This section presents a framework of both instructional and non-instructional
strategies to address the various populations of adult learners and
their diverse needs, including low income adults, individuals with
disabilities, single parents and displaced homemakers (see Section
9.0), and individuals with multiple barriers including limited
English proficient adults (see Section
9.0). Other sections of the plan, including 3.0, 
9.0 and 12.0,
provide additional details about services to these populations, especially
through integrated activities described in Section 9.0. A section entitled "Non-Instructional
Strategies and Plans under AEFLA" addresses
strategies such as recruitment, support services, childcare, transportation,
flexible schedules and counseling.
Why Do Adults Come To School?
Adult students have varied reasons for attending adult education.
Testimony at the state plan hearings and at various other hearings
have yielded the following:
- to get a job; to get a better job; to keep a job;
- to help their children in school;
- to feel like somebody and be respected; to "recover" from
life's circumstances;
- to be able to be independent and make one's own decisions; to not
have to rely on others to interpret or translate written documents,
including materials from their children's schools; and
- to be able to "make it" in the United States and be able
to defend themselves.
The following quotations speak for themselves:
“I am a 33-year-old mother of two small children. I see myself
as a hardworking person, whose only wish is to give my children a better
life. I feel, if it were not for my teachers and the welfare program,
I would still be left out in the dark trying to make it for myself.
For the last six years, I have made many mistakes in my life, but
the mistake I’ve regretted most was quitting school. When I started
this (adult education) class, I felt so stupid and insufficient, but
now I know that I’m smart and have the ability to learn much,
much more.
Some of the things that I’ve learned already are that there
are other people in the same position as I’m in. I’ve also
learned by listening to others. This will help me. I think that I’m
a better person for coming here.
Not only have I furthered my education and plan on continuing it forever,
but I have also learned who I am. I owe everything to this program
and programs like these everywhere. It makes me feel that society hasn’t
given up on us. This program has given me more than an education. They
have given me back my life.”
Curriculum and Instruction in Adult Education in Texas
The State Board of Education Policy Statement on Adult Education
says: "Well-designed adult education and literacy instructional
programs provide for active participation of learners and build on
their prior knowledge, drawing on a lifetime of experiences as natural
resources for learning. Adults construct meaning by integrating new
experiences and information into what they have already learned." In
other words, strategies for working with adult learners must incorporate
students' reasons for being in school. Those strategies must
use what adult students already know as the building
blocks for learning. Program strategies, then, accelerate learning
and growth for adult learners. They center on problem solving and design
to meet specific needs; experience-centered, drawing on a lifetime
of experiences as natural based on meaningful experiences of the adult
learner; inclusive of opportunities for the learner to reflect upon
and evaluate inclusive of goal-oriented feedback as a means of evaluating
progress toward action.
These principles of adult education lend themselves to dynamic curriculum
and project based learning in the classroom and to integrating functional
context throughout the curriculum.
Strategies for Adult Literacy
Appropriate and meaningful instructional and program strategies
for adult literacy in Texas are the most powerful incentive for adults
most in need, as identified in Section
2.0 of this plan, to remain in the program long enough to achieve
their goals and/or make a successful transition.
The State Board of Education Task Force on Adult Education and Literacy
recommended a balanced reading program for adult literacy, including:
- a sight vocabulary from students' own environments;
- efficient and simple word identification strategies, including
phonemic awareness;
- knowledge of sound-symbol relationships;
- comprehension strategies for meaningful narrative text and informational
text;
- strategies for organizing and communicating ideas;
- positive reading attitudes (reading is constructing meaning; reading
is useful and pleasant); and
- application of reading to the home, workplace, community.
Reading Strategies in Adult Education
Teachers of adult new readers use meaningful materials in
their classrooms, including environmental print and other materials
contributed by the learner. The Language Experience Approach (LEA)
is a core of beginning-level classes for adult new readers who write
down, in collaboration with the teacher, their own experiences and
stories. These stories become the texts for initial reading instruction.
Adult new readers are involved in publishing their stories using themes
generated collaboratively by the class. For instance, CHOICES students
in the central Texas area have published a cookbook and a volume entitled Stories
of Women with a Common Goal.
