Case Management Guest Discussion--Welcome, Cristina Marsh!

Hello, T&L members!

Are you struggling with student recruitment, engagement, and persistence? Whether or not you were able to attend our live event "Case Management in Adult Education Programs" in April, Cristina Marsh joins us today to discuss the ins and outs of this innovative method to personalize student outreach.

Cristina manages an 8-county program in rural and suburban areas in Kentucky and implemented case management with her program within the past year and a half.

Throughout the day, check back to see both Cristina's answers and other questions posed to her, and join me in welcoming her to the T&L group!

Feel free to pose your own questions at any time!

Opening Questions for Cristina: 
Some of us may have heard about case management in relation to healthcare, but what does case management mean in adult education? What sort of onboarding for staff was required to get this tracking system up and running?

Comments

What are the best ways to recruit and retain adult students.  The tricky part is that adult learners all have different goals and motivations.  Are there any suggestions or best practices that you would recommend?

Amanda, thanks so much for your question. When Cristina gains access, she can definitely reply to this as well, but case management includes and relies heavily upon wrap-around services among the learning center, employers, and other WIOA partners to ensure that barriers are known upfront and that support is in place for the student as he/she moves forward. You are absolutely correct that learners have different goals and motivations; knowing those in the beginning helps identify which partners might be of best fit to provide assistance.

Stay tuned for Cristina's input! :)

Hello Amanda

Connections and relationships. Those are important practices to use. Students come to us because an organization, individual or entity refer them to our programs. We build those relationships and create a trusting learning atmosphere. As instructors we have to capitalize on student's strengths. We are able to observe/assess students' strengths. When we give them a taste of success, we can engage them to continue learning. Of course we would love to have 100% success with all students, unfortunately that is not realistic.  We have to also take in consideration students' personal barriers.

I would stress the importance of instructors capitalizing on students strengths and using the strengths to address growth areas. Build relationships by learning what students like and their goals. The majority of our students want to become self-sufficient and earn money, that is a common goal. Use student's success stories as recruitment examples and engage recent graduates with new students. Students can relate to other students faster than can relate to instructor.

 

"I would stress the importance of instructors capitalizing on students' strengths and using the strengths to address growth areas."

Cristina, I think this is a rather novel yet important approach. Starting from a place of encouragement certainly contributes to persistence on behalf of the students. Students often lead with what they're "not good at," so reframing their strengths is very important. 

Lots of good information here!

I was fortunate to begin building a new "model" of adult education and workforce development beginning in February 2016. based on the lack of existing programs, new funding for the community, and a thorough assessment of community need, we focused most of our staffing around holistic and personalized case management. While we started with one FT Navigator, we know have 3.7 FT Navigators serving 200-300 clients/students a year. For now, I wanted to post this link to a recently published five-year retrospective that I believe does a good job of describing what we've built, why we built it, and the impact it is having. 

https://issuu.com/news_review/docs/advance-hiresrgb 

What an outstanding model your program has created (and maintained), Frank! I notice one of the common threads throughout is solid community partnerships. Case management models often thrive when an employer aids the program in monitoring student success in the workplace and in the classroom.

Can you explain a bit about what process you used as you grew to determine which new partnerships and pathways to pursue next?

Thanks so much for sharing!

I analyze the data in my individual counties and compare it. That data allows me to see areas of growth. Once I identified those I was able to meet with local stakeholders and industries that could help improve the areas of growth. We created implementation plans and MOU. Clear expectations and clear objectives with measurable outcomes for both parties.

We can create new pathways by identifying areas of improvement and need in our communities. The key for me is data.

A system that allows increase in retention of students as well as achievement of goals by effectively analyzing individual student needs efficiently creating a customized academic plan. As instructors we evaluate students strengths and capitalize of those areas to engage students and to create a learn an educational plan

In order to make this process work, we need to have College and Career Navigators (CCN) ready. They have to learn the process of intake and on boarding of students. College and Career Navigators have to work closely with Instructors, so that there is an open line of communication to share student's educational information.

It is important to remember that CCN must be trained appropriately in process and procedures.

 

Cristina, tell me what the role is of a CCN in your program and how he/she is utilized. Are positions fulltime, or is this role part of the duties for another staff member? We know adult educators wear many hats!

Thank you Susan for the question.

College and Career Navigators duties include coordination of transition services that includes a continuum of personal and instructional strategies, collaborative support to enhance the awareness of and access to a network of community resources that supports individual career and educational goals. For example, the career navigator should coordinate with community partners like Community Action, Early Childhood, Career Center... to provide opportunities to address student needs for childcare and or transportation as well as additional educational student support services.

This position can be full time or part time. All depends on the size of the program. For example, I have small rural counties with a part time CCN, while larger counties need a full time CCN. In my region I have hired 3 full time CCN and 1 part time CCN working together across 8 counties.  

It is important to note that although we hire CCNs, our instructors have a big and important role in student's educational live. This means that instructors are also responsible for engagement and retention. They are also responsible to work with CCN ensuring that students needs are communicated and that referral to appropriate programs occur. 

This programs require a team effort, working as a team is what makes this structure and program format work.