The statewide ABE Certification Committee has been working steadily since last spring to recommend a process to certify adult basic education teachers in the Commonwealth. The Committee has worked hard to make the process fair, inclusive, and meaningful, and to align this process with the state's Pre-K-12 certification system while preserving the unique characteristics of the adult basic education field.

The Committee members represent particular constituencies -- unions, part-time and full- time teachers, and professional organizations -- but their work was also heavily influenced by the efforts of prior committees and work groups and by feedback gathered from the field through email and focus groups.

Feedback from Practitioners
In fact, feedback from practitioners has had a direct impact on staff members who have supported the work of the Advisory Committee and on the Committee's specific recommendations. As a result of feedback, for example, the Committee has recommended ways for veteran teachers to receive credit for their knowledge and experience.

The Committee generated a first Interim Report to Commissioner David Driscoll on October 4, 1999. A second Interim Report was recently published and is now out for public comment. Readers who are not familiar with the Committee's earlier work and relevant publications can visit the SABES Licensure Web site or the DOE Web site to catch up. What follows is a summary of the recommendations put forth in the second Interim Report.

Requirements for Certification
The Committee is recommending that ABE teachers who want to pursue certification must possess either a bachelor's degree or a master's degree. Further, the Committee is recommending that the Department of Education offer support -- through information about programs, tuition re- imbursement, and leave of absences -- for teachers who want to pursue a bachelor's degree.

A second requirement would be to pass the Massachusetts Educator Certification Communication and Literacy Skills Test and an Adult Basic Education Subject Matter Test (not yet developed). Finally, teachers pursuing certification would have to indicate proficiency in the ABE teacher competencies.

ABE Teacher Competencies
The Committee succeeded in compressing the earlier draft list of 53 competencies to a new draft list of 34. The competencies are divided into eight areas: Foundation Knowledge, Understanding the Adult Learner, Diversity and Equity, Instructional Design, Teaching Methods, Facilitating the Adult Learning Environment, Student Assessment and Evaluation, and Professional/Continuing Education. In total, this list is a best attempt at capturing what a professional ABE teacher should know and be able to do in order to serve adult learners well.

Form of the Certification
The Committee has recommended that the form of the certification be a general certification that provides a foundation of knowledge in all of the areas that ABE educators are called upon to teach. Most likely, these areas would include mathematics, reading, writing, ESOL, and a general background in history, science, literature and social studies.

Routes to Certification
The Committee is proposing four routes to certification. One is for new ABE teachers and another for novice teachers. The report also recommends two "streamlining options" that recognize the knowledge and experience already attained by many teachers in the Commonwealth. For the first tract, teachers with a Pre-K-12 certification and one year of ABE teaching experience (480 contact hours of teaching) will be assumed to have become proficient in eight of the 34 competencies; for the second tract, teachers with five years of ABE teaching experience (2,400 contact hours of teaching), with or without Pre-K-12 certification, will be assumed to have become proficient in 24 of the 34 competencies. Additionally, the committee recommends that those with five years of ABE teaching experience will be exempted from the Literacy Skills and Subject Matter Tests and from the practicum (see below).

Practicum Requirements
Again, because university-based teacher prep/certification programs do not exist for ABE, the Committee recommends a practicum to be required for new teachers, teachers with no certification, or experienced teachers with less than five years of ABE teaching experience. The practicum would be in the form of an in-service apprenticeship under the supervision of a trained mentor teacher.

Give Your Feedback
Feedback from the field is still being eagerly sought. Please read the relevant documents online and send all comments to Mary Jayne Fay through mail at MDOE/ACLS, 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, through email at mjfay@doe.mass.edu or by fax at 781-338-3394.

Carey Reid is a Staff Development Specialist at the SABES Central Resource Center in Boston. Mary Jayne Fay is the ABE Certification Specialist at the Massachusetts Department of Education/ACLS.