Renee Collins: Thank you, Amanda Lee. Good morning, everybody. And welcome to the annual California Adult Education Program Summit, 2022. We're so happy to have you. I want to extend a special welcome to our consortia leads and CAEP members and partners with us today.

As well as to our distinguished opening ceremony panel, State Director of Adult Education Dr. Carolyn Zachry. California Chancellor's Office Dean of Workforce and Economic Development Gary Adams. Executive Vice Chancellor of Educational Services Marty Alvarado. Interim Vice Chancellor of Workforce and Economic Development Sandra Sanchez. Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Student Support Services branch Steve Zimmer. And Director of Career and College Transition Division Pete Callas.

My name is Renee Collins, Director of Adult education at Sacramento County, Office of Education. Overseeing both the CAEP Technical Assistance Project or CAEP TAP and the Outreach and Technical Assistance Network, more commonly known as OTAN.

It's my privilege and great pleasure, on behalf of CAEP TAP to welcome you here today. We are delighted to have you with us to participate and share in this highly anticipated event, our sixth annual CAEP summit.

Thank you for being here to launch this year's event. That many of you have committed to engaging with us virtually for the next four days serves as a reminder to us all how important our work is. The California Community College Chancellor's Office and the California Department of Education are working in partnership to administer the California Adult Education program.

With seven approved program areas, CAEP serves nearly half a million students that enroll in non-credit community colleges and k-12 adult education programs annually. And this number is growing as students reconnect with educational institutions post-pandemic.

CAEP appropriates funds through 71 regional consortia across the state that include close to 400 members from community colleges, k-12 adult schools, county offices of education, and a variety of community partners, including but not limited to local workforce, investment boards, libraries, and community-based organizations.

California Adult Education programs support adults 18 and older. To meet their educational work and life goals, which can include earning a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate, learning to speak English or learning to become a citizen, exploring careers, learning new job skills, and earning job certificates.

Ultimately students in CAEP programs gain skills to be contributing productive members of their local economy and communities. A special thank you to our frontline and support staff, teachers, counselors, transition specialists, and others who are key to making these outcomes possible.

This year our summit theme is The Power is Yours, Use Your Plan to Evolve and Reengage. In 2021, '22, you as consortia worked with your members, partners, and community to build a three year strategic plan to address the educational needs of your community, improve the effectiveness of your services, improve the integration of services, and to improve transitions into post-secondary education in the workforce.

Now from 2022 to '25, it is time to act and implement strategies to help you achieve your objectives. The summit is intended to motivate, inspire, and teach us how to move forward successfully. The power is truly yours to engage and learn this week together.

We have some amazing presenters that are prepared to share with us what their region is doing to support adult learners. Make it your goal to walk away with at least one new resource or idea for the implementation each day.

CAEP TAP has scheduled 65 sessions that address the CAEP state priorities of equity, leadership, learner transition, program development, technology and distance learning, program evaluation, and marketing.

The adult education state priorities align with the Chancellor's vision for success goals, and the CDE state superintendent's initiative. I would guess that many of these topics are also addressed in your three year plan.

Other summit highlights include our plenary address with Ken Shelton of Elevate Education. Tomorrow morning he will be talking about how CAEP consortia can use design thinking to effectively implement and evaluate the '22, '25 three year plan.

Directly following we will recognize our two top scoring programs for the advancing California Adult Education model program nominations, and recognize two of our 2021 students exceed honorees. At 2:00 PM tomorrow participants can take part in mini sessions designed to ask a leading content person how to apply information related to a topic area at the consortium and local level. The mini sessions are meant to be a conversation as opposed to a presentation.

On Thursday at 1:00 PM we will offer several networking or jam sessions to choose from. And discussion will be facilitated by your adult education colleagues. The purpose of a jam session is for attendees to come ready to discuss and exchange ideas on topics related to our state priorities. Discussion is guaranteed to be lively and interactive.

Throughout the summit be sure to check out the exhibitor booths, and chat with the vendors. Also participate in the sponsored breaks and lunch sessions to hear more about what our exhibitors have to offer. We can't have a summit without a leaderboard and prizes. Donations have been provided by our generous exhibiting sponsors.

And, finally, share your conference experiences on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter with the hashtags #CAEPSUMMIT22, #ALDULTEDU, #ALDULTEDUCATION, and #EDTECH. Our summit wouldn't be what it is without the active input of my extended team from CAEP TAP.

