The Communicator, CCAE's Monthly Newsletter                              November 2014
In This Issue
MissionPossible


CCAE 2015 Conference  

Mission Possible: Encryption No. 5
   
Agents for Change:

 

The response to our monthly encryptions continues to be excellent!  

A new message will be posted on the first of each month, with the answers following, on the 15th.

 

Every correct submission earns one ticket for our special drawing, at the upcoming CCAE state conference.

Click here for this month's message.

 

All of this information can be found on the CCAE website, on the conference page at here.

Send your answers to Darlene Neilsen, by 11/15: [email protected].     

 

Happy solving!
Darlene Neilsen

OTAN2



All agencies receiving federal Workforce Investment Act, Title II (WIA), a.k.a. the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, funding need to complete a Technology and Distance Learning Plan this year. Before completing the online form, each agency is required to attend the online orientation. There are two remaining sessions, on November 4th or November 10th. Select one of the links and register to attend one of these, if someone from your agency has not attended. You may contact Branka Marceta, if you have any questions or concerns, via email at [email protected] or at 800-894-3113.

OTAN offers other professional development opportunities, all year long, with both face-to-face and online workshops. To see the list of what we (and CALPRO and CASAS) currently have scheduled, just visit the combined Adult Education Calendar. Hope to see you in one or more of them soon.
 Calpro



CALPRO

 

There's still time to take advantage of the many CALPRO professional development offerings before the end of the year. They range from two of our most popular institutes--Adult Education Leadership Institute and Community of Practice:  Evidence-Based Reading Instruction Institute--to webinars and regional workshops. CALPRO is sure to offer something that coincides with your professional development goals.

 
You can
register here for these and other events.



 CASAS
 
 

This fall, CASAS emphasized training and technical assistance for new practitioners, with face-to-face training at six regional sites. In 2014-15, there are 18 completely new AEFLA agencies and approximately 40 agencies new to EL Civics.

 

CASAS has initiated studies to compare CASAS assessment results to student outcomes, on the 2014 GED and the HiSET. The goal will be to provide agencies with the correlation between CASAS scores and both HSE exams, similar to the 2002 study, which provided this relationship with the previous GED. This will assist instructors in determining a learner's readiness to prepare for and pass the HSE exams.


CASAS added comparative information about survey response rates and outcomes by agency for the core follow-up performance measures. T
he CASAS Data Portal now includes core performance measure follow-up data for 2012-13, in addition to the NRS performance and persistence results, where users can compare local performance with state goals and other local agencies, and verify past performance dating back to the 2004-05 year. CASAS expects to post Federal Table 4 data from PY 2013-14, in January.


 


 

 
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SECTION CONFERENCES


11/14-11/15



RENEW2 Adult Ed

Coming Soon...Dues News!

Because not all school districts authorize a monthly deduction option for CCAE membership dues, many members have requested a monthly option directly from CCAE. In the very near future, you will be able to  set up your own "bill pay" via our online membership form here.
 
When you renew, please consider supporting CCAE with Diamond membership this year. You will be recognized on the website and in the conference program, as our thanks for your strong support of CCAE. 

sectionconf


Download your copy of the Adult Ed Newsletter,
here published by the
Montebello Group.



     
  Adriana Sanchez-Aldana
      Executive Director

I am particularly pleased to be working with so many dedicated adult educators at this important time. Since its founding in 1944, CCAE has had dedicated members working for the improvement and preservation of adult education. If you have not yet gotten involved because you do not know what to do, it is not too late. Please read the legislative update from CCAE Legislative Advocate, Dawn Koepke, for the latest information.  

 

On a related note, as you are likely aware, on October 23rd, CCAE held it's second legislative webinar which hosted nearly 200 participants! You can access the webinar link here.   

 

I look forward to working together with you, in support of our Adult Education programs, so that we can continue to help adults in our communities reach their goals.

