Narrative Analysis Tool
Instructions
The Narrative Report responses below can be further filtered by one or more states, as well as keywords.
For more information on Narrative Reports please see the technical assistance documents.
| State | Establishment or operation of a high-quality professional development programs |
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| Alabama | State leadership funds were used to support high quality professional development to all levels of practitioners. Virtual, hybrid and face-face models have been used in programmatic, regional and statewide trainings developed based on the needs of the programs, state and National Reporting System best practices. The changes in measurable skill gains gave all practitioners the opportunity to revisit and dive deeper into the tracking of and meaning of the gains that allow students the opportunity to move forward. The Alabama Association for Public and Continuing Education (ALAPCE) holds an adult education summer conference every year. The summer conference was held in person in Montgomery on June 5, 6, and 7, 2022 with over 400 practitioners in attendance. Session topics span the field of adult education: literacy, numeracy, high school equivalency, work-based learning, English as a Second Language and Civics Education, and National Reporting System Measures, data analytics, contextualized instruction, integrated education and training, and serving incarcerated learners. Participants were also encouraged to attend professional development events hosted by the state Workforce Development Board and the Alabama Community College Association, as appropriate. Regional directors' meetings were held in all three adult education regions on a bi-monthly basis in a virtual format and quarterly in-person. Professional development for these trainings were developed from the regional needs, workforce demands, research-based practices for improving NRS performance measures along with results from compliance monitoring. Specific national and state level professional development highlights for PY 2021-2022 include the conclusion of the LEAD Institute (sponsored by NASDAE and AIR), OCTAE’s Teaching the Skills that Matter (TSTM) training which includes a three-year sustainability plan, and OCTAE’s Virtual Training Institutes: Cultivating a Language and Content Focus for English Learners. Statewide professional development teams have been created to conduct train the trainer opportunities and to assist in the strategic implementation of content learned from participation in these events. |
| Alaska | Leadership funds support professional development through conferences, in-person and virtual meetings, and other means of programmatic communication. Program coordinator training and conferences are traditionally held in Anchorage. These meetings are used by the leadership team to disseminate information regarding regulations, policies, and promising practices. Due to COVID-19 precautions, Alaska’s PY 2021 Statewide Adult Education Conference was held virtually on March 2-4, 2021. The State AAE Office partnered with the Alaska Adult Education Association (AAEA) to provide a virtual conference platform that brought Alaska’s teachers, program coordinators, and staff a viable, virtual conference option. The PY 2021 conference began with a keynote address by Kate Redmon from Light & Salt Learning. Her feature address was on “Strength for the Journey: Walking Educational Pathways Beside the Adult Learner.” The three-day conference included dedicated training for new Program Coordinators. Presentation strands also included English as a second language (ESL), workplace literacy, correction, Integrated Education and Training (IET), assessments, and adult education instructional practices. The second day’s keynote speaker was Scott Thornbury who presented on “Teacher talk: how talk scaffolds learning and engagement.” Registration was open to program staff, teachers, program coordinators, data entry clerks, tutors, and adult education staff. The virtual conference was open to any individuals involved or interested in adult education in Alaska and other states who were interested in the available professional development opportunities. Alaska is planning a hybrid conference for PY 2022 to increase participation for rural programs with limited travel funding. We anticipant increased participation due to the hybrid availability. The AAE Program Coordinator Annual Meeting took place October 5-7, 2021. It began with an intensive New Program Coordinator training on October 5th. The meeting was held in a hybrid fashion with approximately two-thirds of the Program Coordinators attending in person. The State AAE Director presented on topics including the Desktop Monitoring, Barriers to Employment, and Educational Strategies. The first day intensive training allowed for new program coordinators to ask questions on training topics including Grant and Fiscal Responsibility, Professional Development, Measurable Skill Gains, and Introduction to National Reporting System (NRS) Tables. The AAE Office has found that this training is beneficial to new and seasoned program coordinators that would like to brush up on grant management skills. In addition to these conferences, the AAE State Director held monthly meetings for program coordinators to provide relevant program information, training with guest speakers, or technical assistance. Depending on their job functions, AAE staff are required to attend a specific number of hours of annual professional development courses. The State AAE Office provides opportunities for professional development, training, and technical assistance. Local programs are required to report annual professional development hours for all staff to the AAE Office through the AlaskaJobs system. Alaska AAE program coordinators, teachers, and staff participated in virtual on-line training offered by the Center for Applied Linguistics, LINCS, GED Testing Services (GEDTS®), Test for Adult Basic Education (TABE), and Alaska Career Information System (AKCIS). |
| American Samoa | Secondary education is addressed through the General Education development program which previously included the GED testing curriculum, but currently implements the HiSet curriculum. The local Department of Education has approved the HiSet test as a high school equivalency credential in the territory of American Samoa Curriculum. Preparatory classes are held at the American Samoa Community College campus through the Adult Education Literacy and Extended Learning (AELEL) department. This department is temporarily located in the MPC Building on the second floor. The exam will earn credential for future needs with the High School Equivalency Test. The AELEL department will assist with test cost, upon HiSet test referral through successful completion of classes of all subject areas of HiSet curriculum. HiSet participants who have successfully completed the high school equivalency exam are advised to join the American Samoa Community College with the various educational programs offered on campus. |
| Arkansas | Professional development services are administered by the AALRC, funded through the Southeast Arkansas Education Service Cooperative by ADWS/AES. The AALRC is a critical resource responsible for identifying, evaluating, and disseminating materials and information to adult education and literacy programs. ADWS/AES and AALRC give information through email, newsletters, and discussion lists and provide Zoom for webinars
The AALRC coordinates and presents in-depth professional development training that precisely coincides with the goals and vision of the ADWS/AES. This entails assuring that activities enhance teachers’ knowledge, skills, and abilities, are diverse, and encompass the whole person. The AALRC consistently assesses the needs of Adult Education program areas through evaluations/surveys, meetings, and general discussions or requests by phone and email. They provide any new software, materials, or resources necessary to accommodate the changing needs of adult education teachers and staff.
As limitations created by the national COVID-19 pandemic were lifted, the state could conduct more in-person professional development workshops. Two of those meetings were the Fall and Spring Administrators’ Meetings, during which ADWS/AES and the AALRC provided professional development and updates on initiatives. The Fall meeting focused on leadership development and the progression of WAGE™, a job training program for unemployed and underemployed adults. The Spring meeting highlighted recruitment, motivation, IET development, and moving programs forward.
Recognizing the profound impact that COVID-19 made on society, the AALRC incorporated training on mental health and wellness, including the importance of self-care. Although the number of in-person training increased this year, ADWS/AES and the AALRC recognized that virtual or distance learning would continue to be an essential tool for educating students and staff; as such, efforts have continued to find ways to accommodate program needs in the areas of distance learning and technology. The AALRC’s plan to offer more online training was finalized this year. An additional self-paced course in Customer Service and Learning Disabilities: Applications was added to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) online portal for programs. The AALRC has also created a YouTube Channel that houses recorded training on using specific software applications and other relevant training beneficial to users. Providing easy access to these workshops allows users to review and refresh their learning at their convenience. Other online professional development forums are maintained through Canvas and LINCS as well.