A huge thank you to CAEP TAP Coordinator Veronica Parker, Project Specialist Amanda Lee Gonzalez, and Administrative Assistant Holly Clarke. They've each been working tirelessly to create this incredible professional learning event for you.

I also wanted to give recognition and thanks to our OTAN programming and development team, with a special mention to Programmer Justin Timko. And to our OTAN training and support team who are assisting as tech hosts throughout the event.

At this time, I would like to introduce Dr. Carolyn Zachry. I will read a brief bio, and then pass it off to her. Dr. Carolyn Zachry is currently the State Director and Educational Administrator for the Adult Education Office in the Career and College transition Division at the California Department of Education.

Her office is responsible for administration and management of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Title II Grant, as well as co-administration of the state funded California Adult Education program.

Prior to her time in the adult Education Office, Dr. Zachry was the Administrator for the Office with the Federal perkins and State Incentive Grants. She was on the team responsible for the revisions to and professional development for the California Career Technical Education Standards. She is the past President of the Executive Committee for the National Association for Partnerships and Equity.

Prior to joining the CTE team, Dr. Zachry was a County office Program Coordinator where she started a County administered adult education program. Within her 34% years in education, she has also served as a flight principal and teacher. Outside of education Dr. Zachry is on the Executive Board of the California State Chapter of Providing Educational Opportunities for Women. And at this time I'll invite Dr. Zachry.

Carolyn Zachry: All right, well, good morning, everyone. And thank you so much for taking the time this week out of your very busy schedules to participate in the multitude of sessions, as Renee described, that have been put together for all of you, for you to grow your programs, for you to work on your three year plans. And for all of you to really provide the best opportunities that you can for your students.

I hope that this week you will realize that the power is yours. And the power is yours to reengage your students, to reengage your staff, to look at your three year plan and see how you can truly elevate your programs. I wish you all the best this week. And you'll be hearing a little more from Gary and myself a little later. Thank you. Renee, you're on mute.

Renee Collins: Thank you, Carolyn. I'm going to go ahead and introduce Gary Adams as well. And then I will invite Carolyn to-- I'm sorry, then I will invite Gary to introduce his team. And then I will invite Carolyn back to invite her team to speak.

So Gary Adams is a Dean in the California Community College Chancellor's Office, Workforce and Economic Development division, as well as Co Administrator of the California Adult Education program. Dean Gary Adams has over three decades of high level management experience in higher education, general government, and in the private sector. Receiving awards for excellence and service and accomplishment in all.

In the private sector he worked as a senior director or manager at two Fortune 500 companies, Deloitte and Blackboard. He also built the then largest information technology in audit, consulting company in Philadelphia as its Managing Director, with the company later sold to Grant Thornton.

In California, Dean Adams has worked for the joint legislative Budget Committee, the State Senate Rules Committee, the Student Aid Commission, the Governor's Office of Policy and Planning, and most recently the California Community College Chancellor's Office. And at this time I'll pass it off to Dean Adams.

Gary Adams: Thank you very much, Renee. Welcome, everyone, to this year's California Adult Education Summit. I have the honor of introducing the executive leadership from the California Community College Chancellor's Office.

As Executive Vice Chancellor, Marty Alvarado provides leadership for the Office of Equitable Student Learning Experience and Impact ESLEI. While interim Vice Chancellor Sandra Sanchez is the office's leader for workforce and economic development. In her role, EVC Alvarado is responsible for the administration integration of instruction, workforce, and student support services in the Chancellor's Office.

As Marty leads the effort to re-envision these critical student success functions for our 116 college system, she has set three vision destinations for our nation's largest system of public higher education and workforce training, number one, to create empowered learners. Number two, to advance career mobility. And, three, to create system wide unconditional belonging.

Prior to joining the Chancellor's Office team in 2019, EVC Alvarado provided support for scaling up regional cross sector, partnerships, and state systems engaged in large-scale transformation. This work focused on building regional ecosystems to support pathways to college and career success, and economic advancement across the state.

With nearly 20 years of experience in the higher education and the community college system, EVC Alvarado brings an expertise in program development and implementation, community engagement and partnerships, industry engagement and workforce-based learning. And has served as a Director of Learning, Communities, and Workforce Training.

