PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — This week is National Adult Education & Family Literacy Week, and officials with the SAD 1 Adult and Community Education are doing their part to share with the community information on the various services they provide.
According to LeRae Kinney, SAD 1 Adult Education director, there are many programs of learning including personal enrichment courses and high school completion.
Students seeking to complete their high school credentials must set up an appointment at the Adult Education office to register for classes, and officials will then help them design a program to complete graduation requirements. Diploma classes are available during the daytime and evening. Credits from other schools or sources will be reviewed for acceptance. In addition, credit may be awarded for military experience, job training, homemaking, and volunteer experience. Upon graduation, students will receive a Presque Isle High School diploma.
One of the newer programs offered is the High School Equivalency Test, or HiSET. Launched in January, the HiSET exam is the first alternative to the GED test since 1942, and includes elements that are critical to providing educational opportunities for those who need a second chance to succeed.
“The HiSET prep classes are strongly recommended and the HiSET pre-tests are required,” said Kinney. “Tests are free of charge for Maine residents, and the HiSET exam measures students in the same content areas as the GED test.”
Kinney said she’s excited about the College Transitions Program, which can assist adult learners “get back into the swing of education” and help them pass the English (English IV) and math (algebra I) Accuplacer placement test that is required to enter community college.
“When students, for example, go to NMCC, one of the first things they’re going to do is give them the Accuplacer to decide what classes they should be in for English and math,” she said. “If they don’t do well in the Accuplacer then they have to take the remedial classes, which will give them a boost so that they can do the higher level class, but they have to pay for those classes and they don’t receive any college credit for them.
“Through our program, we can give them the Accuplacer at no cost, and then we can do the remediation here for students, also at no cost,” said Kinney, noting that the district is reimbursed by the state for those services. “Once they pass the Accuplacer, that score is transferable to NMCC, so we can work with the students until they get that passing score. Then when they step onto the college campus, they’ll start paying for courses which will go toward their degree program.”
Kinney said the College Transitions Program is a great financial resource.
“Students are only given so much financial aid, and if you have to use up your financial aid — especially grant money — to pay for remediation, that makes it that much more expensive on the other end,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for a lot of members in our community. We have several adults that have decided that it’s time to go back to school, but they haven’t been for 10-20 years, and that can be an intimidating process. I’ve talked to a number of moms whose kids are now in school full-time and they are considering going back to school but aren’t sure how to get started. They can come to us and we can get that plan put in motion just by taking the Accuplacer test.
“We can also set them up with a counselor to assist them with the application, fee waivers, filing federal financial paperwork, and finding financial aid and scholarship money,” said Kinney. “It is an amazing service that not a lot of people realize we offer. We can help them break down what can be a very intimidating process.”
Kinney said the adult education program has changed a lot over the years.
“I think oftentimes adult education is viewed as a place to get your GED, now HiSET, or to take a personal enrichment class, and for a long time that’s what it was about, but today we’re so much more,” she said. “We can help people start a career or advance in their current career. We have the tools and we’re happy to share them with the community. We’re here to help and support people in any way we can.”
To help celebrate National Adult Education & Family Literacy Week, Kinney said the adult ed students have been given gift bags as a token of appreciation.
“We put together a little gift bag recognizing that we appreciate them taking part in our programs. It’s a bag with notebooks, pens and pencils, a brochure about our College Transitions Program, as well as some candy,” said Kinney. “For example, we did a little gift bag that says ‘Bookworm,’ so we put gummy worms in it, and one that says, ‘Attending adult ed makes you a smarty,’ and we filled it with Smarties. Fun little things to recognize the week, and let them know that we appreciate them.”
There are presently 33 students enrolled in academic classes, while 107 students are taking personal enrichment courses.
For more on SAD 1’s Adult Education program, call Kinney at 764-4776.
