2023-2024 College Catalog

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Non-Credit Offerings

Workforce Development

The College is committed to serving its community as the primary provider of workforce development education and training for individuals looking to expand their current skills or certifications or explore a new career path, or both! These career track courses are designed to provide in-demand skills in a short timeframe.

Increasing the productivity of the existing workforce is one of the sure-fire ways of increasing the profitability of local companies in a very tight labor market. Continuous training and retraining of the workforce is important to the viability of local companies that are in the College’s service area. These programs, described in the paragraphs below, include Tech Prep, Training for Existing Business and Industry, and Continuing Education. Workforce development activities of the College include training for area residents to obtain the Alabama Career Readiness Certificate (CRC), the official State of Alabama workforce readiness credential.

Workforce Development is comprised of two major components: (1) training for existing business and industry, and (2) continuing education and adult skills training, as explained in the following paragraphs.

Training for Existing Business and Industry

Drake State training for existing business and industry program interfaces with local business and industry in establishing courses and programs dedicated to specifically identified community employment and cross-training needs. Local industries are contacted on a regular basis for the purpose of determining their training concerns as well as making them aware of the institution’s training capabilities.

Industry partners of the College regularly pursue specialized training to be coordinated and provided by the College utilizing the College’s existing training resources. As a result of this interaction with industry, the College can assess market demand for the local service area to determine the training that the institution should provide, whether through Training for Existing Business/Industry (TEBI) programs or regular program instruction.

Continuing Education and Adult Skills Training

The Continuing Education and Adult Skills Training programs provide the citizens of North Alabama with flexible, innovative career-technical training at a reasonable cost, sponsored industry program or grant funded. The College satisfies the needs and academic pursuits of the community by offering developmental studies, noncredit short-term courses, and continuing education courses to fulfill student needs beyond the normal credit programs offered by the Department of Instruction.

The first Continuing Education classes were offered in late spring 2002 and were expanded to include Adult Skills Training, such as the Alabama Ready-to-Work program, in summer 2002. New offerings are added regularly and are listed on the College website.

Drake State provides a spectrum of training opportunities to meet student needs for professional development. In addition to credit programs and customized training for business and industry, these include:

Continuing Education classes, which tend to be general in nature and appeal, short duration, and are generally self-paid.

Adult Skills Training classes can range from a few hours in length to up to a year. They tend to be focused on particular career fields and are intended to serve incumbent or potential workers in that career field. They typically will be paid for by the worker’s employer, an outside agency, or funded through a WIOA Individual Training Account.

Students taking these classes are admitted to the Continuing Education/Adult Skills Training programs of the College and considered separate from the credit degree and certificate programs of the College. For admission to offer the credit programs of the College, a separate application form must be completed and submitted to the Director of Admissions.

Adult Education 

The Drake State Adult Education Program provides free academic instruction ranging from basic skills up to the collegiate level along with numerous opportunities that lead to career pathways.

Adult Basic Education Classes:

Adult basic education classes consist of the following academic areas: reading, writing, math, social studies, and science.

General Educational Development (GED) Preparation Classes:

The goal of these classes is to prepare adults ages 16 and over for Pearson Vue’s GED Test. The General Educational Development (GED) Test is a nationally recognized assessment that gives all people an opportunity to certify their high school education. The GED Test also provides a true measure of high school achievement covering academic knowledge and skills learned in four years of high school: reading, writing, social studies, science, and mathematics.

Non-Traditional High School Diploma Option (HSO):

The Alabama Non-Traditional High School Diploma Option Program is an alternative to the GED high school equivalency, designed for students who have completed all the required credits for graduation but failed the Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE), or students who have dropped out of the traditional high school setting. Students must be 19 years or older to participate in the program.

English Literacy Classes:

Classes provide non-English speaking individuals with the language skills needed to succeed in other educational/training programs and to cope more effectively with the challenges of their daily lives. English Language Acquisition (formerly referred to as ESL) is the instruction that assists individuals of limited English proficiency to achieve competence in the English language. Instruction is geared to adults who want to become more fluent in English, pass the U.S. citizenship test and/or GED Test, and work on job seeking skills.

Adult Education Bridge Program:

The Bridge Program was designed with first time college students in mind. Bridge classes allow students to remediate or “refresh” in Math (MTH 098) and Language (ENR 098) skills and prepare for future credit bearing classes.

Digital Literacy:

The Digital Literacy Certificate Program is a free self-guided online set of assessments that show your ability to perform basic computer tasks.

Preparation for WorkKeys Test:

The ACT WorkKeys assessment measures workplace skills that can affect job performance. Drake State utilizes the WorkKeys assessment to establish career readiness scores. The National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) is an assessment-based credential that gives employers and career seekers a uniform measure of key workplace skills.

Manufacturing and Logistics Certifications:

Drake State recognizes the importance of certifications and seeks to empower the community with skills to strengthen the local workforce. Drake State is proud to offer the following certifications:

  • The Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) is the nation’s leading industry-led training, assessment and certification organization focused on the core technical competencies needed by the nation’s frontline production and material handling workers.
  • The Certified Production Technician (CPT) program addresses the core technical competencies of higher skilled production workers in all sectors of manufacturing. Certificates are awarded in Safety, Quality Practices & Measurement, Manufacturing Processes & Production, and Maintenance Awareness and Green Production.
  • The Certified Logistics Technician (CLT) program addresses the core technical competencies of higher skilled, frontline material handling workers in all supply chain facilities: in factories, warehouses, distribution centers and transportation companies.

Alabama Career Essentials:

Alabama Career Essentials (ACE) is a FREE training course designed by the Alabama Community College System to provide Alabamians with relevant, cutting-edge, and industry-driven employability skills training to better prepare individuals for the Alabama workforce. The main goal of the new ACE course is to ensure current and future workers are equipped with the skills necessary to enter the 21st-century Alabama workforce.

GED 4 Me:

  • The program allows individuals to take the GED Ready Practice Tests in all four subject areas at no cost. These areas include Reasoning through Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Math.
  • If the student earns a score of 145 or better, “likely to pass”, in all four subject areas they will then be given a voucher to take the actual GED test for free. If the individual scores less than 145 on a subject, they must enroll in the Adult Program for 15 hours of remediation.
  • Once the remediation hours are completed the individual will be given a retake of the GED Ready to earn 145 or better. When the passing score is earned, the individual is now eligible to receive the free GED test voucher.

These classes are offered at no cost to the students, and are designed to be open-entry, open-exit. Any individual who is at least 16 years of age and not enrolled in another educational program is eligible to participate in the Adult Education Program. Students can start taking classes at any time during the year.

Classes are offered on-campus and at satellite locations around the city, with meeting times in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings to accommodate students’ various schedules.

For more information about Drake State’s Adult Education program, please contact the Adult Education Director at 256-551-5211, or visit our website.