Unique goals accomplished this program year through a collaborative effort include:
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| California | California used state leadership funds to implement strategies identified in our unified state plan, to develop and deliver high-quality professional development, to provide technical assistance to sub-grantees, and to monitor sub-grantees for compliance with grant requirements. The majority of California’s state leadership funds are used to contract services from three providers known as State Leadership Projects (SLPs). These organizations annually develop and deliver high-quality professional development and technical assistance. In March 2020, as it was evident that adult education programs would be closing down and preparing for online/distance learning, the CDE held a conference call with the SLPs to ensure we were ready to support adult education teachers as they moved to teaching online. The SLPs moved quickly to provide training for teachers and continue to do so as online and distance learning is becoming the norm in California. During the 2021–22 year the SLPs continued to support sub-grantees with training and technical assistance-related teaching and assessing in a remote environment. This also included professional development related to hybrid instruction. CALPRO (Professional Development) is responsible for designing and implementing a large-scale statewide professional development project for all California funded Adult Basic Education agencies including those funded by WIOA, Title II: AEFLA-funded and California Adult Education Program (CAEP)-funded agencies and consortia. The American Institutes for Research (AIR), as the managing agency for CALPRO, provides opportunities for adult educators to interact and learn through evidence-based and collaborative PD about administrative and instructional practices to improve student learning. CASAS (Assessment and Accountability) is responsible for providing a standardized assessment and accountability system for all levels of ABE, ASE, and ELA programs and for reporting program enrollment and outcome data to the state. California agencies use the CASAS Reading GOALS and the Math GOALS test series for ABE and ASE and the CASAS Life and Work Listening and the Life and Work Reading test series for ESL. CASAS assessments help to place learners in appropriate levels of instruction, diagnose learner strengths and weaknesses, target instruction, and certify learner proficiency at specific levels of instruction or readiness to exit adult education. CASAS offers computer-based assessments, CASAS eTests®, to help place students into programs quickly; monitor learner progress; and generate student, class, and program level reports to inform instruction. Statewide student and program accountability data is collected and reported using TOPSpro® Enterprise, a learner management and accountability software. The web-based software collects student demographics, records assessment results, tracks student attendance, and monitors and tracks student and program learning outcomes and goal-attainment data. The software offers more than 80 data reports, including the National Reporting System (NRS) and Joint Statewide tables required for federal data reporting and the California payment points and California Adult Education Program (CAEP) reports for California statewide data results. OTAN (Technology and Distance Learning) provides technology integration training, online curriculum, online courses, and other programs and activities to support the use of instructional technology to deliver curriculum. OTAN hosts a yearly technology symposium, manages the state Continuous Improvement Plan for adult education agencies, and assists in expanding the ability of adult education providers to (1) communicate with one another and their adult learners through multiple methods, (2) develop digital leadership skills, and (3) provide capacity-building services to adult education agencies. OTAN embraces the vision of leading adult education through support for and the effective application of technology. |
| Colorado | Professional learning in the 21-22 program year continued and expanded many of the offerings from the prior year. Each month, five hours of training was provided for instructors and their administrators through Professional Learning to Chew On, Instructor’s Corner, and Learning Network online meetings. These trainings were developed and facilitated by trainers from Hamline University and Minnesota Literacy. Reading activities in these trainings included phonemic awareness, phonemes, phonics, fluency, comprehension, inference, decoding, and building vocabulary. Math and Universal Design for Learning were also included in these training sessions. Twenty instructors and administrators completed the year-long training. The training also included a focus on the College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education and the English Language Proficiency Standards. Designers’ Club and Directors’ Talk continued to be offered monthly as 1-hour online meetings. Designers’ Club covered the following topics: distinguishing English language learning needs from learning disabilities; classroom accommodations and accessibility; multi-sensory training; and Universal Design for Learning. Directors’ Talk covered activities around metacognition and growth mindset and provided opportunities for adult education program directors to connect and share their knowledge and resources across the state. AEI offered an online and no-cost version of the EDU 134 course which covers the College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education and the English Language Proficiency Standards, a required component in earning Colorado’s Adult Basic Education Authorization (ABEA). The course specifically covers: listening, speaking, reading, writing, pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax. Over 70 instructional staff, who teach across the state, have completed the course since the Spring of 2022. |
| District of Columbia | In FY22, OSSE AFE, in collaboration with the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) and other partners, offered professional development workshops and technical assistance on WIOA, Integrated Education and Training (IE&T), program design, and strategic leadership to sub-grantees to increase their capacity to offer high-quality IE&T and supportive and transition services to District residents. Additionally, OSSE AFE, in collaboration with UDC, hosted three mini-professional development institutes that focused on Accessible Online Tools for Contextualizing Learning for Older Youth & Adults (Fall 2021), Building Blocks for Education, Training and Workforce Providers - Strengthening the College and Career Readiness Aspects of Your Program (Spring 2022), and Help Students Succeed and Get the Outcomes You Need: Managing the Learning Environment for Student Persistence in Education, Training and Workforce Programs (Summer 2022). Other professional development offerings included CASAS Implementation, CASAS eTest Coordinator and Proctor Training, DC CASAS Remote Testing Implementation, TOPSpro and CASAS bi-monthly check-in sessions, Literacy Adult and Community Education System (LACES) Beginner and Intermediate training, LACES monthly check-in sessions, and other related trainings. In FY22, OSSE AFE continued its partnership with UDC to offer the Graduate Certificate in Adult Education Program (GCP) to 11 adult educators to prepare them for certification and/or state licensure in Adult Education. The GCP provides adult educators with an opportunity to engage in either one or two three-credit course(s) over a 15- to 24-month period for a total of 24 credits. Three adult educators completed the program and earned a graduate certificate and 11 continued their studies in pursuit of the certificate. UDC also offers the Master of Art (MA) in adult education program, for which the graduate certificate program is aligned, and credits may be applied. Two adult educators enrolled in the MA program in FY21, and one student who enrolled in the program in FY20 earned an MA degree in FY22. |
| Georgia | GOAE assessed and adapted its professional development (PD) offerings throughout FY22 based on the continued disruptions in service caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As programs reopened and closed once again, GOAE continued to offer virtual professional development opportunities to meet the needs of adult education programs, program administrators, and program staff who could not attend in-person PD. GOAE continued to collect, evaluate, and implement professional development solutions by taking into account research from the first year of the pandemic and its impact on adult education programs and student learning. GOAE built upon professional development provided in FY21 by expanding the following instructional support initiatives in FY22:
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| Guam | The State faced another year of critical employee turnover in leadership and staff, requiring an adjustment period and training. The Virtual NRS State Workshop on New Horizons: Virtual Learning and Service Delivery in Adult Education came at an opportune time for the new employees to attend. The workshop focused on the environmental factors shaping adult education related to the pandemic. Attending virtual webinars or workshops met with challenges due to time differences. Guam is 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. SAO sent an adult education faculty and administrator to attend conferences on the mainland. The opportunity to go off-island provided valuable experience to adult education educators and providers to learn from the sessions and others to network and visit display booths on products and resources. Conferences attended were the 2022 Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) and Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) National Summer Institute 2022. The I-BEST model and the strategies to teach student literacy, work, and college readiness skills were shared through one of those conferences. The IET offered at the beginning of the program year revealed that the program needed to modify the teaching modality to strengthen the program's quality to improve student outcomes. The success rate was ten percent. SAO reached out to the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to conduct a workshop on the I-BEST model, a team-teaching approach where students receive instruction from two instructors in the same course. One instructor provides job training, and the other teaches basic reading, math, or English skills. The model has been proven effective, especially for adult education programs. Furthermore, for new employees not trained in the competency-based assessment system (CASAS), SAO also reached out to CASAS to provide training. SAO has successfully coordinated with SBCTC and CASAS to conduct the requested training. The two-day workshop offered engaging and powerful sessions that featured Creating Pathways to Student Success utilizing the I-BEST model and sessions with CASAS and TOPSpro Enterprise application or use and NRS Accountability on federal reporting requirements. Local program faculty, staff, administrators, and State staff were in attendance. Over ninety percent of the participants were satisfied with the sessions, topics, content quality, and workshop usefulness. It is important to note that despite the pandemic, mitigation measures were exercised throughout the program year and during the face-to-face workshop. |
| Hawaii | Professional Development
In PY 2021 – 2022, professional development for the local service provider was focused on the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is a research-based framework for learning and addresses the professional development areas specified in section 223(a)(1)(B) listed below.
