Belfast Adult Education

 The Belfast Education Program Advisor, Marie Roberts, was asked to speak to the Waldo County Head Start staff via Zoom.  Head Start was doing a resource meeting and wanted to find out about what Belfast Adult Education had to offer for their families.  Marie gave a presentation about both the HiSet and Diploma pathways and also referenced the enrichment program and literacy volunteers.  The staff had many great questions and got answers to take back to their families.  Many of the questions revolved around HiSet such as: How much does it cost? What if a parent already passed a couple of GEDs in the past? How long does it take to get a HiSet?  Marie also explained the new program called HiSet Academy.  HiSet Academy is an online program geared specifically towards passing the full battery of HiSet tests.  This can be done from anywhere, so many students who are not able to come in person have found  HiSet Academy to fit their needs.  To date, several students have been very successful in using HiSet Academy.  The Head Start family service workers felt that would be a wonderful means of delivery for their families.  At the end, the staff asked for flyers about BAE to pass along to their learners and others in the community.  This will be a beneficial collaboration for both Head Start and BAE.

In other Adult Education news, BAE currently has nine students who have completed their program and will be able to graduate in early June.  Five of those learners have completed their HiSet testing (all using HiSet Academy).  The other four learners have completed credits for their high school diploma.  This is a great achievement for these learners, and there are several more learners nearing the finish line as well.  

The online format of HiSet Academy seems to be very effective in providing students the "tutoring" and skills needed to pass the exams.  Currently, all of our HiSet Academy slots are filled by learners still in the process of getting their education.  Especially during the time of a pandemic, online learning is almost a necessary forum.  

Many of our high school diploma courses are also online using Zoom, Google Meets, and Google Classroom.  Some are synchronous courses while some are asynchronous.  Learners are very active in those courses as well as the face-to-face courses which continue to run with a limited number of students.  

All in all, BAE is really expanding to meet the needs of all learners and dealing with the constraints that COVID has made necessary.  It was a pleasure to share that with Head Start and know that they will be passing that information along to their families and others in the community.