| DTAE
2003
Technical College System of Georgia
The Office of Technical Education fuels the economic growth and development of the state by providing quality technical training through its coordinated system of technical colleges. This office administers high-quality technical education programs and career transition services that meet the needs of current and prospective students, as well as the business community. The office oversees the administration of all publicly owned technical colleges and works with other public agencies and organizations to provide Georgia's citizens with a seamless educational system that is equally accessible to all segments of the population. Georgia's technical college system has grown from two institutions in 1943 to a statewide network of 34 technical colleges, 18 satellite campuses, four joint college divisions, and the Georgia Virtual Technical College. In FY02, the number of students enrolled in technical colleges to prepare for employment or to upgrade skills was 280,082 — 153,444 in credit and 126,584 in noncredit programs. There were 26,571 graduates with 31,354 degrees conferred from Associate of Applied Technology degree, diploma, and technical certificate of credit programs.
Instructional Support Services responds to the training needs of current and emerging business opportunities in the community by delivering flexible technical college programs. Programs are discontinued if benchmarks for enrollment, graduation, and job placement are not met. The GVTC on-line initiative
began in the fall of 1998 with 132 students and 17 course offerings. For
year ending 2003, student enrollment has grown from 17,515 in FY02 to
25,551 students, a 46 percent increase. On-line course offerings showed
an increase of 48 percent with 3,670 courses being offered this year.
Programs of study now number 94 with the greatest concentration in the
allied health and computer information fields. Fourteen associate degrees,
19 diplomas and 61 technical certificates are currently offered with more
in development. In addition to fully on-line courses, GVTC also offered
4,783 Web-enhanced courses in FY03, representing an 11.6 percent increase
over the previous year with total enrollment in web-enhanced courses totaling
26,577 for FY03, a total increase of 6.2 percent.
Over the past two
years, the Georgia Virtual Technical College has seen an increase in the
number of out-of-state and out-of-country students utilizing its on-line
course offerings. During this time, students from 30 states and twelve
(12) foreign countries have used GVTC resources to further their educations.
The greatest concentration of these students come from Alabama, California,
Florida, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Tennessee. Foreign countries represented are the Bahamas, Canada,
Colombia, Denmark, India, Jamaica, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, Thailand
and Trinidad.
The Georgia Virtual
Technical College has maintained a phenomenal retention rate of between
73% - 85.8% since its inception in 1998. For FY03, the GVTC retention
rate averaged 85.8%. This far exceeds the national retention rate for
on-line courses, which is less than 50%.
Student satisfaction
is necessary for growth. GVTC affords students the opportunity to offer
feedback/input every quarter on instruction, course content and support
services through the GVTC Student Satisfaction Survey. Student suggestions/comments
have enabled GVTC to initiate positive change and thereby increase enrollment.
This past year, 97% of GVTC students were satisfied with their on-line
course and 96% of the students were satisfied with their on-line admissions
experience.
Services provided
by the GVTC central office staff include Blackboard training, design and
technical support, a portal Web site, a 24/7 help desk, 1-800 telephone
number for general information, student services support, incentive grants
for instructors to develop programs of study, and an on-line tutoring
service for students. The GVTC student services staff continues to offer
training on the automated admissions/registration/financial aid process
that was developed and implemented last year. GVTC provided training this
year for 95 student services personnel from across the state. Professional
development opportunities for faculty are offered year- round through
GVTC training seminars such as Blackboard, Macromedia Flash, Photoshop,
accessibility training and the annual GVTC Summit.
To ensure the quality
assurance of all on-line courses, GVTC has implemented a process whereby
every course must meet quality checklist criteria and course standards,
pass a peer review committee, and then be piloted as a Web-enhanced course
at the technical college before being launched on the GVTC Web site for
totally on-line instruction. All on-line instructors must attend GVTC
Blackboard training.
GVTC also offers three
continuing education courses in a partnership with BellSouth to provide
career-specific training to develop skills that BellSouth and industry
require for employment. Other continuing education courses such as computer
applications for government employees, desktop applications, Web design
and media, network/operating systems, project management, business management
skills and workplace safety are also available on-line. With the influx of Latin American immigrants into Georgia, GVTC recognized the need for on-line courses in Spanish, and development of five bilingual technical certificates of credit was initiated this year with one certificate being implemented this year and the four remaining certificates to be operational next year. To date, the PDC has taught more than 30,000 hours of IT certification training toward more than 1000 exams, which included Comptia A+, Net+, Linux+, Security+, Cisco Certified Network Associate, Cisco Certified Network Professional, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (Windows NT, 2000, XP), Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator, Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, Certified Internet Webmaster, Sun Solaris Administrator, Sun Java Programmer. By providing training in-house through PDC, DTAE realized a net savings of more than $2,300,000. In FY 01, The PDC began awarding Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and Staff Development Units (SDUs) to course attendees. Since our selection as a Regional Academy, we will offer Credits toward the Microsoft Certified Trainer program.
