English Language Proficiency Standards
Produced by U.S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education, 2016Designed to support effective instruction of adult English language learners, this document presents a set of correspondences to the college and career readiness standards (CCRS) for English language arts/literacy, mathematical and science practices.
Teaching Critical Thinking (Workshop Series, Registration Closed)
Critical thinking is an essential skill found in both the College and Career Readiness Standards and the English Language Proficiency Standards for Adult Education. Critical thinking skills are needed in every facet of our lives, and in particular as we are inundated with more information from a variety of dependable and undependable sources. This online workshop series will prepare you to include a variety of critical thinking strategies in your adult education classes. It is presented in three 1.5 hour webinars. Registration information*: Registration for these sessions is now closed. Scheduled session dates and times are as follows: Session 1: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 | 2:30 PM – 4:00 PMSession 2: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 | 2:30 PM – 4:00 PMSession 3: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 | 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM*Please note: Registering for Session 1 automatically registers you for Session 2 and 3. Certificate of Completion will reflect hours attended.
Integrated and Contextualized Workforce Skills
How can you prepare your learners to succeed in the workforce? Find out what employers say are essential skills for today's workforce. This series shows you how to connect transferable skills in the classroom to the workplace. There are two sessions; each session is broken into two parts (4 webinars total). This series will provide background on skills transferable from the classroom to the workplace and to teach students how to articulate those skills. Registration information: This event is not currently scheduled. Registration will become available once this topic is scheduled.
Integrated Education and Training (IET) Clinic
The California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO) and the California Department of Education are pleased to offer a unique professional learning opportunity! Join other agency teams of ESL instructors, CTE instructors, and program administrators for an Integrated Education and Training (IET) Implementation Clinic.
FORMAT
There are five principal features of this unique online professional learning opportunity, which is open to up to 8 agency teams (each team is composed of 3 staff members).
1) Two day-long virtual training sessions. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in interactive planning and curriculum development activities as well as to share best practices.
2) Live, interactive discussion through three 75-minute online webinars with engaging guest speakers, seasoned facilitators, peer mentors, and colleagues from around the state (see below for complete details). In each meeting we will:
- Highlight the relevancy and value of the featured topic for the work that we do
- Explore best and promising practices in the featured topic
- Learn from subject matter experts and peer mentors on effective related strategies
- Share successes and common challenges with fellow teachers and program administrators
- Get help on solving issues we face
Topics will be tailored to the needs of the participating practitioners and identified through the application process and may include:
- Starting Strong: Developing the Team Teaching Partnership
- Co-Teaching & Alternating Teaching: Which Model, Why, And How?
- Developing a Single Set of Learning Objectives & Integrating Lesson Plans
- Building an Integrated Syllabus
- Promising Intake & Onboarding Strategies for lET
- Action Planning: Process considerations, potential challenges, and solutions to address challenges.
- IET and Distance Learning: Considerations & Strategies
3) Ongoing online discussions, sharing, and resource creation through a designated private group within CALPRO’s online Community of Practice.
4) Completion of a capstone project and presentation of the project at the second day-long session.
5) Coaching now included! IET clinic participating teams will now have the support of an IET implementation coach to support you for nine months upon completion of the IET clinic.
For more information, contact calpro@air.org.
Effective Teaching for Adult Educators
Course Description:This course takes place entirely online and runs for four consecutive weeks. Weekly participation is required, though participants may, during a given week, log in whenever they wish. A kick-off Webinar will take place in the first week; the date and time will be announced and posted. This course is intended to (1)build teachers’ capacity to identify the skills and knowledge required for excellent teaching as presented in the Adult Education Teacher Competencies, (2) evaluate in which areas participants are strong and in which areas professional development could support improvement, and (3) plan for increasing effectiveness of instruction. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive a certificate of participation (14 hours); they are also eligible to apply to CSUS for 1.4 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) if they wish.Goals:By the end of the course participants will be able to: • Explain the background and rationale for Adult Education Teacher Competencies • Recognize performance indicators in practice • Create a sample illustration related to a specific program area • Identify the competencies from domains 1 and 3 in practice • Relate selected competencies to classroom practice • Create an initial professional development goalRegistration Information:There is no registration fee to participate; CALPRO professional development opportunities are available to all California Adult Education Program (CAEP) agencies and employees.Contact Information:Please contact calpro@air.org with any questions.
