Introduction

This project evaluates Illinois' Shifting Gears initiative, an award from the Joyce Foundation to develop bridge programs to move low-wage and low-skilled workers into postsecondary programs in critical skills shortage industries. The Illinois Community College Board solicited RFPs from Illinois' community colleges and in June 2007, eight colleges were awarded grants to develop programs in healthcare, transportation-distribution-logistics, or manufacturing. In this evaluation, OCCRL and partner evaluator Tim Harmon of Workforce Enterprise Strategies (WES) will explore the development of these programs and their ability to meet the following four project goals:

1. Identify opportunities to support bridge programming and identify and remove impediments in current policies, structures, and practices.
   
2. Optimize current funding and identify the need for new funding for bridge programs.
   
3. Implement policies to support demonstrated best-practice instructional and delivery methods.
   
4. Develop and pilot-test a statewide data infrastructure that can support the planning, management, and evaluation of regional career pathway systems.

Activities

The plan will include an evaluation of the collaborative process as related to achieving state policies that support the successful transitions of low-skilled adults to college. Pertaining to collaboration, an examination of how learning communities contribute to collaboration and policy development related to bridge programs will occur. This component will also include an evaluation of how the statewide data infrastructure is used to help guide policy development.

The evaluation will also include an assessment of the eight selected demonstration projects. The pilot demonstrations are designed to test one or more hypotheses related to innovations in bridge program design and delivery. Garnering information about these hypotheses will help support policy development at the state level.

Participating staff:

Debra D. Bragg, Professor & Project Director, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Catherine Kirby, Assistant Director, OCCRL, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Funded by:

Illinois Community College Board (ICCB)