Through group projects, adult new readers read to identify, investigate,
classify, analyze, and evaluate information, solve problems and make
decisions. They may even share information, experiences, and conclusions
using electronic networks as they develop their reading and writing
proficiency. Adult new readers are involved with literature as teachers
read to them and they discuss a story or book or as they read literature
generated and published by other adult new readers. They may also be
using children's literature to learn to read to their children or to
investigate their own interests.
Numeracy Strategies in Adult Education
Just as reading is gaining meaning from print, so numeracy
strategies involve learning to communicate and reason mathematically.
For example, problem-solving skills are enhanced as adult learners
become involved in numeracy -- they learn to value mathematics, become
confident in their abilities to do mathematics and become mathematical
problem-solvers. In fact, these are the overall curriculum goals and
standards developed by the Adult Education and Literacy Study Group
of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for teaching numeracy.
Instructional strategies for assisting adult learners with becoming
mathematically proficient include using manipulatives and incorporating
real-life mathematical problem solving into the curriculum.
Numeracy instructional practices focus less on traditional formats
and more on hands-on activities and real-world tasks. Classroom activities
include collaborative learning and problem solving. The use of manipulatives
allow adult learners to increase the "connections" between
mathematics and their daily lives.
Meeting the Needs of Limited English Proficient Learners through
Program Strategies
English as a Second Language (ESL)
learners in Texas come from varying educational backgrounds. Some
may already possess educational credentials, including high school
diplomas or college degrees, from their native countries. Others have
minimal or no literacy skills in their native language or English.
Although some limited English proficient adults function very successfully
in jobs, virtually all limited English proficient adults will experience
limited access to upward mobility, including better paying jobs, if
they lack adequate literacy skills in English.
Instruction, curriculum, and assessment appropriately address the
diverse needs of adult ESL learners. These learners' native language
and culture are valued and used as resources in the instructional process.
Students with minimal or no English or literacy skills benefit initially
from native language literacy instruction that leads to transition
to English. Others need second language instruction to help them move
quickly into a job, additional academic education or occupational training.
Job specific ESL helps learners already on the job or into occupational
training integrate their new language into everyday activities.
Competence in English includes:
- (1) communicating in person and over
the telephone;
- (2) understanding various forms of
written English (including prose and document literacy);
- (3) providing information or expressing
ideas in writing;
- (4) knowing how to access and use
the systems and services particular to the U.S.
- (5) managing to negotiate in an English
speaking environment with imperfect English language skills; and
- (6) using culturally appropriate
behavior at work, at school, and in the community.
In the accelerated adult education ESL classroom, language, literacy,
and culture are all part of the content, and content is related directly
to students' social context. Adult learning theory applies to language
learners, and ESL instruction includes all of the principles of curriculum
and instruction set forth in this report. The overall goal of ESL is
to promote English language acquisition through making meaning.
ESL programs "bring literacy to life" through hands-on
experiences, using learner-generated materials, using native language
as a bridge to English, linking communicative competence to language
awareness, and using technology to provide a visual context for ideas. An
ESL teacher facilitates situations in which learners become partners
in making meaning. ESL classrooms become settings for celebrating
diverse individual cultural, and linguistic backgrounds and prior knowledge
from the first language and culture which facilitates second language
learning.
Active ESL learners engage in hands-on, cooperative, creative interactions
with authentic language situations. Instructional conversations promote
learning on a certain topic and are conversational in quality, encouraging
critical thinking, building on learners' prior knowledge, presenting
concepts in context, across the curriculum, involving cognitive, affective,
and socio-cultural domains. They involve a high level of participation
by learners and allow teachers to facilitate learning rather than trying
to direct it.
Learning in ESL programs is accelerated when adults learning English
discover the power of their own stories as they learn to read, write
and speak the English language. The Language Experience Approach (LEA)
forms the core of beginning-level classes for limited English proficient
adults. When written down by or in collaboration with the teachers,
these experiences and stories become texts for initial reading, writing,
speaking and listening instruction (Rabideau, 1993). Since environmental
print can be read in English by most limited English proficient adults,
its use in the classroom stimulates discussion as learners share experiences,
taps into their prior knowledge, gives them ownership of the class,
and presents a meaningful context for learning.
