I-BEST assists Alamo Colleges students

I-BEST assists Alamo Colleges students

 By Chelsea Gonzales

I-BEST is a training program provided by The Alamo Colleges to provide employment assistance and training to students who require basic skill development in order to succeed in technical training.

I-BEST stands for integrated basic education and skills training.  Students in these programs enter college-level training without needing to first complete developmental training.

Students enrolled in I-BEST programs benefit from technical training that is combined with reading, writing, math, or English language skills needed for college training.

Some of the training programs include health services direct patient care, health services non-patient care, manufacturing/construction/logistics, and information technology.

Although students are not required to complete developmental training to enter the program, there are other requirements that must be met.

“The qualifications are pretty strict,” said Dayna De Hoyos, administration and assessment specialist.  “You have to be one of these three: unemployed, dislocated, making low wages, or under skilled.”

Those are not the only qualifications that must be met to enter the I-BEST program.

“The other qualification requires you to be one of these,” said Hoyos.  “You have to have limited English, under skilled, a military veteran, a high school dropout, disabled, or Native American.”

The program enters an enrolled student into a five-week course where they will have two instructors per class.  There is one instructor for the basic training and one instructor for the technical training, all at the same time for just one class.

“The students are getting double the education and double the information,” said Hoyos. “And they must be fully devoted to the program for all five weeks.”

 What makes the I-BEST program different from others is that it offers support services to the students.  The education case manager helps students connect with student services to help get financial aid, and if a student is a veteran they can receive help from Project QUEST.

Post training, I-BEST provides three services that help connect students with employment.

“We have Goodwill, Workforce Solutions, and Career Finders,” said Hoyos.  “So we don’t just drop the student once they are trained, we try to help them find employment.”

Alamo I-BEST holds weekly information sessions for students and the community to learn more about the program.

Any students or members of the community who want to learn more information about I-BEST should visit http://www.alamo.edu/ibest/