For more information on the Green Transportation Collaborative visit:
www.careerladdersproject.org/initiatives-programs/green-transportation-collaborative/

Click the link below to see the video:

El Camino College Career Advancement Academy

Click here to read the letter from the Foundations.

To learn more, visit the California College Pathways website: www.cacollegepathways.org

“California’s future prosperity and competitiveness depends to an important degree on our ability to increase the share of basic skills students who attain a community college degree or certificate and/or transfer to and graduate from a four-year institution. The danger, as we make framing decisions about basic skills education, is that we beggar our future both by underfunding the system and by failing to learn the lessons of recent practice and research about what works and what doesn’t.”

Rethinking Basic Skills Education in California: Principles for Policymakers

LearningWorks has released a new brief, Rethinking Basic Skills Education in California: Principles for Policymakers, that addresses basic skills education in the California Community College and Adult Education systems and offers system and policy recommendations.

Barbara Baran, a senior partner at Workforce Learning Strategies and member of the Executive Committee of the California EDGE Campaign, prepared this brief on behalf of LearningWorks.

To download the brief click here.

For more information on LearningWorks, visit their website at  www.learningworksca.org.

Watch the clip here.

The CCC Task Force on Student Success Recommendations

Draft Recommendations
See feedback and responses to the recommendations from:
CA EDGE Campaign
CCCAOE
California Acceleration Project
Other reactions and recommendations

“There aren’t many opportunities like this” says Jordan Gutter, a graduate from Rudsdale Continuation School in Oakland. He has always been interested in creating and building things and came to Laney College last semester without any previous welding or machining experience. Today, he is helping demonstrate skills that he learned at the machine technology and welding departments at Laney.
About 20 to 25 students from high schools across Oakland came to the machine technology department’s open house at Laney College on December 2nd, 2011. The open house began with snacks and casual conversation. After an introduction to the instructors, the prospective students toured the machine shop and  welding department. During the introduction, one student immediately asked, “Can I get college credit for this?” Louis Quindlen, Machine Technology department chair, quickly responded by explaining that they would be getting much more than just college credit. They would become Laney College students and be exposed to everything that the school has to offer. As far as getting a job in this industry, Quindlen said, “The industry needs 20 welders…yesterday.”

The students sat at  various workstations while instructors gave machine demonstrations, showcased a variety of types of materials, and introduced some of the computer program skills that they would learn in this program. Safety was the first order of business since the tools and equipment are powerful and potentially dangerous. However, Peter Brown, Laney instructor was quick to point out that only one student has been injured.  He was talking to another student in class while hammering a sheet of metal, missed his mark, and smashed his thumb instead of the sheet of metal.

Amber Rieken, a high school student at Island High in Alameda, is looking for a career that doesn’t require her to sit at a desk all day. Because of her passion for working with her hands, Amber’s professor suggested that she attend the open house.  Amber’s father is a mechanic and she has always had an affinity for working on cars.

Both Amber and Jordan are examples of the types of students that are attracted to these program. They are in search of knowledge and skills which are accessible and attainable as well as valuable.

The machine technology department at Laney College offers students the opportunity to learn marketable skills as well as introduces them to higher education and the possibilities that come with continuing education after high school.

The machine technology department has programs connected to the Career Advancement Academies and the California Community College Linked Learning Initiative. For information on the machine technology department, visit  www.laney.edu/wp/machine_technology and for information on the welding department, visit www.laney.edu/wp/welding/.