Twenty or 25 years ago, when I first started teaching in ABE, the goals that most students articulated was to "get a GED." Although we as teachers certainly encouraged students to consider going on to college or other types of further education, we also realized that for many the GED was, like a high school diploma, a reasonable more-or-less final goal for their education. Today, students don't seem to have changed too much, yet in many ways the world around them has. While a large number still indicate that getting a GED is their primary goal for returning to school, for many whose motivation is primarily economic it is no longer enough. Of course, some students are studying for personal or family reasons, some may simply need a diploma as a credential in order to receive a job promotion, and for these and other students, getting a GED or EDP/ADP diploma and looking no further may be fine. But for those whose motivation is primarily job and career oriented, the diploma or GED certificate may now be better seen as a necessary and important first step toward further education or training.

Beyond the GED
The educational requirements for good jobs -- those with decent salaries and benefits and the possibility of advancement -- are increasing, and, as the recent MassINC (Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth) study, Closing the Gap: Raising Skills to Raise Wages, says in its summary, "A high school education isn't enough. The surest path to a middle-class income is to complete at least two years of education beyond the high school level." The authors of another new report, Educational and Labor Market Performance of GED Recipients, published by the U.S. Department of Education, concur, saying, "The biggest advantage [of getting a GED] is that it increases access to postsecondary education and training, which tend to improve economic outcomes." (p. xvi) And, "Those who pass the test should understand that GED certification is primarily a stepping stone and that additional progress in the labor market can best be made by completing postsecondary education and training programs." (p. xvii)

Yet adult basic education students (including many in ESOL programs) who do take that next step to college or to a training program often stumble (or are pushed) and fall. Many find they're not sufficiently prepared, one way or another, and often they do not receive sufficient support once they are taking college or vocational courses to be able to continue. How can adult basic education programs -- with help from the various postsecondary educational institutions -- assist so-called "non-traditional" students to prepare for college and training programs? How can the colleges and training programs -- with help from adult basic education programs -- provide the ongoing support that's needed for students to succeed in postsecondary education? Clearly, there is a need for transitional, "next step" type programs that help students look beyond the GED or EDP, or beyond upper-level ESOL work, and that help them develop the skills and abilities needed to do college-level work successfully. Not only do they need help in applying and getting accepted into colleges or training programs, they also need the ongoing support that will enable them to stay and succeed and graduate from those colleges and training programs.

This ongoing support may be crucial, for the Department of Education report cited earlier presents research showing that, although GED recipients who begin college receive grades that are just about as good as those of high school graduates in college (pp. 38-39), they are much less likely to complete their post-secondary education. The one exception was in vocational training programs, where completion rates were comparable (pp.40-45). This suggests that many GED graduates who could succeed at two-year or four-year college nevertheless do not complete their programs due to a variety of impediments or problems. Certainly some of these students could be helped over these rough spots if adequate and effective counseling, peer support, and other forms of assistance were available to them.

Help with Transitions
According to Ernest Best, himself a GED recipient and now a student at UMass/Boston and a member of the Community Advisory Council for the Boston Adult Literacy Fund, the need for programs that help students successfully make the transition to college is "the major thing I hear in going to speak at ABE programs. Many students are thinking beyond the GED and wanting to go to college... Students' biggest problem is making the transition to college." A small number of such programs do now exist, including, in the Boston area, the RCC Prep Program at Roxbury Community College, the Bridge Program at the Community Learning Center (CLC) in Cambridge, the Odwin Learning Center in Dorchester, and the Diploma Plus Program at South Boston City Roots. Differing greatly from one another, these programs provide a variety of models that other agencies and organizations might choose to adopt or adapt, and looking at each of them briefly will show what some of the possibilities are.

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Three Programs

RCC Prep
The RCC Prep Program Handbook for students describes it as "a college-prep GED program designed to prepare you to pass the GED tests and enter college." Administered by Roxbury Community College and funded by the Massachusetts DOE, it takes advantage of its obviously close affiliation with a community college to help its students prepare for college work and for the college experience. The program is intended for students who do not yet have a GED and are preparing for the test, but who also have some education and/or training goals that they intend to pursue after they get their GED certificates. (Students who do not have such goals and who simply want to get a GED are referred to other GED preparation programs.) It's an evening program that operates three nights per week, including during the summer. They anticipate that most students will spend one to two years in the program before being accepted into college.

