Charting A Course:
Responding to the Industry-Related
Instructional Needs of the Limited
English Proficient

Professional Development: Ensuring Successful Program Delivery

The last component to be addressed in this report is by no means the least important. Without quality professional development and preparation time for adult education practitioners who will deliver industry-related English as a Second Language instruction, a response to Rider 82 would be incomplete.

With the best will in the world, partnership and collaboration are not in the job descriptions of most educators or healthcare staff. For these programs to succeed, the duties involved in establishing and sustaining programs and the critical partnerships must be in someone's job description.
To Reach the First Run and Higher (Chrisman and Spangenberg, 2005)

A number of Texas’ adult education programs are already delivering quality workforce related instruction to emerging, incumbent, and dislocated workers in their local communities. But for many programs and many practitioners, workforce education is relatively new territory. Professional development must a) increase adult education practitioners’ understanding of their important role in preparing adult learners for the world of work, and b) provide adult education programs with the tools needed to deliver quality work-related ESOL instruction.

Professional development initiatives addressing workplace/workforce issues come in a variety of packages. A number of publications were reviewed in the preparation of this report and should prove helpful in shaping the professional development component. Input from adult education practitioners, employers, and state and local workforce development representatives will also be sought. In order to meet the needs of Texas’ adult education providers, topics to be addressed in the professional development component shall include but not be limited to the following:

  • An introduction to a step-by-step process of planning, delivering, and sustaining workforce-related instruction to adult learners, specifically those with limited English language proficiency
  • A process for assessing a local program’s instructional and administrative readiness to deliver workplace / workforce literacy
  • Strategies for gathering local data regarding industry-specific skill needs via dialogue with employers and literacy task analyses
  • Negotiating service agreements for adult education funded services, workforce funded initiatives, and fees for services
  • Development of a local plan for implementation
  • Tips for optimizing service agreements and collaboration
  • Instructor selection and preparation
  • Instructional delivery
  • Learner assessment and program evaluation, including the reporting of progress to employers, local workforce development networks, and Texas Learns / NRS regarding learners’ whose goals include gainful employment and/or retention of employment
  • Examples of best practices and valuable resource materials

This initial proposal for the professional development component represents an outline of topics considered essential to a successful staff training model. Additional topics may be added at the discretion of Texas LEARNS and through continued input from field practitioners and interested stakeholders.

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