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| Idaho | Idaho’s professional development (PD) funds are distributed to local programs. To identify PD needs, directors, instructors, and other key AE staff met to review program data trends related to performance measures and other program-related data. Research-based practices and guest speakers were identified and utilized. Idaho used a PD model that places equal emphasis on local-level core training, state-level training, and specialized national training. Following are examples of PD opportunities that may cross the various levels of PD. Local-level core training PD FERPA compliance, CASAS, LiteracyPro (LACES), Next Steps Idaho, Launch Idaho, teaching methods to incarcerated participants, Burlington English, digital resilience, blended learning, new teacher onboarding, NRS, and assessment policy. State-level PD Local director’s meetings, LACES, TABE, CASAS, Essential Education, and strategic plan initiatives: Recruitment, Retention, and Marketing Strategies, Teaching Skills that Matter, digital resilience, sustaining standards-based instruction, and IET and pre-apprenticeships. National PD LINCS, COABE, NRS, National Director’s meeting, MPAEA, Correctional best teaching practices, and Correctional Education Association Conference. Idaho had a team participate in the Standards-in-Action Training 2.0. This team presented their experience and learning with the other AE instructors throughout the state. Discussion took place as to the best methods for participants to mentor newer instructors in Idaho’s AE programs. Additionally, the state director participated in training and webinars presented by NASDAE and NRS. Training materials were disseminated to all local programs. Each local program was required to have a PD specialist to track training. This specialist helped complete the quarterly desk audits with PD updates. Due to the recent pandemic, Idaho has experienced staff turnover, and these specialists updated training records and training needs within their respective regions. |
| Illinois | AEFLA Leadership funds were used to support the Title II activities identified in Illinois’ Unified State Plan. These supports ensured the 72 adult education programs spanning 57,914 square miles consisting of community colleges, public schools, and community-based organizations provided English Language, literacy, career pathway, and employment instruction to all AELFLA participants. The Professional Development Network provides supports to AEFLA programs in the following areas: 1) the development and dissemination of instructional and programmatic practices based on the most rigorous or scientifically valid research available and appropriate, in standards aligned instruction in reading, writing, speaking, mathematics, English language acquisition programs, distance education, integrated education and training programs, STAR Reading, and staff training, 2) the role of eligible providers as a one-stop partner to provide access to employment, education, and training services; and 3) assistance in the use of technology to improve system efficiencies. Specific examples of the high-quality professional development offered by the ICCB AEFLA funded PDN include the following:
Equity and Access for All Learners and ADA Coordinator Training
To best combine current educational research with the needs of adult learners, the Designing for Equity and Access for All Learners professional development extended throughout PY21. The training reflects the priority of ensuring equity and access for all learners by infusing elements of Universal Design for Learning, effective instructional practices, and designing standards-based instruction with learner needs in mind. Finally, all adult education programs are required to have an officially trained American with Disabilities Act staff representative who completes training on ADA and accessibility.
Instructional Effectiveness: ABE/ASE
The expectation of instructional effectiveness occurred through intentional, and expert delivered professional development beginning with a New Teacher Orientation (NTO) course required of all new instructional hires. This course offered an overview of the Illinois Adult Education system including policies, data practices, importance of assessment, instructional methodology for adult learners, program design, and the introduction to professional development resources.
Professional development courses supported the development of standards-based instruction through the implementation of Instructional Staff Professional Pathways. This process meets Illinois’’ goal of sustaining a systematic development of Standards Proficient Instructors and the development of Content Specialists and Master Teachers to provide instructional leadership, coaching, and curriculum improvement in all adult education content areas. As a part of the standards-based instruction, the PDN continued the STAR training and integrated this training as a foundational component of the Evidence Based Reading Instruction, EBRI, and Content Specialist Pathway. Illinois policy requires every program to have standards proficient instructors.
English Language Learning
The ICCB, through its PDN, focused sustained efforts across multiple fiscal years to ensure continuous improvement of English Language Acquisition (ELA) instruction and delivered ESL Proficient, Specialist and Master Teachers training. This sustained initiative ensured instructors integrated the English Language Content Standards into their instructional practices. Additionally, the PDN supported a catalogue of web-based, on-demand learning opportunities through their iLEARN system with 22 specific ELL topics.
Bridge, Integrated Education and Training, and Career Pathways
Under the guidance of the ICCB, the PDN convened the annual Transitions Academy to assist adult education program administrators leverage system and community partnerships as they developed Bridge and ICAPS (Integrated Career and Academic Preparation System) programs. The Transitions Academy focused on increasing awareness of the expanding partnership between Adult Education and Career and Technical Education as it relates to the State’s ICAPS model, Perkins V, and Illinois Programs of Study.
The outcomes of this year-long academy included expanded services to multiple populations of students that connect individuals to trainings for middle-skill jobs which require some postsecondary education leading to sustainable wages.
Statewide Meetings, and Conferences
The strategic and coordinated planning of the statewide meetings and conferences by ICCB staff, the Professional Development Network, and key stakeholders provided extensive opportunities for providers to network with state staff, receive high quality professional development aligned with OCTAE priorities, connect individuals for peer-to-peer support, and connect with staff members to schedule program specific technical assistance.
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| Indiana |
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| Iowa | Iowa's professional development system is designed to coordinate state-level high quality professional development activities within Section 223(a). The projected impact of professional development on instruction and adult learner outcomes is evaluated by the following criteria:
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| Kansas | The state provides and facilitates relevant professional development opportunities to Adult Education across Kansas. Local programs receive a dedicated allocation for professional development and may apply for additional funds to support training opportunities. Instructors engage with College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) training in self-paced courses hosted online through the learning management system (LMS) developed in partnership with Wichita State University, in addition to the recently created Becoming an Adult Educator course, an introduction to andragogy and the teaching of adults. Through the same portal, all staff are able to share and access resources on a variety of topics, including links to state-created training videos. For PY2022, KBOR added a review of state policies to the LMS, required of all local program directors and available to all local staff. Many opportunities are available for no-cost professional development, including the monthly leadership meetings hosted virtually or in-person by the state and attended by all programs. During these meetings, information is disseminated and topics of current interest are discussed; data reviews and training for the Adult Education Student Information System (AESIS), the information management system used in Kansas are provided; and technical assistance with budgets and reports is made available. Local staff regularly review National Reporting System (NRS) policies and practices with training available through NRS and are encouraged to access courses and webinars through LINCS and the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE), which are available free of charge. Programs are also encouraged to use professional development funds to attend relevant national conferences, including COABE, GED, Correctional Education Association, and more. All programs send one or more representatives to the state conference hosted by the Kansas Adult Education Association (KAEA). KBOR also facilitates STudent Achievement in Reading (STAR) training and, for PY2022, has added Reading Horizons training as another option for an evidence-based reading curriculum. The state further assists local programs in coordinating technical assistance and professional development opportunities with vendors used in Kansas, including Burlington English, Aztec, and Essential Education. In addition to required professional development activities for program leaders and instructors, KBOR planned to expand requirements for PY2022, including having representatives from all programs attend national Adult Education conferences and designating the number of hours of professional development all staff must have within a program year. Programs will be incentivized to meet these goals as part of the performance-based funding formula. |
| Kentucky | Professional Development Programs OAE provided five professional learning courses focused on essential components of reading. The courses emphasized GED-aligned, Corrections-friendly reading instructional resources and strategies as well as improving adult learners’ listening skills to enhance comprehension. Student diagnostic report data was analyzed and leveraged to improve student outcomes. Additionally, OAE launched the first statewide Blackboard-based mathematics distance learning pilot in PY21. Five local providers participated in three Spring 2022 cohorts. The course was aligned to all GED High Impact Indicators (HII) for Mathematics and included formative and summative assessments for each GED HII-aligned module. 16 participating local instructors and program directors and 84 students participated in the pilot. 15 students earned their GEDs by the conclusion of the project. The intent is to use the course as a model for future OAE-initiated instructional initiatives. At the conclusion of PY21, OAE hosted a statewide KYAE Education Summit for WIOA partners and stakeholders. The event focused on creating better understanding of Integrated Education and Training (IET) and Workplace Literacy (WPL) models of instruction. In PY21, programming for OAE’s primary IET, GED+Plus, ended in the Fall semester of 2021 due to a low completion rate. Out of 223 IET participants, only 5.56% achieved post-secondary transcripts. By utilizing LINCS IET training materials, meeting with OCTAE and other states (OH, IN, VA), and participating in targeted training from World Ed, OAE developed an IET/WPL planning tool and application process for the Local Provider Network. |
| Louisiana | By continuing to provide online design and instruction training to faculty and staff, we are better positioned to facilitate teaching in a digitally inclusive environment. Other necessary training included both in-person and virtual options.
