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The Heath Professions Pathways (H2P) Consortium is a nationa consortium comprised of nine coeges in five states that are impementing strategies designed to improve heath professions education. By streamining and enhancing educationa pathways and decreasing time to competion, the participating coeges aim to increase students credentia attainment and empoyment in needed occupations within the heathcare sector. H2P coeges are impementing eight strategies designed to achieve the foowing TAACCCT Round One SGA priorities: Acceerate progress for owskied and other workers; Improve retention and achievement rates to reduce time to competion; Buid programs that meet industry needs, incuding deveoping career pathways; and Strengthen onine and technoogy-enabed earning. The H2P coeges targeted Programs of Study (POS) fa into three career pathways: Therapeutic Services, Diagnostic Services, and Heath Informatics. A tota of 85 POS are being deveoped or have been enhanced as a resut of the TAACCCT grant. The most common POS are within the Therapeutic Services Pathway and are reated to nursing occupations. Refecting the DOL priorities, the Consortium s shared vision is to not ony produce a highy skied heathcare workforce but aso gavanize a nationa movement to dramaticay redesign and enhance heath professiona education and training though nationa curricuar reform, industry engagement, innovative practices and programs, and intensive usage of data and accountabiity systems to ensure student success and program exceence (H2P Proposa, pp. 1-2). In 2013, the H2P Consortium modified its scope of work to incude the production of high fideity, onine earning enhancements for H2P s competency based heathcare Core Curricuum (Priority Four). A nine H2P coeges are committed to impement the eight foowing strategies to create new pathways that are deveoped through empoyer, education, and workforce partnerships. H2P eaders describe their mode as a career pathways framework with a competency-based Core Curricuum (Technica Proposa, p. 11). 1. Onine assessment and career guidance H2P coeges proposed to impement onine approaches to Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), empoy onine career advising toos, and enhance career advising services. H2P coeges are using the Virtua Career Network (VCN), an open source patform buit by the American Association of Community Coeges (AACC)that aows users to customize the toos to meet coeges particuar needs and interests. Coeges are aso using the VCN to enhance career guidance so students have another resource to better H2P Coeges Cincinnati State Technica and Community Coege (OH) (ead coege) Anoka-Ramsey Community Coege (MN) Ashand Community and Technica Coege (KY) E Centro Coege (TX) Jefferson Community and Technica Coege (KY) Macom X Coege (one of the City Coeges of Chicago) (IL) Owens Community Coege (OH) Pine Technica Coege (MN) Texarkana Coege (TX) understand their career options in heath professions. Eary evidence based on impementation evauation data from the third party evauators reveas that most of the coeges are using onine career advising toos to enhance career guidance services. However, data were gathered eary in the impementation of most strategies, and at that time there was itte evidence of new approaches for granting students credit for prior earning via the VCN or in other ways deveoped or adopted by the coeges.
2. Contextuaized deveopmenta education In the H2P Consortium, contextuaization invoves education programs offered by adut basic education (ABE) providers as we as by deveopmenta education divisions of community coeges. A H2P coeges have committed to incorporating heathcare content into deveopmenta-eve reading, writing and/or math courses to provide a reevant context for students to more quicky gain basic skis. Ony two coeges in the H2P Consortium had used contextuaization prior to the TAACCCT grant; the remaining seven coeges are creating at east one new deveopmenta course that integrates heath content. Whereas most of the coeges were in the panning or eary impementation stages on this strategy at the time data were gathered, in two coeges students had competed at east one semester of a contextuaized course. Those coeges reported higher course competion outcomes as compared to competion rates in their noncontextuaized deveopmenta courses. Recognizing this evidence is anecdota, the Consortium anxiousy awaits more robust data from the annua performance report. 3. Competency-based Core Curricuum H2P coeges are committed to work toward the creation and widespread adoption of a Core Curricuum for students pursuing careers in heath professions, an approach that many eading heath organizations have been promoting for over 17 years. H2P s utimate goa is that the Curricuum wi eventuay be avaiabe to a two-year coeges and have an industry-recognized credentia, which woud serve as an entry eve, stackabe credentia in mutipe heath occupations. The Curricuum incudes a series of interdiscipinary courses, aong with cinica experiences and empoyer invovement, that provide students with a shared set of knowedge, skis, and abiities requisite to a heathcare occupations. One coege in the Consortium has an estabished (begun in 1999) Core Curricuum and is serving as a mentor and technica assistance provider to the other eight coeges. This coege, aong with the Consortium as a whoe, has taken a eadership position within a nationa organization of two-year coege heathcare educators (NN2) to advance the discussion and adoption of a nationay recognized Core Curricuum. This strategy is cosey reated to another H2P strategy, Gavanizing a Nationa Movement (see beow). In at east one of the five states represented in the Consortium, there is a state-eve education reform effort to estabish a core curricuum for heath professions, which has poicy impications for education within the state(s) as we as within the heathcare industry. At the point that data were coected, a H2P coeges were beginning to pan or impement some core curricuum content, but no two coeges had adopted the same Core Curricuum. 