California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project

Author: Anne Mishkind, CALPRO, July 2016

This brief provides an overview of research on effective teaching that can be applied in multiple settings by a broad range of teachers across diverse settings. Adult education in California takes place in environments including school districts, community colleges, community-based organizations, libraries, and correctional facilities, and serves students with skills that range from basic literacy to international professional training. Across contexts, research finds that effective teaching is enriched by:

• thoughtful attention to student backgrounds,
• collecting and using student data to inform the implementation of evidence based practices including (1) learner-centered instruction, (2) rich and contextualized content knowledge, (3) use of standards to inform learning objectives, and (4) attention to foundational skills and higher-order thinking, and planning for professional development that targets specific teacher competencies

Authors: Martha Bigelow and Robin Lovrien Schwarz, September 2010
Produced by Literacy Information and Communication System/National Institute for Literacy

This paper reviews a variety of research, including that on language acquisition, literacy development in adults and children, cognition and brain functioning, adult education, and professional development.

Author: Erik Jacobson, CALPRO, May 2006

CALPRO collaborated with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy and the Portland State University Lab School as part of the Northwest Practitioner Knowledge Institute. After an introduction to the Lab School's research, practitioners developed and implemented research-based instructional strategies in their classrooms. This brief provides an overview of the project, participating teachers’ first-hand accounts of their research projects, and related resources.

Author: The National Center for Family Literacy and The National Center for ESL Literacy Education at the Center for Applied Linguistics, 2008

This toolkit is intended to support to adult education and family literacy instructors who are new to serving adult English language learners, but it contains information that is useful for more experienced teachers as well.

Authors: Rebecca Bergey, Marcela Movit, Ashley Simpson Baird, and Ann-Marie Faria
Produced by the American Institutes for Research, March 2018.

The American Institutes for Research addresses how the growing English Language Learner (ELL) population in higher education is served and the challenges it presents given the vast array of student needs. Three student profiles exemplify the broad categories generally used to classify the ELL higher education population: international students, recent immigrants. or Generation 1.5 students. and the diversity within each group. Given the wide range of needs for students to meet their educational or occupational goals successfully, the paper outlines institutional and classroom level considerations by defining challenges, reviewing best practices, and suggesting ways to leverage technology.

Authors: Mark Kutner, Renee Sherman, John Tibbetts, and Larry Condelli, American Institutes for Research, May 1997

This monograph presents a suggested framework, and specific practical strategies and procedures, for evaluating the impact of professional development activities. Specifically, the monograph is designed to promote professional development evaluations by assisting individuals interested in sponsoring, conducting, and participating in evaluations, including state staff, professional development agency staff, local administrators, and instructors.

Authors: Renee Sherman, Mike Dlott, Heather Bamford, Jennifer McGivern, and Marisa Cohn, American Institutes for Research, August 2003

This publication is designed to help the field assess the quality of resources and materials used in professional development for instructors and administrators and to provide guidelines for the development of quality resources. Such resources may include train–the–trainer modules, how-to guides, e-learning courses, monographs, and research reports.

Editors: Erik Jacobson, CALPRO, and Sandra Kerka, The Ohio State University, January 2005

This is a summary of Smith, C., Hofer, J., et al. (2003). How teachers change: A study of professional development in adult education.

Produced by Literacy Information and Communication System/National Institute for Literacy, 2010

This free 30–60 minute self-paced online course introduces users to information about scientific research and its relevance to educational decision making.

Produced by California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project, October 2007

This publication presents the outcomes of a multi-year initiative on enhancing adult learner persistence. It addresses three distinct but related efforts on learner persistence: (1) the adult learner persistence Web site developed by the California Department of Education, (2) a field-based research initiative (FBRI) on learner persistence, and (3) site-based study circles on learner persistence. The purpose of each of these efforts was the same: to make available to California adult educators information about current research findings on learner persistence and to invite them to use the findings to design and implement interventions to enhance the persistence of their adult learners.