During FY 2021-2022, WRU demonstrated its commitment to high-quality professional development activities that included but were not limited to:
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| Maryland | Maryland requires all adult education grantees to submit an annual Professional Development Plan that demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement in learner achievement and instructor effectiveness. based on identified programmatic goals. Professional development plans must be data-driven based on student outcomes, local and state goals, instructor needs, assessment surveys, classroom observation, and other data to determine professional development needs. In PY 21 local agencies began to transition to in-person instruction to meet student demand for such, while continuing to provide hybrid and virtual classes. The Maryland Labor team and local program staff worked in tandem to ensure access to the shifting landscape of course delivery. The Maryland Virtual Training Institutes (MD VTI) were offered in December and June of the program year. All content was recorded and archived to enable resource sharing on the website as part of the quality professional development efforts. In PY21, the state offered 17 unique sessions on topics aligned with instructional practices and WIOA implementation. A total 212 unduplicated participants attended at least one session of the VTI. Sessions are designed to be brief and include topics that can be easily incorporated into instruction. Most importantly, they are designed by practitioners and offered at no cost. Feedback for VTI has been very positive. As in previous VTIs, participants and presenters have joined from outside of Maryland allowing for a rich exchange of information. In addition, several of Maryland’s Title II grantees actively incorporate archived VTI sessions into their new instructor and new staff orientations. In PY 21, adult education team members implemented “Gather and Grow” a content-focused professional development opportunity for ABE and ESL instructors based on local program need. Lesson Planning was chosen as a priority topic. Participants were assigned a reading material/ pre-workshop material before the session took place, and throughout the workshop, participants worked on creating effective lesson plans that were guided by CCRS Standards and CASAS Competencies. Separate sessions were offered for ABE and ESL practitioners. The lesson planning workshop in March 2022 garnered close to 20 participants in each group. Maryland began the Student Achievement in Reading (STAR) Pilot in September 2021 with six local programs (35 local staff) and three state staff participating in the initiative. The nine-month pilot ended in June 2022, with 93% of participants receiving Certificates of Completion. This exceeded the expected 60% completion success rate. As a result of the successful outcomes, a State Education Program Specialist and a local instructor will become State Trainers for Maryland and continue the STAR rollout. Communities of Practice (CoP) continue to be a valuable resource for leadership team members. Virtual meetings provided a forum for programs to share challenges and best practices with peers and provided a continuous avenue for open communication between State staff and the local program leadership staff. CoP meetings are scheduled quarterly for each local leadership team role - Program Administrator, Instructional Specialist, Intake/Assessment Specialist and Management Information Specialist, and additionally for Transitions staff, NEDP® Lead Advisor/Assessor and IELCE/IET Specialist/Coordinator. National/State Conferences Adult education team members attended national conferences, either virtually or in-person during PY21including Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE), Executive Function Conference, National Association of State Directors of Adult Education, TESOL International Conference, Learning Disabilities of Association of Illinois Virtual Conference, Literacy and Language Institute, National Meeting for Adult Education State Directors, Math Institute and CASAS Summer Institute. Members of the team also presented at COABE. State conferences attended included Maryland TESOL, Maryland Association of Adult Community and Continuing Education (MAACCE), Governor’s Grant Conference, Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE), and Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (MCAEL). Members of the team attended and presented at the MD Workforce Association (MWA) Raising the Bar, MD VTI, MD TESOL, and Montgomery Coalition for English Literacy (MCAEL). |
| Michigan | Professional Development Survey
In Fall of 2021, the Office of Adult Education, in partnership with EDSI, the state’s professional development contractor, launched the annual professional development survey. The survey was developed to gather data from local administrators and teachers on professional development needs, gaps and challenges, and preferences for communication.
Eighty-three (83) respondents from 60 adult education programs statewide, representing programs in all 10 adult education learning regions, responded to the 17-question survey. EDSI compiled the results of the survey and shared them with the Office of Adult Education at a staff meeting in January 2022, and to local fiscal agents and providers at the Transitions Workgroup Meeting in January 2022.
The results of the survey were used to drive the development of a Marketing and Communications plan to:
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| Minnesota | State leadership funds were used during 2021–2022 to support one Minnesota Adult Education Leadership Team position (the professional development specialist) to coordinate statewide professional development (PD) activities and assist local adult education program staff in designing and implementing effective PD. In addition, a statewide adult education PD advisory committee convened quarterly to identify key present and future PD needs, develop PD plans and resources, identify and implement best practices in PD, and coordinate and align PD activities for an efficient and effective PD system. This advisory committee has approximately 25 members, including state staff, PD providers, and local adult education instructors and administrators. Statewide professional development activities were also informed by adult education practitioner advisory groups in a number of different areas: Language and Literacy, Numeracy, Adult Career Pathways, Disabilities, Support Services, Distance Learning, Program Administration, Racial Equity, and Volunteer Engagement.
All PD activities were held virtually in 2021–2022 due to the ongoing pandemic. Key events and attendance totals for these are listed below:
Professional Development Event
Number of Events
Attendance Totals
Statewide ABE Summer Institute
1 2-day event
454
ABE Foundations for New Adult Ed Staff Webinar Series
3
72
Statewide Fall Conference
1
196
Statewide Spring Conference
1
192
Adult Language and Literacy Institute (ESL and ABE)
1 2-day event
214
ABE Math Institute
1
62
Integrated Education & Training (IET) Institute
1
57
Support Staff Conference
1
183
Assessment Trainings
18
325
Trainings for volunteers working in ABE programs
113
1344
ABE Volunteer Management Conference
1
74
In addition to these events, PD was provided through several job-embedded virtual activities, including an Evidence-Based Reading Instruction (EBRI) Webinar Series, a Pronunciation Webinar Series, and a new Writing Study Circle.
Most Minnesota adult education programs continued to offer remote and distance education options, and much of the PD offered this year was designed to support high-quality distance learning. Some examples include:
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| Mississippi |
The primary goal of the OAE’s use of state leadership funds is to provide high quality and ongoing professional development (PD) to ensure adult education practitioners can implement the requirements and intention of the WIOA. The OAE works to ensure professional development program(s) at the state and local levels align with the goals of the state and local workforce development plans to meet the needs of workers and employers. Each year a survey is sent to program directors to determine professional development needs. Once the results are collected, the OAE staff looks at how the needs align with the goals of the state and local workforce development plans before designing the yearly professional development schedule. Each program is required to develop local professional development plans and submit them to the OAE. These plans are monitored for alignment to the state goals. Adult educators are trained to utilize evidence-based best practices in instruction enabling every adult learner in Mississippi to acquire the necessary basic skills to compete successfully in today’s workforce.
