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For Immediate Release, Delta College to Receive over $670,000 for Innovative Teaching of Displaced Workers San Joaquin Delta College has been selected to receive $673,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Education to provide innovative delivery of career and basic skills training to displaced adult workers. Delta’s application for the program will provide services and instruction to students enrolled in vocational courses over three years. Key program elements include the linking of learning skilled trades with English and Math in thematic courses, student financial assistance, job shadow experiences, and individualized student counseling. “This initiative will give a tremendous boost to our Basic Skills areas of instruction at a time when state funds have been dwindling,” said Dr. Raul Rodriguez, Delta College Superintendent/President. “The fact that the program has the potential to help displaced workers re-enter the workforce with better skills is a tremendous bonus for the community.” One of the key features of the project is the idea of allowing instructors from the Math, English, and Reading disciplines to “embed” themselves in vocational courses. The faculty would receive some release time from their normal duties to sit in on courses taught within a technical field. For example, by pairing a Reading instructor with an Electrical class, the instructor will be able to examine how students learn fundamental skills in their vocation, and be able to create assignments and activities that might be appropriate and interesting to those same students in an English or Reading course. The project will allow the College to link these types of courses together in what are called learning communities, with students in a vocational class taking an English class together, and with faculty collaborating to make sure activities and assignments have a consistent theme that applies vocational contexts and examples in the linked English course. The grant will allow the College to expand upon some pilot project successes that have resulted from a partnership between English instructor Jennifer Holden and the faculty and students in the Caterpillar Dealer Technician program. Dr. Kathy Hart, Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Instruction, said the program is modeled after other successful programs across the country. “We know from researching other model programs that students who are training for specific careers are able to learn English, Reading and Math skills at a much faster pace if those skills are related to their chosen field of interest. If we are successful, we will be able to foster better transitions into the workforce for people who need to brush up on their skills.” Other services envisioned in the grant include funding to support peer-led learning in the College’s tutor centers, counseling assistance for students who are seeking job re-training, job shadow experiences for students and faculty to allow them to learn about employer expectations, and professional development funds to help faculty learn about innovative approaches to contextualized learning. The grant is expected to feature at least 13 faculty-to-faculty collaborations over a 3 year period and will impact as many as 390 students in specific courses. The project is expected to result in higher rates of successful course completion in both vocational and basic skills courses, and in the completion of workforce certificates. Delta is one of only three California colleges funded in the grant competition. The two others were UCLA and Chabot-Las Positas College. ### |
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