National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium, Inc.
September 25, 2011
Training and Technical Assistance—Fee for Service from NAEPDC:
One of the services that NAEPDC offers to its members is customized training and technical assistance for local directors. Here are some ideas to consider.
The Missouri Program Improvement Model: Ron Jewell was interested in improving local program performance. NAEPDC designed a program improvement plan that included helping each of the 42 local programs establish a program improvement team (PIT Crew) and guided them through a program analysis based on three principles:
► Are students coming?
► Are students staying?
► Are students learning?
The Program Analysis reports identified areas for improvement, and each PIT Crew selected one prioritized need. NAEPDC provided a variety of strategies and guided the PIT Crew through the selection and pilot testing of those strategies that held the most promise. As a result of the process, program performance improved significantly.
Talk with Ron for his impression of how it went. The two year process was $30,000 a year for each of the two years. A final report is available if you are interested in this option.
Leadership Excellence Academy: The LEA is a two-year national certification in program improvement for adult education managers. Twenty states have participated (North Carolina, Maryland, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming and Illinois).
The first year includes three modules:
► Using teacher, program, program manager, student and stakeholder assessments to identify areas for program improvement;
► Research on instruction and learning; and
► Using data for program improvement.
The second year includes three modules:
► Student persistence,
► Leadership, and
► Getting teachers off to a good start.
All modules (except leadership which is an online course) begin with a face to face session in which participants are offered a variety of strategies from which to choose. They select one and return to their program to adapt and apply it. A webinar completes the module wherein the participants share how the application worked, what adaptations they had to make, and how they will use it in the future.
More information is available at http://leadershipliteracy.net/ The cost, as you will see on the website, depends on the number of participants.
Career Pathways: Michigan is in the process of implementing a comprehensive career pathways system. NAEPDC built a series of resources for their local directors on six critical topics:
► An orientation to career pathways,
► Building regional partnerships with other organizations,
► Conducting a gap analysis between the skill levels of students and the skill levels needed for the jobs in the region,
► Contextualizing curriculum at all levels of adult education,
► Managing a regional partnership and career pathways system, and
► Evaluating career pathway programs.
You can see the online tutorial and toolkits at http://www.maepd.org/lib-careerpathways.html A similar set of resources can be customized for your state. NAEPDC can train your local directors in each module and provide them guidance for applying it in their home region. The result will be a regional career pathway partnership in each region of the state. NAEPDC will also provide your state staff with the training materials and assist in co-presenting the information until they are comfortable doing so on their own. The cost of the development work and the training and technical assistance is about $50,000 a year for two years.
Customized Professional Development: NAEPDC can customize training and technical assistance to meet your needs and the needs of your local program managers on a variety of topics such as student persistence, marketing, research, career pathways, return on investment, advocacy, program improvement, new teacher orientation, etc.
A. State Specific Work:
Kentucky: Last fall Reecie wanted to roll out a new set of standards for his Kentucky local managers. We designed and delivered two two-day focused sessions, one in each end of the state, to bring the local directors into the fold.
Texas: Last summer, as a result of a federal program monitoring visit, Texas needed to focus support on student goal setting. We designed a complete professional development series of powerpoints, toolkits, and support materials for her professional development staff. We also designed an online version to be used with teachers who could not attend the training and for refresher in years to come. The state’s professional development and state staff were trained in how to use the materials.
B. State Staff Training
Strategies for Intervening in Low Performing Programs: In Michigan, as a CoABE Preconference for state staff, and at one of OVAE’s national meetings we have facilitated work with state staff members in how to intervene in low performing programs—especially when they did not want to be helped.
Strategies for Managing Statewide Initiatives: In Michigan and as a CoABE Preconference for state staff, NAEPDC has facilitated work with state staff members on the art of managing a statewide initiative. The training includes a step-by-step process, key decision points and considerations, and resource identification.
Program Manager Workshops:
Managing a performance-based, career-infused adult education program requires a unique set of skills. This series of workshops is designed specifically for local program managers in those programs. Most topics have two formats: a 3 hour version that includes all of the information and resources; and a 6 hour version that enables the participants to be more involved with the resources and plan how to engage their teachers back home in pilot testing strategies and improving program services.
Student Persistence: Why they leave and what we can do to help them stay: Based on John Comings research at NCSALL, this workshop (3 hour or 6 hour) includes a quick review of the research that provides insights into why adults leave and what we can do to help them stay. In includes a wealth of strategies from which local program managers can select matching the strategies to the local program needs. The workshop encourages them to take the resources back to their teachers and involve them in selecting and pilot testing strategies and measuring the impact on student persistence. This workshop has resulted in significant decreases in student dropouts. The cost is $950 plus travel and expenses.
Using Research: Knowing the Right Thing to Do: We have so little adult education research that we ought to take advantage of the good research we do have. In this workshop (3 hour or 6 hour) we review the current research in teaching and learning and provide briefs that local program managers can share with their teachers. The cost is $950 plus travel and expenses.
Getting Teachers Off to a Good Start: This workshop was developed by Kathi Polis. As you know, our teachers come to us from many different professions—we all come into the business sideways. They also turn over much too rapidly. Getting teachers off to a good start and keeping them supported is important to the quality of our program services. This workshop provides a framework for examining your current teacher orientation and support system and provides strategies and resources from which to select to improve your current system. The cost is $950 plus travel and expenses.
What to Look for in a Career-Infused Classroom: It is all about jobs. We are expected to infuse careers throughout our adult education offerings. But, what does a program manager look for when she/he goes into a career-infused classroom? This workshop (3 hour or 6 hour) first provides a check list of the components of a career infused classroom for Tier I (lower level ABE) and Tier II (upper level ABE to adult secondary). Secondly, we examine a wealth of resource to fill any gaps that the program needs. Many of the resources are customized to the state. The cost is $950 plus travel and expenses.
Building Career Pathway Collaborations in Your Region: How do you get them to the table? By their very nature, Career Pathway/Integrated Education and Training initiatives cannot be done by adult education alone. They requires collaboration with Title I, One Stops, Community and Technical Colleges, Social Services, Employers in high demand jobs in the region and other public and private non-profit organizations. This workshop (6 hours) provides a framework for developing those collaborations. It includes strategies for attacking them to the table, a Partners Survey that allows partner agencies to select the contributions they want to make to the collaboration, and strategies for sustaining the partnership. It also includes guidance and agendas for establishing a small steering committee of key organizations and a larger partnership working group of contributing organizations in your region. The cost is $950 plus travel and expenses.
Feel free to contact any of the state directors mentioned above regarding their impressions and the impact of the work.
Lennox McLendon
Telephone (202) 624-5250 ● Fax (202) 624-1497 ● Email: ● www.naepdc.org