To ensure the instructional effectiveness of new teachers, the state requires all new teachers to participate in the New Teacher Academy (NTA). This Academy is offered at the beginning of the fiscal year and offers an overview of the Mississippi Adult Education system, our policies, instructional methodology for adult learners, and program design. Each new teacher is matched with a mentor teacher from their local program for the first year. This mentor is available to help the new teacher as they navigate their first year in adult education. Ongoing professional development is provided for these individuals throughout their first year. This year the NTA Academy was provided virtually using the Canvas platform. Teachers participated in synchronous and asynchronous activities. Each new teacher completed the following before attending NTA:
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| Nebraska | Program Year 2021-2022 was the first year of the new AEFLA funding cycle. Although the eight subrecipients were returning providers, there were additional requirements in the application which necessitated targeted professional development and technical assistance. The Program Year 2021-2022 State Leadership Training Plan outlined the wide selection of professional development opportunities and requirements throughout the program year. Additionally, each local program was required to add a Performance Improvement and Transitions Coordinator to facilitate targeted improvements in all aspects of service delivery. Both the training plan and this key position proved helpful in exceeding our performance goals for the program year.
Supporting adult education instructors with excellent research-based professional development was necessary to aid in the retention of quality instructors, whose work with adult learners directly impacts student retention and performance. Finding the balance of the multiple modalities of providing instruction and empowering instructors to understand and own each method was the focus of many of the offered trainings. Selective training based on participant evaluations as well as programmatic needs identified in monitoring supported optimal outcomes.
Nebraska Adult Education embraced the virtual format for professional development as it most effectively and efficiently met the needs of our large numbers of part-time instructors and staff across a large, mostly rural state. State Leadership funding supported attendance at the many high-quality professional development activities, either directly from the Nebraska Adult Education State Office or through one of the various national organizations offering research-based professional development opportunities. The establishment of the Nebraska Adult Education training website allowed these opportunities to also be available asynchronously to reach the maximum number of participants, allowing our part-time instructors the opportunity to learn at any time.
Nebraska Adult Education Virtual Conference: Nebraska’s Adult Education Conference’s theme was Reaching New Heights and was offered synchronously in a virtual format. Sessions were also recorded and available for review on Nebraska Adult Education’s training website. The virtual format was beneficial in allowing maximum access as well as reaching national subject matter experts to present at conference without additional travel expense. Josh Davies, CEO of the Center for Work Ethic Development, provided the keynote address, 2020: Foresight, Not Hindsight.
Training topics offered at the 2021 Nebraska Adult Education Virtual Conference:
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| Nevada | Leadership funds were used at the state level to contract with American Institute for Research (A.I.R.) to assist in building an effective professional development system. The focus of this system is implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and program improvement, including sustainability of standards-based education, career pathways, transitions to postsecondary education, English language instruction, and support for High School Equivalency preparation. During the 2021-2022 program year State Leadership funds were used to support participation in multiple federal training opportunities. Leadership funds have been used to scale and sustain the work by using the teachers in the cohort to deliver training to the rest of the state for the Teaching Skills that Matter (TSTM) project. Nevada also participated in the Student Achievement in Reading (STAR) training and leadership funds have been used for planning to expand the use of STAR. We also participated in the Standards in Action (SIA) 2.0 during June 2021 and leadership funds were used to bring the training to the rest of the programs. There has also been an online training module developed for the Standards in Action training for curriculum review in which Nevada participated last year. Several training sessions were held that delivered best or promising practices. These included a three-part statewide training for TSTM that was at attended by all local programs, training led by A.I.R. on leadership, and Measurable Skill Gain (MSG) improvement. The virtual delivery of training was very successful and allowed a greater level of participation for local staff and instructors. In addition, multiple trainings were held on data entry and use for program development. |
| New Jersey | In 2021, two NJDOL Office of Adult Literacy (OAL) staff members and a team of 5 adult literacy math educators participated in a very time intensive professional development training initiative called ANI 2.0 PD. ANI 2.0 was a fully online professional development training that included both synchronous and asynchronous learning activities. Participants in the professional development training learned: ● How to build and facilitate a community of adult math learners; ● How to use common instructional routines (such as looking at student work or making student thinking visible) to support continuous learning: what they are, why they are important, and how to facilitate them; and ● Technology integration (including course and video-conferencing technology) to facilitate mathematics instruction and participant mathematical discourse. This pd was well-received in NJ since grantees had been asking for more math related pd since the CCRS trainings held about 5 years ago. The next steps for this professional development included 2 presentations by the NJ state Staff and participating educators to all involved in adult education in NJ and a robust discussion about best practices and challenges that we as a state will continue to recognize and build upon at the quarterly Title II Director's meeting. |
| New Mexico | NMHED-AE provides high-quality professional development (PD) opportunities for local programs throughout the year. In PY 21/22, 7 teams of New Mexico adult education administrators and teachers participated in the intensive, virtual Student Achievement in Reading (STAR) program. At the state level, New Mexico’s participation was spearheaded by State Director Gallup. Through our three professional development contracts, we offered numerous high-quality PD programs throughout the year, including Teaching Skills that Matter (TSTM) presentations and a course; Training from the BACK of the Room (TBR); monthly tech talks and ESL technical assistance webinars; a monthly data quality and performance webinar with LiteracyPro; the third year of a highly successful Career Pathways Institute that resulted in shareable resources and projects on a wide variety of career pathways topics; access to a series of Pathways to Success Webinars; and a series of customized, virtual technical assistance workshops from LINCS on the topic of serving students with disabilities. Moreover, in partnerships with the New Mexico Adult Education Association (NMAEA) and the New Mexico Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages (NM TESOL), we co-hosted a 2-day fall virtual Teachers’ Institute and an in-person spring Adult Education Conference that offered numerous content tracks for all the different services our programs provide. We are particularly proud of two PD innovations this year in New Mexico. The first is the development of the Propelnm.org website, which is a practitioner-focused adult education website that provides a tremendous amount of support to our local programs, including contact information, a frequently-updated state calendar, announcements, links to all policies and forms, guidance and resources, and much more. Prominently featured on that site is an entryway to our PD Portal, where practitioners can access online learning opportunities. The site and portal are part of the comprehensive PD system we are designing and implementing in New Mexico. The second innovation we are proud of this year is the extent to which we have involved our adult education field in the development of the system. In PY 21-22, a large number of adult educators participated for months in practitioner-led PD planning groups on the topics of PD policy, credentialing, and PD content. Their thoughtful recommendations led to the development of a state PD policy and informed, and will continue to inform, key decisions in system design. Our consultants and staff also participated in PD opportunities in order to better support our programs and promote continuous improvement. In addition to LACES training for all state staff, state staff members and the State PD Coordinator (a consultant through the University of New Mexico-Valencia) participated in the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) conference, the IDEAL Consortium Summer Institute, a Jobs for the Future (JFF) Pathways to Prosperity national meeting, and numerous other learning opportunities. |
| North Carolina | Since 2012, one of the main activities of the NC College & Career Readiness Professional Development Team has been to offer a credentialing system designed to instruct adult education teachers across the state in the latest research-based best practices. During the 2021 -2022 program year, we offered three certifications, the Core Credential, ASE Language Arts, and ASE Mathematics. All three credentials were offered 100% at a distance in the CCR Moodle portal which is offered through a collaborative relationship with the NCCC System Virtual Learning Community. The Core Credential introduces students to the essential components of reading and up-to-date research-based methods for teaching literacy to adult students.
