Select focus group participants based on the population that the bridge program will target, including people in “feeder” classes at a community college, incumbent workers who want to advance, and people who come to community or workforce organizations seeking job training. A focus group of eight to 12 participants should take about one and a half to two hours, and members of the leadership team should observe the group. The facilitator should have some facilitation experience.
Part 1: Individual support
Understanding participants’ goals for seeking education will help program staff reinforce these goals, determine whether those close to the participants are supportive, and what types of support they will need.
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What are your top three reasons for returning to school? Do you have any concerns or questions about going to school? Do close family members, friends, or employers support your decision? Why or why not?ß
When was the last time you attended school or a training program? What helped you most to be successful? Why did you leave?What would have helped you stay in school then? What do you think might help you be successful in school now?
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Will you need to work part- or full-time to pay bills? Will you be able to change your work shift or stop working to attend classes or internships?ß
Will you need help paying for childcare, books, food, transportation, basic living expenses, or housing? Are there other financial issues (loans, owing money, other) that would keep you from attending or completing the program?ß
How will you get to and from class? Are there any obstacles?ß
Do you have any other challenges that may impact your attendance and performance?Part 2: Entering College and Career Path Employment
This section will help staff determine potential candidates’ experience and perception of going to college and building a career, and what types of support they will need.
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Would you like to attend college? Why?ß
Have you attempted to go to college before? What happened?ß
What would most help you do this? What would have to be in place for you to enter college?ß
What are your employment goals? How did you identify these goals? Are you satisfied with these goals? Why or why not?ß
How have you searched for jobs in the past? What was most effective? What assistance would be helpful?Part 3: Expectations of Training/Education
This section will help programs identify potential students’ concerns about being in school, and the types of help they may need.
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What do you think it will be like to be in a training/education program? What excites you most?ß
What are your worries and concerns?ß
What do you think will be most difficult?ß
What types of support would help you be successful?Part 4: responsibilities
This section is designed to get an accurate picture of the daily responsibilities of potential students, what they are balancing, and the extent of the support system they will need to succeed.
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Think about your daily routine. What time does it start? What does it take to get everyone out of the house? What time do you get home in the evening? What needs to get done?ß
Think about the responsibilities you have toward other people — perhaps children, parents, or a partner. What are your day care arrangements during the day or evening? What happens if a member of your household gets sick or needs to go to the doctor?ß
What kinds of things throw your day off? Do you have a network of friends and family to help out? What does your network look like?ß
Think about your obligations for work and family, and your network of support, what is the best time for you to attend class— morning, mid day, afternoon or evening? What is the worst time?
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Communities vary in the supports available to low-income individuals, and the leadership team will need to be familiar with the resources in their community. Bridge program planners should start with an inventory of the services already available within partner institutions. Worksheet 7: service Planning provides an outline for listing the anticipated needs and recording the transition services available through the partner organizations.
Wherever the services are offered, the staff may not have experience with the target population and are often not familiar with the goals or methods of bridge programs, so they may need an orientation. They should also become involved in ongoing planning. In addition, bridge program planners should develop regular feedback mechanisms to monitor the results of referrals, service quality, capacity, and need for improvement.
Note that some services may be inaccessible because bridge program students may not meet eligibility requirements, services may be provided at times that are not useful to bridge program students (for example, childcare provided during the day when classes are at night), or they may be provided in ways that are too hard to access (for example, written applications for services may be onerous). When assessing the availability of services, partners will have to explore — and potentially mitigate — these factors.46
Identify and Fill Gaps
After identifying all the services currently available from the bridge program partners and comparing them to the priority service needs, it will be easy to identify the gaps in service. The partnership will likely need to reach out to external organizations to meet some of the priority needs. For example, William Rainey Harper College’s bridge program worked with the College’s Women’s Center and tapped relationships with multiple local organizations to provide domestic violence counseling and housing services.
The local United Way, city and state agencies, and organizations in the community may help identify potential partners and sources of funding.47 Uncovering students’ essential needs and ways to meet them is a process requiring time, flexibility, creativity, and practice that will evolve over time.
Deliver Transition services Effectively
The next step is to develop a transition services delivery plan that will specify who delivers what services and how they will deliver them as seamlessly as possible. Guiding principles for the plan include:
• Engage Students Early. Students need a high level of consistent, personalized service early in the program or even before it starts. This is usually provided by a proactive, dedicated staff member (transition coordinator, case manager, or advisor) who helps them find and access needed services and eventually transition to the next level of education or work. Students will need complete information about the available services during their earliest contacts with the program, as well as when needs arise during the program.
• Coordinate the Team. The instructional team, transition services team, and administrators need strong working relationships, with regular formal meetings and ongoing communication to ensure students’ needs are identified and addressed before they become a threat to program completion.
