California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project

September 2014

Presenter: Susan Pimentel, cofounder of StandardsWork, Inc., and author of College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education

In this session, Susan Pimentel discussed the College and Career Readiness (CCR) Standards for Adult Education. The presentation provided background information on how and why these standards were developed. Pimentel introduced the key advances prompted by the standards for both ELA/Literacy and math, and she shared some of the implications these have for instruction.

March 2014

Presenters: Martin D. Kehe, VP of Products, GED Testing Service, and Joyce Lude, Principal of Roseville Adult School

In this session, presenter Martin Kehe provided an overview of the key features of the new GED test that launched in January 2014 and outlined major differences between the 2012 and 2014 GED tests, such as aligning the new test with college– and career–readiness standards. Mr. Kehe also identified related tools and resources for students, educators, and administrators to analyze student test results and use the data to inform decision–making. Presenter Joyce Lude, Principal of Roseville Adult School, then described what Roseville Joint Union High School District has done to change their practice to accommodate the requirements of the new test and help support improved student outcomes.

February 2013

Presenter: Dr. Mary Ann Corley, American Institutes for Research

This session briefly reviewed findings from current research on effective writing instruction and discussed how these findings can apply to the adult education classroom. It covered practical strategies such as sentence combining and summarization. Sentence combining is a skill that allows students to write more complex, sophisticated sentences, thus giving their final written products a polished look and feel. Similarly, summarization, a skill required for success both in postsecondary education and the world of work, provides students with tools for identifying and understanding important concepts of the subject they reading and learning about. Combining sentences and writing coherent and correctly developed summaries are two of the most powerful skills that students can cultivate.

November 2012

Presenter: Mariann Fedele-McLeod, American Institutes for Research

In this 90 minute webinar, facilitator Mariann Fedele-McLeod of the American Institutes for Research discussed the research and literature on the instructional practices known to be most effective with adult learners. For teachers to be effective they must have supportive conditions, Fedele-McLeod presented and discussed the system features needed to support effective teaching and improve student learning.

May 2012

Presenter: Mary Ann Corley, Ph.D., Principal Research Analyst, American Institutes for Research (AIR)

This session briefly reviewed findings from current research on effective writing instruction and discussed how these findings can apply to classroom instruction. It covered practical instructional strategies such as reducing students� reluctance to write, helping students with pre-writing, and using frames as an aid. It also briefly discussed writing skills required for success in postsecondary education and the workplace.

April 2012

Presenter: Dr. Anestine Hector-Mason is a Senior Research Analyst at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Among her other duties at AIR, she serves in several leadership capacities as Director of several federally funded projects; She is a member of AIR�s Institutional Review Board (IRB), and an Editor for the Adults Learning Maths Journal � an international peer reviewed journal on adult mathematics literacy.

Mathematical literacy/Numeracy or the ability to use and apply mathematics concepts is important in various occupations. Dr. Hector-Mason, Senior Research Analyst from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and an Editor for the Adult Learning Maths (ALM) international journal, discussed research and important concepts on the topic of mathematical literacy/numeracy that might be applicable to the teaching of mathematics within the context of ABE or adult ESL.

October 2010

Presenter: Dr. Heidi Silver-Pacuilla, Senior Research Analyst at the American Institutes for Research, brings over twenty years of experience in literacy work with learners of all ages. She has personal experience at every level of adult education programming and has published scholarly work in adult pedagogy, disability services, integration of technology into literacy learning, and service delivery systems.

What policies would significantly change the odds of success for adult learners? Explore and contribute to innovative ideas and service delivery models generated at a symposium in Washington, DC from making childcare more affordable for working and learning parents to strategies to accelerate and contextualize basic skills with vocational training.

May 7, 2020

Facilitator: Matt Wallace

Excellence in mathematics education requires equity--opportunities for all students to engage in high-levels of mathematical thinking & work, the belief and expectation that all students can do such thinking & work, and the necessary supports for all students to be successful. This session will discuss how to support equity through problem-solving & reasoning in math.

March 20, 2020

Facilitator: Matt Wallace

Students make different kinds of mistakes while doing math. Research has shown that each kind of mistake warrants a different response from the teacher to best advance learning. In this webinar, the presenter will share information about different kinds of mistakes, selecting strategic responses depending on the mistake, and research related to mistakes and student learning. Mistakes are inevitable in math, thus knowing how to exploit mistakes as learning opportunities has potential to promote greater equity in the classroom. Join us to learn how to use mathematical mistakes for learning's sake!

December 6, 2019

This webinar provides an introduction to the elements needed for successful team teaching and, specifically, the development of a single set of integrated learning objectives to guide instruction. IET administrators, ESL and workforce training (CTE) teachers explore approaches and strategies for the planning and successful implementation of integrated programs. The webinar was produced collaboratively by staff from the State Leadership Projects CALPRO and CASAS.