 

Sincerely,

   

Adriana Sanchez-Aldana 

CCAE Executive Directo

 

Contributed by
Dawn Koepke
Legislative Liaison
ExecutiveDirector

The Countdown Begins

 

The countdown has begun - 11 weeks to the release of the January FY 15-16 budget proposal that will provide insight in to the future of adult education.  While we believe we have made significant headway with the Department of Finance (DOF) this fall, we are not likely to know the details until the proposal is released, January 9th. This is certainly unnerving for us all, without question.  Nevertheless, we put a strong strategic advocacy plan in place to help impact the outcome and are feeling very good about it. At the local level you have stepped up in a big way - garnering support from your superintendents, boards, community, elected officials, and more. At the state level, we have also been working hard to put together a strong coalition to support K12 adult education and fight for a budget plan that ensures stability for the K12 system ahead of the March 15th layoff notice deadline. We've held countless meetings with stakeholders, elected officials, legislative budget and policy staff, DOF, and more.

 

In terms of the key issues we've been focused on, they include:

  • Focused on a Dedicated, Stable Funding Structure for K-12 Adult Schools 
  • Transition Year - Maintain K12 Capacity
  • Utilizing Existing State Fiscal Infrastructures to Apportion Funding
  • AB 86 Plans Inform & Drive Funding

We believe these are critical components of a workable January budget proposal. As a matter of fact, we have prepared and put forth our own CCAE and CAEAA proposal that addresses these key issues in a manner that is consistent with the goals of the Administration and DOF - win / win! Our proposal would provide for FY 15-16 to be a transition year whereby roughly $350 million would be taken from the DOF-proposed $500 million pot to maintain capacity in the K12 system - first and foremost. This will help ensure stability for existing capacity in K12 adult schools by giving school districts a clear sense of what they can expect to include in their FY 15-16 budgets for adult education and avoid the need to issue layoff notices by the March 15th deadline. The $150 million leftover would go towards addressing the needs and gaps outlined in the AB 86 regional plans across the state. Certainly, $500 million is nowhere close to sufficient to meet the needs that exist today, but it is a start and we have the commitment from Finance to allocate at least that in January's proposal. At this point, the critical component is to ensure stability and avoid losing current capacity - we believe this approach helps achieve that in the transition year. Additionally, we are proposing that the FY 15-16 budget also allocate the FY 16-17 funding and set up a process to decide how best to distribute that funding to the regions and at the local level based on the AB 86 regional plans starting in the second year. Starting such planning early, with an idea of what school districts will have to budget with going in to the next budget cycle, will help provide greater clarity in budgeting year over year. 

 

And while we believe we have made considerable headway in working with DOF, we are not out of the woods yet. One key issue that remains a challenge is the flow of resources. DOF continues to be interested in an approach whereby funding would be provided to the Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCO) for distribution to the regional fiscal agents who would then distribute the funding to the consortium partners. We continue to have serious concerns with such a distribution approach. We believe strongly that such an approach would run the risk of distancing adult education programs from K12 districts. Regional plans build upon the unique identity of K12 adult schools and so it is imperative that they continue to be tied to CDE and their individual school districts. This connection is critically important in terms of access for the students the K12 system serves; the learning mechanisms associated with basic skills needs that builds upon the K12 model of teaching to ensure proper uptake of the education that is more closely aligned to K12 curriculum; staffing issues related to contracts, oversight, development, etc.; accreditation; federal oversight and matching; and more.  Should the direct fiscal connection to CDE and the individual school districts be lost, K12 adult schools will lose their identity and the undeniable benefit to the students we serve will be destroyed as school districts are distanced from support of their adult schools. This preventable wedge would potentially reduce the access so many of our students rely on.

 

It is for these reasons that CCAE and CAEAA have offered a proposal that would model the distribution of funds similar to the Perkins funding model whereby CDE is provided the allocation from the federal government and with an Interagency Agreement with the CCCO provides the CC allocation to the Chancellor's office to distribute to its community college districts. Similarly, our proposal would provide the funding, consistent with the Perkins model and DOF's interest in providing the funding to the CCCO's office, to the CCCO's office and require an Interagency Agreement with CDE to allow CDE to in turn distribute the funds directly to school districts using its existing fiscal infrastructures. We believe we are on solid ground with such a proposal that would avoid the bureaucracy and concerns with a local fiscal agent and utilize existing fiscal infrastructure through CDE and the CCCO - effective and efficient.

