Regional Professional Development
Communities of Practice
To provide opportunities for California adult educators to interact regularly and to engage in extended collective learning, CALPRO is offering regionally based professional learning opportunities using a Community of Practice (CoP) model across topics essential to meeting the goals of the California adult education system. In the blended-learning CoPs, participants meet for two face-to-face (or synchronous online) sessions. As part of the CoP activities, participants access online resources via Moodle before, between, and after their face-to-face/synchronous training sessions to participate in activities designed to extend their learning and support their implementation of new practices with their students. Fully virtual or HyFlex CoPs may be offered on selected topics.
Tailored Regional Communities of Practice
Tailored Regional CoPs support the unique needs of educational agencies, districts, or consortia and offer a responsive, flexible, and engaging approach to professional development. The available topics are highly relevant to California adult education agencies, from instructional strategies to career pathway development. Tailoring can be done by adjusting the overall training length, modality (e.g., in-person, online, or HyFlex), focus areas depending on the target audience, or by integrating multiple topics to address intersecting priorities. This tailored approach allows CALPRO to help educational agencies balance professional development with operational needs, ensuring minimal disruption while maintaining the quality of learning.
Regional Training
CALPRO also offers 1–2-day, 3+ hour on-site workshops on an available topics below.
If your consortium or agency would like to host a regional professional development event, please contact calpro@air.org.
What You Need to Know
Host a CALPRO Training
For more than a decade, CALPRO has trained California adult educators to deliver professional development on various topics.
CALPRO will:
- Identify and pay for the workshop facilitator’s travel and honorarium when your agency hosts a regional community of practice.
- List the workshop on the CALPRO Event Calendar.
- Advertise the workshop.
- Manage registration.
- Provide copies of the participant handout packet for the number of registered participants.
- Provide blank sign-in sheets and evaluation forms for facilitators to distribute and collect.
What are the responsibilities of the hosting agency/site?
- E-mail certificates of attendance to participants.
- Open registration to teachers and administrators from other eligible agencies.
- Register at a minimum 8 participants from your agency and/or other eligible agencies in your region prior to the start of the training.
Which training topics are available?
New!
- Evidence-Based Reading Instruction
General Instructional Strategies
- Fundamentals of Adult Education Instruction
- Universal Design for Learning: Developing Programs for Adults with Learning Disabilities
- Motivation and Persistence for Adult Learners
- Civic Engagement through Democratic Literacy
Adult Basic Education/Adult Secondary Education
- College and Career Readiness Standards: English Language Arts (ELA) Implementation and Application
- Evidence-Based Writing Instruction in the ABE Classroom
- Evidence-Based Reading Instruction
English as a Second Language
- Evidence-Based Writing Instruction in the ESL Classroom
- Evidence-Based Reading Instruction
- Managing the ESL Multilevel Class
- Mastering the English Language Proficiency Standards
- Supporting Immigrant Integration through Civics Education
Workforce Skills and Career Pathways
- Supporting Student Transitions to Postsecondary Education and the Workforce
- Accelerated Learning to Facilitate Career Pathways
- Collaborative Curriculum Alignment
Community of Practice
Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (Wenger-Trayner, 2015).
Blended Instruction
In regional CoPs, participants meet for two face-to-face (or synchronous online) sessions. Before, between, and after their face-to-face/synchronous training sessions, CoP members access additional online resources via Moodle and participate in activities designed to extend their learning and support their implementation of new practices with their learners. Fully virtual or HyFlex CoPs may be offered on selected topics.
Time Commitment
CALPRO’s CoPs require an average total of 16-20 hours of professional learning.
Shift in Culture
Communities of Practice place a strong emphasis on supporting educators in implementing new skills. This greater emphasis on implementation may involve one or more shifts in culture.