Accomplishments in FY03 include:
Special Workforce Services helps students achieve their maximum potential through programs such as New Connections to Work and Georgia Fatherhood. New Connections to Work For 23 years, the New Connections to Work program has offered services to its target population, which includes single parents, displaced homemakers, single pregnant women, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, and ABAWD recipients. The NCTW program continues its collaboration with the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR), Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS). During FY03, more than 8,000 TANF recipients received services through the New Connections to Work program. In 2003, the New Connections to Work program offered services to a new population, Able Bodied Adults Without Dependent Children (ABAWD), through a collaborative agreement with the Georgia Department of Human Resources. This state and federally funded program is offered in 33 technical colleges and 3 colleges with technical divisions. During FY03, more than 11,000 participants were assisted in their goal to achieve economic self-sufficiency.
In Georgia, uncollected child support is estimated to be more than one billion dollars annually. Substantial public funds are currently directed to public assistance payments resulting from non-payment of child support by non-custodial parents. The impact of this problem is a wide range of social and economic issues including children being raised without positive male involvement, continued reliance on taxpayer-funded programs and an undereducated and often untrained population of non-custodial parents. GFP provides education, training, and job placement for non-custodial parents with court-ordered child support. GFP offers a statewide systematic delivery of services that enables participants to contribute to the economic well-being of their children and the workforce development of the state. The standard is to provide a comprehensive program of services, which includes assessment, workshop competencies, and skills training concurrent with employment. Since its inception, more than 6500 eligible participants have been served through 33 technical colleges and 3 colleges with technical divisions. Of the 6500 participants we have received into our program 89% have been male, 11% have been women; also, 77% of our participants have identified themselves as African Americans and 19% have identified themselves as European Americans. Of those participants 71% have received various assessments that will assist in identifying their career interests, achievement and aptitude abilities. Approximately 70% have received Job Skills and Life Skills Training, which approximately 73% have completed. The GFP has been able to assist 48% of our participants to further their education. Since the inception of this program 56% of our participants have been able to locate and secure gainful employment. The state has developed a variety of programs to promote responsible, involved non-custodial support, particularly among low-income men. The primary focus is education, job training, and job placement assistance for men and women who owe child support and need to increase their labor marketability. The Georgia Fatherhood Program (GFP) is among several of these strategies to encourage responsible non-custodial parents support. As a model to enhance non-custodial parents support as economic providers, the Georgia Fatherhood Program assists low-income parents who owe child support in their efforts to qualify for and find employment. Specifically, the Georgia Fatherhood Program targets low-income, non-custodial parents court-ordered to pay child support through CSE. These parents are unemployed or employed with an income of less than $20,000 per year, have children receiving TANF benefits, or lack a high school diploma or GED. Cited by
the U.S. Department of Education and the National Child Support Enforcement
Association as the only statewide program of its kind, the Georgia Fatherhood
Program serves as a national model of collaboration for comprehensive
training and service delivery to non-custodial parents.
The six-week residential program of vocational exploration and summer
work experience seeks to help participants develop self-esteem, responsibility,
and self-respect. Participants are required to attend school, obtain a
high school diploma or GED, and take classes in parenting and money management.
Participants also perform community service and cooperate with Child Support
Enforcement. The basic components of this progressive program include education, skill
development, counseling, and a variety of therapeutic activities. By emphasizing
team efforts and individual growth from interaction with peer residents,
the program provides access to positive intervention and treatment efforts
that may have been previously inaccessible to the participants. The young fathers in this unique program have the opportunity to acknowledge
paternity and care for their children. This opportunity gives the participants
a sense of pride and self-respect. Participants also learn skills that
help them become responsible and self-sufficient members of society.
Student Support Services provides students with assessment, admissions, career planning and development, registration, placement, and federal/state financial assistance.
The 2003 GOAL winner is Ms. Christina Dixon, a culinary arts student from Atlanta Technical College. When asked why she chose technical education, Christina replied that she knew a technical education would be affordable while also enabling her to reach her career objectives in the culinary arts. As the Student of the Year, Dixon will serve as the Student Ambassador for the Technical College System of Georgia.
