California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project

The California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project (CALPRO), in conjunction with the California Department of Education (CDE), annually seeks nominations and applications for the California Adult Education Leadership Institute (the Institute). We seek aspiring and new administrators (defined as three or fewer years) for the Institute. 

This is an opportunity for your organization to nominate an aspiring or new administrator from your adult education program to attend. We accept up to 24 participants in the Institute annually. Priority registration is given to nominees with the most recent appointment date to their administrative position. 

Nearly 700 of California’s leading adult educators have participated in this program since its inception in 1985. The Institute covers topics and skills that new and aspiring adult education administrators need to perform their jobs effectively. Topics for the Institute will focus on:

 Fiscal and Personnel Management 

• Collaborations and Partnerships 
• Career Pathways 
• Data Analysis and Data-Based Decision-Making 
• Public Relations and Program Marketing 
• The California Adult Education Program 
• Strategic Planning 
• Instructional Leadership  
• The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) 

Institute participants have numerous opportunities to engage with experienced and new adult education administrators, representatives from CDE, and the three State Leadership Projects (OTAN, CASAS, and CALPRO). The Institute also includes nine months of coaching support after the training concludes. 

For more information, contact coordinator Cherise Moore.

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. 

WHAT AND WHERE? 

CALPRO annually conducts the Training-of-Trainers (ToT) Institute for the new community of practice (CoP) at the CALPRO office in Sacramento. The purposes of the ToT Institute are: 

1. To develop a group of certified trainers to facilitate presentations of CALPRO professional learning modules 
2. To build professional development capacity and leadership in California adult education.

WHAT IS CALPRO’S COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE INITIATIVE AND HOW DOES IT IMPACT THE ToT?
Communities of Practice are formed by groups of professionals who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain (adapted from Wenger, 2002). CALPRO’s Communities of Practice (CoP) Initiative aims to increase the field’s focus on supported implementation of skills, strategies and action plans that participants develop in CALPRO trainings and institutes. 

For each CoP training, an online community is established. Participants meet each other and begin learning together online; they continue to build community, knowledge and skills in the face-to-face training sessions; and they have the option of continuing to support each other’s efforts to apply new learning after the conclusion of the face-to-face sessions. CALPRO CoP trainers facilitate the entire process, including online and face-to-face sessions. 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
The ToT is open to applicants from all California Adult Education Program (CAEP) funded agencies (see page 2). The ToT is for individuals who will commit to following up on the ToT by presenting the module for their agency, for their region, or for CALPRO at least once within a year of the ToT. 

WHAT ARE EXPECTATIONS OF PARTICIPANTS?
Participants will be expected to complete pre-Institute assignments online. Participants are expected to attend the entire ToT Institute – no exceptions –  and demonstrate facilitation skills in practice sessions during the ToT. After completing the ToT, participants are expected to be available to facilitate training at their agency, at other agencies, or at CDE- or CALPRO-organized events within a year of the ToT. Trainers will receive an honorarium for training conducted. 

WHAT’S IN IT FOR MY AGENCY? 
Your agency will have trained facilitator(s) on your staff who can serve as an in-house content specialist. Your agency will have increased capacity to provide high quality professional learning opportunities. 

WHICH AGENCIES ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE? 
Employees of all California Adult Education Program (CAEP) funded agencies are eligible to apply. For more information, contact coordinator Marcela Movit.