Interim Vice Chancellor for Workforce and Economic Development Sandra Sanchez brings more than 28 years of experience in leadership, staff development, collaborative governance, and project management both in the public and private sector. As interim Vice Chancellor, she is responsible for a portfolio of more than $1.2 billion, serving the nation's largest system of community colleges.

She administers the Strong Workforce Program, the strong workforce K-12 Program, the California Apprenticeship Initiative, the California Adult Education Program, Nursing and Allied Health Federal Perkins V, and Economic and Workforce Development Program.

Prior to the Chancellor's Office, EVC Sanchez served as a Dean of Academic Affairs and Dean of Workforce and Economic Development at Los Angeles Harbor College for eight years where she led workforce education and the educational programs leading to certificates and degrees.

Her commitment to accessible, affordable, and quality education has fueled her value of lifelong learning. And she has successfully run adult education, continuing education, virtual education, emeritus education, corporate and customized training, and inter-governmental agreements at every institution that she has served at. Colleagues, it is my distinct honor to introduce to you Executive Vice Chancellor Alvarado and Vice Chancellor Sanchez.

Marty Alvarado: Good morning. Thank you, Gary. I'm hoping you have our slides. If not, I can wing it.

Amanda Lee: I should be able to do that for you. One second.

Marty Alvarado: It looks like there is a full house today. So I am happy to jump in, and excited to be here with you all this morning. I will try to go quickly as I know you have a jam packed agenda. Love our CAEP group, and excited to be joining you this morning. Next slide, please.

I wanted to spend a little bit of time this morning just sharing some information about where we are headed at the community college system, what our board has been prioritizing as we have been navigating the vision for success.

And, hopefully, some of this is information folks have heard from us before. So this may not be new for some, and maybe super new for others. I wanted to talk a little bit about how we are thinking about our work from a transformative perspective. Recognizing that we have historically been in a reform perspective. So let's spend a few minutes just reflecting on a term that is near and dear to many of us in the college system, which is initiative fatigue.

There are many, many efforts that we have been trying to mobilize around that often fall in that reform bucket, really thinking about pilots and programs and efforts that work in spite of our system. We have been really trying to lean into transformational change, which is moving us out of that reform, layering on top of, and really changing the shape and form and substance of. Next slide, please.

I want to just put in front of folks-- hopefully, again, this is a repeat for many folks. Hopefully you all are also using this in your presentations, if we Are trying to transform being clear about what we are trying to transform into. Recognizing that structurally-- and I think this-- hopefully will really resonate for this group of professionals who have been trying to work in spite of our system.

Going from being designed and structured systemically to operate in the shape of that red educate box where we are in front of the work cycle and the retirement cycle, to really moving into structures that enable us to more effectively walk alongside folks.

So really thinking about all of the friction points that we experience as we try to serve our adult populations as they navigate the world of work, rather than using expressions that represent structures that really speak to you, coming back to you.

You have to come back to your school, go back to-- do something in terms of upskilling and retraining. And really thinking about how are we walking alongside folks, and how do we build the structures that actually facilitate that? Next slide, please.

Again, trying to go quickly here because I want to get through our 20 minutes, our brief time together, and give you as much information as possible. What I want to highlight here is that we think-- as we think about the transform space, I want to highlight for folks, in particular, some of our partners.

And folks who haven't heard this message yet or haven't been directly impacted by the transformations, our board is really focused. Our board of governors is really focused on engaging as a catalyst to create the conditions necessary for the transformations that we highlighted a moment ago.

So they are hyper focused on the regulatory environment, the investments that our state receives, and the different types of works and resolutions that they need to do in order to emphasize and mobilize action around transformational change.

As an example of this our board over the last three years, I think all throughout the pandemic, has engaged in 22 regulatory actions that have changed the structures of our system. Many of those have just recently been approved by the state, and our campuses are now going to be busy at work trying to change and shift the structures and operations of their campuses.

Things from grading like EW and pass no pass grading options, all the way to employee evaluations with new DEI competency requirements for every single employee across our system. So lots of change happening at our board that is pushing different conversations both within stakeholder groups like the adult Ed population, as well as pushing new efforts across our boards and our campuses. Next slide, please.