Data-informed inclusive teaching strategies
Hosted by MVLA Adult SchoolData-informed instruction empowers educators to make evidence-based decisions and positively impact student outcomes. Effective planning involves aligning instructional goals with student needs identified through data analysis. Critical questions we ask include (a) What do we want students to learn? (b) How will we know if they have learned it? (c) What will we do if they don’t learn it? (d) What will we do if they already know it? In this introductory workshop, participants will review how to build assessments to measure outcomes and investigate data types needed to find trends and gaps.The second part of the session focuses on inclusive teaching strategies to address the outcome gaps. Participants will walk away with evidence-based instructional strategies. Participants may choose one of the strategies to incorporate into their classroom routine and design a lesson plan using backward design.
Using Questioning Strategies to Improve Instruction (Online)
Course Description:Are you frustrated at not getting the right answers from your students? Maybe it's because you're not asking the right questions! This course offers questioning strategies that foster higher-order thinking skills while developing responses beyond the level of recall. Help students connect the dots as they process new information to answer questions designed with a purpose. This course takes place entirely online and runs for four consecutive weeks. Weekly participation is required, though participants may, during a given week, log in whenever they wish. A kick-off Webinar will take place in the first week and one additional webinar will take place in the third week; details will be posted in the course. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive a certificate of participation (14 hours); they are also eligible to apply to CSUs for 1.4 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) if they wish.Goals:This online professional learning opportunity is intended to encourage instructors to ask questions that promote learners’ thinking beyond the level of recall of information and that allow learners to adequately process information and respond to the instructors’ requests.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.Contact Information:Please contact calpro@air.org with any questions.
Teaching by Design: Lesson Planning for Adult Learners (Online, Waitlist Available)
Workshop Description :Plan and deliver effective lessons! This course takes participants step by step through the process of lesson design and provides an opportunity to learn up-to-date strategies for planning lessons for adult learners using the WIPPEA stages, creating learning objectives. Using the information and skills taught in this course, participants will find that lesson planning becomes a quick, easy process. This course takes place entirely online and runs for one week. Daily participation is required, though participants may, during a given week, log in whenever they wish. A kick-off Webinar will take place in the first day and the date and time will be announced and posted. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive a certificate of participation (4.5 hours).Goals :The goal of this CALPRO course is to provide teachers with a model for designing effective lesson plans.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 course is currently at capacity. Waitlisted participants will be notified regarding their enrollment status by Friday, January 31, 2025. Contact Information :Please contact calpro@air.org with any questions.
Managing the Multilevel ESL Classroom (Online, Waitlist Available)
Course Description :How do you meet the needs of ESL students in a class with skill levels ranging from beginning to intermediate to advanced? This course presents strategies for planning lessons for learners of widely varying language skills. This course takes place entirely online and runs for four consecutive weeks. Weekly participation is required, though participants may, during a given week, log in whenever they wish. A 1-hour, kick-off Webinar will take place in the first week; the date will be announced via email the Friday before the course begins. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive a certificate of participation (14 hours); they are also eligible to apply to CSUS for 1.4 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) if they wish.Goals :The goal of this workshop is to help participants develop skills in managing the ESL multi-level class.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.Contact Information :Please contact calpro@air.org with any questions.
Evidence-based Writing Instruction in the ESL Classroom (Online, Waitlist Available)
Course Description:This course helps participants improve their writing instruction for ESL students by applying 1) research-based instructional techniques, 2) protocols for analyzing students’ work, and 3) guided instructional plans. This course takes place entirely online and runs for four consecutive weeks. Weekly participation is required, though participants may, during a given week, log in whenever they wish. A kick-off Webinar will take place in the first week and the date and time will be announced and posted. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive a certificate of participation (14 hours); they are also eligible to apply to CSUS for 1.4 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) if they wish.Goals:Each participant will develop an instructional plan to use in his or her classroom to teach writing effectively to ESL students. Upon completion of this course participants will be able to: • understand the research on teaching writing to adult ESL students; • analyze student work using an evidence-based method to identify specific skills requiring additional instructional attention; and • implement evidence-based instructional techniques to improve writing instruction.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 course is currently at capacity. Waitlisted participants will be notified regarding their enrollment status by Friday, March 7, 2025. Contact Information:Please contact calpro@air.org with any questions.