Students at all levels of literacy and language learning express their
ideas in print. Teachers and learners help the writer find a topic
and revise drafts of a written piece until it conveys the intended
meaning. As they continue to work, learners acquire competence in style,
syntax, grammar, and surface features of the language. Adult learners
publish their writings and have voices both within and beyond the classroom.
Strategies such as instructional conversations and process writing
and publishing serve to supplement and extend the availability of appropriate
instructional materials.
Integrating reading and writing into adult ESL instruction assures
that students are not only learning to understand English but are learning
to produce English as well. Reading and writing for language acquisition
accelerate English learning for adults who have acquired basic literacy
in their first language. While oral language proficiency continues
to be a primary goal of ESL instruction, reading and writing in English
are also critical goals of adult education for second language learners
and native speakers.
Content area learning is integrated into the ESL classroom rather
than being separated from second language acquisition. Studies show
that language minority students can develop language skills while acquiring
concepts and academic skills needed for success in content area subjects
and transferring the academic skills to authentic workplace tasks.
Emphasis is placed on developing higher order thinking skills throughout
the entire ESL instructional program.
Because most ESL students either work or are preparing for work, curricula
offered at all levels address literacy and communication needs faced
by ESL students who work. This includes units on pre-employment and the
integration of actual work contexts so that ESL students can negotiate
the communication demands of daily life at work. The use of thematic
units derived from learner decisions can help learners meet their goals.
Adult learner participation on advisory boards or curriculum committees
allows program designers to ensure that the program is learner-centered
by taking advantage of the experience and expertise that adult learners
bring to the ESL program. Using learner surveys and inviting adult
learners to participate in discussion or focus groups are only two
ways to discover needs, goals, and levels of satisfaction with the
program.
Teaching Strategies at the Secondary Level
The changes in the Texas economic and employment picture suggest
that a major goal of literacy programs should be as a support for economic
development. For many, if not most adults in adult education programs,
obtaining a secondary level education and an accompanying credential
is their primary reason for enrolling. Another significant reason
for enrolling given by many adults is to be able to show their children
that education is important to them, both as a role model and to be
able to assist their children with schoolwork. An adult secondary education
instructional program is considered to be complete when the adult student
has achieved a high school equivalency certificate ("a GED")
or upon award of an adult high school diploma.
In order to prepare adults for the full benefits of a secondary education
and to live full lives, the adult secondary education curriculum integrates
content relating to raising families, participating in communities,
participating as a citizen, and enjoying leisure. Adult secondary learners
are involved in their roles as a citizen, as a family member, and as
a worker. Instructional strategies include communication, writing,
decision-making, problem solving, setting program and classroom goals,
participating in teams and cooperative learning, in order to ensure
that instruction is learner-centered.
All language processes -- reading, writing, speaking, and listening,
work together. The workplace requires individuals not only to possess
the basic skills, but to possess thinking skills. In order to remain
productive in the workforce, adult secondary level learners must be
aware of new information or skills. In the adult secondary classroom,
reading comprehension functions within a context of meaning. Literate
adults know the context and structure of printed materials that they
are able to read for personal, recreational, and vocational needs.
Academic tasks and real world demands require adult secondary students
to apply reading competencies independently. Adult secondary education
curriculum and instruction involves learners reading longer selections
(both narrative and expository) and applying what they read. In order
to meet societal needs, adult secondary education learners must apply
reading skills in tandem with problem solving and critical thinking.
Transition from Adult Secondary Education to Postsecondary
Education and Work
Basic skills are the absolute minimum for anyone who wants
to get even a low skill job. Acquisition of basic skills alone does
not guarantee a career or access to a college education, but without
them, an adult has virtually no opportunity. The Higher order thinking
and problem solving skills permit adults to analyze, synthesize, and
evaluate complex materials and situations. It is these skills that
allow adult workers to master and advance in their work.