4. Industry recognized stackabe credentias Each H2P coege agreed to create at east one new heath professions credentia. Aso referred to as a Program of Study (POS) by the DOL, another focus of this strategy was to work with oca empoyers and within the mutipe heath programs at each coege to ensure that the new certificates being created fit What we re about is changing educationa experiences for students from the inear mode (courses and curricuum) to a pathway mode that enabes competions and empoyment. Marianne Krismer, H2P Consortium Nationa Director, Cincinnati State Technica and Community Coege within the stackabe, career pathways modes that existed at each coege. Six of the coeges had panned entry-eve, shortterm certificate POS and had worked with area empoyers to determine current and projected abor needs. At the time data were coected, the majority of H2P coeges were either panning or just beginning impementation. According to avaiabe data, at east 20 new stackabe credentias were being created across the nine coeges and 50 existing POS were being enhanced with TAACCCT funds. Twenty-seven of the 87 tota credentias resut in an associate degree. 5. Enhanced retention support Enhanced retention support incudes three major categories of roes: recruitment and outreach, intrusive advising and counseing, and student support services (academic and nonacademic). Each H2P coege committed to hiring a coege competion advisor, some of
whom are ocated at the oca workforce centers (at east parttime) to better reach the target popuation, and others are at the coeges. Coeges are adopting an intrusive advising mode, new to most H2P coeges, that expands the traditiona advising roe. Consistenty, H2P teams indicated that having a dedicated competion advisor is a key contributor to student success, though this caim has not yet been substantiated with data. 6. Training programs for incumbent heath professions workers Incumbent worker training programs associated with H2P invove empoyer commitment to training ower-skied workers for more advanced positions (H2P Technica Proposa, p. 19). By ocating training programs at the worksite, heathcare workers have increased access to educationa programs incuding the support systems that hep them navigate the often unfamiiar word of higher education. At east seven of the H2P coeges indicated they had incumbent worker programs prior to TAACCCT, but they were difficut to sustain due to costs, avaiabe facuty, and other reasons. With input from experienced, arge heathcare systems, the H2P Consortium is deveoping a more structured process so more coeges and oca empoyers can estabish sustainabe programs and hep measure the return on investment for the heathcare organization. At the time data were coected, seven coeges were sti in the panning stage of this strategy; two coeges had an incumbent worker training program with enroed students. 7. Enhanced data and accountabiity systems Efforts made by Consortium coeges to enhance data and accountabiity systems have focused on steps to coect and submit reiabe data for the Quartery Performance Reports (QPRs) and Annua Performance Reports (APRs) to the Department of Labor, and incude hiring and training a data manager, buiding interna reationships, integrating data from mutipe systems, and impementing processes for the transmission and sharing of data. Further, H2P coeges are pursuing strategies to increase the use of data for program improvement and to use data at the program, oca, state and nationa eves to support the continuation of strategies that have demonstrated outcomes. The H2P Consortium was one of the Round One grantees that hired a third party evauator (TPE) to be abe to respond to the DOL reporting requirements and to expand the use of data for oca decision-making. 8. Gavanize a nationa movement A coeges in the H2P Consortium are activey participating in this strategy, hosting summits, convening annua meetings, and activey participating in nationa organizations. Mutipe partners in myriad heathcare occupations, at accrediting agencies, and with other stakehoders have vested interest in a Core Curricuum. Fu impementation and accompishment of this strategy is not expected unti the cumination of the grant and is anticipated it wi continue beyond the grant period. Scaing Pan Of the eight strategies impemented among the H2P cograntees, this Consortium chose to scae the creation and impementation of a Core Curricuum because of its potentia transformative impact on heath professions education by standardizing entry-eve expectations and formatting a foundation for practice for a heathcare practitioners. Achieving this goa wi aso invove another strategy (Gavanize a nationa movement to improve heathcare education). The target of improving heathcare education is predicated on the industry s forma recognition, via a credentia, of the