All in service, we're not transforming for the sake of transforming. It is all in service of the vision for success. As many of you know, we are in the process of searching for our new chancellor. We are very excited about the opportunity to welcome new leadership to our Chancellor's Office. But that doesn't mean that our vision and our commitments will change.

So I want to emphasize here that our board has doubled down and recommitted to the vision for success. And our vision goals which you see up here-- I like to say everywhere I hope everyone has these printed out next to their computers. And are continually thinking about how the work that we are doing within our individual programs, within our individual efforts, are aligned to the visions, and deliberately advancing the vision goals.

And how we're thinking about how we know or how we understand whether or not the work that we are engaged in is actually moving the needle on student outcomes and student experience. I want to highlight here that one of our commitments number seven is process some partnerships.

Really thinking about how do we effectively create structures to engage with our partner organizations like k-12, like post-secondary four year institutions, like workforce, like nonprofit organizations in order to ensure that students have the resources that they need and the pipeline that they need in order to be able to realize the outcomes that they are coming to us for. Next slide, please.

What we also want to highlight here in terms of the vision is that the double down in the recommitment to the vision by our board is that our governor has also committed to our vision goals. Our Governor's Office has engaged in a compact with our system for the Roadmap for the Future which outlines performance outcomes, vision goals, if you will, for 2022 through 2026.

It was also-- this Roadmap for the Future compact was also included in our state budget this past year. And it directly informs the governor's commitment to fund our system in alignment with our efforts to advance the vision goals.

Our team worked very closely with the Governor's Office. Our team at the Chancellor's Office work very closely with the Governor's Office to ensure tight alignment between the Roadmap for the Future and our vision goals to reinforce the connection and this commitment state-wide. Board of governors, new Chancellor coming in, and our governor and Department of Finance are all singularly united in their commitment to the vision goals and the vision commitment.

And for all of us at the Chancellor's Office and, hopefully, across our system, this really speaks volumes to the trust that they have in us in terms of being able to move the needle in these areas. And the commitment that they have to the transformations we're making in order to be able to deliver on these promises. Next slide, please.

The governor also has issued a post-secondary degree and certificate attainment of 70%. Our system is currently working with the Governor's Office and our other state agencies to understand what portion of this is a responsibility of the community college system. We look forward to working with everyone in this space and in other spaces to make sure that we are hitting this mark.

I think it's important to understand or to sit with, particularly in this space, what it means for us to be thinking about degree in certificate attainment, and how that interplays with the non-credit or adult ed space. And how we continue to create conversations and structures that facilitate the movement of students into those degree and certificate attainment goals, and how we make sure all of those are represented in the accounts as we are moving forward.

So that is work that we are continually pushing on. Sorry, I don't want folks to not see themselves in this. I want to make sure that we are creating space for everyone to be working towards this as we all try to reach the governor's goal.

I want to also emphasize here we'll put an exclamation point around this is the governor's goal. But I think ultimately what we really have to lean into here for student centered is that this is a goal for Californians. This is really about employability and career mobility and self sustaining wages for Californians, and Californians in each of our respective communities.

And so I think that's also something that we try to lean heavily into at the Chancellor's Office, which is we can set targets, but there are real people underneath these targets. These aren't political conversations as much as they are really about our commitment to serving the 1.6 million, 1.7 million students that we currently serve in our post-secondary system. Next slide, please. Almost done.

So we are trying to walk the talk at the Chancellor's Office, and making sure that we are recognizing where we have to adjust in order to be able to live into that transformational focus and that transformational experience.

And so at the Chancellor's Office, we have reorganized our office into three distinct offices. The Office of ideas. I'll start at the bottom and go up. Our Executive Vice Chancellor John Hetts wins the award for the best acronym. The Office of IDEA, the Office of Innovation, Data, Evidence, and Analytics really focus on that research data and technology.

Our Office of Institutional Supports and Success that is led by our Executive Vice Chancellor Lizette Navarette. Oversees all of our finance, our government relations, our professional development, and our Institutional Effectiveness Office.

I want to emphasize that the focus here is that all three of these offices are expected to work independently and intentionally together in order to advance the structural transformation that I noted earlier.

The last office at the top, our Office of Equitable Student Learning Experience and Impact, that is the office that I oversee with an amazing vice Chancellor team and an amazing support team, fantastic deans. Roughly 65 professionals that are committed to academic affairs, student services, and workforce development.