In order for adult learners to be able to make the transition from
adult secondary education to work or to further training/education, "real-world" adult
secondary education programs and curriculum should also include transition
content and services. Students need to acquire competence in the Equipped
for the Future generative skills and content standards, particularly
those related to the adult's role as a worker. To provide instructors
with the tools to assist participants who have a goal of employment
or a goal to retain employment, Texas will develop and implement curricula
and programs that utilize industry sector approaches. The development
of Content Standards will include alignment with Equipped for the Future (EFF) standards, Secretary’s Commission
of Necessary Skills (SCANS),
and a workforce strand to assist participants with the soft-skills
needed for attaining and keeping employment.
Adult learners also need information and referral services, such as
labor market and career information and exploration, employment and
training resources, postsecondary education opportunities, financial
aid, and child care resources. Therefore, program strategies for collaborative
referral partnerships (e.g., collaboration agreements) with job training
entities and articulation agreements with postsecondary education entities
will permit adult secondary education students to work toward fulfilling
their roles as family members, workers, and citizens. As TEA continues
to collaborate with TWC and THECB on
the Tri-Agency Action plan, these factors will flourish.
Family Literacy as a Program Strategy
Section 9.0of this
plan provides an extensive description of the collaborative planning
and implementation of adult education programs in Texas. Family literacy
is, of course, a successful strategy for meeting the needs of many
of the identified population groups, identified in Section
2.0, particularly low income, educationally disadvantaged single
parents. All of the instructional strategies identified in this plan
are part of a family literacy program. The evidence of the success
of family literacy as a program strategy is derived from the Texas
Adult Literacy Survey variable, Early Home Support for Literacy. These
data clearly show that individuals whose families read to them as young
children, helped them with homework, and had print materials in the
home when they were growing up functioned at significantly higher levels
of literacy than individuals whose families did not employ any of these
strategies.
Family literacy as a program strategy for working with TANF recipients
makes particular sense as Texas moved from its waiver under the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 into
full compliance in 2002, since many more recipients with very young
children entered the workforce.
Workplace Literacy as a Program Strategy
Section 2.0of this
plan illustrates the needs of both unemployed and employed adults for
adult education services. . The Texas Adult Literacy Survey identified
that the literacy proficiencies of Texas adults who are employed
lag far behind that of their counterparts in the South and the nation. Many
more Texas adults (20 to 28 percent) who are currently in the workforce
(full-time or part-time) performed in the lowest level of literacy.
Among unemployed Texas adults who are looking for work, 26 percent
performed in Level 1. Workplace literacy strategies that serve both
unemployed adults looking for work and employed adults whose literacy
skills need upgrading through functional context, including pre-employment
and job readiness, are critical for the improvement of literacy skills
of both groups. TEA requires
adult education programs to coordinate services with Local Workforce
One-Stop Partners. This coordination is part of the application
submitted for funding. As required by State Board of Education Rules,
the advisory committee is composed of a broad spectrum of community
representatives, including workforce development representatives. The
advisory committee reviews the activities of, and makes recommendations
to the fiscal agent in planning, developing and evaluating the adult
education program. The fiscal agent is responsible for convening
the advisory committee at least twice each year.
Applicants must describe in
their applications collaborative efforts or partnershipswith
workforce entities in determining needs, designing and developing program
objectives, and providing/conducting program activities. Applicants
must include the name(s) of the collaborative partners and a specific
description of the contribution each partner will make to the project.
Applicants must also provide an explanation of the relationship,
coordination, and utilization of other literacy
and social services programs in the community, state, and federal resources
one-stop workforce centers, job training, other workforce development
agencies to deliver a comprehensive adult education and literacy
program.
Technology Strategies in Adult Education
Technological tools are increasingly being used in adult education
classrooms. However, the effectiveness of the use of technology depends
upon the way it is used with adult learners. As with all instructional
materials, technology should serve to stimulate, engage and accelerate
learning. The appropriate use of technology promotes adult learners'
active participation in the learning, stimulates collaboration and
choice, and accelerates the acquisition of language skills in ESL,
adult basic education, and adult secondary education.
Low-cost technology, such as cassette players, videotapes, VCR players,
video cameras, televisions, and calculators can accelerate adult learners
acquiring integrated language, literacy and numeracy skills. Stand-alone
or networked computers and everyday software applications (e.g., word
processing and spreadsheets) can provide the basis for integrating
reading, writing, and numeracy and foster collaborative problem solving
in the adult education and literacy classroom. Online courses
can reach students any time of the day or night and dramatically extend
time on task.