During the program year 2020-2021, the professional development team focused on digital equity, improving instruction in ABE, ESL, and IELCE programs, training on ADVANSYS, NC’s new data management system, and IELCE program management. For the first time, NC was able to purchase state software licenses for 231 and 243 providers. NorthStar Digital Literacy was purchased for all Title II providers and BurlingtonEnglish was purchased for all IELCE providers. Nine webinars were offered for each software program to ensure that all instructors understood the ins and outs of the software.
We emphasized the benefits to all students of earning NorthStar credentials, while we strongly encouraged all 243 providers to use BurlingtonEnglish for two or three of the required IELCE activities to ease one of the major barriers for students of participating in an IELCE program – the sheer amount of time required each week. We also offered regional training on building an IELCE program by utilizing distance education in a training entitled, Distance Learning and IELCE: A Paradigm Shift.
In August 2020, we sent a cohort of nine instructors to the national OCTAE-funded training institute, Standards-In-Action Virtual Institute on Implementing Standards-Based Instruction for English Language Learners. To encourage standards-based instruction, we replicated the virtual institute during March of 2021 for a cohort of twenty-four NC instructors. Three of the instructors who attended the national training served as State Coaches. Matthew Brown served as the lead on this intensive project, which was well-attended and well-received. We intend to continue to offer the Standards-In-Action Virtual Institute during future program years.
In early June, regional training focused on rethinking workflows as we transitioned from one data management system to ADVANSYS. Realizing programs would need revised data workflow, we offered training, Colleague to ADVANSYS: Reworking the Flow. Later in June, we also offered seventeen how-to topical workshops on utilizing ADVANSYS.
Below are the credentials awarded by NC and the number of credentials earned during the 2021-2022 program year:
NC Credentials
Credentials Awarded
CORE
79
Adult Secondary Education: Math
16
Adult Secondary Education: Language Arts
10
TOTAL
105
In the fall of 2020, to disseminate local best practices and information about models and promising practices in adult ed programs, we began producing a monthly newsletter sent to all Title II providers in North Carolina. The publication of the monthly newsletter has become a major activity of the CCR Professional Development team and has become the preferred platform for the state team to communicate important information to the field.
Each issue contains a letter from the State Director, student success stories from North Carolina Title II programs, upcoming professional development opportunities, updates from each office in the Title II unit, and, most importantly, each issue highlights a research-based best practice for adult education instructors, frequently submitted by local Title II providers.
In addition to the credentials awarded through the NC College & Career Readiness Professional Development Office, and the creation of the monthly Title II newsletter, state leadership has provided many trainings and PD opportunities that were offered via webinar. A summary of those webinars is provided below:
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| Northern Mariana Islands | The office was able to attend a virtual COABE conference focusing on IETs. Meetings with the college academic leadership were scheduled and held to introduce the IET concept and to brainstorm ideas on how it could work. The leadership was very interested and a lot of discussions were centered on the Criminal Justice and Nursing programs. Discussions were placed on hold in order to focus on the hiring of the new college president and then recently, a new academic dean. The new dean is the former head of the Criminal Justice program. This is extremely positive as he was particularly excited to create new opportunities for students to earn credentials. The new dean is still settling into his role, but there are plans to continue discussions. |
| Ohio | State Leadership funds in Ohio continue to facilitate a culture of sustained learning and provide evidence-based, high-quality professional development to enhance the adult education system as a core partner in Ohio’s Combined State Plan. In PY 2021, State Leadership funds supported the Professional Development Network (PDN), comprised of a collaboration with the ODHE Aspire office and Kent State University (KSU). State leadership funds were also used to contract with national, state, and local content experts to provide high-quality PD.
The PDN consists of highly qualified trainers and content experts. State leadership funds supported a variety of training including sustaining a variety of delivery methods in PY21 including in-person, virtual synchronous, hybrid, and self-directed/asynchronous learning opportunities. The state PD policy lists required PD trainings, that focus on improving local adult education and literacy activities. Examples of required trainings include Orientation by job role (teacher, support staff, administrator), LINCS Learning to Achieve modules, Distance Education Basics, Assessment Fundamentals TABE 11/12 Certification, TABE CLAS-E Training, and specific trainings for our data management system, LACES.
Ohio Aspire had conversations about participating in a Leadership Institute as we have in the past. In September of 2021, we began to recruit for the Leadership Excellence and Development (LEAD) Institute, for Ohio’s adult education program administrators and lead instructors. The theme that Ohio chose was for the capstone projects to focus on a statewide goal to improve outcomes with innovative best practices. We had 29 individuals from Ohio begin the LEAD Institute, with approximately 25 individuals completing the program. As the former state director transitioned to retirement, the new SD worked to grow the collaboration with the state staff at ODHE and the PDN by looking at data and surveying the local providers to create PD and TA needs. In PY 21, to meet the needs of the 52 local Aspire programs, the PDN hosted a variety of synchronous virtual trainings focused on delivering quality instruction. Examples of some of the non-required PD opportunities that were available to support local programs are included below:
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| Oklahoma | complete a minimum of 15 hours of professional development that is related to adult education. At the beginning of the year, some programs were not allowing travel and meeting this requirement would have been difficult without virtual options. State staff worked with programs to ensure they had professional development opportunities to meet their needs. To support the training requirements and to ensure continuous improvement of instruction in adult education, ODCTE used leadership funds to provide several opportunities for high-quality professional development through virtual and in-person conferences, trainings, and webinars.
Professional Development 2021-2022:
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| Oregon | In 2021, State Leadership hired a new Adult Basic Education (ABE) State Leadership Coordinator after the previous ABE State Leadership Coordinator retired. This position is responsible for Title II Professional Development for funded programs across Oregon. The new ABE State Leadership Coordinator began reviewing the ABE Professional Development Framework for updates as well as drafting a five-year professional development plan for the upcoming 2022-2027 program grant cycle. The five-year professional development plan will ultimately be based on input from State Leadership, local programs, WIOA partners, and federal partners, with selected areas of focus based on surveys, dialogues with partners, federal mandates, best practices, and state context. In winter 2022, State Leadership created a dedicated webpage for Oregon ABS Professional Development. The page houses resources for Oregon’s ABS learning standards, including the Oregon Adult College and Career Readiness Standards (OACCRS) Language Arts and Math Handbooks; the standards Foundation Trainings, which is comprised of an Orientation Module on the state’s adult education learning standards and an Adult Education Module on the needs of adult learners; additional professional development modules for learning standards; and sample standards-aligned course outlines. Modules are available in facilitated and/or self-study versions, and additional professional development modules for learning standards will continue to be developed in the 2022-2023 program year. Additionally, in winter and spring 2022, faculty trainers under contract with the state worked on finalizing the Oregon Adult English Language Proficiency Standards (OAELPS), which are based on the national English Language Proficiency Standards, for publishing at the beginning of the 2022-2023 program year for Oregon’s ABS ESL programs. The development of an updated learning standards Orientation Module was begun in spring 2022 to include OAELPS. To complement the developed learning standards materials, the State ABS Team partnered with faculty trainers and learning standards points of contact at local programs to develop guidance on standards-based professional learning communities (PLCs). With input from these two groups, the State ABS Team created a guide outlining research-based practices for developing PLCs, as well as state compliance requirements for standards-based PLCs, and shared it with the local points of contact for learning standards at each program. These local points of contact for learning standards, known as Local Leads, also began meeting regularly with the new ABE State Leadership Coordinator for state updates relating to learning standards and professional development, as well as to share practices and experiences with their counterparts across the state. Out of this work grew conversations around data-driven instruction and several ideas for local and statewide PLCs related to using assessment data to identify areas of student learning need. The ABE State Leadership Coordinator also worked with contracted faculty trainers to begin offering Course Outline Guide Alignment Trainings, which are customized