And I want to talk just a minute about how we are also wrestling with what it means to transform our identity and the way we think about our work together. Next slide, please. And let's click one more time-- maybe a couple more times to get the visual. Perfect, right there. Back one, sorry about that.

So what I want to talk about here is that while we are trying to figure out how we keep the trains running, so to speak. But while we also begin to understand and figure out what it looks like for us to transform it the Chancellor's Office, we have begun to try to adopt student centered language and a student centered identity.

And so for our Office of Equitable Student Learning Experience and Impact, you'll hopefully hear in our name that we are trying to center the student experience and what we are trying to achieve for students in this structure, in our identity.

And where we think we are going in terms of what we need in order to realize the vision for success outcomes is that as part of what we do in everything that we do, we have to support the development of empowered learners. We have to facilitate career mobility for each and every one of our students.

And we have to generate-- we have to support, generating unconditional belonging in every transaction that our students experience across our system. This is what should be underneath every single one of our efforts as we are moving forward.

This takes-- at least we believe that this takes the focus away from us as either programs or staff or departments or its systems. Whether you're k-12 or community college, whether you're workforce or community college, whether you're academic affairs or workforce, whether you are a vice chancellor or a staff member. It's not about any of that.

It is about the student experience. It is about figuring out how we come together to generate these types of experiences for our students, and ensure that they are getting what they need. And that we keep that at the center. And everything works in service of that central mission.

That is what we are trying to live into. We are making mistakes along the way we are learning. It is a little bit messy. But hopefully what I want to talk about next in the next slide is that you all are-- have begun to experience some of these changes, and are engaged in providing feedback in some of these experiences as well. Next slide, please.

I will keep it very short here. And I will leave this up as I hand it over to my colleague Vice Chancellor Sanchez for any additional comments. But what I want to highlight here is that I want to talk about what I have been lovingly calling micro changes.

Transformation can be whole scale. Think AB 705 for those that are familiar with that transformation in our system where it completely deconstructed our placement centers, took placement off the table, and created a different infrastructure for how we place students in math and English courses.

Not everything has to be quite that disruptive. There can be lots of structural changes that happen as we implement our day to day operations. And so part of what we are wrestling with at the Chancellor's Office is getting clear on what is our job.

We don't work at a campus, we don't serve students directly, so being clear that that is different work than what we do at the Chancellor's Office. And this list of 10 gives you an idea of the work that we do do at the Chancellor's Office in order to support the work that you all do in direct service to students.

And as part of this have been engaged in micro changes within each of these operational areas that are designed to, one, alleviate the administrative burden for you all. But, two, to center the students and the student outcome and experience that we're targeting.

An example of this could be around number three, funding and contract management where we are trying to reduce the type of RFAS and the administrative burden of writing grants. And the inequitable outcomes of writing grants-- of structuring funding in a way that is grant driven.

And really thinking about how do we ensure that we are making strategic investments. And moving away from the tell me a good story, to the tell me where the meat is in the data and how student experiences are changing. And let's also focus in on learning.

The second piece that I'll highlight that I think couples with the learning component, not the-- no punitive because we're pairing high expectations with high supports back to those commitments, that the other component of this is the evaluation and continuous improvement.

How do we continue to look at the outcomes, the impact, of each of our state investments? Again, I would move away from calling them grants. To these state investments designed to achieve an outcome. And in order to understand how we are stewarding these state funds, we need to make sure that we are looking at how are we doing in terms of outcomes, and where do we need to adapt in order to continue to strengthen our outcomes?

Again, moving away from a punitive approach, and much more into how do we learn and adapt in order to strengthen what we are trying to do for students. The last one I'll highlight-- I do love a group of three.

The last one I will highlight is the policy and regulatory actions because I referenced those earlier, that our board has taken action on 22 regulatory changes. We are continuing to wrestle through what is the next set of regulatory policy and policy that needs to adjust in order to ensure that we are focused on the right kind of structures that will enable us to do the work we need to do.

For our board, high priorities there are around a common course numbering, zero cost textbooks, modern policing degrees, distance education, transfer and-- there's one more-- and universal design. So we are wrestling through looking at the regulations, trying to understand where there are friction points.

And then simultaneously in partnership with our government relations team, we're looking at where there are challenges in ed code that impede us from being able to deliver for students. And where those areas need to be updated.