The recipient of the 2003 Rick Perkins Award is Amy Holloway, an instructor of English at Middle Georgia Technical College. “I’m a big believer in technical education,” she told the awards dinner crowd, “so I’m thrilled to be a cheerleader. I can’t imagine any job more gratifying than teaching in a technical college. It’s amazing the difference we’re making in people’s lives. And after all, isn’t that why we go into teaching?” In recognition of her accomplishments, Holloway received a beautiful crystal award.
Technical College presidents select Lighthouse participants based on criteria established at each individual technical college. Participants have the opportunity to share teaching skills to promote learning and to be exposed to national innovators in the teaching and education fields. Several panel presentations highlighted the event and included key representatives from business and industry.
The Office of Technical Education has been engaged in establishing the appropriate infrastructure to support and accurately account for DTAE's high school/technical college collaborative programs. Focus has been given to identifying processes and procedures that facilitate seamless transitions and to establishing an accountability system to accurately capture this movement. The Office of Technical Education has particular emphasis on expanding, strengthening, and connecting successful existing high school/technical college collaborations. This office has been significantly involved in forging new and significant partnerships to increase awareness of and interest in technical education on the part of Georgia’s young people who are involved in alternative education programs, educational facilities within the Department of Juvenile Justice and youth organizations; fostering collaborative programs that help high school students complete high school requirements, gain real world experience, and earn credits that can be applied to technical college programs; connecting the work of WIA Youth Councils and the Family Connection Partnership with Georgia School to Work partnerships to develop a statewide Comprehensive Youth Development Strategy among the state, regional and local partners involved in supporting youth; leading the Early Childhood Care and Education collaborative initiative involving the state’s leading childcare agencies with the goal of providing statewide coordination of systems for professional advancement in early childhood care and education; and contributing to the Healthcare Workforce Policy Advisory Committee.
We believe these are some impressive numbers.
Partnerships with Demonstration Grants, awarded in August 2002, are just beginning to reach their goals. In order to complete and replicate the demonstration partnerships will need an extension of 6 to 9 months depending on the complexity. Some partnerships, like Altamaha, Coastal Georgia STW and Sunbelt, have created products or programs that they are willing to export to other areas of the state. In addition, some of these products are available on-line (South Partnership/Cobb, Coastal Georgia STW) and can be viewed by other partnerships anytime. Other partnerships have implemented processes that could easily be replicated by other sites—East Central, NE Georgia Workforce Development, NW Georgia Metro—have all used specific processes to develop a program that they plan to implement, but the processes they have used are replicable in other curriculum or career target areas. A few partnerships replicated successful models from other areas or states. Coastal Georgia Workforce Development, Coosa Valley, and Valdosta Area STW all used successful models from other states, thus proving the successful replicability of these programs. A number of partnerships have used commercial products successfully—CSRA (WorkKeys), Thomas Area STW (Compass), Winder-Barrow (Parent-to-Parent), Middle Georgia (ASSET), Tri-County (Classroom Performance System). These products can, of course, be adopted by any other partnership based on their success. The Comprehensive Youth Development Strategies Initiative has been very successful. Regional teams have spent the last few months implementing their strategic plans building systems and infrastructures for efficient and effective service delivery, communication, planning, etc. With a foundation laid early from the State Level Partners Group, the regional teams were guided along the way by frequent meetings and technical assistance by the STW staff. According to the evaluation report, when regional teams were asked about the future of the CYDS Initiative there was a general expression of optimism that the efforts of the Initiative, or some level of the effort, would continue regardless of the presence of the STW funding. Several regions sounded confident and have concrete plans regarding the next steps. There is a clear need and responsibility to continue to nurture a process which has not had time to fulfill its potential. Local Gap-filling Strategies Grants began third year implementation on July 1, 2003 with hopes of the state getting a positive answer to its request for a no cost extension to September 30, 2004. Partnership activities will revolve around sustainability efforts. State leadership began planning for sustainability by researching and implementing a high school to technical college connections initiative. Our relationship with the Department of Education (DOE) has been the key to building connections and breaking down the barriers to high school transition initiatives. Through the Georgia School-to-Work Initiative, we have been able to collaborate with DOE on several projects to make transitions simpler for the student. The dual enrollment crosswalk, course articulation pilot, testing and remediation, computerized learning management, and programs of study demonstration projects, along with many other projects are paving the way for the growing number of 16-21 year olds who are enrolled in our Technical Colleges (over 39,000, 27% of our population in 2002). These projects as well as projects with the Department of Labor (High Touch, High Tech) and the Board of Regents (PACTS, College Prep Curriculum Study) will assist in making the transition to post secondary seamless for high school students. Financially, Georgia School-to-Work has increased expenditures as activity has increased. Since awarding the last of the local grants in August 2002 and beginning the second implementation year in July 2002, the level of expenditures began to rise consistently each quarter. We have encumbered all but 2 million dollars and expenditures rose this past quarter by 20%. We are within 94% of expending and encumbering the entire grant. FY04 will be the year of sustainability and transition. Involvement from over 9,000 employers in STW activities will provide a foundation for continued influence on educational improvement in Georgia. Staff will draw on this base of business and industry partners to strengthen the influence of this sector on sustainability. Building a comprehensive youth development strategy, strengthening our high school to technical college connections, connecting work-based and contextual learning strategies to local school improvement planning, and expanding and nurturing our business and industry relationships will help sustain the Georgia STW Initiative. By building
systems that will provide the framework for securing and maintaining future
resources, local school system support, community support, local business
investment, and legislative policy-making influence, STW in Georgia by
whatever name or face it takes, will survive beyond federal support, assuring
sustainability.
