Eliminating barriers: Excel Centers spur generational changes

Katie Reigelsperger faced many challenges as she was growing up.

Her parents struggled with substance abuse and alcoholism, and without good role models, she became pregnant at age 13 and was forced to drop out of school.

Her dad told authorities she would be home-schooled, but that never happened.

While navigating motherhood, she also earned a GED at age 16; at age 18, she had another child.

For years, Reigelsperger worked at a series of dead-end jobs that lacked financial security and benefits.

"I was really in a hole I didn't know how to get out of," she recalled.

Then, at age 25, she was taking her kids to a martial arts lesson and overheard someone talking about a high school for adults.

She jumped into the conversation, and the next day enrolled at the Goodwill Excel Center in Anderson with the goal of obtaining a high school diploma and improving her job prospects and earnings.

"I had zero high school credits and I had never been to a day of high school in my life," she said.

Despite those challenges, within eight months, she earned a Core 40 diploma; she also earned a pharmacy technician certification. She worked at a retail pharmacy and worked up to lead technician, and later she worked at a Noblesville hospital where in 2016, she became pharmacy supervisor.

In 2018, the Excel Center asked her to teach a pharmacy technician course, which she did many times.

Reigelsperger, now 35, eventually started her own company, KLR Medical Certification Training School, which offers certifications in pharmacy tech, veterinary assistant and billing/coding specialist.

Her business offers courses to Excel Center students and is partnered with Excel Centers across the country.

"The Excel Center has changed my life and the lives of my children," she said. "The idea is to meet students where they are. It's there to help eliminate any barrier a student might have."

Addressing a need

Reigelsperger is one of many Excel Center success stories.

Started in 2010 in Indianapolis, Excel Centers are a tuition-free, public charter high school for adults.

In Indiana, it provides those 18 and older the opportunity to earn a Core 40 high school diploma, industry certifications and dual credit courses.

Excel Centers also provide wrap-around services including transportation assistance, childcare and life coaching for students, with a goal of removing barriers to education.

Everything is provided at no cost to students.

The Excel Center network, administered by Goodwill Education Initiatives, operates 41 schools in nine states, plus the District of Columbia, with the goal of expanding to 85 schools by 2030.

In Indiana, Excel Centers in Marion County are authorized by the mayor of Indianapolis and the Office of Education Innovation; schools outside Indianapolis operate under charters granted by the Indiana Charter Schools Board.

They are funded through a separate line item in the state budget as well as philanthropy and other sources.

An Excel Center will begin classes in Terre Haute this August at The Meadows.

When Excel Centers began, "We knew there was definitely a need. What we didn't know was how much the interest might be," said Kent Kramer, president and chief executive officer of Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana and president/CEO of The Excel Center national office.

They knew there were about 460,000 working-age Hoosiers who did not have a high school diploma.

"Six months into the operation, we had 2,000 on the wait list to get in," Kramer said.

Since 2010, Excel Centers have graduated more than 8,000 adult Hoosiers. In addition, 99% have college dual credits and/or industry recognized certifications, Kramer said.

When students earn a post-secondary credential, it makes it much easier to obtain jobs that include medical assistant, pharmacy tech, welding position or other occupations.

"We offer a lot of different certifications that happen right as you are getting your high school diploma, so it really provides a strong connection with the workforce and the needs of local employers," Kramer said.

"It is really difficult to find a job without a high school diploma and it's really difficult to find a job that provides wages considered middle income without a certification of some sort," he said.

When other Goodwills saw the success of the Excel Center, they wanted to establish them in other communities. "We spent time putting together licensing agreements and a really solid model to make sure it would work the same in other Goodwills," Kramer said.

The national office is located in Indianapolis. In Indiana, there are four additional Excel Centers slated to open this year, in Terre Haute, Evansville, Columbus and Marion, which will bring the number in the state to 24.

Excel Centers are operated by Goodwill Education Initiatives, Inc., a not-for-profit organization formed by Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana.

Excel Centers are a licensed model, "kind of like a franchise," Kramer said.

Notre Dame's Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) has studied Excel Center outcomes and found that after five years, graduates increase earnings by 39% compared to peers and are more likely to be working and have college credits than peers.

