Introduction

The Colorado SUN (Success Unlimited) project is designed to identify and enhance innovative practices from Colorado’s Adult Education and Family Literacy Act’s Adult Secondary Education (ASE) programs, expand these strategies to other ASE centers across the state, and create processes and practices that promote successful transitions to community college.

Debra D. Bragg, director of OCCRL, has been commissioned by the Colorado Community College System Foundation to conduct an external evaluation of this federally-funded initiative. The evaluation will determine the extent to which the Colorado SUN initiative is addressing numerous challenges to transitioning Out-of-School youth, including aligning competencies associated with the GED with college level coursework; enhancing communication and coordination between ASE centers and community colleges; assisting students to set realistic career/educational goals or understand college processes; enhancing resources and structures for professional development; and securing outcomes data to document student outcomes. Key ASE strategies include critical thinking, career exploration and college transition; professional development; and “navigators” (coaches) who work with students on college transition issues. The community college-centered strategies are based in the delivery of an 8-week intensive transition program, called College Connection, to be implemented at five community college campuses in the first year and replicated by eight community colleges in year two.

The initiative anticipates 300 ASE students will participate, with 150 enrolled in the College Connection and a significant percentage of these students transitioning to community colleges. The project is also supported by the Governor’s P-20 Education Coordinating Council, Colorado AEFLA Title II WIA, the Colorado Community College System (CCCS), Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, and Department of Local Affairs, and the Office of Workforce Development.

Participating staff:

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

Funded by:

United States Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE)