State Seeks to Get Adult Ed Students into College

Berkeley has been targeted for a pilot project aimed at ushering adult school students into college and, ultimately, better-paying jobs.

The Berkeley Unified School District will receive $75,000 to participate in the Policy to Performance (P2P) Pilot Project.

Berkeley is one of 10 districts in the state, and California is one of eight states ini the nation to be chosen for the project by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education.

“California’s demand for a highly educated workforce continues to grow, and we must keep up,” said state schools chief Tom Torlakson in a press statement released this morning.

Berkeley Adult School has closed for the summer and officials were not available for comment.

The state’s goal is to help support adult education students to increase their transfer rates to postsecondary education programs.  The districts had to use the funds to strengthen an existing program or build a new comprehensive student support services component within their current postsecondary transition program.The P2P project has recently sunsetted and ran from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012.

Grantees had to have qualified for federal adult education and Workforce Investment Act literacy grants, and had to demonstrate a clear and substantial plan for a comprehensive student support services component.

Without intervention, the state will not produce enough college graduates or people with sufficient advanced training to meet growing workforce demands, according to a report by the Public Policy Institute of California.

"California's Future Economy" says 75 percent of occupations will require at least some college or a college degree, but 61 percent of the population will. Absent any improvements, California's labor market is projected to be short by a million college educated workers by 2025.

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