Essay Introduction and Institutional Context

Introduction

The Language and Literacy Masters Program at City College of New York is an excellent educational venue for those people that have accumulated a lifetimes worth of experience and are looking for a way to channel back their hard won expertise to others.  Part of the education that City College is offering me is a class that is an independent study at LaGuardia Community College’s GED Bridge to Health and Business Program.  The program differentiates itself from other high school equivalency programs in that it offers the student a pathway directly to a college program or career training. For many of us, schooling is not an option, and if the opportunity ever presents itself, then it is most likely outside of the traditional student experience.  As a result, those students are, more often than not, packaging their own academic experience, and crafting their own career path with limited success.  LaGuardia Community College has observed an educational market niche in which students are under served.  As a result, the college has combined a GED program that entails three times the normal time spent in other programs along with career counseling, built in tutors and nuts and bolts type of support, such as helping students fill out college applications.  In other words, the college has created a program that has addressed flaws of similar less comprehensive programs to enhance the success rates of nontraditional students in their quest for a better life.

The Bridge program uses a contextualized approach to teaching lessons.  The readings tie into what the student wants to know about, business or health, and they are used as a basis for developing academic skills, such as how to mark up a text to be able to find the important points in a narrative, how to summarize, and the difference between subjective and objective statements.  The initial readings used provided a basis for the discussion about the value of school.  So while students were learning to mark up, they are also being informed and developing opinions about the process they are going through as well as developing realistic expectations about what life will be like with achieved academic certificates in hand.  The style of the class is a combination of formal and informal school settings.  The instructor may spend time teaching a point as you would find in a traditional classroom, but it is a brief lesson, and from there the class style is to move into groups of three or four people, where the students use each other to fight for understanding of the subject matter.  The instructor moves from group to group and provides support by noticing where he is needed to help move a group forward.  The process always culminates by the groups posting their work on the classroom walls with each group taking turns and explaining to the class their findings.  After 7 to 10 groups have presented their results, a lesson has taken place.

The Bridge program designers have based their teaching approach on characteristics of adult learners.  Andragogy, an adult learning theory developed by Malcolm S, Knowles, is based on the premise that there are significant differences between adult and children learners (Knowles 34-35).  There has been much academic discussion regarding the adult learner and this dialogue has led to establishing teaching guidelines that are oriented to the success of the adult student.  The adult learner characteristics are covered more fully in the section below on Adult Learning Theories, but the idea is to adapt teaching styles to effectively reach the targeted student.  Elements of the Bridge Program style of teaching that are easily identifiable as adult student oriented are the use of peer learning groups, learning contracts, and providing learner support after the initial training in the form of coaching, study teams, and opportunities to learn by watching colleagues perform (Cercone 154-155).

The LaGuardia Community College GED Bridge to Heath and Business program is a study in how to best move forward the striving adult student.  Being included in the classroom as an observer has been a privilege offered to this adult student and the experience has changed my view and deepened my respect for adult teaching and adult learners.

LaGuardia Community College’s GED Bridge to Health and Business Program

MDRC and LaGuardia Community College of the City of New York (CUNY) have partnered to create a program for adult students that have yet to obtain high school graduation credentials.  The program is much wider in scope than other GED programs because it has as a goal of not only obtaining the high school certificate for the student, but to also help them to successfully navigate their way into a college and training programs (Martin 1).   ”MDRC is an organization that attempts to inform social policy, find solutions for reducing poverty, bolsters economic self sufficiency, and improves public education and graduation rates.  They design promising new interventions, evaluate existing programs using the highest research standards, and provide technical assistance to build better programs and deliver effective interventions. They work as an intermediary, bringing together public and private funders to test new policy-relevant ideas, and communicate what is learned to policymakers and practitioners — all with the goal of improving the lives of low-income individuals, families, and children”  (MDRC.org). 

This dove tails well with what LaGuardia Community College is known for:  “A nationally recognized expert at pioneering innovative programs and initiatives that are rebuilding the middle class. The faculty and staff dare to do more every day – so that students can write their own futures, immigrants can achieve their dreams, and small businesses learn how to grow and thrive” (laguardia.cuny.edu/home/).  These two organizations formed an alliance with financial support from the Robin Hood Foundation and the MetLife Foundation to launch a small but rigorous study of the GED Bridge to Health and Business program, which focuses specifically on GED curriculum, program design and efforts to forge a stronger link to college and career training (Martin 1).  One year after enrolling in the program, Bridge students are far more likely to have completed the course, passed the GED exam, and enrolled in college than students in more traditional programs (Martin 2).  The Bridge program requires students to attend more hours in class and receive intensive advising from a full time Bridge staff (Martin 2).  The full time Bridge staff members at LaGuardia are, Wynne Ferdinand, the Assistant Director, Jason Guzman, the instructor, Christina Stang, the Transitional Counselor, and Dana Kitzes, the Coordinator.  Wynne Administrates the program, Jason teaches the program and Christine and Dana help the Bridge students target colleges, find loans and fill out college applications.

 The GED Bridge curriculum differs from other programs through their use of a contextualized curriculum with two broad goals:  To build skills that are tested on the GED exam through the use of content specific to a field of interest in health care or business, and to develop general academic habits that prepare students to succeed in college and training programs (Martin 2). 

Works Cited

Knowles, Malcolm, and Madison, WI. American Society for Training and Development. The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species. n.p.: 1973. ERIC. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

Cercone, Kathleen. "Characteristics Of Adult Learners With Implications For Online Learning Design." AACE Journal 16.2 (2008): 137-159. ERIC. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

Martin, Vanessa and Broadus, George.  MDRC. Enhancing GED Instruction to Prepare Students for College and Careers. New York City: MDRC, 2013. Print. 

"Mdrc | Building Knowledge to Improve Social Policy." MDRC. MDRC, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.  (http://www.mdrc.org)

"LaGuardia Community College." LaGuardia Community College. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. (http://www.laguardia.cuny.edu/About/Welcome-Message/)