local trainings that help programs align their course outline guides (sometimes also called syllabi) to Oregon’s learning standards; these trainings can also serve as the basis of PLC work. Also in the 2021-2022 program year, Oregon continued its work with Teaching Skills that Matter (TSTM). The state’s TSTM Sustainability Plan was finalized in preparation for rolling out TSTM at the local and state levels. In the first year of the three-year plan, faculty on the TSTM team presented at the Oregon Adult Basic Skills Conference and participated in a presentation through LINCS. They also hosted presentations and informational sessions at their local programs and began putting together resources for the ABS Professional Development Page. Additionally, one of the TSTM-trained faculty collaborated with state learning standards trainers in the development of the Language Arts professional development modules, while another worked with one of the state learning standards trainers to offer a statewide PLC on lesson planning using OACCRS and TSTM. In recognition of Oregon’s falling MSGs during COVID, particularly among ESL students, State Leadership worked on solidifying a partnership with BurlingtonEnglish due to its status as official partner of CASAS as well as reports of measurable skills gains from other ABS programs using it across the country. At the end of the 2021-2022 program year, State Leadership purchased 1,000 seats of BurlingtonEnglish for Title II funded programs across the state. At the beginning of the 2022-2023 program year, the State ABS Team will release an RFA for local programs to apply for those seats. In addition to the seats, programs will receive a suite of professional development courses delivered by BurlingtonEnglish to make sure that programs are implementing the program with fidelity and using best practices. Other professional development work done in program year 2021-2022 includes the development of the Oregon Adult Education Community of Practice, which is an online space for adult educators across Oregon to gather and share best practices, local activities, and more; participation of two ABS State Team members and two local programs in the 2021 IET Design Camp; and the delivery of Oregon’s statewide Adult Basic Skills Conference, “Elevate the Essentials” (previously the Oregon GED Conference). Oregon also has plans to participate again in Standards in Action 2.0 Training in fall 2022, the topic of which is State-based Curriculum Review. In addition to the offerings outlined in this section, professional development updates, including information about models and promising practices, are provided at monthly Title II Directors’ Calls, quarterly OCABSD meetings, and through the weekly Title II Newsletter. The State ABS Team also renewed its large-group membership in the Coalition of Adult Basic Education (COABE) for all Title II programs in Oregon. Finally, Oregon requires state certification in order to administer and score state-approved assessment tools for state and federal reporting. State assessment certification comprises the completion of CASAS Implementation Training (online) and familiarization with Oregon assessment policies and procedures as published in the ABS Policy Manual. During 2021-2022, 51 practitioners from Title II programs and the Department of Corrections were certified for these assessments. CASAS recertification is required every three years through the CASAS Online Training Modules. In 2022-2023, Oregon will update its CASAS training requirements to align with the training updates issued by CASAS in June 2021. Additionally, State Leadership offered three BEST Plus 2.0 Trainings for initial certification by the Oregon State BEST Plus 2.0 Trainer. During 2021-2022, 25 practitioners from Title II programs and the Department of Corrections were certified for this assessment. |
| Puerto Rico | During PY 2022 several activities were designed for the education experience of the Adult participants. The following list describes the activities:
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| South Carolina | High Quality Professional Development
The OAE continues its efforts to establish and provide high quality professional development to improve the instruction provided pursuant to local activities required under Section 231(b). Professional development opportunities included resources and strategies for transitioning to virtual instruction, the essential components of reading, instruction related to the specific needs of adult learners, and the dissemination of information about models and promising practices related to these programs.
The OAE used funds made available under section 223 to provide high quality professional development to support providers through the Adult Education Technical Assistance Network (TAN) and continues to develop in person and virtual trainings as an ongoing means to inform, train, and support adult education providers. One or more of the following objectives have been the emphases of each professional development offering:
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| South Dakota | Summer Summit 2021 This 2021 conference’s presentations, pre-conference sessions, and post-conference session were entirely virtual. Summer Summit 2021, Chart the Course, featured sessions on student engagement in virtual classrooms, Math in Corrections, Facilitated Conversations in ESL, Teaching Skills That Matter, Student Achievement in Reading (i.e., evidence-based reading instruction), Managing Mental Health in the Classroom, Decoding, and Writing Skills. A total of 76 attendees registered from all seven AELFA subrecipients, Job Corps, and two Tribal Colleges. Adult Education Instructor Development Program (AE IDP) State Leadership funds supported a cohort of the AE IDP during PY20201; this cohort also marked the resumption of onsite IDPs [after a virtual hiatus due to COVID]. This teacher training serves as an induction for new instructors, as well as a refresher for senior staff. The IDP’s participants reviewed assessment protocol (Tests of Adult Basic Education’s 11&12 Series), ABE/ASE instructional methodologies, program structures, NRS, College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS), lesson planning, LD issues, and persistence-related topics. The Title II program continued to incorporate R. Brockett’s book entitled Teaching Adults: A Practical Guide for New Teachers as part of the training’s reflection component, as well as Improving Adult Literacy Instruction series from the National Research Council. English Language Instructor Development Program (EL IDP) The EL IDP was in its eleventh year during PY2021. The state agency, along with SD’s sole IELCE subrecipient, delivered a cohort of training which constituted three days of mentorship, collaboration, classroom practice, observation, and evaluation. Furthermore, virtual and onsite BEST Plus Administrator Trainings (and recalibration-trainings) were delivered for both new and senior ESL staff. Adult Education Credentials Because the quality of instruction has the greatest impact upon student performance, it has been the prerogative of the AEL Program and PD Team for some time to develop a credentialing system. PY2019 saw the launch of this endeavor with four initial credentials: 1) Adult Education Instructor Development Program Core Credential, 2) English Language Instructor Development Program Core Credential, 3) Numeracy Core Credential, and 4) Reading Specialty Core Credential. These credentials are optional and require the consent of each local administrator. Currently two of the Adult Education Credentials are also available to the staff of WIOA partner-providers (i.e., Tribal Programs and Job Corps) upon approval of their respective program supervisor. In PY2021, the program recognized its twelfth iteration of credentials conferred—fifteen credentials to eleven AEFLA-supported staff. |
| Tennessee | In 21-22 program year, TDLWD hired a new director of academic services to assist with developing and guiding local programs. This position works with the director of professional development and the director of ESL services. These team members were instrumental in ensuring that local AE programs were provided with sufficient opportunities for training and professional development related to their position. We also implemented a new platform for professional development. The Tennessee Adult Education Professional Development (TAEPD) platform is used to house content related to program support and instructor growth. Team members worked together to assess local program needs before collaboratively designing course content based on stakeholder feedback and identified needs. Professional development was provided in several formats: virtual, in-person regionally, an in-person statewide conference, and on demand within TAEPD. Professional development was also designed to address local program staff pathways: student coordinators, directors and assistants, ABE/ESL/corrections instructors, and career coaches. Instruction incorporating the essential components of reading as these components relate to adults. The TDLWD director of professional development has a background in literacy instruction and has made it a priority to provide professional development to local teachers to help them improve the implementation of incorporating the essential components of reading. In the July 2021 annual AE conference, the PD director facilitated multiple sessions for teachers on Essential Components of Reading in Adult Education. This content was transitioned to the Tennessee Adult Education Professional Development (TAEPD) platform and made available to all instructors. We continued to prioritize the essential components of reading by partnering with LINCS and establishing a six-week pilot cohort of instructors to engage in completion of two courses, Teaching Adults to Read: Teaching Advanced Readers and Teaching Beginning to Intermediate Readers. The cohort met virtually, completed online learning modules, participated in discussion boards, applied learning in classrooms, and followed up with an online PLC book study of Teaching Adults Literacy by New Readers Press. The instructors have continued to engage in lesson plan design, application of strategies, discussion boards, and shared resources. Additional courses have been developed and shared in TAEPD. These courses are open to all instructors and support learning around