Bridging the Gap: Pilot Project Phase II - Formative Evaluation

It is essential that Community Learning Network Team members are part of the decision making process. Even though there is one sponsor organization per each Community Learning Network Team with Bridging the Gap, Pilot Phase II, it is important that each team member understands their roles and responsibilities. All Community Learning Network Team members make a valuable contribution to implementing Bridging the Gap and should be treated equally. If Bridging the Gap is to be implemented in the future, it is important that the Bridging the Gap representatives meet with the sponsor organization and Community Learning Network team members to explain their roles and responsibilities in implementing Bridging the Gap. This should take place prior to commencing Bridging the Gap Program.
There must be a healthy working relationship between the various partners in the BTG project: Industry partner, sponsoring agency, Educational Institution, Instructor, Co–ordinator, and CLN team members. Partnerships are a focal part of the BTG model. When all partners pull together, the participants of the program will reap the maximum benefit.

All participants should receive equitable compensation for participating in the program. This training allowance should be industry specific and provide realistic expectations of future earning potential.
Another recommendation is to pick students that have similar levels of education. In our area, we had a little difficulty in getting enough people for the program and thus had to settle for students with varying levels of education. Now the college instructor is finding it challenging to keep the curriculum interesting for all of the students.

There needs to be consistency between volunteers at the information sharing session when helping the applicants fill out the questionnaire. It devalues the information on a questionnaire when it has been fed to an applicant by the interviewer.
There must be representatives at the Information Sharing Session from each funding agency to clearly explain the eligibility requirements and available compensation to the attendants.
All verbal information presented at the Information Sharing Session should be handed out to each applicant in written form. This will help reiterate the presented materials.
All relevant information provided on each questionnaire must be verified for accuracy. This will identify ineligibility due to inaccurate information at the preliminary stages.