So just to give you an example of the work we are doing at the Chancellor's Office, what is driving our work at the Chancellor's Office, and how we are situating what our role is in supporting the transformation of our system. So with that, I will hand it over to vice Chancellor Sanchez and see if there is any additional updates.

Sandra Sanchez: Thank you, Executive Vice Chancellor Alvarado. Good morning, everyone. So just to get a really specific for our adult ed colleagues, as we lean into these core functions and the work that our office is engaging in, just to give you a few examples.

One, evaluation and continuous improvement. One of the things we are looking at is taking a deep dive into the data. And we've been collecting the data because you've been inputting it-- reporting it to us, and so we display it in our launchpad board dashboard for adult ed.

So part of the work is understanding what's happening. But I think what we're really in a deep dive into is where we're seeing amazing outcomes for students. Because what's important about that is that the whole state have amazing outcomes for students.

And so we're taking deep dives into what's happening in certain regions where we see outstanding equitable outcomes for students, and we're unpacking that. And so coming soon to a theater near you, you will be contacted to participate in some of those deep dive conversations. We're going to lean into some focus groups and some data analysis to really understand how we can scale some of those best practices across the regions in the state.

And we understand that one size does not fit all. And this is why we need to do the work of in a deep dive to understanding what are the enabling conditions that need to be created for our students to be successful in our system.

Another area of focus is technical assistance. As you see, it is one of our core functions. And so what we've heard a lot from our system is that you need more support, and we hear you. And so one of the things we're doing is we're expanding our TAP, our Technical Assistance Provider to include a specific technical assistance for community colleges. And, really, with the outcome and the focus on how do we ensure students have successful transitions into our system of post-secondary education.

We want to make sure that, one, as we partner with our k-12 system partners and we transition them into post-secondary education, that our curriculum is aligned for pathways that lead from non-credit to credit, that we have the appropriate supports for a population of students that hasn't traditionally been served well.

And so all of those things falls under the technical assistance provider. And so that is a current active RFA that is out there. And so we want to make sure that we encourage districts who might be interested in providing the support for the entire state to apply and join our team.

Next, the other piece that I also want to talk about is regulatory action. Recently we released the updated work experience regulations within the community college system. And one of the things about updating the regulation, first, it hadn't been updated in 50 years. So let's not talk about that, how badly it was needed.

But, secondly, and I think one of the most important pieces for the audience today is that we made sure that we explicitly called out non-credit. Because if we're trying to intentionally serve adult learners, we need to be able to support them along their educational journey. And making sure that they have access to work-based learning, experiential learning opportunities as part of whatever program they enroll in, it was critical to their success.

We've also recently-- we conducted a landscape and analysis on the impact that an individual's first job has on their lifetime earnings. And so understanding that when they come to us and the impact that we potentially have on their entire livelihood is super important, and we need to embrace that that is our role in this space.

And how do we make those opportunities more accessible but also more meaningful for students so that they can catapult from, when they compete with us, into whatever they decide to learn. And the last thing I'll mention to the point that was raised earlier about how we are reimagining our contracts and grants. And so moving away from that.

And so we were recently given-- given I say-- from the state $130 million for health care pathways for English language learners. And so we're looking at establishing a rubric for how we dispense and distribute that money across the state.

And, really, trying to be strategic and thoughtful, and moving away from the traditional granting process. But really understanding what is happening across the state? How is it-- certain parts of the state impacted versus others? Who needs more support? Who needs-- and I'm not saying that one is better than the other.

What we're looking at is looking at the data, understanding where the needs are, understanding that there might be areas that need additional support because they have higher demand. So, really, being thoughtful in how we implement and distribute these dollars across the state.

So those are just a few of the things that we are working on. And I don't know if we have any questions that we can answer while we are here. Let me look at-- there's a question for EVC Alvarado. Is the Chancellor's Office looking at making non-credit faculty count towards the fund? The fund question keeps coming up.

Marty Alvarado: I know. I will jokingly say what my boss often tells me which is I'm not Santa Claus. I can't make everything happen. But seriously-- sorry, I'm teasing. But more seriously, we are aware-- our office is aware that fund is a challenge for many, and for a variety of reasons.

