Guest Post: Good, Better, I-BEST

Today, we welcome John Wachen of the Community College Research Center to Accelerating Achievement. Below, John summarizes findings from a recent CCRC study of Washington State’s I-BEST model for integrating basic skills and workforce training.

To meet the ambitious goals set forth by the federal government and private foundations to increase substantially the number of students with high-quality postsecondary credentials, the higher education system must focus on retaining students and accelerating completion, particularly among underrepresented populations. One promising program model that works with basic skills students is the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) model in Washington State’s two-year colleges.

I-BEST was developed to increase the rate at which ABE and ESL students advance to college-level coursework and completion by integrating basic skills and career-technical instruction. In the model, basic skills instructors and career-technical instructors jointly teach college-level occupational courses that admit basic skills students. An I-BEST program is a series of these integrated courses in a career-technical field that leads to a credential. The I-BEST model has received a significant amount of attention in recent years as policy makers and practitioners in other states look for effective strategies to help low-skilled students move farther and faster along educational pathways.

Researchers at the Community College Research Center (CCRC) conducted several studies of the I-BEST model over the past few years, including a field study of implemented programs in Washington State’s colleges. Findings from our field study include information about program structure and management, integrated instruction and support services, and program costs and sustainability.

Below are some highlights from our findings:

• Structured pathways. All I-BEST programs are part of long-term educational pathways that can yield increasingly valuable credentials. Our research suggests that it is important to provide structured, coherent pathways for basic skills students, who might otherwise find it difficult to navigate a broad array of choices.
• Integrated instruction. For each I-BEST course, the basic skills instructor and career-technical instructor must jointly teach in the same classroom with at least a 50 percent overlap of the instructional time. The degree to which basic skills and career-technical instruction is integrated in the I-BEST classroom varies considerably across programs. Fully integrated instruction is uncommon and difficult to achieve but we did find several examples of highly collaborative team-teaching.
• Faculty selection and collaboration. The team-teaching model is challenging for the instructors and facility with it often takes time to develop. The relationship between the instructors is critical and it is therefore important to identify and select instructors with the willingness and ability to work with a co-instructor.
• Funding and sustaining I-BEST. Approved programs are funded at 1.75 times the normal rate per full-time equivalent student (FTEs) to help cover the higher program costs. At many colleges, however, the expense of running the programs was a primary concern. Colleges identified several factors needed to sustain I-BEST programs, including maintaining strong enrollments, solid commitment from senior administrators, and continued financial support through enhanced FTEs.

Our report in Community College Review contains additional discussion of these and other findings, including a profile of I-BEST students, information on student financial support, and lessons for other states and colleges.