Benefits of Participating in a CALPRO Regional CoP
- Opportunity to interact with other teachers or administrators and trainers online and in-person to share classroom experiences and problem solve
- Support and help to implement training in the classroom
- Ability to identify and serve the needs of students
- Ways to help students improve their skills and meet their personal goals
- Increase of professional knowledge in targeted topic
- Access to additional resources that extend the learning beyond the CoP
- Working together as a school team to make changes, identify challenges and solve problems
On-Site Regional Training
CALPRO also offers 1–2-day, 3+ hour workshops on an available topic below. CALPRO will send a trained facilitator to your agency/consortium site.
ABE/ASE
- College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS)
- Evidence-Based Writing Instruction for ABE/ASE
- Evidence-Based Reading Instruction
- Math Instructional Strategies
ESL
- Mastering the English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards
- Managing the ESL Multilevel Class
- Evidence-Based Reading Instruction
Instructional Strategies
- Motivation and Persistence for Adult Learners
- Universal Design for Learning: Developing Programs for Adults with Learning Disabilities
Transitions
- Supporting Student Transitions to Postsecondary Education and the Workforce
Workforce
Accelerated Learning to Facilitate Career Pathways
Evidence -Based Reading Instruction
New!
Literacy is a fundamental skill that enables adults to live productive lives, participate in the workforce, support children's education, and engage with their community and government. Reading is one of the most powerful skills humans develop—but unlike speech and visual processing, it requires explicit instruction to integrate brain processes. This CoP presents evidence-based strategies for reading instruction in adult education, informed by the Science of Reading. It is designed for literacy instructors (i.e., English Language Arts and English as a Second/Additional Language) in adult education programs (ABE, ASE, HSE, and ESL). Participants will gain tools for assessing and teaching the essential components of reading—alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Multilevel and Differentiated Instruction to Support All Learners
Hosted by Hacienda La Puente Adult Education
Adult learners bring a wealth of cultural knowledge and varied lived experiences to the classroom and have distinct motivations, learning needs, and expectations that require different instructional approaches. It can be challenging for instructors to provide level-appropriate, engaging instruction for all students in a multilevel class. Through this 3-hour workshop, participants will gain evidence-based strategies students with various goals and learning needs.
Participate in this engaging workshop to explore key aspects of effective instruction in adult education, including leveraging adult learners’ strengths, and designing differentiated instruction to enhance learning outcomes. Whether you are an experienced teacher or new to adult education, this engaging workshop offers valuable opportunities for professional growth and networking.
Registration Information:
This tailored regional CoP is designed for the staff and teachers at Hacienda La Puente Adult Education. Registration through the school is required.
There is no registration fee to participate; CALPRO professional development opportunities are available to all California Adult Education Program (CAEP) agencies and employees.
Registration Deadline: Supporting Immigrant Integration through Civics Education (Oct. 2026) - College of Marin
Hosted by College of Marin
Description:
How can we facilitate the two-way process of immigrant integration through adult immigrant students’ participation in civic and community activities? Our community benefits from the cultural, social, and economic contributions of immigrants. As well, adult students’ engagement in their community supports their sense of belonging and the development of practical skills.
Sign up for the upcoming Community of Practice (CoP) on Supporting Immigrant Integration through Civics Education at College of Marin.
The CoP is designed for instructors teaching adult immigrant learners (learners may be in ABE, ASE, ESL, CTE, etc.) and will help educators support immigrants through civics education as understood within the lens of the California Immigrant Integration Initiative and aligned to the EL Civics metrics. Participants will examine the Immigrant Integration Framework, explore the resources from the Teaching Skills That Matter in Adult Education (TSTM) project, and gain skills to better support their immigrant students in their classrooms and programs.
This CoP takes place in person at College of Marin on Fridays, October 9 and November 13th, 2026, from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm with a 30 min lunch break. Participation in both sessions is strongly recommended, and there will be asynchronous job-embedded work (i.e., lesson planning and reflection) in between the two face-to-face sessions.
