Introductions to New Postsecondary Completion Group

 

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the new Postsecondary Completion group in the LINCS Community!  I am the Subject Matter Expert (SME) for this group.  You can find out more about me on my profile https://community.lincs.ed.gov/users/ellen-hewett . I’m very excited about our new LINCS Community and look forward to our work together in this group.

Please make sure to review the User Code of Conduct.  It can always be found in the blue section at the bottom of each page, and is marked "User Code of Conduct." It's important to familiarize yourself with this because some guidelines have changed from what you may have been familiar with via the LINCS Discussion Lists.

Next, please respond to this discussion thread by introducing yourself.  Tell us why you joined the Postsecondary Completion group and what you hope to learn here.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,

Ellen

Comments

Hello Fellow Group members, 

My name is Priyanka Sharma and I am the coordinator of the National College Transition Network at World Education, Inc. based in Boston, MA. My experience includes project management and designing trainings to present at regional and national conferences on college and career readiness resources, best practices and financial literacy. I am skilled at coaching programs as they start or integrate a transition/college-prep component and also organize the annual conference on Effective Transitions in Adult Education. One of my recent projects was the College for a Day project which increased the aspirations and readiness of Boston-area adult learners for pursuing postsecondary education and training by providing direct exposure to the college environment. 

I am a prolific user of social media and work on finding ways of integrating new media and web 2.0 tools in professional development design and delivery. You can follow me on Twitter at @PriyankaS_NCTN

I look forward to learning with all of you as we work towards getting our students to be college and career ready! 

Regards, 

Priyanka Sharma

 

Hello,  I am Lydia Schuck, a research associate at the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (nsttac.org).  We provide assistance to state and local school districts who are improving their transition focused services for young people with disabilities.  Of course, programs for 18-21 year old young adults are part of the picture.  I happen to live in Michigan, the only state in which special education services extend to age 26, for those who do not earn regular diplomas.  Very few youth stay in school that long, but the extended programs have allowed my own child to take a little extra time to mature while still in the public school system.

In my spare time, I am writing my dissertation using the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 to explore the factors that contribute to college persistence and completion among blind and visually impaired students.  There is a wealth of data in the NLTS2 related to the experiences and outcomes of youth with disabilities.

Dear Friends & Colleagues,

My name is John Corcoran and I am honored to join you on this forum. I believe that in America today, it is as important to teach an adult to read as it is to teach a child to read.

I learned to read at the age of 48 after going to a local library Adult Learning Center, taking a battery of diagnostic assessments and then receiving the research-based instructional methodology needed to teach me how to read. For the past 25 years, I have been advocating for literacy across the nation with the mission of preventing and eliminating illiteracy by teaching both children and adults to read. It is never too late to learn to read.

I look forward to continuing the conversation with all of you.

At your service,

John Corcoran

 

Oceanside, CA

www.johncorcoranfoundation.org

Hello John, 

Welcome to the group and thanks for sharing your inspirational story of learning to read later in your life. Are there specific topics that you would be interested in as we collaborate and learn from each other in this group? 

Regards, 

Priyanka Sharma 

National College Transition Network

Twitter: @PriyankaS_NCTN

As a project director for the U.S. Division of World Education, I coordinate the online professional development initiative, managing the development and delivery of courses for adult educators.  We offer courses on the topics of college and career readiness, adult student persistence, differentiated instruction, and reading through ProfessionalStudiesAE.  

I also co-direct the LINCS Region 1 Professional Development Center, promoting and disseminating evidence-based resources and training materials, and partnering with states to provide evidence-based professional development.  

I have worked in adult literacy since 1980, serving as an instructor and local program director, state consultant, program development director, training coordinator, and state outreach coordinator. 

Hi, everyone,

My name is Margaret, and I am a Senior Researcher with Research Allies for Lifelong Learning in Vienna, Virginia. We specialize in applying research to support adult educators and learners. Previously I was with GED Testing Service as research director and also conducted research in Kansas adult education. In this community I'm looking forward to discussing how adults transition from adult education programs to college - and what their "success" in college looks like. Also I will be glad to share some recent research with the group. Thank you, Ellen, for getting us started!

Margaret

Greetings, Margaret!

As the new Postsecondary Completion moderator, I'm reading through posts with that new perspective in mind.  An interest area for many of us is helping students be successful in college, so we, too, are interested in what that looks like.  Would you say a bit more about the data you mention in your post?

