The Texas Adult Education Content Standards & Benchmarks

Family Literacy and Content Standards

The Texas Adult Education Content Standards and Benchmarks were unveiled at a statewide conference held June 24-26 in Austin. The standards and benchmarks provide the answer to the inevitable question of all adult educators, “Exactly what do I teach?” 

Content standards can provide a foundation for developing curricula, learning activities, and individualized instruction without being prescriptive. The Process Guide for Establishing State Adult Education Content Standards describes standards and benchmarks as a tool, “instructors use content standards to plan instruction, and learners use standards to set learning goals.” Content standards can give students a sense of their place on the learning continuum and their travel along that continuum. [PDF - download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]

The content standards and benchmarks were developed in a multi-year process that involved adult education students, teachers, and administrators, working together to develop benchmarks for the content standards. Three nationally-known reviewers also evaluated the benchmarks for rigor, clarity, measurability, manageability, applicability, gaps and the presence of bias. 

Implementation of the content standards and benchmarks began in the fall of 2007. Implementation is encouraged, not mandatory. All are encouraged to pilot the content standards and benchmarks in their own classrooms to gain experience with its versatility and usefulness. The predecessor tool called Texas Standardized Curriculum Framework (TSCF) will continue to be available on the TCALL website as an additional resource to teachers and programs. Many adult education teachers and administrators have invested a great deal of time in developing the TSCF for implementation in their classrooms. Texas LEARNS does not want to interrupt proven methods for teaching adults, only enhance them with additional resources. 

Approximately 700 adult educators and administrators, including Even Start staff participated in the June conference. That surprisingly large number of participants reflects the high interest level in the implementation of content standards. Each GREAT Center has multiple trainers who have been trained with how to use the standards. They scheduled training sessions in each Region beginning in July, 2007. I encourage programs to work with adult education providers and GREAT Centers to facilitate the training of Even Start staff.  See GREAT Center information and calendars, which are linked from both TCALL and Texas LEARNS home page menus.

A recent informal analysis of Even Start-Head Start partnerships revealed that the strongest partnerships were those in which both partners shared the same curriculum and participated in professional development together. This concept can be applied to adult education as well. The content standards and benchmarks provide a common instructional ground on which to base curriculum and professional development. They have the potential of serving as a tool to facilitate integration of family literacy components. There is room for flexibility in lesson planning and incorporation of student goals. Joint professional development based on the content standards and benchmarks can provide insights on how to plan for integration in the classroom.

The intention of integrated planning in family literacy is to establish instructional connections among components so that the learner receives consistent and reinforced instruction in a variety of contexts. The learner, therefore, is more likely to master the content at higher levels of learning. The opportunity to master content at the synthesis and analysis levels better prepares the student to earn level completions on progress assessments.

That brings us back to the common goal for learners, adult educators and family literacy: student learning gains. We all share the same basic purpose. The content standards and benchmarks were designed to help adult education and family literacy better meet student learning needs. Texas LEARNS, TCALL, TFLRC and your GREAT Centers are prepared to support you in your implementation of the content standards and benchmarks. We wish you much success.

Huitt, W. (2004). Bloom et al.’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University Retrieved August 10, 2007 from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/bloom.html.

Guide to Quality: Even Start Family Literacy Program Implementation and Continuous Improvement Volume I, Revised (2001). Retrieved August 10, 2007 from www.emsc.nysed.gov/evenstart/training/guide_to_quality.htm.