The curriculum of the program is aimed at helping students prepare for the GED, but to do so in ways that simultaneously develop skills and abilities that they will need in college. For example, students do a lot of writing; they write research papers, critical reviews, and lab reports, and they use word processors one day a week. In math, everyone does algebra early on in the process. They do oral presentations in language arts; in social studies they use a variety of primary source materials; and in science, the goal is to do various laboratory experiments once a week. There are also workshops on study skills, and homework is supposed to be mandatory (though they admit this policy hasn't been very successful). The program, which uses part-time instructors, has a full-time counselor, and counseling is strongly emphasized. The counselor checks in on every class every night and follows up on absences, and each student keeps a journal of her/his experience in the program. Since classes take place at RCC itself, RCC Prep students become familiar with the campus, and they receive college IDs, giving them access to the college facilities. The counselor also does orientations to the college, and explains how the different parts of the college work. College instructors sometimes visit RCC Prep classes, and RCC Prep students can attend RCC guest lectures that take place during the year.

Bridge
The Bridge Program at the Community Learning Center is sponsored by the City of Cambridge and Bunker Hill Community College and, like RCC Prep, is funded by the Massachusetts DOE. Unlike RCC Prep, however, this program is intended for adults who already have a high school diploma or GED certificate and who want to go on to college. In their first cycle, which is currently underway, about half of the students had previously gotten their GED certificates or Adult Diplomas through the CLC, while the other half came in with a regular high school diploma. The program runs on a 19-week cycle, operating two nights a week and providing four different types of classes: math, writing, study skills, and computer literacy. One of the goals of the program is for students to be able to bypass the remedial classes at a community college and begin by placing into regular, for-credit courses. (Beginning community college students may be placed into remedial courses that are noncredit, but for which students still must pay tuition, thus drawing from their own financial resources or using up a portion of their alloted Pell Grant funding without gaining credits toward their degree or certificate.)

Bridge classes emphasize learning strategies, such as study skills, goal setting, problem solving, time management, stress management (crucial since participants are often simultaneously juggling the roles of parent, worker, and student). They also focus on career exploration, helping students who have the general desire to attend college begin to figure out more specifically what areas they might want to study and pursue as career choices. Students will also be helped with the admissions process and with applying for financial aid, and once they are accepted (at Bunker Hill or elsewhere), the program hopes to stay in touch and provide some ongoing support.

City Roots
South Boston City Roots is one of the city's alternative high school programs, designed for out-of-school youth, ages 16 to 21. In addition to its regular GED preparation program, it also offers the new Diploma Plus Program, which is sponsored by the state's Corporation for Business, Work, and Learning. Students who would rather receive more intensive preparation for college or a career can opt for the Diploma Plus Program, through which they receive a regular high school diploma.

Students begin by taking a full set of academic courses, working on a Personal Development Plan, and beginning to assemble a Presentation Portfolio. When students demonstrate they are ready, they enter the "Plus Year," during which they enroll in college-level courses (at Bunker Hill Community College, Roxbury Community College, UMass/Boston, or some other college), participate in an internship at a local business or community organization, complete an Autobiography Project and a Community Development/Community Action Project, and in other ways pursue their particular college and career plans. This includes using curriculum materials from the Higher Education Information Center to help prepare for college. The program's first group of students to graduate will be leaving this year and the staff hopes to maintain contact with them once they enter college and to continue providing them with guidance and support.

So, three different programs, three different models, three different ways in which adult basic education programs can be set up to help their students prepare for and succeed at college or vocational/career training programs. One of the difficulties, of course, is finding the funds to support these sorts of transition programs. So long as funding for ABE remains far short of what is needed and so long as ABE programs continue to be faced with waiting lists for their basic literacy, ASE, and ESOL classes, they may feel reluctant to devote scarce resources to this type of service. While some programs are recognizing the need and devoting funds to pay for these sorts of classes and others are finding ways to incorporate "transitional" work and services into their regular programming, further funding will still be needed, specifically targeted toward providing this sort of "next step" option, if more than a handful of our students are to wind up being served.