The Plus 50 Initiative is a three-year initiative of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), launched in June 2008 and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was created to support a pilot group of two-year institutions to develop or expand campus programs that engage plus 50 learners. The overarching goal of the Plus 50 Initiative is to support community colleges' ability to substantively and continuously engage in helping plus 50 learners lead purposeful lives through education, work, and service. To reach this goal, the initiative focuses on developing and expanding the program offerings of the pilot colleges, striving to reach more plus 50 students by expanding plus 50 offerings to additional community colleges, and putting the interests of plus 50 students at community colleges on the public agenda. Another aspect of the initiative's goal to support the expansion of plus 50 programs is growing the number of community colleges offering this programming beyond the initial grantee cohort. A long-term goal of the initiative is that 300 community colleges will implement and sustain plus 50 programs. This evaluation seeks to quantify the extent to which pilot colleges have expanded their offerings for the plus 50 student. Description of Evaluation Methods is appended. (Contains 64 exhibits and 7 footnotes.) [This paper was prepared by the Learning for Action Group.]
- Authorizing Institution
- American Association of Community Colleges
- Education Level
- ['Adult Education', 'Higher Education', 'Postsecondary Education', 'Two Year Colleges']
- Location
- ['Florida', 'Illinois', 'Massachusetts', 'Minnesota', 'Missouri', 'North Carolina', 'Pennsylvania', 'South Dakota', 'Texas', 'Washington']
- Peer Reviewed
- F
- Publication Type
- ['Numerical/Quantitative Data', 'Reports - Evaluative']
- Published in
- United States of America
- Sponsor
- The Atlantic Philanthropies
Table of Contents
- LFA maximizes the impact of social-profit organizations through rigorous evaluation research and strategy development. 1
- November 2010 1
- Table of Contents 2
- I. Introduction What is the Plus 50 Initiative 3
- Plus 50 Grantees 3
- Pilot Grantee Colleges 3
- Expansion Colleges 4
- Learning Partners and Affiliate Colleges 4
- Plus 50 Pilot College Conferences 4
- Peer-to-Peer Ambassadors 4
- Programmatic Focus Areas 5
- Workforce Training and Career Development 5
- Learning and Enrichment 5
- Volunteering 5
- Support Services 6
- II. Overview of Course Offerings for Plus 50 Students 7
- Counting Courses Offered to the Plus 50 Student 7
- Course Offerings and Enrollments at Plus 50 Colleges 7
- A Shift in Emphasis from Enrichment Courses to Workforce Training Courses 8
- III. Workforce Training and Career Development Programs 9
- Growth in Credit Workforce Training Courses 9
- Growth in Non-Credit Workforce Training Courses 10
- Computer Courses for the Plus 50 Student 10
- Enrollment of Plus 50 Students in Workforce Training Courses 11
- Career Counseling and Career Workshops 11
- Support in Finding Job Openings Job Listings Job Matching and Job Fairs 12
- Providing Services to Entrepreneurs 13
- Student Satisfaction with Workforce Training Courses and Programs 14
- Student Satisfaction with Career Development Services 15
- IV. Learning and Enrichment 16
- Change Over Time in Learning and Enrichment Courses Offered 16
- Learning and Enrichment Credit Courses 16
- Learning and Enrichment Non-Credit Courses 17
- Enrollment of plus 50 Students in Learning and Enrichment Courses 17
- Student Satisfaction with Learning and Enrichment Offerings 18
- V. Volunteering Programs 19
- Developing and Expanding Volunteering Programs for Plus 50 Students 19
- Volunteer Listing and Matching Services 19
- Volunteer Listing 19
- Volunteer Matching 20
- Student Satisfaction with Volunteering Programs 20
- VI. Professional Development Marketing and Support Services 21
- Professional Development for Faculty 21
- Marketing and Outreach to Bring Plus 50 Students to the Program 21
- Support Services 22
- Facilitating Physical Access 23
- Making Community College More Affordable 24
- VII. Sustainability of Plus 50 Programming at Pilot Colleges 25
- Cultivating Broad-Based Organizational and Institutional Support 25
- Institutionalizing Program Components within Structures and Processes 26
- Embedding Plus 50 Program Goals into Course Offerings 26
- Leveraging Community Partnerships 27
- Planning for Financial Sustainability 28
- VIII. Implementation and Sustainability of Plus 50 Programming at Affiliate 29
- Colleges 29
- Internal Constituencies 31
- Institutionalizing Program Components within Structures and Processes 32
- Embedded Plus 50 programming 32
- Leveraging Community Partnerships 33
- Planning for Financial Sustainability 34
- IX. Appendix A Description of Evaluation Methods 35
- Plus 50 Community Pilot Colleges 35
- Plus 50 Participants 35
- Plus 50 Community Affiliate Colleges 35
- Strengths 35
- Limitations 36