Among the takeaways according to a May 2021 research brief, "Graduates of the Excel Center make more money, work in higher opportunity jobs and earn more college credits and professional certificates" than their peers.

Officials acknowledged there is room for improvement.

In 2021, LEO reported a completion rate of 28%, based on a study that looked at those who applied, enrolled and completed between January 2013 and June 2015.

Many who apply never actually begin the program.

For some, the barriers they faced when they first dropped out of school may still exist many years later, Kramer said. "They have situations in life that prevent them from really being focused on education," he said.

The program, working with LEO, is studying how it can get more applicants to start the program and persist through to completion, according to a recent article on the Notre Dame website.

Providing a talent pipeline

Anderson has had an Excel Center for several years.

According to Clayton Whitson, president of the Madison County Chamber of Commerce, for businesses across every industry, "The number one challenge is finding enough available workers that have the tangible skill sets to fill vacancies."

The Excel Center has helped address the need. "It has been a great talent pipeline here in Madison County," he said.

Often, those who complete the program start off in entry level positions, but with the potential to advance and achieve greater earnings.

Local manufacturers have especially benefited from the Excel Center. "Our manufacturers are very adept at once they have you in their system, they do a lot of training and teach skill sets in-house," Whitson said.

"It's been a real boost for the manufacturing sector here," he said.

In Terre Haute, the Excel Center of West Central Indiana will start classes in August at The Meadows.

It falls under the umbrella of Wabash Valley Goodwill, but a separate nonprofit entity called Goodwill Workforce Enterprises governs and runs the public charter school.

Kristin Craig, executive director of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce, also chairs the Goodwill Workforce Enterprises board of directors.

“We’ve been very excited about the Excel Center from a workforce perspective,” Craig said earlier this year. “It is a program that allows individuals who don’t have a high school diploma … to go back and receive an actual high school diploma.”

In addition, Excel Centers "have incredible ties with companies in the community” that are looking to hire workers or promote from within, Craig had said.

“It is such a strong model with high success metrics,” Meredith Osburn, president and CEO of Wabash Valley Goodwill, has stated.

State Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, speaks highly of the program.

"Sometimes, circumstances happen that make it difficult to finish high school. The Excel center will offer students a second chance to earn their high school diploma," she said.

The centers have been in other communities around Indiana for years and are proven to work, she said. "Every student that we can help graduate is a win for that student and for our state," Pfaff said.

Moving people out of poverty

Jon Ford, former state senator from Terre Haute, was influential in bringing the program to the Wabash Valley.

He's been involved with the Goodwill Excel Center program since 2011, even before he was elected to the Legislature, and has worked to get the program in other communities and in other states.

"As we look for those concepts that can move people out of poverty, this ranks as one of the top ones we've seen through research," Ford said.

Every year, the Excel Center must go to the state for funding and present a report. In 2023, Ford worked with Terre Haute community stakeholders and Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana to get a Terre Haute program in the state budget.

Legislative action in 2023 granted the Excel Center of West Central Indiana 300 seats for students, with a goal of enrolling 150 students in its first year.

"Terre Haute has long been looked at for an Excel Center because we have a population of folks without high school diplomas or degrees. I think the Excel concept helps people on their terms" when they are ready to pursue a Core 40 diploma as well as industry certification or dual credit, Ford said.

"I think it's pretty important when they make that decision to have a program that can help them raise their earning potential," Ford said.

The data by Notre Dame's LEO "is pretty rich" in documenting the positive benefits for the program's graduates, Ford said.

The wrap around services, including child care and life coaches for every student, "helps them with every day life," he said.

Reigelsperger knows first-hand how the Excel Center can make a difference.

"The Excel Center is a second chance ... a second chance for individuals who might not have had that opportunity," she said.

There are those in society who might believe that a person who drops out of school "did not go for it the first time. That is not always the case. There are so many things that can happen in a person's life you might not know about," she said.

Those who take the step of enrolling at Excel Centers are working hard to change their lives, Reigelsperger said. The Excel Center "is changing generational paths for years to come."