 

In terms of moving forward over the next 11 weeks, we urge you to continue your efforts at the local level to garner support for maintaining K12 adult schools and current capacity. And for those schools that have not yet finalized their Nascar or Superintendent letters, we ask you to wrap them up and send them in to the Governor within the week. Finance will be presenting their proposal to him very soon, and we want to be sure he is hearing from across the state. Additionally, continue to meet with your local legislators as we move towards January.  Of note, some districts will have new members elected as of November 4th - be sure to know who your members are and for those that are new we urge you to work quickly to bring them up to speed on our efforts and what lies ahead. In terms of specific talking points for your legislators, we recommend the following key points be made:

 

1) Maintain & Stabilize K-12 Capacity

2) Transition Year w/ Maintenance of Capacity Funding for K12 Out of FY 15-16 Allocation

3) Perkins Model Distribution - CDE Allocation to K12 Districts through Interagency Agreement w/ CCCO

 

Again, we feel like we are on very solid ground with our proposal, which we have shared with DOF and the Legislature. Keep up the great work at the local level, and rest assured we won't rest until K12 adult schools are stabilized. We have a strong, supportable plan that protects the critical access to our programs and services and will continue to push forward with advocacy to ensure its intent is included in the January proposal. Strength in numbers!

 

To access the funding proposal and related documents, as well as the list of cc emails for your Nascar and Superintendent letters, you can visit www.ccaestate.org.

 

 

StudentEsmer 

Spotlighting Esmeralda Cervantes 

 

Esmeralda Cervantes' life story is one that can only inspire. When she was 17, classmates played a cruel joke on her, causing her to lose her sight and develop a brain tumor. In Mexico, accessibility for people with disabilities was very limited at that time. After suffering years of clinical depression, Esmeralda made the bold decision to move to Los Angeles, to enroll in the Braille Institute.  

 

This institution provided Esmeralda with the tools to learn how to become independent; and, within two years, she learned how to read and write in Braille. She learned the English language and computer skills on her own, and for eight years worked as a full time volunteer, helping other visually impaired people from other countries. She taught English and life skills such as adaptive cooking, managing money, and shopping - techniques that would ensure greater independence. In addition, Esmeralda transcribed audio books and converted reading materials so that they could be accessible on screen readers (JAWS) and on screen magnifiers (Zoomtext). All told, she donated over 10,000 hours to help other visually impaired people.  

 

In April of 2011, Esmeralda fulfilled one of her dearest dreams: she became a mother. She wanted to be a full time mother but knew that life can be especially challenging for a mother with a disability. In order to provide a better life for her son, she decided to continue her education and enrolled in the high school program at Montebello Community Adult School, in 2013.  

 

While at the high school program, Esmeralda painstakingly read each letter of each word on a screen magnifier to complete her reading and math assignments. Esmeralda often memorized entire mathematical problems while solving them. Every day Esmeralda walked by herself to school, read all the materials, and wrote her assignments, essays, and tests--demonstrating to everyone at Montebello Adult School that all is possible if there is determination, commitment, and passion. Esmeralda spoke to lawmakers at the 2014 CCAE Legislation Day, in Sacramento, about the critical significance of adult education for students who are pursuing their dreams after encountering detours in their life journeys. In June, Esmeralda was Montebello Adult School's graduation speaker and scholarship recipient. There was not a dry eye in the audience after she spoke.

 

Currently, Esmeralda is waiting to attend East Los Angeles Community College. She has been waiting for her permanent resident status for nearly 14 years; without this status, she cannot qualify for the various program assistance and financial aid she would need to continue her education. However, Esmeralda has overcome many seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and this is just one more that she will triumph over, as she is determined to continue her education. Esmeralda Cervantes is an adult education graduate we can all aim to emulate. Thank you, Esme, for your inspiration! 

 


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