Goals :
The goal of this community of practice is to enable instructors to 1) understand the California immigrant integration context, and 2) plan instruction that supports immigrant integration by aligning to the objectives of the Participation in Civics and Community Life Goal area of the Immigrant Integration Framework, using the Teaching Skills That Matter (TSTM) lessons and tools, and pre-approved COAAPS.
Registration Information:
There is no registration fee to participate; CALPRO professional development opportunities are available to all California Adult Education Program (CAEP) agencies and employees. This training is hosted by College of Marin. Participants from neighboring districts or regions may be admitted on a space-available basis.
The registration deadline is Monday, October 5, 2026.
Contact Information:
Please contact Sachiko Oates at soates@air.org.
Session 1: Supporting Immigrant Integration through Civics Education (Oct. 2026) - College of Marin
Hosted by College of Marin
Description:
How can we facilitate the two-way process of immigrant integration through adult immigrant students’ participation in civic and community activities? Our community benefits from the cultural, social, and economic contributions of immigrants. As well, adult students’ engagement in their community supports their sense of belonging and the development of practical skills.
Sign up for the upcoming Community of Practice (CoP) on Supporting Immigrant Integration through Civics Education at College of Marin.
The CoP is designed for instructors teaching adult immigrant learners (learners may be in ABE, ASE, ESL, CTE, etc.) and will help educators support immigrants through civics education as understood within the lens of the California Immigrant Integration Initiative and aligned to the EL Civics metrics. Participants will examine the Immigrant Integration Framework, explore the resources from the Teaching Skills That Matter in Adult Education (TSTM) project, and gain skills to better support their immigrant students in their classrooms and programs.
This CoP takes place in person at College of Marin on Fridays, October 9 and November 13th, 2026, from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm with a 30 min lunch break. Participation in both sessions is strongly recommended, and there will be asynchronous job-embedded work (i.e., lesson planning and reflection) in between the two face-to-face sessions.
Goals :
The goal of this community of practice is to enable instructors to 1) understand the California immigrant integration context, and 2) plan instruction that supports immigrant integration by aligning to the objectives of the Participation in Civics and Community Life Goal area of the Immigrant Integration Framework, using the Teaching Skills That Matter (TSTM) lessons and tools, and pre-approved COAAPS.
Registration Information:
There is no registration fee to participate; CALPRO professional development opportunities are available to all California Adult Education Program (CAEP) agencies and employees. This training is hosted by College of Marin. Participants from neighboring districts or regions may be admitted on a space-available basis.
The registration deadline is Monday, October 5, 2026.
Contact Information:
Please contact Sachiko Oates at soates@air.org.
Engaging and Motivating Today’s Adult Learners
Hosted by Hacienda La Puente Adult Education
Today’s adult education classrooms are welcoming a growing number of younger learners whose high‑school years were impacted by pandemic‑era disruptions. This three‑hour workshop equips educators with practical, evidence‑based strategies for engaging today's adult learners. Drawing on CALPRO’s motivation and persistence for adult learners training, participants will explore how to set clear and high expectations, build trust through social‑emotional learning, support goal setting and self‑management, and design student-centered learning experiences that engage all students.
The session also highlights active learning approaches—such as providing autonomy, collaborative learning, and contextualized instruction—that resonate strongly with today’s learners with varied needs. Educators will leave with ready‑to‑use strategies to motivate, connect with, and support all students in their classrooms.
Registration Information:
This tailored regional CoP is designed for the staff and teachers at Hacienda La Puente Adult Education. Registration through the school is required.
There is no registration fee to participate; CALPRO professional development opportunities are available to all California Adult Education Program (CAEP) agencies and employees.
Engaging and Motivating Today’s Adult Learners with Goal Setting
Hosted by Vallejo Adult School
This four‑hour workshop equips educators with practical, evidence‑based strategies for engaging today's adult learners. Drawing on CALPRO’s motivation and persistence for adult learners training, participants will explore how to set clear and high expectations, build trust through social‑emotional learning, support goal setting and self‑management, and design student-centered learning experiences that engage all students.