importance of a core set of knowedge and skis shared by a heathcare practitioners. Scaing the successfu strategies and practices earned in this initiative was a goa of the H2P Consortium at the time the grant was written. Strategies and activities conducted by the cograntee coeges and the nationa office at Cincinnati State Community and Technica Coege (CSTCC) incude providing technica assistance on deveoping Core Curricuum; evauating and disseminating findings; aowing fexibiity in curricua to accommodate community, regiona, state, and empoyer needs; providing open source icensing of courses and curricua; inviting non-h2p coeges to nationa meetings where Core Curricuum is discussed; invoving diverse stakehoder groups at nationa summits on Core Curricuum; deveoping strong workforce partnerships; and pubishing white papers on these topics. H2P has engaged and continues to grow partnerships at the state and nationa eves. H2P has a
Nationa advisory counci of 22 members, incuding representatives from community coege state systems, arge heathcare provider systems, heathcare educationa associations, heathcare and other arge private foundations, community coege presidents, workforce boards and agencies, and accrediting agencies. Norton Heathcare (Kentucky) is an active empoyer partner in the Consortium and on the scaing team. To accompish the scaing goas, H2P eaders have identified additiona partners: The American Nationa Standards Institute, the Cinton Goba Initiative (CGI), the Teaching Institute for Exceence in STEM, iseek Soutions, The Coaboratory, the Nationa Network for Heath Professions Programs in 2 Year Coeges (NN2), the Heath Professions Network, the American Nationa Standards Institute, and the Office of Community Coege Research and Leadership (OCCRL) at the University of Iinois. These partners represent experts in credentiaing, professiona reguation, instruction, career advising, program evauation, and scaing impact, among other areas. Scaing the Core Curricuum strategy wi be supported by the Core Curricuum Community of Practice ed by co-grantee E Centro Coege; their representatives are active members of the H2P Scaing Team. The H2P Scaing Team aso consists of coege, industry, and workforce partners and enists the faciitation expertise provided by the Community Coege Transformative Change Initiative (CCTCI) staff. Pans for scaing incude providing two Summits in 2014, one on Core Curricuum and the other on deveoping effective workforce/education partnerships. The Summits wi incude co-grantee coeges and invitees from their regions to earn about the promising practices of the Consortium as we as earn from nationa subject matter experts. The Workforce Partnership Summit is panned for March 29, 2014, as a preconference to the annua Nationa Association of Workforce Boards meeting in Washington D.C. The Core Curricuum Summit is panned for ate May 2014 at a ocation to be announced. Further, H2P was written into three grant proposas for TAACCCT Round Three that pan to adopt the Core Curricuum concept. If any of these grants are funded, there wi be opportunity for the new TAACCCT grantees and their partners to participate in the Summits. H2P eadership is hopefu that funding opportunities with TAACCCT and other private funders through the CGI wi enabe them to continue to scae. The Commitment that has been accepted by the CGI is to scae competency-based Core Heathcare Curricuum to 100 community coeges and their workforce partners by 2016. H2P Scaing Teams wi provide a series of institutes and technica assistance. With this mode, H2P wi have a train-the-trainer approach that shoud resut in significant scaing within a reativey short period of time. As scaing occurs, data coection and anayses conducted by the third party evauator, the Office of Community Coege Research and Leadership at the University of Iinois, wi inform future impementation. Improvements wi be supported with evidencebased outcomes and a continuous improvement mode. H2P eaders often cite their TAACCCT project as an impetus to gavanize a nationa movement. To keep the momentum and scae the work, additiona financia resources wi be needed. One way to scae these resources may be to make a case for the financia efficacy of estabishing a Core Curricuum, an effort that is underway. Resources from business and funders who are stakehoders in the vision wi be everaged to provide evidence in support of the transformative change envisioned by this Consortium. For more information about H2P, contact: Marianne Krismer, H2P Consortium Nationa Director Cincinnati State Technica and Community Coege Marianne.krismer@cincinnatistate.edu
Heath Professions Pathways The Consortium in this report is a recipient of Round One of the Department of Labor s Trade Adjustment Assistance and Community Coege Career Training grant. It was seected to participate in the Community Coege Transformative Change Initiative in September 2012. To view the other CCTCI consortia profies, pease visit occr.iinois.edu. Specia thanks to the eaders of the eight Round One TAACCCT consortia and to Debra Bragg, Catherine Kirby, Sheey Mix, Deborah Richie, and Aison Witt of OCCRL for their vauabe contributions to preparing these profies. The Office of Community Coege Research and Leadership and The Coaboratory wish to express their thanks for the generous funding of the Community Coege Transformative Change Initiative by the Bi & Meinda Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education, and the Joyce Foundation.