Jackie and all: Following are some online professional development materials
that may be of use in developing online functional context
(integrated/embedded/contextualized) education for more rapidly developing
economic self-sufficiency skills of adults needing employment in these hard
times. Tom Sticht

Functional Context Education (FCE) in Community Colleges and High Schools

December 29, 2008

Functional Context Education (FCE): Toward Policies and Practices for
Contextualized Teaching and Learning in Community Colleges and High Schools

Tom Sticht

International Consultant in Adult Education

Several Functional Context Education (FCE) principles for program design
were first reported in a 1987 book colleagues and I wrote entitled Cast-off
youth: Policy and Training Methods from the Military Experience (Sticht et
al, NY: Praeger). Three years later, in 1990, I was appointed to the
Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) and I gave the
opening presentation at the first meeting of the SCANS. In this presentation
I discussed the research on FCE reviewed in the Cast-off book. The next
year, in 1991, the SCANS issued a report entitled What Work Requires of
Schools: A SCANS Report for America 2000 (Washington, DC: U. S. Department
of Labor) which recommended that our nation's schools should be redirected
to teach in a "contextualized" manner.

FCE in Community Colleges

A January 2003 report by C. Mazzeo et al. entitled Building Bridges to
College and Careers: Contextualized Basic Skills Programs at Community
Colleges is available from the Workforce Strategy Center on the web at
http://www.workforcestrategy.org/publications/Contextualized_basic_ed_report.pdf

Citing the work on FCE reported in Cast-off Youth and other work stimulated
by the SCANS work on contextualized teaching and learning (CTL) , the
report's authors state that, "Research suggests that contextualized basic
skills instruction is often more successful than traditional models of
adult education in engaging disadvantaged individuals and linking them to
work."

In developing their CTL programs, the five colleges integrated developmental
(basic skills) and academic content. They developed new curricular materials
and professional development for CTL faculty and they maintained links with
employers and industry associations.

Additional information about college-based FCE programs is given in a
message accessed on the internet entitled: “Welcome to I-BEST! - Integrated
Basic Education & Skills Training - Pierce College District” The information
page states that I-BEST  “pairs English as a Second Language (ESL), Adult
Basic Education (ABE), and General Education Development (GED) instructors
with professional-technical instructors in the same classroom to
concurrently provide literacy education and workforce skills training to
Basic Education (ABE/GED) and English as a Second Language adult students.

This integrated approach provides just the right level of education in just
the amount for students to succeed in workforce training. In this
integrated model, the Basic Skills curriculum is tailored to the skills
that are needed to learn and do the job for which the student is training.
The basic skills are all taught in the context of the career....

Over the past two years 10 Integrated Basic Skills programs were piloted in
Washington State and produced the following results:

  Integrated students were 5 times more likely to earn college credits than
were traditional Basic Skills students!

  Integrated students earned an average of 10 college–level credits compared
to only 3 college–level credits earned by the students in traditional Basic
Skills classes!

  Integrated students earned an average of 12 workforce credits as compared
to only 2 workforce credits earned by the comparison group!

  Integrated students were 15 times more likely to complete workforce
training! 44% of the integrated students completed workforce–training
programs as compared to only 3% of the comparison group!

  Most of these completions were in short term certificate programs that
provide living wage employment opportunities and educational progression.

Dropout rates among this segment of the college's student population have
also been significantly reduced.”

FCE In High Schools

Over the years a number of organizations have taken up the banner of FCE
under the label of "contextualized teaching." For instance, for more than a
decade, the Center for Occupational Research & Development (CORD) Web site:
www.cord.org located in Waco, Texas has been involved in developing
contextualized courses for students in the K-12 system. Dale Parnell,
former President of the American Association for Community Colleges in the
United States and a past member of the SCANS published a book with CORD
entitled Contextual Teaching Works. In a chapter on What Research Says
About Contextual Teaching he presents a review of the research on FCE that
colleagues and I reported in Cast-off Youth and notes that this research
offers a scientific base for contextualized teaching. The book provides
examples of FCE programs in various high schools in the U.S. and Canada.

In September 2003, the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) produced a report
edited by Betsy Brand entitled Essentials of High School Reform: New Forms
of Assessment and Contextual Teaching and Learning. (Washington, DC:
American Youth Policy Forum www.aypf.org). The report includes two papers
that discuss issues related to the development of contextualized teaching
and learning (CTL) curricula in high schools and developing assessments
that will provide a more accurate indication of student learning in CTL
classrooms.

In addition to presenting discussions of the issues and challenges that face
those who wish to move toward CTL, the report appendix offers examples of
CTL using problem-based learning, service-learning, project-based learning,
curriculum integration, work-based learning and collaborative/cooperative
learning. It also provides some cases of CTL in high schools and it raises
many issues and challenges for doing CTL in our nation's high schools.

For further information about FCE/CTL consult the CORD and AYPF) web pages
given above. Additional information about FCE can be obtained in the
following reports:

1. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant (1997 edition).
Eight chapters including The Power of Adult Literacy Education, Some
Challenges of Diversity for Adult Literacy Education, Views On Contemporary
Cognitive Science, Introduction to Functional Context Education, Functional
Context Education and Literacy Instruction, and four case studies in
applying Functional Context Education to the design of programs that
integrate (or embed, contextualize) basic skills and vocational or
parenting education (workplace literacy, family literacy).
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/context/context.pdf

2. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant in the 21st
Century (2005 edition). Functional Context Education (FCE) materials
available online in several nations, the Adult Literacy and Life Skills
(ALL) survey, National Adult Assessment of Literacy (NAAL) survey, FCE in
historical perspective, (1860-Present) including Paulo Freire and Learner
Centered, Participatory Literacy Education. Methodologies used in adult
literacy research for determining what is relevant to youth and adult
learners; five case studies illustrating the application of FCE in
parenting, vocational training, and health literacy.
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/fce/FCE.pdf


Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net