Cynthia

Hello,

 

My name is Kiandra Atkins. I am a Transition Specialist for an Adult Education Program. I decided to join the Postsecondary Completion Group because my sole responsibility as a Transition Specialist is to prepare students for Postsecondary Education and beyond. I want to be successful and learn as much as I can to ensure that my students are making a smooth transition from the Adult Ed program into Postsecondary Education. Additionally, once students have matriculated in Postsecondary classes, I want to make sure that they are successul in obtaining their degrees. Above all, I hope to learn how to help retain students and ensure that they are successful in completing Postsecondary education opportunities.

My name is Dale Rush, I live in Thomaston, GA and am the Career Transition Specialist for Southern Crescent Technical College, serving 9 counties in our service area.  I am an ordained minister and have worked in the education field for over 40 years.  10 years ago I became a Chief GED Examiner for our college which is a relatively new combination of the former Flint River Technical College and the former Griffin Technical College.  3 years ago I took on he full-time responsibility of CTS for the college.  I still administer the GED tests for the college at the Thomaston testing center.  I am always looking for new ideas to allow me to better help our Adult Education students.

Hi everyone-

I'm Andresse St.Rose and I am a senior researcher at the American Association of University Women (AAUW). AAUW has been around for more than a century now and originally started to promote women's acess to higher education. Today our work focuses on (among other things) women's progress in higher education, disciplines where women are still underrepresented such as in science ane engineering fields, and women's representation in higher education leadership etc. So postsecondary completion is an issue that I pay close attention to.

We recently released our first research report that focuses specifically on women in community colleges- Women in Community Colleges: Access to Success, which we are very excited about, and the issue of completion is a major theme of the report.

I have also been attending the OVAE's webinar series on community colleges and learned about the LINCS community there. I look forward to sharing information and resources.

Thank you,

Andresse

Hello Everyone,

I am the Transition Specialist for an adult education center in Georiga. The Links I believe is a great way to share information to help our students make a smooth as possible transition to post-secondary. My goal is to find out the best practices to help students understand the importance of a post-secondary education in our current times. Since many of our students have "episodic" instances that hurt their attendance, that also plays a role in their success, so I want to know what others are doing to bridge the educational gap students miss during their preparation to earn their GED credentials.

I look forward to a healthy conversation of sharing!

Stacie Hayes, Ed. Spec.

Hello,

I teach GED, and High School Diploma in Morgan Hill California at an adult school. I serve on our school's Student Opportunity Team which devlops programs for postsecondary transitions. I was also trained as a facilitator in this topic through Calpro a state run professional development organization.  I have found the LINCS group very helpful to hear what other schools across the country are doing. I look forward to meeting all of you online.

 

Thank you!

 

I teach -at York College of PA a small liberal arts college in SC Pennsylvania. On sabattical, I am updating myself and the college about resoruces to help our students who struggle. ABE materials are right on! Julia Bucher

I teach at York College of PA a small liberal arts college in SC Pennsylvania. On sabattical, I am updating myself and the college about resoruces to help our students who struggle. ABE materials are right on! Julia Bucher

Hello Julia, 

Welcome to this group. Please share with us if you are interested in resources around Math, Reading, Writing, non-cognitive skills or all of the above.   :-)

I would be very interested if you would like to share specific resources with us that you have found in your quest.

Warm regards,

Priyanka 

Julia-

I would like to second Priyanka's comments about being interested in resources for Math, Reading, Writing and non-cognitive skills sets.  Also, any information you can direct this way regarding 2014 GED curriculum materials, study guides, practice sessions, etc...

Respectfully,

Ted 

 

Hello Julia, 

Welcome to this group. Please share with us if you are interested in resources around Math, Reading, Writing, non-cognitive skills or all of the above.   :-)

I would be very interested if you would like to share specific resources with us that you have found in your quest.

Warm regards,

Priyanka 

In terms of the new GED, we plan on using the new Steck Vaughn material. Since my class is a combination of ABE/GED material I plan on supplementing with many other materials and focusing on "study skills/ reading comprehension" and math skills. I was wondering how other teachers are planning on integrating algebra into the curriculm. I was also wondering when they will let their students use the "new" calculator that is associated with the new GED. The test covers alot of material and the "calculator" is supposed to be allowed for all of it.  So far, I have not seen any materials that directly tie the calculator with math skills.

 

Looking forward to chatting over the holidays with all of you as we approach the new GED

Debra