Tech Prep is a DOE/DTAE Collaborative which is designed to improve seamless
student transition from high school to postsecondary technical education.
Each of the 37 Tech Prep consortia involves a technical college or a college
with a technical division with the secondary school systems in the college
service delivery area. In FY03 local consortia received more than $3,000,000
to implement components of the Tech Prep program. In FY03, significant
efforts were made to improve the data collection strategy so that our
student information system more accurately reflected the number of students
that entered a technical college as a tech prep student. FY03 data indicated
there were 12,710 Tech Prep students enrolled in technical colleges.
Dual enrollment enables students to enroll in postsecondary classes and
earn Carnegie units of credit that count toward high school graduation
requirements and postsecondary credit hours through collaborative initiatives
between high schools and colleges. This broad classification of secondary
student crosses over several program lines (i.e., Postsecondary Options,
Tech Prep, Youth Apprenticeship, and Dual Enrollment - HOPE). Over the
past several months, the Office of Technical Education has been working
with DTAE data staff and technical college student services staff to ensure
that data collection processes and procedures reflect accurate representation
of these populations. FY03 unduplicated data indicates 8,544 secondary
students were participating in this high school/technical college opportunity.
This represents an increase in student participation of 16% between FY02
and FY03. DTAE’s ECCE Program is poised to meet the needs of the recent mandates
for increased education and training for Head Start teachers, Pre-K teachers,
paraprofessionals and other early childhood professionals. Today, all
33 of Georgia’s technical colleges have an ECCE Program. As a result
of an aggressive expansion and promotions campaign, ECCE enrollment at
technical colleges rose a whopping 40 percent from spring 2002 –
spring 2003.
The Early Childhood Care and Education Programs (ECCE) teamed up with
the University of Georgia’s Adult & Nontraditional Student Resources
& Services (ANSERS) to provide academic assistance to early childhood
professionals who are planning to apply for admission to a technical college.
This six-hour refresher course is designed to help students perform well
on ASSET, the college’s placement exam which measures the applicants’
basic skills in the areas of writing, reading, and mathematics (numerical
reasoning and some algebra). The ASSET Preparation Workshops provided
nontraditional students, who may have been away from the classroom for
a number of years, with a secure and supportive atmosphere in which to
review these basic skills and receive test-taking tips and strategies.
Since ASSET is used by schools to determine the level at which students
will begin their course of study, students who perform well on the test
are more likely to go directly into the early childhood academic credit
program they choose. Courses were free of charge and participants received
Continuing Education Units from the University of Georgia.
Every day,
thousands of Georgia’s young children are cared for in family child
care homes. Many parents prefer family child care homes for their children
because of the individualized, deep and trusting relationship that family
child care offers. In an effort to provide these child care professionals
with appropriate education and training, the ECCE Program developed a
Family Child Care Provider Technical Certificate of Credit (TCC). The
curriculum for the program combines the first three ECCE introductory
courses with two newly developed courses designed to offer the child care
professionals the competencies they need for successful Program and Business
Management. Competencies include: communication; professional practices;
ethics; observations; business; budgeting; taxes; marketing; record keeping;
and professional qualifications. ECCE students enrolled in the associate
degree program may choose Family Child Care as their specialization of
study. DTAE’s ECCE continues its partnership with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) to assist the state with meeting the new education and training requirements for public school paraprofessionals set forth in the federal act “To Leave No Child Behind.” The act requires paraprofessionals to comply with the act by:
As a member of the Georgia Paraprofessional Task Force, DTAE helped to develop the new state standards and certification requirements for paraprofessionals. In addition to serving on the Task Force, the paraprofessional assessment, which was developed in response to the third option, was administered by the technical colleges to the paraprofessionals as a public service to the community. Thirty-three technical colleges administered the interim parapro test on their campuses free of charge. Testing was coordinated by the central office. Of the 17,910 parapros tested, more than half were tested at a technical college. The ECCE
Associate Degree Program at all technical colleges in Early Childhood
Care and Education – Paraprofessional Specialization is an acceptable
preparation program under the new federal requirements.