• Build on Strengths. Support staff, such as transition coordinators and instructors, must help students identify and build on personal strengths and identify family or friends who can help provide a support system. Staff should help develop students’ ability to define their challenges, understand that they are not alone, learn how to ask for assistance, and develop solutions.
• Instill a Program-wide Commitment to Student Success. All team members must see student success as a core part of their job. It may facilitate mutual support and encouragement that often arises among students. This commitment is evident in policies, practices, professional development, and resource allocation.
• Integrate Transition Services into Program Delivery. To the extent possible, transition services should be a part of classroom and career development components of the program.
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Worksheet 7: Service Planning
List the services that partner institutions already offer. Note gaps between priority needs and services and then fill in gaps with service providers from outside the partnership.
notes
Overall:
Transition Coordinator
services Providers
service need
Individual:
Transportation, Childcare, Other
Employment:
Internships, Job Search
Other Academic:
Advising
Tutoring, Study Skills, Coaching, Financial Aid
Priority need?
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Transition services delivery plans should be developed from the vantage point of the bridge program students, taking into consideration their first encounter with the bridge program and services, how they will access the transition services, and how those services might change as students progress through the bridge program and along the career pathway. There is also value in working with the next level of education and work to assure that graduates have assistance in adjusting to their new environment.
Transition Coordination
Transition coordination is the system for ensuring that the team will do whatever possible to assist students in solving their problems. The system involves tapping internal and external relationships to meet these needs. A transition coordinator, who may be called a case manager, coach, or advisor, is important to the success of this system.48 This dedicated staff person is needed to shepherd students through the offerings of multiple departments and agencies. Critical to this role is establishing a relationship with each student. The coordinator helps students to develop and implement the transition services plan, serves as the liaison between students and instructors, counselors, and other key staff, and connects students to local resources. Often their most important functions are to encourage students, help them maintain motivation and self-confidence, and help build skills in solving problems and balancing responsibilities, etc. They should be available on weekends and in the evenings, especially to accommodate employed students.
Transition coordinators participate in classes and are in constant communication with program faculty, staff, and students, so that the bridge program provides proactive rather than reactive transition services. The transition coordinator brings services into orientation sessions and the classroom. They connect students to career advising, admissions, financial aid, academic advising, transportation assistance, food pantries, shelters, and domestic violence counseling.
If a program lacks the resources to hire a new, full-time transition coordinator, it may be able to reassign an existing staff person with the appropriate skills, knowledge, and understanding of the student population, or start with a part-time position. Some bridge programs have devised ways of establishing such a position by pooling discretionary funds, having instructors or counselors take on additional responsibilities, or restructuring jobs.
Transition coordination is an eligible use of adult education funding and may be supported with WIA funds.
Internal and External Partnerships
To provide all the needed transition services, new relationships with internal and external partners should be formed.
Service agreements should be developed to clearly delineate responsibilities and roles. All involved should, at a minimum, know:
• When they are expected to be in contact with students and in what venues
• What specific services they are to provide, in what ways, and within what time frames
• With whom they are expected to communicate and coordinate (such as the transition coordinator or instructor) In addition, staff should have access to a referral source listing resources for additional services. An initial staff orientation and team-building during the program are important tools in providing timely transition services to students.
Communication
The bridge program should include both formal and informal mechanisms of communication among the transition coordinator, instructors, and leadership team to talk about individual and collective student needs and how to meet them. For example, transition services should be an agenda item for every partnership meeting.
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Informally, partners may think about how office placement and other factors can facilitate this type of communication. For example, one bridge program noted that putting the transition coordinator’s office next to the instructor’s office turned out to be key to staying on top of students needs. Instituto del Progreso Latino holds formal team meetings once a week and student progress is always on the agenda. Frequent informal communication is important to share indicators of problems, such as absences, tardiness, not turning in homework, and declining performance. Whether during formal or informal settings, team discussions about individual issues should result in immediate follow-up with the student by the appropriate person.
Employment and Internships
Ongoing connections with employers in the targeted industry will be critical for programs that offer internships and work experience, and for target populations who plan to work after completing the class and certification exams.
Staff will need to identify internship and employment opportunities, prepare students for interviews and placement, follow up with students in the workplace, and secure employer feedback.
CBOs often have dedicated staff who provide these functions, through an employer advisory council or industry association. For example, an employment specialist at Central States SER works with an advisory council of hospitals and long-term care facilities, Instituto del Progreso Latino’s program staff work closely with the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council and their members to place graduates and define requirements and hiring stipulations, and the Lake Land College career and technical transportation program works directly with John Deere and other automotive repair companies to provide employment opportunities.
In addition, a program staff person may be dedicated to work with incumbent employees and their employers to broker advancement training throughout the local employment and training system. The staff person may maintain connections with graduates to notify them of advancement options within their field and available financial assistance.
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