3. 30,000,000
adults18 and over without a high school diploma
Data from United States Census Bureau , American FactFinder Survey, 2017
In the U.S. there are more than
• $10K less earned annually than
those with a HS Degree
• $30K less earned annually than a
Bachelor’s Degree
• 4% higher unemployment rate than
national average
• $292K cost to the taxpayers over
the course of their lives
• 80% of incarcerated population are
HS drop-outs
4. OPPORTUNITY
4
EQUALITY – giving
everyone the same thing.
EQUITY – access to the
same opportunities while
recognizing people do not
start from the same place
or need the same help.
8. ADDRESSES THE TRAUMA AND PROMOTES SUCCESS
• Focused on career training
• Soft skills building towards hard skills
• Multiple layers of support
• Academic coaches
• Certified instructors
• Library staff
• 24/7 access to coursework
• Master proficiency
• No fail
12. • 3,000+ graduates from
across the country
• 98% of students would
recommend the program
• 2,738+ currently
enrolled in the program
PUBLIC LIBRARY IMPACT
Current as of June 2019
13. • 32 Average age
• 69% Female
• 31% Male
• 46% African American
• 43% Hispanic
• 42% Unemployed
• 71% Single/divorced
• 74% Have children
• Lower income bracket
WHO ARE COHS GRADUATES?
14. "I wanted to finish my high school diploma to prove to
myself that I can become a registered nurse . . . . I'm
currently finishing my last nursing prerequisite at
Merritt College. My plans are to get into a BSN RN
program this fall and become a successful RN to help
care for people . . . . "
Kathia Emely Velez, graduate, Contra Costa County Library
of graduates report
they plan to go on
to higher education.
79%
COHS graduates
have been accepted
at 350+ different
colleges throughout
the U.S.
"My mother, sister, and cousin are also enrolled in the
program now. They were inspired by me earning my diploma
and enrolling in college. I'm now a student at the Florida
Institute of Technology where I’m pursuing my
bachelor’s in business administration."
Sabrina Chambers, graduate, St. John's County Library
15. • Certified Protection Officer (CPO)
• Childcare and Education (CDA)
• Commercial Driving
• Food and Hospitality
• General Career Preparation
• Homeland Security
• Home Care Professional
• Hospitality and Leisure
• Office Management
• Retail Customer Service
4 CREDITS
Career Certifications (Electives)
"For my personal and professional life;
this program change my life. It gave
me courage and confidence. I've been
offered a new job position with the
company, working in office
management . I'm so excited!"
Tammy Davis, graduate, Jacksonville
Public Library
17. 17
CORE ACADEMIC CURRICULUM
Language Arts (4 credits)
• Grammar and Composition
• Introduction to Literature
• World Literature
• American Literature
Social Studies (4 credits)
• World History
• American History
• American Gov’t and Economics
• Health & Personal Fitness
Mathematics (3 credits)
• General Math
• Consumer Math
• Algebra
Science (3 credits)
• Environmental Science
• Physical Science
• Biology
27. David, Class of 2019
“I made it a goal to get my high school
diploma. This will be my forty-year class
reunion. The program covered a wide
range of subjects. I liked the way it was
structured and the ease of use.”
33. 5. Foster Innovative Partnerships
• San Diego County Library reaches new students through
partnerships with County departments and social service
agencies.
• Over 25% of current students at SDCL first learned
about the program through our partners at Child
Support Services.
34. 81
Percent of SDCL students
on track to earn a high school
diploma within 18 months
Progress Report
43. Engage With Key
Stakeholders
• Community and Technical Colleges
• School Districts
• State Library
• Department of Education
• Staff Throughout Your Library
Image: John Hain/Pixabay
55. St. Louis County Library
Day to Day Program Operations
Evaluate Self-Assessments
Email Prerequisite Enrollment Link
Review Prerequisite Reports
Monitor Active Student Progress
56. St. Louis County Library
Implementation
COHS
Program
Liaison
Measures
&
Tracking
Program
Launch
57. St. Louis County Library
Program Administration
Student
Interviews
Monitor &
Celebrate
Student
Progress
Graduation
Planning
62. St. Louis County Library
Outreach & Partnerships
• Adult Education & ESL Programs
• Parents As Teachers
• Local Employer Sponsorships
• St. Louis Community College
• Outreach & Marketing Strategist
65. About Gwinnett County, Ga
About 1 Million people live here
Urban and Suburban Communities
Highly Diverse Population
70,000+ without a diploma or GED
But today we’re here to focus on one specific person(or group of persons) in your community. The adult High School drop-out who has realized that they need that diploma in order to reach the heights they desire. I’d like you to meet Diana…. Diana is a 25 year old from California who had to leave school to support her brothers and sisters. She had no choice as a teenager to leave school… but now she needs and wants to go back and get that degree
Before we get there I want to talk a little bit about Opportunity. As Public Librarians you’re acutely aware that opportunity doesn’t present itself in an equitable fashion. If we look at the apples
On this tree as the opportunity that’s provided getting your High School diploma, and the people below as those who are High School Dropouts, then it becomes apparent that not all drop outs are
Created equal. Now if you consider the boxes below them as a program designed to get them a HS Diploma it becomes abundantly clear that a standard program such as the GED or any equivalency assessment
Is going to leave many of those in need(point to the two not reaching the apples) behind. The same goes for any kind of Independent Study program or brick and mortar program. Those are all designed for
The drop-out who needs only a limited boost to succeed. On the other hand, if you design and implement a program focused on those with the most challenges…. Those with the largest chasm to cross… those who have experienced the
Greatest educational trauma, then you’ve implemented a program that puts opportunity in reach of all who desire it. And with Career Online High School that is exactly what we’ve created.
