One in 10 San Diego adults do not have a high school diploma – something that the public library is trying to remedy. After one student successfully graduated, the San Diego Public Library is advertising its partnership with Gale Presents: Excel Adult High School so those 19 years and older can enroll in the self-paced online diploma completion program. It is not a GED and even includes job training as well as placement help after students finish the program. Anyone with a library card can enroll for free, with 15 individuals getting a free laptop as well.
SDNews spoke with Misty Jones, San Diego Public Library Director, about the new offering and why it is essential for improving economic, education and health outcomes in the community. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Why did the library take this on?
Jones: The library has always been about trying to provide resources for people in order to help them be more successful. We are all about literacy courses and for us, this high school diploma program when it was brought forward, was just the next logical step to help people.
It’s so important. About 10% of adults in the city of San Diego don’t have a high school diploma and it really limits their economic opportunities. They don’t have as as high paying jobs, which leads to, health problems and early death rates.
We’re always solution oriented in the library system and really want to be part of the solution. Being able to offer this was really a no brainer for us.
Why did you choose the route of a degree program rather than a GED?
Jones: The GED program is successful for some people but it’s very difficult. What the high school diploma program provides is, it really addresses people that have educational trauma. People who have dropped out of high school, who maybe didn’t finish their degree, for a reason that is either they had to stay home and take care of their family or they had to get a job. They disengaged from the educational system and they just have not gone back and gotten that degree. That’s what we wanted to be a part of.
GED is either you pass or fail. It can be expensive to take the GED. It can be limiting and we felt like a high school diploma program was really more encompassing. This one provides academic coaches. It provides tutoring. It’s a program that you really can’t fail. They don’t want you to fail this program, and they’re going to provide all the resources they can so students can be successful. That was the really important part— offering something that is going to give that extra level of support for people.
Why did you choose Gale Presents as your partner?
Jones: We wanted to offer this program and Gale Presents: Excel Adults High School program has a little bit of a different format. It gives people options. You’ve got more elective choices. You have a longer period of time, 24 months, to complete the program. What’s really unique about this one is you can take college courses, so you can actually get high school credit and get college credit.
Another part that was really important about this program is that it’s for non-native English speakers. That was crucial for us because San Diego is such a diverse community and we have so many immigrants and refugees that are coming here that we really wanted to have a high school diploma option that would support people that English is not their native language. Also, it has the Washington Technical Institute Partnership, which offers a partial scholarship when they graduate, so having that direct path into secondary education as well. Being able to support people who don’t speak English and having that pathway into college was really important.
Gale Presents also has a job placement program. How does that work?
Gale has been so great in partnering with libraries and really finding out what is important. We have always been saying, it’s great to be able to provide them a degree, but what do you do after that? We wanted to have a program that addressed that and so they really did that. They’re providing that pathway to higher education. They’re providing that pathway to other potential careers or career opportunities. That’s really unique about this program and I feel like it’s going to make it really successful for people.
Is there flexibility in the length of the program?
That’s really why they provide the academic coach. They say 24 months to complete the program and on average, it takes about three to six months for the adult students to complete a grade level, so it kind of depends on how many credits you’re bringing in because you are allowed to transfer credits. Their estimation is that if you have no high school credits at all, it’ll take about 12 to 18 months, so they’re already building in a six month flexibility.
One of the things that we do is, we have Kristina Garcia, our wonderful staff member that runs this program for the library department, and what she does is she meets with the students. She makes sure that they’re ready. Gale also meets with the student and they go through and make sure that they understand what the program entails, they understand everything they need to do, because the last thing we want is for them to start it and not be successful. We do everything we can on the front end to make sure that they’re ready to go so that they will be successful.
The program already has one graduate. Are you hoping to add more soon?
We’re actively recruiting. Library Foundation SD provides the funding for the scholarships so this is completely free to everyone that wants to do this. We want to make sure everyone if this is a program that they feel that they need, that they are aware.