Technology must support learner-centered instruction and accelerate
learning, not drive instruction. High quality use of instructional
technology means a high level of learner interactivity, whether the
use of the technology involves students publishing their stories using
a word processing application to create and revise a work-in-progress,
or using electronic mail and web-based forums to communicate with their
peers across the state about common themes. For teachers, interactive
technology can mean collaborating with other teachers across the state
in regard to student projects or improving the quality of professional
development through interactive teleconferencing and electronic discussion
groups.
The following uses of technology hold promise for adult education
and literacy programs:
- Electronic networks where adults improve their reading and writing
skills while sharing experiences in computer-based group discussions
across town or across the state;
- Online instruction whereby a highly creative teacher can teach
a course at any time that is convenient for the student to study;
- Interactive media such as CD-ROMs, which combine speech, video
and graphics to create accelerated learning opportunities and broaden
adults' experiences;
- Everyday (and relatively inexpensive) computer applications such
as word processing or spreadsheets which allow adults to learn basic
and computer literacy skills, increase communications (including
English) and numeracy skills, and acquire job-related proficiencies
simultaneously; and
- Interactive teleconferencing and Internet-based conferencing for
professional development where teachers from across states and the
nation can discuss, with experts and each other, their experiences
in using research-based effective instructional practices.
TEA is a member of Project IDEAL and may fund Distance Education
pilot projects. These projects will focus on the ability to develop
teacher proficiencies to support the distance learner and to develop
strategies to recruit and retain distance education students. These
projects will be funded with State Leadership funds until the contact
hour issue is defined by NRS and the State Board of Education allows
Texas to count the hours generated with distance education toward
the funding allocation formula.
Non-Instructional Strategies and Plans Under AEFLA
Non-instructional strategies promoted in Texas involve collaboration,
recruitment, retention, and support services and are targeted at servicing
those adults who are most in need, as described in Section 2.0 of this
plan to include collaborative planning, particularly with community-based
organizations which serve educationally disadvantaged adults who are
difficult to serve. Collaborative planning may identify additional
strategies, such as collaboration with one-stop workforce centers,
for expanding resources for adult education and literacy programs,
which actually provide the education. As more thoroughly described
in Section 12.0, TEA will support technical assistance in community
collaboration through State Leadership activities.
Recruitment occurs through referrals from family members, friends,
other students, one-stop workforce centers and community organizations;
school or child care programs; placement of program brochures in other
service agencies, in other sites frequented by the client (e.g., one-stop
workforce centers, employers), and sent home with children; and public
service (including newspaper) announcements of classes.
Addressing Support Service Needs through Local Collaborative
Planning.
Low-income adults who are educationally disadvantaged are
disproportionately single mothers. Texas adult education programs find
that agencies and organizations who serve the same client are resources
for support needs and are able to develop contracts, shared use agreements,
or memoranda of understanding to alleviate barriers to participation.
Childcare: Through
planning with Head Start, local school districts, Even Start, and other
local organizations such as local service organizations like the Junior
League, churches, colleges, and other agencies, Texas adult education
programs leverage child care services. Churches sponsor childcare as
community service projects. Community colleges have childcare facilities
as laboratories for students involved in child development programs
and may be able to offer services to the adult education and literacy
program participants. TANF adult education participants are supplied
childcare through the state’s subsidized childcare system. Local
workforce development boards’ childcare contractors are also
able to assist eligible adult education and literacy program participants
with childcare services on a sliding scale.
The following is an adult education child care success story: The
Corpus Christi Independent School District (CCISD)
adult education and literacy program is collaborating with the Corpus
Christi Community Action, Inc. -- the local Head Start agency -- to
provide parents in need of literacy services with childcare. Head Start
has built a new facility next to the adult learning center. The adults
enrolled in the learning center program have first priority for eligibility
for childcare services. CCISD rents the land for $1 per year to the
community action agency for this collaboration. Parents and children
eat lunch together through collaboration with the Free and Reduced
School Lunch program administered by CCISD.
