assessing/examining the institutional work plans of all collaborating colleges for common/clustered Best Practice topical issues in the CHW-NEC Project (D. Proulx Feb. 23, 2006)