The session also highlights active learning approaches—such as collaborative learning and contextualized instruction—that resonate strongly with today’s learners with varied needs. Educators will leave with ready‑to‑use strategies to motivate, connect with, and support all students in their classrooms.
Registration Information:
This tailored regional CoP is designed for the staff and teachers at Vallejo Adult School. Registration through the school is required.
There is no registration fee to participate; CALPRO professional development opportunities are available to all California Adult Education Program (CAEP) agencies and employees.
Session 2: Supporting Immigrant Integration through Civics Education (Oct. 2026) - College of Marin
Hosted by College of Marin
Description:
How can we facilitate the two-way process of immigrant integration through adult immigrant students’ participation in civic and community activities? Our community benefits from the cultural, social, and economic contributions of immigrants. As well, adult students’ engagement in their community supports their sense of belonging and the development of practical skills.
Sign up for the upcoming Community of Practice (CoP) on Supporting Immigrant Integration through Civics Education at College of Marin.
The CoP is designed for instructors teaching adult immigrant learners (learners may be in ABE, ASE, ESL, CTE, etc.) and will help educators support immigrants through civics education as understood within the lens of the California Immigrant Integration Initiative and aligned to the EL Civics metrics. Participants will examine the Immigrant Integration Framework, explore the resources from the Teaching Skills That Matter in Adult Education (TSTM) project, and gain skills to better support their immigrant students in their classrooms and programs.
This CoP takes place in person at College of Marin on Fridays, October 9 and November 13th, 2026, from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm with a 30 min lunch break. Participation in both sessions is strongly recommended, and there will be asynchronous job-embedded work (i.e., lesson planning and reflection) in between the two face-to-face sessions.
Goals:
The goal of this community of practice is to enable instructors to 1) understand the California immigrant integration context, and 2) plan instruction that supports immigrant integration by aligning to the objectives of the Participation in Civics and Community Life Goal area of the Immigrant Integration Framework, using the Teaching Skills That Matter (TSTM) lessons and tools, and pre-approved COAAPS.
Registration Information:
There is no registration fee to participate; CALPRO professional development opportunities are available to all California Adult Education Program (CAEP) agencies and employees. This training is hosted by College of Marin. Participants from neighboring districts or regions may be admitted on a space-available basis.
The registration deadline is Monday, October 5, 2026.
Contact Information:
Please contact Sachiko Oates at soates@air.org.
Universal Design for Learning: Developing Programs for Adults with Learning Disabilities
Virtual Community of Practice (CoP)
This fully online CoP incorporates the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework and introduces accommodations and modifications that support learning, self-determination, and success.
The CoP offers an opportunity to discuss the challenges adult education professionals face while supporting adults with learning disabilities and share strategies and tools that work.
Participants will be able to apply UDL principles to design curriculum, instructional methods, and assessments that accommodate and engage all learners including students with learning disabilities.
With more than 8 participants, CALPRO can set up a regional CoP for your agency/consortium.
Effective Teaching for Adult Educators
To enhance student learning gains and to help adult learners meet their goals as productive workers, family and community members, and lifelong learners, and to foster continuous program improvement, this training will provide a framework for teachers to reflect on their own teaching and to identify areas on which they would like to focus and where they would like to improve their practice.
Civic Engagement through Democratic Literacy
Civic Education and Democratic Literacy play a pivotal role in empowering students to become engaged and informed citizens. Individuals equipped with this knowledge understand political and civic systems, allowing them to navigate these systems effectively and contribute meaningfully to the improvement of their communities.
The goal of this CoP is to enhance the capacity of adult educators and programs to provide instruction that amplifies student perspective and voice, builds civic engagement, and dives deep into participatory approaches to democratic processes for adults including those who are developing literacy and language skills.