and application of the essential components of reading and literacy shifts reflected in state level instructional standards. They are: Reading Comprehension and the HiSET and Introduction to the ELA Literacy Shifts. Software was also purchased to provide instructors an avenue for supporting the lowest levels of learners. This software provides interactive instruction to students as they progress through the essential components of reading with phonics, vocabulary building, and comprehension activities while learning to read. Instructor support is transitioning to the Director of Academic Services and Director of ESL Services as we begin to monitor and observe classrooms to discern the impact and use of the provided professional development resources. In the coming year, our state staff members will focus even more effort in the development of state-sponsored instructional resources. Instruction related to the specific needs of adults In July 2021, TDLWD hosted a virtual statewide conference for all local staff. Teachers were able to attend a variety of sessions facilitated by subject matter experts. Topics ranged from student career pathways, to helping students set goals, to using data to inform instruction, to accessing high-quality teaching resources. Throughout the year, we also continued to focus on training related to distance education curriculum and face to face curriculum. Due to so many students needing to access services virtually, we continued to invest time and resources into expanding the learning management system (Schoology). We provided several training opportunities for teachers to learn how to use the system and engage students on the platform. We also continued to provide web-based soft skills (WIN Learning) and digital literacy curriculum (Northstar) as resources to help students with their non-academic needs that are critical to being successful in the workforce. We have scaled up usage of these resources in the 2021 program year. Instruction provided by volunteers or by State personnel We provided technical assistance related to distance education and face to face instruction during a transition period. The training related to instruction focused largely on helping teachers better understand and utilize the hyflex model resources and processes. We provided a myriad of distance education and face to face-related training and professional learning community discussions throughout the year. We hosted virtual “office hours” during which teachers from across the state could “pop in” to discuss any questions, concerns, or ideas with our curriculum and instruction staff. Dissemination of information about models and promising practices related to AEFLA funded programs. In PY21, TDLWD focused on implementing the Tennessee Adult Education Professional Development (TAEPD) platform. The platform is used for registration, capturing PD attendance, communicating with users, and providing virtual professional development and course completion opportunities. |
| Texas | Using state leadership funds, Texas has established a triad of Professional Development Centers (PDC) to build a collaborative PD system for AEL grantees as well as implement the state’s goals to build and expand AEL services to meet the needs of AEL providers and stakeholders. The triad consists of three separate but collaborative PD centers:
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| Virgin Islands | Leadership funds were used to support professional development through conferences, in-person and virtual meetings, and other means of programmatic communications for Subgrantees and State level employees.
The State Office of Career, Technical & Adult Education provided face-to-face and virtual trainings, workshops, as well as technical assistance on an as needed basis throughout the year for AEFLA sub-recipients. These meetings were used to disseminate information obtained from laws, policies and promising practices, and served as an ongoing platform to train programs.
It was important to offer ongoing trainings and focus on LACES MIS for sub-grantees and State staff to ensure that every individual developed a level of familiarity with the system used to capture salient reporting data. Specifically, since the territory encountered almost redundant impacts first with the natural disasters and then COVID-19 which affected enrollment, retention and completion rates. Although the traditional mode of training was impacted for a while, SOCTAE was also able to offer virtual training sessions.
February 13, 2020, a State Technical Assistance meeting was held for Subgrantees to receive guidance from the Third Party on allowable costs and reimbursement requests for submitted liquidations.
March 27,2020, a virtual training for State level staff on Subrecipient monitoring hosted by Brustein and Manasevit
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| Washington | Guided Pathways remains the approach used to contextualize pathways for students served through BEdA programs. This year we honed our focus on training that leads with equity in curriculum development and execution, data research, and student navigational services. Elements of our approach to integrating WIOA compliance contextualized pathways and BEdA special programs are evident in system training such as New Director’s Orientation, BEdA Faculty 101: New Faculty Training, Integrating CCRS, Equity Informed Data Series, Decolonizing English Language Acquisition, Aligning Math Pathways, and Teaching the Skills That Matter. This year there were 49 trainings that served 969 participants, including, but not limited to, Integrating CCRS, ABC’s of EDI, Leading with Racial Equity, Decolonizing English Language Community of Practice, Teaching the Skills That Matter, Positive Mental Health, Navigating Through Series, Sustaining Instruction Past COVID, BEdA STEM Pathways and Promoting Culturally Sustainable and Trauma Informed Practices. Our office hosted our biennial conference, and approximately 165 participants attended. The BEdA 2022 Biennial Conference: Reflect, Recharge, Regroup was held every Friday in July 2022 and connected professional development centering equity, diversity & inclusion, disability justice, and developing equitable curriculum. The conference featured 18 different sessions between 6 topic areas: Anti-Blackness in Higher Education, BEdA Get on the Pathway, Decolonizing English Instruction, Disability Justice & Accessibility, Positive Mental Health, and Teaching Skills That Matter-Equitable Classroom Instruction. We hope to return to an in-person conference in 2024. COVID-19 continued to have a profound impact on our delivery of professional development. However, we provided a wide array of professional learning events online using our state Learning Management System, Canvas, and virtual meeting spaces such as Zoom. By providing multiple modalities for practitioners to engage, we continue providing another layer of contextualized learning, as integrated technology skills, new applications, and online resources are embedded in every training. |
| Wisconsin | During the 2021-22 program year, the WTCS leveraged state leadership funds for professional development coordination that ensures high-quality adult education programs align with the workforce needs and educational attainment rate goals for the state. During the reporting period, the WTCS used state leadership funds to coordinate the following professional development opportunities:
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| Wyoming | Wyoming continues to utilize a three-tiered system for Professional Development which places equal emphasis on local level core trainings, state level trainings, and specialized national trainings. Because leadership funding in Wyoming is very limited, PD is a joint effort between the State office, local providers and the Wyoming Lifelong Learning Association[1]. In order to identify professional development needs, directors, instructors, and other key AE staff are surveyed and research-based trainings are brought to instructors and staff by engaging individuals who will bring a strong message. Representative examples of these professional development opportunities are reflected in Table 1.
Table 1: Wyoming's Three-tiered PD System
Tier
Examples include
Tier 1: Local PD
UW & other local sources accessed for such topics as 'Bridges Out of Poverty', FERPA & Sexual Harassment training, TABE, AZTEC, Next Gen Sector Partnership Academy, Digital literacy through Teknimedia, Northstar, & Essential Ed. In-service trainings were held through the year to address local needs. Assessment policy training and distance learning trainings were conducted both locally and by the State.
Tier 2: State mandated
State Institute, Align & Redesign, Local directors meetings, LACES, TABE 11/12 certification, Integrating Digital literacy and problem solving into curricula, Trauma informed instruction, Designing Hybrid classes, Data dives for program improvement, and the rollout of Teaching Skills that Matter to all AE staff.
Tier 3: Regional/National PD
LINCS, COABE, NAHCY, TESOL, Career pathways, NRS trainings, NTI, National Director's meetings, MPAEA, IET Design Camp, Correctional Education Association Conference.
This year all AE staff in the State were involved in a six month (re)certification and training process on Align and Redesign (A & R). The State initially went through this training in 2014 and credits, in part, the success of our program in Wyoming to the protocols implemented as part of A & R. However, since this initial training there has been a large turnover in staff so it was necessary to run this training again so that everyone shares a common knowledge on such things as brain based learning, participatory learning, developing the career services course, and utilizing powerpath. Although this training was conducted by a national trainer, we are currently in the process of training three Wyoming staff members on how to deliver this content so that we can maintain our high level of performance even in light of staff turnovers.
Another major accomplishment this year in professional development is that the State director began to train local directors on how to utilize data for purposes other than just NRS reporting. Each month, the State director focused on some aspect of data which locals could use to help improve performance and/or for program improvement:
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