In FY03 the Office
of Technical Education continues to identify the technical college student
recruitment and/or marketing activity that has resulted in technical college
enrollment for this population. Statewide surveys indicate many of the
technical colleges represented a high level of activity with these populations.
The data indicate that, for the same reporting period, technical colleges
have consistent and extensive recruitment/marketing activities in secondary
alternative education programs (i.e., ASSET testing, tours, on and off
campus visits, summer career awareness programs, instructor/counselor/administrator
contact, etc.) that have resulted in an increase of 31% representing nearly
3,500 students being informed of postsecondary technical education opportunities.
Virtually every technical
college had some student recruitment/marketing activity with youth organizations
within its service area. Surveys were designed to determine the level
of this activity, specifically with the Boys and Girls Clubs located within
the area. Many technical colleges provided information on other youth
organization activities as well as information regarding technical college
sponsored youth centered events, holiday celebrations, sports events,
et cetera. The results were impressive. Over the past year, nearly 17,000
youth across Georgia have been invited into the technical college environment
to participate in various activities. This represents an increase of student
participation between FY02 and FY03 of 77%. Some of these activities highlighted
career information and educational opportunities and options, others focused
on specific technical and academic preparation, others celebrated holiday
seasons, and still others supported sports events and teams. All exposed
the community's youth to technical education, the faculty and staff, and,
more importantly, to a dedicated group of citizens and educators that
care about the community's youth and their future.
DTAE and the Georgia
Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) signed a state-level Statement of
Agreement designed to explore the options available in providing postsecondary
technical education programs for incarcerated youth located at DJJ Youth
Development Centers. These opportunities provide the knowledge, skills,
and abilities necessary to successfully transition from secondary education
to postsecondary education and beyond and provide access to the job market.
An attachment to that agreement was the Operational Guidelines between
DTAE Technical Colleges and DJJ - Youth Development Center for Providing
Postsecondary Technical Education Instructional Services. Both of these
documents serve as "roadmaps" to assist technical colleges and
youth development centers, located in their service areas, in developing
collaborative instructional services relationships.
Within DTAE, Augusta,
Central Georgia, East Central, Flint River, Gwinnett, Heart of Georgia,
Sandersville, South Georgia and West Central, have the most developed
relationship with DJJ sites. East Central and Sandersville Tech are working
with sites that provide educational services to these students, and they
both are consistently enrolling students. Gwinnett and West Georgia Tech
have established relationships with ancillary facilities to provide GED
services.
Through the Office of Technical Education, DTAE is an active participant
on the Healthcare Workforce Policy Advisory Committee. Although DTAE is
engaged in each of the four key dimensions, particular attention was given
to the marketing and recruitment and program development during FY03.
Through the Georgia STW Initiative, the statewide AHEC system will be
able to expand the implementation of a variety of career programs aimed
at youth and also a expand a model summer training program for teachers
that provides intensive instruction and tolls to promote classroom skills
and counseling in health career education. Under this agreement with the
Area Health Education Centers (AHEC), the organization is to focus specifically
on those activities that support education systems, community programs,
AHEC, and youth programs that host health career education activities,
the training of educators and school counselors, and summer programming
for youth. The 5 Centers providing career education activities collectively
have served 287 participants thus far in 12 events. More events are scheduled
this summer. Partners have included postsecondary technical colleges,
the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Girls and Boys Clubs, 4-H, local
high schools, Tech Prep, Urban Explorers, the After School Program, and
others. When interviewed at the end of the activity, most participants
indicated an interest in pursuing health careers.
In a collaborative effort between DTAE, Dekalb Technical College, Ethica
HealthCare, Inc., the Georgia Department of Labor, the Georgia Department
of Community Health, the Dekalb Workforce Investment Board and the Atlanta
Regional Commission, efforts are underway to develop and implement a Certified
Nursing Assistant to Licensed Practical Nurse Bridge program. The purpose
of this program is to move the CNA professional into a nursing career
pathway, and thereby eliminating the “dead-end” nature of
the profession. To do this, the aforementioned partners are creating a
tiered ladder for the CNA workforce which takes entry level CNAs through
various levels of CNA practice and, ultimately, into the LPN workforce.
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