ON RAMP TO I-BEST PROGRAM

Sinead Fitzpatrick Plagge, Director of WorkForce Grant Programs

Gretchen Robertson, On Ramp Faculty

Lisa Krivanek, On Ramp Faculty

FIRST, WE THOUGHT……..

THEN, WE FELT LIKE THIS….

THEN, WE DID THIS…..

FINALLY, WE ARRIVED HERE!

WHO WE SERVE:

Students eligible for various WorkForce Grant Programs

Students overcoming poverty, trauma and/or transition

Professionally and academically under-prepared Students who test too low to enter and succeed in

an I-BEST pathway- ABE levels 3 and under

PROGRAM RATIONALE

This program takes a holistic approach for students overcoming poverty, trauma and/or transition.

We designed a contextualized basic skills course that familiarizes students w/ academic and workplace cultures, expectations & challenges.

Additional instruction time allows instructors to

assess students’ deficits and adjust instruction to backfill knowledge gaps.

COURSE COMPONENTS

On Ramp Course IBEST Model: 100% overlap English: 55 hours Math: 44 hours College Success Skills: 22 hours Basic Skills: 33

Total credits: 14

KEY SUCCESSFUL INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Use assessments to inform instruction and skill remediation

Community building Integrate workplace expectations Apply Reading Apprenticeship strategies to math

instruction Embedded college success skills into curriculum

and instruction Wrap around support services

RETHINKING MATH INSTRUCTION

Our students’ math barriers: Confidence and past experiences Reading comprehension Knowledge gaps Lack conceptual understanding of processes See skills in isolation Don’t see relevance

FRAMEWORK

Personal Math History So What? Logs Whole Group Topic Analysis Word Problem Reading Strategies Self Directed Remediation (Khan Academy) Explanation of Themes Post Test Self Evaluations

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENT

Word Problem Reading Strategies (Adapted from: Dr. Yu-Chung Chang, http://www.cfkeep.org/html/stitch.php?s=66561915414931&id=29150028181402)

Incorporate RA strategies to help decode word problems.

Define and select data to be used in solving the problem.

Identify words and phrases that suggest mathematical operations.

Targets community and workplace objectives by having students working in pairs.

Develops metacognition by encouraging self assessment and remediation.

SAMPLE