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Professional Development
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The Texas Adult Education Credential Model:
Implications for Professional Development Planning
by Emily Payne and Audrey Abed
In 1998, Texas Education
Agency Division of Adult and Community Education funded a special project
grant at Southwest Texas State University's College of Education to develop
a model for a credential for Texas' adult educators. The model would be
introduced to the field in the spring and summer of 1999 in the form of
conference presentations and regional focus groups.
The idea for a credential, which would
be voluntary for adult educators, first originated with the Texas Association
for Literacy and Adult Education. TALAE envisioned the credential as a
way for the adult education field to underscore its commitment to professionalism,
to quality programs and to accountability.
While the credential model, which was first
presented to TALAE in July of 1999, specifies content and delivery options
for adult educators who wish to earn a credential, the responsibility
for developing a personal plan for professional development rests on the
individual educator and the administrator or staff development team from
local programs. As the opportunities for earning professional development
credit become more diversified, the individual teacher must plan a strategy
for earning points for activities that are appropriate to his or her career
goals and are in line with the needs of students and programs. The topics
and delivery formats from which teachers and programs may select will
necessitate long range professional development planning.
The delivery of professional development
for adult educators has been well developed in Texas through the Adult
Education Professional Development Consortium. The credential model builds
on the strengths of the current professional development framework, and
it provides a system for organization and standardization of professional
development delivery by offering:
- Professional development accessed via
technology such as on-line courses, e-mail study groups, electronic discussion
lists, and mentoring via e-mail or electronic discussion lists;
- Options for extensive, focused or alternative
action research such as Project IDEA, study groups, mentoring, university
or on-line courses; and
- Other options for the introduction or
overview of topics such as institutes, workshops, and conference sessions.
The process of documenting professional
development activities, developing individual professional development
plans, and maintaining professional development portfolios, in order to
credential professionals in the field of adult education in Texas, will
be a challenging task. To facilitate the development of an individual
instructor's unique professional development plan, the following options
are recommended. All of the following information will be available to
the adult education field via the Internet and in printed form.
Professional Development options include
participation in the following areas:
- AEPDC professional development activities;
- Other professional development activities
in Texas (i.e. local staff development;
- On-line courses and/or university courses;
- List of approved instructors in Texas
to serve as models for "Instructor Observation" and "Mentorship"
activities; and
- List of approved readings to serve as
stimulus for the "Study Group" activity.
Credential seekers will accrue credits in the following subject areas:
- principles of adult learning
- the teaching-learning transaction
- diverse learning styles and cultures
- accountability (including student assessment
and program evaluation
- technology.
Field participation is also included in
the required content, but it is technically more of a delivery option
than a subject. The Point Distribution System was developed as a means
for credential seekers to accrue points across the core content areas
to the above professional development activities in the following manner:
- Points may be distributed across the core
content for each individual professional development activity.
- As the list of possible professional development
options grows, points for each core content area will be assigned.
- Review of the content and method of training
teachers will be completed by the Credential Project in a joint effort
with the provider of the professional development activity.
The Focus on Professional Development Project
at the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which reviewed and rated
adult education special projects for inclusion in its Focus 2000 Bulletin,
February, 2000, selected the SWT Credential grant as one of 21 exemplary
projects nationwide. The ratings were based on a five-point scale (5=excellent,
4=superior, 3=good) for innovation, effectiveness, adaptability, and quality
of the final report. The Credential Project received a superior+ for innovation
and effectiveness, good+ for adaptability, and excellent for the final
report.
For more information about the credential
model, individual educators and program administrators and/or staff development
teams beginning the process of long-range planning in professional development,
you may contact the Adult Education Credential Project at Southwest Texas
State University, Emily Payne, Project Director (512) 245-2303. e-mail:
ep02@swt.edu or Tamara Thornton,
Adult Education Credential Coordinator at (512) 245-0945 or e-mail: tt09@swt.edu
About the authors
Emily Miller Payne, Ed.D. is Associate
Professor of Developmental and Adult Education and a member of the graduate
faculty for the Developmental and Adult Education master's program at
Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Emily is also the
director for the New Teacher Professional Development and Adult Education
Credentialing projects. She has a BA. from the University of Texas at
Austin, and a MAT and an Ed.D. from New Mexico State University.
Audrey Abed is currently Director of the
San Marcos CISD Even Start Program. She also trains adult educators throughout
the state as a Field Specialist for the Texas A&M Kingsville ESL
Professional Development Project. Previous experience in adult education
includes working with the Adult Education Credential Program at Southwest
Texas State University (funded by the Texas Education Agency) and coordinating
the Kyle Family Learning and Career Center. Audrey has a Masters in Education
with an emphasis in Adult Education from San Francisco State University.
 
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