So for anyone who tunes into our consultation councils, you will have heard that this is a point of conversation in almost every single meeting. Currently our Chancellor's Office does not have an agenda or a set of actions, if you will, around the fund.

We are in continued conversations with our consultation council, which is representative of stakeholders from across the system. And we do-- in a perfect world, we would figure out how we make sure that we have equitable accounts in the fund. But as of right now, that is still up in the air.

One thing I will flag, though, sort of, unrelated to the fund conversation but I think a potential precursor to future conversations, is that I would encourage everyone, if you haven't already been watching and keeping an eye on our direct assessment competency-based education highlights, I would encourage everyone to be keeping an eye on that, learning more about it.

Part of the reason why I point there is because as part of that effort, if we are really going to be able to engage in direct assessment, competency-based education, there are many structures we have to wrestle through. One of them being financing, another being what is the relationship of all of this to the fund, to the 50% role, to all of the different things.

And so we are taking up some of those conversations related to that effort that will likely have impact or potential positive consequences for the non-credit space as well. So just want to flag that as something to keep an eye on. Yeah, and then Social Security, I'll pass that one to my colleague.

Sandra Sanchez: Thank you. So, yes, we are aware that the Social Security numbers are an issue. And we are working towards updating how we enroll our students into our system through our CCC application. We know that historically it's been problematic.

We are definitely working towards coming up with a more updated solution that allows us to capture the information we need to effectively enroll students, but also to understand where their needs are without violating any privacy rules.

And so it is a fine line that we walk with that. But we're definitely aware, and we are working towards finding alternative solutions to collecting that particular piece of data. And then there's a question on the focus groups.

And we'll be looking at how the data is input and ends up in launch, but, absolutely, that is part of the unpacking of the data. Is we really want to understand where there's opportunity for improvement, where we may be seeing things in the data that are not actually there. And so looking at how we collect that information, looking at how it's input, how do we make it better, or if what we're collecting is not the right thing.

So, really, all of it. Looking at the data just on a cursory view gives us one-- you slice it one way, you get one view. But I think we need to-- we're really intent on understanding how certain regions are having amazing outcomes for students, and how do we scale that.

And part of that work is really slicing the data several different ways, but also understanding how it gets input. Because if it's simply that everyone's doing a great job, they're just not inputting their data correctly, then that informs our future professional development and the needs that we see for our system, and the colleges and the K-12 stakeholders that are engaged in this work.

And how do we support then and design professional development that really gets at what is the core issue. And so, absolutely, we'll be looking at all of it. I don't see any other questions. I really appreciate everybody's time today, and allowing us to come share with you the work that we are engaged in. And we appreciate the invitation to be here, and to be a part of this amazing group of professionals that is out there doing the hard work every day. We see you.

And I know that for myself and for Marty, we are both always-- it's always top of mind how we are serving adult learners not just within our system, but across the partnerships that we have with our CDE partners. So thank you very much for allowing us to join you today.

Renee Collins: All right, thank you so much to our community college Chancellor's Office colleagues. But we appreciate you being here as well. Thank you so much. At this time I'm going to invite Dr. Zachry to introduce her team from the California Department of Education.

Carolyn Zachry: Great, thank you-- thank you so much, Renee. So it is my pleasure to introduce both of the speakers from the California Department of Education today. We have Deputy Superintendent Steve Zimmer. He's the Deputy Superintendent of the student support services branch at the California Department of Education.

And I see that they're not here yet. I know we're a little bit ahead of schedule. So, Renee, do you want to hold for a moment, do something else for a moment while I send a quick text? Renee or Veronica.

Veronica Parker: Yes, we can take questions. If there are any additional questions, please, be sure to type them in the chat or in the Q&A. And we can take those questions. Anthony Coronado I saw that you had your hand raised.

I did private message you to let you know if you did have a question, please be sure to type it in the chat or in the Q&A. And outside of that, we just have thank yous in the chat for all of the valuable information that was just presented by executive Vice Chancellor Alvarado and Vice Chancellor Sanchez.

Amanda Lee: So we'll wait. We do have a question in the chat from Sarah Wok. And I don't think it pertains to this.

Carolyn Zachry: So I can go on. I'm going to I'm-- he was just getting out of another meeting, and so they were transitioning from one to the other. So we should be joining in a moment, and he's confirming that Deputy Superintendent Steve Zimmer will be joining.

