Consortium puts adult learners on the path to college and career success
Want to expand your range of skills to get a better job? Want to learn English or become a U.S. citizen? Maybe you need to help your children with their schoolwork or finally earn your high school diploma. Or maybe you want to take courses to earn a college degree.
The key to achieving all these goals is one thing — education — and adults in our community are getting the education they need thanks to the Santa Monica Regional Consortium for Adult Education.
This collaboration between the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and Santa Monica College’s Adult Education Center is aimed at making sure adults have access to the right education that can improve their career prospects, the lives of their families and the community. It is part of a statewide initiative designed to address the education and workforce needs of working-age adults. Whether students need literacy, GED or high school diploma, vocational, counseling or college preparation courses, the Santa Monica Regional Consortium for Adult Education is providing the community with key educational offerings that improve lives.
The Santa Monica Regional Consortium for Adult Education is in the process of identifying community and business partners to develop on-site and off-site curricula to meet the academic and workforce needs of adults in the region, according to Dione Carter, Dean of Noncredit and External Programs at Santa Monica College and Co-Chair of the Consortium.
“As these partnerships are identified, faculty, classified staff and administrators will work closely with business and community partners to tailor noncredit programs, including student support services, for their employees and/or clients,” she says.
Partners, such as the LA County Workforce Development Board, share input with the consortium on current educational programming needs. These could include ESL courses, high school equivalency exam (GED) preparation, and noncredit courses that allow adult education students to gain employment in high-demand careers.
Students have many courses and supportive services available to help them achieve their goals, but that wasn’t always the case. In 2008, statewide funding cuts to adult education programs drastically affected the courses being offered in the community.
SMMUSD Adult Education Center Principal Anthony Fuller says if it weren’t for the efforts of Lorena Martin, administrative assistant for the center, he’s not sure the Adult Education Center would have survived.
“Ms. Martin kept the adult school going, whether funding was ebbing or flowing over the last 26 years. Because of her efforts and the increase in funding provided by our great state, we are poised to re-energize and expand adult education on the west side of Los Angeles,” he says.
This new era was made possible by Assembly Bill 86, which created the Adult Education Planning Grant. It outlined expectations for consortium development and implementation requirements.
With the passage of the AB 104, the Adult Education Block Grant, consortia began the transition from planning to implementation.
The intent of AB 104 and The Santa Monica Regional Consortium for Adult Education is to expand and improve the adult education system.
“Adult education is not just ‘get your diploma’ anymore,” Fuller says. “We want to get you on a professional track to wherever that leads you.
“Adult education is not just ‘get your diploma’ anymore. We want to get you on a professional track to wherever that leads you.”
Anthony Fuller, Principal, Adult Education Center, Co-Project Director, Santa Monica Regional Consortium for Adult Education
For more information, visit www.santamonica4adulted.org.
Written by Jennifer B Onnett
| Regions | Classes |
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| South Coast California | Variety of Classes |
