Narrative: III. a. 2. H.

In most areas of Kentucky, training investments have been quite explicitly linked to target industry sectors and high–demand occupations. In many cases, these investments are individual training accounts (ITAs). An area of focus for the Career Centers will be to expand their use of alternate training modalities, specifically employer–driven and work–based models, that might be shorter–term, more modular in nature, and more explicitly tied to the attainment of “stackable” credentials. Certainly, registered apprenticeships, on–the–job training, and customized training are all approaches that could be targeted for increased use and expansion, perhaps in partnership with KCTCS and others.

Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) KDE requires all secondary CTE programs to report on career pathway opportunities for students. The career pathway process encourages dual–credit courses along with industry certifications and credentialing. KDE works closely with state–level CTE task force groups composed of KWIB representation and business and industry to review industry certification requirements for high school students. The certifications/credentials are then endorsed by the KWIB. This ensures the certificates and/or credentials will lead to employment and/or post–secondary credit. Kentucky also created the Tech Ready Careers for Kentucky (TRACK) pre–apprenticeship program. Kentucky is the only state in the nation that has a state–wide agreement for registered apprenticeship opportunities that begin in high school. The areas include carpentry, electricity and manufacturing. The models vary based on the need of industry but lead to credentialing, apprenticeship credit, and/or post–secondary credit at an accredited institution while students are in high school.

Kentucky Adult Education KYAE, an agency in the Kentucky Council on Post–secondary Education (CPE), is strategically positioned to create significant post–secondary education linkages. These linkages are important in recruiting students and helping them transition to post–secondary education, as well as to assist with planning and providing professional training and development for adult educators. The usual and customary services of KYAE, which services in all 120 counties, include addressing academic deficiencies and equipping students for success in the next level of college and/or achievement via preparation for college, the National Career Readiness Certificate and the Kentucky Essential Skills Certificate.

Accelerating Opportunity Kentucky (AOKY) Together with its partners, Department for Workforce Investment and KCTCS, KYAE created and vetted a modified accelerating opportunity framework. The program is designed to accelerate adult education by concurrently enrolling eligible students in post–secondary education and adult education, while integrating foundational academic and technical skills. Unique and recognized–as–effective characteristics of the model include: the working relationship between adult educators and technical faculty, comprehensive and intensive wraparound services that ensure students’ successful navigation of systems, the renewed focus of improving students’ opportunities to participate in work–based activities, and access to job placement services. Additionally, there has been a renewed effort to ensure employers are engaged upfront to reinforce what jobs are in demand and what skills are necessary for the job, supporting more work–related activities, and enhancing the potential for job placement.

Workforce Preparation As a result of the extended pilot for Essential Skills, nearly one–third of the state’s local adult education programs received coaching and training on integrating essential employability skills with academic instruction. KYAE dedicated multiple resources to support this training, including CTE’s Perkins leadership grant funds. Consequently, within an individualized program of study, every student has multiple opportunities to practice and perfect the essential skills (often referred to as soft skills, e.g., collaboration, communication and critical thinking) employers seek. At the end of the program year, through the use of WIA Incentive Funds, KYAE and the Department of Workforce Investment renewed their contract for Worldwide Interactive Network’s (WIN) online curricula course ware that now provides not only WorkKeys/National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) preparation, but soft skills and College and Career Ready System–based curricula tracks. Along with the administration of badge–supported curricula and assessments, the essential skills track concludes with a Kentucky Essential Skills Certificate (KESC). (See also Adult Basic Education and Literacy Programs, Workforce Preparation.) KYAE is represented on several boards and committees, and plays an active role in several initiatives in the Commonwealth. The vice president of KYAE is an active proxy member of the KWIB participating in quarterly KWIB meetings and commits to initiatives, such as the accelerated learning program GED Express, to collaboratively advance workforce education and skill development in the Commonwealth. A KYAE staff member serves on the Work Ready Communities Steering Committee, promoting adult education programs’ participation in the local application to achieve Work Ready Communities certification by: decreasing the population without a high school diploma or its equivalent; increasing NCRC awards; and contextualizing academic skills with employability skills (beginning with pilot programs and an expedited roll–out in 2014–15 to Work Ready Communities In Progress as a priority). KYAE programs prepare students to take the ACT WorkKeys assessment to earn the NCRC, a standardized credential that validates reading, mathematics and locating information skills for specific occupations. KYAE programs use WIN’s online curriculum aligned with the WorkKeys assessment within an academic program of study and defrays the cost of the certificate for adult education students. KYAE includes the NCRC as a performance target and will continue to focus on it as a stack– able credential throughout the students’ educational journey. KYAE is supportive of the KCC system vision and collaborates with KCC offices across the Commonwealth (e.g., co–location, common intake and referral processes, etc.). The KSN is a unique partnership between the Cabinet for Economic Development, Education and Workforce Development Cabinet including KCC, the Labor Cabinet and KCTCS. The network is dedicated to assessing employer skills needs and designing and delivering effective workforce solutions. Local KYAE programs are available to provide services in cases where potential or current employees are eligible for adult education. KYAE’s vice president is also a proxy board member of the BSSC, which was established in 1984 by the Kentucky General Assembly as an independent, dejure corporation to stimulate economic development through programs of skills training to meet the needs of business and industry. KYAE partners with the Department of Corrections to serve both full–service jails’ correctional offend– ers and state adult institution inmates. Adult educators provide educational services to jails based on cooperative agreements with jailers. KCTCS faculty is commissioned to serve state adult correction– al institution populations; however, adult educators support those educational experiences, offering evening classes for offenders.