Students that drop out from high school are either pushed out, for defiance, for disciplinary or scholarly performance reasons, or pulled out—possibly because they have to support their families, as a family caregiver, to work jobs, or in other ways are pulled out by their families or other obligations. This leaves them with educational trauma, often too afraid or too intimidated to get back in the race—they’ve failed once, they haven’t had support, they may resist school because of the lack of applicability to the real world—and all of those points have to be addressed before they can effectively reengage into an educational experience.
The first thing that we have to do, then, is address the trauma—deal with the reasons people leave school, and integrate that into the process for how we help them reenter the process. If you don’t address the reasons that people have failed in the first place—this fear of failure, the lack of support, the lack of applicability—you won’t have success in helping engage students back in to education. And we think the Public Library is the perfect place to begin addressing this trauma. You are already looked at as the “safe haven”.
That’s the philosophical basis that Career Online High School is built on—address the trauma and the reasons why people leave the educational system, and help them pursue their dreams and get their diploma by working through those traumatic situations in approachable, step-by-step processes. Career Online High School is a program that allows students to graduate with a career certificate AND accredited high school diploma at the same time—prepping them for opportunities to enter the workforce or continue on to postsecondary education.
Reaching high school dropouts and re-engaging them back into the educational system is a core mission of Gale and Career Online High School.
We don’t give F’s, there’s no failure; we address the lack of applicability problem with career focuses; and we provide amazing support through hands-on, individual support with an academic coach. In this way, the COHS model is designed to effectively reengage students and help them succeed in getting their high school diploma.
COHS is specifically designed for those adults that have been unsuccessful in high school, and we believe that the public library is the right space to expand this approach.
Lisa and Jeannie: Matching grants from your state library is so important. CA and FL have/had programs so they have a lot more libraries that can participate.
When a student enrolls in COHS, they must declare a “major” and select one of these eight career certification paths. The first classes that each student takes are career-driven, rather than traditional academics. By starting with career-focused classes, we immediately engage students in a very different way than they’ve been engaged previously—and these classes don’t have the same associated fear factor that traditional academic classes would have. The structure of this classes are modeled around the same class structure of the academic portion of the program. They will get comfortable early on before they even begin the academic curriculum.
These career paths also ensure that at the end of the program, students receive not only their high school diploma, but also a career certification that they can put on their resume and use to further their careers-whether that’s in childcare and education or in office management (or anything in between).
Current Situation – The Barrier is having the degree – the tallest kid represents someone who even without at diploma has a great job, makes good money, and/or just isn’t interested in getting their degree. The Barrier exists but they don’t care. They might get their degree just to say they have it, but doing so would not be a great challenge to them from either a financial or trauma perspective.
The barrier exists for the middle student as well, but their trauma or their need for support is such that just having a program out there that is available to them may be enough….. They would certainly benefit from Career Online High School, but if motivated, their odds of success in other brick and mortor typical online programs is quite possible.
The Third student on the other hand is very much at risk. Their barriers are many. Our alumni surveys suggests that many COHS graduates are people who failed multiple times in the more traditional environments. Who have failed the GED because they just can’t get math. The failed because they had no support at home, They failed because they couldn’t keep up, They failed because they were allowed to fail. That’s where COHS and the Library together make a difference and can make an impact. By helping those most at risk…. Those who can’t be helped by other organizations or programs.
When you partner with Gale and Career Online High School your providing and Equitable program that focuses on those most at risk, but provides for those with lesser needs as well… allowing the library to remove the barrier for everyone
David earned his diploma in time for his 40-year class reunion.
County partners provide a clear path to students in need of a high school diploma.
We recently had our first student that was referred to us by DCSS graduate!