Transportation: In
addition to providing childcare for recipients of TANF/Choices
and Food Stamps recipients participating in employment and training
services, the Texas Workforce Commission and/or local workforce entities
provide a transportation allowance to these participants. Collaborative
exploration of the community's possibilities for childcare and transportation
with an agency that recognizes the importance of support services may
yield the opportunity for additional leveraging for adult education
and literacy program participants. Many urban municipalities with public
transportation systems provide free or reduced-price transportation
to economically disadvantaged individuals. Adult education and
literacy programs can provide students with information about accessing
such services through the curriculum. The classroom setting can
encourage students to share information and assist each other in meeting
their transportation needs. This can be formalized through student
councils or student advisory committees. In rural areas, community
action agencies assist with transportation needs for students. Collaborative
planning with other agencies becomes a catalyst for action.
Developing flexible scheduling enables
adult learners to continue their education with minimal interruption
as they attend to other ongoing responsibilities. Eligible adult education
providers are required to address flexible scheduling to meet student
needs in the adult education application.
Counseling is recognized
as a pervasive need by all adult education and literacy providers.
A major obstacle to the provision of counseling is a perceived lack
of financial resources for counseling staff. However, adult education
programs that have identified and dedicated financial resources to
counseling demonstrate increased student attendance and achievement.
Other alternatives also exist. Leveraging counselor services is possible
through collaboration with public schools, community colleges, universities
(where graduate counseling or social work students may be assigned
to the adult education and literacy program as interns or for course
credit), and one-stop workforce centers. Case management services for
adults in need of literacy may be leveraged through collaboration with
local workforce partners.
Developing and Evaluating Retention Strategies
Retention strategies include:
- appropriate and realistic goal setting and development of learning
plans with each adult learner;
- collaborative program design and implemented by staff and students;
- appropriate intake and initial assessment procedures that value
the adult learner's prior experiences;
- curricula that are relevant to adult learners' expressed needs
and goals and are correlated to real-life outcomes;
- procedures for the continuous assessment of support service needs
and development of strategies to meet those needs;
- inclusion of instructional strategies that address adult learning
styles and meet the needs of those with learning differences;
- inclusion of adult learner participation in the planning process;
- continuous assessment of the accessibility of services for adults
in need of literacy services;
- coordination with employers and education and training providers
in the community, especially postsecondary education, to encourage
successful transitions;
- fostering a supportive and non threatening environment within adult
education and literacy programs;
- use of peer support networks and mentoring programs;
- ongoing communication of learner progress with the learners themselves
and with other agencies in the community that are providing services
to the individual to support retention efforts;
- development of recognition programs for honoring student achievement;
- development and use of a system of follow-up of learners who left
the program before completion or have successfully completed and
made a successful transition to employment or other education and
training; and
- use of anonymous, objective methods to evaluate instructional and
program effectiveness.
State Leadership Activities to Address Program Strategies
The GREAT Regional
Training Centers will include the following strategies in
the menu of professional development activities it sponsors. Texas
will put into action a plan to address the professional development
needs of adult educators and to provide for other State Leadership
Activities to include but are not limited to:
- Provide research and evidence-based reading strategies for adults;
- Emphasize and expand the on-going coordination with TWC, local
workforce boards, and local one-stop workforce centers;
- Expand ESL professional development capacity (particularly at the
local program level through a cadre of field-based professional developers);
- Offer research-based ESL professional development;
- Ensure coherence in ESL professional development statewide;
- Emphasize the use of appropriate, interactive technology in accelerating
the learning of limited English proficient adults;
- Infuse ESL programs with workplace content;
- Expand expertise in balanced reading programs for adults;
- Develop strategies for a transition curriculum needed in adult
secondary education;
- Provide a family literacy technical assistance center;
- Continue collaboration between adult education and Even Start Family
Literacy;
- Promote workplace literacy activities through a technical assistance
and resource project;
- Promote technology through a technical assistance project to include
how adult education programs can infuse their curricula with technology;
- Identifying research-based retention strategies that work in adult
education;
- Develop a numeracy professional development curriculum and integrate
it into content of professional development institutes; and
- Continue the effort of the Adult and Family Literacy Clearinghouse to identify and disseminate resources.