KYAE’s vice president and the Kentucky Department for Library and Archives’ (KDLA) commissioner distributed a memorandum encouraging local adult education and public libraries to strategically part– ner in their attempts to reach our target population in alternate venues. KYAE also coordinated with KDLA during a pilot program to explore best practices of forging these partnerships and promoting use of Kentucky Educational Television’s (KET) Fast Forward online GED test preparation.

Additionally, KYAE partnered with the Kentucky Virtual Library (KYVL) and KCTCS to contract with the National Resources Open College and Career project to offer customized tracks of Network Re– sources Open College and Career’s (NROC) EdReady, including GED testing, Kentucky Online Testing (KYOTE), and other college–ready placement testing. KYAE will conduct a pilot project, including evaluation, to determine best practices involving occupational training partners beyond its work with KCTCS, e.g., employers, healthcare associations, and emergency medical technicians. (See also Adult Basic Education and Literacy, Integrated Education and Training.) This will also entail assembling a work group to coordinate and align occupational training resources to be used throughout all career pathways endeavors.

Integrated English Literacy and Citizenship (IEL/C) grants awarded during the fiscal 2015–16 program year included a work–related goal. KYAE wanted programs that typically serve students with these grants to begin formulating ways to transition them into Adult Basic Education (ABE) with the goal that other ABE students have of entering post–secondary education and/or a career pathway, thereby integrating English Literacy and Citizenship education with moving toward self–sufficiency.

English Literacy and Civics (EL/C) programs in Kentucky continue to use a variety of activities and instructional methods to enhance non–English speaking student’s effective communication skills and civic practices. Additionally, programs sponsor cultural activities, such as holiday and international celebrations during which students are invited to bring indigenous food and share their own cultural traditions. These efforts help non–native English speakers navigate and participate in their children’s educational experiences, access services and participate in community activities.

KYAE is also working with WIOA partners to implement TBCM to set standards for establishing a system of collaborative case management among career center partners. The systems and tools used in the TBCM approach reinforce functional alignment and integrated service delivery within the centers and among partners.

KYAE is also directly involved with two Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) grant initiatives with Department for Community–Based Services (DCBS). Paths to Promise (P2P) is a pilot program with a robust research component serving eight counties in Eastern Kentucky. The pilot includes moving eligible students into AOKY career pathways. The subsequent allocation of employment and training funds will be dedicated to providing support services to students pursuing education and training in urban areas across the state.

Project CASE is a collaborative effort between state vocational rehabilitation agencies, adult education, secondary and post–secondary education, career centers, employers and other partners to demonstrate how career pathways can help individuals with disabilities acquire the marketable skills and attain recognized credentials that lead to employment in high–demand occupations. In Kentucky, two pilot projects are planned in the Metro Louisville and Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP) regions; these will engage seven and 23 counties respectively.