How can we support professional development in ABE?

Some states have policies that allow teachers and administrators to access high-quality professional development and to get the support they need to do their jobs well. However, this is not true everywhere. That's why the Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers (AALPD), through a highly participatory process, developed the following set of policies for our field. AALPD is a network of people-teachers, professional developers, program administrators, state policymakers-interested in professional development for ABE practitioners. AALPD's goal is, "the adoption of policies at national, state and local levels that adequately support the participation of adult basic education, adult ESOL, and adult secondary education practitioners (including paraprofessionals and learner leaders who are staff members) in professional development that will help them be effective teachers, tutors, counselors, and administrators." We want to work together as a field-through advocacy at the federal and state level-to secure resources necessary for ALL states to enact these policies.

As you read through the policies, you will see that Massachusetts has already instituted many of them and is making progress toward others. With this strong foundation, we can protect what we have achieved and work toward improvements.

Here is a summary of the policies.

• Orientation/Induction for Teachers New to Adult Education: All teachers new to adult education should have an orientation to teaching in the field of ABE within at least the first six months of their teaching.
• Expectations for Participation in Professional Development: Every state and program should expect that all practitioners will continue professional learning throughout their careers. Teachers should have access to up-to-date knowledge of research and teaching methods in the content areas they are required to teach as well as general methods of adult teaching and learning.
• Professional Development Plans: Each program should be funded a minimum of 0.5% (up to 8 hours) of its annual staff hours to support teachers in developing an annual professional development plan that begins with a practitioner needs assessment and dovetails with its program improvement process.
• Paid Professional Development Release Time: Each program should be funded so all practitioners receive a minimum of 2.5% of their annual working time as paid professional development.1
• Participation in Program Improvement: Each program should be funded a minimum of 2% of its annual staff hours for teachers to participate and take leadership in program improvement, such as informing program policies, designing a new curriculum or assessments (not just lesson planning), improving recruiting, or designing a new student orientation.
• Participation in the Field of Adult Education: All full-time practitioners should be funded for at least 1% of their annual working time to participate in activities as a member of the field, including the following:
1. Providing professional development to other teachers inside or outside of the program.
2. Working towards addressing students' needs (transportation, child care, health services, job assistance, etc.) that may prevent students from participating in the program.
3. Building community partnerships (with the health care system, K-12 system, libraries, local businesses, career centers, etc.) to improve services to adult learners, and
4. Informing state adult education policies and state initiatives.
• Teachers' Working Conditions: Programs should have sufficient resources to provide working conditions that will allow teachers to stay in the field, find the work satisfying, and grow professionally, including the following:
• adequate teacher salaries
• benefits for all teachers including part-time)
• access to full-time employment
• paid prep time for all teachers (including part-time)
• paid access for all teachers toat least one hour a week of professional sharing time with either colleagues or a coordinator who supports their teaching
• monthly mechanisms (staff meetings, meetings with director) for voicing their ideas and participating in decisions about the program
• Tuition Reimbursement: Programs should be funded to provide tuition reimbursement at the equivalent of one college course per semester to teachers who have higher education attainment as a part of their professional development plans.
• Performance Evaluation and Professional Improvement: Programs should conduct performance evaluations of practitioners and gauge what practitioners have gained from professional development. Evaluation could include collecting evidence of practitioners' application of learning and reflection, or acquisition of new skills and knowledge as described in the goals of their professional development plans. The performance evaluation results should be used to inform practitioners' future PD planning.
• Professional Development System: Each state should have a funded state literacy resource center or other agency that provides direct professional development and technical assistance to practitioners to help programs organize in-house professional development. A person in each program should be designated and paid as the coordinator of program and professional development.
• Balance Between State-driven and Teacher-Driven Professional Development: Every state literacy resource center or professional development system/ agency and every program should use the professional development plans of the practitioners in their state or program and/or use needs assessments (in which teachers, administrators, and adult learners have participated) to plan and balance professional development activities relevant to the needs of the state ABE regulating agency/ies with the teachers' and (ultimately) students' needs as they define them.
• Access to Professional Development Activities: The state literacy resource center or statewide professional development agency/ system should have the mandate and funding to ensure that every practitioner has access to a variety of types of professional development throughout the year.
• Quality of Professional Development: Full-time facilitators of professional development should complete an annual plan for organizing and delivering professional development, based on needs assessments of practitioners and adult learners. Professional developers should be funded to stay grounded in the field, such as spending a minimum of 2% of their time each year teaching in the ABE/ESOL classroom. States should also have an on-going formative evaluation system for gauging how well the professional development system is serving all ABE practitioners and program directors.
• Adult Learner Voice in Professional Development: The state professional development agency and each individual program should have dedicated funding to ensure that adult learners' voices are included in developing professional development policies and in delivering professional development at the local program, state, and federal levels.
• Professional Development for Learner Leaders Who Work in the Field: Current or former students who are tutors, administrators, program coordinators, and counselors, should have access to professional development to meet their needs.
• Data Collection Regarding Teacher Characteristics: States should collect data each year about the characteristics of their teachers to help them to schedule appropriate professional development activities for the largest number of practitioners. Data should include the experience level of practitioners (years in the field); population of students they teach (GED, ESOL, etc.); the most convenient times for practitioners to attend PD; preferred types of PD; the number of hours of paid professional development they receive; and their current addresses and/or email (for keeping them abreast of professional development opportunities).

For a complete listing of the policies, along with the research that supports each and an example of what the policy would look like in practice, go to www.aalpd.org/documents/PDPolicyMatrixFINAL10122005.doc.

Notes

Cristine Smith was the chair of the Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers between 2003 and 2005. She can be reached at: csmith@worlded.org

Mina Reddy is director of the SABES Central Resource Center at World Education. She is secretary/treasurer of the AALPD. She can be reached at: mreddy@worlded.org