So I'm going to go ahead with the introductions. Again, joining us this morning from the California Department of Education is Deputy Superintendent Steve Zimmer. And he is the Deputy Superintendent for the Student Support Services branch at the California Department of Education. He is the former President of the Board of Education for the Los Angeles Unified school District, and the former Senior Education Advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Steve started teaching English as a second language in LAUSD in 1992. He served as a teacher, a counselor, and a program coordinator for Marshall High School for almost 20 years. Also with us today is Pete Callas, the California State Director for Career Technical Education, and the Director over the Career and College Transition Division at the Department of Education.

He joined the Department of Education in 2012 as a Education Programs Consultant for the Charter School Division. And has held a series of increasingly responsible positions at CDE. Prior to becoming the Career and College transition Division Director, he served as an Educational Administrator in the Assessment Development and Administration Division and over the High School Innovations and Initiatives Office within the Career College Transition Division.

During his tenure in our division, he has successfully added four technical education programs at the middle school level and youth apprenticeship programs for high school students. In between principal tenures he went to the private sector, and was a Human Resources Manager at Hewlett-Packard. Pete has also served as a high school and middle school principal for over 20 years, along with teaching at the middle school and community college levels for a number of years.

He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology from California State University, Sacramento, a Master's Degree in Curriculum, and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of California, Davis. Prior to Pete's career in education, he played professional baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies organization, along with four years at the college baseball level at CSU, Northridge. It's my pleasure to have both of these individuals here joining us today.

Pete Callas: Thanks, Carolyn. And thanks for the intro. I'm going to kick it off this morning. On behalf of State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, I want to thank you for having us here to speak today. Going with the theme of the summit, The Power is Yours, many of you here today assisted with changing the landscape of adult education in California by striving to merge two systems into one at the regional level.

The California Adult Education Program known as K evolved from Assembly Bill 104, as we know. Originally the adult education block grant, which was written to be a resource for adult educators to access statewide practices and innovative solutions for adult instruction. CAEP enacted education code that established adult education program under the dual administration of the Chancellor's Office from the community colleges, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The superintendent and chancellor are the state officials responsible for identifying and understanding educational needs of adults in our state. These two state leaders work collaboratively to ensure that our two agencies follow the education code to support the effective, provision of services that address the educational needs of adults across the state.

We're constantly evaluating the needs of adults in California in both of our systems. We know that there are nearly five million adults across the state who do not have high school diploma or an equivalency of the high school diploma.

We know that there are nearly six million adults that have limited English proficiency across the state. We know that there are nearly a million adults who are eligible for citizenship courses. Also we know that there are almost two million adults with disabilities that need adult education program support. But these are just four areas of needs for adult education students.

The superintendent and chancellor are charged with making sure that the legislative language is followed that drives our work to support the success of adult learners and their educational needs across California, with the funding that is provided by the legislature and the governor. In 2015, we went from two separate delivery systems to integrated delivery through interagency collaboration.

We moved from funding that was based on enrollment, and moved to funding allocated based on regional needs and regional and individual agency effectiveness. We also move to data driven decision-based on student and fiscal measurement, as well as coordinated partnerships within and among consortia and the braiding of our funding.

In 2017, CAEP established five overarching guiding principles. And the principles are to implement the letter to the intent of the law to focus on moving the needle and making a difference for all adult students, ensuring transparency on accountability and engagement to have a bias for action and to continuously learn and improve.

This year CAEP is funded at nearly $600 million. This is the largest investment by any state in our country for adult education. The vision for adult education in California was enacted through (AB) 104, was a regional consortium model. And consists of members from community colleges, K-12 adult schools, and local education agencies.

These consortia also bring in partners, including immigrant serving agencies, youth and young adult agencies, corrections, probation, libraries, faith and community-based organizations, social services, and local workforce sports to support our adults across the state.

Our vision of a successful CAEP program enables adults to advance their education to obtain employment, and to improve wages through the comprehensive partnership. The consortium model of collaboration between adult education programs and the other service agencies is unique in our country, and other states are seeking to replicate the great work that we've done here in California.

I want to congratulate you on the work that you've done, and you keep moving forward and making continuous improvement to our programs. I'd like to now pass the Zoom microphone over to my deputy, Deputy Superintendent of Student Support Services branch Steve Zimmer.