CASA Workforce ESOL Curriculum Supplementals

1. CASA Workforce ESOL Curriculum Supplementals Owen Silverman Andrews, CASA ESOL Lead Program Coordinator 2015

2. Rationale • CASA provides a unique ESOL education to low-income immigrants focused on political, economic, personal, and social empowerment. • A drop-in class, which serves CASA members who use its Welcome Centers to be paired with employers looking for day labor, currently lacks structure • While the type of structure of traditional ESOL programs is neither desirable or possible in this environment, this set of Curriculum Supplementals addresses the needs of learners, teachers, and administrators for greater cohesion and support. • Each of the fifteen weekly units will consist of four components: worker rights, worker safety, work-related goal setting, and community mobilization. • Beyond the ESOL Program, these materials also integrate CASA’s many other educational and political projects, as well as direct services in health, housing, and legal support.

3. Statement of Problem • Low- and no-income immigrants, many of them with incomplete documentation, have less stability than any other population of English Language Learners. • They are also the least profitable and prestigious population to educate in the eyes of many traditional education institutions. • To fill this void, CASA has been offering Day Laborer ESOL classes for over a decade. • However, this program has lacked the structure needed to fully support the learners and teachers at the level they deserve. • Leadership within CASA’s Department of Education and Centers contracted me to design a set of curriculum supplementals. • Subsequently, I was hired as CASA’s ESOL Lead Program Coordinator, so I will also be involved in the implementation of this project.

4. Profile of Learners • CASA Workforce Learners • Immigration Status: Most learners do not have U.S. citizenship. Some do not have work or residency permits • Economic Status: Most learners live in low-income households • Length of residency in U.S: Varies from days to decades • Exposure to English outside of class: Varies greatly both between different learners and over time for the same learner. • Age: Adults of all ages (Baltimore Welcome Center 2015 age range: 18-70) • Previous general education: Some learners have tertiary education, others did not complete primary school. • Previous ESOL education: Some attend/ed ESOL courses at community colleges or other NGOs. • Professional experience: some learners are out of the workforce, others are employed steadily, but many do not have paid steady work. • Native language literacy skills: Varies greatly, although many did not complete secondary school in their home countries and some did not complete primary school. Other learners have tertiary degrees. • English language skills (level of speaking, listening, reading, and/or writing proficiency): Varies greatly.

5. Outcomes and Evaluation • The desired outcomes of the Curriculum Supplementals are listed below. The project will be evaluated based on year-on-year comparisons in the same categories. An arbitrary percentage of improvement is not expected– but significant improvement is. • total single count attendance throughout the Fall Session • number of learners who received 25 hour certificate and number of learners who post-test at 50 hours (retention) • results of CASAS post-test (increased reading comprehension and/or critical thinking skills, increased life skills) • results of learner survey (increased learner satisfaction) • results of teacher survey (increased teacher satisfaction) • increased learner income (measured in the learner survey) • increased involvement with CASA and broader community (measured in learner survey and CASA membership conversion rate)

6. Training Plan Training Plan Weeks 1-4

7. Training Plan 5-9

8. Training Plan Weeks 10-15

9. Budget Development Budget The Development Budget for the CASA Workforce ESOL Curriculum Supplementals was $2,000.00 broken down as follows: Implementation Budget The Implementation Budget for the is $289.20. However, these printing costs are not new expenditures, as teachers would have printed their own supplementals anyway. The new Curriculum Supplementals may represent a substantial savings in printing costs associated with running the program. Cost of initial printing for CASA’s five sites: 64 pages x 5 = 320 @ .06 cents per page = $19.20 Estimated cost of printing for class use during Fall Session: 300 pages (320 minus cover page, notes for usage page, and index pages) x ~15 learners per class = 4,500 pages @ .06 per page = $270 Not included: Previously allocated hourly teacher pay @ $18 per hour x 5 teachers x 10 hrs. per week x 15 weeks = $13,500 Undefinable costs associated with approximately 15 minutes of the Workforce ESOL Teacher Meeting being devoted to introducing the Curriculum Supplementals. Undefinable costs of electricity for lighting and other class use Undefinable savings of implementing Curriculum Supplementals and Intercambio in paid teacher planning time (minus 1/16 for Intercambio) leading to increased lesson plan creativity, learner retention and post-testing (tied to grant funding), and new learner outreach Undefinable savings in printing costs due to the Curriculum Supplementals formatting and methodology • $2,000 to Owen Silverman Andrews to design the Curriculum Supplementals • Undefinable costs associated with CASA Education Manager Shannon Wilk de Benitez’s contributions of defining the scope of the project and providing general feedback • Undefinable costs associated with UMBC Faculty Laura Hook’s contributions of feedback at each stage of development