Archived: New Grants Give Adult Learners Education Opportunities When, Where They Want

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

FOR RELEASE
August 28, 2000

Contact:
Stephanie Babyak
(202) 401-2311

Jane Glickman
(202) 401-1307

NEW GRANTS GIVE ADULT LEARNERS EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES
WHEN, WHERE THEY WANT

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley today announced $10.6 million for 10 new grants that will enable adults to learn virtually around-the-clock from wherever they are through innovative use of technology. The grants will be carried out over a three or four year period.

"These grants," said President Bill Clinton, "will help working families compete for the high-wage jobs that our economy is creating in record numbers. By expanding access to high-quality distance learning, these partnerships will allow more working Americans to upgrade their skills at a time, place and pace that is convenient for them."

The grants are awarded through Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP). Under LAAP, colleges work with each other and public and private businesses and organizations to develop programs to expand access to high-quality learning opportunities students can access "anytime, anywhere," for example, through the Internet. This is particularly important to individuals who have limited access to a traditional college campus because of their geographic location, a physical disability, or because of scheduling conflicts created by competing demands of work and family.

"If we are to meet our goal of a competitive, educated workforce," Riley said, "we need quality programs available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to fit the busy schedules of working adults with families. These grants will help us find creative solutions to that problem while meeting the needs of business and industry."

LAAP grants are awarded to national or regional partnerships involving two or more institutions of higher education, community organizations, businesses, and other public and private agencies. The partnerships are expected to stimulate resource sharing, reduce program duplication, and promote economies of scale. A partnership, for example, might help businesses and colleges keep pace with changing industry standards that require employee training.

The LAAP grants may be used to develop:

model distance learning consortia that create resource sharing and collaboration among colleges and universities, and improve linkages among higher education, technology companies, and employers;
innovative on-line student support services such as job placement, academic counseling and library access;
new institutional policies and practices that go beyond merely putting more courses on-line but that deliver self-paced alternatives to traditional semester scheduling;
methods of assessing the quality and success of new distance learning programs by charting the skills and competencies achieved by students, as well as retention and completion rates;
targeted training to address gaps and shortages in the national or regional workforce.

Examples of grants include:

The University of Wisconsin college system will work with a migrant services agency and food processing companies to offer online remedial courses, mentoring, and career training and counseling to migrant workers and their families and to Native Americans.
The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities will work with IBM and other Jesuit colleges to develop software to measure student competencies, performance and assessment in online instruction.

LAAP grantees are required to provide 50 percent of the total project costs; these grantees have provided more than $13.6 million in matching funds, bringing the total -- together with the federal commitment, to over $24 million.

More information on the grants is available at: www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/FIPSE/LAAP
NOTE TO EDITORS: Following is a list of grantees.

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LEARNING ANYTIME ANYWHERE PARTNERSHIPS
FY 2000 Awards

Lead: American Academy for Liberal Education (Washington, D.C.)
Partners: Pennsylvania Dept, of Education, eCollege.com, Regents College (NY), State
Commission on Higher Education in Virginia, Temple Univ.(PA), Univ.of Maryland University
College, Western Governors Univ., Cardean Univ.
$328,455 (total funding: 3 years, $884,439)
Contact: George Lucas, (410)293-2114, grlucas@gwmail.usna.edu
Title: "Accrediting for Educational Effectiveness in Distance Learning Degree Programs"

Lead: Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (Washington, D.C.)
Jesuit Distance Education Network
Partner: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
$603,288 (total funding: 3 years, $1,049,558)
Contact: Dr. Richard Vigilante, 202-862-9893, vigilante@ajcunet.edu
Title: "A Model for Competency-Based Distance Assessment"

Lead: Governors State University (IL)
Partners: Illinois Dept. of Children and Family Services, Child Welfare League of America
$432,716 (total funding: 3 years, $1,335,882) Contact: Charles Nolley, 708-235-3975, c-nolley@govst.edu
Title: "The Foster Digital Curriculum (FDC) Project"

Lead: Kansas State University (Manhattan)
Partners: Univ. of Nebraska, Iowa State Univ., Montana State Univ., North Dakota State Univ., South
Dakota State Univ., Texas Tech Univ., Oklahoma State Univ.
$361,869 (total funding: 3 years, $1,073,779)
Contact: Virginia Moxley, (785) 532-5500, moxley@ksu.edu
Title: "A National Model for Inter-institutional Postbaccalaureate Distance Education
Programs"

Lead: Maryland State Department of Education - Correctional Education Program
Partners: MD Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; MD Community College
Consortium; Mitretek Systems; Correctional Education Association
$296,613 (total funding: 3 years, $947,641)
Contact: D. Ray Harbert, (410)767-0455, rharbert@msde.state.md.us
Title: "Improving Lives, Improving Public Safety: A Partnership for Inmate Rehabilitation"

Lead: University of Massachusetts Medical School, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center
Partners: Lotus Development Corporation, Regents College, The Browns Group
$351,189 (total funding: 3 years, $877,000)
Contact: Charles Hamad, (781)642-0048, CHamad@shriver.org
Title: "e-ABA: Behavior Analysis Autism Training Project"

Lead: Montana State University (Bozeman)
Partners: Univ.of South Dakota; Northern State Univ.(SD); Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas; WebCT
$200,000 (total funding: 3 years, $866,851)
Contact: Janis Bruwelheide, (406)994-3261, janisb@montana.edu
Title: "BATE: Borderless Access to Training and Education"

Lead: Fordham University (NY)
Partners: Medgar Evers College, CUNY (NY); North Carolina Partnership for Excellence;
The Lightspan Partnership, Inc.
$588,798 (total funding: 3 years, $1,419,215)
Contact: Dr. Kathleen King, 212-636-6472, kpking@fordham.edu
Title: "Achieving Accountability: Standards-Based Teacher Professional Development"

Lead: University of Tennessee (Knoxville)
Partners: Nashville State Technical Inst.(TN), Roane State Comm. College (TN), Pellissippi State
Technical Comm. College (TN), Bechtel National, Inc., Science Applications Int'l Corp., IPIX Internet
Pictures Corp., Oak Ridge Nat'l Laboratory, Knoxville-Oak Ridge Regional Network
(KORRnet)/Computers for Homebound and Isolated Individuals (CHIPS), Oak Ridge Assoc. Univ.,
The Chauncey Group Int'l, Course Technology, Blackboard, Inc.
$286,055 (total funding: 3 years, $1,170,339)
Contact: Robert Leiter, 865-974-3181, rleiter@utk.edu
Title: "Information Technology Credentials Through Electronic Pathways Partnership

Lead: University of Wisconsin System (Madison)
Partners: UW-Stevens Point; UW-Extension; UW-Oshkosh; UW-Colleges
(system of 13 community colleges); UW-La Crosse; United Migrant Opportunity Services, Inc.;
Midwest Food Processors Assoc., Inc.
$327,572 (total funding: 4 years, $1,002,278)
Contact: Salvador L. Carranza, (608)265-9177, scarranza@uwsa.edu
Title: "'Reach Out' Project for Migrant Farm Workers and Their Families."

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